NIGERIAN NOTCH

….Soludo, the Solution  Louis Odion, FNGE Epic! The handicraft of a philosopher-king. One, I dare say not many of our political leaders have the facility of language and clarity of thought to seamlessly transmit such profound thoughts from mind to print, personally.   Professor Soludo, with this, you just reaffirmed the value/virtue I saw in you back in 2004 (first as Economic Adviser to OBJ, before being appointed CBN governor that transformed Nigeria’s financial landscape forever) and has glued us together ever since, not just as friends but brothers.  All through your political tribulations from 2010 - 2021, never did I see or hear you ever barter your nobility nor mortgage your high principle — whether in the face of tempting offer or tantalising assurance of instant political profits.  Truly, you are a man of steely character, profound knowledge and Solomonic wisdom, completely detribalised.  With this, you just rekindled my conviction that, ultimately, the sacred duty of intellec

The Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria has blamed charges in foreign exchange by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) as creating disruption in market operations. The marketers have, therefore, asked the agencies to obey federal government’s directive on Naira transactions for ports charges. Vice chairman II, Depots and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN), Mahmood Tukur, stated this on Sunday. The federal gvernment through its downstream regulator, and based on agreement reached with stakeholders, had earlier directed ports charges to be collected in Naira. The directives was contained in a communique issued in November 2021, and signed by heads of the Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulation Authority, Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd), Major Oil Marketers Assocoation of Nigeria and DAPPMAN. Tukur alleged that the agencies were yet to comply with directives a

With pressing national economic challenges, accentuated by what is best described as structural failure and emerging local and global trends, some governors and other stakeholders say there is a strong sense of urgency for the authorities to save the nation from sinking. Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki and his Gombe State counterpart, Inuwa Yahaya, led the call for the federal government to urgently discontinue the unsustainable fuel subsidy regime, improve power supply and restructure the country, especially the economy. The governors were among other captains of industry who spoke at the ongoing 28th Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja. While Governor El-Rufai emphatically said “remove subsidy now,” Obaseki said there is immediate need to ensure improved and stable power supply to drive production in line with the needed industrialisation of the nation. The Edo State governor said the economy would have been better if the revenues were coming fro

  Pioneer chairman of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), Pascal Dozie, in a keynote address entitled: ‘The Nigeria we Need,’ said in a plural, multi-cultural, multi-religious and multi-ethnic Nigeria, if the state (nation-state and its federating units) act in a way that promotes any religious above others, that would be sowing seeds of discord. “This deters cohesion, progress and development,” he stated. Mr Dozie said the use of public funds to sponsor persons on religious events, to build places of worship and the like, contradicts the secular nature of Nigeria as agreed by the founding fathers at independence. “Ours is a secular state – and must be seen to be so – in normative, positive and practical terms,” he added. The former NESG chairman said Nigeria must strive to shape legislative lists and powers to make laws – such as to have relevant tiers of government to be responsible for those issues that are best suited for. Former president of the Nigeran Bar Association, Olu

 It was all thanks to God and  Nnewi Catholic Diocese community, as Amb Charles Nwonye took a high powered delegation of friends, community leaders and we'll wishers to the launching of an endowment fund for the completion of St Philip's Catholic Church Okpunoeze Uruagu Nnewi.  The event which was graced by the bishop of the Catholic diocese of Nnewi, who was ably represented by Monsignor Patrick Obata saw to the large turnout of people from all walks of life, who in turn contributed immensely to the completion of the church.  In his keynote address, the Chief launcher and convener Amb Charles Nwonye took out time to explain to the congregation and visitors on the need to see to the completion of the church which is pivotal to the development of the community in particular and Nnewi as a whole. He opened the floor with a cash donation of #2M naira.  He therefore urged others who were not able to make it to the event to find out time and reach the priest in charge of the parish

By Chukwuma Charles Soludo, CFR     My attention has been drawn to some of the tirades on social media following my frank response during an interview on Channels TV regarding the “investments” Mr. Peter Obi claimed to have made with Anambra state revenues. Sadly, several of the comments left the issue of the interview to probe or suggest motives, inferred from my response on “investment” that I am opposed to Peter Obi’s ambition and therefore committed a “crime” for which the punishment is internecine abuse and harassment even to my family. Some people even suggest that the gunmen who went to attack a checkpoint at my hometown on Saturday 12th November but were gunned down was part of the mob reaction. I used to think that for decent people, certain conducts are off-limits, and that in Anambra, politics is not warfare.   Of course, as a Christian, I know that telling the truth can be very costly, even suicidal. Our Lord and saviour was crucified simply for telling the truth the people

By Christian ABURIME  One of the outstanding achievements of the government of Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo, CFR, is the astonishing successes recorded in the area of security which Ndi Anambra have continued to commend him for Before Soludo was sworn in as Governor, Anambra State was almost in a state of war. There was hardly no week without report of innocent Ndi Anambra being mowed down by the marauding killers. Kidnapping, killings, stealing, ransom taking were the order of the day. Fear and uncertainty reigned supreme in the land!  While these hoodlums thought they were smart, Soludo obviously was smarter and a step ahead! The security architecture he put in place unnerved the hoodlums.  Today, the narratives have changed drastically. The senatorial zone that was in the grip of these killer gangs have been restored to normalcy. The 15 camps established by the gangs to terrorize Ndi Anambra have been effectively neutralized by security agents. Governor Soludo boldly took the b

For the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) counterpart, Atiku Abubakar, the gloves are now definitely off in their ongoing credibility battle ahead of the 2023 presidential poll. The duo engaged themselves more fiercely and aggressively yesterday over the purported indictment of Tinubu and subjection to criminal forfeiture judgement to the tune of $460,000 for an alleged narcotic offence by a United States court in Northern Illinois. The PDP standard bearer fired the first salvo when he alleged that Tinubu was no longer eligible to contest the 2023 election on account of his indictment. Speaking through the PDP national publicity secretary, Hon Debo Ologunagba, during a press conference in Abuja, Atiku asked Tinubu to withdraw from the race, saying he stands disqualified according to the provisions of Section 137 (1) (d) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended). But the APC

Operatives of the Intelligence Response Team  of the Nigeria Police Force Intelligence Bureau FIB-IRT have arrested four suspected members of a kidnap syndicate that abducted wife of a popular  Rivers-based businessman, eight months ago. The woman, Mrs Hussana Adamu, was on her way to drop her children at school when the armed  kidnappers intercepted her near Casablanca Club , Government Reserved Area , Port Harcourt, Rivers State. They dragged her out of her car and ordered  her into their operational vehicle before  zooming  off, with haze of dust billowing . She was released a week later, after payment of N20 million ransom. Arrests Acting on credible information, DCP Tunji Disu- led team arrested four of the suspects: Isiaka Hamidu, 30, who hails  from Adamawa State;  Nwasaneo Goodluck , 34 ; Victor Nwidee,  29 and ThankGod Bariledun , 36 , all from  Khana Local Government  Area .of Rivers State. The prime suspect, Isiaka Hamidu, who sells  parrot and peacock in Port Harcourt,  dis

Revelations have emerged as to how candidates from the South South and South East geopolitical zones of the country who sat for the computer-based test for the 9th regular course of the Nigeria Police Academy in Wudil local government area of Kano State , were schemed out of the admission list. It was however gathered that contrary to claims that the Nigeria Police College concealed their admission lists to deprive the South-south region of its quota, the candidates were schemed out by their state governments and lawmakers who substituted them with candidates of their choice. A source at the Police Academy confirmed that the frustrated candidates actually got text messages and emails notifying them of their entrance exam into the Nigeria Police Academy in Kano. The source, a senior official in the ITC unit of the academy who did not want his name on  print, told our source that the dreams of the candidates were however cut short by their state governors and lawmakers who substituted th

The Commissioner for Budget & Economic Planning, Ms Chiamaka Nnake has urged ndi Anambra to watch out for the 2023 budget which shall focus on key deliverable projects. In company with her was the Commissioner for Information, Sir Paul Nwosu and Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr Christian Aburime. The 2023 proposed budget is at a sum of N258,984,875,905 approximately at N259 billion. This is compared to the revised 2022 budget of N169.6 billion. The capital expenditure increased by 51.1% from N108.2 billion in the 2022 revised budget to N163.5 billion. While the recurrent expenditure increased by 55.6% from N61.4 billion to N95.5 billion in the 2023 proposed estimate. Every budget has its capital and recurrent. The capital expenditure accounts for 63.1% of the budget size while the recurrent accounts for 36.9% of the budget size. Key infrastructural projects account for 55.4% of the capital expenditure and 35% of the entire budget size. The composition of recurrent budget include