Ekiti State Deputy Governor's daughter loses husband

The deputy Governor of Ekiti state, Professor Mrs Modupe Adelabu recently lost her son-in-law, Dr Oluwaseun Fasawe (pictured right). Late Dr Fasawe, a medical consultant & Chief Medical Director of Silver River Healthcare was married to the 1st daughter of the deputy governor, Dr Dolapo Fasawe ... (pictured left).

According to family sources, the late Dr Fasawe left for London on Monday May 19th for what was called corrective surgery scheduled for June 2nd. He reportedly started having difficulty in breathing on Thursday May 29th while in London and called a friend to notify him. The friend immediately called for an ambulance but sadly, while on their way to the hospital, he died. 

 

Late Dr Fasawe is survived by his wife and two sons. He will be buried tomorrow June 12 2014. May his soul rest in peace.

50 Terrorists Die As Troops Avert Raid On Communities

In the latest in a series of firefights with the Boko Haram, the Nigerian Military issued a press release that suggests they have won the latest skirmish in confronting the group in recent days. The release, issued by Chris Olukolade, Major General and the Director of Defense Information issued this statement.

“Troops conducting (the) anti-terrorists campaign in North-Eastern Nigeria have successfully averted (an) attempted massive raid on villages in Borno, and Adamawa States, during the weekend. The terrorists who were on their way to attack selected communities, were ambushed by troops along Biita, in Borno State, on receiving (an) intelligence report of the terrorists’ intention (s).

“The attack was launched on the terrorists as they filed out of the forest to embark on their mission at about 10pm on Saturday. Over 50 terrorists died in the fierce encounter that ensued, while 30 rifles, 36 Hand Grenades, 7 Machine guns, and 11 Rocket Propelled grenade tubes were captured by the troops. Also recovered from the terrorists were over 3,500 rounds of ammunition, 6 smoke grenade canisters, and locally fabricated guns as well as 4 vehicles used by the terrorists in the foiled attack.

“The four soldiers who were wounded in the operation are currently receiving medical treatment in the military medical facility. (A) Cordon and search (effort) is ongoing in the general area.

It is not clear if international assistance from France, Britain, China or the U.S. to the Nigerian military played a role in this confrontation. The use of Drones, both manned and unmanned, and other military assistance to the Nigerians has surfaced in recent weeks, as the search for the nearly 300 schoolgirls continues. Yet, intelligence here played a major role in the location, weaponry, troop numbers, equipment, and which towns that were targeted by the Boko Haram, that resulted in what appears to be a successful confrontation by Nigerian forces over the recent weekend

source : Sahara reporters

Sad news! Prof. Dora Akunyili has passed on

We've heard rumours of her death a few times before but unfortunately this time it's for real. Former Director General of NAFDAC and former Minister of Information Prof. Dora Akunyili has died. She died in the Indian hospital where she was taken to on May 11 to receive medical treatment after her health deteriorated.

Various reliable sources have confirmed her passing. She was only 59. So sad! May her soul rest in peace, Amen.

Analysis: New CBN governor must work to restore financial sector confidence

“Mr. Emefiele has the responsibility to find a way of restoring the era of strong legacy of excellent financial sector management set in motion by his predecessor.”

Godwin Emefiele assumed office on Tuesday as the 11th governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.

The former Group Managing Director of Zenith Bank Plc. is succeeding Lamido Sanusi, whose suspension from office by President Goodluck Jonathan last February over alleged financial recklessness triggered a major crisis that not only unsettled the delicate stability of the entire banking sector, but also the confidence of investors in the country’s economy.

Though the crisis appears to have been brought under control in the last three month under the interim management of the acting governor, Sarah Alade, Mr. Emefiele appears to find himself in office as the helmsman at the CBN when the vestiges of the declining confidence are yet to completely ebb.

In the aftermath of the ugly face-off between Mr. Sanusi and the government over the $49.8 billion oil revenue controversy, the autonomy and independence of the CBN appeared to have been negatively impacted.

Followers of developments at the Central Bank said on Tuesday that as Mr. Emefiele assumes office, he needs to urgently settle in and map out ways of rebuilding the confidence and help railroad the county’s economy on the path of sustained stability and growth.

Despite the unfortunate politicization of the role of the bank governor, Mr. Emefiele has the responsibility to find a way of restoring the era of strong legacy of excellent financial sector management set in motion by his predecessor.

According to the former acting Governor, Mrs. Alade, the thrust of the concerns of the management of the Bank as she found out during her brief stint at the helm revolves around the need to sustain financial system stability and restore investors’ confidence in the country’s economy.

As he assumes office, the aggregate expectation of most Nigerians is that Mr. Emefiele would immediately think about how to exert the appropriate response, through appropriate monetary instruments, to contain potential shocks capable of unsettling the financial system stability.
Having overcome the uncertainty that beclouded the financial system in February and March as a result the Sanusi crisis, there has been some observed stability in the foreign exchange market, money market and capital market.

For Managing Director, Financial Derivatives Company, Bismarck Rewane, although the macroeconomic environment appears to be relatively stable, several risks are still lurking in the corner for the new CBN governor.

“The conflicting trends of core and headline inflation since January 2014 will have to be put in perspective as well as the concerns over the eroding fiscal buffers; all of these could accentuate another speculative attack on the naira,” Mr. Rewane said.

For the Lead Director, Centre for Social Justice, CSJ, Eze Onyekpere the challenge for the new CBN governor has to be how to assert his office and reassure all stakeholders, particularly executive and legislative authorities, on the need to maintain CBN’s autonomy and independence away from politics.

Mr. Onyekpere said Mr. Emefiele has to reposition the CBN as a team player in the administration, not in the sense of condoning corruption, but by ensuring coordination and harmony between the monetary and fiscal authorities in the country.

“Nigerians expect greater transparency and accountability in the management of the funds and policies of the CBN. There must be clear policy implementation pathways that are not based on the rule of the thumb of the new governor. In undertaking banking supervision, sound risk management should be mainstreamed, as an imperative to encourage banks to bring back vibrancy to the economy,” he said.

He stressed the need to control the level of inflation by keeping the rate at single digit, while continuing with measures to control excess liquidity in the system and balanced with the challenge of growing the economy.

Mr. Onyekpere said the mere fact that investors and producers borrow at very high uncompetitive rates to do business was the reason for the stunted growth of the economy and the difficulty in facilitating job creation, enhancing value addition, improving efficiencies and growing the capacity utilisation rate of industry.

Therefore, he said, access to credit at a reasonable rate for the real sector and the small and medium-term enterprises, SMEs should be one of the major policy concerns of the CBN under Mr. Emefiele’s leadership, to promote economic growth and poverty reduction.

The ability of the CBN to check the depreciation of the Naira in the short to medium term, he said, must also occupy the top priority in Mr. Emefiele’s agenda to ensure that the national currency does not continue to play a second fiddle to the major currencies of the world.

Aluu 4: Gone but not forgotten

I can't get over these guys & how they lost their lives. Still, no justice! We are still waiting. Continue to rest in peace, guys!

Photos: Meet the 9 most important people in the world

The eight men and one woman you see above are some of the most important people in the world. Seven of them are the leaders of the most powerful countries in the world, while two are leaders of the European Council and Commission. The G7 leaders are currently gathered in Brussels to discuss the situation in Ukraine, foreign policy issues, global economy and more.

From left to right: Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harperm, US President Barack Obama, President of the European Council Herman van Rompuy, Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron, Head of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso, France's President Francois Hollande and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Russian president Vladimir Putin wasn't invited to the summit. See more pics after the cut

Confab adopts part-time legislation, seeks cancellation of severance pay for ex-governors

The Conference also adopted a recommendation for the creation of a character commission in each state of the federation.

The delegates to the on-going National Conference on Wednesday said governors and their deputies should no longer be entitled to pension and severance pay when they leave office.

The resolution might have been taken due to the pension laws passed by some states of the federation including Kano, Rivers, Gombe and Akwa Ibom.

The Conference also adopted a recommendation to make federal and state legislators operate on part-time basis.

These decisions were taken on Wednesday after the Conference adopted the resolutions of its committee on Public Service jointly headed by Ebele Okeke and Adamu Aliyu.

Under the new arrangement, states offering pension, life insurance and severance allowances to former governors and their deputies would be expected to cancel such perks and or align them with global best practices.

The Conference also adopted a recommendation for the creation of a character commission in each state of the federation to protect the interest of minority ethnic groups.

The implication of this is that if eventually accepted by the president and included in the constitution, minority groups in the 36 states of the federation would enjoy equal treatment in appointments into public service of their different states.

The Conference Chairman, Idris Kutigi, said the decision is meant to address the non-application of the Federal Character principles at the state and local government levels.

However, the Committee’s recommendation that retirement age for civil servants, be fixed at 65 or forty years of active service; from the present practice of 60 years of age or 35 years of service was rejected.

Delegates had argued that those who have clocked 35 years in service or were 60 years old should give room for younger ones with fresh ideas to join the service.

The recommendation for the creation of Foreign Service Commission with a chairman and six commissioners, one of whom should be from each of the six geo-political zones was unanimously adopted.

The Conference also accepted the recommendation that governments at all levels should make public offices disability-friendly by providing special access facilities in line with international charters and treaties.

Besides, governments at all levels are expected to add allowances equivalent to Salary Grade Level 6 to persons living with disability to enable them employ an aide.

The Conference also sought to minimize disparities in public sector pay, particularly between political appointees, public officers, civil servants and staff of parastatals.

As part of cost saving measures, the Conference suggested that henceforth, political appointees ranging from ministers to commissioners and local government chairmen should no longer employ special advisers, special assistants, and personal assistants.

Instead, political office holders are encouraged to utilize staff of their ministries and council areas where it becomes necessary, as contained in Circular No: B63833/73 of January 3, 2000.

It also sought an amendment to Section 147(3) of the 1999 Constitution which demands that the President appoints at least one minister from each state of the Federation.

Instead, it asked that the section be reframed to indicate that the President shall appoint not more than one minister from each state of the federation.

While calling for full implementation of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), the Conference also advocated strong budgetary reforms and the creation framework for budget monitoring and evaluation.

However, former lawmakers at the Conference were quick to kick against the decision to make the legislature part-time.

They argued that holding a political office is not the same as being a career public servant; and that the legislature as presently constituted, is operating on part-time basis because members do not sit for a whole week.