Tell a Tale

President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday took a critical look at the various challenges currently facing Africa and returned a verdict that the continent was under siege. Buhari made the submission in a speech at the opening session of the 25th Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union, holding in Johannesburg, South Africa. He said, “Our continent is currently bedevilled by the twin evils of terrorism and insecurity; poverty, youth unemployment and underdevelopment. “The destructive effects of the inhuman and criminal campaigns of the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria and the neighbouring countries; the Al-Shabab attacks in East Africa, and the activities of the Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb, all bear testimony to a continent under siege. “The images in the international mass media of African youths getting drowned in the Mediterranean Sea on their illegal attempts, and often times illusory hope of attaining better life in Europe, is not only an embarrassment to...

Call it a plea for equity or an appeal for consideration, Jonathan’s published advice to Buhari was one few people, this time last year, would have imagined likely. It has never happened in Africa for an incumbent President to be clearly defeated in an election. Only the most die-hard faithful or those suffering from utter despair clung to faint hope that Jonathan would win. And, as long as he remained in office, there would be no probe of any kind. GEJ was a firm believer in letting sleeping dogs lie – even if they are afflicted with infectious ailments. At any rate, a probe by Jonathan would have meant probing his party men and cronies; and that was unthinkable; also unfortunate. Then the wheels of fortune brought about unforeseen change and, like sharks, a lot of people smell blood of top people in the Nigerian political waters. They are moving in for the kill. Jonathan’s advice, which will be partly reproduced below, is the first of several which will be made in...

DESPITE inheriting debts running into billions of naira and fall in revenue from oil, the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration may still be able to garner funds for the business of governance, if the advice of experts is implemented. Shortly before the new government was inaugurated, the then Vice President-elect Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, had raised an alarm saying the incoming administration would inherit foreign and domestic debts amounting to a staggering $60bn. “We are concerned that our economy is currently in perhaps its worst moment in history. Local and international debt stands at $60 billion. Our debt-servicing bill for 2015 is N953.6 billion, about 21 per cent of our budget. On account of severely dwindled resources, over two-thirds of the states in Nigeria owe salaries. Federal institutions are not in much better shape. Today, the nation borrows to fund recurrent expenditure,” Osinbajo had lamented. The first thing to do is reduce leakages, said Professor of P...

Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has said that President Muhammadu Buhari would extend bailout to states to enable them offset backlog of salaries and liabilities crippling their economic activities across the country. He made this known yesterday in Makurdi, the state capital, during separate meetings with students and other union leaders from the Benue State University, BSU. Ortom further revealed that his predecessor, Gabriel Suswam left behind a debt burden of over N90 billion for his administration, contrary to the N9.2 billion debt as claimed by the former governor. Benue is among the distressed states in the country. Others include Osun, Enugu, Kaduna, Plateau and Imo. Most of the states or their local governments are said to be owing between four to six months salaries of workers amounting to several billions of Naira. However, according to Ortom, “the list of the debt (left behind by Suswam) include N50 billion incurred from ongoing contracts, N18 billion on...

President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday made his first senior cadre appointment, naming Mohammed Dikwa as Nigeria’s new acting Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF). The appointment, which takes immediate effect from June 12, 2015, followed the retirement from service of Jonas Otunla. Until his appointment, Mr. Dikwa was the Director, Funds Department in the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation. Mr. Dikwa would hold the office until a substantive Accountant-General is appointed by the president. Mr. Dikwa, who holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accountancy and a Masters in Business Administration and Finance, attended the Senior Executive Course 34, 2014 at the National Institute of for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru.  He was awarded Certificates in Public Finance Management Reforms, Leadership and Governance, High Performance Leadership Programme and Treasury Management at the Harvard University, USA; University of Cambridge, Oxfor...

There are indications that President Muhammadu Buhari will announce his ministerial list on Monday, June 15, 2015. It is also revealed that the immediate past Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola, will be announced Secretary to the Federal Government same day. Sources said, “The president is just waiting to receive the reports from the transition committee today (Friday) and thereafter review over the weekend. “Barring any major contrary information in the transition committee’s report, Buhari should make this list public as early as Monday; that will shock everyone”. All Progressives Congress (APC), Ahmed BolaTinubu is expected to make inputs into the list but his choices might see him clash with Buhari, sources said. The APC chieftain said recently that he was aware that Buhari wants a good mix of politicians and private sector players as members of his cabinet. It would be recalled that President Buhari turned down the governors’ list, when he retorted that “I don...

The Nigerian Army has sent an advance team of soldiers to Maiduguri, the Bornu State capital as parts of the game plans to crush the embarrassing activities of the Boko Haram sect. Sani Kukasheka Usman, Acting Director, Army Public Relations said on Monday that  the move was in compliance with the directive of Muhammadu Buhari, Nigerian President that the Army should move its command to Maiduguri. Buhari had gave the directive during his swearing-in on May 29 in Abuja as Nigeria’s democratically elected President. According to Usman, the Chief of Army Staff has therefore directed a reconnaissance and advance team to Bornu State for the establishment of Military Command and Control Centre (MCCC) for Operation Zaman Lafiya to fight terrorism and insurgency in the north-eastern parts of the country. Led by an unnamed two-star General, the statement said the military top-brat has already commenced work in earnest and it is comprised of elements of the Office of the Chi...

President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday in Elmau at the G-7 summit, Germany,  reaffirmed his administration’s total commitment to ending Boko Haram’s insurgency in the shortest time possible. This is containded in a news release issued by the Senior Special Assistant, Media and Publicity to the President, Malam Garba Shehu.  The release said Buhari made the pledge at a meeting with President Francois Hollande of France after his participation in Monday’s G-7 Outreach Programme. According to the release, Buhari said that Nigeria will welcome greater support and cooperation from France and other friendly nations for its ongoing efforts to overcome Boko Haram and restore normalcy to areas affected by the group’s atrocities. The President said at the G-7 that his administration was already taking concrete action to build a more efficient and effective coalition of Nigeria and neighbouring countries against Boko Haram. Nigeria, he said, would appreciate more intelligence on th...

President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday arrived in Munich, Germany, at about 15.25 hours to begin a two-day official visit, in the course of which he will participate in the G-7 Outreach Programme for invited heads of government and global institutions. According to a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the President was received on arrival by the Vice Minister-President of Bavaria, Mrs. Inge Aigner. Buhari was accompanied on the trip by Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State; former Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN); a former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (retd.); and the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Paul Lolo. According to the statement, other invited Heads of State and international institutions who will join Buhari at the working session with G-7 leaders on Monday at Elmau include President Jacob Zuma of South Africa, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of...

The General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church, Pastor William Kumuyi has assured Nigerians that President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osibanjo will bring about the change they promised Nigerians during their campaigns. Kumuyi, who spoke with journalists at Kaduna Airport weekend after presiding over a revival crusade, said he hinged his optimism on the two men’s past achievements. He said: “With the past records of the President as well as the Vice President, I believe they meant what they said during the campaigns and I want to say they will really focus on the drive to bring the change they actually spoke about and I believe we will see change. ”The emergence of Buhari as President was ordained by God and l urge the President to rule with the fear of God.” According to him, “Anyone in position of government is there by the ordination of God, and so should rule with the fear of God. We should look at whatever mistakes the past government made an...

The Muhammadu Buhari administration finally met fuel marketers Friday to resolve a lingering fuel crisis that continued a week after the new president was sworn into office. At the end of the meeting with the marketers and other operators in the oil and gas sector, all sides agreed to work speedily to end the shortage that has hit the hardest in Abuja and Lagos. Oil marketers said they have dispatched 700 trucks of petrol to Abuja as part of efforts to end the scarcity. According to a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting, signed by Taiye Haruna, permanent secretary, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the marketers agreed to begin to deliver fuel products to all parts of the country immediately. The statement said the meeting was tagged “Queue must go stakeholders’ platform”. It said that the Petroleum Products Marketing Company in conjunction with marketers, major and independent, have agreed to increase the level of supply to all retail outlets nationwide with immediate ...

TO enhance the capacity of the agricultural sector to ensure food security, President Mohammadu Buhari has promised to treat agriculture strictly as business. Buhari, who declared open the 55th Annual General Meeting of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) yesterday, described agriculture as a good alternative to oil. Represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Mines and Solid Minerals, Baba-Umar Farouk, the President challenged participants at the conference to come out with useful recommendations that would advance Nigeria’s agricultural sector. He further charged the private sector to participate in developing agriculture in the country because, “Nigeria has huge agricultural potentials with over 84 million hectares of arable land, of which only 40 per cent is currently cultivated. “The country has some of the richest natural resources for agricultural production in the world. The urgency of unlocki...