Investors will discuss the transfer of 55 billion naira ($355 million) worth of shares to Lome, Togo-based Ecobank Transnational, the lender that operates in more than 30 African nations, according to an e-mailed statement from Oceanic.
Shareholders will also decide how much stock will remain in the hands of current investors in the Lagos-based lender and approve giving shares worth 290 billion naira to the Asset Management Corp. of Nigeria, known as Amcon, in order to bring shareholders’ funds from negative to zero.
Oceanic Bank was among eight lenders whose chief executives were fired by the Central Bank of Nigeria in 2009 after a lending crisis threatened to collapse some of the country’s financial institutions.
The central bank bailed out the lenders with 620 billion naira and created Amcon to buy non-performing loans of the banks to enable them to rebuild their balance sheets and resume lending. It gave the banks a Sept. 30 deadline this year to recapitalize or face liquidation or nationalization.
In the midst of the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial celebration, a disgruntled Washingtonian protested in front of the Washington Convention Center—which housed most MLK celebration events—and began to chant anti-Obama idioms.
On Aug. 26, right after the “Table of Brotherhood Project” panel discussion, Hassan Shabazz, 45, stood outside of the Washington Convention Center during the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial celebration week on Aug. 26 with a poster that read, “America has betrayed Dr. King’s dream” and on the flipside, “No Jobs! No second term Obama!”
Shabazz repeatedly chanted, “Obama, you can’t run forever Obama. You better help the poor Obama,” on the corner of New York Ave., N.W. in Washington, D.C.
His reason: To prove that Obama has put King’s legacy to shame. He is part of a growing chorus of Black criticism, and skepticism, about the link between the Obama presidency and Black America.
Some people say that Obama, as the first Black president of the U.S., has fulfilled a dream African Americans did not think they would see in their lifetime.
But Shabazz said that’s the only “dream” Obama has lived up to. He said the president’s policies and actions have not impacted the Black community enough to say he has lived up to King’s dream of economic prosperity.
“What is he doing for the poor? Is that following Dr. King’s dream?” Shabazz said. “All the poor Blacks are getting evicted in S.E. (D.C.) He’s got to come back to the Black community one day.”
PBS talk show host Tavis Smiley and African American scholar Cornel West have emerged as prominent critics of Obama and recently grabbed the public’s attention as the duo conducted a 16-city “Poverty Tour.” On their website, West said the tour is not an “anti-Obama tour,” but a call for the president and Congress to help Americans who were hardest hit by the recession.
“…it would be nice to hear the president say the word ‘poor.’ To say the word ‘poverty,” Smiley told the Associated Press. “We get conversations about the middle class. Well, the new poor are the former middle class. But we can’t get this president or any leaders to say the words ‘poor’ or ‘poverty,’ much less do anything about it.”
What’s Smiley and West’s inspiration for the tour? A quote from Dr. King, which reads:
“I choose to identify with the underprivileged, I choose to identify with the poor, I choose to give my life for the hungry, I choose to give my life for those who have been left out of the sunlight of opportunity. . .”
In an interview with the Tom Joyner Morning Show this week, President Obama reacted to criticism from African-American leaders and said their disapproval is expected.
“…when things are going good, you get the credit, when things are tough, you get the blame, that’s the nature of the Office. I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about that. I think about what we can do to get the economy growing faster,” Obama said.
With U.S. unemployment numbers stagnant at 9.1 percent with no added jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor statistics, Obama’s criticism may continue to grow. But the White House is pinning hopes for a public opinion reversal on a major speech Obama will give Sept. 8 at 7 p.m. Professor Harley Shaiken from the University of California, Berkley called the speech “critical.”
“It could be the opening of a renewed effort on jobs that really gets labor excited, or it could be too little too late, which really increases the frustration,” Shaiken told NPR. “It’s going to be an important speech, and it will define where labor is on Election Day.”
John Earnest, spokesman for the White House, told NPR that Obama’s speech would define a common ground between workers and employers.
“It’s the president’s view that there are a lot of aligned interests here,” Earnest said, “that there’s an opportunity for us to put in place the kind of economic policies that could be supported by Democrats and Republicans, that could be supported by American businesses and American workers, that there are American communities all across the country that could benefit from these policies.”
Shabazz, a laid-off construction worker, said that the president’s financial bailouts for major companies and other policies have led the poor to believe they are not top priority.
“We know Dr. King was a great man, we know what he represented, but [is the Obama Administration] practicing it?
“I’m not for Obama. I voted for him, but not anymore,” Shabazz said.
Ray Baker, talk show host of Howard University’s radio station WHUR and brotherhood project panelist, called a comparison between King and Obama “unfair.” He said the only connection the two have is Aug. 28, Obama’s “I Have a Dream” speech in ’63 and the day Obama accepted the democratic nomination for president in ’08.’
“Let’s remember Dr. King was a preacher first, so everything he did had to make complete sense to his moral conscience,” Baker told The AFRO. “Dr. King had no constituency and no one to answer to but his own morality so he was in a position to take on the establishment and critique power in honest and ultimately life threatening ways.”
Baker said he doesn’t think Obama has let down King’s legacy because their works are in “different lanes.”
“President Obama has elected to do his work inside the metaphorical establishment, so he is either unwilling or unable to make those same unfettered critiques of power that Dr. King made,” he said.
As the president gears up for a possible re-election next year, analysts cannot definitively determine if public backlash from Black leaders could impact the “Black vote,” but leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus said Black voters may stay home next year if unemployment rates remain unchanged.
“The worry should be … are people going to be enthusiastic about getting to the polls, or are they not going to be as enthusiastic,” Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) told the Wall Street Journal.
“I’m frustrated with the president, I’m frustrated with the Senate, I’m frustrated with the House,” said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II (D-Mo.), who is also chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus. “The president and his White House team is trying to minimize the discussion of race as it relates to job creation.”
”]Nigeria’s president says the country has “strong leads” on who is involved in the “terror war” on Nigerians, a week after an attack on the U.N. headquarters in Abuja killed 23 people.
President Goodluck Jonathan said Friday Nigerian security forces will “spare no effort or resource” in bringing terrorism under control. He said he is directing security forces to place a greater emphasis on intelligence and “citizen’s participation.”
The address, also published on the government website, marked the launch of an overhaul of Nigeria’s national driver’s license and vehicle license plates. Mr. Jonathan said the “consistent use of vehicles” in recent attacks shows the importance of the project, which will help create a comprehensive database of drivers and vehicles.
He said the overhaul has been in the works for several years, but gained urgency after a car bombing last year, and again after last week’s U.N. attack, which Nigerian authorities said was orchestrated by a man with links to al-Qaida.
The State Security Service said Mamman Nur, who remains at large, is a member of the radical Islamist sect Boko Haram and masterminded the bombing of the U.N. office, “in concert” with two other suspects who are already in custody. The arrested suspects were identified as Ismail Kwaljima and Babagan Mali, also said to be members of Boko Haram.
Officials said Nur had recently returned from Somalia, where al-Qaida is actively assisting the insurgent group al-Shabab.
Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is sinful” has been blamed for many bombings and shootings of authority figures in northeastern Nigeria, mainly in the state of Borno. The group has also claimed responsibility for attacks in Abuja, including a June bombing outside Nigeria’s national police headquarters.
The group wants a strict form of Islamic law applied more widely across Nigeria.
Predictions for the future? Here\’s one based on the available pointers: Tighter oil supplies in 2012. In fact, brace yourself, a potential demand surge could, in essence, bring this faraway calculation of next year, nearer by three months. And with it higher price for oil. Last month, the IEA announced release of strategic oil reserves to the market through August. Historically, such a measure is taken during desperate times like war. Well, goes to show how tight supply really is.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has, in a recent report, said that oil supplies would become \”critically tight\” in 2012. Analysts of the bank predict that oil prices could go even higher as spare production capacity and inventories are \”effectively exhausted.\” So, why not increase production, from say, Saudi Arabia? Well, Goldman has also shared apprehension on the ability of Saudi Arabia to raise oil production in the face of eventual scarcity as it believes that Saudi Arabia won\’t be able to pump as much extra oil as many people believe. On a scary note, the scarcity could occur as early as later this year.
First to the case of Saudi Arabia:
It\’s no secret that Saudi Arabia, in a desperate attempt to hold on to power, is trying hard to win back its people. After all, the wave of massive protest for democracy did shake the Middle East. So what does it do? Take this: King Abdullah\’s has announced generous subsidies to construct 500,000 houses for the poor, a friendly mortgage law for the common man to buy property, finances for infrastructure, religious organisations, and for improving the education and health system, a pay rise for workers in the public sector, unemployment benefits, and more education allowance for students. To be sure, it also helps that the country has massive reserves for all the spending, thanks to oil. In two packages, the first announced in February for $36 billion, and the second in March for $94 billion, the ruler is fighting to win back his people. Together, the $130 billion is equal to 30 percent of the kingdom\’s GDP, or revenues from oil export for eight months.
All this, the IMF predicted, would help Saudi Arabia\’s GDP growth by 7.5% (Since revised to 6.5 per cent ). With 24.9 percent of the 1,000 billion barrels proven oil reserves of OPEC, the country has the largest oil reserves in the world and is also one of the largest producers of oil, next only to Russia. IEA holds that Saudi Arabia is capable of producing up to 12 million barrels of oil a day, compared to nine million barrels a day in May. Early this year with tensions ranging in Libya, the IEA\’s executive director, Nobuo Tanaka had said that Saudi Arabia could easily offset any shortfall in production from Libya.
With such huge reserves, in the meeting on June 8, Saudi Arabia, along with Kuwait, and the UAE pressed for increase in production quotas. But, countries like Libya, Algeria, Venezuela, Ecuador, Iraq, Iran, were against the move. Consequently, no decision was reached and the production quotas remained unchanged. Of course, the last thing the Saudi government needs at this point is high inflation due to import of expensive food grain, offset by high transportation charges due to high oil prices. Some indicators to gauge the extent of price fluctuation in recent times: The oil price hit $101.08 (Brent crude) a barrel in February, the highest since October 2008 (In June 2008, they were jogging around $147 a barrel). In June, 2011 they fell to $90 a barrel amid fears of supply disruption due to the closure of Suez canal and Egypt unrest.
Hence, Saudi Arabia has, quite unilaterally, pledged to increase production, notwithstanding the OPEC decision. According to a Platts survey, oil production from OPEC shot up by 530,000 barrels per day in June, at a total of 29.57 million barrels per day, compared to the 29.04 million b/d in May. And guess what? Saudi Arabia\’s production was up by 450,000 barrels per day to reach a total of 9.5 million b/d. Kuwait, UAE too have increased production, according to the survey. And don\’t forget most of this increase is just enough to meet the growing demand at home.
Saudi Arabia, essentially, is putting more oil on the market to pay for generous welfare programs, basically \”buying out\” its population from joining in on the unrest that spread through other oil producing nations. This is unsustainable and will accelerate well depletion. At this point, no one knows the actual reserves of the country, which is dangerous in itself.
IEA\’s move
The twenty eight member IEA, announced its decision to would release oil, about 60 million barrel, from the strategic reserves this August. This, it said, was to compensate for the loss due to the volatile situation in Libya. It is only the third time since established in 1974 that the IEA has taken such a step. One thing to be noted is that Libya, with less than two percent of the global oil output, isn\’t a huge player in the oil industry. In real terms, thus, the shortfall isn\’t going to make any significant changes to the oil supply. From a short term perspective, this move would help lower the price of oil. (The news did ease the oil price, since regained. ) However, in the long term, the reserves have to be replaced, and if the demand rises, this short term measure will push up oil prices.
Demand
As a more affluent population in BRICs consumes more goods, fuel usage for transportation and farming also increases. According to a UN report earlier this year, the world population would reach seven billion later this year and increase to 14 billion by 2100, if left unchecked. This doesn\’t necessarily abide by the math rule of \’the more people, the more pressure on the resources of the planet\’ theory, as people from the wealthy nations consume more, and waste more. However, what happens when the poor move higher on the economic scale. They have every right to the resources too, don\’t they? Still, continued growth in BRIC countries means motorized vehicle usage will increase. IMF has, in its update of the WEO World Economic Outlook, predicts a growth rate of 7.8 percent for India, and 9.2 percent for China in 2012 next year. This will have a lever effect: less oil production capacity while the demand skyrockets.
According to Bureau of Economic analysis the US economy has declined by 1.8 percent in the first quarter. The latest U.S. job report showed a weak economic recovery with just 18,000 jobs created in June, and in the revised World economic outlook, IMF has since adjusted the growth for advanced economies to 2.5 percent from 2.6 percent. Indeed, the earthquake in Japan, the resultant disruption in the supply chain, and uncertainty with the varying pace of the economic recovery in the US economy\’s progress, are some of the reasons for the low demand for crude oil for the first half of 2011.
However, when US returns to faster growth, the Japanese economy bounces back, and Europe recovers from the debt crisis and thus a global recovery, what do we have in our hands, a supply deficit for oil.
In fact, Goldman predicts that the world economy would accelerate in the second half of the year itself, increasing demand. \”Prices and returns will rise further later this year and into 2012,\” a report from the bank said, predicting that Brent crude would average at $120 in six months and $130 in 2012. An EIA report estimates that the oil demand will surpass production by 1.16 million barrels per day this year. The reports also suggests that the oil demand around the world to rise by 1.6 million bbl/d in 2012, a gap of 0.5 million barrels per day (only with increased production). The IMF, for its part, in the updated World Economic Outlook (WEO) for 2011, puts the assumed price for oil based on futures market at $105.25 in 2012. Analyst Hussein Allidina, from Morgan Stanley, said \”We remain bullish on oil, particularly in the second half, and expect inventory draws will prompt OPEC to increase production, at the expense of spare capacity\”.
Of course, by 2012, we\’ll know which of these predictions come true, though wishful thinking hopes that, somehow, we\’ve got it all wrong. Banks are bullish, you know why. But can we sit back, wait and watch as oil prices spiral, because spare capacity was exhausted?
So, really, did the Mayans predict the end of the world in 2012 or did they run out of space on their calendar? More like what Lady Macbeth said, \”Almost at odds with morning, which is which.\” Superstitions and old wives tales aside, if we look at the oil supply/demand numbers, with close to 7 billion people, we are approaching the planet\’s carrying capacity. With the oil market set to go through a lot of stress in the coming year, 2012 will surely mark a turning point to remember.
Evacuating NigeriansEmotions overcame former Abia state governor Wednesday as he watched nine Nigerians escape death by a whisker in war ravaged Libya,thanks to correspondents of the Cable News Network[CNN].
The nine men were literally saying their last prayers under the captivity of rampaging Libyan rebels before God sent an angel in form of the CNN reporters.
Kalu said,”I was really moved.You could see our young men in tears,those nine men would have been wasted even as the Federal Government granted the rebels recognition.I saw two of them with Edo marks.I heard the voice of an Igbo boy.Thank God for CNN, we are better informed of the happenings in Tripoli.”
The ex-governor bewailed the lot of compatriots who travelled to Libya as a gateway to Europe but were forced to choose between the devil and the deep blue sea.
“It is unfortunate.Under Muammar Gaddafi,Nigerians were hounded.In the present dispensation,there is no difference.Libyans seem to have forgotten the role our fathers played,as soldiers of the West Africa Frontier Forces in cold Tobruk to liberate them from Fascism,”he cried out.
Kalu also highlighted the contributions of such stars as Victor Ikpeba and Tony Osheku to the development of Libyan sports.
“There are Nigerians doing legitimate business in Libya.When many superstars shied away from that country,Victor Ikpeba was there.Chikelue Iloenyosi followed suit.Until recently,Tony Osheku was coach of their national athletics team and produced an African quarter-mile champion.Today, Izu Azuka plays for Al-Ittihad.Our countrymen cannot all be mercenaries and migrants.We deserve some respect and apology,”Kalu pointed out.
President Barack Obama’s uncle, Omar Onyango Obama, is an illegal alien who obtained an illegal driver’s license and Social Security card and evaded a deportation order for more than 20 years.
Police put the cuffs on Onyango Obama last week when he nearly crashed his SUV into a police cruiser. Obama was charged with operating under the influence of alcohol, negligent operation of a motor vehicle and failure to yield the right of way.
The question, however, is whether the 20-year-fugitive from immigration authorities will be deported, given the Obama Administration’s interpretation and implementation of the failed DREAM Act. In June, John Morton, Obama’s immigration control director, published a long list of stipulations permitting illegal aliens with family connections to stay in the United States. Last week, the Obama Administration officially declared the DREAM Act law.
What Happened
Onyango Obama “had lived a quiet life in Massachusetts until last Wednesday,” the Boston Globe reported, “when police said the car he was driving darted in front of a police cruiser, nearly causing the officer to hit his car.” Last week, he pleaded not guilty to drunk driving, failing to yield and negligent driving, the Globe reported, and is jailed at the Plymouth County House of Correction on an immigration detainer.
[F]ederal officials, who spoke about Obama’s immigration status on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak about the case, said Obama had been told to leave in 1992, but he did not go.
The MetroWest Daily News reported more details. It says the 67-year-old whiskey peddler “has had a license since at least 1992,” and that because he had a driver’s license in the Bay State he also had a Social Security number, too. Those are required to get a driver’s license.
The newspaper did not report how Onyango Obama obtained the documents, but it did reveal “[h]e had been ordered deported back to his native Kenya.” Onyango worked at Conti Liquors, whose owner claimed he was the “best employee I’ve had.”
Amazingly, the president’s uncle has crossed paths with the law before, but never fallen into the hands of immigration authorities until now. “Obama has had some minor trouble while working at Conti Liquors, Framingham Police said,” MetroWest Daily reported.
Last year, police conducted a sting by sending an underage man into the store to buy liquor. Obama sold the 19-year-old man alcohol without asking for an ID, police said. The store lost its license for three days.
In 2006, Obama also sold alcohol to two underage men using fake IDs, police said.
His Illegal History
Digging into the text of a reporter’s biography of Obama’s globe-trotting father, the Globe detailed Onyango Obama’s circuitous route to the hoosegow. According to “The Other Barack: The Bold and Reckless Life of President Obama’s Father,” Onyango came to the United States with his half-brother in 1963. Back then, his name was Omar Okech Obama, the Globe reported, and “he was described in the book as tall and good-natured. According to the book, he stood out as apparently the only African student at the preparatory school, where boys wore blazers to class.”
Onyango was a soccer star, and because he spoke with a British accent, “he captivated his classmates with stories of wild animals and exploring the bush in Africa.”
For reasons that are unclear, Obama left the school after two years and enrolled in the Newton public schools in the fall of 1965. By then, his older brother had returned to Kenya, and without him, Obama appeared to falter.
He dropped out of school and changed his name to O. Onyango Obama, according to the book, which matches the name of the man arrested yesterday and the name on his driver’s license.
For a while, he lived in an apartment on Perry Street in Cambridge that became a well known meeting place for Kenyan students.
It is unclear what happened to him next. …
Whatever happened, immigration authorities must have caught up with him. They issued a deportation order in 1992. He popped up on the local police department’s radar in 1994, “when he was apparently the clerk on duty at a Dorchester convenience store as two masked men burst in, beat him with a sawed off shotgun, and robbed him,” the Globe reported, quoting the book.
After that, the Globe reported, “he managed to keep a low profile for almost 20 years, until he steered his white Mitsubishi SUV outside the Chicken Bone Saloon last week.”
Obama’s blood alcohol level was 0.14, nearly twice the legal limit of 0.08, the Globe reported. To get that drunk, the 175-pound fugitive would have downed five or six drinks in an hour.
Will They Deport Him?
Deporting the president’s illegal-alien uncle is no sure thing for two reasons, news reports suggest. For starters, As VDare.com’s Joe Guzzardi wrote in a column at NJ.com, Obama’s illegal-alien aunt, Zeituni Onyango, wangled asylum from a weak-kneed federal judge.
Recalled Guzzardi, “First ordered deported in 2004 after overstaying a visa issued in 2000, Zeituni lived in public housing, supposedly available only to citizens and collected $700 in monthly disability checks.”
But an unidentified benefactor interceded and hired famous immigration lawyer Margaret Wong to represent Zeituni in her efforts to remain. The unsurprising result — a Boston federal judge stayed Zeituni’s deportation order. In 2010, Zeituni was granted political asylum and is now a legal U.S. resident.
The other problem is Onyango Obama’s nephew, who unilaterally enacted the DREAM Act despite its failing in Congress. The denouement of that illegal usurpation of congressional prerogative occurred last week when Obama declared that his immigration deputies will reconsider 300,000 deportation cases using criteria established in the failed DREAM Act.
President Obama, whose citizenship is also in question, ordered the massive review under pressure from leftists and revanchist Hispanics, who claimed that “lesser offenders,” such as thieves and drunk drivers, were caught and slated for deportation because of the federal Secure Communities program, which encouraged state and municipal cops, and gave them the means, to share fingerprints with federal immigration authorities.
The move has been coming for some time. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Morton, the head of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, have repeatedly said they will not deport illegals who meet the criteria of the DREAM Act. Those criteria include an illegal-alien’s military service or educational status, provided he jumped the border as a child, has lived in the country for five years and is of “good moral character.”
Months ago, Napolitano flatly stated that her department would not deport illegal aliens who fit those criteria. Then Morton issued his notorious memorandum giving ICE agents “prosecutorial discretion” on deporting illegals. Morton added his own lengthy list of criteria, many of them relating to an illegal alien’s relatives in the United States.
whether the person poses a national security or public safety concern;
the person’s ties and contributions to the community, including family relationships;
the person’s ties to the home country and condition in the country;
the person’s age, with particular consideration given to minors and the elderly. …
whether the person is likely to be granted temporary or permanent status or other relief from removal, including as a relative of a U.S. citizen or permanent resident;
whether the person is likely to be granted temporary or permanent status or other relief from removal, including as an asylum seeker.
Although he has been a fugitive for 20 years, Onyango Obama fits each category. If he conjure an illness or two, like Zeituni Onyango, he can add more to the list. Given that the president’s aunt received asylum, for undisclosed reasons, of course, his uncle might too.
The White House has not intervened on the president’s uncle’s behalf. But the first thought that crossed Uncle Onyango’s mind after his arrest was calling his nephew: Said Obama to police, “I think I’d like to call the White House,”
Information available to 247ureports.com indicate that the violence in Jos, the capital of Plateau State has worsened following the retaliatory attacks by angry mob of Muslim and Christain youths rioting in their repective communities. Law enforcement estimates of casualties are reported to exceed 20 dead and another 15 injured.
The violence erupted Monday. It was said to have been caused by a missed intelligence signal by both angry youths of the Christain dominated communities and Moslim dominated communities. In the christian dominated community, the youths who saw a large number of muslim youths throoping to the mosque located in the christian dominated community – reacted to set an ambush for the muslim youths – believing that the muslim youths had come to attack the christian community.
As the religious rites were completed, and as the muslim youths began to exit the mosque, the christian youths pounched on them and began attacking them. And as the news of the attack got to the muslim dominated communities in Jos, the muslim youths immediately took to arms and began shooting their guns [AK47] up in the air while others went around town to set fire on christain businesses – particularly Igbo businesses.
The soldiers who had been maning the streets of Jos reacted to announce a \”soft\” curfew – a restriction of movement. But the morning of Tuesday saw more violence as muslim youths returning from mosque took to their AK47 riffles. They shot sporadically into the air in large numbers. In mass, they throoped into businesses owned by Christians [particularly Igbos] to set fire to their properties. Injuries were recorded by eyewitness.
The morning of Wednesday saw the AK47 firing action by the muslim youths worsen. And eyewitness sources who spoke to our correspondent indicate that the Nigeria soldiers in turn has open fire indiscriminately on the youths. About 5 muslim youths were recorded to have been gunned down at the residential area of Jos.
Information available to 247ureports.com through sources within the Energy Commission of Nigeria [ECN] reveals that all may not be well with the Commission. This is as confirmatory information points to the outgoing Director General [DG]of the Commission; Prof. Sani Abubakar Sambo as enmeshed in what appears a gradual liquidation of the Commission’s remaining funds in the current fiscal budget.
As a caveat;
The Energy Commission of Nigeria [ECN] serves as the apex government organ empowered to carry out overall energy sector planning and policy implementation and to promote the diversification of the energy resources through the development and optimal utilization of all energy resources. The Commission inspects, monitors and coordinates the performance of the energy sectors, to ensure consistency with the National Energy Policy [NEP].It serves as the centre for solving any inter-related technical problems that may arise in the implementation of any policy relating to the field of energy. The ECN advises all tiers of Government on the funding of energy research, development, production and distribution. The Commission serves as the national centre for gathering, analyzing and disseminating information relating to the field of energy from all sources. The development and maintenance of the National Energy Databank is a responsibility of the ECN.
According to the information gathered from sources within the ECN, trouble began immediately following the appointment of the DG, Prof Sani Abubakar Sambo to the office of Special Advisor [SA] to the President on Energy Matters by President Goodluck Jonathan following his swearing-in on May 29, 2011. As learnt, the DG is not comfortable with the position of SA since he had lobbied for the position of Minister of Power which was given to Prof Barth Nnaji.
As the Special Advisor to the President, he pleaded with the Preident to allow him stay on as the DG but the President refused. Instead, the President assigned him the task of seeking his replacement at the ENC. Specifically, President Jonathan instructed Prof Sambo to ask the NSE for a good Engineer to replace him. Prof Sambo, a Mechanical Engineer by academic training who is a corporate member of the NSE and COREN [Reg 2479] since November 1984, did not act on the assignment.
Sources reveal that Prof Sambo chose to ignore the assignment because “there was still N7billion remaining for capital projects” of the ECN in the remaining fiscal year. And that Prof Sambo was not comfortable abandoning the N7billion in exchange for the office of SA to the President where he would not have ultimate control of the budgeting – as he did while he sat at the DG’s seat.
In quick successive actions, Prof Sambo moved to commandeer access to the remaining funds/resources in the coffers of the Commission.
First, on Friday August 5, 2011, he dipped into the N176million reserved for the employment of new staff – sharing N700,000 each to Directors within the Commission and N600,000 each to the Deputy Directors. He pocketed the rest. As a source close to the DG explained, the N176million was sourced from monies remaining after payment of salaries and overhead each month. Each month starting January 2011, N22million was remaining after payment of salaries and overhead – equivalent to N176million after 8months. The source states that the money was reserved for new hires/new staff.
Then, Prof Sambo changed the signatories to the Commission’s Bank account at Zenith Bank – removing staff members who were not willing to “play ball” and adding those that were willing to “play ball”. He turned to the bank account where the Commission’s salaries and overhead account are domiciled at the Union Bank [Central Area in Abuja – UAC Building] and changed the signatories – adding his choice staff. With this arrangement, the signatories to both bank accounts became the DG and one other staff, a northerner [a south easterner’s signature was removed in both accounts].
Having changed the Bank account signatories, Prof Sambo sought to coerce the Director of Administration and Finance [Acting], Peter Chigbo into “playing Ball” to enable the smooth/frictionless ‘lifting’ of the over N6.6billion in capital projects. Already, Prof Sambo’s team within the Commission had completed the short listing of pre-qualified contractors – [a process that takes 8 weeks] – within the span of one week in readiness to award the contracts next week [the week of August 14].
But the activities at the ECN took an interesting turn as the outgoing DG began to plot for the firing of the acting director of administration and finance, Peter Chigbo.
Immediately following the initial failed attempt to coerce the acting director, the acting director began to receive threatening messages. In a July 7, 2011 letter to the Director General of the State Security Service [SSS] captioned ‘threat of assassination and kidnapping’, the acting director stated that he received a sms message on his cell phone on June 27, 2011 at 11:38am from 0706 819 3560 stating that someone had hired them to kidnap/assassinate him. He asked the SSS Director General for assistance while also informing him that strange men have been coming in search of him at his workplace claiming to be from the SSS.
On July 12, 2011, the acting director wrote to the Inspector General of Police [IGP] in a letter captioned ‘request for police security’. The content of the letter stated the same concerns. The letter was received by the IGP’s office on July 13, 2011.
On July 13, 2011, the acting director wrote the DG of ECN in a letter captioned ‘threat to my life’ chronicling the numerous visits of men claiming to be from the SSS to his office. He stated that he confirmed from the SSS that the men were not sent from the SSS. And for this reason he believes these men were the men hired to assassinate or kidnap him. He told the DG that he is being advised to stay away from the workplace until the investigation is over. The letter also requested for the printout of the closed circuit television [CCTV] using to monitor the office – so as to identify the men.
Responding, the DG wrote through N. A. Omale in a letter referenced ECN/SF/SS/90/017 dated July 13, 2011 to tell the acting director that he ‘should hand over his schedule of duty as the acting director of administration and finance so the activities of the Commission would not be grounded’. The letter was followed by another letter by the DG dated July 25, 2011 captioned ‘absence from duty without leave’ querying the acting director why disciplinary action should not be meted out on him for not showing up to work since July 11, 2011. He requested for a reply with 48hours.
The acting director responded to the query the next day [July 26, 2011] in a letter captioned ‘reply to query’. He reiterated that he had asked for security at the office and for the internal security at the office be reorganized so that assassins will be walk in and out of the office. He reminded the DG that the investigator had requested for a printout of the CCTV to identify the men. He reminded him the security concerns remain unaddressed.
Responding, the DG in a letter dated August 1, 2011 referenced ECN/AF/040 and captioned ‘Re: appointment as acting director of administration and finance’ told Peter Chigbo he has been relieved of his duties with immediate effect.
With the DG’s action, the acting director of administration and finance, Peter Chigbo, who would not ‘play ball’ to affect the lifting of the N7billion, was moved out of the way.
ECN is expected to announce its award of contracts in the coming days/week.
“Bishop Chukwuka hails from Nnobi, in the Diocese on the Niger. To my mind, Bishop Chukwuka is a household name as far as Evangelicalism and Preaching the unadulterated Gospel of Christ is concerned. He is the Bishop of Anglican Diocese of Isuikwuato / Umunneochi Diocese in Abia State. He is an inspiring and versatile National and International Conference, Crusade and Seminar Speaker. To the Glory of the Almighty God, the story and history of Evangelical Fellowship in the Anglican Communion (EFAC) in Nigeria cannot be completed without mentioning his name and the significant roles he played and is still playing today.” – stated, RT. Reverend Ephraim O. Ikeakor [JP], the Bishop of Amichi Diocese at the Cathedral Church of St. Andrews on Friday, June 11, 2011 while addressing the gathered church audience.
The Orwellian ovation by the Bishop of Amichi of the Bishop of Isuikwuato / Umunneochi Diocese, Rt. Reverend Samuel Chukwuka may find itself recoiling away at the doorsteps of the unfolding scandal of unholy bribery in return for Knight-ship in the Nigerian Anglican community of the New York metropolis area.
On February 2011, Rt. Reverend Samuel Chukwuka visited New York. During his previous visits, he would normally partake in the Anglican services conducted by the Nigerian churches in the tri-state area of New York. It is noteworthy that the Nigerian Anglican communities in New York are not under the Diocese of New York or any Diocese.
The February visit took a turn for the abyss.
Bishop Samuel Chukwuka who became the Bishop of Isuikwuato / Umunneochi Diocese in Abia State on March 15, 2005 following his stint at the Diocese on the Niger under the tutelage of Bishop Okeke found his person, on February 2011, dragged into a bribe for knight scandal.
Through deceptively ambitious Anglican Reverend gentlemen in the United States of America who comprise primarily of expelled Reverends from the Anglican communion in Nigeria and fraudulent individuals that parade as Anglican Reverends – some of which joined the Reverend-hood upon their arrival to New York to open their own private churches under the supposed franchise of the Anglican Church of Nigeria – through them, the Bishop managed to swindle the Nigerian Anglican community in New York. What appears striking is many associated themselves with the Evangelical Fellowship in the Anglican Communion [EFAC].
In collusion with one of the Anglican Reverends [Rev Ben Nnaji from Mbano] whose priesthood has not been recognized by the Anglican Church of Nigeria, the Rt. Reverend Chukwuka orchestrated his unholy fraud on the Nigerian Anglican Community in the tri-state area of New York.
The Reverend Pastor played the role of the middleman. He went around the private Nigerian Anglican churches in the tri-state area advertising that the Bishop of Isuikwuato / Umunneochi Diocese was scheduled to visit New York in February of 2011 – that the Bishop has agreed to crown the Knight-hood on members of their respective church in returned for a token fee of $1000 per person.
The response was rapid. The members of the Igbo Anglican community in New York were particularly excited by the development. In the Igbo community alone 247ureports.com gathered that a minimum of 50 participants were registered at $1000 a pop. The monies were collected across the States of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut and remitted to the Bishop.
Interestingly, there were no criteria for registering to become a Knight except the $1000 registration fee or bribe – side-swiping the criteria stipulated under the doctrine guiding the Anglican Church of Nigeria for Knight-hood [which mandates that the Council of Knight deliberate on whom to accord the honor of Knight-hood].
According to information made available to 247ureports.com, as the Bishop arrived to New York, the ceremony was arranged at a hotel [Marriot Hotel] in Queens, New York. And the Knights certificates were distributed to the new Knights – and then the evening turned into a jamboree.
When 247ureports.com reached out to the Bishop through his Nigeria cell phone [08033386221] asking why he Knighted the participants in New York, he boldly stated that “if anybody gives me money I will Knight the person”. When the Primate of Nigeria [head of Anglican Church in Nigeria] was contacted he acknowledged being aware of the scandal and pledged to have it resolved. He told our correspondent that Bishop Chukwuka was wrong to have Knighted the people in the manner he did. He stated that the Anglican Communion is scheduled for a Provincial Meeting in October 2011. He promised to have the matter deliberated upon at the Bishop’s meeting.
Meanwhile the Nigerian Anglican community in New York, particularly the Igbo community has been caught in turmoil. This is following the recent visit by the Primate to New York in July 2011 where he stated his displeasure with the activities of Bishop Chukwuka in New York. The Primate openly chastised the Bishop stating that he had been warned to checkmate his activities in official capacity while outside Nigeria, particularly New York.
