The Nation Newspaper

Tag: await

  • Fayemi: hard times await illegal miners

    Fayemi: hard times await illegal miners

    Hard times now await illegal miners as the Federal Government has expressed readiness to invoke the extant laws to bring them to justice in its bid to diversify the economy.

    Solid Minerals Minister Dr. Kayode Fayemi, who gave the government’s stance yesterday, said President Muhammadu Buhari had given a marching order to rid the sector of illegal mining and generate more revenue into the nation’s coffers.

    Speaking with reporters in his hometown, Isan Ekiti in Oye Local Government Area of Ekiti State, the minister said the Mining and Mineral Act 2007 had provided the government the legal weapon to prosecute illegal miners and saboteurs.

    The former Ekiti State governor said the nation had the potential to become a global leading player in the sector with 44 key minerals, which, he said could be found in about 350 locations in the 36 states.

    He identified poor management of the sector in the last 55 years of independence as the reason why Nigeria had not gotten enough return in terms of foreign exchange, investment and job opportunities.

    The minister explained that solid minerals and agriculture were very dear to the president in his plan to widen the nation’s income base and provide employment opportunities.

    He added that nothing would be spared to restore vibrancy to the sector.

    Fayemi said: “President Buhari came into government with strong integrity. And we won’t allow the integrity quotient to reduce. So, whoever perpetrates illegality in the sector must start packing his load.

    “We are ready to tackle the cartels in the sector and those who think they can continue will face the maximum wrath of the law.

    “If you glean through what President Buhari said when he came into power, every comment is punctuated with preference for solid minerals and agriculture as areas of interest in his efforts to diversify the economy. So, Mr. President has put me in his area of interest and I thank him for reposing confidence in me”.

    He said the ministry is blessed with experts in geophysics, mineral resources, geology, metallurgical and material engineering, mineral engineering among others to translate the dream to reality.

    “Though, I may not be an expert in mineral resources management, but having superintended over every sector as a governor, I think I have the experience.

    “The task is not even about expertise, but service. I should be able to work with these experts to bring about the needed change in the sector.

    “Nigeria used to be a centre of excellence in solid minerals, particularly in Tin and Coal since 1903, that was before the First World War, when petrol came, we abandoned production of these two minerals. But we have come to realise our mistake.

    “We have coal in Enugu, diamond in Nasarawa, tin and columbite in Plateau and many other states. There is no state without a mineral. So, we have a lot of potential to tap and this we shall achieve,” Fayemi said.

  • Heartland await LMC on stadium

    Heartland await LMC on stadium

    Heartland are expected to host neighbours, Dolphins in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) match day 17 clash at their home ground, Dan Anyiam Stadium in Owerri.

    The Owerri-based outfit have romanced with Rojenny Stadium, Oba and Liberation Stadium, Port Harcourt for their last two home matches to FC Taraba and FC Ifeanyi Ubah following the League Management Company’s (LMC) poor marks on home ground.

    A Supersport.com source said LMC has visited the ground to appraise the level of work done on the pitch and favourably disposed to issue a return to base order to the 2009 CAF Champions League finalists.

    “We are quite positive to host Dolphins in the NPFL match day 17 clash on Sunday at the Dan Anyiam Stadium in Owerri. Though we are yet to receive the go-ahead order from the LMC we believe that the men sent to assess the pitch will turn in a good report that will necessitate favourable response from the league body.

    “I know we may not have done 100 per cent work on the pitch but we have done substantial work up to 90 per cent to allow us to play on the pitch. Dan Anyiam Stadium pitch is in perfect shape to host our home matches but we still need the go-ahead order from LMC.

    “We are hopeful that before the end of the working hours of today (Friday) words will come from LMC to state categorically whether or not the pitch will host the clash against Dolphins.

    “Though Dolphins are neighbours based in Port Harcourt there is still the need to avail both sides the opportunity to know on time where the match will be played. It has not been easy using two different pitches in Oba and Port Harcourt for our last two home matches, we are anxiously waiting to return to our base.

    “We just dumped Dolphins’ city rivals, Sharks from the Federation Cup we do not want to take chances as Dolphins may have it at the back of their minds to avenge the defeat to Sharks,” said the unnamed source to supersport.com.

    Heartland are sixth on the Nigerian top flight log on 25 points five points behind league leaders, Sunshine Stars.

  • Lesotho walkover: Flying Eagles await CAF confirmation

    Lesotho walkover: Flying Eagles await CAF confirmation

    The Flying Eagles were awarded a walk over against Lesotho in the final AYC qualifier first leg scheduled for August 16 in Kaduna, but the outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in Nigeria has compelled the visiting team, Lesotho to think twice before visiting Nigeria for the qualifier.

    The match officials, who insisted that no official statement was made about Lesotho’s absence, were present at the stadium and conducted the walk over.

    They insisted till the last minute that they have not received any official notification that the first leg final qualifier has been called off after Lesotho expressed concerns over the outbreak of Ebola virus disease in Nigeria.

    Nigeria’s Flying Eagles will now have to wait on a final verdict from the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to know if they have qualified for the 2015 AYC in Senegal.

    The Flying Eagles walked over Lesotho in Kaduna on Saturday after the Southern African country failed to show up for the final AYC qualifier first leg.

    Lesotho had expressed concerns over the outbreak of Ebola virus disease in Nigeria.

    CAF are expected to take a final decision on this match based on the reports of the match commissioner from Benin Republic and referees from Senegal, who were all in Kaduna.

    According to the team secretary, Aliyu Auwal Ibrahim, the Flying Eagles won’t go on break until a final notice is received from CAF. The team have therefore returned to Abuja from Kaduna, where Saturday’s match was to have been played.

    The 2015 AYC will be staged by Senegal from March 8 with the top four teams winning berths to the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand.

  • OBJ’s letter: Nigerians await President’s reply

    SIR: The letter by the ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo asking President Goodluck Jonathan to wake up, as it were, from the slumber land, did not throw up any surprise to Nigerians, especially to those who have keenly followed this regime. It suffices also to state that the contents of the letter have not disclosed any new fact to what Nigerians already know, as far as one is concerned, save for the allegation that the Presidency now turns itself to “nest of killers” by “training of snipers and other armed personnel secretly and clandestinely”.

    The ex-President’s labelling of President Jonathan as a clannish “Ijaw man” whose attitudes have created ethnic divisions in the country is not questionable. The duo of Edwin Clark and Asari Dokubo know very much about this. Not too long ago the ex-militant (Asari Dokubo) threatened, to the delight of the Presidency, to make the country ungovernable in 2015 if his fellow kinsman, President Jonathan, was not re-elected into office. In the same vein, some South-south “elders” while on a visit to Edwin Clark recently, threatened to go nude if the president failed to contest the 2015 election and so many other inflammatory statements from the president’s kinsmen threatening other parts of the country of the consequences they would face come 2015. So, the ex-President has not added to the existing knowledge as far as this issue is concerned; or have we not witnessed in recent times the preferential treatments some of these persons from “Ijaw Nation” have received from the nation’s seat of power?

    The ex-President also accused the President in that letter of lacking in honour for not keeping to the “promise” he made with some persons to run for single term in office. It seems the former president does not know his estranged political son too well when it comes to keeping to promises; for if there was one thing this administration has gained popularity for, it is its penchant for breach of every gentleman agreement. Perhaps, the Academic Staff of Union of Universities (ASUU) would offer better explanation to this assertion. The president’s 2015 ambition is not only “fatally morally flawed” (as Obasanjo put it), it is equally fatally legally flawed, as our grundnorm, the 1999 Constitution (as amended) permits only twice taking of oath of office. One is not unaware that the judiciary is trying to give the president some legal backing. However, the fatality of that legality flaw cannot be cured by such impetus.

    The allegation of corruption raised in the letter by the ex-President against the administration is an open secret which every Nigerian knows. Nigerians know too well that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation under the present administration reeks of graft. Presently the corporation is yet to explain the allegation of non remittance of $49.8bn into the federation account from January 2012 to July 2013. The pension scheme scandal, the oil subsidy fraud, the sudden disappearance of N500bn from the SURE-P account and other numerous corrupt scandals are all classical instances of squandering of the nation’s resources which the president indirectly has condoned by not taking decisive actions against the characters behind them. This was the frustration the Speaker of the House of Representatives was trying to address recently when he accused the Presidency of doing little or nothing to curb this menace.

    As we wait patiently for the President’s reply, it is important to state that Nigerians will not want to hear such things as “when you were there, what did you do?” Or “you do not have the moral right to criticise this government”. If these are the contents of the anticipated reply from the president, it is better he does not reply at all. This time around, the Presidency should tackle the message and not the messenger. Agreed that the ex-President does not have the moral justification to level such allegations against President Jonathan, in view of his antecedents, but it suffices to say that the issues raised in that letter are too grievous and germane to be ignored, therefore, Nigerians urge the president to reply to those issues as soon as possible.

     

    • Barrister Okoro Gabriel,

    Lagos

  • Ameobi brothers await new owner

    Ameobi brothers await new owner

    Nigerian duo of Shola and Sammy Ameobi may go into the hands of a yet to be confirmed new owner after Newcastle owner Mike Ashley declared his intention to accept offers from intending buyers of the English premiership club.

    The sportswear tycoon has been widely criticised since he took control of the club in 2007 and his critics were given further ammunition by reports in Wednesday’s press suggesting he was ready to sell up.

    Ashley is believed to be holding out for an offer that will allow him to recoup all of the money he has spent in his six years in charge at St James’ Park, a figure of £267m according to the latest Deloitte Annual Review of Football Finance published earlier this month.

    Ashley launched his bid for the club in May 2007 when he bought the Hall family’s shareholding and had full control in July that year after purchasing the shares of then chairman, Freddy Shepherd.

    The purchase is reported to have cost the Buckinghamshire-born businessman around £134m but, having failed to undertake due diligence before his takeover, he had to spend a further £100m clearing out existing debts.

    Ashley also footed a large proportion of the club’s wage bill following their relegation from the Premier League in 2009 to help fund their immediate return to the top flight.

    The two Nigerians have spent combined 23years at the St James Park.

    Shola has been with the club since 1995 rising fom the youth academy,with 286 appearances and 51 goals to his credit. Younger brother Sammy who equally rose through the youth team in 2008 went on short loan to Middlesbrough on February this year, at the end of the season and has made over 19 appearances for Newcastle, only shola has featured for the Nigerian national team.