It should therefore be no surprise that despite ill health and obvious incapacity to continue in office, at least for now, Yar’Adua has maintained a vice-like, until-death-do-us-part grip on power that has kept Nigeria grounded and on tenterhooks for many agonising weeks. After this, do we still talk of a President Yar’Adua that is indifferent to or does not like power? What else could a power-obsessed politician have done?

MORE than 150 Itsekiri indigenes have undergone free surgeries for hernia, appendicitis, lymphoma and fibroid as well as circumcision and other cases in the on-going free health medical programme of Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC) for Itsekiri communities.

IN going through newspapers, this comment attributed to Action Congress party in the Monday March 16, 2009 issue of The Nation caught my attention:

CRISIS is brewing between the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and oil- rich Oben community over the execution of the N3billion contract for the construction of Oben/Umoghun-Nokhua road at Orhionmwon local government area of Edo State.

ANGLO Dutch oil group, Shell, said, yesterday, it had shut-in some production in the Niger Delta after a key supply pipeline was sabotaged hours after militants announced a ceasefire.

AFTER 65 days, during which all that Nigerians knew about their President were speculations, the Senate last Wednesday moved a motion asking the President to comply with Section 145 of the Constitution. Today marks the 71st day of the President’s absence. He reportedly receives medical attention in Saudi Arabia.

INDICATIONS emerged, yesterday, that the alleged feud between the incumbent Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State and his immediate predecessor, Senator Bola Tinubu, may have divided the ranks of Action Congress (AC) members in the state, as some members, under the umbrella of “Coalition Of Youth For Good Governance,” COYGG, led a peaceful solidarity rally for the governor, to both the Lagos House and State House of Assembly, Alausa, Ikeja.

THE plot to ferry ailing President Umaru Yar’Adua back to the country may have been concluded as the consent of the Saudi Arabian monarch, Sheik Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz has been secured for the use of the king’s air ambulance suitable for the nearly six-hour trip back home.

SweetCrude is a Vanguard monthly review of the Nigerian energy industry. Click here to Download the PDF (Do not click on the image) Download the PDF

GOVERNOR Jonah Jang of Plateau State, yesterday, accused the Nigerian press and prominent leaders of fuelling the recent sectarian crisis that rocked the state.

By  Vincent Ujumadu AWKA—FOUR days to the governorship election in Anambra State, the incumbent Governor, Mr. Peter Obi yesterday toured the seven markets in the industrial town of Nnewi, soliciting for the traders vote. Nnewi is the home town of the Ikemba Nnewi, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA,  national leader. Obi’s present […]

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria and financial expert, Dr. Konyinsola Ajayi has called on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to also extend the limit placed on the tenure of chief executive officers of banks in the country to Non-executive directors of banks.

Companies based in emerging markets will probably drive global mergers and acquisitions, as countries such as Brazil, India and China fuel economic growth, said bankers meeting this week in Davos, Switzerland.

Vice President, Goodluck Jonathan, has described the microfinance sector as crucial to economic development and nation-building.
He stated this during the presentation of the best state of the microfinance, small and medium enterprise and the first runner-up under Agric Credit Guarantee Scheme-Trust Fund Model Awards to Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State in Abuja, last Thursday.

ECOBNK has opened a representative office in Johannesburg, making South Africa the 30th African country in which the pan-African bank has a presence.