President Muhammadu Buhari has said that Nigeria expects a lot from Britain for the move to rebuild the North Eastern part of the country in particular and Nigeria in general.
He said that because of the affinity that is shared by Nigeria and Britain, the two nations need each other now more than any other time.
The President who played host to a team of British Members of Parliament led by Hon Chi Onwurah at State House, Abuja said: “we are going to rebuild Nigeria, and there are vast opportunities for Britain and us. We share very close ties, and our expectation from you is high.”
President Buhari said that Nigeria has found herself in a phase of development which is not a very welcome one.
“We are disorganized because we relied on mono-economic product for too long, and now that oil price is down, we have to go back to agriculture and solid minerals. Tin, columbite, cocoa, groundnut, and others, used to be the basis of our economy, but then, oil came, and everybody began to look for cheap money. Now, we need to start all over again.”
Hon. Onwurah, Nigerian-born MP for Newcastle, said the team was in the country “to promote positive engagement between Nigeria and the UK, since we are stronger when we build on ties of the past.”
She said that her team was interested in how the Diaspora can support the economic progress of Nigeria, as well as promotion of trade and diversification of the economy.
Also on the delegation made up of three MPs was the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Paul Arkwright. [myad]

Lagos State Government has charged all the contractors handling the 114 roads in all the 20 Local Governments and 37 Local Council Development Areas in the State to ensure that they meet international standard in delivering the roads project.
The state commissioner for Local Government and Community Affairs, Hon. Muslim Folami, gave the charge during a progress report meeting with all the Contractors, Executive Secretaries and other stakeholders across the State, held at Adeyemi-Bero Auditorium, Alausa-Ikeja.
He emphasised that Governor Ambode attaches great importance to the timely completion of the 114 roads, warning that any contractor that delivered a shoddy job will not only have the contract revoked but will also be blacklisted.
“The state government will not hesitate to cancel any contract or accept excuses from any contractor for non-performance, for the use of substandard material or if the road project delivered after completion is not up to the expected standard.”
He stressed the need for prudent management of funds by the contractors even as he implored all the stakeholders involved in the project to work together.
“This present administration is people oriented government where every Lagosians must be carried along at every point.”
He asked the contractors handling the construction of the roads project to employ people in the communities to work on the roads project especially the indigenes.
He asked that the consideration should be given to the qualified people in the community to work on the construction sites. [myad]

“He (referring to former governor, Dr. Peter Odili) would call me at midnight to tell me what to do. He will say, ‘go to so, so place.’ I took all his advice and here we are today victorious.”
These were the quotes which the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers state ascribed to governor Nyeson Wike of the state on the recent supreme court judgment which favoured him.
Governor Wike was said to have made the statement publicly at a Church Thanksgiving Service on 7th February.
The APC, which insisted that governor Wike should explain to the public whom Dr. Odili asked him to meet before the judgment, described such revelation as an indictment of the apex court.
The statement, signed by the APC state Chairman, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, said that Wike’s confession had ended the mystery about how he procured the shocking judgement considering that Dr. Odili’s wife, Mrs. Mary Odili, is a Justice of the Supreme Court.
“That Wike may have influenced the outcome of the judgement given by the Supreme Court for PDP in Rivers State was further exposed by PDP supporters, who started celebrating the judgement by 9am – almost ten hours before the incredulous judgement was delivered at 6.45pm on Wednesday, January 27, 2016.”
The APC regretted that Rivers people had by the judgement been denied the opportunity to vote for the governorship candidate of their choice simply because “to Wike, everything in this world, including every judgement, has a price tag.”
The party agreed with the position of the Head of the Presidential Anti-Corruption Committee, Professor Itse Sagay, who said that the reasons adduced by the Supreme Court for its judgement on the Rivers guber election are not convincing.
“According to the erudite Scholar in his reaction titled, ‘Wike Climbed into the Governorship Seat over Dead Bodies’: ‘Everybody knows that people like Wike climbed into the governorship seat over dead bodies and over the blood of human beings. There were no elections, they wrote the results; the evidence is there. “Sagay added that what the Supreme Court has done is to set the clock of electoral excellence and fairness and credibility back by. I do not want to say a thousand years, but certainly it is taking us back to where we were before (former INEC Chairman, Prof. Atahiru) Jega came in and sanitised the system.”
The Rivers APC expressed its conviction that the blood of its 100 members killed to install Wike as Rivers State Governor will one day touch the minds of the Supreme Court Justices and make them to give correct judgements that will save Nigeria from the shame in the international community occasioned by this unjust judgement. [myad]