Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Nigerian government to give Nollywood N3 billion grant

The federal government at the weekend said it has packaged a special programme known as Project Nollywood with a grant of N3 billion to aide the film industry scale beyond the achievements it has in the past 20 years in the country.

This is just as Akwa Ibom State Governor and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors' forum, Godswill Akpabio has declared that he has endowed the Goodluck Jonathan Prize for the best actors and actresses in Nollywood.

President Goodluck Jonathan who announced the N3billion grant made available to the industry at a dinner to mark 20 years of Nollywood at the State House, Marina, Lagos, noted that it was part of his administration's transformation agenda in the industry.

According to him, Nollywood would one day exceed the oil sector which the country depends heavily on if the special programme which will be flagged off in April is handled properly.

Jonathan said, "I assure you that this administration will continue to give Nollywood every support and assistance to take the Nigerian movie industry to greater height of success. I invited the private sector to this dinner because I believe that they can also support the efforts to further develop the overall value chain of the industry.

"Encouraged by the feedback we have received from you on our administration's support for Nollywood, we have further designed a programme known as Project Nollywood to support the key components of the industry's value chain through a dedicated grant totaling N3billion.

"It will include capacity development fund and funds to support the industry's infrastructure. The scheme which will be launched in the first week of April, will be managed by the Ministry of Finance in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism."

The President added that he has already directed NEXIM Bank and the Bank of Industry to put in their best in investing in the industry by way od loans.

Nollywood, Jonathan observed, had made remarkable achievement within the 20 years period it has existed, which stakeholders must not rest on their laurels to identify with.

He stated further: "It is always said that getting to the top may be hard, but remaining there may be more challenging. Our producers, script writers, actors, actresses and others who work in the movie industry must continue to work with zeal to further improve on the quality and content of their production".

He said the Nollywood industry has been offering employment opportunities to thousands of Nigerians directly or indirectly.

The President said although Nigeria's national income is currently dominated by oil sector, he believed that Nollywood could challenge the sector.

He promised that the Federal Government would work with stakeholders to tackle the problems of infrastructure and piracy facing the industry, noting that if laws were required achieve this, members of the National Assembly would assist.

Meanwhile, Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State has started what he called an endowment of the Goodluck Jonathan Prize for the best actors and actresses in Nollywood.

The chairman of the People's Democratic Party Governors' Forum announced that he will commit the sum of N50 million for the award, even as he asked the leadership of the industry to come up with the group that will coordinate the award.

Akpabio said, "I am the chairman of the newest forum in the arena of politics, the PDP Governors' Forum. The first set of disciples of the President. We felt we must come together and rally support for the President, especially for his uncommon transformation agenda. Nollywood has come of age at 20. When the history of the success of Nollywood is being told, President Jonathan's name will be mentioned.

"No leader in the country has supported creativity like Jonathan. There is no way you can ever fail as a President of the country because you never discriminate. We won the African Cup of Nations during your tenure. You may end up winning two world cups because the boys will be improving.

"You invest in gas and power. East-West Road will soon be delivered. Your enemies will never laugh at you; whatever you do, you will succeed because you are a child of destiny".



Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Aliko Dangote is now 43rd richest man in the world


Cement mogul, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, moved up 33 places from the 76th position, which he occupied on the list of richest men and women in the world compiled by US-based Forbes Magazine last year, to emerge the 43rd richest man on earth in 2013.

According to the magazine, Dangote was valued at $16.1 billion in 2013 and retained his position as Africa's richest man for the third year in a row.

The second Nigerian on the list is Michael Adenuga Jnr, with a net worth of $4.7 billion. Adenuga occupied the 267th position on the Forbes list and is the fifth richest man in Africa.

Speaking exclusively to THISDAY last night, Dangote said his target is to enter the exclusive league of top five richest men in the world in the next four years.

Currently, the top five positions are occupied by Mexico's Carlos Slim with a net worth of $73 billion, followed by Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who is valued at $67 billion.

Following closely on their heels are Spanish billionaire and owner of Zara clothing chain Amanco Ortega with a net worth of $57 billion; US investment guru, Warren Buffet - $53.5 billion; and Oracle's Larry Ellison - $43 billion.

Dangote, who has massive investments in the cement, sugar and real estate sector, had an eventful year in 2012.

In October, he sold off controlling interest in his Dangote Flour Plc to Tiger Brands of South Africa and pocketed $190 million in cash. In February, his Dangote Sugar Refineries acquired a 95-per-cent stake in Nigerian sugar producer Savannah Sugar in a bid to maintain its dominant position in the local sugar industry.

He also did the ground breaking for the 2.8-million-ton fertiliser plant in Edo State at a cost of $1.7 billion and when finished, will be the largest in the world. The plant is scheduled for completion in three years' time.

Dangote said he intends to ramp up cement production at his plants in the next four years from the current 16-17 million tonnes in Nigeria and Ghana to 100 million tonnes from new output coming from sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East.

Last year, the business man stepped up his philanthropy, giving over $100 million to causes ranging from education to health, flood relief, poverty alleviation and the arts. He also acquired a yacht, which he named after his mother, Amiya.

Adenuga owns Globacom - Nigeria's second largest telecommunications firm, Conoil and some stake in Sterling Bank Nigeria. He founded Globacom in 2003.

It has 24 million customers in Nigeria, operates in the Republic of Benin, Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire.

His Conoil Producing is one of Nigeria's largest independent exploration companies, with a production of some 100,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

Other famous people on the Forbe's list include, Google co-founder and CEO, Larry Page, with $23 billion, is 20th on the list. Fellow Co-founder, Sergey Brin, is 21st with $22.8 billion.

Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, is 66th on the list with $13.3 billion, while Oprah Winfrey is the 503rd person, with $2.8 billion. Many of the billionaires give millions in philanthropy every year.



Mystery bodies found in river were dumped by police

Dozens of bodies found floating in Ezu River, at the border between Anambra and Enugu states, were men seized and extra-judicially executed by a deadly police special anti-robbery squad, a civil society network has said in a report.

The International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law said its findings showed the bodies were those of illegally arrested members of the public, robbery and kidnapping suspects, and members of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB.

The victims were executed without investigation, prosecution, and sentencing, the non-governmental organization, which has carried out several reports and evaluation of police abuses, said.

The unidentified bodies were first found on January 19 as villagers of Amansea, the community near the river, went early morning to fetch water from the community's only drinking source.

The horror has shocked the nation and the world, but surprisingly the federal government has yet to make a pronouncement on the case.

While the villagers said the bodies numbered more than 30, police insists they were less than 20.

MASSOB had earlier claimed the bodies were those of its members who went missing months after police took them into custody. Police has denied the claim.

The International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law said it spoke with several relatives of missing family members, and community sources which pointed at the SARS, a deadly unit of the police often accused of abuses.

"What are the whereabouts of the nine MASSOB activists transferred to SARS from the Onitsha Area Command since 8th day of December, 2012? Were they granted interim bail? If yes, who were their sureties and where are the records with which they were granted bail," the group asked in a report signed by its chairman, Emeka Umeagbalasi.

"Were the detainees arraigned in either courts of inferior records or in courts of superior records? If yes, which divisions of the courts in Anambra State and at what dates?

"What was their fate after the courts' charges or arraignments? Were they granted bails or remanded in prisons' custodies? If yes who were their sureties or which prisons or police stations were they remanded and by which courts and dates? Are they still being detained by SARS without being charged to, or arraigned in courts? If yes, which of the SARS units are they being detained?"

The group called on the federal government to make a categorical statement on the case, and order investigation while ensuring payment of compensation to the families involved.



Video - Aftermath of river contaminated with dead bodies

Friday, March 1, 2013

Henry Okah's sentence postponed to March 18

Judge Neels Claassen of Johannesburg High Court in South Africa has postponed the sentencing of a terror suspect, Henry Okah again to the March 18, 19 and 20, Channels Television reports.

Although the judge had said he would not allow any other postponement, he said he had to do this in order to give Okah's new legal team time to get used to the notes left by the old legal team.

The new team led by Gerrit Miller requested for the time, following the withdrawal of the former team led by Lucky Multulanla.

But the prosecution had described the request as a ploy to delay the delivery of justice while Judge Claassen went ahead to grant the plea because, as he said, he didn't want to force the new team.

If the hearing was held yesterday, witnesses from Nigeria and the United States would have testified in a bid to mitigate the sentencing of Okah following the request of his former attorney, Mr. Multulanla at his last appearance on February 1 to give witnesses time to get to South Africa to testify.

Okah intended calling at least five people to testify. He was found guilty in January of 13 counts of terrorism, including engaging in terrorist activities, conspiracy to engage in terrorist activities, and delivering, placing, and detonating an explosive device.

The charges related to two car bombs in Abuja, Nigeria, in which 12 people were killed and 36 injured on October 1, 2010, the anniversary of the Nigeria's independence, and another two explosions in the southern Nigerian city of Warri, earlier in March 2010.



Seven suspects released in lynching case of university students

A Port Harcourt Chief Magistrate, Mr. Emma Woke, Rivers State, has discharged seven out of the 18 suspects, arrested in connection with the killing of four students of the University of Port Harcourt on October 5, last year at Omuokiri- Aluu, Rivers State.

Magistrate Woke, who discharged them after reading an advice from the Director of Public Prosecution, DPP, yesterday, said the seven suspects were arrested by the police on grounds of mere suspicion. According to the DPP, no case of murder was established against them.

The court said the seven were released based on the advice of the DPP. He read out the advice before discharging the seven. According to the advice, the seven suspects were charged to court based on mere suspicion.

The seven are Cynthia Chinwo, George Nwadei, Ekpe Daniel, Gabriel Ochie, Endurance Edet, Lucky Agwurum and Finebone Jeffrey, aka Soso

The DPP, in the advice, said: "It is a trite law that suspicion, no matter how strong, cannot take the place of legal proof without concrete evidence to substantiate it, and as such, they were victims of circumstance and, therefore, charging and prosecuting them will be an exercise in futility."

The DPP also advised that charges against seven others, who were not charged to court but arrested by the Police, be dropped because no charge of murder was established against them, adding that the police should arrest five others on the run.

The advice further read: "The charge against them should equally be dropped and they should be released forthwith from custody."

Meantime, the Paramount Ruler of Omuokiri-Aluu community, Alhaji Hassan Walewa and 10 others, are to face a fresh charge for failing to prevent a felony. According to the DPP, no charge of murder was established against them.

"Your original case file will be retained to enable us file information with proof of evidence for the avoidance of doubt, against Lawal Segun, ex-Sergeant Lucky Orji, Ikechukwu Louis Amadi, aka Kapoon, David Chinasa Ogbada, Abiodun Yusuf, Joshua Ekpe, Abang Cyril, Alhaji Hassan Welewa, Okoghiroh Endurance, Ozioma Abajuo and Chigozie Evans Samuel in the state High Court."

It will be recalled that four students of University of Port Harcourt, Tekena Elkanah, Lloyd Toku Mike, Chiadika Biringa and Ugonna Obuzor, were mobbed to death on October 5, last year before a cheering crowd at Omuokiri-Aluu.