President Goodluck Jonathan has decried the level of insecurity in the country describing it as a major source of worry for his administration and Nigeria’s allies.

No World Cup finals would be complete without Italy and Germany on the cast list, and both nations will take their places in next year’s Brazil showpiece with victories tomorrow.

WARRI—OVER 150 riverine dwellers have reportedly lost their lives and about 5,000 presently sick in Delta and Bayelsa states because of the alleged destructive chemical dispersant used to clean the controversial crude spill from the Bonga Oil Field, belonging to Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company, SNPECo, on December 20, 2011.

Fresh from soul-lifting progress into the final elimination round of the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification series, African champions
Nigeria and African vice champions Burkina Faso clash in a high-profile international friendly at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium,
Kaduna on Tuesday evening.

THE stowaway simply known as Daniel recently hit the touch button for a media frenzy when he quietly slipped into the landing gear compartment of an Arik Air aircraft on the runway of the Benin Airport on August 24, 2013. The aircraft was on its way to Lagos.

The $3.3 billion syndicated loan secured by Dangote Industries last week to build a 400,000-barrel per day oil refinery and petrochemical plant is said to have a seven-year pay back period. A banker who was part of the negotiation disclosed this, saying that Dangote Group may have to work extra hard to meet the payment terms in the loan agreement documents.

ALL PROGRESSIVES Congress, APC, has condemned the seal-up of the secretariat of new Peoples Democratic Party, nPDP, in Abuja, saying those behind the action must be “identified and jailed for “crass lawlessness and palpable impunity.”

PORT HARCOURT— THE European Union, EU, has said that Nigeria’s cry for sustained foreign direct investment would continue to fall on deaf ears unless the country showed commitment to tackle the challenges of corruption and insecurity.

—The Nigerian Navy has arrested a Cameroonian and nine Nigerians on board a vessel laden with diesel, suspected to have been stolen on the Atlantic fringe of Brass in Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.

…Says Fashola can’t be compared to PDP govs
Chief Olisa Metuh, the national publicity secretary of the Bamanga Tukur led Peoples Democratic Party, PDP spoke to newsmen at the weekend on the unfolding crisis in the PDP and efforts being made to resolve it. Frank, forceful and almost always forthright, Metuh who has had a large role in reinvigorating the publicity machinery of the PDP affirmed that the party needs a formidable chairman in the like of Alhaji Bamanga Tukur even as he was unapologetic on the party’s support for the Jonathan administration. Excerpts:

Nigerians’ penchant for foreign goods has continued to put pressure on the nation’s external reserves and the exchange rate. In the last four months – April to August- a total of $14.95 billion left the shores of Nigeria as payments made by Central Bank of Nigeria on behalf of the public. Of this amount, cash sales to Bureaux de Change, where those who purchase foreign exchange in small quantity buy from, amounted to $2.2 billion while letters of credit for direct importation amounted to $157.5 million.

…CAN kicks, says it is the beginning of Islamization…
ABUJA—There is tension in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, as the state government has intensified efforts to demolish about 25 churches and schools, Vanguard has learnt.

*Uduaghan intervenes to save monarch
*37 members of royal family disown Atuwatse II
*Pastor Okoni urges Itsekiri to support Olu …
WARRI—PALACE chiefs rose from a meeting in Warri, Delta State, Sunday, asking the Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse II, to withdraw his controversial statement, last week, denouncing his “Ogiame” traditional title because it is purportedly associated to a river goddess.

NIGERIA Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, weekend, expressed delight over the proposed N9billion Dangote refinery/petro-chemical and fertiliser complex expected to assume production in 2016.

Pioneer Managing Director of Arik Airline, Mr. Alex Van Elk has revealed that Nigerians will soon witness the payment of low airfares to any destination within the country as he was determined to float a profitable low cost airline in Nigeria very soon. He said there was huge potentials in Nigeria aviation industry.