Senate rejects Buhari’s plan to take $30bn loan

ABUJA- THE Senate on Tuesday unanimously threw out plans by President Muhammadu Buhari to engage in external borrowing of $29.960billion for execution of key infrastructural projects across the country between 2016 and 2018.

  The Senate did not even discuss it as it was killed immediately it was mentioned as an executive communication by Senate Leader, Senator Ali Ndume “that the Senate do consider the request of the President Commander in Chief on the 2016 – 2018 External Borrowing Rolling Plan.”

Soon after Ndume’s remarks, Senate President Bukola Saraki now puts it to Vote and the Nays had it.

Senator Saraki who was surprised and trying to give President Buhari a soft landing, decided to put it into vote the second time and the Nays still had it and he ruled.

It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari had on Tuesday last week written to the National Assembly seeking for the approval of external borrowing plan of $29.960billion for execution of key infrastructural projects across the country between 2016 and 2018.

The letter titled, “Request for Approval of Federal Government 2016 – 2018 External Borrowing( Rolling) Plan” was read on the floor of the Senate”

President Buhari had explained in the letter that external borrowing plan would be targeted at projects which cut across all sectors with special emphasis on infrastructure, Agriculture, Health, Education , Water supply , Growth and employment generation , poverty reduction through social safety net programmes and governance and financial management reforms etc.

According to him,” the total cost of the projects and programmes under the borrowing (rolling) plan is $29.960billion made up of proposed projects and programmes loan of $11.274billion, Special National Infrastructure projects $10.686billion, Euro bonds of $4.5 billion and Federal Government budget support of $3.5billion “.

The President who also explained that the loan was very necessary in view of the serious infrastructural deficit, the nation is facing, said, “Considering the huge infrastructure deficit currently being experienced in the country and the enormous financial resources required to fill the gap in the face of dwindling resources and the inability of our annual budgetary provisions to bridge the deficit, it has become necessary to resort to prudent external borrowing to bridge the financing gap, which will largely be applied to key infrastructure projects namely Power, Railway and roads projects among others.”

NCC writes to Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, demanding N50bn paid by MTN

The Nigerian Communications Commission has written the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, demanding the transfer of the initial N50bn paid by MTN Nigeria Communications to the regulator’s account with the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The Executive Vice Chairman, NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, disclosed this in Abuja on Monday while answering questions from journalists at a press conference to mark the one year anniversary of his coming on board.

The NCC boss, who said the money had been lodged in a recovery account opened by the OAGF with the CBN, added that it needed to be transferred to the NCC account before it could be moved to the Consolidated Revenue Account of the Federal Government.

The commission had imposed a fine of N1.04tn on MTN Nigeria Communications Limited in October 2015 for failing to disconnect 5.2 million improperly registered subscribers from its network. After initial negotiations, MTN went to court.

However, in a twist, it withdrew the case out of the court and paid N50bn through the OAGF to show the government that it was ready to embark on full negotiation in a bid to settle the matter out of court.

There appeared to be crack in the government’s handling of the matter when the Minister of Communications, Mr. Adebayo Shittu, denied that his ministry and its agencies took part in the negotiation and subsequent receipt of the money.

When the government and the NCC eventually entered into fresh negotiations with MTN, the fine was reduced to N330bn spread over a period of three years. The initial N50bn paid by the company was regarded as the first instalment.

Danbatta said MTN had since paid another N30bn, which means that the company has so far paid N80bn, with an outstanding balance of N250bn.

The NCC helmsman also said that the regulator declined a request by MTN to acquire the spectrum being used by Visafone even though it approved the acquisition of 100 per cent shareholding in the company by MTN.

The nation’s chief telecom regulatory officer argued that the acquisition of Visafone’s frequency could perpetuate MTN’s dominant position in the Nigerian telecommunications market, adding that the NCC would subject the request to a public inquest.

Danbatta also said that MTN would roll out services on the 2.6MHz spectrum acquired through a bidding process.

He said, “In the recent wireless broadband frequency bidding process for the 2.6MHz spectrum by the commission, MTN Nigeria Limited emerged the winner of six slots. The licensing of frequency in this slot has suffered several setbacks until recently when six slots out of 14 made available by the commission were allocated for immediate deployment of 4G-LTE services.

“By the rollout plans for this service as provided by the winner, broadband services on this frequency spectrum will be available in the last quarter of 2016.”

He added, “We have initiated processes for licensing of more broadband services on the 5.4GHz spectrum band. We have opened the process for the allocation of frequencies in the 70/80GHz band (e-band).

“Approval has been given for the deployment of 4G Long Term Evolution Technology by NATCOM Development and Investment Limited, which has launched the first Voice over LTE call on February 25.”

Danbatta also announced that the country’s broadband penetration had reached 20.95 per cent.

“Equally, on the percentage of Internet penetration, the country has reached a milestone of 47.44 per cent, second to South Africa on the continent,” he said.

On unsolicited text messages, Danbatta said the NCC had constituted a task force to verify the compliance of telecoms operators with the directives issued to them.

He said the regulatory agency would not shy away from sanctioning operators found wanting

president Buhari reveals those sponsoring Niger Delta militants [shocking]

– President Muhammadu Buhari has said that past looters of the treasury are behind militants in the Niger Delta
– Buhari said the looters recruited the militants to sabotage the oil infrastructure
– The president said the nation loses millions daily due to activities of the militants

Those who looted Nigeria’s treasury in the past are behind the militants in the Niger Delta region, says President Muhammadu Buihari.




President Buhari said past looters of the treasury are behind the resurgence of militancy in the Niger Delta region, stressing that they are the reasons the nation is battling recession.
According to him:

  “Those who stole Nigeria dry are not happy. They recruited the militants against us in the Niger Delta, and began to sabotage oil infrastructure. We lose millions of barrels per day, at a time when every dollar we can earn, counts. It is a disgrace that a minimum of 27 states, out of 36 that we have in Nigeria, can’t pay salaries.

In a statement by his special adviser media, Femi Adesina, President Buhari was speaking to top rate Nigerian professionals based in the United States of America, whom Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Diaspora Matters and International Relations, described as “15 of the best people God ever created”.


The professionals were in New York to meet with the Nigerian President. Top flight aeronautics engineers, physicians, I.T experts, a Judge, a top policewoman, entrepreneurs, an Import Specialist at Customs and Border Protection, professors, two straight A students, and many others.
The parley provided President Buhari opportunity to bring them up to speed on how and why Nigeria got into trouble, with an assurance that with all hands on deck, including the best brains in the Diaspora, the country would bounce back in the shortest possible time.

“I am very pleased with this meeting,” President Buhari stated. “Wherever you go in the world, you find highly competent and outstanding Nigerians. They not only make great impact on their host countries and communities, their financial remittances back home also help our economy, particularly at a time like this, when things are down.

“We got into trouble as a country, because we did not save for the rainy day. For example, between 1999 and 2015, when we produced an average of 2.1 million barrels of oil per day, and oil prices stood at an average of $100 per barrel, we did not save, neither did we develop infrastructure. Suddenly, when we came in 2015, oil prices fell to about 30 dollars per barrel.

“I asked; where are the savings? There were none. Where are the railways? The roads? Power? None. I further asked; what did we do with billions of dollars that we made over the years? They said we bought food. Food with billions of dollars? I did not believe, and still do not believe.

“In most parts of Nigeria, we eat what we grow. People in the South eat tubers, those in the North eat grains, which they plant, and those constitute over 60 per cent of what we eat. So, where did the billions of dollars go? We did a lot of damage to ourselves by not developing infrastructure when we had the money.

“Talking of our military, they earned respect serving in places like Burma, Zaire, Sudan, Liberia, Sierra-Leone, and then, suddenly, that same military could no longer secure 14 out of 774 local governments in the country. Insurgents had seized them, calling them some sort of caliphate, and planting their flags there; till we came, and scattered them.“We raised the morale of our military, changed the leadership, re-equipped and retrained them; USA, Britain, and some other countries helped us, and today, the pride of our military is restored.

“Boko Haram ran riot, killing innocent people in churches, mosques, markets, schools, motor parks, and so on. And they would then shout Allahu Akbar. But if they truly knew Allah, they would not do such evil. Neither Islam, nor any other religion I know of, advocates hurting the innocent. But they shed innocent blood, killed people in their thousands. Now, we have dealt with that insurgency, and subverted their recruitment base.”

“But I prayed so hard for God to make me President. I ran in 2003, 2007, 2011, and in 2015, He did. And see what I met on ground. But I can’t complain, since I prayed for the job. In the military, I rose from 2nd Lieutenant to Major-General. I was military governor in 1975 over a state that is now six states. I was head of state, got detained for three years, and headed the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF), which had N53 billion of that time in Nigerian banks.

“God has been very good to me, so I can’t complain. If I feel hurt by anybody, I ask God to help me forgive. He has done so much for me.
“After 16 years of a different party in government, no party will come and have things easy. It’s human. We need quality hands to run Nigeria, and we will utilize them. I will like to welcome you home when it’s time. But I’ll like you to be ready.”

All the Nigerian professionals pledged to contribute their quota towards re-launching their fatherland to a new dawn.

DONALD TRUMP'S FIVE, LUXURIOUS IDEAS TO MAKE MUSIC GREAT AGAIN,

TRUMP  promises THE MUSIC INDUSTRYa new era

donald trump's five, LUXURIOUS IDEAS TO MAKE MUSIC GREAT AGAIN,

If and when Donald Trump is elected 45th President of the United States, pop culture is poised to change in some pretty monumental ways. In order to examine them, we spoke with some very reliable, not at all imaginary sources about Mr. Trump’s views on the music industry. Here are five of his most radical ideas.

Mariah Carey Sweatshirt Day

Presidential decree, day one. Over 75,000 sweatshirts have already been manufactured, in many sizes. They’re incredible sweatshirts. Done with an airbrush-kinda graphic, you know, the one Mariah brought back in the early aughts? They have Mariah’s face on them. She’s a national treasure; you’d be a moron not to put one on. Anyway, they commemorate Mariah Carey Sweatshirt Day, like we all should be doing. Which is going to be May 9th. Some of the sweatshirts say March 9th — doesn’t matter. Point is, we should all wear one of these sweatshirts, any day of the year. Chop the sleeves off if you want, that’s not my business. Her organization is going to sell them to you guys. We’re going to sell them to her team. It’s gonna be great. But if her team won’t pay us for them, there’s gonna be a lawsuit. It won’t be pretty. We’re trying to help, and it’s insane for her not to do this. I could have done this for Blake Shelton in a heartbeat. And if this goes well, I will.

Put My Son Eric in Charge

Eric knows music. Look at his face: It’s in his bones! So he’s going to take on the troubled career of Jimmy Eat World. It’s sad. They’re sad. Jimmy Eat World are a U2-caliber act that’s just had terrible, horrible, awful luck. They should be on a Coldplay level — who, by the way, don’t get me started on them, Chris Martin has begged me to put him in touch with Eric — a Maroon 5 level or even a Train level, and they’re stuck on, like, I don’t know what. So Eric will manage them. First thing I am going to do is call Jerry Jones. I’m going to get them into ATT Stadium, Dallas Cowboys Stadium, and they’re gonna do a month there, sold out. They’re going to fill it, 30 nights in a row, ’cause people need to hear their message. It’s inspirational. Important. I see Joel Osteen potentially introducing them. Gucci Mane would love to open for them. I’ve gotten so many texts. You should see the texts I’ve been getting! I hear from Justin Vernon six, seven times a week. And if Jimmy Eat World fail, they’re done. We’re done with them. ’Cause if you listen closely, their music is actually kind of derivative. But Eric knows. It’s Eric's deal. I’m going to be running a country. Sorry. He’ll probably hook the singer up with the Chainsmokers. They’ll do a song, and if it’s not #1 later that week, it will be over. We tried. Eric is the real deal, though.

Physical MP3s: Start Printing ’Em

What is music anymore? Something’s going on, I’ll tell you that. People want to hold on to a picture and fiddle with something while they listen. It’s human nature, and if you don’t get that, it’s sad. So we put music back in packages, and all of a sudden we have brick-and-mortar stores again, we have the paper industry up and running again. Plastic, too. I know Tim Cook, I’m going to put him on this. He can even say it’s his idea. It doesn’t matter. You will buy physical MP3s at Apple stores and everywhere else, too. And yeah, we won’t stop using the web. Because the physical MP3 won’t actually be the song, okay? There might be a MIDI version of the song on there — a really nice one, believe me — but the physical MP3 will be actually be a flash drive kinda thing that you plug in, and that takes you to a secure website where you order the song. And that comes to you in the mail on another flash drive. It can’t be copied. So we’re done with piracy.

More Contests

Okay, so your band has built a following, enough so that you can roll into Cincinnati and play a show on a Saturday night. Well, listen: That’s not good enough. In fact, that’s a loser mentality. There’s a ton of people in Cincinnati who have never heard of you. They might love you, but they’ll probably hate you — who knows? So I'll tell you what's gonna happen. Before you ever get to your nightclub gig, you’re going to the mall, where Nick Lachey, along with a crowd of people from Cincinnati, will decide if you get to play your gig. If they don’t think you’re talented, you’re not. You pay the nightclub what they would have paid you — that's how this works, no exceptions. And then you apologize, and you leave town. Club owners will love this. There will be other big names in other cities, all waiting to judge you. Tyga. Sia. Rihanna is dying to do this — she wants to pause everything else, career-wise. Peter Cetera. Diplo. Gene Simmons. Mike Love. I can get Steven Tyler in a second. So that’s how touring works now. I will rent amps to people, too. Good amps. Backline. In every state.

Slovenia Swap

You look at where my beautiful wife Melania is from, and you see the unreal amount of money some of these people are willing to pay to get actual Western musicians there. Slovenia, I think. They’re starving for it. So Nicki Minaj will do a camp there, teaching kids music. Next summer. Probably be a TV show, too, at some point. But, okay, Nicki’s going. She has asked me to make it happen for years. I already looked at the numbers. The pay is phenomenal. She won’t see it the first year because of start-up costs, but if she does the camp for five, 10 years, it will make her very rich. This is a very, very good deal. In exchange, we’ll take a couple of their people, too. Probably teach guys like Ed Sheeran a thing or two. I’ve heard he’s not American, but if he wants to sell music here, he’s going to have to commit to living with these Slovakian producers. Talented guys. Probably in a condo in Salt Lake City for a year minimum. The music they make together will be lights-out. Nothing will touch it.

please leave a comment to tell us what you think

Lai Mohammed Minister says FG has started short-listing candidates for 500,000 jobs

Mohammed said that applications were being received and government had started processing them for the recruitment

The Federal Government has commenced shortlisting candidates for the 500,000 jobs it promised.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja  when a delegation of the National Council for Women’s Societies (NCWS) paid him a courtesy visit in his office.

Mohammed said that applications were being received and government had started processing them for the recruitment.

“The process for the recruitment has started.

“About 1.2 million people applied and they classified them into categories including agriculture support officers, teachers, technical officers and so on,’’ he said.

The minister also said that the payment of N5,000 conditional cash transfer promised by the government would begin before the end of the month.

He said the Minister of Finance, Dr Kemi Adeosun had earlier announced this.

Mohammed reiterated the commitment of the government to improving the well-being and standard of living of the citizens.

“We are very concerned about the welfare of Nigerians and we are not sleeping; we are working day and night to ensure that the country retraces its step.

“Many of our critics have been unfair to us because many of them know that we did not invent the problems we are facing today.

“ This is time to join hands together to support the government to move the nation forward,’’ he said.

The National President of NCWS, Mrs Gloria Shoda, expressed the confidence in the resolve of the government to implement programmes for the advancement of girls and women in the society.

She drew the attention of government to its promise of providing free maternal and children health care and implementation of the National Gender Policy.

Shoda also appealed to government to consider scholarship for girls pursuing medical courses in the universities to address maternal and child mortality.