GUGLEWAD

ABUJA—THE Senate has commenced investigation into the 675km dual-carriageway East-West Road which has gulped N726 billion and is yet to be completed. The Senate also urged the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency, FERMA and Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, to intervene in the rehabilitation and directed the Ministry of Niger Delta to ensure the completion of the East/ West Road particularly the section that links the multi-national investment within the 2017 budget year. It also mandated its Committee on Niger Delta to investigate the contract and report back within four weeks. According to the Senate, the abandonment has disrupted economic activities in the country, noting that the road project was awarded by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2006 at the value of N211 billion, but the project could not commence in 2007 as arranged because it was not included in the 2007 Appropriation Act, adding that during the late former President Umaru Yar’Adua, nothing ...

ABA— A female councillor in Obingwa Local Government Legislative Council, Abia State, Mrs Obioma Ali, has died over multiple burns she sustained from a kerosene explosion at her home. Ali, who represents Isiala Itu, Ward 12, was said to have been refilling her lantern with kerosene when the substance, suspected to have been adulterated, exploded and burnt her badly. Family sources told Vanguard that the incident affected her hands, face and other parts ofher body. The lawmaker reportedly died at Abia State University Teaching Hospital, ABSUTH, Aba, where she had been receiving attention. Chairman of the Obingwa Local Government Area, Chief Hanson Amaechi, during a condolence visit to the deceased’s family, said her death had created a vacuum in the struggle for female political representation in the area, stressing that she died at a time her experience was highly needed. Amaechi added that the councillor, who was the deputy chief whip and chairman, Committee for Wo...

ABUJA – A founding chieftain of the All Progressives Congress APC in Abia state, Prince Paul Ikonne has cautioned a former governor of the state, Orji Uzor Kalu to avoid comments that could portray the party as incapable of keeping to its words. Ikonne was speaking against the backdrop of the former governor’s declaration that ailing President Muhammadu Buhari would return before June 12, urging him to refrain from acting as the president’s unofficial spokesman. “Last time, Dr Orji Uzor Kalu told Nigerians that President Buhari would return soon and he is not the spokesman of the President. Till now, the President is yet to return. He should keep quiet and learn to live like an elder statesman, not trying to take the job of the president’s spokesmen”, he said. Speaking with journalists Thursday in Abuja, Ikonne who was a governorship candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria ACN, said 95 percent of the people of Abia are not happy with the way Kalu gover...

T HE Nigerian Shippers Council, NSC, has given 18 months ultimatum to owners of Inland Container Depots, ICDs, across the country to commence work at their various sites or face sanctions, even as the Executive Secretary of the NSC, Hassan Bello, disclosed that ICD project in Jos, Plateau State is 65 percent completed. Bello, who disclosed this in an exclusive chat with Vanguard in his office, said that government is very serious about the development of these facilities not only because of its capacity to bring development to their area of operation but also the ability to creation jobs for the army of unemployed youths in the country. He explained that as a result of the importance of the ICDs to opening up of the economies of the states where they are located, the minister of transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, is working seriously to ensure that these projects come on stream as soon as possible. The NSC boss said that all is set for the commissioning of that of K...

Abuja – The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has approved the posting of 14 newly sworn-in Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) to states, according to a statement by its Secretary, Mrs. Augusta Ogakwu. The statement made available on Friday in Abuja, showed that Prof. James Apam from Benue was posted to Kogi, while Dr. Nentawe Yilwatda from Plateau was posted to Benue. It said that Halilu Pai from FCT was posted to Plateau, Umar Ibrahim (Taraba) to Gombe; Ahmad Makama (Bauchi) to Taraba; Ibrahim Abdullahi (Adamawa) to Bauchi; and Prof. Godwill Obioma (Abia) to Ebonyi. Dr. Nwachukwu Orji of Ebonyi was posted to Anambra; Dr Iloh Chuks (Enugu) to Abia; Emeka Joseph (Imo) to Enugu State and Francis Ezeonu (Anambra) to Imo. The commission also approved the posting of Obo Effanga (Cross River) to Edo; Dr. Briyi Frankland (Bayelsa) to Cross River; and Agboke Olaleke (Ogun) to Ondo. NAN reports that the posting was released immediately after the ne...

THE National Automotive Industry Development Plan, NAIDP, was introduced in October 2013 by the President Goodluck Jonathan administration to revive the ailing Nigerian auto industry. It was originally intended to encourage local manufacturing of vehicles and discourage importation of cars as well as gradually phase out used cars popularly known as Tokunbo. It was on account of this that the policy came with prohibitive tariff on imported fully built vehicles, while offering tariff rebate for SKDs meant for assemblage of vehicles in the country. Essentially, the objective of the automotive policy is to restore assembly and develop local content, thus creating employment, acquiring technology and reducing pressure on the country’s balance of payment. By the year 2014, about five of the country’s previously existing automobile assembly plants were upgraded and soon resumed operations, while seven dormant plants were resuscitated. Among the early starters were VON, PA...

LESS than two years to the 2019 presidential poll, the polity is astir as stakeholders and politicians have commenced intense posturing. The ill-health of President Muhammadu Buhari, who is currently in London on medical vacation, has only deepened and widened the jostling for the nation’s top office. But for Buhari’s health challenges, there would have been no question over who will fly the ticket of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC. Now, there are moves to ensure that Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, does not run for the post, if Buhari is not in a position to do so. Proponents of this move, who are mainly from the North, said that part of the country must be allowed to complete its eight-year tenure and that what happened in 2011 when the zone lost out to the South, after the late President Umar Musa Yar’ Adua’s demise, must not be allowed to recur. Apart from becoming acting president after Yar’Adua’s death in 2009, Dr Goodluck Jonathan cont...