BUGI CITY

Twenty-one senators currently receiving pensions from government as ex-governors and deputy governors.

The current senators who once served as governors are Bukola Saraki of Kwara, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of Kano, Kabiru Gaya of Kano, Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom, Theodore Orji of Abia, Abdullahi Adamu of Nasarawa, Sam Egwu of Ebonyi, Shaaba Lafiagi of Kwara, Joshua Dariye of Plateau Jonah Jang of Plateau, Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko of Sokoto, Ahmed Sani Yarima of Zamfara, Danjuma Goje of Gombe, Bukar Abba Ibrahim of Yobe, Adamu Aliero of Kebbi, George Akume of Benue and Isiaka Adeleke of Osun.

The  former deputy governors in the Senate are Ms Biodun Olujimi of Ekiti and Enyinaya Harcourt Abaribe of Abia. Danladi Abubakar Sani served as the acting governor of Taraba state.

Many former governors are also in Buhari's Cabinet as Ministers. This includes: Ngige, Fayemi, Amaechi and Fashola (SAN).).

In Akwa Ibom State, the law provides that ex governors and deputy governors receive pension equivalent to the salaries of the incumbent. The package also includes a new official car and a utility vehicle every four years; one personal aide; a cook, chauffeurs and security guards for the governor at a sum not exceeding N5 million per month and N2.5 million for his deputy governor.

In Rivers, the law provides 100 percent of annual basic salaries for the ex-governor and deputy, one residential house for the former governor “anywhere of his choice in Nigeria”; one residential house anywhere in Rivers for the deputy, three cars for the ex-governor every four years and two cars for the deputy every four years.

It is alledged that in Lagos, a former governor will get two houses, one in Lagos and another in Abuja, estimated at N500 million in Lagos and N700 million in Abuja. He also receives six new cars to be replaced every three years; a furniture allowance of 300 percent of annual salary to be paid every two years, and a N30 million pension annually for life.

This is the reality for all the 21 ex govenors and deputy governors who are currently serving as senators. This same is also true of ex governors who are now serving as Ministers.

NOW I ASK:
How many years did these guys serve their states as governors and deputy governors? Is it more than 8years? Is that a reason to be entitled to pensions for life? Even if they are entitled to pension for life, must it be so outrageous?

As if that is not enough: HOW on earth can any public servant with conscience collect salaries and allowances as a senator or minister, and still have the audacity to claim pensions equivalent to the salaries of a serving governor in Nigeria?

IT ISN'T ROCKET SCIENCE......

Once you are elected a senator or appointed a minister, you must forfeit any pension accruing to you from government at any level until you vacate office. This should also apply to senators collecting military pensions like former Senate President David Mark.

Yet these senators are in the Senate that is inviting the current finance minister to discuss the recession of Nigeria's economy. A senator pockets approximately 30 million naira monthly as salary and allowances. Our "honourables" are not interested to make laws that could restructure our country into economically autonomous federating States/Regions to save the country from sectional agitations that is threatening  to destroy Nigeria. The sad and hopeless situation is that the rest of Nigerians are busy arguing based on party, ethnic and affiliations while these enemies of state continue to rape us.

Do you know that it costs tax payers 290m Naira yearly to maintain each member of our National Assembly in a country where nothing works & 80% of population earn below 300 Naira a day ? A working day earning of a senator is more than a yearly income of a doctor; it's more than the salary of 42 Army generals or 48 professors or 70 commissioners of police or more than twice the pay of the US President or 9 times the salary of US congressmen.

It's high time the country had a referendum on those outrageous salaries of Senators, House of Representative members and other political office holders.

By Ayo Oyoze Baje

“Woe unto them that call evil good / and good evil;/ that put darkness for light/and light for darkness;…/woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes”
-Isaiah 5 verses 20-21
The Holy Bible had long predicted man’s scarce regard for the sanctity of fellow human life. “Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood.Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths”:  Isaiah 59 verse 7.Yet, in all his grand self-deceit he cannot create a strand of human hair. This is the class of people God calls ‘rebellious children’. It is no different here in Nigeria.What with the recent heartless and hideous killings of mostly Christian faithful  by fully armed Fulani herdsmen in places such as Jema’a, Sanga, Kanra and Kauru in Kaduna state . Add that to the wanton waste of irreplaceable lives, unleashed on our dear fatherland by the premeditated Boko Haram insurgency, over the past few years and the image of a cruel and conscienceless people is brought to the global space, again.
Equally outrageous is the sordid silence of those who swore by Nigeria’s constitution to ‘protect our lives and property’. Honestly, this rankles deep. So does the insulting and erroneous belief in some quarters  that some Nigerians, whether by ethnic colouration, religious or political persuasion are superior to others. Ordinarily, perpetrators of heinous crimes against humanity should be behind bars grinding their teeth in utter remorse, waiting for the Day of Judgment. But it becomes worrisome when proactive and preventive measures, either on the part of state or federal government are few and far between. Such would have curbed, curtailed or out rightly stopped senseless killings of innocent citizens. For instance, in August last year villages in Southern Kaduna, including Gad Biyu, Akwa’a Agwan Ajo were attacked by the armed herdsmen but the expected rapid response from the  government was not forthcoming.
Similarly, going by the account of the Catholic Diocese of Kafanchan, it boggles the mind that it would take the deaths of some 808 voiceless victims sent to their early graves, by the vampires in human skin; with 57 injured after series of attacks on 53 villages,16 churches and 1,422 houses burnt to ashes before some form of government  intervention would come!Even then, the curfew placed in villages such as Zango Kataf, Jema’a and Kaura local councils could not stem the rising tide of mindless mayhem  by the herdsmen. Even on Christmas Eve, several communities in Southern Kaduna still fell victims to their killing spree.
Not long after, and as if adding fuel to an already flaring flame of the ethnic/religious distrust in the troubled state,the  governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai claimed he had paid  an undisclosed ransom to some of the suspected killers so as to sheathe their swords! Such a controversial government policy, including questionable amnesty granted to criminal gangs in states such as Benue, Katsina, Rivers, Imo and Kano is viewed as a tacit support for mass murder by some political leaders, by not a few peace-loving Nigerians. Inadvertently, it pays to threaten the lives of other citizens; maim rape, waste their property and their lives and wait to be paid for such brazen bestiality! Can you imagine that in a 21st Century Nigeria?
This of course, triggers the burning questions, as rightly demanded by the Southern Kaduna People’s Union(SOKAPU).What was the source of the fund? What is the identity of the beneficiaries of the money? Are the lives of the perpetrators of pure evil more precious than that of their most unfortunate victims? Was it true, as claimed that the government was implementing an aspect of the recommendations of the previous administration t of late Patrick Yakowa? And if so, did the payment for cows killed in crisis, as proffered equate to paying herdsmen to have mercy on defenceless citizens? Who, indeed has been arming the Fulani herdsmen that have been on rampage in communities and states such as Agatu in Benue, Uzo-Uwani in Enugu, Taraba, Zamfara, Katsina, and Niger? The latest is the killing of four policemen in Kwahine, Gidandadi and Karahali villages in Adamawa State.
Only credible answers to these troubling questions would go a long way to finding lasting solutions to the collective injustice against the Nigerian state. One cannot but therefore, support the clarion call of the esteemed members of the Catalysts for Peace and Justice Initiative (CPJI) as well as the Catholic Arc diocese of Kafanchan for the setting up of a panel of inquiry into the immediate and remote causes of the killing spree by the herdsmen, especially over the past one year. Indeed, the fragile fabric of the nation is gradually being undermined by the twin evils of corruption (not just financial scams) and the self-decimating incubus of impunity. We cannot afford any form of religious crisis, worse still with the biting economic recession.
For the peace-loving  people of Kaduna, the religious crisis in 1987,the subsequent killings in Zango Kataf in 1992 and the post-election violence in 2011 through  which we lost some youth corpers should be sobering enough to prevent a repeat performance. We should have learnt enduring lessons from the events that led to the setting up of Oputa Panel and the attendant Report.
Over the centuries, no nation, or part of it that sheds so much innocent human blood has enjoyed sustained peace or prosperity. From the ethnic cleansing of the Jie people in China in 350 AD, through that of Sicilian Vespers in Italy, in 1282, the religious persecution of a quarter million Jews in Spain between 1492 and 1614, the killings of herdsmen in Central Kalahari in the 1990s,to the Sudan crisis in 2003 and Uzbeks in 2010s should have informed us of the folly of taking the lives of those we can never replace. Vengeance, as all the holy books say belongs only to God. And history, repeats itself for a people who refuse to learn from its open hands.

The popular American gospel singer and a pastor was enjoying himself during a chat session with a Silverbird informant at the venue of the Unusual Praise Concert hosted by the Catholic Church Of Divine Mercy Lekki. Don Meon recounted his encounter with Nigerian music celebrity, D’banj, and couldn’t hold back his likeness for the jovial secular singer who had bumped him while performing at a wedding event. Plus, the gospel singer couldn’t debunk the notion of  potential future collaboration.

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source ngyab.com

The price of bitcoin hit two major milestones today, reaching a new 2016 high and rising to its most elevated level since February 2014.

At press time, bitcoin's price rose to a high of $788.49, CoinDesk USD Bitcoin Price Index (BPI) figures reveal, the highest price observed in 34 months.

The figure not only surpassed the previous 2016 high of $781.31, but also represented bitcoin’s most elevated value since this summer, when expectations were high about the digital currency's upcoming decline in rewards.

However, with today's movements, bitcoin has finally broken through after weeks of flirting with its previous annual high. The digital currency neared $781 several times this month, but up until now, has been unable to surpass it.

Bitcoin prices came within roughly $2 of this previous high yesterday, and then broke through it at 01:45 UTC today, BPI figures reveal. After surpassing this level, the digital currency generated additional gains.

Now that bitcoin prices has surpassed the previous high of $781.31, this price could become a new support level for the digital currency.

Whether this support materializes or not, bitcoin prices have generated very strong returns so far this year, rising more than 80% from roughly $430 to more than $780.

This piece is not intended to provide, and should not be taken as, investment advice

Source Coindesk.

Reigners Bible Church International, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital collapses

About three persons have been confirmed dead in the incident which happened at about 12 noon on Saturday.

A source revealed that the founder of the church, Apostle Akan Weeks was supposed to be ordained Bishop on the day of the incident.

high profile citizens of the state present at the event including the Governor were believed to have been trapped before help finally came...

The governor is believed to be in good shape as he was rushed to the government house immediately

Trending News about A dead body was found on Wednesday in the wheel well of a Nigerian plane after it landed in South Africa, the airline said in a statement.

The body was found on a plane operated by Arik Air, one of Nigeria’s largest airlines, that had departed from the country’s commercial hub of Lagos and landed at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport Tuesday evening.

“The lifeless body of a stowaway was on Wednesday, November 30, 2016 found in the main wheel well of one of Arik Air’s A330-200 aircraft,” Arik Air spokesman Adebanji Ola said in a statement.

Guardian news

The Lagos State Government on Thursday said it would commence its `Rent to Own and Rental Housing schemes’ with 12 housing estates on December 8.

Gbolahan Lawal, the Commissioner for Housing, said at a news conference in Alausa that the policy was in response to the yearnings of residents for affordable and decent housing.

He said that the `Rent to Own’ policy would target low income earners in both formal and informal sectors, while the `Rental Housing’ policy would cover the working class.

According to him, the `Rent to Own’ policy will also cover those with regular income, with the rent deducted from source.

He said that the government would kick-start the project with over 1,000 units out of the 3,192 units earmarked in the first phase.

Lawal said the first phase of the project would be sited in the following areas: Epe, Agbowa, Ojokoro, Alimosho, Igbogbo, Igando, Iponri, Surulere, Eti-Osa, Ajara and Badagry.

He said that five per cent value of the housing unit would be paid as commitment fee on the Rent to Own Policy, while the balance would be spread for 10 years.

On the Rental Housing policy, Lawal said that rent would be collected on monthly basis, and tenants were required to pay one month deposit, according to the prevailing rent in each location.

According to him, rented apartments are not transferable.

Mr. Lawal said that applicants must be primarily residents in the state and would be required to submit a copy of their Lagos State Residents Registration Card.

He said that applicants must be first time home buyers, must be 21 years old and above, as well as be tax compliant, among others.

The commissioner urged members of the public to make enquiries online on www.lagoshoms.gov.ng or visit the ministry.

He assured that the selection process for both policies would be credible, fair and transparent. (NAN)

Source