Nigeria political

I Conducted the Most Credible Election–IBB edited Femi Aderupatan

I Conducted the Most Credible Election–IBB

From Aisha Wakaso in Minna, 07.23.2008

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Former military  President, General Ibrahim Babangida (rtd) has declared that his administration conducted the most credible elections in the country since Independence .
"Aside from the cancellation of the result of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, you will agree with me that the elections conducted under my watch between 1989 and 1992 were generally free, fair, acceptable and credible", he said.
He made this known when he presented a memorandum on Electoral reforms and Party system in Minna, yesterday.
In the memorandum he presented, he gave one of the reasons that limit democracy in Nigeria as power of incumbency as most of the people at the helm of affairs are interested in succession election, he therefore stated that elections are conducted freer, fairer, and more credible during the military regime.
"It is therefore easy to understand why elections conducted by the military when they are existing from power are more credible than elections conducted by Nigerians when the rulers are members of one political party", he added.
General Babangida suggested that INEC should not be the only body with the responsibility of conducting elections in the country. He therefore added that different bodies should be in charge of conducting elections for different elective positions.
"The issue of interest is whether this body should be the only one to conduct elections for the National Executive and Legislative branches, state executives and legislative branches; or whether in compliance with the principles of federalism, there should be conducted by two bodies as we have in the 1999 constitution or we should have three bodies each to be national, state and Local government election". he said.
Speaking to the Alhaji Ahmed Kurfi delegation, he condemned the number of political parties in the country and blamed the influx of the political parties on the constitutional requirements which compels INEC to regularly provide the political parties with "Free funds'.
"The free flow of party formation can easily cause chaos and we know that some political parties as registered today have no existence beyond the registration certificates in the pockets of their owners. They are like the ownership of petrol stations which have business when there is fuel and no business when there is no fuel", he said.
Meanwhile the National Chairman of Congress of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), Alhaji Balarabe Musa who was in Minna to inaugurate the Niger state chapter of CNPP has said that more political parties should be registered because democracy is all about choice.
Musa said that during the colonial era, there was no registration of political parties only recognition of political parties which gave room for more political parties.
According to him, the number of political parties is not capable of causing instability in the country so there should be no restrictions in the number of political parties.

Illegal migration from Africa to Yemen on the rise edited by Femi Aderupatan

NAIROBI, Kenya - More than 20,000 Africans have crossed the Gulf of Aden to Yemen this year, paying brutal smugglers who cram them into boats and often throw the weakest overboard, an aid group said Thursday.

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The number of migrants who reached Yemen has doubled from the same period last year, according to Medecins Sans Frontieres, also known as Doctors Without Borders. About 400 migrants have been confirmed dead or missing through the end of May.

"Smugglers operating in the Gulf of Aden are notorious for their brutality and take advantage of the extreme vulnerability of the refugees and migrants," the group said in a report. "Abuses are the rule, not the exception."

Migrants from the Horn of Africa — particularly from Somalia, where ongoing violence has killed thousands of civilians — regularly face abuse at the hands of smugglers. Some are attacked during the journey and thrown overboard into shark-infested waters. Smugglers often force passengers to disembark offshore to avoid Yemeni coast guard patrols.

Waves of migrants leaving West Africa for Europe make similarly perilous journeys.

The high season for smuggling across the Gulf usually runs from September to May, when the sea is less stormy than during summer. Yemen has increased coastal patrols, forcing smugglers to make the journey by night, increasing the risk.

Often, smugglers who hope to make a quick escape from nighttime security forces will "drop people in the middle of the ocean," said Javier Fernandez, the MSF head of mission for Somalia.

"The ones who are able to swim, they don't know where the shore is," he said. "The others drown."

MSF also said it has documented cases where smugglers beat people whose children were crying, threw people overboard and forced people to sit on top of each other in storage holds.

But the migrants, most of whom come from Somalia, see escape as their only option for survival.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since clan-based warlords toppled dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. The warlords then turned on each other, sinking the poverty-stricken nation of 7 million people into chaos. The weak government, backed by Ethiopian troops, is struggling to quash an insurgency that has killed thousands of civilians.

Thousands of Somalis, as well as Ethiopians, begin their journey in the Somali port city of Bossaso, hoping to reach Yemen and the richer Gulf countries beyond.

The route from Bossaso to Yemen is also a well-known arms smuggling route.

Yemen, one of the poorest Arab countries, is struggling with the refugee influx.

"Yemen is facing a major dilemma, particularly because of the continuous influx of African asylum seekers," Vice President Abd Rabu Mansour said in a speech this week in the capital San'a. "The international community needs to find speedy solutions for the Somali crisis

Faith In One Another As Americans edited by Femi Aderupatan

By Senator Barack Obama

As with most Americans, patriotism starts for me as a gut instinct, a loyalty and love for my country that's rooted in my earliest memories. It's not just the recitations of the Pledge of Allegiance, the Thanksgiving pageants at school, or the fireworks on the Fourth of July, but how the American ideal wove its way throughout the lessons my family taught me.

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One of those memories is sitting on my grandfather's shoulders and watching the Apollo astronauts come ashore in Hawaii. People cheered and waved small flags, and my grandfather explained with pride and assurance how we Americans could accomplish anything we set our minds to do. I lived overseas for a time as a child, and I remember listening to my mother reading me the first lines of the Declaration of Independence and explaining how its ideas applied to every American, black and white and brown alike. She told me that those words, and the words of the United States Constitution, protected us from the brutal injustices we witnessed other people suffering during those years abroad.

And I remember my grandfather's funeral at Punchbowl National Cemetery in Hawaii. As I listened to the rifles fire in salute and the long, solemn notes of taps, as I watched the honor guard fold the flag and tenderly present it to my grandmother, I thought about the country that my grandfather was so proud to serve — a country where we have the unparalleled freedom to pursue our dreams.

That is the true genius of America. A faith in simple dreams, an insistence on small miracles. We can tuck in our children at night and know that they are fed and clothed and safe from harm. We can say and write what we think, without hearing a sudden knock on the door. We can have an idea and start our own businesses without paying a bribe. In America, anything is possible.

For a young man of mixed race, without firm anchor in any community, without even a father's steadying hand, the essential American ideal — that our destinies are not written before we are born, that in America we can travel as far as our energy and talents will take us — has defined my life. With a mother from Kansas and a father from Kenya, I know that stories like mine can happen only in the United States of America.

But each generation must understand that the blessings of freedom require our constant vigilance, and that true patriotism also means a willingness to sacrifice for our common good. For those who have fought on the battlefield under the Stars and Stripes — for the young veterans I meet at Walter Reed Army Medical Center or those like John McCain who endured physical torment while serving our nation — no further proof of such sacrifice is necessary. Those who have signed up to fight for our country in distant lands inspire me, just as I am inspired by those fighting for a better America here at home by teaching in underserved schools, caring for the sick in understaffed hospitals, or promoting more sustainable energy policies in their communities.

In the end, it may be this quality that best describes patriotism in my mind — not just a love of America in the abstract, but a very particular love for, and faith in, one another as Americans. The greatness of our country — its victories in war, its enormous wealth, its scientific and cultural achievements — have resulted from the toil, drive, struggle, restlessness, humor, and quiet heroism of the American people. That is the liberty we defend — the liberty of each of us to follow our dreams. That is the equality we seek — not an equality of results but the chance of every single one of us to make it if we try. That is the community we strive to build — one in which we recognize we share common hopes and dreams, one in which we continue to insist that there is nothing we cannot do when we put our minds to it, and one in which we see ourselves as part of a larger story, our own fates wrapped up in the fates of all who share allegiance to America's singular creed.

Putting The Country First edited by Femi Aderupatan

Putting The Country First

By Senator John McCain

Two of our greatest statesmen, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, took their last breaths on July 4, 1826, exactly 50 years after they presented America with our Declaration of Independence. They had been fellow revolutionaries, the closest of comrades, who went on to become bitter political rivals. Then, as the new era of the 1800s dawned, they reconciled, reminded of their old friendship and the momentous history they had made together. "Who shall write the history of the American revolution?" Adams asked Jefferson in one of the 158 letters they exchanged after they'd rediscovered their bonds. "Nobody," responded Jefferson, suggesting that while writers could understand the facts, they might never grasp the sacrifices.

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We cannot know for certain, of course, if any later historian ever did succeed in writing a history of our revolution that would have impressed two of the greatest authors of the event. But more important to Adams and Jefferson was the question of whether future generations would prove worthy of the sacrifices our Founders had made to create this Republic. America's many accomplishments in the 182 years that have passed since their deaths, our rise as the most powerful and prosperous nation in history, would have, perhaps, exceeded their expectations. But would they still see in the spirit of our own age the same devotion to the ideals of our revolution? Would they find that love of country was just as strong in the hearts of today's Americans?

I believe they would. Patriotism is deeper than its symbolic expressions, than sentiments about place and kinship that move us to hold our hands over our hearts during the national anthem. It is putting the country first, before party or personal ambition, before anything. It is the willing acceptance of Americans, both those whose roots here extend back over generations and those who arrived only yesterday, to try to make a nation in which all people share in the promise and responsibilities of freedom.

I've spent a lot of time listening to veterans, talking to them, and also serving with them when we were young and at war. After their tours end, these soldiers, sailors, aviators, and Marines almost always return to the hard times, times of pain, suffering, loss, violence, and fear. They remember where they risked everything, absolutely everything, for the country that sent them there. It gives their lives special meaning. And it is the sacrifices of so many Americans, at home and abroad, in times of peace and times of war, that give meaning to all of us. We are blessed to be Americans, and blessed that so many of us have so often believed in a cause far greater than self-interest, far greater than ourselves. It is this belief that has sustained me as well, from a combat aircraft to a Vietnamese prison cell to the Senate floor or the campaign trail.

Today, politics is derided for its self-interest, combativeness, duplicity, and triviality. But such failings are not unique to our age. Both Adams and Jefferson lamented them in their own time. But that's the great beauty of our form of government, which they helped to create; it accounts for the vices of human nature as much as it hopes for our virtues. This blessed country remains a place of limitless horizons, a country where ideals, where a love of liberty and self-reliance still check the excesses of both government and man.

In return, the gift we can give back to our country is a patriotism that requires us to be good citizens in public office or in the community spaces where government is absent. We should, by all means, argue with each other, as did Adams and Jefferson, about the policies of government and the history we hope to make tomorrow. But it should be an argument among friends, who agree more than they disagree, each of us united in a cause larger than our individual interests, honestly debating the best means to serve that cause, and intent on finding some common ground upon which to overcome together the many challenges before us. To love one's country is to love one's countrymen. And if we are to replicate the spirit of our founding age, if we are to be genuine patriots, we must remember also that we are patriots because we love the countrymen we will never know, who will be born after we are gone.

Borishade, Fani-Kayode, Iyayi docked edited by Femi Aderupatan

Face 5-Count charge *Remanded in EFCC custody

THE  two detained former Ministers of Aviation — Prof Babalola Borishade and Chief Femi Fani-Kayode— were yesterday slammed with a five-count charge of  criminal conspiracy, breach of official trust, breach of trust, forgery and misappropriation of  N19.5 billion public fund meant for intervention in the aviation industry, at an Abuja Chief Magistrate Court.

Charged with them was former Managing Director of the Nigeria Airspace Management Authority (NAMA), Captain Rowland Iyayi. Their oral  applications for bail were also refused by the chief magistrate.

They were all arrested at the National Assembly on Monday moments after testifying before the Senate Committee on Aviation.

The five charges preferred against them were contained in the First Information Report (FIR) filed by one Steve Ehi Odiase. Odiase is a Senior Detective Superintendent with the EFCC.

Chief Magistrate Lamido Mohammed Kabir, in a ruling, which took no cognizance of the lengthy legal arguments made before him, said he was unable to accede to their requests for bail because there were conflicting facts presented  by the prosecution (EFCC) on the one hand and the accused applicants on the other, on the issue of bail.

He said such conflicts were better resolved by way of affidavit.

He consequently ordered that all the  accused persons be remanded in EFCC custody till  tomorrow when they are expected to have filed their formal motions for bail.

He said all the counsel appearing in the case should also make available all the authorities cited by them to him to enable him write a well informed ruling.

Besides, he said he would wantthe parties in the case to address him on the issue of jurisdiction of a magistrate court entertaining the charges preferred against the accused persons.

None of the accused persons raised the issue of jurisdiction before the court yesterday. He, however, said he would give the matter an accelerated hearing.

The EFCC asked the court to remand all the accused persons in detention for two more weeks to enable it conclude its investigation in the matter.

The commission also wanted the court to deny them bail on the ground that all the accused persons were influential with capacity to interfere with their witnesses and investigations.

Borishade and Fani-Kayode were said to have been arrested based on the information provided by Mr. George Eider, Managing Director of Avsatel Ges MB of Austria, who had earlier been arrested by the EFCC.

The company had won the N6.5 billion Safe Tower contract, which was said to have been inflated.
The Austrian was said to have made useful statements to the EFCC about the two ministers and the contract.

EFCC had also arrested Eider, whose company got the controversial N6.5 billion Safe Tower Project, last Wednesday at the National Assembly.

Eider was thereafter arraigned before the same Magistrate Court sitting in Life Camp.
Borishade, Fani-Kayode and Iyayi were all smiles  before, during and after they were arraigned and denied bail.

Although Borishade seemed weak and  leaned on the dock much of the time the proceedings lasted, he said he was in good spirit.

His lead counsel from Chief Afe Babalola’s chambers, Mr B J Akomolafe, applied that he be allowed to sit down in the dock in view of his age and his apparent weakness.
Borishade wore a native attire with a cap to match while Iyayi was in black suit, wearing a t-shirt underneath.

Femi Fani-Kayode stood up all through the proceedings. But he helped himself to a bottle of water which he sipped at intervals.

Accused unfazed by charges

All the accused persons dismissed the charges against them as untenable.

Vanguard caught Prof Aborishade patting his wife yesterday on the premises of the Chief Magistrate Court, saying she should relax and that there was nothing to worry about.

Iyayi who looked worried all through also managed smiles yesterday. He said there was nothing to worry about.
Fani-Kayode who pulled a crowd at the court said his hands were clean.

Personal Assistant to Fani-Kayode, Mr Bayo Oladeji, who was in court said his boss knew nothing about the deal and that he was even the whistle-blower.

But the EFCC represented in court yesterday by Steve Odiase said the commission had a water-tight case against all of them.

He said he was very happy with the court’s ruling which denied them bail.
He told the court that a lot had been discovered after the statements of the accused persons were taken. He said there was no way the commission could conclude investigation in the matter without going abroad to verify some documents and facts released by them.

AFCC wants trio remanded for 2 weeks

Iyayi said his men would need not less than two weeks to round off investigation in the case and that it would be in the interest of justice not to allow them on bail as they would use their wide influence to interfere with not only the investigation but also their witnesses.

Although all the accused persons through their counsel yesterday dismissed as speculative the insinuation that they would interfere with investigation, the court would not make any pronouncement on their submissions yesterday.
Early yesterday, family friends, political associates and sympathisers of the accused persons had thronged the Chief Magistrate Court to witness the arraignment of the accused persons.

Although no one was sure of the exact court where the accused persons would be arraigned, those who thronged the Abuja Chief Magistrate Court in Life Camp perhaps did so because the Austrian who implicated the accused persons was arraigned before the magistrate court last Friday.

As at 10:30 am yesterday, the Chambers of Chief Afe Babalola (SAN) already briefed to represent Prof Aborishade did not know when and where the accused persons would be arraigned.

According to the Head of the Chambers, Mr Bankole Akomolafe, who spoke with Vanguard on phone, he said all they had was that the EFCC was planning to procure an order to lawfully detain them for an upward of two weeks to enable them carry on with their investigations.

He told Vanguard that he would go there to watch proceedings and defend the interest of his client.
As soon as the oral bail applications were refused, Akomolafe told newsmen that he was amazed by the ruling of the court.

He said he had expected the court to consider their legal arguments on bail on its merit and rule instead of asking them to come formally.

He said the main point raised by the trial chief magistrate was the issue of conflicting facts presented by parties to him and that there were no conflicting facts presented before the magistrate.

He, however, said since the court had ruled, there was nothing anybody could do about it other than to comply with its order that formal bail applications be filed in the matter.

All the accused persons were taken away yesterday by the EFCC to its custody in a white 18-seater Toyota Hiace bus with number plate AU 329 YAB.

June 12: Leave IBB alone – Dabo edited by Femi Aderupatan

While fingers have been pointed at former President, Ibrahim Babangida for the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, former Assistant National Auditor of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Godwin Dabo Adzuana has said that the former military ruler should not be held responsible for the widely condemned act.

Speaking exclusively to Daily Sun at his Makurdi home, Dabo argued that Babangida was not guilty, adding that the decision for the annulment was taken by a cabal of officers in the military at that time, most of whom, he said, were still alive today and wondered why they continued to keep mute on the matter.

Maintaining that the former military president actually wanted to actualize June 12, Chief Dabo stated that Babangida was constrained, because these officers threatened to kill him, if he did so, recalling that on the eve of the annulment those officers told Babangida that if he actualized June 12, they were going to shoot him dead.
“Babangida is not guilty because he was ready to actualize June 12, but these officers did not agree. Some of them including Aikhomu are still alive today.

I am giving them 30 days to come out and tell Nigerians what happened. It is unfair to hold Babangida responsible for the annulment of June 12.”

He argued that the decision to annul the June 12 election won by the late Bashorun M.K.O. Abiola was not the sole responsibility of the president but that of the Supreme Military Council, which put it into vote and the majority moved against the actualization, stressing further that Babangida did not want the annulment, but had to abide by the decision of the majority.

While agreeing that the annulment was a gross mistake, Dabo, however, went philosophical, saying Abiola was not destined to be president, otherwise nothing could have been able to stop him from getting there. He stressed that fundamental mistakes were made and that those responsible should come out publicly to apologise to Nigerians to lay to rest the allegation against Babangida.

“I believe in destiny. Abiola to me was not destined to be president if not, nothing, nobody would have been able to stop him from getting there. He actually won the election. Even when he was to be released, I was in touch with him all through that period and I told him the night before that he should accept whatever jail term he was given so that we could smuggle him out of the country as soon as he was released and he accepted.”

“I was surprised the next morning to hear that he refused to be released because the plan then was that we would smuggle him out of the country so that he could fight for his mandate while abroad but some people deceived him saying he would not be president if he accepted the bail

Zimbabwe president's spokesman to West: 'Go hang' edited by Femi Aderupatan

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe will not step down and Western critics who called the country's recent election a sham can "go hang," the longtime ruler's spokesman said Tuesday.

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Mugabe was attending an African Union summit in this Red Sea resort after claiming victory Sunday in a runoff election that his opponent withdrew from, citing violence against supporters.

Leaders at the AU summit have been unwilling to publicly criticize Mugabe, and instead are gently pushing behind the scenes that he accept some sort of power-sharing agreement with Zimbabwe's opposition.

Presidential spokesman George Charamba sounded resistant to proposals about sharing power. Some African leaders have expressed frustration that more was not being done to pressure Mugabe.

Charamba told reporters that Mugabe would not step down.

"Isn't that an odd question. He's a few days into office and you expect him to retire, do you? ... Five days have expired, not even a week after. ... Why is the issue of the retirement of the president of Zimbabwe such an obsession for the West?" he said.

"He has come here as president of Zimbabwe and he will go home as president of Zimbabwe, and when you visit Zimbabwe he will be there as the president of all the people of Zimbabwe," Charamba told reporters.

The United States, Britain and other European countries have widely condemned the runoff. The U.S. is pushing for more financial and travel sanctions against Mugabe supporters and is urging the U.N. Security Council to impose an arms embargo.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has urged the African Union to reject the result of the runoff, and France says it considers Mugabe's government "illegitimate."

Charamba had harsh words for Western pressure: "They can go hang. They can go and hang a thousand times."

He also demanded that Zimbabwe be left to determine its own future.

"The way out is the way defined by the Zimbabwe people free from outside interference, and that is exactly what will resolve the matter," he said.

During public speeches at the summit's opening Monday, most AU leaders spoke of the "challenges" Zimbabwe is facing and none said anything harsh about Mugabe.

But Jendayi Frazer, the assistant U.S. secretary of state for African affairs, said she believed that in private, the leaders were going to "have very, very strong words for him."

Key African leaders have long had close ties to Mugabe, renowned as a campaigner against white rule and colonialism and Zimbabwe's ruler since its independence in 1980. They are also reluctant to be seen as backing the West — former colonial rulers — against a fellow African.

Meanwhile, Egyptian security ramped up restrictions Tuesday on journalists covering the summit after a British TV crew got into a verbal exchange with Mugabe the previous day. Many reporters were not allowed to leave the press area.

The confrontation began when British network ITN approached Mugabe outside the conference hall and asked how he could regard himself as president. The Zimbabwean leader responded that it was on the same basis as Brown's being the British prime minister.

Mugabe then said the reporter asked "stupid questions." TV footage showed Mugabe's guards pushing the reporter away.

Obama and Bill Clinton finally speak edited by Femi Aderupatan

WASHINGTON - The silence between Barack Obama and Bill Clinton has been broken, with the Democratic White House hopeful on Monday asking the former president to campaign for him during their first conversation since the heated primary.

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Bill Clinton was often Obama's harshest Democratic critic, trying to bring down the Illinois senator as his candidacy surpassed former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton's. While Hillary Clinton has begun to help Obama by encouraging her supporters and fundraisers to back his campaign, a chill remained between the last Democratic president and the man running to be the next one.

Obama spokesman Bill Burton said Obama is honored to have the former president's support.

"He has always believed that Bill Clinton is one of this nation's great leaders and most brilliant minds, and looks forward to seeing him on the campaign trail and receiving his counsel in the months to come," Burton said.

Clinton spokesman Matt McKenna said the former president renewed his offer — expressed in a one-sentence statement last week — to do whatever he can to ensure Obama wins the presidency.

"President Clinton continues to be impressed by Senator Obama and the campaign he has run, and looks forward to campaigning for and with him in the months to come," McKenna said. "The president believes that Senator Obama has been a great inspiration for millions of people around the country and he knows that he will bring the change America needs as our next president."

Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said the senator called Clinton after Obama landed in Missouri Monday morning, and they spoke for about 20 minutes. Gibbs said Obama asked Clinton to campaign with him and on his own.

Bill Clinton was in Europe last week and did not attend last Friday's rally with his wife and Obama in the symbolic town of Unity, N.H. Obama said it was appropriate that he appear alone with his former rival since they waged a historic race between a black man and a woman.

Bill Clinton was an outspoken critic of Obama during the primaries. He said Obama's opposition to the Iraq war was a "fairy tale" and raised questions about whether the first-term Illinois senator had the experience to lead the country. During one debate Obama snapped at Hillary Clinton, "I can't tell who I'm running against sometimes."

Restructuring of ministries delays cabinet change edited by Femi Aderupatan

The ongoing restructuring of ministries by the Federal Government has been cited as the reason for the delay in the planned cabinet shakeup by President Umaru Yar’Adua.

The ongoing restructuring of ministries by the Federal Government has been cited as the reason for the delay in the planned cabinet shakeup by President Umaru Yar’Adua.

The president had during a chat with senior media executives to mark his first year in office in May hinted of a plan to re-jig his executive council. The president’s pronouncement had fuelled speculations in the media on who may be affected in the planned shakeup.

A senior presidency source told Business Day over the weekend that President Yar’Adua had already given directives to top aides including the acting chief of staff, the secretary to the government of the federation, the head of service and some other key aides to work out the new format the restructuring of ministries would take.

The ministries slated for restructuring, according to the source, include information and communications with both arms standing as separate ministries; transport which is expected to be split into transport, works and aviation as well as environment, housing and urban development which will be restructured with environment standing on its own while housing and urban development standing will be one ministry.

Others are energy which is expected to have petroleum, gas and power standing separately as independent ministries. It was gathered that the government also intends to restructure tourism, education and youth development and even mines and steel development.

Besides, the source said the government is also working on reorganizing the existing structure of the ministries’ staff that would be saddled with the responsibility of manning the new ministries as the collapsing of the ministries by former President Olusegun Obasanjo seriously affected the staff arrangements.

With the new development, most of the ministers of state would become substantive ministers thus reducing the bickering between ministers and ministers of state in the affected ministries.

Business Day gathered that the head of service in collaboration with relevant departments have begun the selection of top civil servants who would supervise the ministries.

"The delay is primarily because of the need for the president to re-jig the present structure of the ministries. There is the belief that there are some ministries that are supposed to be standing alone but because of the way things were designed, you have two or three ministries merged into one," the source said.

The dependable source added that "those who designed the present structure were of the view that the smaller the number of ministries the less financial burden on the government. But what the president has come to find out is that the size of the ministries are creating room for inefficiencies."

"So, something has to be done to bring back sanity to the system. President Yar’Adua is a man who believes in result and the way things are structured, there is no way that he can achieve the desired results," the source added.

Information available to Business Day revealed that the work of the restructuring has reached advanced stage and maybe presented to the president before the end of June.

Power probe: Obasanjo squandered $13.5bn –Speaker edited by Femi Aderupatan

Ahead of the release of the probe panel’s report on the power sector, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Dimeji Bankole, has given an insight into the report, saying that instead of $16 billion as stated earlier, former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration squandered $13.5 billion. The speaker dropped the hint when members of the House met with some business leaders in Abuja on Wednesday. According to Bankole, the full details of the report would soon be out. He added that the bank consolidation that was carried out in 2005 has left Nigerians poorer and has inflicted much pains on them. Furthermore, he told the meeting that for a fact, $16 billion was appropriated for the Obasanjo administration but $13.5 billion was eventually released for the power project regretting that the immediate past administration could not account for the large sum of money spent on the project. He attributed infrastructural deficiencies to the low development of the steel sector while reasoning that Ajaokuta Steel Company could have been used to exploit the steel sector. To this end, he accused Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and the Federal Government for fraudulently selling Ajaokuta Steel Company for $300 million even though the actual worth is $4.7 billion. More so, he claimed that the core-investor did not commit itself with a down payment before taking over the company. “The payment arrangement is just like you don’t put any money down. Those things cannot work,” he said, insisting that Ajaokuta Steel Company was vital to the implementation of the seven-point agenda of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. Having said that, he mandated the House of Representatives Committee on Privatization and Transportation to revisit the sale of the enterprise. “Some companies, under the guise of core investors cannot come to Nigeria, buy our assets and begin to cannibalise them. We sold these companies to them so that they can be improved upon,” Bankole said. The speaker also picked holes on the banking consolidation. According to him, when the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, canvassed the idea, he gave the impression that banks would be bigger and serve the ordinary Nigerians better but regretted that the project has left Nigerians poorer through high interest rate and other high bank charges.