IPMAN to invest $3bn in two refineries

by Dayo Oketola and Stanley Opara

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria has said it is planning to invest $3bn in building two refineries in Bayelsa and Kogi states.

The President, IPMAN, Mr. Chinedu Okoronkwo, said this during a visit of the national executive to the western zone of IPMAN.

Okoronkwo, who said the groundbreaking ceremony of the refineries would be done before the end of the year, explained that the projects would be in collaboration with foreign investors.

He said, “We are proposing to build two refineries in Nigeria, one in Bayelsa and another in Kogi to ease fuel scarcity.

“We are in discussion with our foreign investors during which the arrangement and agreement to commence work will be sealed before July ending while the groundbreaking ceremony is expected to commence in the fourth quarter of the year.”

Okoronkwo said building refineries in the two states would go a long way in ensuring the availability of petroleum products to IPMAN members and ease fuel scarcity in the country.

He said, “We will ensure that the product will get to all nocks and crannies of the country, it will also grow the GDP of the country because capital flight will reduce drastically.

“Where Nigerians are spending $60 in exporting and bringing refined product, the proposed refineries will reduce the cost and stress of exporting crude. It will also create job; there will be a massive job creation where lots of Nigerian youths will be gainfully employed.”

Okoronkwo stated that the proposed refineries would also boost the socio-economic growth of the country.

According to him, the association believes in being part of the moving force to grow the economy.

He said, “By July ending, the investor will come to commence survey and agreement. We are ready to commence the project and we hope to make it work,” he said.

The IPMAN president said that the association was also working with the NNPC, the PPPRA and the PPMC in ensuring product availability.

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S’Africa union to begin strike July 1

by Agency reporter

More than 220,000 members of South Africa’s Engineering and Metalworkers Union will down tools on July 1 after last-ditch wage talks to avert a strike failed, its leaders said on Sunday.

Reuters reports Irvin Jim, secretary-general of South Africa’s largest union, as saying that NUMSA members would also picket the headquarters of state power utility Eskom on July 2 as part of a push for a wage increase of 12 percent, nearly twice the current inflation rate.

Eskom, which produces nearly all the electricity in Africa’s most advanced economy, is defined as an “essential service,” making strikes by its workers illegal.

However, Jim told a news conference that if the union did not get its demands, NUMSA might be left with “no option but to allow our members to liberate themselves.”

“We are going for Eskom. There’s no two ways about it,” he said. “We are doing a picketing. It’s a build-up.”

South Africa is still reeling from a five-month strike in the platinum mines that ended with a wage settlement last week, but not before dragging the economy into contraction in the first three months of the year.

The latest strike is likely to hit engineering firms such as Bell Equipment and industrial group Dorbyl, but the big fear is that a prolonged stoppage in car component factories could affect the important automotive sector.

A four-week strike in 2013 by more than 30,000 NUMSA members at major auto makers cost the industry around $2bn.

The government has been trying to prevent any more damage to the economy. But its ability to sway NUMSA is limited after the union – once a political ally of the ruling African National Congress – fell out with the party last year because of policy disagreements.

NUMSA is South Africa’s largest union with around 340,000 members, although only around two-thirds of these are planning to go on strike.

It has nearly 10,000 workers at Eskom, and if they down tools it could hamper the utility’s ability to keep the lights on, already a daily battle because of razor-thin margins between power supply and demand.

Fayemi’s belated actions

by ROLAND Olisa

Kayode Fayemi

If the news that Governor Kayode Fayemi intends to create 18 new local government areas out of the existing 16 and also embark on a recruitment exercise just four months before handover is anything to go by, it is, to say the least, belated.

You cannot deceive the people all of the time! Why create financial burden for the new government? He ought to have done that months before if he had good intentions. The two steps would at best, be an exercise in futility.

Rather than do such things, he should busy himself with the handover plans, complete ongoing projects, and if any and mop up. He should leave the rest to his “brother”, the incoming governor since governance is a continuum.

The actions are Fayemi’s Greek gifts for the people of Ekiti State and booby traps for Ayo Fayose. Is his concession of defeat not a facade after all? Fayemi should hand over honourably and not cause unnecessary trouble for the incoming government.

ROLAND Olisa,

Alaka Quarters, Akure, Ondo State,

PDP bought Ekiti victory –Lai Mohammed

by John Alechenu

Mr. Lai Mohammed
| credits: File copy

The National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in this interview with JOHN ALECHENU, speaks about the lessons learnt from the Ekiti State governorship election and other sundry issues

What lessons did your party take away from the Ekiti State governorship election?

We came into office and stayed faithful to our manifesto. We stayed faithful to our promise to our people. What we now see is an absurd conclusion that has been reached especially by the Peoples Democratic Party. The absurdity in this logic is that how do you say a governor who has performed and introduced a welfare policy, the first of its kind in Nigeria was rejected? As part of the policy of his party, he promised free and qualitative education and in the pursuit of that abolished schools fees, built new schools, paid teachers regularly but when the students were failing their exams decided to find out what was wrong. The administration introduced assessment examinations but the teachers purportedly don’t like this. If we accept this, we are going to enthrone a kind of government that will buckle under the whims and caprices of any pressure group, however, unreasonable their position may be. This to me is worrisome.

What is the consequence of this kind of scenario you have painted?

The logical consequence of this kind of thing is that in the future, governors might not even bother providing infrastructure, building capacity or improving the education system. If all he needs for re-election is to satisfy a vocal minority and put money in the pockets of a few people. This is what is most painful to us. However, I think we’ve been able to convince Nigerians that for us, politics is not a do-or-die affair; for us the will of the people is supreme. What this means again is that democracy might not necessarily be a contest for good governance. Having said all these, we also wish to put on record that while it is true that we conceded victory, we don’t believe the election was free and fair. To us as a party, if you are not prepared to accept defeat in an election, you do not deserve the joy of victory either. More importantly, we consider the interest of our people above everything else. With over 35,000 security agents milling all over Ekiti State, we have proved that the aspiration of our governor is not worth the blood of anybody. I think we have walked the talk. However, we will not be learning anything if we think for one moment that this election as conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission is free and fair, we will be insincere and hypocritical.

Why do you say so?

We are saying this because election is a process and not just one single event. If you look at the buildup to the election in Ekiti State, if you consider the happenings before, during and after the election you can only come out with one conclusion that the election was skewed in favour of the PDP. I will give you some illustrations. I will start with that fateful Sunday –barely three weeks to the election. There was a peaceful rally of the APC that was turned bloody and led to the death of one of our members. Not even the personal intervention of our governor could call the police to order. We discovered that the head of the Ekiti riot police was actually the ADC of President Goodluck Jonathan when he was deputy governor of Bayelsa State. Rather than the police being called to order, a commissioner of Ekiti State and other party members were arrested and charged for terrorism. Shortly after that, a police van carrying 200 boxes of electoral materials was arrested. Only for INEC to say they were waste materials, we were never told how they became waste materials. While we were still battling with this, there were reports, they have still not denied that about two aircraft made several trips to Akure Airport with strange secret cargo believed to be money, the distribution of which was supervised by the Minister of State for Defence. Till today, no one has told us what those planes were doing in Akure and why the Minister of State for Defence was there. One was a Howker 900 and the other was a Beech Craft 1900, we have the numbers of the two aircraft. Closely on the heels of this, almost on the same day, one day before the election, 22 young men were arrested thumb-printing and filling forms EC8 in a hotel belonging to the campaign manager of the PDP candidate. Nothing more was heard about that. On Thursday, when the APC was having its mass rally, the helicopter bearing the governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole, an APC governor, was denied take-off, River State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, who made it to Akure Airport, was physically detained and forcibly denied entry into Ekiti State. Immediately after, the airport was closed to all our governors. Governors Rochas Okorocha, Rotimi Amaechi, and our leaders, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Chief Audu Ogbeh and others were forced to abandon their aircraft and travel by road. On the eve of the elections itself, our leaders were harassed and arrested. By midnight of Friday, the campaign manager for the governor and his commissioner for finance were harassed. The following morning our leaders were arrested in virtually every local government area and every polling unit identified by the PDP agents. Our law does not make provision for the military during elections. As a matter of fact, the military are supposed to stay very far away from the polling areas. What we witnessed in Ekiti was the military busting into homes and arresting leaders of our party in many places. We even saw them with guns in polling booth areas. Journalists who were perceived not to be malleable were deported after they were accredited. At least, I know four personnel of the Osun State Broadcasting Corporation and one lady from Inspiration FM, they were physically bundled out of Ekiti State and dumped at the boundary between Kwara and Ekiti states. When you have this kind of intimidation before, during and after election, can you in all conscience say that the election was free and fair?

The Peoples Democratic Party has been celebrating its victory especially after Fayemi conceded…(Cuts in)

The victory is hollow for many reasons. We have proved to be better democrats than they are. We have also proved to be better patriots than they are. More importantly is that there is no place in the world that you are going to intimidate people, harass and arrest them and then come out and say oh, the election was free and fair. What bothers us really again are the so-called international observers and the international community. They use two sets of rules; one for countries they deem civilised and another set for us. We have catalogued events before during and after the elections. In their own countries, do they consider what happened before, during and after the elections as qualifying that election as free and fair? This is very sad because when you use a different set of rules with regards to Nigeria, you are saying that as long as there is peace even if it is the peace of the graveyard, you are satisfied.

There are insinuations that the lack of internal democracy within the APC also played a part in your loss.

That is absolutely untrue. In the first instance, we had primaries. I would now want to ask you, what primaries did the PDP have before they threw up Fayose? We are all witnesses to the fact that 11 other candidates disagreed with the emergence of Fayose. So, if you are talking about the lack of internal democracy, how come this did not work against them? You see, every excuse they want to churn out to legistimise their victory will fall flat. When people say it’s because we lack internal democracy you begin to ask yourself, how did our primaries differ from the one that produced the PDP candidate? What was the aftermath of Ayo Fayose emerging? All the party said was the serving governor was doing well there is no reason not to endorse him but any other person who is interested should come. But what did he (Opayemi Bamidele) do? He left the party. I don’t think that is the only reason. For me it was the over militaralisation, intimidation and the obscene use of money. It is within those factors that you can locate the so-called victory of the PDP. What happened in Ekiti, is because it was an isolated case. In the general election, you cannot have 35,000 security personnel in Ekiti State alone. If they want to try that in Osun, we wish them well. We assure Nigerians that we will continue to play the game according to the rules.

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Eagles can beat France –Enyeama

by Pius Ayinor 

 

Super Eagles goalkeeper, Vincent Enyeama | credits: liveofofo.com

THE Super Eaglesare not afraid of France and are capable of beating them, says Nigeria goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama, Goal reports.

France and Nigeria meet in the World Cup last 16 in Brasilia on Monday.

The Eagles went through as runners-up in Group F, earning a last-16 berth, despite a 3-2 defeat in their final group match against Argentina in Porto Alegre on Wednesday.

Stephen Keshi’s side are aiming to reach the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time in their history and, despite coming up against France that have impressed so far, Enyeama feels that dream can become a reality.

“We fear nobody,” the 31-year-old said in an interview with L’Equipe.

“We have a culture for football. It’s our way of life. We work for that and we must show the world what we are capable of.

“France are favourites but anything could happen. I said before the tournament that playing them would be my dream fixture.

“To be honest, we have a great confidence in ourselves.”

Enyeama, who has 93 caps for Nigeria, also spoke of his pride at captaining the national side, revelling in the burden of responsibility that the role brings.

“To be captain is one of the most important things in the world,” the Lille shot stopper added.

“I don’t know what it means in France, but in Nigeria, it means that you carry the team on your shoulders. If all is good, you will be praised – if it’s not, you are to blame.”

Jonathan condemns Bauchi, Kaduna killings

by Olalekan Adetayo

President Goodluck Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan on Sunday condemned Friday night’s bombing in the Bayan Gari area of Bauchi State and the recent mass killings in Southern Kaduna.

In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, the President commiserated with all the families who lost loved ones in the attacks. He also extended his sympathies to all those who suffered injuries or lost their properties during the assaults on the two states.

Jonathan reassured the people of the two states that the Federal Government would continue to take all necessary actions to apprehend the perpetrators of the attacks and restore the fullest possible security to all parts of the country.

The statement added, “The President directs all relevant Federal Government agencies to continue to speedily make emergency medical and relief assistance available to all those who were either injured or displaced by recent bombings and attacks.

“He urges all Nigerians to give maximum support and cooperation to the Armed Forces and security agencies who continue to work incessantly to end the menace of insecurity in the country within the shortest possible time.”

 

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We don’t know where Chibok girls are – US

 by Adelani Adepegba with Agency Report

John Kirby
| credits: http://www.sikerado.hu/

The United States said on Friday it had decreased its surveillance flights in the search for the about 219 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram, but added that the overall effort was unchanged due to more flights by other countries.

It stated that it had no idea of the location of the girls, noting however that there is no letup in the efforts to locate and rescue them.

“We don’t have any better idea today than we did before about where these girls are, but there’s been no letup of the effort itself,” Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby told reporters, according to Reuters.

Kirby said the same level of effort was being sustained now through international involvement.

A US defence official speaking on condition of anonymity said American flights had been reduced only after a body of intelligence had been gathered and that the cuts had been offset by the British and the French support.

Kirby denied a suggestion that US flights over Nigeria had been reduced to accommodate increased US surveillance over Iraq, where Washington is flying unmanned and manned aircraft to gather intelligence about Sunni insurgents.

He said some of the resources that were being used in Nigeria had been diverted from other missions in Africa and could now be used elsewhere on the continent.

Officials declined to say how long heightened U.S. surveillance over Nigeria had lasted.

Asked whether it was just a week or two, the defence official said, “No. We were building this baseline for a good period of time.”

US surveillance flights over Nigeria were now intermittent, the source said.

US military personnel are in Abuja helping to coordinate the effort, and some 80 others were sent to Chad in May to support the surveillance operation.

Chad is northeast of Nigeria and borders the area in which Boko Haram is known to operate.

In the last month, US officials had played down expectations about a swift rescue of the girls and stressed the limitations of intelligence from surveillance flights.

One US official voiced concerns that Boko Haram might have booby-trapped areas where the girls could be held, and there had been reports that they might have been split up into groups that were not being held in one place.

The defence official said surveillance alone would not lead to a resolution. “It will take the Nigerian piece of the equation with their own sources and human intelligence coupled with the other forms to really understand the picture,” he noted.

In an opinion piece in the Washington Post on Friday, President Goodluck Jonathan said his government and security services had “spared no resources, have not stopped and will not stop until the girls are returned home.”

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