Rev Fr Ejike Mbaka

Rev Fr Ejike Mbaka

This are the Bayern's golden generation

Philipp Lahm believes that Champions League victory allows the current Bayern Munich to adopt the tag of "golden generation".

The Bavarians lost twice at the final hurdle in Europe in the previous three seasons, but an 89th-minute winner from Arjen Robben secured a 2-1 win in an enthralling match against Borussia Dortmund.

Lahm believes Saturday's victory at Wembley will be just the beginning of a superb spell at the Allianz Arena, with a DFB-Pokal final on June 1 and a Bundesliga title in the bag.

"The pressure was enormous at the beginning. I've always said, if you want to be a golden generation, then you have to win an international title," the German full-back told Bild.

"Today, we finally succeeded. The team are at the right age and has good times ahead."  

Javi Martinez was another star for the Roten against BVB and he says being crowned a European champion is the best experience in his professional football career to date.

"This is my happiest moment I can remembered in football in all my life, since I started playing aged five, through all of the times I've experienced in football," AS quote the midfielder as saying.

Champions League Team of the Season: Robben, Ronaldo & Messi in star-studded XI

Another enthralling season of Champions League action has ended after Bayern Munich's dramatic 2-1 victory over Borussia Dortmund at Wembley Stadium on Saturday night.

Bayern's triumph in the all-German final caps a remarkable continental campaign, where we saw favourites Barcelona and Real Madrid crash out in the semi-finals and no Premier League sides make it past the first knockout round.

Our team, selected in a 4-2-3-1 formation, has a few key parameters. Players must have played on the side of the pitch they are listed in positionally for their clubs over the course of the tournament, while the 11 players were selected from the list of top performers for each position on our player ratings index. Only players who reached the quarter-finals or further were considered.

Embroidered Satin Body - Silouette World

Embroidered Satin Body - Silouette World

Ex-Governor Peter Odili's third daughter set to wed

Njideka Odili, the second daughter of former governor of Rivers State, Peter Odili is set to wed Uzoma Iheme Nwosu, the son of Court of Appeal Judge, Justice Chioma Iheme-Nwosu. Their wedding will hold sometime next month.
I ask again; why do children of rich people only marry other children of rich people?

New terror group emerges, called Movement for Oneness & Jihad

According to a Punch report, a new terror group has emerged. It's called Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (members pictured above). Currently, two terrorist groups exist in Nigeria - Boko Haram and Jama’atu Ansarul Muslimina fi Biladis Sudan. Read the Punch report below

Sunday Punch reports that there are fears in security circles that Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa MOJAO may infiltrate the country due to the porous nature of Nigeria’s borders.

Minister of Interior, Mr. Abba Moro, had last week said there were 1,497 illegal routes into the country.

MOJAO, a splinter group of the international terror group, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, is after military operatives and facilities of countries that are complementing France’s efforts in quelling terrorists’ insurgency in Mali.

President Jonathan says his name has brought good luck to Nigeria

 

Goodluck Jonathan said yesterday Saturday May 25th that his first name has brought some good luck to Nigeria. While granting an interview yesterday, the president said:

"Traditional societies attach some values to names. That is why people select good names for their children. In the scriptures sometimes, when God sends you on some special assignment, He could even direct, ‘change the name of this child from this to that. But the name in itself does not make much difference because even from my village, there is one of my peers that also answers Goodluck.  Another one that is a little older than me answers Lucky from my small village and I didn’t see the good luck and lucky in them.

“In terms of bringing my name to bear in Nigerian affairs, within this period, we have our challenges. Of course, you are aware that we have our security challenges. But in spite of the security challenges, the country is moving on. I will say yes, it (his name) brought some good luck to the country.”

 the the devastating terror posed by Boko Haram, i don't think Mr President world is justifiable 

Kim Kardashian begs Kanye West to attend her baby shower - report

According to a report by RadarOnline.com, Kim K had to beg her baby daddy Kanye West to make an appearance at her baby shower which would hold June 2nd and filmed for Keeping Up With The Kardashians. Kanye supposedly resisted initially because he doesn't want anything to do with her reality TV show. "He just doesn't want to appear on the show at all, period. Kim nagged him until he agreed when she said it would look really bad if he didn't show up. Kanye thinks it's silly to even go to the baby shower since he will be the only man there. He will be there for less than ten minutes, tops. It was important to Kim that he go, so he agreed.' RadarOnline also reported that Kanye wants Kim to quit reality TV because he thinks it is a waste of time. A source said: 'Kanye doesn't want to film the show anymore. And he doesn't want Kim to do reality TV either. He's pushing her to stop. He wants to be in control of his image, not at the mercy of show producers. The Kardashian show hurts his cool image.'

How Nigeria Squanders Millions On Generators?

The Nigerian government has channeled nearly a quarter of a billion naira this year to fueling and maintaining electricity generators in its embassies abroad, when many of the missions have no such need, as their host nations provide stable power supply.

These missions include those located in the United States, the United Kingdom as well as China and several dozens of developed, or emerging nations.

Despite paying N523 million for electricity charges in 2013, the embassies will spend an extra N170 million to power generators they have no need for, in a bizarre spending spree that surprises even ambassadors who are expected to deploy the cash.

The figure is expected to cover N117 million for fueling and N51.9 million for maintenance of plants in some 100 foreign missions. This is more than double what would be needed if strictly deserving nations were considered as has been done in years past.

An extensive review of previous federal budgets, and interviews with government officials show how the allocation, now part of the 2013 Appropriation Act, brushed aside a policy that previously ensured such funds went only to missions with electricity troubles- mainly in Africa, and other third world regions.

That effort saved costs, PREMIUM TIMES investigations show, and officials and lawmakers vigorously pursued it, denying generator funding to missions in African nations with relatively improved power supply like Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt -a restriction that spread across Europe, America, Asia and Australia.

But somehow, in 2013, these same officials have pulled a bazaar of sorts, dishing out millions of naira to every Nigerian mission around the world, from Bangui to Washington, to London, to Russia, to Tokyo to Tehran, for generator servicing and fueling, even when many of those stations appear unaware of the monies at their disposal, the review shows.

A shocked Nigerian ambassador to the United States scrambled a denial when pressed by PREMIUM TIMES on why the Washington embassy should draw such funding, when it apparently has no need for it.

“I’ve been here for three years and we don’t have generator and diesel here in Washington. And that means we don’t budget for generator and diesel,” the ambassador, Adebowale Adefuye, told PREMIUM TIMES last week.

Mr. Adefuye’s denial sheds light into what appears to be a thinly-concealed scheme by government officials to dubiously insert self-serving clauses into the federal budget books.

Two key offices relevant to giving such funding official approval-the Budget Office of the Federation and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs- denied knowledge of these allocations, stoking that concern.

A spokesperson for the foreign affairs ministry, Ogbole Odeh, said while he cannot confirm the allocation or its need, the ministry abides by a government policy that demands unused funds, should those appropriated for generators turn out to be so, be repaid to the treasury.

“That I can confirm, beyond that I do not know for now,” Mr. Odeh said.

But the nation’s well-known history of unspent and unremitted budget funds, and the seeming secrecy surrounding the generator funds, cast doubts as to how such refunds may be possible when even the diplomatic offices that should utilize the funds appear unaware of their existence.

For instance, the Washington embassy, which Mr. Adefuye insisted has no need for a generator and has not been given money for same, received N718, 485 for that purpose this year, possibly unknown to the ambassador. The Atlanta consulate got a triple of that, while Nigeria’s mission in New York got more than N8 million, also for a generator.

An examination of past budgets confirms the ambassador’s assertion that at least in the past three years, none of those offices got such funding.

Mr. Adefuye speculated about the possibility that the controversial allocation was not for his domain since he knew nothing of the sum.

“Maybe they are talking about other embassies. That does not affect us,” he affirmed.

Repeated telephone calls to the Nigerian consulate in New York were unanswered. An official, who eventually answered the phone after several calls, said the consular general, Habib Habu, and the Information Officer, called I. Jack, were unavailable to comment.

Shocking figures

The US “fuel and maintenance” bonanza are only a part of an extensive, questionable allocations to dozens of missions abroad-funds which can help address pressing projects back home.

London, for instance, has the highest allocation for plant/generator fuel costs. Despite approving N20.4 million for that mission’s electricity bill, the Foreign Affairs ministry approved practically the same amount (N18.3 million) for running plants/generators in the power-stable capital of United Kingdom.

While the permanent mission in New York has N33.8 million for electricity, it also has over N8 million for generators.

The Nigerian diplomatic post in Portugal’s capital, Lisbon, with no stated allocations for electricity charges, budgets N712, 341 for plant/generators fuel charges; suggesting the office will run solely on generators in 2013.

Similar allocations are spread across all missions abroad, PREMIUM TIMES’ interactive analysis of the budget shows.

Yet, for all its puzzling details, more troubling is a somewhat slapdash placement of the funding for different missions regardless of their peculiar economic realities.

Missions in different capitals in different far-flung continents, with varying currency values and inflation rates surprisingly turned up with same allocations for fuelling and maintenance, many to the last kobo. For instance, Bangkok (Thailand), Bangui (Central African Republic), Athens (Greece) and Atlanta (USA) missions have the same generator fuel costs of N1, 573, 932.

The eerie similarities also showed up for Washington and Windhoek (Namibia) (N518, 611); as well as for Johannesburg and Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) (N1, 445, 921).

For electricity charges, Abu Dhabi, Accra, Addis Ababa and Algiers have the same N9, 899, 409 charge for a year’s supply of electricity.

The same situation applies to Washington and Windhoek (N3, 123, 787); Abidjan and Ankara (N5, 899, 409); Johannesburg and Jeddah (N5, 921, 260); Bangkok, Athens and Baghdad (N4, 445, 486).

The budget for “Maintenance of Plant/Generators” is just as uninspiring: our foreign missions in Abidjan, Abu Dhabi, Accra, Addis Ababa, Algiers, Beirut and Ankara all need the same fee of N366, 982 to keep the lights in Nigeria’s embassies on.

The same incoherence go for Athens, Atlanta, Baghdad, Bangkok and Bangui missions, in which each need the sum of N606, 599 for generator maintenance. Find out more by downloading chat below.

No one knows about the funds

A spokesperson for the federal budget office, Afolabi Olajuwon, told PREMIUM TIMES that while it was possible to have generator budgets for some missions, he had no immediate response for the apparent impracticable numbers. He referred inquiries  to an individual he called a “schedule officer” in charge of foreign affairs. The staff could not be reached.

The foreign affairs spokesman, Mr. Odeh, also declined comment when asked whether the surprising unanimity of the sums does not suggest the allocations were more routine, and maybe unsolicited for, rather than a necessity.

A troubled history

Despite its huge annual allocations, Nigeria’s budgets have endured decades of troubled performance; and remain a sticky point between the federal officials and lawmakers who often accuse each other of manipulating figures for personal gains.

How the 2013 allocation for generators in foreign missions got approval, appears to reflect how that bickering and at times, dubious alliance, leave a telling effect on the nation.

The generator fuel costs came under stern scrutiny from the Senate appropriation committee late October 2012, during one of the budget defence sessions with Foreign Affairs officials.

“These are areas that we should be looking at. A situation where N200m is voted for generators and fuelling in countries where power is stable is not fair,” Chairman, Senate appropriations committee, Mohammed Maccido, told the ministry’s staff then.

Somehow, that query ebbed away, and the contentious generator funds received approval. Attempts to reach Mr. Maccido were not successful as he did not answer or return calls to his phone. 

But in passing the budget, officials jettisoned a practice that saved more than half of what they spent this year-badly needed cash that could help with pressing education and health needs at home.

Past budgets show that up to 2010, all the embassies listed this year as beneficiaries of generator and fuel allocations were specifically denied this. The government spent only N71 million that year for fuelling and maintenance of generators, compared to this year’s N170 million.

It is not clear though, how the monies were voted in 2012 and 2011, as allocations were provided in lump sums without subhead details.

Wasted funds can cover lots of ground

On paper, the 2013 figure is less than 0.004 per cent of Nigeria’s entire 2013 budget; but its apparent squander appears as striking at the heart of a nation seeking funding, and at times, bilateral aid for key programmes, while what is available is frittered on non-existent projects, that could possibly end up in officials’ pockets.

The N170mn allocated to generators for use overseas could, for instance, cover all the following projects in the 2013 budget:

• Six furnished classroom blocks for primary school pupils in Cross River State costing N15million
• Studies for a new drug for the management of malaria in children and pregnant women by the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research Yaba worth 25.3million
• The completion of a N111.5million Children Emergency Centre at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital
• A malaria, tuberculosis and HIV preventative/research programme by the Ministry of Health, Abuja costing 27million

Away from specifics in the budget, N170million could pay for vaccines for between 13,000 to 70,000 children. This is based on government estimates which state it costs the country $15 (N2, 380) to immunize a surviving child but could rise to $80 (N12, 696) per child by 2015.

This sum is also the equivalent of the Kogi state government’s investment so far in a rice production scheme covering 1,500 hectares of land and expected to produce 4,000 metric tonnes of the food crop as well as a means of livelihood for residents.

For the many Nigerians who still rely on chloroquine as the drug of choice for treating malaria due to cost constraints and endanger their lives in the process, N170million would buy at least 160,000 doses of the more effective artemisinin-based combination therapy.