The management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC has denied an allegation that the Corporation is seeking to obtain funds through loan to the tune of $1.56 billion.

Bayelsa State Government, yesterday, said it was ready to support the commencement of Environmental Impact Assessment, EIA, project of communities devastated by oil pollution in the Niger Delta region by the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, with the donation of an office complex in the state.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC will today re-arraign former Managing Director of Intercontinental Bank Plc( now Access Bank Plc), Dr. Erastus Akingbola over allegation of stealing of N47.1bn belonging to Intercontinental bank.

Asaba—DELTA State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, weekend, explained why he would not sign into law, the Bill passed by the state House of Assembly, prescribing death penalty for kidnappers, describing the Bill as a duplication of efforts.

He also said that a school for training of kidnappers had been uncovered in the state.

Speaking at Unity Hall at Government House, Asaba, on questions posed to him at a town hall meeting during the visit of the Good Governance tour team, led by Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, to the state, he said: “As a state government, we have been dealing with kidnapping. Presently, we have been able to identify some hot spots in the state, what are called the red spots, where kidnappers are trained. We have identified those areas.

“We are strategising on security for those areas and that is why, in the last few weeks, you could see that the incidence of kidnapping has gone down. There are other strategies we are still working on to deal with kidnapping, which I cannot disclose here.

“Another question is, why are we having issues with death penalty for kidnappers? There is already a death penalty in our laws. Every kidnapper is an armed robber, I believe, so I don’t know why we are talking today of death penalty for kidnappers. When you go to court, the case is usually kidnapping/armed robbery. Why do I have to sign another law for kidnappers?

“Once you are a kidnapper, you are also an armed robber. The law is already there to sentence kidnappers to death. And I must say that in this state, in the last few months, our judges have been bold enough to convict many kidnappers. They are working hard to sentence more kidnappers.”

BENIN—EDO State Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Dan Orbih, has described the statement credited to Governor Adams Oshiomhole, that the ongoing Good Governance Tour led by Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, was a Federal Government project, saying that Edo State Government had no project to showcase to the visiting team.

Nigeria is estimated to have lost about $2.7 billion or N426 billion from decline in crude oil production in the last quarter of 2012 – October to December, even as it earned $16.075 billion or N2.54 trillion from crude oil export in the same period.

MAKURDI—Bothered by the falling standards of education in the country, Head of the Abuja Ecclesiastical Province of the Catholic Church, His Eminence John Cardinal Onaiyekan, has urged state governments to return all missionary schools to their original owners in order to stem the steady decline of standards in the sector.

OWERRI—THE South East Zone of Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, has expressed shock that 12 years into the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals, MDGs, there was nothing on ground to show for their efforts.

Barely 24 hours after the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, formed a forum for its governors, seemingly to break the ranks of the increasingly influential Nigerian Governors’ Forum, NGF, the Presidency flexed its muscle, yesterday, with most of the governors backing down from a showdown. This effectively whittled down the powers of the governors forum.

AUTHORITIES of the University of Benin, have dragged Edo State Government before an Edo State High Court sitting in Benin, over the eviction of staff of the institution occupying 18 landed property located at Government Reservation Area, GRA, in Benin-City.