COMMUNITY PROTESTS POOR SERVICE FROM PHNC

Residents of Sola Martins street,New Oko  Area of Lagos State  on Monday, staged a peaceful protest at  the zonal office of Power Holding Company of Nigeria  (PHNC)  located along Olayiwola  street  of the community, demanding for equitable distribution of power to the consumers.
The residents ,led by the Chairman ,Landlords and Tenant Association ,Elder Jerry Okwuosa accused PHNC  officials of deliberately denying the entire community of power supply in its rationing policy .
To buttress this allegation,the Community spokesman disclosed that residents enjoyed  89.75 hours or 53.4%  of power supply  during the last  seven day strike embarked upon  by the PHNC staff while the supply dropped  to  26.25 hours or 15.6%  within a week of resumption .
Elder Okwuosa also accused the officials of favouring  some sections of the neighbouring communities ,especially where there are social joints and other commercial centres for reasons best known to them.
Responding ,the business manager of the district,Mr Sani Adeleke denied these allegations,saying that his main priority is to give power to his customers so that his section could make more money for the company.
He explained that the rationing of power supply was informed by congestion on the feeder for the Oko Oba community,adding that control centre is at Akowonjo which is beyond the control of his technical men.
He expressed the hope that the agitation for a stable power would soon be achieved when a new control room is completed for Abule Egba  Area of the State.

ENERGY MINISTER RESIGNS

Nigeria's power minister resigned on Tuesday, the presidency said, two months before preferred bidders were due to be announced in a privatization process meant to overhaul the country's ailing electricity sector.

There were reports in some Nigerian newspapers on Tuesday Barth Nnaji had an interest in a company involved in the bidding process for two state assets up for sale.

A spokesman for Nnaji confirmed the minister had a stake in such a company, but said there was no conflict of interest because regulators had been informed.

The spokesman declined to say why Nnaji resigned, and no reason was given in the announcement of the resignation by the presidency.

"He didn't like the totally wrongful accusations he had a conflict of interest in this process. These were planted by vested interests," spokesman told Reuters.

"He would rather go about his private business."

It is highly unusual for Nigerian politicians to resign over conflicts of interest in a country that still ranks low on the Transparency International corruption perceptions index.

Nigeria plans to sell off 11 distribution and six generation companies as part of plans to privatize a power sector rife with inefficiency and corruption.

Economists and investors say a lack of power is one of the biggest brakes on growth in Africa's second biggest economy. Chronic power shortages are also a major headache for Nigerians.

Preferred bidders for the 17 successor companies are due to be announced on October 23, the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) has said.

The privatization agency has said Nigeria's economy could be growing at over 10 percent, compared with around 6.5 percent now, if it solved its power crisis, but it would need $15-$20 billion of investment in the next three years.

Nigeria holds the world's seventh largest natural gas reserves but decades of governments have chosen to cash in on crude oil sales rather than investing for domestic power needs.

Nigeria only provides its 167 million inhabitants with around a quarter of the amount of electricity used by New York City, leaving those who can afford it to use expensive diesel generators and those who can't to live without any power.

President Jonathan has made reforming the power sector a priority and a significant upsurge in electricity output would bring him support from the Nigerians who have been disappointed with his progress since taking office last year.

source:Reuters

N5,000 bill coming-CBN Governor

The Central Bank will launch a new N5, 000 bill, making it the highest single Naira bill in the Nigerian economy.

The new bill according to the apex bank’s Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, will feature the faces of three deceased prominent Nigerian female politicians and activists – Madam Margaret Ekpo (1914 – 2006); Hajia Gambo Sawaba (1933 – 2001) and Funmilayo Kuti (1900 -1978).

Sanusi in a briefing with Journalists also said N50, N100, N200, N500 and N1, 000 will be redesigned with better security features and markers to beat counterfeiters, while N5, N10 and N20 bills will reintroduced as coins.

NBC Lists Problems Be-deviling Digitization

National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has listed problems hampering Nigeria's transition from analogue to digital broadcasting and urged government to provide incentives that will accelerate the country’s match to the new order touted as the next big thing.
With three years to the June 2015 deadline, the Commission said that the absence of policy to support local manufacture of digital receivers’ is a major limiting factor to digitization.
Yomi Bolarinwa, Director-General of NBC, waxed worriedly at a news conference in Abuja to mark the 20th anniversary of the commission.
"As of today the main ingredient needed for viewers to receive digital signals on their essentially analogue sets is not readily available and where it is available it’s not at a cost easily affordable for the average Nigerian," said Bolarinwa.
"All these are policy driven, and once you don't have the policy on ground, it will not work," he said.
He suggested strict laws to protect would-be makers and prevent import of substandard products.
For the transition to be considered a success, at least 95 per cent of Nigerians with access to television must also have access to the digital receivers.
Nigeria has already a June 2012 deadline it earlier set for herself.
The new date is now January 2015 few months short of the June 17 2015 deadline set by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) for its members to move over the digital broadcasting.
Digital broadcasting will make better viewing pleasure; boost the telecommunication industry, as it would free much needed spectrum for broadband penetration.

Four kidnappers killed by Police

Nigerian police said on Tuesday they killed four kidnappers in southern Edo state following a car chase where the hostage escaped, in the latest abduction in a region home to Africa's biggest oil industry.

Criminal gangs kidnapping for ransom have blighted Africa's second largest economy for years, with the vast majority of people abducted Nigerians, although foreign oil workers have also been targets.

Violence and crime in the oil-producing Niger Delta pushes up the cost of doing business. Shell spent almost 40% of its global security budget in Nigeria between 2007-2009, according to an oil industry watchdog.

Senior civil servant Benson Ojoto was kidnapped earlier this month in Delta, one of the three states that make up the bulk of the Niger Delta. He was freed on Sunday, police said.

"Luckily, the man escaped while the gang headed to Edo with his car. We trailed them to Benin city where we engaged and gunned down four of them. One escaped with gunshot wounds," Delta state police spokesperson Charles Muka said.

Muka said they strongly suspected the gang was behind the kidnapping this month of Delta State Judge Marcel Okoh, who has since been released.

Although the majority of kidnappings in Nigeria are for financial gain, this year there have been a handful of abductions of foreigners by Islamists in the largely-Muslim north, far from the oil region.

A Briton and an Italian were killed during a raid in northeast Sokoto in March and a German died during another rescue attempt in Nigeria's second-largest city Kano in May.

- Reuters

Shell spends $383m on security in Nigeria in two years – Platform

Shell Oil Company has spent $383 million on security in Nigeria in two years, watchdog organisation Platform has said.
According to Platform, a London based non-profit, citing leaked financial data from Shell, the expenditure made between 2007 and 2009 is 40 per cent of Shell’s total expenditure on security globally which it says stood at $1 billion.
In a publication titled ‘Dirty Work’ detailing Shell’s global security expenditure between 2007 and 2009, which Platform says is based on internal financial data from Shell’s security department leaked to it, the data reveals for the first time how much Shell has spent on security, who benefitted and who bore the risks.
“In particular, the data shows the extent of Shell’s funding for government forces and other armed groups in Nigeria during a period of intense conflict in the oil producing Niger Delta,” it says.
Platform also says the $383 million Shell spent in Nigeria is an underestimate.  “It does not include expenditure on the Shell operated Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plant in Bonny. Nor does it include an estimated annual $200 million of ‘community development’ funds, which are frequently distributed to groups that threaten Shell’s operations, sparking serious violent conflicts. The leaked data covers all four Shell companies in Nigeria,” it says.
The Niger Delta in Nigeria where Shell and other oil companies operate has been plagued by tension and violence as local people demand a fair share of money made from exploiting oil from their land. The area is heavily polluted and the people are poor with very little or no infrastructure and jobs.
A study by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)  released in 2011 made a call for the setting up of a $1 billion fund to clean-up the over 50 years of pollution of Ogoniland in the Niger Delta by the operations of oil companies.
According to UNEP however, full environmental restoration of Ogoniland may take up to 30 years.
UNEP, indicated that the assessment which has been unprecedented, was carried over a 14-month period and more than 200 locations were examined, 122 kilometres of pipeline rights of way were surveyed, more than 5,000 medical records were reviewed and over 23,000 people were engaged at local community meetings.

LAGOS OCEAN SURGE: One Dead, Several People Displaced

An early morning ocean surge on Saturday sacked communities around Kuramo Beach in Lagos, leaving one person  dead and 15 others missing.

General Manager of The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA, Mr Femi Oke-Osayintolu said.

He said the incident occurred at about 2 a.m. when residents were asleep, adding that those affected were mainly people occupying illegal shanties at the beach front.

“Yes, there was an ocean surge at Kuramo Beach very early this morning and we have some  casualties.

“We have just recovered one body and we are still on a frantic search for about 15 people still missing.

“We have cordoned off the entire area and have asked residents to vacate immediately. It is a serious thing, but we are on top of the situation’’, he said.

The general manager said ocean surge was a problem in communities around beach fronts and had wreaked havoc in the past.

He urged residents living or doing business around other beach fronts in the state to leave immediately.

Meanwhile, the State Commissioner for Waterfront Infrastructure Development, Segun Oniru, has ordered the immediate evacuation of the state’s waterfront communities.

In a release made available to journalists, Oniru explained that the move was necessary to avert disaster at the waterfronts.

He also said the move was necessitated by seven days of high waves accompanied by a strong ocean surge which hit the country’s coastline, including Lagos.

He identified places from which residents are expected to move as Badagry and Ojo Waterfront areas, Bar Beach, Kuramo Beach, Goshen Estate, Maiyegun and Alpha Beach.

According to him, the State emergency services had been mobilised to monitor the situation and respond accordingly.

It will be noted that coastal areas in the state, particularly communities surrounding Alpha Beach, have recently been sacked by ocean surges.

Residents have blamed the recent experiences on ship wrecks and abandoned vessels on the sea.

Ramadan fasting dilemma when sun never sets

By Mark Bosworth (BBC World Service)

Practising Muslims across the world have ended observing Ramadan. For one month, they  fast between first light and sunset. But what do Muslims do in a town where the sun never really goes down?The town of Rovaniemi in Finland lies in a land of extremes.

At 66 degrees north it straddles the Arctic Circle in Finnish Lapland. During midwinter it is cloaked in total darkness. But in the summer it is bathed in daylight.

The long days pose a particular problem for fasting Muslims like Shah Jalal Miah Masud.
''It doesn't get dark. It always looks the same. The sun is always on the horizon”,said Shah Jalal Miah Masud

The 28-year-old moved to Rovaniemi - 830km (515 mile) north of the capital, Helsinki - from Bangladesh five years ago to study IT. He has not had any food or water for 21 hours. And he laughs.

"It doesn't get dark. It always looks like the same, the sun is always on the horizon and it's quite difficult to get what the time is actually right now," he says.

It is 11 o'clock in the evening and the sun has only just dipped below the horizon. The sky has turned a beautiful deep, rich blue. This is as dark as it will get, then the sun will rise again in five hours.

Masud says it is difficult to fast according to Finnish time and admits he is tired. But despite the hunger and fatigue, he says it is a pleasure to observe Ramadan during the long Finnish days.

There is another option which reduces the number of fasting hours - mark its duration by the rising and setting of the sun in countries far to the south of Finland. Dr Abdul Mannan - a local Imam and president of the Islam Society of Northern Finland - says there are two schools of thought.

"The Egyptian scholars say that if the days are long - more than 18 hours - then you can follow the Mecca time or Medina time, or the nearest Muslim country time," says Dr Mannan.

"The other (point of view) from the Saudi scholars says whatever the day is - long or short - you have to follow the local time."
Nafisa Yeasmin Nafisa Yeasmin follows the Mecca timetable.Dr Mannan says the majority of Muslims in northern Finland observe either Mecca's fasting hours or Turkish time because it is the nearest Muslim country to Finland.

For Nafisa Yeasmin, a researcher at the University of Lapland, choosing when to fast has not been an easy decision. She moved from Dhaka in Bangladesh six years ago with her husband and two children.

Her spacious Scandinavian-style kitchen - full of white cupboards and wooden work surfaces - smells of frying onions, turmeric, chilli and cumin.

As she prepares her traditional iftar meal, she recalls her first Ramadan in Rovaniemi when she decided to fast according to Finnish daylight hours, going without food for up to 20 hours a day.

"It was very difficult to follow because in Bangladesh we are used to 12 hours' daytime and 12 hours' night-time," she says.
Muslims abstain from food and drink while fasting during daylight hours.Ramadan is intended to increase self-control Muslims try to give up bad habits and pray more during the holy month.Families and friends often gather to break the fast after sunset with the iftar meal

"Then I thought, not any more. I have to follow Mecca's timetable. But I'm a little bit worried whether Allah will accept it or not."

Many Muslims come to Finland as refugees from all over the world, particularly Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan. Since 2001, Finland has accepted 750 refugees a year. New arrivals are often sent to live in towns like Rovaniemi in the far north in a government resettlement programmes.

In Rovaniemi the long days are not the only obstacle that fasting Muslims face.

No shop in this town of 60,000 sells halal food, which is prepared according to Islamic law. The nearest town, Oulu, that does is 300km away. Another option is Lulea, across the border in Sweden.

Yeasmin opts for Lulea, which is a six-hour round trip journey by car, with a shopping list full of items, including black chickpeas, dates, rice crackers and lots of halal meat.

Understandably, she has stocked up for the whole month of Ramadan. To make her point, she opens her huge white fridge - covered in her children's school photos - to reveal all seven trays crammed full of frozen halal meat.

Nigeria tightens security for Eid, US issues warning

* As US issues warning

The Federal Government has  tightened security across Nigeria and the United States warned of the risk of attacks Friday ahead of this weekend's Eid festivities, which mark the end of the Muslim month of fasting.

The government which has been struggling with a deadly insurgency by Islamist militants Boko Haram, advised residents to be on alert and boosted patrols, while the US embassy in a statement recalled a suicide attack on the UN in Abuja a year ago and warned that "an anniversary security event could occur".

A centuries-old Eid festival in the major northern city of Kano, famed for its elaborate horse pageant, has been cancelled, officially due to the local emir's health, but residents suspected the worsening violence was to blame.

In the volatile central city of Jos, authorities declared off-limits two main prayer grounds that have been hit by violence in the past over security concerns, but said alternative locations were available.

The authorities' moves were an indication of how badly security has deteriorated in northern and central Nigeria, where Boko Haram has been blamed for more than 1,400 deaths since 2010.

Nigeria's national police chief urged the public to share tips with officers, something many people have been reluctant to do out of fear of both Boko Haram and the authorities, who have been accused of abuses.

The statement said the force had been directed "to take adequate measures to ensure the provision of water-tight security across the country before, during and after the celebration".

In a security message, the US embassy evoked the August 26, 2011 suicide bombing of UN headquarters in Abuja which killed at least 25 people and warned of possible fresh attacks.

"This year, extremists have attacked many locations in Nigeria, killing and injuring hundreds of people," the statement said.

This weekend's Muslim Eid-ul-Fitr celebrations, often called Sallah in Nigeria, mark the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. Monday and Tuesday have also been declared public holidays.

Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation and largest oil producer, is divided between a mainly Muslim north and predominately Christian south, though most major cities are mixed.

Boko Haram's deadliest attack yet hit Kano in January when coordinated bombings and shootings killed at least 185 people, and authorities there said they had taken precautions.

"In Kano, we are on the streets... For these upcoming Muslim celebrations, JTF (military Joint Task Force) will do everything, security-wise, to ensure a hitch-free festivity," spokesman Lieutenant Iweha Ikedichi told AFP.

In Maiduguri, where Boko Haram has been based, the military was on high alert.

"We have put in place adequate security arrangements to ensure a crisis-free Sallah festivity," spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa told AFP.

Boko Haram's targets have widened as the group has moved from assassinations to sophisticated bombings, including suicide attacks.

Members are believed to have sought training in northern Mali from Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and Western nations have been monitoring closely for signs of further links.

While Muslims have often been its victims, the sect has recently specifically targeted churches, and President Goodluck Jonathan has accused the group of seeking to provoke a religious crisis in the country.

The group is believed to include a number of factions with varying goals, and many analysts say deep poverty and a lack of development in Nigeria's north have been key factors in fueling the insurgency.

In June, the United States labelled suspected Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau and two other militants as "global terrorists", allowing any US assets they may have to be blocked.

F.G investigates 21 firms for fuel subsidy fraud

Nigeria's finance ministry said on Friday it would not pay subsidies to fuel importers it was investigating for fraud, listing 21 local firms and pledging not to back down despite union strike threats.

A presidential committee, led by Access Bank chief Aigboje Aig Imoukhuede, is verifying all fuel marketers' claims before the finance ministry pays them any subsidy, it said.

Nigeria is among the top 10 crude oil exporters in the world but due to decades of corruption and mismanagement it has to import most of its refined fuel needs.

A parliamentary probe in April uncovered a $6.8 billion scam in the fuel subsidy administration, one of the biggest corruption scandals in Nigeria's history.

It found that marketers were claiming subsidy for fuel they never delivered or that they sold to the country's neighbouring states.

Unions, which are largely controlled by the companies, threatened to strike unless payments were released.

There were fuel shortages in the capital Abuja this week, as some marketers withheld deliveries, and Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala condemned what she called "blackmail" in a news conference on Thursday.

"It is clear that those behind the strikes are marketers being investigated for possible fraud," a finance ministry statement said on Friday.

"These elements have now resorted to hiding behind the unions to unnecessarily antagonize government and create hardship for Nigerians ... No degree of blackmail will stop the government from doing its work."

Another investigation by a committee President Goodluck Jonathan set up found that fuel traders fraudulently collected 382 billion naira ($2.38 billion) last year in subsidy payments.

In January Jonathan tried to end the fuel subsidy, which economists say is wasteful and corrupt, but a week of strikes and protests over petrol prices forced him to partly reinstate it.

Sudan joins the International Council of Tourism Partners

The International Council of Tourism Partners (ICTP) announced that the Ministry of Tourism & Wildlife has become the first destination member from the Sudan.

Sudan’s Ministry of Tourism & Wildlife performs its activities in integration with several units, consisting of a central ministry, wildlife preservation department, tourism police forces department, international Sudanese tourism company, and international Quasr Company.

The ministry set up tourism law and the regulation in order to organize tourism activity and work, and to confirm the authorization of the federal ministry in controlling and inspecting tourist institutions and establishments on federal and states levels, keeping standardization and specification in the hotels and in tourism establishments.

The Ministry of Tourism & Wildlife also works to protect wildlife, as well as administering national game reserve parks, with the view to preserving the environment and diverse resources of Sudan. The Ministry sees wildlife as a national resource of promotion to activate domestic and external tourism.

Additionally, efforts are ongoing to preserve national tourist destinations and establishments, as well as promoting tourism within the framework of a good atmosphere of social and cultural interaction with other people.

ICTP Chairman Juergen T. Steinmetz said: “Sudan’s Ministry of Tourism & Wildlife aims to keep Sudanese values and traditions in mind as it builds its tourism sector. The Ministry understands that tourism will help to boost the economy and provide job opportunities.”

Sudan has 6 national parks covering a total area of 60,370 sq.km. and19 game reserves with a total area of 35,500 sq.km. thus, a total area of around 100,000 sq. km. are designated for wildlife protection areas. Sudan enjoys a wide spectrum of climatic and environmental conditions that are manifested in the existence of a great wealth of animals and birds species.