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Tag: Gabriel Suswan

  • Why Northcentral should retain PDP chair slot, by Suswam

    Why Northcentral should retain PDP chair slot, by Suswam

    • ‘National Chair post vacant’

    • Moro: Meeting will afford members to ventilate grievances

    Former Benue State Governor Gabriel Suswan yesterday said  the Northcentral should  retain the position of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) national chairman.

    He also said that he has received the blessing of suspended National Chairman Iyorchia Ayu to succeed him.

    Ayu and Suswam are Tiv from Benue State.

    Senate Minority Leader Abba Moro said the April 18 meeting  of the National Executive Council (NEC) would enable its members to express their views on the challenges confronting the major opposition party.

    Suswam, who spoke with reporters in Abuja on his aspiration, said contrary to insinuations, the position of PDP national chairman is vacant.

    He said he has started consultations to replace the Acting National Chairman, Umar Ilya Damagum, during the proposed  NEC meeting.

     Damagum hails from Yobe State in the Northeast.

    The Nation learnt that Suswam has met with the presidential candidate of PDP in last year’s general election, Atiku Abubakar; former Senate President Bukola Saraki, past and present PDP governors and members of the Board of Trustees(BOT ).

    Asked if he was in court with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for alleged corruption trial, Suswam simply said: “No, we are in court with ourselves.”

    Read Also: Bobrisky: Beneath the surface

    “I don’t think that(alleged corruption case against me) is a problem at all,” Suswam said.

    The former governor argued that since the PDP was formed on the basis of inclusiveness, the next chairman should come from the Northcentral.

    He said: “By the constitution of our party, once the chairman or any national officer of the party is removed, his deputy will act, pending when the zone that produced the incumbent officer will produce a replacement.

     “Ayu was removed almost a year ago, and no replacement has happened because the party had not been able to put itself together.

    “Issues that were outstanding had not been addressed, and so every person seems to be doing what he or she likes. But after almost a year, there is this feeling that the party is too despondent, and so there should be some resuscitation.

    “It is time to let us have a substantive chairman, and I declare my interest in being that substantive chairman to replace Ayu since I am from the Northcentral.

    “Since I indicated my desire to replace Ayu, there has been a series of activities. NEC has been called, Caucus has been called, BoT has been called, and we believe that some major decisions will be taken, including that of having a substantive chairman to replace the acting chairman, who is the National Deputy Chairman from the Northeast.

    “So, we at the party level, believe that the Northcentral should produce that replacement. There are antecedents or precedents. That is what is stated in the constitution of our party.

    “It is in Article 47, Sub 6 of the PDP constitution, clearly in very unambiguous term that once an officer, the national chairman of a party, is unable to act for whatever reason, the zone that he comes from should produce his replacement to complete his tenure.

    “And we don’t see any reason why we will not do that. It is not as if we are devoid of people with capacity. We have a lot of prominent people.

    “ I think two of us have indicated interest that I know of, myself and I learnt there is somebody from Kogi State who is a former minister. I won’t talk about rumours,  but I’m hearing that there’s a third person. That is good because all of us are from the Northcentral.”

    Suswam explained that his aspiration to lead the party was not subjudice to any court case. 

    He said to the best of his knowledge, Ayu was not in court over his suspension by the party.

    He said: There is vacancy in the office of the National Chairman of PDP. It is not subjudice that some of us are jostling to assume the office . Ayu is not in court. But even if he is in court, there is no problem.

    “A former National Chairman of PDP, Uche Secondus, is in the Supreme Court. Did that stop the party from selecting Ayu to replace him? Did it stop anything? No. Ayu is not in court and he will prove that he is not.” 

    Asked if it he was not undermining his kinsman, Ayu, by aspiring to replace him, he replied: “No”.

    He said he has gone to Ayu to seek his blessing to lead PDP. 

    “He (Ayu) is my leader in the state politically. I have spoken to him extensively and he said he is no longer interested.

    “I said to him, look there is this general agitation from the Northcentral that there should be a replacement for him and that I desire to be that person. He said I have all his support.” 

    Moro said NEC members were looking forward to discussing major issues affecting the party and Nigeria during the meeting on Thursday.  

    He also described the call for the resignation of Damagum as ill-timed and inappropriate.

    Some House of Representatives members, led by Ugochinyere Ikenga, have called for Damagum’s resignation for failing to convene a NEC meeting since he replaced Senator Ayu.

     But Moro said in a statement that the group’s call did not reflect the opinion of all PDP federal lawmakers, especially those in the Senate.

    He, however, said he did not subscribe to any call for the seat to be thrown open or zoned to any region aside Northentral. 

  • Storm grows over closure of Nigeria’s land borders

    The shock waves over Nigeria’s land border closure which continues to sweep across neighbouring countries, reverberated at the Senate on Wednesday.

    President Muhammadu Buhari last month ordered the border closure.

    Some senators criticised the decision on the grounds that it has further put pressure on the economy and deprived many Nigerians of their livelihood.

    Senate Minority Leader Enyinnaya Abaribe, Senators Abba Moro, Gabriel Suswan and Sani Musa, among others, opposed the border closure.

    Moro, a former minister of interior, noted that there are 87 official borders and 1,900 unofficial borders around the country. Suswan wondered why Nigeria signed trade agreements with other countries and thereafter closed its borders.

    Abaribe said the implication of borders closure was that the Nigerian Customs Service, the Nigeria Immigration Service, National Boundary Commission, and the various military and security agencies failed in their responsibilities.

    He urged the government to open discussions with neighbouring countries to control the movement of unauthorised persons in and out of the country.

    He said most people who are smuggling banned products, especially rice, are using commercial motorcycles to bring the products through illegal routes.

    Abaribe said the continued closure of the borders would further put serious pressure and suffering on the nation.

    But after a heated debate of the motion titled: “The impact of border closure on the Nigerian economy,” sponsored by Senator Adamu Aliero and eight others, the Senate resolved to support President Buhari’s decision.

    Senate President Ahmad Lawan noted that the motion was simply on the urgent need save the nation’s economy and save the people.

    Lawan said: “I think this motion is supposed to be straight forward. We save our economy and save our people. Smuggling causes a lot of damage.

    “Our people eat the wrong food items that are smuggled into the country. Of course, security is part of it. So, we pray that the resolutions will be well adhered to and, of course, implemented by the executive arm of government.”

    Adopting the prayers of the motion, which were put to a voice vote by Lawan, the Senate urged the ministries of Foreign Affairs and Interior to increase diplomatic outreach to the government of the Republic of Benin, Cameroun, Niger and Chad to take urgent measures to stop their domains from being used as base to perpetuate the illegal importation of unwanted goods into Nigeria.

    The Senate also enjoined the Nigeria Customs Service and the security services to intensify their role of curbing smuggling across the borders and pledged the support  for their “onerous task of ridding Nigeria of smuggled goods and services.

    The Senate reassured “friendly countries around the world that the border closure should not be perceived as a punitive measure targeted at them, but a necessary action to save our economy from collapse and protect our people from terrorism and insecurity.”

    It directed its committees on Customs and Tariffs, Trade and Investment and Interior to assess the effectiveness of temporary closure of borders and recommend necessary sustainable solutions.

    The Senate further urged a holistic “review of the country’s border control mechanism and also the empowerment of relevant government agencies to properly delineate Nigerian borders so as to effectively man same.”

    The Red Chamber commended President Muhammadu Buhari “on the very patriotic decision to temporarily shut down all our land borders to rectify the deteriorating effect on our country of persistent smuggling of products that negatively affect the Nigerian economy and the wellbeing of our nation.

    In his lead debate, Senator Aliero (Kebbi Central District), said apart from the temporary closure of land borders, the security agencies have resolved to secure the country’s territorial integrity against trans-border crime and criminality.

    Read Also: Senate vows to pass PIB in 2020

    He urged the Senate to note that, as a result of the situation in the border towns, the Nigerian economy is experiencing a lot of positive derivatives that is impacting on the country.

    The senator said: “For instance, fuel smuggling has significantly reduced, thereby saving the country billions of scarce foreign exchange spent by Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to import fuel into Nigeria.

    “The Group Managing Director of NNPC, during a press conference recently, stated that smugglers are no longer finding it easy to smuggle petroleum products through the land borders. Consequently, petroleum products have become readily available in every part of the country.

    “The smuggling of textile and vegetable oil imported from Malaysia through the land borders, which has negatively affected local production, is equally grounded to a halt.

    “The good news of the Federal Government’s action is that it has led to the revival of local production of vegetable oil, and increased employment generation.”

    He noted that other products like rice, processed frozen chicken, tomato puree and tomato paste, frozen fish and sugar that come into Nigeria through Benin Republic and Cameroonian borders have also stopped.

    “It has made it impossible for smugglers of small and light weapons to bring them into the country. This has reduced supply of arms and ammunitions to bandits and insurgents,” he said.

    Aliero also called on the Senate to be aware that the manufacturing sector has “suddenly breathed a sigh of relief from the ongoing economic boost resulting in factories coming back to produce items like tomato puree, milk, chicken, fish and even toothpicks directly.

    As a result of the border closure, it is clear that the economy is moving up positively.”

    He said that deteriorating security situation in the country has slowed down, “particularly because arms smuggling through the borders and foreign fighters coming to boost the insurgency of Boko Haram and their Islamic State of West Africa (ISWA) collaborators has been jolted.”

    Senators Bala Ibn Na’Allah, Emmanuel Bwacha and others supported the border closure.

     

  • Suswam authorised sale of Benue shares- BIPC boss

    Suswam authorised sale of Benue shares- BIPC boss

    A Federal High Court in Abuja Tuesday heard how former Benue State governor, Gabriel Suswam allegedly ordered the sale of the state’s shares at N10billion.

    The Chief Executive Officer of the state’s investment firm, the Benue Investment and Property Company (BIPC) Limited, Mrs. Brigid Shiedu gave details of how the governor authorised the sale of the shares.

    Mrs. Shiedu testified as prosecution witness in the trial of Suswam and the state’s ex-Finance Commissioner, Omodachi Oklobia.

    Suswam  is currently being tried, with Oklobia, on a nine-count charge of money laundering, in which they were among others, accused of diverting N3, 111,008,018.51k (about N3.1billion) which form part of the N9,411,708,009.51k (about N9.4billion) recovered from the sale of Benue State’s shares.

    When trial opened on December 8, 2015 a prosecution witness, Junaidu Sidu told the court how Suswam and Oklobia allegedly connived to divert about N3.1b from the share sale proceeds, using a bureau de charge operator, Abubakar Umar of Fanffash Resources Limited, who allegedly converted the money to $15,800,000 (USD) which he purportedly handed to Suswam in cash at his (Suswam’s) residence in Maitama, Abuja.

    Mrs Shiedu said out of the N10bn realised from the sales of the shares, the BIPC Limited was instructed to retain N1bn for the running of the company and reinvestment in real estate business which is part of the company’s areas of interest.

    She said the state government’s sole stockbroker, Elixir Securities Limited, which sold the shares on behalf of the state paid the balance of N9bn into the two accounts of the Ministry of Finance with Zenith Bank.

    Mrs. Shiedu, who was led in evidence by prosecution lawyer, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), said that Suswam had initially instructed her company  to raise N6bn, but later raised it to N10bn, claiming the money would be deployed for the completion of some ongoing projects in the state.

    “We discussed on the amount that would be liquidated at the meeting and thereafter we agreed on the sum of N6bn to be raised from the sales of the shares.

    “Thereafter the chairman of the board was also invited by the governor. The chairman came and was also informed of this development.

    “But the Chairman said the matter needed to be discussed at a full board meeting. So we scheduled a board meeting and the matter was discussed.

    “It was at the board meeting that the then Commissioner of Finance (Okolobia) said that due to the magnitude of the need of the state for fund at that time, the amount to be liquidated from the shares as later agreed between him and the governor was N10bn. The board also invited the stockbroker, Elixir Security Ltd, to come and advise about how the money could be raised from the shares,” the witness said.

    She added that the approval for the sale of the shares eventually came from Suswam as governor through the office of Government House Administration.

    She further said: “They now went to the stock market and started selling some of the shares. I wrote a letter to the then Governor of Benue State for approval for the sale of the shares to go into the transaction and I was given the approval.  The governor was Rt. Hon. Gabriel Suswam. Approval came through Government House Administration Office.

    “When they sold the shares, they asked us where the proceeds were to be deposited.When I contacted the Commissioner for Finance (Oklobia), he sent two account numbers to me.

    “He sent the account numbers through the Ministry of Finance letterhead. The two accounts were with Zenith Bank Plc.”

    The letters of correspondent between her and the governor, which Mrs. Shiedu referred to, were tendered and admitted as exhibits.

    Although the defence objected to the admission of the letters, the judge, Justice Ahmed Mohammed said the documents would be temporarily admitted until the prosecution was able to prove that BIPC is a public institution.

    Justice Mohammed adjourned to February 15 for continuation of trial.

  • Suswan and plight of Benue teachers

    SIR: Primary schools are where one starts acquiring formal education as the foundation or beginning of a journey towards his or her chosen career in life.

    However, Benue State government under the leadership of Governor Gabriel Suswan has being so lackadaisical about the education at the primary school level in the state. This is because, teachers in the state owned primary schools have been on strike for more than eight months now. The governor is however more concerned with plans and strategies to enable him perfect his ambition to win the 2015 senatorial seat against Senator Barnabas Gemade.

    If the governor had bothered to reflect properly, he would have known that tackling the problem of primary schools’ teachers is one of the major things that could make people vote for him and not by using money to buy people or bribe them to vote for him when time comes as he may be thinking and planning.

    In case Governor Suswan does not yet appreciate this, the provision of education for the people of Benue State is one of his responsibilities as governor. It is not something that the people of the state have to beg him for. Therefore, as a matter of urgent necessity, let him start doing what he supposed to do to get the primary schools’ teachers back to classes peacefully without victimization.

    What is right must be done to end the ongoing getting to a year strike of the primary schools’ teachers in Benue State.

    Enough is enough.

    • Awunah Pius Terwase

    Mpape, Abuja

     

  • Suswam didn’t absolve Fulani herdsmen, says Benue govt

    Suswam didn’t absolve Fulani herdsmen, says Benue govt

    Governor Gabriel Suswan is preoccupied with finding a permanent solution to the attacks on Tiv by Fulani herdsmen, the Benue State government said yesterday.

    It explained in a statement by Special Adviser to the Governor on Media, Dr. Cletus Akwaya, that the governor did not absolve the Fulani herdsmen as claimed in reports in the newspapers on Monday.

    Fulani herdsmen have been attacking and killing Tiv farmers and disappearing into neighbouring states, thereby making it difficult for them to be tracked.

    Some of the herdsmen use sophisticated weapons including AK 47 rifles, it was learnt.

    Yesterday’s statement said Suswam could not have exonerated the herdsmen in view of the persistent killings of Tivs in their farms in the last three years.

    “It is true that His Excellency addressed members of the media at the end of a meeting he convened on December 28 with representatives of State security agencies, political leaders, spiritual fathers and traditional rulers including His Royal Highness, Dr Alfred Akawe Torkula, Tor Tiv iv, Local Government Council Chairmen and other stakeholders from the affected local government areas following the Christmas eve and Boxing day attacks in Guma Local Government area which led to loss of lives.

    “Governor Suswam regretted the Christmas Eve and Boxing Day incidents and among several other security measures appointed a committee of eminent persons from the affected local government areas to assist the security agencies with additional information to get to the root of the matter especially those involved in the clashes.

    It is instructive to note that the violent clashes between Fulani herdsmen and farmers in some parts of Benue, has been persistent in the last three years. Over the last three years suspected Fulani Herdsmen have sacked several communities in Benue state in violent attacks that led to the killing of dozens of people and the accompany destruction of valuable property and farms.

    “Over the years also, thousands of people in the affected local government areas have been displaced as a result of the attacks by the invading Fulani Herdsmen. “Most of the farmers have abandoned their homesteads and their economic activities of farming and relocated to Makurdi and other cities in the state.

    “In almost all the clashes, the attacking Fulani herdsmen usually disappeared into the neighbouring Nasarawa state after the attacks.

    “This unfortunate development was responsible for the several meetings Governor Suswam held with his Nasarawa state counterpart to try to find a common solution to the problem.

    “The two governors even set up joint peace committees to monitor their common borders and provided the necessary logistics for the committee members to report any security threat to the police and other security agencies.

    As part of efforts to resolve this problem, the Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence, Alhaji Sa,ad Abubakar visited Benue state at the invitation of Governor Suswam in 2012 to hold meetings with Fulani herdsmen and their community leaders in the state on the need to live in peace with their host communities.

    Against this background therefore, Governor Suswam would not have “absolved” the Fulanis of the killing of Tiv farmers.

    “For the avoidance of doubt, Governor Suswam is more concerned about how to work with all parties to evolve long lasting solutions to the lingering Fulani/Tiv incessant clashes rather than embark on the fruitless mission of fault finding as to absolve one party in the crisis of wrong doing.

    Governor Suswam’s comments which were unfortunately misrepresented were specific about the Christmas Eve and Boxing Day attacks in Guma Local government area which he blamed on some criminal elements that he vowed to fish out. This did not in any way suggest or imply that the Governor had absolved the Fulanis of killings in the lingering crisis between the Fulani Herdsmen and the Tiv farmers.”

  • Anambra 2013, shame and INEC

    On Monday November 4, I wrote a piece titled Anambra 2013: What We Expect From INEC. In that piece I reminded that Anambra State is a peculiar state with a peculiar problem, a state where businessmen want to control business as well as government house, a state where cash can be used to purchase anything including government offices, a state where people without brains try to dictate where to go and where not to go, a state where great men have gone to sleep, leaving the political landscape for babies.

    In that piece I reminded Prof Attahiru Jega of the experience of Governor of Benue State, Gabriel Suswan when he was asked by PDP to come and conduct a delegate congress of the party in Anambra. After the congress, Suswan threw bomb to Anambra people. Hear this: “Anambra people have no shame. I had to bring 326 people from Benue state to come and conduct the congress, nowhere else in this federation would such a thing happen except in Anambra. It is a shame. Anambra is a different issue altogether. They do not want sanity to prevail or anything genuine, the first ugly experience was that some aspirants would offer anything. One even offered to give me 1 billion Naira cash that evening. I decided and even felt angry as such desperation. I can see why nothing seems to be working out here. Once it is 7pm everyone runs to their homes like fowls. There is no place of interest, sightseeing or nightlife. It is very unfortunate”

    This is a very painful indictment to the people of Anambra where I come from and I swallowed the shame and brought it before Professor Jega for INEC to know where they are going. For record purposes let me reproduce here what I told Professor Jega: “Now what will INEC do to succeed in Anambra? From all indications the world knows that PDP is not prepared for the governorship elections in Anambra State. The suspicion that PDP is working with the ruling party, APGA is no longer news. We see nothing wrong in that but the truth is that the opposition parties have to be prepared to face PDP and the full weight of the Federal Government. Another factor that proved our thinking beyond reasonable doubts is the romance between Governor Obi and President Goodluck Jonathan and it is all geared towards the November 16 elections. Therefore we fear that the federal government will use the security agencies to intimidate the opposition and this is our greatest fear. We saw it in Ondo State during the guber elections, as the army, police, SSS were deployed to serve the Mimiko’s Labour Party. Many were injured, maimed and killed. This must not happen in Anambra State.

    Another information we are getting from reliable and competent sources is how INEC officers will deny the opposition strong hold electoral materials and push the material to the strong hold of the ruling party. For example, where there are 600 registered voters in the opposition green zones the officers will bring 250 Ballot Papers just to disenfranchise and weaken the oppostion. The balance are now thumb-printed somewhere else and imported into the ballot boxes of the ruling APGA. This must not happen in Anambra and INEC must ensure it never happens.

    Opposition parties want a free and fair elections and the winner must win honourably and responsibly too. Anything short of this will be unacceptable to the people of Anambra State. INEC has only Anambra elections to contend with on November 16, and it must not fail Nigerians. Police, Army or any other security agencies can be used but they must be there to ensure that law and order is maintained and they must be neutral. I want INEC to prepare for this election because it is going to be a fore-test of what will happen in 2015.

    Now all the things APC predicted at the national level and what I told Jega’s INEC came to pass. Had Jega’s INEC knew the state they were going to probably we would not have been entangled in this electoral mess today. Two days to election a chieftain of PDP from Uga area in the state converted his home in Awka to a voting centre. For two nights they were thumb printing ballot papers and nobody fished them out. Before the elections, associates of some politicians and businessmen who do not like the audacity and courage of Dr Chris Ngige told us in confidence that Ngige will only get two LGAs out of 21. In the evening of Saturday November 16, they started calling us and bragged that they have done what they promised. I want Jega to probe this criminality. We need to scrutinize every single vote cast on November 16.

    To all intents and purposes I am stunned that critical stakeholders, leaders of thought, clerics, the academia, the professionals etc are keeping quiet in Anambra, thinking that the fraud of November will just fizzle out. A story that must be told never forgives silence. I have heard some well-to-do people asking APC to let the sleeping dog lie but we understand this game. Now everybody is talking about peace but nobody is talking about justice.

    Prof. Attahiru Jega owes Nigeria a duty to courageously tell the world what happened in Anambra on November 16. Did INEC prepare very well for the elections? Did INEC officials betray INEC, Nigeria and Anambra people? Was the voters’ register doctored 48hrs before the elections? Did any staff of INEC run away with result sheets? Were voting materials diverted, and to where? Who and who did this to Ndi Anambra? Did the police do their job or did they compromise? I can go on and on but there is no need to continue.

    Lord Stephenson warned that “An election which is conducted in violation of the principles of an election by ballot is no real election and therefore should be declared null and void without any effect”

    INEC must not hide anything for the sake of Nigeria and 2015. If we cannot organize an election in one state out of 36, then something is wrong somewhere. If INEC cannot handle Anambra elections then I can confidently say that it cannot do same even in a local government in Nigeria.

     

    • Igbokwe is interim Publicity Secretary of APC, Lagos

     

  • Musdapher, Suswam for conference

    Former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Dahiru Musdapher (CJN) (rtd.), and Benue State Governor Gabriel Suswan, are among dignitaries expected at the seventh annual conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Section on Legal Practice (SLP) in Makurdi, the Benue State capital.

    The three-day conference will start on November 18.

    The conference, which will hold at the Royal Choice Hotel, Old G. R. A, Lobi Quarters, will be opened by the governor under the chairmanship of Justice Musdapher.

    The theme of the conference is: Justice Delivery, the Challenges and Opportunities for Stakeholders.

    In a chat with The Nation, SLP chairman and former Imo State Commissioner for Justice Donald C. Denwigwe said: “ This is a conference to beat. We shall definitely explore and exhaust the challenges and opportunities of justice delivery for Nigerian lawyers and other stakeholders in justice sector.”

    Denwigwe said Justice Musdapher left a good legacy for the legal profession during his short tenure as the CJN.

    According to him, Justice Musdapher’s efforts for law and judicial reforms have not been surpassed.

  • A cook’s best man is his governor

    A cook’s best man is his governor

    FOR Peter Anyiman, a cook serving Catholic Priest, Rev. Father Michael Tumba, his wedding last Saturday at Our Lady Perpetual Help Cathedral, Makurdi, Benue State, was made just a lit bit more special by the fact that his best man was Governor Gabriel Suswam.

    Suswam told the guests at the wedding reception which was held at the same venue that the groom who had served Tumba in Abuja for 18 years had demonstrated commitment to his job and deserved to be honoured. He advised people to take their jobs seriously.

    Putting his advice to practice, the governor took time to adjust the groom’s tie and wipe sweat from his face to the admiration of the guests who attended the ceremony.

    Anyiman said he considered himself lucky to have the governor serve as his best man and could not have wished for a better wedding gift.

  • NIPP: FG to announce shortlisted bidders in August

    The Federal Government on Wednesday said the shortlisted bidders for the purchase of 10 National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) power plants would be announced on August 8.

    This is contained in a statement signed by Mr Chigbo Anichebe, Head, Public Communications of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), in Abuja and made available to NAN.

    It said the Director-General, BPE, Mr Benjamin Ezra Dikki, said this in a presentation in Hong Kong at a road show jointly organised by the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), and the BPE.

    The D-G said that besides the power, transport and housing sectors, development finance institutions and the Abuja Security and Commodities Exchange were up for sale.

    According to Dikki, local and international investors are all welcome to bid.

    He advised prospective bidders to be aware of some of the observed lapses by prospective bidders in the previous bid processes.

    “They involve bids failing to substantially comply with the Requests for Proposal (RFP), failure to meet the threshold of required tangible net worth, and failure to submit bid bonds.’’

    He also said such lapses include failure to submit audited accounts and failure to submit bids on time, among others.

    He said the intension of the Expressions of Interest (EOI) process for sale of the10 power plants was to improve on the rigorous requirements of the PHCN successor companies’ privatisation transactions.

    He said that it was critical that all interested potential investors went through the EOI guideline document.

    He told the potential investors that the deadline for the submission of expressions of interest remained July 19, and that the date would not be extended.

    Governor of Benue State, Mr Gabriel Suswan, said that power was the bedrock of the development agenda of the current administration in Nigeria.

    He said the three tiers of government, had invested well over $8 billion (about N1.25trn) in building the 10 power plants.

    Suswan noted that with a population of over 160 million, Nigeria is the largest market for investors in Africa and its atmosphere conducive for investments.

    The Deputy Chairman, Senate Committee on Power, Sen. Chris Ngige, said the $2.6 billion (about N405.6bn) raised by the privatisation of PHCN Successor Companies, was the largest transaction ever in Africa.

    Ngige assured potential investors that their investments were safe in Nigeria and money well spent.

  • Call for Nigeria’s breakup selfish – Kaduna governor

    Call for Nigeria’s breakup selfish – Kaduna governor

    Governor Mukhtar Yero of Kaduna State on Thursday described calls for the breakup of the country as selfish.

    Yero said at a one-day summit in Kaduna, organized by the Coalition of Civil Society Group, that Nigerians stands to benefit the more if the nation’s diversity were positively harnessed.

    The summit with the theme: ‘’ Our Diversity our Strength’’, had in attendance former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Alfa Belgore and former Speaker, Ghali Na’abba.

    The governor, who was represented by his Deputy, Amb. Nuhu Bajoga, urged Nigerians not to allow their differences to overturn their sense of reasoning.

    “If our diversity were utilised positively it would have more effect on the challenges our country is facing’’, the News Agency of Nigeria quoted the governor as saying at the forum.

    He added that those agitating the division of the country were doing so out of ignorance and selfishness, noting that ‘’such people have failed to notice that countries that developed are those with diverse people.”

    The governor emphasised that Nigeria belongs to all and would only be built on the collective contribution of all, and “on the experience of past leaders and the strength of the youth.”

    The Guest Speaker, Governor Gabriel Suswan of Benue said the main problem with Nigerians was their lack of respect for each others’ religious and cultural beliefs.

    “We must learn to respect and accept our differences’’, he said, adding that there must be better understanding of the people’s cultural and religious sensitivities, “in order to ensure rapid integration of socio-economic ties between our various communities.’’

    Suswan also spoke on the Boko Haram insurgency, saying that it was a national threat.

    .