Kidnappers make contact with John Mikel Obi's family

Abductors of Michael Obi, father of Super Eagles and Chelsea star John Mikel Obi, have made contact with the family.

Mr Obi, a retired civil servant,was abducted on Friday evening, and has not been seen since. But Tuesday, the family received two calls from the abductors, who first warned them that Obi senior had been taken out of Jos.

"They called mummy [Mikel's mother] and told her that we should not bother looking for Daddy in Jos because he has been taken to Lagos," a family source informed KickOffNigeria.com last night.

According to KickOffNigeria.com, a few hours later a second call came in, giving the family the location of the car which Obi was driving when he went missing.

Tony Obi, the eldest of the Obi children, confirmed that the car was found in Jos, but declined to say where.

"Yes, we have found the car," Tony Obi confirmed Tuesday night but insisted he was not going to say any other thing on the matter. "I can't say anything more for now."

Tony recovered the car in the company of two of his in-laws.

Earlier in the day, Nigeria police authority in Jos had urged residents with information on the disappearance of Obi to contact them as authorities struggled for clues in the kidnapping.

"We are seriously on the lookout for Mr. Michael Obi. We appeal to anyone with useful information on his whereabouts to contact the security agencies," Plateau State Commissioner of Police, Emmanuel Dipo Ayeni told AFP.

Meanwhile, Nigeria Football Federation's (NFF) Football Ambassador, Nwankwo Kanu has joined calls for the swift and unconditional release of the father of Super Eagles' star, Mikel.

Speaking with THISDAYSports yesterday, Kanu said it was very sad that such a thing could happen to a person, who is committed to bringing glory to his fatherland.

"Why will they do such a thing to him (Mikel)? This is a person trying his very best to bring joy to his fellow Nigerians through our number one sport, football only for this to happen to him. It is not fair at all," said Kanu, who recalled that a similar incidence happened to another national team player, Joseph Yobo some years ago.

"It is not a good trend footballers are only doing their jobs which is to make Nigerians happy so why will some people target them?"

Kanu, who said he called Mikel to console him immediately he heard the news, appealed to Nigerians to stop acts that paint the country in bad light.

"The news has been all over the airwaves here (UK) and on the internet, which is not good for the country. God knows what damage such reports are doing to the credibility of our country. How will potential visitors or businessmen feel reading such news about Nigeria? It will definitely frighten them off," he said.

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I received death threats not to return - Okonjo-Iweala

Nigeria's new Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala says she has been threatened by 'vested interest', not to return to Nigeria, stressing however that she was not the type of person who is easily cowed by threats.

Speaking on the British Broadcasting Service, the new finance minister said " I do not know who they are, but I did recieve threats from people who think my role as finance minister who will also be overseeing the economy might touch their interests.

"We cannot yield the progress of this country to those who want to keep it in stranglehold, we have to move forward, the vast majority of Nigerians want to see changes in the economy like in emerging economies in the world". On the volatility of oil prices, she said the country would have to go back to measures adopted during her time as finance minister under former president Olusegun Obasanjo. "We had an instrument for checking oil price volatility" she said, adding that price volatility creates uncertainty and the oil price based fiscal rule, which she adopted in 2003 would be kept to, to check the impact of the volatility on the economy.

The new finance minister who will be sworn in today said the banking sector would not pose any threats to the economy as the central bank had demonstrated the capacity to deal with the challenges in the sector.

Her focus she informed, would be what the president wants as priority, and maintained that Nigeria had the capacity to manage her problems, but added she could embrace policies from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank considered good for Nigeria. She also said the crisis in the euro zone would lead to global uncertainty and affect aggregate demands.

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President Goodluck Jonathan promises steady power before May 2015

President Goodluck Jonathan has restated his commitment to providing uninterrupted power supply in the country before the exit date of 2015 of his administration.

Jonathan spoke at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Tuesday when the Board of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) visited him.

The president, who restated the importance of a stable power to the development of the country said he was ready to ensure its reality.

"We all know the importance of power. We look forward to a time when Nigerians can enjoy uninterrupted power supply from the beginning to the end of a year and we are working hard to ensure that that objective is attained within the life-span of this administration," Jonathan said.

He charged members of the NDPHC led by its Chairman and Vice President Namadi Sambo, to be committed to the Board's vision as they have been saddled with the duty of ensuring steady power programme for the country through the National Integrated Power Projects works.Responding, Sambo said the NIPP was funded by the three-tiers of government to address the power needs of the country, stressing that "We will work relentlessly to fulfill our mandate on time."

He pledged that all the medium sized gas generating stations, the transmission lines and all other logistics needed to stabilise power supply were put to optimal service for Nigerians in line with the promise to provide stable power in the country.

Present at the meeting were the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, Governor Gabriel Suswam (Benue); Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta) and Dr. Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), while the Ministers of Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji, his Petroleum Reources counterpart, Mrs. Deziani Alison-Madueke and that of Justice, Mr. Bello Muhammed Adokie, were also in attendance.

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Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala departed the World Bank as managing directorFriday and said her biggest challenge as Nigeria's new economic chief will be to develop an economy that is less dependent on oil and gas.

Okonjo-Iweala, who will take up the role of Nigeria's Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance next week, has been a steady hand at the world's largest development institution since 2007, where she has had unique insights into the growing role of developing nations in the global economy.

Nigerian government needs to curb spending in order to put the country on a "better fiscal path. We need to tighten fiscal policy," Okonjo-Iweala said, adding that she is in favour of the central bank pegging the naira to provide stability for businesses. Monetary and fiscal policy must be supportive of each other, she added."Nigeria has to make some fundamental changes, it has to really diversify its economy," Okonjo-Iweala told Reuters in an interview on Thursday. "The time is now because investors are interested in the country," she said.She said the country's manufacturing sector had lost competitiveness due to increasing power shortages and bureaucratic hurdles, while its agriculture and services sectors had a lot more room to grow, and a flourishing entertainment industry held great potential. One lesson Okonjo-Iweala takes with her is that consistent policies and a stable political environment are essential for any economy to flourish.

"We have to show policy consistency in all kinds of ways. It builds trust in the economy, it builds a resilience and that helps enormously," Okonjo-Iweala said.

"There is a lack of political will by all actors worldwide to try to secure peace" in Somalia," Okonjo-Iweala said. "You cannot help farmers, and you cannot help pastoralists, unless there is peace," she added.

She said the situation in the Horn of Africa "should not color the success" Africa has had in recovering from the last financial crisis.

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