Supreme Court Delivers Judgement on Saraki's Case

The Supreme Court has ruled that Nigeria's Senate President Saraki must face corruption trial at the Code Of Conduct Tribunal. saraki docked.png Saraki had filed an appeal at the Apex court seeking to quash the 13-count charge the Federal Government filed against him by the CCT. Delivering judgement today, the Apex Court declared that Saraki’s CCT trial is proper and in order.

WAEC: See Performance Chat For All Nigerian States

The West African Senior School Certificate Examination has released its performance chart for May/June 2015 exams. WAEC.jpg The Chart as obtained showed the list of all the states and their positions. See details of chart below: Abia - 1st Anambra - 2nd Edo - 3rd Rivers - 4th Imo - 5th Lagos - 6th Bayelsa - 7th Delta - 8th Enugu -9th Ebonyi - 10th Ekiti - 11th Kaduna - 12th Ondo - 13th Abuja - 14th Kogi - 15th Benue - 16th Akwa Ibom - 17th Kwara - 18th Ogun - 19th Cross River - 20th Taraba - 21st Plateau - 22nd Nassarawa -23rd Kano - 24th Borno - 25th Oyo - 26th Niger - 27th Adamawa -28th Osun -29th Sokoto - 30th Bauchi - 31st Kebbi - 32nd Katsina - 33rd) Gombe - 34th Jigawa - 35th Zamfara - 36th Yobe - LAST

Naira Hits a New All Time Record Low

The Nigerian Naira on Thursday fell to a new all time record low, exchanging at 311 to a dollar at the parallel market, D The British Pound Sterling was sold at N432 yesterday while the Euro exchanged at N331 at the parallel market. The interbank rate, as at yesterday, was 199.25 a dollar, 290.92 to Pound Sterling and 223.24 to a Euro. There are lots of pressure on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to devalue the naira in order to adjust to the reality due to the fall in the price of crude oil in the global market. The naira had lost about 30 per cent of its value at the parallel market following the suspension of the weekly auction to the Bureau de Change operators (BDCs) last month by the CBN.

Buhari Opens Escrow Account for Money Recovered From Treasury Looters

The Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, on Wednesday mentioned that an Escrow account has been opened for money recovered from treasury looters. According to him, no sincere Nigerian will fail to recognise the courage of the President to tackle corruption in a country where impunity was once celebrated. “He (Buhari) is making good strides towards improving governance by tackling corruption. Till date, a good number of persons believed to have collectively stolen billions from taxpayers have been arrested and are facing the courts. “We are working with our allies across the world from Britain and America to France and Germany to China and the UAE to source, locate and repatriate misappropriated funds. “So far, an escrow account has been opened for money that is being returned. This is only the start. The return of stolen funds is important, but it is just as critical to ensure that those who seek to steal realise that no longer will there be such impunity in Nigeria.” He said Buhari’s war against corruption and terrorism had become a template for Africa and the rest of the world.

Crude Oil Price Rises After Russia Agree to OPEC Talks

The price of crude oil rose, today, Wednesday, after fresh comments from Russia about its openness to talk with OPEC over output cut

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said if there is consensus among the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC members to meet, “then we will meet”.



This helped push the price of oil, which had been set for a third day of declines after data on Tuesday showed another big build in United States inventories, off the day’s lows.

Brent for April delivery rose 40 cents to $33.12 a barrel, pulling away from a session low of $32.30.

US crude futures rose 46 cents to $30.34, off a session low of $29.40.

“Is there going to be a meeting between Russia and OPEC? That is a supportive factor in this rally that we’ve seen in the last one hour,” PVM Oil Associates analyst, Tamas Varga said.

Jonathan Made History - Buhari Tells European Union

1. President Muhammadu Buhari today said former President Goodluck Jonathan made history by by conceding defeat after the March 28 election.
   
   
   
   Buhari made the comment while addressing the European Union parliament’s plenary session in Strasbourg, France.
   
   ''Democracy has come to Nigeria to stay, sooner than we expected, Nigeria will be regarded as one of the strongest in Africa'', Buhari said.

    

Chinese Bank Agrees to Finance Lagos-Kano Railway Project

The China-Exim bank has agreed to finance the railway projects linking Lagos to Kano and Lagos to Calabar, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has disclosed in a statement released on Tuesday.

"We expect these will generate some economic activities and create jobs," he said in a meeting with a delegation from the bank.

The bank is also expected to finance rehabilitation projects of airports and other railway lines in the country.

 

America's Presidential Race: Donald Trump Suffers Surprise Defeat to Ted Cruz

Texas Senator Ted Cruz has won the Iowa Republican caucuses, the first vote to choose US presidential candidates.

"Tonight is a victory for courageous conservatives," he declared, to great applause, as he railed against Washington, lobbyists and the media.



He took 28% of the Republican vote, beating his rival, the frontrunner Donald Trump, and Marco Rubio.

However, Mr Trump congratulated the Texas senator and said he was "honoured" by the second-place finish.

Iowa has an unusual election system based on caucuses, which involve people gathering at private homes, schools and other public buildings across the state.

Democratic voters divide themselves into groups based on their preferred candidate, but the Republican caucus process is more like a traditional ballot.

I Can't Sleep Because of Nigeria's "Real Hardship" - IMF Boss Lagarde

The head of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde is having some trouble sleeping at night.

Speaking on Sunday, Lagarde said “quite a few countries” are keeping her awake lately, but at the top of the list are low-income nations that rely heavily on exporting oil.

“I think of a country like Nigeria, for instance, where 90% of its exports and 60% of its revenue are generated by oil or oil-related revenues,” Lagarde said in an interview on the sidelines of the Albright Institute at Wellesley College. “That’s a country that is facing…a real hardship.”

Several countries including Nigeria are running out of money because of cheap oil. According to reports, the country is considering asking the World Bank, the African Development Bank and other international organizations for a billion dollar loan to fund its 2016 budget.

Nigeria's Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun has denied the reports.

“It’s necessary [for Nigeria] to very promptly redesign its business model and realign its interests with a completely new reality which is here for longer than many think,” Lagarde said.

Bill Gates Speaks About Nigeria's Aliko Dangote

Dangote Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have committed $42m to routine immunisation and strengthening of primary health care in northern states in Nigeria.

World's richest man, Bill Gates, praised Dangote's success in removing Nigeria from the global list of endemic countries in his fight to eradicate polio.

"Aliko is Africa’s richest man, and his business activities drive economic growth across the continent. That’s impressive, but I know him best as a leader constantly in search of ways to bridge the gap between private business and public health. It’s for that reason he helped create the Nigeria Private Sector Health Alliance. And it’s for that reason he is an advocate for agricultural research and malaria control," he wrote in the Times magazine.

"The last time I was in Nigeria, we met with dozens of people, from government leaders to front-line health workers. After I left, Aliko followed up with them to make sure they were doing the work they said they would do. This year, Nigeria is on pace for its lowest number of polio cases ever. Aliko is a big reason why," he said.

Nigerian Ministers Kemi Adeosun and Rotimi Amaechi Exchange Hot Words in Beijing [THISDAY]

Nigeria's Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun and Transportation Minister Rotimi Amaechi, according to Thisday exchanged hot words in Beijing over the absence of Adeosun's delegates for an important meeting with the China-Exim bank.

The two ministries were scheduled to meet with the Chinese bank to discuss the finance of several transportation projects in the country.

The misunderstanding between the ministers transpired when Adeosun did not hesitate to give Amaechi a piece of her mind for meddling in the travel arrangements of directors from her ministry to Beijing.

Her directors were forced to defer their trip and in the process missed their first meeting with officials of the China Exim Bank.

Reports say Adeosun, who was in transit from Davos to Abuja via London, was called in the British capital and asked to proceed to Beijing to hold discussions with the China Exim Bank on the bilateral loans offered by the Chinese government on a number of infrastructure projects in Nigeria, including the railway and airport rehabilitation projects.

She reportedly obtained a ticket to fly with Emirates Airline to Beijing from London and called her directors with the institutional knowhow on the bilateral loans and outstanding counterpart funding agreed between the China Exim Bank and the Nigerian government to join her in China.

But on the day of the meeting, her directors who were supposed to have arrived the day before were nowhere to be seen because they were prevented from boarding their Emirates Airline flight in Abuja.

Amaechi, according to a transportation ministry official, was scheduled to fly with his own team on the same flight from Abuja, but had taken umbrage over a contractor of his ministry who had been smuggled into the government delegation.

“On getting to the airport, Amaechi was angry that a contractor who had no business being on the trip had been included in the delegation.

“So he ordered his directors, those of the finance ministry and the contractor not to proceed on the trip. In the process, all of them including Amaechi missed their flight and had to buy tickets to depart Abuja in the evening on Lufthansa Airways.

“And since Lufthansa flies through Frankfurt, they missed the first meeting in the morning with the China Exim Bank.”

Adeosun was not happy about the incident and confronted Amaechi demanding to know why he had to offload her own directors if he had issues with his team.

“She made it abundantly clear that he had no business offloading her directors from the flight since they knew nothing about the travel arrangements of his team.

“She told him that due to his meddling, they had missed their first meeting at the Exim Bank,” he said.

It wasn't confirmed if Amaechi apologised to Adeosun, but subsequent meetings with the China Exim Bank progressed without incident, the official said.

 

Jonathan Reveals His Role in Buhari's Government

Former President Goodluck Jonathan has spoken on his role in President Muhammadu Buhari's government.



Speaking during an interview session with DAILY SUN, Jonathan said he is ready to work for Buhari.

“I am former president and I cannot throw myself on the new government. It depends on the assignment the current president decides to give me and also depends on if I have the capacity to carry out such assignment.

“He is our president and can decide to send people on assignments based on national interests. When I was in office, I used to give assignments to former presidents and that is how it has always been. I am free to work for my country and indeed for any other African president that considers my service valuable.”

PDP Crisis Irredeemable as Shekarau, Mantu, Nnamani, Others Move To Form A New Party

The crisis in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) may have assumed an irredeemable dimension with strong indications last week that the the trio of former governor of Kano State and former Education minister Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, former governor of Jigawa State Sule Lamido and former Deputy Senate President Ibrahim Mantu,

Others mentioned in the scheme include former minister of the Federal Capital Territory Senator Bala Muhammed, former deputy governor in the old Sokoto State Ahmed Muhammed Gusau, former governor of Bauchi State Isa Yuguda, former governor of Cross River State Donald Duke, Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi, Senator Ibrahim Ida, Adamu Maina Waziri, Ibrahim Idris, Aminu Wali, Abba Dabo, John Odey and Aniete Okon. A former Senate president, Ken Nnamani, is said to be the interim leader of the group.
Mallam Shekarau was understood to have last week hosted 23 members of the group in his house in Abuja while there had also been meetings in Nnamani’s office.



“Yes, we are trying to rebrand and weed out bad eggs in the party and it is the process that will lead to the formation of a new party,” said aide close to Shekarau. “Initially, we had two options, that is, whether to rebrand the PDP or form a new party.

“Arguments are in the favour of the formation of the party, hence resolution of our bigwigs. The direction now is the formation of a new party but we will definitely draw for the resources of the PDP to make headway,” he said.

While many of the names disclosed to be on the list did admit in separate chats with the Daily Trust on Sunday that they gathered to discuss the crises in the PDP, they all denied that the focus of their meeting was to form a new party. But some of the bigwigs gave enough hint to indicate that some like-minds in the party are regarding other members as no longer worthy to fraternize with politically.