Nigeria Minister of Petroleum Kachikwu says he loses $1m a year for serving Nigeria

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, yesterday said that although his former job was more rewarding financially, he decided to serve Nigeria for the love of his fatherland.

Speaking in Abuja, Kachikwu who is also the Group Managing Director, Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), revealed that his acceptance to serve the country cost him “at least a million dollars every year.”
According to him, all hands must be on deck to build enduring institutions that would secure the future of the country and improve on the standard of living of Nigerians.

“I believe that this country needs help. I believe that it is about time we began to perform for the young and upcoming. I believe that the sheer capacity of this country is unimaginable. I do not know of any country in the world with our population, our resources, our intellect, our flamboyance, our family nexus, everything is together.

“The call to public service for me was unique. I was Vice President of Exxon Mobil West Africa and I was suddenly called to serve.

“In serving, I lose a lot of money, if not at least a million dollars every year by virtue of being a minister, but the thing is, I am directed by the voice of God,” he said.

Kachikwu said the current economic crunch in Nigeria can be surmounted with the right leadership.

He said Nigerians would not feel the impact of the challenges posed by drop in the price of oil if government properly harnessed other natural resources.

“Everything in this country is together; the only thing that is not together is leadership and in God’s name, we are bound to change that.

“In every little space that you have, and in my own case petroleum, you have to make an absolute change and so I am not worried about price of oil.

“It can be five dollars for all I care. I am worried about the direction of the industry; I am worried about changing things the way they have never been done before.

“I am worried about creating opportunities that exist; I am worried about improving the standards of living; I am worried about encouraging opportunities in the sector.

“I am worried about opening up those opportunities that have existed for years,” he said.

Kachikwu called on Nigerians to embrace the new philosophy of the present administration geared towards charting a new course for the country.

He called on Nigerians to bury their differences and contribute their quota to the development of the country.

Guardian

Girl defies Boko Haram and refuses to carry out suicide bombing

Strapped with a booby-trapped vest and sent by the extremist Boko Haram group to kill as many people as possible, a young teenage girl tore off the explosives and fled as soon as she was out of sight of her handlers.

Her two companions, however, completed their grisly mission earlier this week and walked into a crowd of hundreds at Dikwa refugee camp in northeast Nigeria and blew themselves up, killing 58 people.

Later found by local self-defence forces, the girl's tearful account is one of the first indications that at least some of the child bombers used by Boko Haram are aware that they are about to die and kill others.

"She said she was scared because she knew she would kill people. But she was also frightened of going against the instructions of the men who brought her to the camp," said Modu Awami, a self-defence fighter who helped question the girl.

She was among thousands held captive for months by the extremists, according to Algoni Lawan, a spokesman for the Ngala local government area that has many residents at the camp and who is privy to information about her interrogation by security forces.

"She confessed to our security operatives that she was worried if she went ahead and carried out the attack that she might kill her own father, who she knew was in the camp," he told The Associated Press on Thursday.

The girl tried to persuade her companions to abandon the mission, he said, "but she said she could not convince the two others to change their minds."

Her story was corroborated when she led soldiers to the unexploded vest, Awami said Thursday, speaking by phone from the refugee camp, which holds 50,000 people who have fled Boko Haram's Islamic uprising.

Captives turned into weapons

The girl is in custody and has given officials information about other planned bombings that has helped them increase security at the camp, said Satomi Ahmed, chairman of the Borno State Emergency Management Agency.

The United States on Thursday strongly condemned the bombings. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the U.S. remains committed to assisting those afflicted by the conflict and supports efforts to provide greater protection for civilians and the regional fight against terrorism.

Boko Haram's six-year-old Islamic insurgency has killed 20,000 people, made 2.5 million homeless and spread across Nigeria's borders.

The extremists have kidnapped thousands of people and the increasing number of suicide bombings by girls and children have raised fears they are turning some captives into weapons. An army bomb disposal expert has told the AP that some suicide bombs are detonated remotely, so the carriers may not have control over when the bomb goes off.

The latest atrocity blamed on Boko Haram extremists was committed against people who had been driven from their homes by the insurgents and had spent a year across the border in Cameroon.

Some 12,000 of them had only returned to Nigeria in January when soldiers declared the area safe. The scene of the killings is 50 kilometres from the border with Cameroon and 85 kilometres northeast of Maiduguri, the biggest city in the northeast and birthplace of Boko Haram.

Such attacks make it difficult for the government to persuade people to return home. The extremists have also razed homes and businesses, destroyed wells and boreholes and stolen livestock and seed grains that farmers need to start their life again.


CBC

Video - Dangote Group depending on international operations for expansion

The giant Nigerian conglomerate, Dangote Group is also struggling with a constricted supply of foreign currency as currency regulations remain tight. The Group's Executive Director, Devakumar Edwin says the company is currently relying on income generated from its international cement operations in Ethiopia, South Africa, Tanzania, Senegal and Cameroon; and it is making financing arrangements through export-credit agencies for the first time. Devakumar also said the company is seeking to increase sales and protect market share at its cement unit in Nigeria amid weaker demand, while expanding elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. The company will be building two new plants in Nigeria within three years, with the capacity to produce 9 M metric tons of cement, annually. The group has also gotten regulatory approvals to start building a 3 million-ton capacity plant in Nepal.

12 Nigerian generals accused of fraud

Twelve senior Nigerian army officers have been handed over to the anti-corruption agency for their alleged involvement in an arms scandal.

The army did not name them, but said they included six serving generals.

If the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) finds enough evidence against them, they would be tried in a military court, the army said.

A presidential inquiry last year found that fake contracts worth $2bn (£1.3bn) were awarded by last administration.

It alleged that the money, which was meant to buy arms to fight the Islamist Boko Haram group, has gone missing.

The former national security adviser, Sambo Dasuki, was charged in December in connection with the case involving $68m that is alleged to be missing. He was accused of awarding phantom contracts to buy helicopters, fighter jets and ammunition, which he denied.

Army spokesman Colonel Sani Usman said the 12 officers referred to the EFCC included three serving major generals, one retired major general, three brigadier generals, four colonels and a lieutenant colonel.

The army's announcement follows President Muhammadu Buhari's order last month to investigate 20 former military chiefs and officers over the alleged arms procurement fraud.

Suspects released

Several close associates of former President Goodluck Jonathan are also facing trial in connection with the scandal.

During the fight against Boko Haram, many soldiers reported that they did not have enough equipment to take on the insurgents.

Mr Buhari, who came to power last May, was largely elected on a promise to tackle corruption.


Meanwhile the army has released 275 people arrested on suspicion of being members of Boko Haram in the north-eastern Borno state after they were found to have no links with the Islamist group.

They included 142 men, 49 women, 22 boys and 50 girls, a spokesman for the state governor, Usman Kumo, told the BBC Hausa service.

It is not clear how long they were in detention.

Last year, Amnesty International accused the military of maltreating detainees and said since 2011 more than 8,000 people had died in custody during the fight against Boko Haram.

Earlier this month, the UK-based campaign group criticised the reinstatement of an army general it accuses of committing war crimes.

The military said the allegations were being investigated.


BBC

Video - 70 people reported dead by suicide bombing at refugee camp in Northern Nigeria

As many as 70 people are reported to have been killed by a twin suicide bomb attack at a camp in northern Nigeria. The camp is said to be for people displaced by the violence and fighting involving the Boko Haram group. The attack took place around 85km outside Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state. The incident actually took place on Tuesday, but a breakdown in the telephone system had prevented the information being made public earlier.