Tuesday, May 29, 2012
FULL SPEECH OF THE PRESIDENT's DEMOCRACY DAY ADDRESS
NATIONAL ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN, GCFR, ON DEMOCRACY DAY, MAY 29, 2012
Fellow Nigerians,
1. One year ago, I was privileged to stand before you, to take the oath of office as President of our dear country, the third to serve you as President since the return to democratic rule in 1999. Today, I remember that day and the processes leading to it with profound gratitude to God Almighty and to all Nigerians who have worked very hard to enrich our journey from military dictatorship to inclusive democratic governance.
2. For the past 13 years, we have remained a stable democracy. We have together demonstrated that the government of the people is an ideal that the people of Nigeria cherish. We have our differences as individuals and as politicians, but we have shown great faith in democracy and its institutions. We have refused to be limited by our differences. Despite reservations about some of our institutions, we have refused to submit to despair. This achievement is a testament to the courage and optimism of the Nigerian people.
3. As we celebrate this year’s Democracy Day, I pay tribute to all the men and women who have made our democratic experience meaningful: the ordinary people who resisted military rule, and have remained resolute in their embrace of democracy; the army of Nigerian voters who, at every election season, troop out in large numbers to exercise their right of franchise; the change agents in civil society who have remained ever watchful and vigilant.
Fellow Nigerians,
1. One year ago, I was privileged to stand before you, to take the oath of office as President of our dear country, the third to serve you as President since the return to democratic rule in 1999. Today, I remember that day and the processes leading to it with profound gratitude to God Almighty and to all Nigerians who have worked very hard to enrich our journey from military dictatorship to inclusive democratic governance.
2. For the past 13 years, we have remained a stable democracy. We have together demonstrated that the government of the people is an ideal that the people of Nigeria cherish. We have our differences as individuals and as politicians, but we have shown great faith in democracy and its institutions. We have refused to be limited by our differences. Despite reservations about some of our institutions, we have refused to submit to despair. This achievement is a testament to the courage and optimism of the Nigerian people.
3. As we celebrate this year’s Democracy Day, I pay tribute to all the men and women who have made our democratic experience meaningful: the ordinary people who resisted military rule, and have remained resolute in their embrace of democracy; the army of Nigerian voters who, at every election season, troop out in large numbers to exercise their right of franchise; the change agents in civil society who have remained ever watchful and vigilant.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
EXCLUSIVE: List of Federal Agencies to be Scrapped/Merged - The Nation
Oronsaye
Investigations by The Nation unveil the full list of the 38 agencies recommended for scrapping by the Steven Oronsaye Report and the 52 to be merged, including hitherto unknown details, reports YUSUF ALLI.
The Presidential Committee on the Rationalisation and Restructuring of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions, led by ex-Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mr. Steve Oronsaye, has recommended the elevation of the Code of Conduct Tribunal to Anti-Corruption Tribunal to try all graft cases.
With this development, regular courts (where more than 55 cases are stalled) will no longer try corruption-related matters.
Also, the commission is seeking compulsory and free education from primary school to Junior Secondary School for all school-age children in the country.
But the full list of agencies recommended for abolition also emerged yesterday in Abuja .
Top on the list are the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF), Ajaokuta Steel Company and National Iron Ore Mining Company (NIOMCO).
Make Bunkering Legal; Former Bayelsa State Governor Diepreye Alamieyesigha
Alamieyeseigha said foreigners are the masterminds of bunkering in the region.
He urged stakeholders to prevail on President Goodluck Jonathan to issue licences for the legalisation of bunkering.
The former governor spoke at a ceremony in honour of the late Ijaw hero, Isaac Boro, in Yenagoa.
He said: “There is one thing happening in our area now. I read in the papers about oil theft. About 17 per cent of our production is taken away.
“Our people are not sophisticated enough to go into high-level bunkering. The bunkerers are not here. In the whole oil industry, how many Ijaw people are lifting oil?
“To address the poverty that is so endemic among our people, there should be licences for bunkering.
“The Ijaw man is not yet emancipated economically. The fight is not over, we must be economically liberated.
“There is a thin line between economy and power. They complement each other. My brothers and sisters, let us unite. We should obtain licences for bunkering.
“We have a president of our own, we have a minister of petroleum, who will stop us from obtaining bunkering licences?
“Ask, it shall be given, knock it shall be open. No need to go behind the door. Let us confront our brother and get what we want for our people.”
Alamieyeseigha extolled the legacies of the late Boro, whom he described as the architect of the survival of the Ijaw nation.
“People must look at those areas that we have been impoverished and fight for it. We know that nobody will give you power on a platter of gold; you demand for it, you fight for it. It is our own,” he noted.
Facebook shares keep going down...
Shares in Facebook have dropped again as investors continue to shun what was one of the most-anticipated flotations.
In mid-morning trading the shares were about 2.3% down at $33.27 each, having fallen 5.2% at the open.
Facebook debuted on the Nasdaq stock exchange on Friday at $38 a share in the world's third-biggest flotation.
But the shares fell 11% on Monday, and the continuing lacklustre performance has intensified debate over whether Facebook was over-valued.
It is a remarkable turnaround from recent weeks, when the social network's share sale was over-subscribed and the eight-year-old firm was valued at $104bn (£66bn).
Mourinho Stays On As Real Madrid Manager; Signs 4 year deal
Jose Mourinho signs new four-year deal as Real Madrid manager
Jose Mourinho has signed a new four-year contract to remain as manager of Real Madrid until 2016.
The Portuguese, 49, took over at Real in 2010 and guided his team to success in the Copa del Rey in his first campaign in charge.
This season, he led Real to their first league title in four years.
Mourinho won the Premier League twice with Chelsea and has won domestic and Champions League titles with both Porto and Inter Milan.
Real went out of their domestic cup competition at the quarter-final stage this season, losing 4-3 on aggregate to Barcelona and lost on penalties in the Champions League semi-finals to defeated finalists Bayern Munich.
But they won La Liga by nine points, their 32nd title in all but their first since 2007-08. Their totals of 100 points and 121 goals were new Primera Division records
.
.
Friday, May 18, 2012
EXPLOSIONS IN PORT HARCOUT WASN'T BOKO HARAM; AMAECHI EXPLAINS
The explosion in Port Harcourt this morning was neither a bomb nor Boko Haram. The Rivers State governor say the explosion was caused by armed robbers who were on their way to rob, with guns and dynamites in their bus. They were smoking in the bus as they were going to rob, and as God would have it, fire from the cigarettes triggered the dynamite in their bus to explode, killing only the driver. The three other robbers in the bus survived and were immediately arrested by police.
via Linda Ikeji
MEMOIRS OF THE PAST: GENERAL ABACHA's COUP VIDEO
A reminder of how bad things were in the Military Era
Monday, May 14, 2012
MAN GETS STUCK IN ANOTHER MAN's WIFE... VOODOO IN ACTION
Wow! Thought this was a yoruba voodoo ish... Wonders shall never end.
Friday, May 4, 2012
2face Idibia and Annie Macaulay are married
So so happy for them and big congrats to them!
via Linda Ikeji
Court stops Lagos from restricting okada riders; orders return of seized Motorcycles
A Federal High Court sitting in Ikeja has stopped the Lagos State Government from enforcing its plan to ban or restrict the operations of commercial motorcyclists. Justice Steven Adah gave the order on Friday while delivering judgmentin a suit filed by the motorcycle operators, popularly called” Okada riders”, against the government.
The motorcycle operators, under the umbrella of four associations, filed the suit on Feb. 8, through their counsel, Mr Bamidele Aturu.
Mr Ade Ipaye, Lagos State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, was joined in the suit as second respondent.
The applicants had asked the court for an order of perpetual injunction restraining the respondents from hindering commercial motorcycle operations or arresting their members for using commercial motorcycles.
In his judgment, Adah held that it was unconstitutional and illegal for the government to ban or restrict the operations of the commercial motorcyclists because there was no written law to that effect.
” The Lagos State House of Assembly has not enacted any law banning or restricting the operations of commercial motorcyclists. For the ban to have any effect, the state government should go to the legislature.The government cannot be dictatorial by resorting to an arbitrary imposition of restrictions on the operations of commercial motorcyclists,” the judge said.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)