Nigeria, our beloved country is never short of stories to ponder on and argue about. When we think we have heard enough of one political, business, entertainment or sports news, another one comes up that offer us the opportunity to chat away our excitement or frustration about the news. Here I collate my top ten for the week.
1. Controversy over the Allowances earned by Senators.
The allowances rumoured to be earned by legislators has raised a lot of uproar from Nigerians, it was reported in the media that Nigerian senators will earn around N8.6billion for wardrobe allowance. This has however been refuted by the chairman of the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission(RMAFC), Elias Mbamannual who said a senator will get the sum of N506,600 per annum, which is 25 percent of their basic salary.
2. 18 States in Nigeria are owing salaries
A total of 18 states are said to be owing salaries, these states are Abia, Akwa-ibom, Bauchi, Benue, Cross-river, Ekiti, Imo, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kogi, Ogun, Osun, Ondo, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, and Zamfara states. Osun state owes 6 months’ salaries and pension arrears, Plateau owes 6 months salaries and 7 months’ pension arrears, Benue state with 5 months salaries, Akwa-ibom with owing 1 month amongst others.
3. US Government gives Nigeria $5million not $5billion.
The US embassy in Nigeria has issued a statement to clarify the amount given to the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) to fight Boko haram. In a statement released, the embassy said the amount given to Nigeria was $5million and not $5billion as widely reported in the Nigerian media.
4. GE Partners Geometric Power to increase capacity to 1,080MW.
Bart Nnaji, former minister of power, now CEO of Geometric power has disclosed that his company is planning to upgrade the capacity of its plant in Nigeria from 500MW to 1,080MW, with the support of General Electric Company (GE) of the US.
5. 2014 IGR of 23 states released by NBS
The National Bureau of statistics released a report of the Internally Generated Revenue profile of 23 states in Nigeria for the year 2014. The report shows Lagos maintained its position as the highest earner in the country generating a total of N276.1billion, followed not closely by Rivers state with N89billion. Other high earners are Delta with N42.8bn, Akwa-ibom with N15.6bn and Oyo with N16.3bn. Low earners include Zamfara with N3.1bn, Kebbi with N3.8bn, Sokoto with N5.6bn.
6. Anxiety in the Country over who become Ministers and Head of Government
Nigerians are getting impatient with President Muhammadu Buhari over who he will appoint as ministers, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Chief of staff, and who will head the NNPC and other parastatals and agencies. This stems from the fact that a lot of Nigerians are eager to see the ‘CHANGE’ manifest in their lives.
7. Lagos state seeks special status from Federal Government
The speaker of the Lagos state House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa has said that the pursuit of a special status for Lagos will be one of the legislative agenda of the 8th Lagos Assembly.
8. Kaduna State, others reduce number of Ministries
A few states in Nigeria have reduced the number of ministries aimed at cutting costs and improving efficiency in governance. The first to have done this was Kaduna state which reduced its number of ministries from 19 to 13, other states to have followed in this direction are Oyo (from 23 to 13), and Kano state (from 18 to 14).
9. 500 Towns in Nigeria now covered by 3G wireless network
The Executive vice chairman of the NCC, Dr Eugene Juwah, confirmed this at the Commonwealth Broadband Forum holding in Abuja. This is a remarkable achievement considering the fact that as at 2010, the 3G (Third Generation Networks) covered only 20 cities.
10. Dangote plans to buy Arsenal after he completes his Refinery
Africa’s richest businessman, with an estimated networth of about £12billion has said he is planning a bid to buy Arsenal. Dangote believes the building of an Oil refinery in Nigeria will give him the needed finance to secure a takeover.
What did I miss?
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NATION ARE ADVANCING, WHILE AFRICAN LEADERS ARE BECOMIN MORE SOPHISTICATED IN DECEPTION. TO GOD I BECAME AFRICN BY DESTINY.