THE US Consul General in Nigeria, Mr. Jeffery Hawkins, has advised Nigerians to look beyond oil trade in their assessment of the relations with his country.

Borno State Governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, yesterday, blamed the governors in the North and the Federal Government for the Boko Haram insurgency in the northern part of the country.

Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, yesterday, said the Nigerian constitution makes it impossible for economic development in the country and is responsible for the huge recurrent expenditure in the various tiers of government.

LAGOS — FROM a disturbing position of 16, four years ago, Nigeria has sank deeper into the abyss of terrorism and is now the seventh most-terrorised country in the world, according to the latest ranking of the Global Terrorism Index (GTI).

…Says suspects were to bomb VP, others at event in Kaduna
ABUJA — A senior Army officer whose team apprehended some of the alleged masterminds of the explosion that rocked office of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in Suleja, Niger State, prior to the April 16, 2011 presidential election, Wednesday, narrated before a Federal High Court in Abuja, how the suspects were nabbed while en-route Kaduna to bomb an event he said was attended by the Vice President Namadi Sambo.

The much talked about fight against corruption by the federal government may not have started yielding the desired result as Nigeria is ranked the 35th most corrupt country in the world, according to a 2012 report by Transparency International on global corruption.

Nearly 15 years after the death of General Sani Abacha, Nigeria’s former military ruler, the Swiss Government has said that it has so far returned to Nigeria the sum of $700 million stolen by the late dictator and deposited in several Swiss banks.
The Swiss Ambassador to Nigeria, Dr. Hans-Rudolf Hodel, announced the figure at a media briefing in Abuja, yesterday.

Senator Bala Mohamed’s devotion to the well being of President Goodluck Jonathan had in the past not been doubted. As Minister of theFederalCapitalTerritory, FCT with concurrent duty as landlord to the president, he had rustled not a few feathers when he named a new layout in the federal capital after President Jonathan.

President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, justified the actions he took regarding the removal of the embattled President of the Court of Appeal, PCA, Justice Isa Ayo Salami, from office, insisting that he acted in accordance with the 1999 constitution as amended.

NORTHERN leaders, yesterday, spoke in unison, condemning the activities of members of Boko Haram sect, just as they lamented that the security situation in the north was fast deteriorating.