Senate confirms 2 nominees as INEC national commissioners
Senate President David Mark on Tuesday advised INEC national electoral commissioners to ensure that they conducted free, fair and credible elections in line with the yearnings of the Nigerian people during the 2011 elections.
Mark gave the advice in his remarks after the Senate confirmed the nomination of Abdulkadri Oniyangi (Kwara-North Central) and Amina Zakari (Jigawa North West) as national electoral commissioners of INEC. President Goodluck Jonathan had sent their nominations to the Senate for confirmation as national electoral commissioners of INEC in accordance with Section 154(1) of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The confirmed commissioners said they were adequately fit and proper persons to perform the task ahead of them in spite of the obvious challenges.
Senate confirms 2 nominees as INEC national commissioners (http://www.businessdayonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12699:senate-confirms-2-nominees-as-inec-national-commissioners-&catid=85:national&Itemid=340)
...as FG introduces performance-based budgeting Olusegun Aganga, minister of finance, Tuesday assured that the 2011 executive budget proposal will be ready by September for the National Assembly's scrutiny and passage before the end of the 2010 fiscal year. Also, he added, the Federal Government is planning to set aside a small portion of the total capital vote beyond the expenditure ceilings as incentives for high performing Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to bid for additional resources for their projects. Aganga disclosed this at the 2011-2013 Medium Term Sector Strategies (MTSS) organised by the Budget Office of the Federation to discuss, decide on and prioritise planned projects and programmes of key MDAs over the medium-term horizon on a three-year rolling basis.
MTSS affords the MDAs the opportunity to prioritise their capital expenditure needs in line with available budgetary resources and the priorities of government, as indicated in the seven-point agenda, Vision 2020 and the MDGs.
2011 budget will be ready September, says Aganga (http://www.businessdayonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12700:2011-budget-will-be-ready-september-says-aganga-&catid=85:national&Itemid=340)
Four journalists, Wahab Oba, chairman, Lagos State council of the NUJ; Adolphus Okonkwo, secretary, zone G; Sylva Okereke, assistant secretary, Lagos council; Sola Oyeyipo and the council's driver were on Sunday afternoon kidnapped at Ukwakiri in Obingwa local government area of Abia State while returning from an official engagement in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. The abductors are demanding N250 million ransom.
National president of the NUJ, Muhammed Garba, represented by the deputy national president, Ritimi Obamuwagun while addressing members and families of the abducted journalists, said negotiation for their release were in top gear.
NUJ hopeful over release of kidnapped members as negotiation peaks (http://www.businessdayonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12701:nuj-hopeful-over-release-of-kidnapped-members-as-negotiation-peaks-&catid=85:national&Itemid=340)
Senate President David Mark on Tuesday said the reformation of the Nigerian prison system was rife to make it a centre for reformation rather than "a mere punitive centre". He said this at the opening ceremony of a one-day public hearing on the Prison Act (repeal and re-enactment) Bill 2002 and Prison Act 1972 (amendment 2010) being sponsored by Uche Chukwumerije (APGA-Abia) and Victor Udoma-Egba (PDP-Cross River). Represented by the Senate deputy chief whip, Mohammed Maina, Mark said the prison should be a place to build and not a place to destroy an individual. "Our concern for the prisons manifests the will of the legislature to pay attention to all sectors of the national governance. "The nation is developed by its manpower and its indication of a growing economy is human capacity which it mobilises and harnesses for optimal development,'' he said. Mark added that "it is therefore paramount for every nation to undertake reform of its prison system from time to time to make its prison system brace up to the challenge of rehabilitating and reforming inmates instead of being mere punitive centres."
Mark advocates prison reform (http://www.businessdayonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12702:mark-advocates-prison-reform-&catid=85:national&Itemid=340)
Farida Waziri, chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on Wednesday said Nigeria has nothing but crippling effect of corruption and other related stories of looting after its fifty years of existence. Farida, who at the first Anti-Corruption Revolution (ANCOR) national convention in Abuja, lamented that after fifty years of independence, Nigeria has gone from bad to worse under the crippling effect of these vices. She noted that countries that Nigeria was better than in the 50's and 60's such as Malaysia and Singapore have become economies to reckon with in the global arena. ANCOR was established by EFCC in 2008 to engage Nigerians as whistle blowers against corrupt practices. She said: "Alas, 50 years down independence lane like most African countries, we have nothing to show for self rule but stories of woe, corruption, wastages, primitive accumulation and looting by a privileged few, diverse and modernising forms of economic and financial crimes". The chairman noted that corruption has led to a wide gap between the rich and the poor giving rise to new crimes like cyber crimes and kidnapping. The EFCC chief said: "ANCOR provides a platform for very purposeful engagement of the citizenry and a necessary nexus between the state and the non-state actors in the fight against graft."
Nigeria worse at 50, says EFCC boss (http://www.businessdayonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12737:nigeria-worse-at-50-says-efcc-boss-&catid=85:national&Itemid=340)
Four journalists kidnapped on Sunday in Abia State and still being held by their captors have cried out to Nigerians to intensify prayers for their early freedom. Their call is coming as condemnation continues to trail the increasing cases of kidnapping in the country, with the Lagos State government on Wednesday urging the Federal Government to urgently put in place measures to curb the development. "This kidnap of Oba and others is one too many. We believe that there is no justification for anyone to resort to kidnapping as a means of livelihood," Opeyemi Bamidele, the Lagos State commissioner for information and strategy, who led a Lagos delegation on solidarity visit to the secretariat of the Lagos State council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists ( NUJ), Ikeja, said on Wednesday. One of the kidnapped journalists, Wahab Oba, who is also the chairman of the Lagos State council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), was said to have spoken with the national president of the union, Mohammed Garba, via the captors' telephone, saying they were not being ill-treated, but stressed the need for intensified prayers for their freedom.
Vice chairman of the state council, Deji Elumoye, who briefed the Lagos delegation, quoted Oba in the conversation as calling on Nigerians to pray for them.
Babatunde Fashola, Lagos State governor on Wednesday joined other Nigerians to condemn the kidnap and urged relevant government agencies to handle the matter with care, praying that the whole saga will end happily. He said the development is already painting Nigeria in bad light, adding that nobody deserved to be held in captivity. Speaking with reporters at the presidential wing of Murtala Muhammed Airport, he said: "The kidnap is a very bad development and my family as well as members of our government extend our condolence to the victims of this very heinous crime, and their families."
Governor Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State on Wednesday condemned the kidnapping of the four journalists and their driver and called on the Federal Government to overhaul the nation's security network. Yuguda made the call in Bauchi through his senior special assistant on media, Sanusi Muhammad. Yuguda told newsmen that kidnapping has assumed an ugly trend and required urgent surgical operation of the nation's security network. He said: "As a matter of urgency, it is apt to quickly overhaul the security system in order to nip the ugly development in the bud before it goes out of control."
Similarly, Senate President David Mark on Wednesday asked the Federal Government to declare state of emergency in states prone to kidnapping, just as he tasked the 36 state governments to criminalise kidnapping by formulating the legal framework.
Kidnapped journalists cry out, urge Nigerians to intensify prayers (http://www.businessdayonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12739:kidnapped-journalists-cry-out-urge-nigerians-to-intensify-prayers-&catid=85:national&Itemid=340)
Nigerians in Diaspora have said President Goodluck Jonathan's constructive engagement with Nigerians abroad was the right encouragement needed to make them begin to look homeward. In a communiqué by the group on Wednesday, in Paris, France, signed by Henry Ukrakpo, president; Miracle Okumagba, vice president, and Kingsley Iweh, secretary and made available to our correspondent, the group said "commendably underlying Jonathan's approach is a respectful realisation of a new world order that allows people of Nigerian origin to have a sense of belonging and contribution without the need for unnecessary shifts". According to the group, "Nigerians abroad now have a sense of pride in having the closest representation of a statesman as their president. Given the recent visits by the Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan to France, South Africa and Canada, there has become a remarkable shift in approach by a visiting Nigerian president abroad against the norm of the past decades. "The president has given a new definition to foreign presidential visits by robustly featuring in his itinerary comprehensive and highly engaging interactive meetings and sessions with Nigerians in the Diaspora on developmental efforts back in Nigeria", the group said. "In the new world order where distance has been collapsed by information technology and enhanced occupational mobility", the group said, "Jonathan's renewed importance of engaging Nigerians in discourses, the way he has been doing especially during his recent last visit to France show a president with foresight, humility, courage and broad mindedness". The group pointed out that "President Jonathan realises that Nigerians abroad are not necessarily fleeing a struggling country but have merely sought other environments for greater expression of their highly invaluable wealth of talents and other natural endowments that are needed for national development".
Jonathan's constructive engagement makes us look homeward, say Nigerians abroad (http://www.businessdayonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12740:jonathans-constructive-engagement-makes-us-look-homeward-say-nigerians-abroad-&catid=85:national&Itemid=340)
Senate President David Mark says the present National Assembly is ready to make history by being the first legislature to create states outside the military regime. "We are hoping to make history as the first democratic government to create states outside the military government," he said. Speaking when he received a delegation agitating for the creation of Gurara out of the present Kaduna State on Wednesday in Abuja, Mark said the Assembly would break the jinx that states could only be created by the military. He assured Nigerians that the committee on the review of the 1999 constitution would be fair to all in the consideration of states to be created. Mark, who described their demand as genuine, said it was a clear demonstration of their desire to bring the people closer to the government. He urged them to unite and eschew religious or ethnic sentiments. Earlier, the leader of the delegation, Bawa Magaji, said the creation of the proposed Gurara State was approved by the Kaduna State House of Assembly in its resolution on November 18, 2009. "The proposed Gurara State, with headquarters in Kachia, has a population of 3,383,207 and a land mass area of about 28,393 square kilometres,'' he said. (NAN)
National Assembly ready to create new states – Mark (http://www.businessdayonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12743:national-assembly-ready-to-create-new-states--mark-&catid=85:national&Itemid=340)
A group of lawyers has dragged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before a Federal High Court, Abuja, for allegedly protecting former President Olusegun Obasanjo over his alleged involvement in the Halliburton bribery case. The group led by Yahaya Mohammed, suing for himself and on behalf of other lawyers, as well as anti-corruption crusaders expressed displeasure that the EFCC is treating the Halliburton bribery scam with levity. The lawyers are seeking the leave of the court to apply for an order of mandamus to compel EFCC to investigate Obasanjo and others for their alleged involvement in the scam. The motion ex parte is brought pursuant to Order 34 Rule 3(2) of the Federal High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules 2009, Section 5 and 6 of EFCC Act 2004 and the inherent jurisdiction of the court. In the application filed on Thursday, the applicant recalled that Obasanjo doggedly refused to honour the invitation of an administrative panel raised by the late former President Umaru Yar'Adua, which submitted an interim report sometime in May 2009. "From the interim report some prominent Nigerian officials including Olusegun Obasanjo are suspected to have been deeply involved in the Halliburton bribery scandal. "Despite the submission of the interim report to the late president and a follow-up report submitted to President Goodluck Jonathan, the EFCC has not taken any step to ensure that Chief Obasanjo is properly investigated and if found culpable prosecuted. "As a Nigerian citizen, I am worried on how things of this magnitude are ignored".
Halliburton: Group drags EFCC to court for shielding Obasanjo (http://www.businessdayonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12776:halliburton-group-drags-efcc-to-court-for-shielding-obasanjo-&catid=85:national&Itemid=340)
FirstBank Plc, the nation's largest and longest-standing financial services institution, has announced the voluntary resignation of three of its executive directors, in what observers said last night is the first major executive transition in the bank since Bisi Onasanya assumed office over a year ago.
Onasanya consolidates at First Bank as 3 EDs quit (http://www.businessdayonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12777:onasanya-consolidates-at-first-bank-as-3-eds-quit&catid=85:national&Itemid=340)
Utomi, Keyamo, Okwu, others criticise Senate over state of emergency in South-East Gunmen who kidnapped four journalists in Abia have drastically reduced their ransom demand on Thursday to N30 million, the NUJ said. "We spoke to our colleagues and their kidnappers today (Thursday)," the national secretary of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Usman Leman, told newsmen. "The kidnappers agreed to reduce their ransom demand to N30 million ($200,000, 155,000 euros)." Their initial demand was N250 million. "The journalists are unharmed but they are missing their families and their colleagues.
We are still pleading with their kidnappers to set them free," Leman said. According to Leman, the abductors claimed to have lowered their demand after appeals for their release, with the targeting of the journalists having provoked outrage across the country. Officials and media rights groups, including global organisation Reporters Without Borders, have called for the immediate release of the journalists seized on Sunday in Abia State.
Abia State police spokesman, Ali Okechukwu, said the "rescue operation is still ongoing. Our men are everywhere and we hope to get a tangible result very soon."
He did not give details of the operation. Bayelsa State council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has joined its voice with other councils, governments, groups and individuals in condemning the kidnap last Sunday of the chairman of the Lagos State council, Wahab Oba and three others. A statement released by council in Yenagoa on Thursday and signed by the chairman, Tarinyo Akono and the secretary, Samson Opokuma, described the action of the kidnappers as inhuman in a civilised society like Nigeria.
Kidnappers lower ransom demand for four journalists to N30m (http://www.businessdayonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12778:kidnappers-lower-ransom-demand-for-four-journalists-to-n30m-&catid=85:national&Itemid=340)
There are indications that the campaign to ensure that President Goodluck Jonathan contests the 2011 election has taken off.
BusinessDay investigations reveal that ministers and top aides of the president have been mandated to go to their zones and begin mobilisation to ensure that Jonathan picks the ticket of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) whenever the party holds its national convention later in the year. The party is yet to fix date for its convention.
Already, Mohammed Abba Aji, the president's special adviser on National Assembly Matters, is the chairman of a pro-Jonathan campaign group called Friends of Democracy. The organisation's director-general is Cairo Ojougboh, another aide of the president, who sometime in the past said Jonathan would contest the 2011 election. The statement was retracted within 24 hours then with Ojougboh saying he was expressing his personal opinion.
It was believed that he was reprimanded by the presidency then as betraying a motive that was yet to be unfolded. Already, Friends of Democracy has begun intense mobilisation for the 2011 aspiration of Jonathan. Its campaign posters are posted all over the federal capital, Abuja, while the organisation has started reaching out to other pro-Jonathan groups in order to harmonise their campaign. The issue of Jonathan contesting the 2011 election has been contentious with a section insisting on a zoning arrangement agreed to on December 2, 2002 at an expanded meeting of the PDP caucus.
Jonathan's camp has been quietly meandering its way to clear the huddles for the president to seek the ticket of the party for next year's election. The first major hurdle Jonathan had to cross was the uncooperative attitude of the former chairman of the party, Vincent Ogbulafor. The resignation of Ogbulafor following his arraignment on corruption charges by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) paved the way for the appointment of Okwesilieze Nwodo as chairman of the party.
Since his emergence as chairman of the party, Nwodo has taken steps which are in favour of Jonathan's 2011 aspiration. The party chairman recently declared that zoning in PDP ceased to exist after the 1999 election which brought former President Olusegun Obasanjo to power. There are also moves to effect reform in the party to whittle down the influence of governors elected on the party's platform in relation to picking the presidential flag bearer of the party for 2011. The reform will ensure that the number of a governor's aides who will be eligible to be delegates to the party's national convention will reduce.
Jonathan's camp has also moved to break the ranks of northern politicians who are insisting on zoning. This has resulted in the split in the position of the northern political elite. While politicians like Iyorchia Ayu and Adamu Ciroma insist on zoning, others like Aminu Bello Masari, Nasir el Rufai, Jerry Gana, Babangida Aliyu and many others have called for a discarding of the zoning arrangement. The resolution of the northern political summit held in Kaduna on Thursday that since Jonathan and the late President Umaru Yar'Adua were elected on the same ticket, there was nothing wrong with Jonathan contesting is an indication that the president has gained a foothold in the north.
2011: Jonathan kicks off campaign (http://www.businessdayonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12780:2011-jonathan-kicks-off-campaign-&catid=85:national&Itemid=340)
The real estate sector of the economy has seen a substantial drop in bank lending that hovers between 60 and 70 percent following the credit squeeze in the banking sector. Due more to the on-going banking reform than the global economic recession, the Nigerian banking sector is having serious liquidity challenges. The situation is such that most of the banks appear to have outlawed lending.
The few that lend are very selective, lending only to individuals and institutions that they like most, especially those that pose minimal risk. Reviewing activities in the real estate sector in the first half of the year, an analyst who did not want to be named, told our correspondent that due to the credit crunch in the banking sector, many banks are not interested in real estate, stressing that the level of lending to the sector has really gone down drastically.
Bank lending to real estate drops 60% as credit squeeze lingers (http://www.businessdayonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12781:bank-lending-to-real-estate-drops-60-as-credit-squeeze-lingers-&catid=85:national&Itemid=340)
The report by the National Bureau for Statistics (NBS) that the economy grew by 7.2 percent in the first quarter of 2010 is raising eyebrows among experts who say it is illogical for the economy to have grown by such magnitude when key components that drive the economy are looking downward. Specifically, they identify negative growth in the automobile industry where imports declined by 55 percent, house prices which have remained depressed, and little or no foreign investors trickling in, as factors that make the report unrealistic.
On the contrary, NBS' stance is that the increase in crude oil production as a result of the success of Federal Government's amnesty programme added fresh impetus, and thus, growth, to the real sector. But Bismarck Rewane, renowned economist and chief executive officer of Financial Derivatives Company (FDC), insists that housing, automobile and retail sales, manufacturing output, among others, are examples of proxies used all over the world to measure the level of economic activities.
did not perceive any form of growth in the economy during the first quarter. According to him, the rate of unemployment went up, as many people were laid off in various sectors.
FG's 7% growth report questioned (http://www.businessdayonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12785:fgs-7-growth-report-questioned&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=18)
The Supreme Court in Abuja today ( Friday, July 16) threw out the suit filed by the ANPP governorship candidate in the April 2007 general election in Niger, David Umaru, challenging the election of Gov. Babangida Aliyu.
Umaru had gone to court to determine the validity of the Court of Appeal's judgment of Feb. 19, 2009, which dismissed his petition and upheld the election of Aliyu. The main issue in the tussle is the qualification of Gov. Aliyu to stand for election as at the time of the said election given regard to his disengagement processes from the civil service.
The court was also to determine whether or not, Aliyu was the winner of the election having regard to the results declared by INEC in the 11 out of the 25 local governments which were in dispute. The Niger State Legislative and Governorship Elections Petition Tribunal headed by Justice Suleiman Kawu had dismissed Umaru's petition on the ground that Aliyu's alleged failure to disengage properly from the civil service 60 days to the election as required by law was not complained of by Aliyu's employers.
Following the judgment, Umaru went on appeal. However, on Feb.19, 2009, Justice R. D. Mohammed of the Court of Appeal, struck out the suit on the ground that the petition was one day late in filing. He denied Umaru's prayer for the court to nullify Aliyu's election because he did not disengage from the civil service as required by law, the News Agency of Nigeria reports. ``The appellant did not keep interest in the case as he did not file the case on time after the person who was declared winner was announced by INEC,'' he said.
Supreme Court upholds Gov Aliyu Babangida's election (http://www.businessdayonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12804:supreme-court-upholds-gov-aliyu-babangidas-election&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=18)
The Federal Government requires N32 trillion to deliver world class infrastructure between now and the year 2020. Samshudeen Usman, Minister of National Planning, speaking at a meeting of stakeholders with Vice President Namadi Sambo, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said N13 trillion of that amount is expected to come from the private sector. Said Usman: "Nigeria needs about N32 trillion to deliver adequate infrastructure as contained in the Vision 20:2020 blueprint, and N13 trillion of that amount is targeted to be raised from the private sector".
He disclosed that the Ministry of National Planning in its efforts to meet the challenges of saving cost for government and co-ordinating infrastructural development projects between the federal and state governments as well as among the various ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) is collaborating with the Department For International Development (DFID) under the National Infrastructure Advisory Facility (NIAF), to upgrade the existing national infrastructure database and develop a national infrastructure master plan.
In an earlier remark at the meeting Vice President Namadi Sambo directed the Ministry of Finance to meet with the 36 state governments in preparation for the 2011 budget proposals. Sambo said the dialogue with the states was important to enable government form strategies for funding infrastructural development in the country, outside the normal national income. He said the critical areas requiring substantial funding by government are hydro power projects with Mambila and Zungeru as priority areas with the Gurara Phase II as medium term priority; coal power projects; roads, railways, and airports; various multipurpose dams; information and communication technology (ICT) and projects in the Niger Delta Ministry.
The Vive President said proper coordination and planning must be embarked upon for government to surmount the challenges of funding projects and advised that critical projects that will enhance development of infrastructure should be targeted for the sourcing of cheap and concessional funds from the World Bank, the Islamic Development Bank, the African Development Bank, the diverse export and import banks worldwide and the several bilateral agreements entered into by the country across the world. He noted that with the establishment of the Sovereign Wealth Fund, by the National Economic Council, Nigeria is better positioned to access infrastructural funding from credible international institutions.
To ensure effective co-ordination and actualisation of these objectives, the Vice President set up a committee headed by Usman to review and present within two weeks, all identified priority projects by theMDAs for further discussions and recommendation to government. Vice President Sambo expressed concern over the non-existence of a comprehensive national infrastructural database and urged the National Planning Commission to expedite action on the national infrastructure database and the development of an infrastructural master plan to meet our immediate challenges.
FG needs N32 trn for infrastructure for 2020 plan (http://www.businessdayonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12811:fg-needs-n32-trn-for-infrastructure-for-2020-plan&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=18)
The US insurance giant AIG has agreed to pay $725m (£474m) to settle a long-running fraud case against it. The settlement is likely to be one of the biggest in US history, following a class action lawsuit led by three Ohio pension funds.
They alleged that AIG had engaged in stock price manipulation, anti-competitive behaviour and accounting fraud between 1999 and 2005.
That, they say, resulted in shareholders losing millions, reports the BBC. The court now needs to give its approval before payments can be made. A first payment of $175m is scheduled within days of the court's approval, however, while AIG is expected to raise the further $550m though the issuing of new shares.
AIG is now 80% owned by the US government following a massive bailout of the company at the height of the financial crisis.
Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray, who represented the Ohio funds, said total payouts from AIG to shareholders would now total $1bn, including previous settlements.
AIG said it was "pleased to have resolved this matter", adding that it could now focus on paying back taxpayers the $182bn used to rescue it.
Insurer AIG agrees to massive $725m fraud payout (http://www.businessdayonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12812:insurer-aig-agrees-to-massive-725m-fraud-payout&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=18)
One of the kidnappers of four Lagos journalists has been arrested, President Goodluck Jonathan has revealed.
President Jonathan disclosed this at a state dinner organised on his behalf in Akwa Ibom State but did not give details.
"There are some communities where kidnapping is becoming a business. Some very senior people are involved and we are tracking them." The president observed.
The four journalists and their driver were kidnapped last Sunday (July 12) at Umuafouka junction in Obingwa Local Government Council of Abia State.
Those kidnapped are Wahab Oba, Chairman of the Lagos Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Adolphus Okonkwo , Zonal secretary of the union, Sylva Okereke , Lagos Council's Assistant Secretary , Shola Oyeyipo and their driver, Azeez Abdulrauf. Their abductors first demanded a ransome of N250 million, which they lowered to N150 million and then to N30 million, according to reports. Meanwhile, Nigerians have continued express outrage at the rising trend of kidnapping in the country ,saying it breeds insecurity, undermines investor confidence and is a sign of political failure.
Nasir el-Rufai, former administrator of the Federal Capital Territory described the rising trend of kidnapping in Nigeria as a sign of failure of governance and of the law enforcement system and said it was growing on account of poor law enforcement and the collusion of law enforcement officers with criminals. He added that more and more people were engaging in kidnapping because they were encouraged by the fact that almost all of those who engaged in it before them got away scot free and with huge sums of ransom money to the bargain.
Informed sources attest that the development has crippled trade and industry in some eastern states including Abia, where the journalists were abducted. It is also said that many middle class and affluent indegenes of some eastern states have have repartriated their parents and other close relatives to other states including Lagos for fear that they might be kidnapped.
Meanwhile, Ogbonnaya Onovo, the Inspector-General of Police has decried the spate of criminality in the South-Eastern states of Nigeria, especially the rising trend of kidnapping. Onovo made the declaration on Friday in Abakaliki when he paid a courtesy call on Gov. Martin Elechi of Ebonyi State. "As someone who comes from this part of the country, I feel embarrassed and embittered that our youths have desecrated the land by holding their own people in captivity for ransom."
I am touring the police commands in the zone to assess the performance of police personnel and re-strategise in order to bring the situation under control in the people's interest, he said.
One arrested as Nigerians express outrage over kidnap of journalists (http://www.businessdayonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12814:one-arrested-as-nigerians-express-outrage-over-kidnap-of-journalists-&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=18)