Another Round Of Bail-Outs For States? God Forbid By Dele Sobowale

The same Chinese have been known to derisively refer to a person or government saying two opposite things at the same time as someone “speaking with forked tongues”. The Federal Government of Nigeria has been speaking with forked tongues with regard to fresh bail-out for the states, who despite a previous botched bail-out, are still in financial turmoil. Irrespective of political party in power, all the states are in various degrees in trouble. Even Lagos State, the Centre of Excellence, is feeling the pinch badly.

Attempts To Skin The Labour Minister By Owei Lakemfa

LABOUR Minister, Dr. Chris Ngige has come under serious bombardment since his June 7 statement that banks stop their mass sack of workers. He had also hinted that Government may sanction banks that ignore its appeal.

The attacks on the Minister have been wide, sustained and vicious. Leading the charge is the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA) which is reported as using quite strong words; accusing the Minister as “ignorant” “reckless” acting with ‘subjectivity” not commenting “from a knowledge perspective” engaging in “populism” and “partisanship” rather than “professionalism” and “arrogating to himself the power of the Federal Government.” I am shocked by these choice of words.

Proposed pension, immunity for Saraki, Dogara provocative –Falana, SERAP

Human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN); a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Niyi Akintola, and the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, have condemned the proposed life pension and immunity for National Assembly leaders.

While SERAP and the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders described the proposed life pension and immunity for Senate President Bukola Saraki and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, as self-serving and despicable, Falana called it “insensitive, irrational and immoral.”

Akintola said the call for such incentives for the National Assembly leaders was unreasonable.

Falana and Akintola called on Nigerians to rise against the proposal.

15 die in Lagos-Ibadan expressway crash

Fifteen people yesterday died in a multiple auto  accidents on Lagos-Ibadan expressway.

It involved a truck, a fuel tanker and a commercial bus.

The accident, which occurred  at the Fidiwo-Ajebo, Ogun State stretch of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, left 14 passengers and driver of the commercial bus dead on the spot.

The truck was marked AJG 40 XA and fuel tanker has registration number RAN 571 XA. The passenger bus was marked (LAGOS) AGL 373 XR.

It was learnt that the accident occurred, when the driver of the fuel-laden truck moving in the direction of Ibadan, Oyo State, attempted to overtake another truck at a road diversion point.

Diaspora remittances to hit $35b yearly

The implementation of the new flexible foreign exchange regime is expected to raise the annual Diaspora remittances from $21 billion to $35 billion, President, Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), Aminu Gwadabe, has said.

Speaking with The Nation, Gwadabe said with the new forex regime in place, many Nigerians in the Diaspora are likely to send home  more dollars to benefit from improved rate on the parallel market. “The new rates will be attractive to Nigerians in the Diaspora. We will continue to insist that the Diaspora funds should be managed by bureaux de change operators because such funds fall within the service end of the market,” he said.

The World Bank Migration and Remittances Factbook 2016 showed that Nigerians living abroad sent home $20.8 billion in 2015. The figure is by far the largest volume of remittances to any country in Africa and the sixth largest in the world.

Must Read For Singles: MARRY UP!

MARRY UP

If you're not yet married, this is for you.

To marry up means that you marry someone who pulls you up.

I counsel you to marry up.

It's no news that your association can either  raise you or crash you.

Marry someone who can pull you upward, inspire you to go forward and drive you onward in the fulfilment of your destiny.

Someone who can encourage you to be all God wants you to be.

Seek Daily NBC - A PERSON OF GOD

Seek Daily NBC

Monday, June 20

1 Kings 17:17-24

A PERSON OF GOD

Then the woman said to Elijah, ‘Now I know that you are a man of God...’ 1 Kings 17:24, NIV

Elijah was a very important biblical figure that lived his life in an unflinching relationship with the Lord. He submitted himself to the leading of God and obeyed His instruction. No wonder he was blessed and used in mighty ways. Today’s passage shows God’s mighty act through Elijah. This was so because he had earlier listened and obeyed God’s instruction. Through his obedience, the following became evident in his life; 1. God blessed Elijah by supplying his needs. 2. God listened to him when he prayed. 3. God used him to raise the dead son of the widow. 4. He became a source of blessing to the widow.

JUST OBEY SIMPLE INSTRUCTION - "Mr Luis,

JUST OBEY SIMPLE INSTRUCTION........                 "Mr Luis,
we are sending home your children from school,
they haven’t paid their school fees and we will not allow them to take the exams”
Luiis began to plead but the principal wouldn’t budge.

Just as he dropped the phone another call entered.
It was from his landlord,  he had been given an ultimatum of one week to pay the house rent or he would be forced out of the apartment.

Like Ali By Sam Omatseye

What is the link between Muhammad Ali and the new call to restructure Nigeria? Not Ali’s rope-a-dope, not the flourish of his poesy, or the beastly beauty of his stalking and punching, or the balletic finesse of his footwork.

But his tribalism, especially when he boxed into limelight. Ali was a tribalist as black racist, as an anti-establishment, when he tarred fellow black Joe Frazier as Uncle Tom, when he renounced Cassius Clay, when he embraced Elijah Mohammed in pious defiance, when he threw his Olympic gold medal in the river, in his famous “I ain’t got no quarrel with them Viet Cong.”

But that was early Ali. That perhaps is where we are in the fight for restructuring. Today, it has become a familiar hymn. But it is not new. If we were a nation of intellectual fidelity, if our political elite were sincere in their soul, we would have resolved the matter decades ago, especially after the hurly burly of the civil war. I am for restructuring. The federal system sits a centre like a leviathan in shallow waters, ponderous, stuck and “swimless,” and at the mercy of the nibbling rapacity of a swarm of small fishes.

Osun’s school dresses By Emeke Omeihe

Those who watched media clips of Baptist High School pupils, Iwo Osun State,would have been amazed at the sight of students dressed in sundry religious apparel. There were those in hijab (veil); choir dresses while others appeared in flowing white garment clothes – apparently denoting the religious mix in that particular school. Of course, there were others who appeared in their usual school uniform unmindful of the seeming dressing competition.

The situation looked quite confused. A young man who was taken aback by the scenario could not help but exclaim “religious dresses on parade”! That was the situation in that school and it had its roots in a recent court judgment which permitted female Muslim students to attend classes in hijab.

A suit filed in 2013 by the Muslim community against the Osun State government, had asked the court to grant Muslim students the use of hijab in some public schools where they were being harassed and discriminated against.

Their counsel premised his argument on the decision of the Court of Appeal, Ilorin between the Provost of the College of Education and one BasiratSaliu and noted that female Catholics wear veil, Mary mother of Jesus always appears in picture with veil on her head. He then prayed the court to allow female Muslim students wear veil in those schools since they have been wearing it in accordance with the 2004 directive of the state government.

A new financial year By Eze Onyekpere

The budget in virtually all countries of the world is governed by laws and policies laid down to serve the best interest of the country. These laws and policies are subject to change when empirical evidence proves that they no longer serve the public good. In other words, change is not just done for the sake of change but for the sake of some higher and nobler national interests. There must be some mischief identified in an existing law; to cure the mischief and advance a remedy, a new law or amendments of existing law arise. This is the context of amendments, repeals and new laws.

Section 11 of the 2016 Appropriation Act reads that: “In line with the provisions of Section 318 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended, this Act will run for a course of 12 months starting from the date it is assented into law”.

Bailout again!

•Stringent as the conditions may be, interested states must comply to benefit

Two bailouts after and some 27 states still in arrears of salaries and pensions running into several months, and with indications that many more will suffer the same fate barring a rescue plan – the Federal Government last week rolled out another financial package – the third – for the states. This is a N90 billion bond with nine percent interest tied to the states’ being able to meet the 22 conditions contained in the fiscal sustainability plans of the Federal Government.

Among others, such a state must implement a centralised Treasury Single Account (TSA); ensure that it starts publishing its audited annual financial statements by December each year; set realistic and achievable targets to improve independently generated revenue and favourable ratio of capital to recurrent expenditure; review all revenue-related laws and update of obsolete rates/tariffs;  ensure biometric capture of all their civil servants to eliminate payroll fraud; adopt the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) compliant software to be put to use in their respective states and local governments; establish a Capital Development Fund to ring-fence capital receipts and adopt accounting policies to ensure that capital receipts are strictly applied to capital projects and prohibition of commercial bank loans.

Setting The Records Straight: Nobody Is Misleading President Buhari By Ayantunji Benjamin

This article is a response to Dele Momodu’s article titled “Before They Mislead President Buhari”. The article like most of the writer’s recent articles is a subtle castigation of Buhari’s administration and support for the corrupt and dirty past that brought us to this position as nation.

To appeal to his audience, which presently is populated by the disciples of the old order and ignorant young men and women, the writer employs often half baked truth, intellectual manipulation and sometimes outright lies. These are what I intend to set straight.

Beware of contradictions By Sonala Olumhense

Finally, the Nigerian government has practically devalued the naira.

Given the nation’s economic and fiscal realities, action in that direction had been expected by many in the past year.  But President Muhammadu Buhari would not hear of it.

One recent report said he had agreed to devalue the naira in exchange for International Monetary Fund (IMF) funds to implement the 2016 budget in the face of plummeting revenues, and that some of his aides projected the exchange rate to the dollar to drop to as low as 290.

Experts predict new forex rate at N280/dollar

As Nigerians await the new forex rate which takes effect tomorrow, experts have predicted that the new interbank forex trading rate will range between N260 and N280 to the dollar.

The Central Bank of Nigeria announced on Wednesday that it would remove pegs on the naira to allow market forces to begin to determine the true value of the currency against other currencies across the world.

At a meeting with CBN officials and bank chief executives at the weekend, banks requested customers to send them pending letters of credit (LCs) for them to resubmit and to quote a rate at which they want to buy dollars, with many of them submitting bids between N210 and 290 to the dollar, a source said.

The Central Bank had pegged the naira rate at 197 to the dollar in the last 16 months after a slump in oil revenues hammered public finances and its foreign reserves. But the currency trades at around 355 on the parallel market.

My case is that of mistaken identity- Ikon

A member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Samuel Ikon (Etinam/Nsit Ibom/Nsit Ubium, Cross River) alleged to have requested hotel parking attendants in a US hotel to solicit prostitute for him said yesterday that his case was that of mistaken identity.

The lawmaker, who heads the House committee on Inter- Parliamentary Relations, in a chat withThe Nation, said he had taken steps to ensure that the mistake was corrected, his name cleared and his integrity restored.

Ikon said he was insisting that a comprehensive investigation be instituted by the United States government.

According to him, “I have issued a press statement clearly stating that this allegation on my person is false and certainly not me.  I have taken steps to ensure that this mistake is unraveled.

Trump campaign: We’re facing an emergency goal of $100,000 …

The Donald Trump campaign on Saturday released its first “emergency” fund-raising email, in response to an ad blitz from the Hillary Clinton campaign.

“Right now we’re facing an emergency goal of $100,000 to help get our ads on the air. We need your contribution by 11:59 P.M. Tonight,” the email from Team Trump said.

“Crooked Hillary is about to invade your TV with ads attacking Mr. Trump. But we’re preparing to fight back,” it reads.

The email promises to release ads attacking Clinton on her role in Benghazi, the integrity of her donors and reported FBI probing of her private email server while secretary of state.

The urgent fundraising email is routine for most presidential campaigns. But it’s particularly notable since Trump insisted repeatedly during the GOP primary season that he was self-funding his campaign, only to start asking for donations later on.

Republican officials and activists are increasingly concerned that Trump is underestimating the fundraising challenge ahead as he faces off against Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee.

100 militants invade Ogun community, kill 15 …

The Imushin community in the Ogijo area of Ogun State has been thrown into mourning after no fewer than 15 residents were reportedly killed on Friday evening by armed men suspected to be militants.

SUNDAY PUNCH learnt that about 100 militants, armed with guns and cutlasses, stormed the community around 11pm on Friday and embarked on a killing spree, killing every resident in sight.

When our correspondent visited the community on Saturday, he saw a few of the corpses which their families were preparing for burial in accordance with Islamic rites.

Among the 15 killed was a technician, Waheed Buhari, aka Yah Alau, who was shot dead in front of his room.

One of his children, Mariam, sustained bullet wounds.

A travel agent, Mr. Oladele Ogundare, was said to be returning home in his car, when the rampaging militants opened fire on his car and killed him.

Senators demand life pension, immunity for Saraki, Dogara, others

Some senators on Saturday demanded immunity and life pension for presiding officers of the National Assembly after their tenure in office.

They made the proposals at a-two day retreat on Constitution Review organised by the Senate Ad Hoc Committee on Constitution Review in Lagos, the News Agency of Nigeriareports.

The retreat was tagged, ‘Towards Ensuring Governance Accountability in Nigerian federalism.’

According to them, presiding officers, who should enjoy life pension, are President of the Senate, Deputy President of Senate, Speaker of the House of Representatives and Deputy Speaker of House of Representatives.

Chelsea Clinton gives birth to her second child ……

Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton is a grandmother twice over.

Chelsea Clinton announced Saturday that she has given birth to her second child, son Aidan.

The 36-year-old daughter of former President Bill Clinton and current presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton lives in New York.

She and her hedge fund manager husband Marc Mezvinsky have a 20-month-old daughter, Charlotte. Both Charlotte and Aidan were born at Manhattan’s Lenox Hill Hospital.

Mezvinsky is the son of former U.S. Rep. Edward Mezvinsky and former U.S. Rep. Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky.

Condoleezza Rice ‘not interested’ in being Trump’s vice president …

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says she doesn’t want to be Donald Trump’s 2016 running mate.

Rice, who was also a national security adviser in the Bush administration, frequently has been mentioned as a possible Republican vice president since leaving public office in 2009.

“Dr. Rice has repeatedly said in past cycles as well as this one, she’s not interested in being vice president,” Stanford University said in a statement to reporters Friday. “She’s happy at Stanford and plans to stay.”

Rice, now a political science professor, also does not plan to attend the GOP convention in July in which Trump, the party’s presumptive presidential nominee, is expected to be nominated as the party’s candidate.

Obama breaks from Yosemite family trip to urge Americans to stop climate change

President Obama on Saturday broke from his family vacation in Yosemite National Park to urge Americans to act on climate change, which he argued is destroying the country’s precious natural resources.

“Make no mistake, climate change is no longer a threat, it’s a reality,” the president said in a roughly 10-minute speech, ahead of the upcoming 100th anniversary of the National Parks system.

Obama said Yosemite rangers told him that signs of climate change, or global warming, are already occurring across the roughly 761,000-acre park in California.

“Yosemite’s largest glacier, (once) almost a mile long, is almost gone,” said Obama, standing behind the majestic Yosemite falls.

Global warming has in large part been blamed on human activity and on coal and other fossil fuel-burning plants.

Tension at funerals for Orlando victims with protest, irate driver

Funerals for two of the 49 victims killed in the shooting at a nightclub in Florida were marked by tense scenes on Saturday, as an impatient driver was accused of injuring two law enforcement officers and one burial took place under the watch of anti-gay protesters.

Two Osceola County Sheriff’s deputies on motorcycles were injured at the funeral procession for Jean Carlos Mendez in Kissimmee, Florida, some 20 miles (32 km) south of Orlando, when a driver cut through the cortege and struck them with her car, according to a statement on the sheriff’s Facebook page.

The deputies were taken to the hospital, where both were in stable condition, said the sheriff’s spokeswoman, Twis Lizasuain.

Happy Father's Day

Niger Delta Avengers: MASSOB faction condemns militant group, says violence is unacceptable

The Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) led by ChiefRalph Uwazuruike, of has condemned the activities of the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) militant group, saying MASSOB does not support the violence.

The MASSOB faction, led by Uchenna Madu, had, earlier in the week, commended the NDA for its activities and for giving seven governors in the South East and South South zones one week ultimatum to release pro-Biafra agitators detained in their states or face their wrath.