Blog

INTRODUCTION: We wish to draw your attention to the grossly and blatantly desecration of the sanctity of good governance and accountability by the award of fraudulent contracts by the governor of Edo State Adams Oshiomhole, to his cronies and obtaining loans on behalf of the State government for unspecified purposes. This act has now gone to a point of crescendo that we feel that unless something is done, the State debt profile may put us in a perpetual state of debt repayment for generations to come.

We feel these are breaches of the Nigerian Constitution and Code of Conduct. Following this mischievous and orchestrated virus of corruption infested in our government today, we have deemed it necessary to avail all stakeholders and indeed the entire people of Edo State of the implications of Governor Adams Oshiomhole’s financial recklessness.

1). In November 12^th2008 when Adams Oshiomhole took over the reign of government from Senator Oseirhemen Osunbor, he met a debt profile of 4.4 Billion Naira (this was confirmed by Oshiomhole’s State Commissioner of Finance before the State House of Assembly in his budget defense).

2). In December 2009, the State debt profile rose astronomically to 18.8 Billion Naira (also confirmed by his Finance Commissioner at the budget defense before the State House of Assembly).

3). Added to this, Oshiomhole’s government secured new loans on behalf of the State government for other unspecified reasons between January 2010 to date as follows:

a). From the Sky Bank he has obtained a loan of 5 Billion Naira

b). From the United Bank of Africa (UBA), he obtained another loan of 5 Billion Naira.

c). From Equatorial Trust Bank (ETB), he obtained yet another loan of 2.2 Billion Naira.

d). Let me also inform you that as at the time of this my interactive section with you, Governor Oshiomhole has concluded negotiations to obtain another loan of 2.9 Billion Naira from the First Bank of Nigeria.

Other information available to us, is that the State government has over 10 Billion naira debt owned to various contractors who has appropriate certificates for payment.

What is worrisome in this scenario is governor Oshiomhole’s penchant for taking loans without due regard to the State finances and the implications of such loans to the present and future generations.

In line with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s reforms to bring sanity in our banking sector, we use this opportunity to call on the governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, as a matter of urgency to examine the fiscal policy of the State, as it is now clear that the debts being incurred by Adams Oshiomhole’s government can no longer be serviced by our statutory allocations and the IGR just as we feel the banking sector may further be endangered by the State’s indebtedness. We therefore challenge Governor Adams Oshiomhole’s government to disclose and make public our financial state of affairs in the spirit of accountability and the oath of office he swore when he assumed the office as the governor of the State.

CONTRACT AWARDS:

We have also observed with dismay the manner and ways the administration of governor Adams Oshiomhole award contracts in the State. Most of the contracts recently flagged off were never advertised nor due process followed as some of them are not even captured in the 2010 budget. Examples are the Anegbete-Ekperi road and the Ewohimi-Igueben road.

In other to promote corruption and over invoicing of the contracts, the governor has cleverly refused to state the distances of the roads and the contractors handling the projects. We also call on the governor to make public the details of these contracts awarded.

1). 2.7 Billion naira was said to have been spent on Auchi erosion control. As I speak with you now, the money has been fully paid and there is no single work done.

2). Adams Oshiomhole gave over 20 million Naira to some traditional rulers in Edo South senatorial district to request for a constitutional position of Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly. This is the taxpayers’ money.

3). During the briefing before the State House of Assembly, the Commissioner for Environment claimed to have spent over N4 Billion Naira on ordinary designing of erosion control in Benin City and its environ. The said design project was never advertised.

4). The Commissioner of Environment also told the State House of Assembly that the government had expended over 250 million Naira to remove sand from the gutter and disilting. Yet everywhere you go, no gutter is found disilted.

CONTRACTS AWARDED TO RELATIONS:

Today in Edo State, we live in unprecedented times.

1). On the 11^thAugust 2009, Adams Oshiomhole awarded a contract to his in-law’s company, Source – EM Global Services. The company was engaged to supply two (2) New Dando Watertec 24 Mobile Borehole Drilling Rigs, complete with tools and accessories to Edo State government at a cost of three hundred and seventy one million, nine hundred and forty four thousand Naira (N371, 944,000) only. This was to be supplied within three months from the day mobilization fees were paid.

2). On the 28^thAugust 2009, the sum of two hundred and twenty six million, five hundred and thirty thousand Naira, eighty hundred and ninety (N226, 530, 890) which was 70% of the contract sum was paid to this his in-law’s company (with payment voucher Head 455, sub head 5 on month of August, 2009 P.V. No 2). The contract was signed by the then Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources, Mrs. C. Edo-Osagie for the State government.

We wish to inform the public that, six months after the mobilization has been paid, the contractor had neither supplied the items nor refunded the money collected. The specified three months to deliver the items as agreed upon in the contract had long expired. Information available to us is that the contractor has absconded...

Granted that this said contract was highly inflated as our contact with the manufacturers revealed, we wish to call on governor Oshiomhole to call on his in-law to refund the Edo State Tax payers money and the contract should be terminated. Those who seek equity must come with clean hands.

Thank you.

Chief Dan Osi Orbih

The Nigerian Football Federation has given him a semi final target at the South Africa 2010 World Cup.

Lagerback was a Swedish football manager and former player. He is best known asthe former manager of the Sweden national team. He managed the Swedishnational team from 1998 until 2009 leading Sweden in five consecutivechampionships, the first time in Swedish history. He resigned asmanager in 2009 after Sweden's failure to qualify for the 2010 WorldCup in South Africa.

9jabook,Lagos 9geria :

Chile has been hit by an 8.8 magnitude earthquake which shook central part of the South American country early Saturday, according to reports from the U.S. Geological Survey.

It struck at 3:34 a.m., that is, 7:34a.m. WAT.

The quake's epicenter was near Concepcion, Chile’s second largest city, about 212 miles (341 kilometers) from the capital of Santiago.

A Tsunami warning has also been issued for Chile and Peru. Concepcion has a population of about 200,000.

There have been reports of major damages, deaths and power outages. The magnitude 8.8 earthquake that jolted Chile early Saturday packed roughly 500 times the wallop of the seismic disaster that struck Haiti last month. But the damage and deaths in Chile, still being tallied, will probably be much less devastating.

If you think her entry into professional music was a gamble and Gba – her debut album, a fluke, think again. Nollywood’s beauty and screen diva, Omotola Jalade Ekeinde has decided to reiterate her commitment to music by releasing a thirteen-track album tentatively titled ‘Feel Alright’.

This follow up album is coming after five years of musical silence (her debut album was released 2005).The sexy mother of four, has teamed up with a group of professionals including, singer and guitarist Harrisong- who doubles as her voice coach, producer DelB and singer cum producer Paul PlayDairo, to produce, mix and master her sophomore album which consists songs divisible into the Pop and Rock genres.

And unlike Gba which was targeted at commercial success, Omosexy says ‘Feel Alright’ is a different kind of project.

“The songs (in her new album) are not the type that’ll become popular easily. They are songs deliberately written to send out particular messages. The focus is not to get attention”, she said in a telephone chat. Ask her who writes her songs and she says, “I write them myself except for the parts where I featured other persons”

Some of the tracks contained in the coming album are Feel Alright, Get Busy, Harmony, Through the Fire and Barren Land. Barren Land was specially written for the United Nations to address food crisis in affected countries.

Already the lead track titled Feel Alright is receiving air play and a second single will be joining it on radio in the first week in March, says the actress turned singer and songwriter.

Rights to her debut album were sold to Sound Factory- a music-oriented company which operates in Nigeria and the United Kingdom- for a sum she wouldn’t disclose but ‘enough to reward my hard work’. It was a three-year agreement. The album, according to the singer ‘was one of the best deals in 20005’ and sold ‘over a million copies’.

Omotola does not plan to sell out her new work. Now she’s interested in the music business and how it works especially in Nigeria. As it is now, the singer is talking to certain international music companies and a few Nigerian fellas on the commercial details of the new album, she further revealed. Feel Alright is expected to drop in May, ‘by God’s grace’.

Many unsuspecting Nigerians believe that Mr. President is now in Nigeria after his medical sojourn in Saudi Arabia, but intelligence sources have revealed that he is still in Saudi Arabia receiving treatment. Has anybody actually seen the President in Nigeria? All we saw at the airport were two aircraft that landed and an ambulance zooming away into the city centre, thereby creating an impression albeit false that a recuperating President had landed!

There are many unanswered questions in the purported arrival of Mr. President. The basic rule of the thumb (as any experienced spy or secret agent knows) during an extraction assignment or covert operation, anything that would draw unwarranted attention to the task is jettisoned. If the primary task was to sneak Mr. President into the country what was the purpose of deploying truck loads of soldiers around Abuja (attracting attention) when one truck load would have been more than adequate. Why would you ensure that the ambulance with lights flashings was made noticeable when the two aircraft were kept in the dark and out of the sight of journalist at the airport?

Was it an impossible task to switch off the siren lights of the ambulance or was it a deliberate act to convey the false impression that Mr. President was in the ambulance?

It was stated in the news that the Chief Security Officer (CSO) and ADC to Mr. President sauntered into the executives chamber of the Federal Executive Council (FEC)to exchange pleasantries with their friends and some ministers. This to me is strange when they ought to be around the vicinity where Mr. President was recuperating (if he was actually around) but instead the TWO of them chose (or were ordered) to make an appearance at the chambers to create the false impression that Mr. President will preside over the meeting of FEC .Some monkey business was definitely afoot!

Mr. President arrived and he was met on arrival by some serving Governors from the northern part of the country instead of the Acting President and service chiefs. Who better to assist and protect an ailing President than his trusted (?) vice and service chiefs, unless it was a grand charade put up for the benefit of the gullible public?

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is quite happy with this pretense because the diplomatic pressure placed on them by the international community that they were hiding the Nigerian President will automatically melt away and they can continue with the treatment of Mr. President unhindered without the vexatious motley of Nigerians coming to Saudi Arabia to seek the whereabouts of Mr. President and also to waste tax payers money.

By the way who leaked the purported arrival of Mr. President to the press and guaranteed the arrival prime time. Former Nigerian Presidents have arrived into the country before at odd hours to avoid the press and succeeded why was this different? I would have thought Aso Rock was built equipped with a helipad, could they not have airlifted Mr. President from the airport to Aso Rock if they truly wanted to avoid publicity?

The next few days will definitely be revealing. Nigerians…”SHINE YA EYES”

By Imohimi Uduigwome Airenevboise, Re written for 9jabook by Paul EFCC Adams

.

Estranged couple 9ICE and TONI PAYNE might be going through hard times with their marital lifes but it sure aint affecting their individual businesses as they've both been reported to be making giant moves since break up..

9ICE who has sold more than 2 million units of his new album TRADITION is reported to be planning to release another album in March with the first single already on the internet while only recently, we got reports that TONI PAYNE aint sleeping either as reports reaching us says she just added veteran singer ONYEKA ONWENU to her client list.

"We are very proud, in fact floored to say ONYEKA ONWENU is our latest PR client. Her new album is smashing, and I am honored to be working with such a fantastic Legendary Music Icon." TONI PAYNE said.

Toni Payne concept and PR currently manages artists W4 and ZARA.

A breakdown of the figure shows that while 338 staff were upgraded upon confirmation, 392 others had their appointments confirmed after meeting the bank’s performance parameters. The Bank’s management said it remains committed to bolstering staff performance through sundry reward schemes and training opportunities that will be extended to all categories of staff. "Our workforce rank among the best in the industry and we are happy to acknowledge and celebrate their expertise and dedication to the cause of making Oceanic a leading brand which offers top-of-the-range banking services."

Describing the Bank’s workforce as the "bedrock of the Oceanic recovery plan", the bank’s management said its workers’ resourcefulness and resilience have been instrumental to stabilizing the bank and repositioning it for superior performance and profitability. "We have implicit faith in the professional abilities of our staff and have mapped out continuing capacity building programmes that will make them even more motivated to always delight our customers."

John Aboh, Managing director/Chief Executive Officer, Oceanic Bank International plc, said there are plans to formally recognize and reward outstanding members of staff in the Bank’s upcoming Special Thanks and Recognition Scheme (STARS) event. "Our over-riding desire is to inspire excellence, professionalism, good corporate governance, transparency, and the ‘can-do’ spirit in our workforce. We will continue to empower our staff to excel and surpass the targets that will ensure better services and returns to all our stakeholders."

On the bank’s business development drive, he noted that Oceanic was recording consistent growth in liquidity through robust marketing, deposit mobilization, and renewed focus on retail and transaction banking products.

The Oceanic Bank boss added that the Bank’s superior service delivery platforms and retail products were part of unfolding deliberate and far-reaching strategies aimed at generating value for its stakeholders on all classes of transactions.

"The desire to create value for our customers and shareholders is a passion that is shared by the management and staff of Oceanic Bank. Our quest to ensure all our stakeholders experience peace is a promise that we are committed to fulfilling in all our transactions."

It would be recalled that in a bid to cater for the needs of existing and prospective customers, the Bank had since commenced the migration of existing account types to new product platforms.

The new products include Platinum Accounts, Gold Accounts, Silver Accounts and Easy Savings. As the names suggest, at each level, the customer is offered financial and non financial benefits which increase in value, such as balance linked interest and commission rates; number of free transactions in each month; loans and overdrafts; best value health, life and professional indemnity insurance and discounts at merchant partners, among others.

The return of Umaru Yar’Adua in a vegetative

state, with the reality of his not being able to ever function as president, has set two of his daughters, Zainab and Nafisatu, both married to sitting governors ,at war path over whose husband will be vice president to Acting President Goodluck Jonathan. The former is married to Kebbi State Governor, Saidu Usman Dakingari, while the later is fourth wife to Bauchi Governor, Isa Yuguda.

Sources close to the Yar’Adua family told pointblanknews.com Thursday night that since reality has dawned on their mother, Turai, is set to anoint either Yuguda or Dakingari as a VP candidate that would protect the interest of the family.

It was however learnt that Turai is more disposed to Yuguda considering his role during the drama. He was in Saudi Arabia, and was later in the US to, aside from be by his wife’s side that recently gave birth, he was also scouting for a hospital that could provide better service for his father-in-law. As for Dakingari, he is seen by turai as laid back, but our source said that his wife, Zainab, is the apple of Turai’s eye.

Both Yuguda and Dakingari are among those on the list of PDP hopefuls for the coveted office of vice president

Pointblanknews.com further gathered that in the last few days Turai has been speaking with her kids, and some top brass of the PDP concerning who works with Acting President, Goodluck Jonathan as VP She has told the PDP she would submit a name soon, but the disagreement between Zainab and Nafisatu is delaying the move..

advertisement

According to our sources, the sisters have for a while now been campaigning for their husbands. Turai who is close to feisty Zainab, wants them to agree within themselves as per who she should anoint for the PDP, but the sisters are yet to agree.

Said our source” it has been fight to finish between them. They cannot agree on who they should present to the mother. Turai although is close to Zainab, cannot take sides so she wants them to sort it out. This arose when, Turai realized it is over for her husband, so to protect the family’s interest, she wants a son-in-law to step in”

Press Release

Google Selects Layer3 to Power the Largest G-Africa Event

Google has selected Layer3 to power G-Nigeria 2010. G-Nigeria is the largest G-Africa event yet and was held at the University of Lagos. The event gathered together software developers, entrepreneurs, computer science students in Nigeria as well as several Google employees and representatives from around the globe. Layer3 provided the entire wireless infrastructure, technical support as well as a 30mbps Internet backbone for this event.

“Google's choice of Layer3 was based on Layer3's unmatched service borne out of the highest level of professionalism, support and quality of service. As expected, we were not disappointed. They provided a world-class service with on-site personnel to provide support when needed” said Nyimbi Odero, Google Lead, English Speaking West Africa.

The three day conference which held from 18^th to 20^th February was themed 'Out of Africa’ and had very strong Nigerian content display. The Google representatives were on ground to enlighten, educate and guide delegates on business opportunity for entrepreneurs, career path for students and application tool kits for developers.

Google reinstated that part of their goal was to improve Nigerian local content, provide education on how to use the net, provide location based services that are geographically relevant, reduce latency by bringing content closer, and reduce internet cost.

Layer3 is fast becoming one of the leading IP Solutions and Managed Service Providers in Nigeria. Her bespoke solutions range from Managed Longhaul and Metro VPN services, to Network Security, Broadband Internet and Managed Data Back-up and Recovery Solutions. Layer3 still remains the first and only Juniper Network certified security partner in West Africa and has become the provider of choice for most corporate bodies.

The former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nuhu Ribadu, will Tuesday make a presentation before the Subcommittee on African Affairs of the United States of America’s Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

The event is titled “Examining the U.S-Nigeria Relationship in a Time of Transition”.

Russell Feingold, chairman of the Subcommittee on African Affairs, who signed the letter of invitation, said Mr. Ribadu, a visiting fellow of the Centre for Global Development, was especially invited to give the presentation due to his work at the EFCC.

Mr. Ribadu is expected to give a 5-minute oral presentation on his “assessment of the evolving political situation in Nigeria and the different possible future scenarios”.

Concerned about Nigeria

Mr. Feingold, who is known for launching, together with Roger Wicker, the first ever Senate Working Group on Malaria, in the letter of invitation to Mr. Ribadu acknowledged Nigeria’s leading role in Sub-Saharan African while stating that the country’s political stability is of immense significance “beyond its immediate borders”.

He, however, expressed concern over the recent political logjam caused by the prolonged absence of President Yar’Adua and the failure to appoint an interim leader, stating that it is “capable of causing political paralysis in Abuja.”

According to Mr. Feingold, the elevation of Goodluck Jonathan as the acting president is a stop gap measure “as this will only resolve the paralysis in the short term.”

Mr. Feingold said the outbreak of regional and religious tensions and the renewed attacks by militants in the Niger Delta are pointers to the fact that the “potential for instability remains high”.

The man with the answers?

During the presentation, Mr. Ribadu will be expected to talk on how electoral reform can be promoted ahead of the 2011 general election. He will be also required to discuss the greatest challenges in combating corruption in the light of his recent comment that “corruption is perhaps the greatest reason for the failure of development and failure of democracy” in Nigeria, according to Mr. Feingold. Similarly, he is expected to advice the United State government on how to assist in this fight.

The presentation will be followed by a question and answer session. The US Assistant Secretary of State, Johnnie Carson, who was recently in Nigeria, and other non-governmental witnesses are expected to testify alongside Mr. Ribadu.

This is not the first time Mr. Ribadu will be testifying before an organ of the United States government. In May 2009, he delivered an address to the US congress titled “Capital Loss and Corruption: The Example of Nigeria”.

Retrospective checks have it that the most notorious of them is the one associated with one Chief Vincent Duru, popularly known as Otokoto. The police in the
southern Nigerian some years back in the city of Owerri arrested
a man, Innocent Ekeanyanwu, with the head of a young boy, Ikechukwu
Okonkwo. In the course of the investigation, the police discovered the
buried torso of Ikechukwu on the premises of Otokoto Hotel, owned by
Chief Duru, and uncovered a syndicate that specialized in ritual killing and the sale and procurement of human parts. The horrifying discoveries sparked off violent protests in the city of Owerri which led to the burning and looting of properties belonging to suspected killers.

Otokoto and his ritualist syndicate were arguably arrested and put on trial, and in February 2003, they were sentenced to death by hanging. Apart
from the Otokoto incident, there have been other instances of ritual
murder and mutilation in other parts of the country. For instance, in
Calabar, two men plucked out the eyes of a young lady, Adlyne Eze, for
money-making ritual. And in Ifo, Ogun state, a businessman inflicted
the same harm on his younger sister. In Ibadan,
the police in December arrested a taxi driver, Abbas, who used his
fourteen-month-old baby for rituals. Abbas killed his child in order to
secure a human head, which was one of the materials listed for him by a
local witchdoctor for a money-making ritual.

Michelle Norris interviews Jay howard the next seat occupant in the christmas day bombing

click to listen to interview here : http://bit.ly/aDAyUw

The man at the center of this story, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, remains in federal custody in Michigan. It's been nearly two months now since he allegedly tried to blow up Northwest Flight 253. On that flight, Abdulmutallab was in seat 19A. In 19B was Jay Howard, a 21-year-old college student from Grand Rapids, returning home from a semester abroad. He spoke with my co-host Michele Norris about that flight.

MICHELE NORRIS, host:

Melissa, Jay Howard says there was nothing unusual about Abdulmutallab. He said he was just an average seatmate.

Mr. JAY HOWARD (Student): I had gotten in first, so when he came by, I had to stand up and let him in. And then he thanked me for getting up for him, and we sat down together.

NORRIS: Throughout that flight, their interaction was minimal. Abdulmutallab told Howard he felt ill. And he mostly listened to music and slept. Then 10 minutes into the plane's final descent, everything changed.

Mr. HOWARD: Well, there was a large pop - like, almost everyone on the plane, I'm sure, I heard it. So, I was very curious to what had happened because it sounded very close to me. So, I was looking around and I noticed that my neighbor, Umar, had his blanket up over him, up to his chin and but I saw that there was smoke coming from underneath his blanket. And I also noticed a repulsive smell. And so I kind of questioned him, and I asked him about the smoke but he didn't respond. And so, I removed his blanket from him and smoke dispersed throughout the plane.

And he had his hand down his pants. So, when he removed his hands from his pants, fire erupted. And he and another passenger, who had come over from a couple of rows away, tried to put it out together. So...

NORRIS: Well, if I can just reach back for a minute, when you asked him about the smell, when he had the blanket pulled up to his chin, did he just ignore you?

Mr. HOWARD: Well, he didn't exactly ignore me. At that point, I just what I got out of him was that he didn't exactly know either but, of course, he did know. He seemed very surprised and shocked at what was happening, like he didn't know.

NORRIS: As you can hear, Jay Howard is very calm in describing a scary situation, but he says many of the other passengers were quite frantic. And I noticed something talking to him: He kept referring to Abdulmutallab by his first name, Umar, as if they were friends.

Mr. HOWARD: I only call him that because I mean, I don't want to call him a terrorist because he hasn't been treated as a terrorist and it wasn't a national threat, and so using Umar seems to be more human.

NORRIS: You have an interesting perspective - that you choose not to see him as a terrorist, and you don't see what he did as presenting a threat.

Mr. HOWARD: Well, I mean, it was a threat, of course, it was a threat because initially, he was trying to blow up the plane but he didn't succeed. I mainly treat him this way because of how he reacted towards what he was doing. And what his actions told me on the plane was that he was in over his head, and that he didn't exactly know what he was doing would entail.

NORRIS: That plane, of course, landed in Detroit. Jay Howard was questioned by the FBI. He was told not to say much about the incident. His clothes were taken for chemical analysis to help determine what Abdulmutallab's bomb was made of. FBI agents bought new clothes for Howard on the spot, but given the limited retail options at an airport, Howard's replacement ensemble was far from his usual style.

Mr. HOWARD: It's was a long-sleeve, yellow polo with blue stripes across it and blue pants. And they didn't find any shoes for me. And so I actually ended up wearing these enormous slippers that were like, golf-shoe style. It was so funny, it looked like I was just going to go golfing or something. Everyone was kind of giving me a strange look in the airport.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Mr. HOWARD: So, they had no idea what my day was like.

NORRIS: Jay Howard has since put the day behind him. He is focusing on his studies. He's not following Abdulmutallab's case very closely. And Melissa, he says he doesn't dwell on what-if scenarios.

MORE TO COME !

All is now set for today's THISDAY Nigeria-at-50 Awards as the immediate past United States President, George W. Bush; the Secretary of State to his government, Prof. Condoleezza Rice, joined former British Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair, in Abuja for the event..

Bush and Rice arrived the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport amid heavy security provided by both Nigerian and American personnel.
Blair arrived quietly on Friday and had visited Action President Goodluck Jonathan in Aso Rock and participated in other public service engagements.

Bush and other world leaders are in the country for the awards ceremony set to recognise and honour 50 distinguished Nigerians who have played critical roles in the country’s developmental efforts since 1960.
The THISDAY Nigeria-at-50 Awards would be a major kick-off for the celebration of Nigeria’s golden jubilee anniversary as an independent nation.

The leaders would hold a discussion on the theme: “Nigeria: The Next 50 Years”. Also, THISDAY Lifetime Achievement Awards would be presented to 15 nominees, whose names were earlier announced by the Board of Editors.
Nigeria’s Acting President Goodluck Jonathan would be special guest of honour along with former Ghanaian President, John Kufour.
At the THISDAY Dome located at the central area of the Federal Capital Territory and a distance of about a few metres from the Three Arms zone, which is housing the National Assembly, Presiden-tial Villa and the Supreme Court, security was very tight.

Most of the nominees for the awards and their well-wishers had already arrived and were lodged in different hotels in the city and the security arrangement was extended to some of the hotels like Transcorp Hilton, NICON Luxury, Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Chelsea 2, Rockview Hotel among others.

As world leaders and heads of their respective governments, both Blair and Bush cultivated meaningful relationships with Africa and Nigeria in particular.
In line with the sober mood of the country, music sensation, Asa will be the only performer. The performance by Earth, Wind & Fire has been postponed.