Documents Show Osinbajo, Fashola Lied About Rise in PowerGeneration

Power generation and supply in the country has plumetted from 4,000 megawatts to 2,039MW.

In February, Babatunde Fashola, Minister of Power, Works and Housing, had claimed that power generation in Nigeria had improved by 100% within the space of three years.

In April 2019, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo had also claimed that power generation had improved from 4000mw to 8100mw.However, documents seen by Vanguard from the office of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo state: "On April 23rd, 2019, average power sent out was 87,061.8 MWh/day.

"The situation is compounded because the Nigerian Gas Company (NGC), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), was not able to complete the rehabilitation of the Escravos-Lagos Gas Pipeline System.Consequently, Egbin, Omotosho, Olorunsogo and paras power stations were not able to generate power for transmission and distribution, thus forcing many electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOs) to express their helplessness to consumers.Corroborating the document, the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, said : "The National Grid is experiencing reduced power generation due mainly to emergency maintenance by NGC of its gas pipeline supplying gas to Egbin, Omotosho, Olorunsogo and Paras Power Stations."

"This was reportedly caused by leakage on the Escravos-Lagos gas pipeline, necessitating the total shutdown of the four power generating plants on 25th April, 2019."

Man Steals N1.7m Hospital’s Microscope, Sells it for N5,000

Operatives of the Kastina State Police Command have arrested a 30-year-old man, Hamza Sani, for allegedly conspiring with four others to steal a microscope belonging to the Malumfashi General Hospital, in the Malunfashi area of the state.

Northern City News learnt from a police source that Sani's arrest led to the apprehension of his cohorts, identified as Magaji Yusuf, 36; Saidu Shehu, 40; Kamala Aliyu, 33; and Emmanuel Ukelere, 48.

The state's Police Public Relations Officer, Gambo Isah, while confirming the incident, said Sani and his cohorts specialised in the stealing of hospital equipment, adding that during interrogation, Sani confessed to the crime.

Isah said, "On Saturday, April 13, 2019, around 6am, the command succeeded in smashing a syndicate that specialises in theft of hospital equipment.

Sani, who was paraded at the Katsina Police Command headquarters, told Northern City News that he sold the microscope for N5,000 because he needed money to treat his sick wife.

Five Soldiers Killed, 30 Missing in Boko Haram Battle

 

At least five Nigerian soldiers were killed and some 30 are missing three days after Boko Haram jihadist overran an army base, security sources said on Monday.

Gunmen from the Islamic State West Africa Province, the IS-linked faction of Boko Haram, attacked the base in Nigeria's northeastern Borno state on Friday.

"We have recovered five bodies of soldiers who paid the supreme price fighting the terrorists," a military officer told AFP, giving the first reports of casualty numbers.

Nigerian army chief Lieutenant-General Tukur Buratai last week warned of an ISWAP-Boko Haram alliance to carve out a jihadist enclave stretching from Nigeria's northeast into the wider Lake Chad region.

15,000 out of 17,000 Students Owe School Fees – Ekiti VC

The Vice-Chancellor of Federal University, Oye Ekiti, Prof. Kayode Soremekun, said on Sunday that only 2,000 out of a population of 17,000 students had paid their school fees for the 2018/2019 session.

Soremekun lamented that the students' failure to pay their school fees had negatively impacted on the university's desire to meet many of the needs and demands of the school for more effective and enhanced academic and administrative activities.

The vice-chancellor said at Oye Ekiti in a chat with journalists that the fact that many of the students had diverted such fees had compelled the school management to devise a means by which parents could pay the fees directly instead of asking their children to pay.

"What we have found out with this is that even though the demand for education in our country is high, an effective demand which caters for prompt payment of school fees as well as being able to pay for quality education is lacking in this country.

I believe an average Nigerian parent should be able to afford this, but we keep witnessing a situation where students don't pay their school fees."

Buhari Desperate to Remain in Power to Cover up N14trn Stolen Under His Watch, PDP Alleges

 President Muhammadu Buhari's administration has been accused of electoral violence rigging and fraud by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The statement reads: "The APC and the cabal at the Buhari-led Presidency resorted to violence, intimidation as well as manipulations and alteration of results at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to rig the February 23 presidential election."

"The President Buhari-led APC administration wants to remain in power to prevent investigation into the N14 trillion allegedly stolen under its watch; including the N9 trillion stolen from the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, as detailed in the leaked NNPC memo; the over N1.4 trillion alleged oil subsidy sleaze and the N1.1 trillion worth of crude diverted using 18 unregistered companies linked to APC interests."

"This is in addition to the N33billion National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) fund, and the over N18 billion stolen out of the N48 billion approved by the National Assembly in the 2017 budget for the rehabilitation of IDPs in the Northeast, among others."

"The negative effect is the further dipping of our economy, as investor's confidence, which shored up at the expressed resolve by Nigerians to elect Atiku Abubakar as their next President, slumped with the rigging of the Presidential election."

Abia North: INEC Under Fire over Orji Kalu’s Emergence as Senator-Elect

 Abraham Amah, a Peoples Democratic Party chieftain and ex-Senior Special Adviser to the Abia State government on Labour and Industrial Matter, has attacked the Independent National Election Commission (INEC), over its alleged partisanship and misconduct during the just-concluded 2019 general elections.

He accused the nation’s electoral umpire of violating the guidelines it laid out for the conduct of the election in Abia north senatorial zone.

The PDP chieftain, who spoke in an telephone interview with the media, Sunday, faulted the INEC declaration of Orji Uzor Kalu, the Senatorial candidate of All Progressives Congress(APC), as winner of the February 23 senatorial poll conducted in Abia north zone, expressing optimisms that the tribunal will do the needful in ensuring justice prevail.

Buhari’s UK Trip: PDP Claims President Didn’t Notify National assemblyN

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has claimed that President Muhammadu Buhari did not write to the National Assembly, to inform them of his trip to the United Kingdom.

Appearing on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Sunday, the PDP’s Deputy National Chairman, Yemi Akinwunmi, said the President ought to have notified the lawmakers, indicating his mission abroad and transferring power to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

“I know by the standard convention all over the world, it is conventional that when the President is travelling out of a domain, whether privately or publicly after about six or seven days, he has to have a course to the National Assembly to disclose his mission and then transfer power to the Vice President.

“These guys are talking as if Nigeria is a private enterprise, it is not. The President derives his power from the citizens. And he is responsible not to the presidency but to Nigerians.

“The money he is going to spend in the course of the journey is derived from the federation account,” Akinwunmi said.

Buhari is expected to spend 10 days in the UK and return on May 5.