Federal Government has rallied the major stakeholders in Niger Delta states to develop a common and united strategy to deal with the recent resurgent militant attacks on the nation’s oil installations.
At a meeting held today at the Presidential Villa, and presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, governors from Niger Delta states, three ministers and military service chiefs met behind closed doors to discuss the situation, and forge a common strategy to halt what is considered by both federal and state governments as acts of economic sabotage by the militants.
At the end of the meeting, which lasted over two hours, it was made known that the federal government is proceeding on a collaborative strategy with the governments, communities in the Niger Delta region and other relevant stakeholders towards tackling the situation holistically.
Speaking to news men, at the end of the meeting, Delta State Ifeanyi Okowa, said that the meeting identified the need for synergy between the federal and the state governments as a very important step going forward.
Governor Okowa said: “one thing that we have identified is the synergy between the federal government and states is very important and this meeting has actually revealed a lot of issues and we believe that the collaboration between the Federal Government and States would help us to tackle the issues in the Niger Delta.”
Governor Okowa said that a lot of decisions were taken at the meeting after they were briefed by Service Chiefs.
“We have taken a lot of decisions which we think will help us to mitigate what is going on currently in the states particularly in Delta and Bayelsa.
“We are going to find a solution very soon.”
The governor said that it was decided that military presence in the region should be de-escalated, though it was agreed that the forces should be kept to provide security and presence while government begins immediate engagement process with the communities in the affected areas.
On the fate of the amnesty programme, Governor Okowa said that the Presidential Adviser on the Amnesty Programme briefed the meeting and that it said the programme was still on-going.
“We have a Special Adviser in charge of Amnesty and he is doing a lot of work.”
Those at the meeting were Governors from the Niger Delta states which include Governors of Edo, Ondo, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Bayelsa, Abia, and the Deputy Governor of Cross River. On the side of the federal government were the Minister of Defense, Rtd. Major General Mohammed Dan Ali, Niger Delta Affairs Minister, Pastor Usani Uguru Usani and Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Dr. Ibe Kachikwu. Military service chiefs were also in attendance led by the Chief of Defence Staff, Lt.Gen. Gabriel Olonisakin and all the Service Chiefs who briefed the meeting on the security situation in the region. [myad]

National Contractors Association of Nigeria has promised to put an end to government abandoned projects across the country.
The National Chairman of the Association of Nigeria, Onuche Okoh, who led his team on a courtesy visit to the minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Muhammad Musa Bello on Tuesday, frowned at several numbers of uncompleted buildings scattered across the country and promised to help eradicate abandoned projects.
According to him, the Association will go back to the basics by monitoring the activities of the contractors by entrenching transparency and integrity.
This was even as the minister asked the Contractors to register their association with the Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP) as Non-Governmental Organization to enable it monitor activities of contractors in the country.
The Minister said that the Procurement Act has given Non-Governmental Organizations and Civil Society Organizations a window to register with the BPP to participate as watchdogs in the
entire contract processes in the country.
Muhammad Bello encouraged the Association to study the Act and take advantage of the window provided to strengthen the performance of contractors in the country.
He welcomed the Association’s interest to partner with the FCT Administration but said that the relationship can only be consummated when the BPP writes the FCT Administration in that regard. [myad]

Thieves broke into the premises of the Government Girls Secondary School, Kuje, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, in the early hours of Saturday, making away with cash of over N300,000 and other valuables.

The school authorities resumed from weekend break on Monday to find that the administrative department of the school has been vandalized, with furniture, clocks and other valuables have been removed after the marauders broke the school’s doors and windows.

Meanwhile, the school’s accountant whose name was not immediately known, has been detained in Kje police station as first suspect in the burglary.

A source in the police confirmed the incidence and said that investigation is ongoing. [myad]

The immediate Nigerian President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan has said that it was not possible that he left an empty treasury for the government of Muhammadu Buhari.

In an interview with Bloomberg TV, Jonathan said: “it is not true; there is no way that he (President Buhari) would have inherited an empty treasury and at the same time give bailout to the states. It’s not possible.

“Nigeria is a fairly robust economy, but sometimes, we over politicize some issues and make it look so bad. It was not that bad. Some people ask questions like I was the president of Nigeria since independence; I was the president for 5 years.”

He said that he was not surprised that Buhari’s government is currently emphasizing the fight against corruption, adding that eaxh government that came since independence had always took refuge in fighting corruption.

“It is routine in Nigeria from the collapse of the first republic, people blamed corruption. When the second republic collapsed, the military blamed corruption. If there is a major change in government, one political party taking over from another one, there must be issues.”

Former President admitted however that his government could not tackle the corruption in the oil sector because of certain people but that he was able to clean up corruption in fertilizer.

“In the area of fertilizer subsidy, we cleaned up and the corruption was removed. I wanted to do the same thing in the oil industry but the same people who are accusing us of corruption are the very people that were frustrating it.” [myad]