Innocent Ojefia Blog

President Muhammadu Buhari will return to the United Kingdom to see his doctors and not bring them to Nigeria as being speculated in some quarters, the Presidency has said. The position of the Presidency was stated on Thursday by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu. Shehu told newsmen it was not true that Buhari had decided to bring his doctors to Nigeria instead of returning to London.  He said`: “It is false news (that Buhari is no longer going to London). “We are not aware of the reported advance movements.  “The last time the President spoke about this, he said he would return to his doctors after some time. “We are not aware that this has changed.”  

The Governor of Delta State, Senator Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa has urged wealthy Deltans in their different fields of endeavour to invest in the State.   Speaking at the Isoko Economic and Investment Summit held at Oleh, Delta State, Governor Okowa stated that the call became necessary because, a lot of Deltans have their industries and other investments outside the state, disclosing that the state is peaceful and safe for investments to thrive. That factory that we are putting elsewhere, we can bring it home and if all Deltans who are doing well comes to invest in the state, our state will be blessed the more and more of our youths will get job,” Governor Okowa said, adding, “there is a lot of benefits derivable in investing in Delta State, the environment is friendly and the market is there for your products; we look forward to partnering with investors coming into our state to ensure that they have quick returns on their investments.” While stating that plans are on to ou...

  It was further reported that the physicians of the President from UK are expected to arrive Nigeria on Friday, March 31, 2017 till an undisclosed time. President   Muhammadu Buhari   has reportedly concluded plans to continue his medical treatment in Nigeria as against going to London. According to SaharaReporters, Buhari on Wednesday, March 29, 2017, made arrangements for his doctors in London to arrive Nigeria and continue examinations and treatment of his health conditions. It was further reported that the physicians of the President from UK are expected to arrive Nigeria on Friday, March 31, 2017 till an unknown time. It was also reported that the change of plan by the President has not be revealed but might not be unconnected with the recent demand for the medical bills of the president while in London for seven weeks by activists and social interest groups. It will be recalled that the upon his return, President Buhari had hinted about retur...

  Every anniversary is a time for thanksgiving as well as time for deep and sober reflections. Since 1999, no consecutive two years have seen such level of turbulence and crisis in Nigeria’s economic and political life as the last two. Oil price collapsed, government revenues came under immense stress, exchange rate and inflation are at all-time high since 1999, unemployment has soared, insecurity and youth agitations intensified, workers and pensioners are owed by most state governments, poverty is escalating and the economy is in recession. Governing a state in Nigeria where you do not have control over much of these macro variables must be extraordinarily challenging. For Governor Ifeanyi Okowa therefore, this midterm anniversary must be time to thank God for His mercies--- for survival and progress! Let the truth be told: in the context of Nigeria’s situation over the last two years, and in comparison, with other States, or even in comparison with the past in the first ...

On this latest Dino Melaye versus  SaharaReporters  affair, apart from engaging in a little jokey exchange with some friends over the matter just a while ago, I have kept my mouth firmly shut. This is because since Mr Melaye and his Senate friends in the form of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki and Senator Bala Ibn Na’Allah tried late last year to introduce a harebrained law to shut down free speech on social media, I’ve always considered him a sandwich short of a picnic. In other words, ignoring him seemed the most sensible way to deal with his menace. Of course, I’ve observed his capacity for grand public idiocy and senseless self-publicity since his days in the House of Representatives, but considering he’s offered nothing of value by way of public policy, my policy of ignoring him seemed even more sensible. So, when this latest episode started, I had naturally applied my default position. But, at this point, silence is no longer an option. Mr Melaye is taking the...

President Muhammadu Buhari has sent names of two new ministerial nominees to the senate for confirmation. Quoting a source, NAN said the letter which contained the names of the nominees from Kogi and Gombe states  arrived the senate late Tuesday. The Kogi nominee will be replacing James Ocholi, the late minister of state for labour, while the one from Gombe would replace Amina Mohammed, former minister for environment, who is the current United Nations deputy secretary- general. Buhari sent the list at a time when the senate is unhappy with the executive. The upper legislative chamber halted the screening of resident electoral commissioners (RECs) of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as requested by Buhari. The senate shifted the exercise by two weeks, citing what it termed disregard for its proceedings as reason. The lawmakers berated the president for appearing to be doing nothing about their rejection of Ibrahim Magu, acting chairman of the ...

The Governor of Delta State, Senator Dr Ifeanyi Okowa has challenged the Nigerian Immigration Service to provide accurate data of expatriates to check loss of revenue. Governor Okowa made the call today when the Comptroller, Immigration Services, Delta State Command, Mr. Baba Ali Zakari led officials of the agency to pay him a courtesy visit in Asaba. The Governor who expressed surprise that the Immigration Service had accurate records of expatriates in Delta State observed that such should be made available to the state Board of Internal Revenue Service to ensure that revenue accruing to the state and the country is not lost. “I am glad that we are monitoring and supervising the expatriates quota in the state because, sometimes, we hear about them (expatriates) coming in; they work and live here and because proper records are not kept on them, the state and nation loses in terms of revenue that is derivable from taxes that are supposed to be paid by them; so, I am glad tha...

  The Northern oligarchs around President Buhari are not ready to share power. They never did. They never will. Anyone who think otherwise is a political illiterate.  When it comes to political power, they keep neither friends nor Allies. They only use you once they believe you can serve a particular purpose for them and once they achieved that purpose, they waste no time making sure you will never be in a position to help any other person or group achieve the same purpose you just helped them achieve.  We may think them uneducated but trust me when I say they are well sophisticated in the ways of political power. Even more sophisticated than most of you empty grammar-speaking southerners with your number-less Degrees.   In Niccolo Machiavellian's "The Prince", it is advised that once a Prince is helped to power, the first thing he should do is to eliminate all the kingmakers who helped him to power as that is the surest way of ensuring that these same ...

Over the weekend a Nigerian man married two women on the same day. The wedding ceremony as proposed took place on Sunday, March 26 in Isoko South, Delta State. The marriage was drama free. Recall that their wedding banner went viral few days ago which sparked up some debates online.  Check out more beautiful photos from the event below: 

The Delta State chapter of Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) has suspended the strike embarked upon by the State chapter last week. In statement by the State chairman, Comrade Jonathan after a resolution reached with the State Government, said primary and secondary school teachers will resume work on Monday 28 March, 2017. On his part, the Special Adviser to the governor on Labour matters Comrade Mike Okeme, who signed the resolution on behalf of the State government commended the Union for suspending the strike and promised that the resolutions will be implemented as soon as possible.

The Government of Delta State has taken a decisive step towards the protection of landed properties owners in the state in order to encourage investors and developers in different communities. In pursuant of this, the state Executive Council has approved that a bill for a law to prohibit the forceful entry and illegal occupation of public and private landed properties be sent to the state House of Assembly for consideration and passage. Speaking after the state executive Council meeting held in Asaba on Tuesday, the state Commissioner for Information, Mr. Patrick Ukah, disclosed that the bill, when passed, will also prohibit violent and fraudulent conducts in relation to public and private landed properties in Delta State and for purposes connected therewith to ensure sanity and encourage investors and developers in the state. Also during the meeting, Mr. Ukah revealed that the EXCO approved the reconstruction of Bonsaac Road and the construction of Pat Kanayo Okonta/Amaechi U...

  Thinking is an overwhelming task for a lot of people. However, it may not be nice to take pleasure in referring to them as retards. For over a decade the challenge of local government staff wages has been hunting successive administrations in the country but no one seem to know the root cause of the problem. Most arguments on this matter are tainted by politics and malice towards incumbent governors. It is not that governors per se divert local government funds but that the funds are in most cases inadequate, especially now that federal allocation has dwindled due to the collapse of crude oil in the international market. Why are the councils unable to function? It is largely due to the burden of primary school teachers’ wages. In (1988) the national primary education commission (NPEC) was established with Decree 31 of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, to manage the affairs of primary education. It was later scrapped by the Federal Government under the provision of Decre...

The twist in the trial, which is presided over by David Tomlinson, has seen the court adjourning the trial indefinitely. Recently released politician,   James Ibori , has reportedly challenged his 2012 conviction for fraud at the British court of appeal. The former governor of Delta State reportedly challenged the conviction in London during the ongoing asset seizure trial. Ibori's media assistant,   Tony Eluemunor , in a statement said the ex-Gov's lawyer made this known at the Southwark London court on Friday, March 17, 2017. The twist in the trial, which is presided over by   David Tomlinson , has seen the court adjourning the ongoing proceedings on the confiscation case indefinitely. It was further gathered that the confiscation trial is to determine if Ibori’s assets should be seized or released to him. It will be recalled that the UK’s National Crime Agency investigated alleged evidence of police corruption and claimed that the crown prosecu...

Akwa Ibom in South-South Nigeria, received the highest allocation of N116.6 billion from the federation account in 2016, according to the latest report by Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) Dr Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, the Director, Communications of NEITI  released the Quarterly Review of the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) by NEITI in Abuja. Lagos and Rivers followed Akwa Ibom with N109.3 billion and 103.98 billion respectively. The report, which is the third in the series by NEITI, examined the breakdown and analysis of disbursements from the federation account to the three tiers of government. It also looked at the Internally Generated Revenues (IGR) of the states in 2016. It noted that although no reason was clearly given for the highest allocation received by Akwa Ibom, analysts suggested that it might not be unconnected with the vantage sharing position of the state under the 13 per cent derivation principles. The report s...

The president said this on Thursday, March 16, 2017 when he turned down an advice by the state governors for him to take more rest. The president who recently returned from London after 49 days medical vacation, said he was poised to addresses all issues affecting Nigerians’ A statement by his Shehu Garba, the president’s senior special assistant on media and publicity, Buhari turned down the advice of the governors at a meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC) at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. The statement quoted Buhari as saying:  “I will not rest until I address those issues that affect our people. One of these basic things is the issue of salaries. “It is most important that workers are able to feed their families, pay rent and school fees, then other things can follow.” He commended the governors for not considering political affiliations in their goodwill messages and prayers for him while he was away from the country.

- There are reports that high-placed Nigerians stopped Magu's confirmation as EFCC chairman The acting EFCC chairman reportedly stepped on many toes One of the his "sins" was the invitation of Toyin Saraki for questioning on corruption-related issues Ibrahim Magu’s rejection as chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has been revealed not to be based on the report indicting him by the Department Of State Services alone. According to The Nation, seven governors and some high-profile Nigerians plotted the removal of Magu due to what was described as a very strong stance against corruption. According to a source, Magu got the ire of the governors over the ongoing probe of the alleged diversion of N19 billion from the London-Paris Club loan refund. Also 10 senators reportedly plotted against Magu due to his refusal to make a commitment that he will “find solutions” to their trials. A source said a former governor from the Northeast led...