The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Viola Onwuliri

  • Jonathan in minor cabinet shake up

    Jonathan in minor cabinet shake up

    …Onwuliri replaces Wike in Education ministry

    President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday appointed the Minister of State I for Foreign Affairs, Mrs. Viola Onwuliri as the substantive Minister of State for Education.

    She takes over from Nyesom Wike, who resigned to contest the governorship election in Rivers State.

    Briefing State House correspondents at the end of Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by President Jonathan, the Minister of State II for Foreign Affairs, Nurudeen Mohammed, who now supervises Ministry of Information, said the President approved the changes during the meeting following resignation of seven ministers from the cabinet.

    He said the Minister of Defence, Lt. Gen. Aliyu Gusau, is to oversee the Ministry of State for Defence.

    Dr. Khaliru Alhassan, who is the Minister of State for Health is to take over the function of the Health Minister for now.

    The Minister of Industry Trade and Investments, Dr. Olusegun Aganga, will also act as Minister of State in the Ministry.

    The Minister of Special Duties, Kabiru Turaki will supervise the Ministry of Labour, while Niger Delta Affairs Minister, Dr Steven Oru, will oversee the affairs of the Minister of State of the ministry.

  • Senate urges Fed Govt to protect Nigerians in Ukraine

    The Senate yesterday urged the Federal Government to protect Nigerian students in Ukraine following the escalation of hostilities in the country.

    Senate Leader Victor Ndoma-Egba urged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to be mindful of the on-going crisis in Crimea, Ukraine due to the invasion of the area by Russian soldiers.

    Ndoma-Egba spoke when the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prof. Viola Onwuliri, appeared before the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs to defend the ministry’s 2014 budget.

    The Senator Matthew Nwagwu-led committee also asked the minister to intervene in the detention of over 80 Nigerian students in Malaysia.

    The students are said to have been held over visa related issues by the country’s immigration service.

    Mrs Onwuliri lamented that in 2013 only 42 per cent of the capital vote allocated to the 119 foreign missions was released to them by the Ministry of Finance.

    The minister said her ministry does not handle the finances of the missions as they are usually funded directly by the Finance Ministry.

     

  • ‘How Imo spent Fed Govt’s allocation’

    ‘How Imo spent Fed Govt’s allocation’

    Imo State Commissioner for Finance Deacon Chike Okafor explained yesterday how the Federal Government’s allocation accruing to the state in the last two and a half years was spent.

    The commissioner, who was responding to a call on Governor Rochas Okorocha by the Supervising Minister for Foreign Affairs, Prof. Viola Onwuliri, to give account for the state’s resources, said government invested an average of N1.285 billion in infrastructure in the 27 local governments.

    Giving a breakdown, Okafor said government built 10 schools in each council for N27.5 million, a modern hospital in each council for N110 million and a 15-kilometre road in the councils for N60 million.

    He said government consistently paid council workers, primary school teachers and pensions of retirees at a wage bill of over N2.1 billion.

    “With the visible achievements of this administration, there would have been no need to respond, but as the manager of the treasury, the burden is on me to set the records straight.”

    Okafor added: “While we invite and encourage honest, responsible and issue-based criticisms, we must stand up to discourage propaganda and falsehood.

     

  • Minister to Okorocha: account for cash received from federation account

    Minister to Okorocha: account for cash received from federation account

    •Let PDP account for 12 years in Imo, says governor’s aide

    The Supervising Minister for Foreign Affairs, Prof. Viola Onwuliri, has challenged Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha to give account of how the allocation accruing to the state from the federation account in the last two and a half years was spent.

    She accused the government of misappropriating the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) fund, the allocations meant for the local governments, which she put at over N40 billion, and the excess crude fund.

    The minister said the Federal Government would soon compel the governor to account for the funds.

    Prof. Onwuliri, who addressed reporters in Owerri, said: “What we have on ground in the state is not commensurate with the funds so far collected. We have received complaints from the victims of last year’s flood disaster that the intervention fund has been diverted. We are waiting for explanations because it appears the state government has a lot to account for. The governor has been collecting local government allocations and disbursing same without elected council executives.”

    But the Special Assistant to the Governor on Media, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, told the minister to first demand explanation from the two former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors on how they mismanaged the allocations of the state for 12 years.

    He said: “The call by the minister that Okorocha should account for the money his government has received from the federation account since he became governor has been noted. But she must ensure that the exercise is holistic.

    “Governor Okorocha must sit side by side with the two former governors produced by the PDP. They should tell the people what they did with the allocation for 12 years and Okorocha will account for his two and a half years. We will see those who will lose at the end of the exercise.”

  • Nigeria dares India over deportation threat

    Nigeria dares India over deportation threat

    The Federal Government has dared the India government to carry out its recent threat to deport Nigerians.

    The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prof Viola Onwuliri, yesterday warned that Nigeria would react appropriately, if India carried out the threat.

    She demanded an apology from the Indian government on the recent attack on Nigerians in that country.

    Nigerians in Goa state recently protested the killing of their compatriot, Obodo Uzoma Simeon.

    During a protest on the killing, Goa’s main highway was blocked for a few hours.

    The state’s Chief Administer Manohar Parrikar asked the police to track down Nigerians living illegally in the former Portuguese colony for deportation.

    But, Prof Onwuliri, during a pre-Commonwealth Heads of Governments (CHOGM) conference, which will hold in Colombo, Sri Lanka, told reporters that “the growing violence around the world should be a thing of worry to member-states”.

    She added: “For us in Nigeria, we have continued to condemn violence, especially against Nigerians in different states.

    “The recent one in India is really a big thing to worry about. I have summoned the Acting Head of Mission of India to address me on what has happened to our citizens in India. The young man (Simeon) was coming back from launch and there was a clash between two drug communities. He was not a part of them, but he went in for it. We have also asked for an unreserved apology from India. We have asked them to ensure that investigations are carried out so that the perpetrators of that act will be brought to book.”

     

  • Diplomatic dinner

    Diplomatic dinner