Diezani Alison-Madueke’s plea for mercy

Finally, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, Nigeria’s Petroleum Resources minister until six months ago, seeks to be understood by Nigerians. The former highflying minister, one of the most influential in the Goodluck Jonathan administration, seems to be begging Nigerians for forgiveness, or at least for some slack in their criticism (or is it hatred of her guts?). Of course, Madueke did not actually ask Nigerians to forgive her. Those are not her exact words, but the intention is quite clear in the series of conversations she has had in the last couple of weeks with celebrity journalist, Dele Momodu. She seems to have come to a belated realisation of thatAchebean warning to all misguided leaders that nobody wins a war against their own people.

Nigerians have in the last several months been treated to salacious tales of the former minister’s attempt to escape the law, even when there was no pending indictment against her or before her actual arrest in the United Kingdom. But the story out there was that she had been faking ill-health, specifically a life-threatening battle with cancer of the breast. This was after all attempts by her, the rumour mill had it, to have an audience with President Muhammadu Buhari were allegedly rebuffed by the then president-elect. Jonathan was hardly out of office before Madueke bade the government goodbye, leaving for the United Kingdom. She was suddenly away from the public gaze. For a woman who appeared to relish the spotlight, her absence was immediately obvious. Shortly after would the cancer rumour surface. Nobody had any proof of this or further news of her until she was suddenly flung back into the spotlight by news of her arrest in the UK.

Aggrieved Nigerians felt vindicated that they had been proven right about their long held view that Mrs. Alison-Madueke had corruptly enriched herself during her time in office. This while hundreds of millions of her country people suffered abjectly as a direct consequence of the looting unleashed on the Nigerian treasury by she and her ilk. Although a public officer she lived and conducted herself like royalty on Nigeria’s bill. She travelled by chartered flight with family members, Nigerians heard. A lot was said of and about her but she appeared to scorn the rabble rousing she must have taken complaints and allegations against her for. She simply had no time for Nigerians, not even to ‘set the record straight’ as some of her colleagues in the public eye would say.

All of this until her infamous arrest in the UK, followed by lurid tales of extravagant living. But as an alibi, the Madueke family employed the services of a lawyer to state their side of the story. It seemed then that her thick skin was beginning to soften up. Having denied all the allegations swirling about her, her attorney then let it out that her presence in the UK was to attend to her health that was being ravaged by cancer. Now it was official. While this ‘official’ revelation appeared to win her some sympathy, the vast majority of Nigerians were definitely not sold on the cancer story. It appeared to them a sob-tale directed at winning sympathy for one of those who didn’t care if they lived or died. There was no touch of remorse in Mrs. Madueke’s rebuttal of the allegations Nigerians had made against her. She appeared to want their sympathy while trying to show that she had been right and they all had been wrong all along. Her alibi would not wash for many. But it appeared to have opened a window through which she could speak with the world.

It is in an apparent attempt to build on this that the Dele Momodu angle entered the picture. In the first part of that encounter between the journalist and the ex-minister that took place in a London hideaway, the latter was portrayed as a reluctant interviewee whose minders would rather not see hold the interview. The whole encounter was made to look like a chance occurrence rather than the scripted plot it is turning out to be. Momodu succeeded in getting Nigerians to believe, even if they didn’t accept, that Madueke was indeed an ailing woman. His description of her appearance contrasted radically from what Nigerians knew of the woman. Yet, it looked like she would leave everything at the point in which her meeting with Momodu ended in London without any further desire to convince anyone.

It seems thereafter that Mrs. Madueke was convinced of the positive effect of that bit of her story Momodu tantalised the world with. It won sympathy for her surely, even if some of it sounded quite tongue-in-cheek. And so she went for an encore. Her surrogates put a call through to Momodu fixing a meeting. This time they agreed to what amounts to a more involved interview even if, according to Momodu, no recording device was permitted. Her shrivelled looks that Momodu only described in the first interview is now accompanied with at least one graphic image that has gone ‘viral’, to borrow Momodu’s own words about the social media impact of the first interview.

She debunked all allegations of corruption and alleged romance with Jonathan and her cat and mouse relationship with Patience. Truly, no one who knew Alison-Madueke would not feel some pity for her. She is indeed a mere shadow of her vivacious self.

Her new look is a resounding rebuke of any primitive acquisition of wealth. It is a sad reminder of the vanity that is all material possession, including the wanton fixation on so-called good looks or beauty. Ultimately what matters in life are those little things that money can only pretend to buy: the love of those who matter to us including those we serve as public office holders, good health and the peace of mind that comes with all of these.   Mrs. Diezani sees now that the opinion, if not the love, of the ordinary people matter.

For too long she and a few like her in power treated the voice of the people with little or no respect. For too long, she saw no purpose in showing herself amenable to public opinion. All of that makes her latest desire to be seen in a better light look a bit too belated. Many are already fixed in their opinions. And justifiably so. As they argue, if Mrs. Madueke wants their sympathy she first must give back to Nigerians what they believe she has taken. Her alibi is neither here nor there for as long as many see her as a beneficiary of the inhuman Nigerian system that has no respect for the ordinary people.

What Nigerians want is justice, not the death of Mrs. Madueke.
SOURCE: Vangaurdonline

Being a woman is difficult, I never thought it would come to this – Transgender, Caitlyn Jenner

Retired American athlete, Bruce Jenner, now Caitlyn Jenner who has successfully transformed from male to female has said ‘she’ never thought being a woman would come to a situation where the hardest part is trying to figure out what to wear.

The 66-year-old reality TV personality at the recently concluded annual ‘Glamour Women of the Year Awards’, told Buzzfeed that it was incredibly inspiring being a woman.

While it is generally believed that most women will tell you that some of the most difficult things about being female is childbirth, pregnancy, menopause and period pains, the transgender, who has been a woman for a mere six months says the most difficult thing about being a woman is finding something to wear.

Caitlyn said, “The hardest part about being a woman is figuring out what to wear. It’s always that way; I never thought it would come to this.

“I had really no sense of style. Everyone around me in my family had the sense of style.

“I learned as much as I possibly could, but, it’s more than that. I’m kind of at this point in my life where I’m trying to figure this womanhood thing out.

“It is more than hair, makeup, clothes, and all that kind of stuff. There’s an element here that I’m still kind of searching for.

“And I think that’ll take a while. Because I think as far as gender, we’re all on a journey. We’re all learning and growing about ourselves. And I feel the same way too,” she added.

SOURCE: dailypostng

Supreme Court halts Saraki’s trial

The Supreme Court has ordered the suspension of the trial of the Senate president, Bukola Saraki, at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

Mr. Saraki is facing a 13-count corruption charge at the tribunal. He denies the allegation of false asset declaration and graft.

Two High Courts and a Court of Appeal had earlier rejected his request to quash the charges.

Before doing doing so, the court of appeal halted the case briefly to allow it take a decision.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court also said the corruption case against Mr. Saraki “should tarry a while” pending the conclusion of an appeal he brought before it.

The Supreme Court assured it would consider the matter speedily.

SOURCE: Premiumtimesng

Celebrating Diwali

Diwali, the festival of lights, celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs and Jains in India and around the world, is dedicated to the triumph of goodness over evil and knowledge over ignorance. It honours the goddess of wealth, Lakshmi, and the legend of Rama and Sita. Festivities include decorating houses and public spaces with thousands of lights, candles and colourful designs. Fireworks, family gathering and gift giving also form part of the celebrations. We take a look at the best pictures of Diwali around the world.

Significance of Diwali

Every day of Diwali represents the conquest of good over evil. The word Diwali is made of two words; deep (lamp or diyas) andavali (row), which means a line or a row of lamps.  During the festival of Diwali lamps are lit in every home and workplace. That is why this festival is also known as the ‘Festival of Lights’.

So how to celebrate Diwali in a spiritually correct way?

 When we shop for new clothes we can buy clothes like sārī for ladies and kurtā-pyjāmā or dhoti for men, long skirts for girls andkurta-pyjama for boys. Wearing such sāttvik clothes helps to imbibe more positivity.

Giving gifts to friends and families is a new trend, which is unnecessary. However if we still wish to gift then we can choose gifts like items used for ritualistic worship, books on Spirituality, etc. When we indulge in such practices there are expectations from each other.

Rather than ordering commercially, if possible we can try to make sweets, snacks or food at home, using pure ghee and fresh products. Thus we can ensure purity in the food we consume.

If we wish to have a get-together we can organise a pūjā rather than a party.

On the three days of Diwali starting Narak Chaturdashi we can wake up at dawn and have a bath with oil massage (abhyangasnā). Such a bath increases our Sattva component by 0.00001% compared to regular bath on other days. By applying ubtan the sensitivity of the body to absorb Chaitanya (Divine Consciousness) increases.

Music like bhajans or shlokas can be played rather than playing noisy music which spreads Raja-Tama vibrations and pollutes the atmosphere.

Flowers like marigold can be used to make a garland along with mango leaves and hung at the main door.

Rangolī with sattvik designs can be drawn outside the door. Drawing rangoli designs like lotus, swāstik, conch, etc help to attract positive vibrations.

If we wish to celebrate Diwali as a community we can organise a rangoli competition, bhajan singing, etc. rather than games like lotto, food stalls, jewellery stalls, etc.

We can devote time to prayers and chanting during the days of Diwali as it will help us to absorb the Divine Consciousness(Chaitanya) present in the atmosphere.

The lady of the house should do aukshan (waving of lit lamps) for the other members of the family.

Nowadays many people light wax candles as they are easier to handle. However do you know that wax does not emit positive vibrations ? At twilight we can light oil lamps made of clay rather than acrylic or glass to illuminate our homes. We can avoid artificial lighting like relay of electric bulbs or lanterns in the shape of a Star or Chinese lanterns

We can discourage children from lighting fire-crackers as they are a waste of money and the smoke that is emitted pollutes the atmosphere and can be hazardous to health.

Conclusion

 We pray that you will be able to experience the joy of this Diwali by celebrating it in a spiritually correct way, deriving maximum benefit of the Divine Consciousness (Chaitanya). 

SOURCE:Telegraph.co.uk

Understanading The Treasury Single Account(TSA) System- Things You Should Know

Earlier in February, the Central Bank of Nigeria issued a circular directing all deposit money banks to implement the Remita e-Collection Platform.  The Remita e-Collection is a technology platform deployed by the Federal Government to support the collection and remittance of all government revenue to a Consolidated Account domiciled with the CBN. This marked the beginning of the full implementation of Treasury Single Account (TSA) system in Nigeria.

Though Section 80 (1) of the 1999  Constitution as amended states “All revenues, or other moneys raised or received by the Federation (not being revenues or other moneys payable under this Constitution or any Act of the National Assembly into any other public fund of the Federation established for a specific purpose) shall be paid into and form one Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation”; successive governments have continued to operate multiple accounts for the collection and spending of government revenue in flagrant disregard to the provision of the constitution which requires that all government revenues be remitted into a single account.

It was not until 2012 that government ran a pilot scheme for a single account using 217 ministries, department and agencies as a test case. The pilot scheme saved the country about N500 billion in frivolous spending. The success of the pilot scheme motivated the government to fully implement TSA, leading to the directives to banks to implement the technology platform that will help accommodate all MDA’s in the TSA scheme. The recent directives by President Mohammed Buhari that all government revenues should be remitted to a Treasury Single Account is in consonance with this programme and in compliance with the provisions of the 1999 constitution.

But what is a Treasury Single Account?

In a nutshell, a Treasury Single Account is a public accounting system under which all government revenue, receipts and income and collected into one single account, usually maintained by the country’s Central Bank and all payments done through this account as well. The purpose is primarily to ensure accountability of government revenue, enhance transparency and avoid misapplication of public funds. The maintenance of a Treasury Single Account will help to ensure proper cash management by eliminating idle funds usually left with different commercial banks and in a way enhance reconciliation of revenue collection and payment.

How Is TSA Run?

With particular reference to Nigeria, the Central Bank has opened a Consolidated Revenue Account to receive all government revenue and effect payments through this account. This is the Treasury Single Account. All Ministries, Departments and Agencies are expected to remit their revenue collections to this account through the individual commercial banks who act as collection agents. This means that the money deposit banks will continue to maintain revenue collection accounts for MDA’s but all monies collected by these banks will have to be remitted to the Consolidated Revenue Accounts with the CBN at the end of each banking day. In other words, MDA’s accounts with money deposit banks must be zerorized at the end every banking day by a complete remittance to the TSA of all revenues collected. The implication is that banks will no longer have access to the float provided by the accounts they maintained for the MDA’s. Difference types of account could be maintained under a TSA arrangement and these may include the TSA main account, subsidiary or sub-accounts, transaction accounts and zero balance account. Other types of accounts that could operated include imprest accounts, transit accounts and correspondence accounts. These accounts are maintained for transaction purposes for funds flowing in and out of the TSA.

Benefits of TSA

From the foregoing, it is obvious that the primary benefit of a TSA is the mechanism it provides for proper monitoring of government receipts and expenditure. In the Nigerian case, it will help to block most if not all the leakages that have been the bane of the growth of the economy. We have a situation where some MDA’s manage their finances like independent empire and remit limited revenue to government treasuries. Under a properly run TSA, this is not possible as agencies of government are meant to spend in line with duly approved budget provisions. The maintenance of a single account for government will enable the Ministry of Finance monitor fund flow as no agency of government is allowed to maintain any operational bank account outside the oversight of the ministry of finance.

Finally, the implementation of this programme therefore is a critical step towards curbing corruption in public finance. This is in line with the with the commitment of the current administration to combat corrupt practices, eliminate indiscipline in public finance and ensure adequate fund flow that will be channeled to critical sectors of the economy to catalyze development. Nigerians are excited at the directive by the President Buhari as this will mean that some government agencies that have been known to be withholding funds from the Federal Government are now under compulsion to remit monies to federal treasuries. These agencies include: Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigeria Immigration Service (NIMS), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) amongst others.

 SOURCE: systemspecs.com.ng

Woman cuts off husband’s friend’s penis in his attempt to rape her

An Akwa-Ibom State indigene, identified as Mrs Okon Iniabasi, has reportedly cut off a man’s penis when he attempted to rape her.

The incident happened in the Ikono Local Government Area of the state.

The man, Linus Ibok, Punch reports, is her husband’s best friend.

Reports say Ibok had on Saturday, accompanied his friend, Iniabasi’s husband, a petty trader to board a vehicle to Aba, Abia State to purchase items for his shop in the village.

Afterwards, Ibok trailed Iniabasi to her farm where his manhood was cut off as he tried to have canal knowledge of her.

As the story goes, Iniabasi was said to have disclosed that she was not surprised when she saw Ibok in her farmland, as she thought he wanted to help her since he was almost like a member of their family but the shock came when Ibok confessed his undying love for her.

She reportedly rebuked him and asked him to leave the farm or she would report him to her husband. It was at that point Ibok grabbed her and attempted to rape her. Meanwhile, she allegedly let him undress and on noticing that, she used her machete to cut off his manhood.

After that, she ran to the village to inform others, who rushed to the farm to meet Ibok in the pool of his own blood with his manhood cut off.

He was rushed to an unnamed hospital where he is reportedly receiving treatment.

SOURCE: Dailypostng

Boko Haram insurgency has claimed 90,000 officers so far – IG of Police Boko Haram insurgency has claimed 90,000 officers so far – IG of Police

The Inspector General of Police, IGP Solomon Arase has disclosed that an estimated 90,000 police officers lost their lives since Boko Haram insurgency started four years ago.

Arase made this known to journalists shortly after addressing men and officers at the police command headquarters in Sokoto, the Sokoto State capital.

Revealing that the police had a record of about 90,000 widows who lost their husbands since the insurgency began in the North-east, he stressed that the Nigeria Police Force had initiated a scheme to cater for the family of officers who lost their lives while on duty in the North-east.

The IGP disclosed that a scholarship scheme had been set up to take care of the children of slain officers.

“We have incorporated a scholarship scheme for the children of our officers who lost their lives in the North-east. This is to ensure that they continue with their studies so as to enable them achieve their potential,” he stated.

Arase noted that the total number of men and officers in the police force were currently inadequate to effectively protect the lives and property of the citizens.

In view of this, he posited that efforts were being made to recruit more personnel to further enhance the activities of the police in crime prevention and boosting security.

He stated that the police in conjunction with the United Nations Habitat were making arrangements to build 25,000 houses for officers, inspectors and rank and file across Nigeria.

The police boss said this was part of efforts to provide housing for men and officers of the police so that they would have a place to live after retirement.

While reiterating his commitment to the welfare of men and officers, Arase charged them to rededicate themselves to their duties by shunning corruption.

“It is true that our numeric strength is not sufficient but we are going to bring in more people. What I am emphasising is that every Nigerian should be security conscious, and that is the most important thing,” he said.

Arase further declared that President Muhammadu Buhari was determined to address the problems of the Nigeria Police Force.

SOURCE: dailypostng