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EFCC raids Halliburton office in Lagos

Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission this afternoon conducted a raid on the Victoria Island, Lagos office of Halliburton...

During the raid, backed by a contingent of armed policemen and soldiers, officials of the company said EFCC officials ransacked their offices and pushed the staff around. They later left with documents and some officials of the company.

Speaking to Next about the raid, Femi Babafemi the commissions' spokesperson, said the raid was as a result of new discoveries and latest development on its investigation of American oil services firm's alleged corrupt practices.

"I don't have the details yet, but I know that three MD's of Technip and Halliburton, three of them were arrested," Mr Babafemi said.

Halliburton is implicated in a multi-billion dollar scandal involving the Nigerian Liquified Gas industry. As NEXT reported in past editions, at least three former presidents, Sani Abacha, Abdusalami Abubakar and Olusegun Obasanjo received millions of dollars in bribes from American and European contractors retained to build Africa's first liquefied natural gas plant in Bonny, Rivers State, according to US law enforcement officials.

Today's raid, which started at about 12pm, according to Mr. Babafemi, is related to the ongoing case.

"It is the same Halliburton case. We just go back into the case based on fresh information that we have," he said.

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The Ogun State Police Command yesterday sealed off the state secretariat which houses both the Governor’s Office, and the House of Assembly at Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta. Police said it was necessary to prevent factions embroiled in a tussle over the leadership of the assembly from gaining entrance into the premises.

However, civil servants who saw fully armed policemen cordoning off the area, fled their offices to avoid becoming victims of the fracas.

The Police spokesperson in the state, Muyiwa Adejobi, said the command took the action after receiving information that hoodlums were planning to burn down the complex. Asked if the command got its directive from Abuja, he said he was not aware of any such orders. “I am not aware of any directive from Abuja to close the gates, if there is such, it has to be from the Inspector General of Police to the Commissioner, we only move to ensure peace following information that some hoodlums were planning to burn the place and some other areas in the state”.

As early as 7am, policemen led by the Commissioner of Police, Musa Daura, arrived the premises of the secretariat, and the two gates leading into the premises were soon manned by armed officers.

Living in fear

Most workers who fled their offices said they were afraid of being attacked by supporters of the factions who may mistake them for opponents.

Speaking via the telephone, the impeached Speaker, Tunji Egbetokun, said his group of G-15 remains intact, but will not be employing any violence. He also said members will soon find a place to convene a meeting.

“We are still much in control, no cause for alarm. The mace, which is the assembly authority is still with us, and we are going to get a conducive place to do our sittings.”

Late yesterday, sources say President Goodluck Jonathan will be meeting with Mr. Egebtokun’s group in Abuja. This may be an indication that members have the ears of the president especially since Gbenga Daniel did not attend the meeting Mr Jonathan held with all the Peoples Democratic Party governors last night.

Claims and counter claims

The new Speaker, Soyemi Coker, said he is unable to say on which specific date his team will start sitting in the assembly, but denied that the mace used for the impeachment belonged to the Abeokuta South local government..

He told journalists shortly after visiting the secretariat of the PDP in Abeokuta with four members of his ‘G-9’ team that the ‘G-15’ lawmakers cannot hold the state to ransom. “I cannot be specific when we are going to start sitting in the house, can you yourself as journalists be specific when you are going to get back to your home? Also it is not correct that we used the mace of the local government, a mace is a mace” he said.

Mr. Coker said the new leadership is grateful to Mr. Daniel who they visited shortly after the impeachment of the former leadership, to inform him of the change of guards.

The Abeokuta South Local Government also denied that its mace was used during the impeachment. The Leader of the councillors, Fatai Adeleke, said, “I want to ask Mr. Egbetokun if Abeokuta South Local Government was inscribed on the mace he claimed belonged to it. Let me also say that the Chairman does not in any way interfere with the affairs of the legislative council, not to talk of having access to the legislative mace.” He said the allegation was a figment of Mr. Egbetokun’s imagination, demanding that he apologises within 12 hours or be sued.

A two time governorship candidate of the National Conscience Party in state, Lanre Banjo, said the manner in which the nine lawmakers impeached the Speaker, using what he called “armed robbery tactics,” should be condemned.

He said, “The first business of the day after entering the premises of the Assembly, like Shina Rambo, was to reinstate the suspended members of the house to swell the numbers of pro-executive members of the house to eleven (11) and to strengthen their quorum for the resolutions they were about to pass. Except that impeachment requires a minimum of 16 members.”

Mr. Banjo appealed to all those he called elders in the state to intervene in the crisis.
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ABUJA-A Bill to Prohibit the Overseas Basic and Undergraduate Education of Children and Wards of Public Officers and other Matters, awaits second reading in the House of Representatives.

The Bill sponsored by Rep. Emmanuel Bello (PDP/Hong/Adamawa) and slated for second reading by the House after its three-week recess, seeks punishment for public office holders who send off their children for education abroad without a “waiver” from the Education Minister.

“That is rubbish talk you can send your children anywhere you like. This is democracy, if you have money you can send your children in space. Issues like that are better taken as motions instead of Bills.”

“Subject to a written waiver granted under the hand of the Minister for Education, every child and or wards of public servant shall henceforth undergo basic and undergraduate education in the Country.

“The Minister for education shall in consideration of an application for waiver pursuant to section I be guided by the nature of the proposed course of study for an undergraduate applicant, medical condition and the general national interest”, the Bill states, adding however that without prejudice to the generality of the provisions of this Act, any public officer whose children and or wards are undergoing basic and undergraduate education overseas immediately before the date when this Act comes into force shall be deemed to be doing so pursuant to a waiver granted by the Minister or this for education”, the Bill states..
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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The new romantic drama "Dear John" unexpectedly ended the seven-week reign of "Avatar" at the weekend box office in North America on Sunday, pulling in large numbers of young female moviegoers."Dear John" grossed an estimated $32.4 million in the three-day period since opening Friday, said distributor Screen Gems, the low-budget division of Sony Corp..It had hoped for an opening of about $20 million on a weekend when many Americans forsake movies to watch the Super Bowl, traditionally the year's most-watched television broadcast. The football championship starts around 6:25 pm in Miami."Dear John" stars Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried as lovers whose romance is curtailed by the September 11 attacks. It is directed by Swedish filmmaker Lasse Hallstrom and based on "The Notebook," a novel by Nicholas Sparks.Audiences for the film were 84 percent female and two-thirds were under the age of 21, Sony said.The last romantic comedy to hit theaters was the widely panned "Leap Year" about a month ago. "The Lovely Bones," another box office disappointment, also has made a play for young women after failing to get any traction during the annual movie awards season."Avatar" earned $23.6 million in its eighth weekend, taking its total to $630.1 million. James Cameron's sci-fi blockbuster surpassed the $601 million haul of his 1997 release "Titanic" last Tuesday to become the biggest movie of all time in the United States and Canada.The data are not adjusted for ticket-price inflation or for the higher cost of 3D engagements. The film was released by 20th Century Fox, a unit of News Corp..
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Preparing for a Sure Business Plan

Click here to read the main articleThis will certainly interest you if you are writing a business projection/proposal.Before getting into business one should ask a warm up questions like:1. What is the type of business?2. How will I be classified?3. What is the purpose of this plan?4. Who are our target audience?5. How can we use the plan to advance?6. What market need are we satisfying?7. How is my approach better than existing products and services?8. My time table to get my offering to the marketplace.Click here to read the main articleTIPSBe sure of these tips if you are writing a business projection/proposal.1. Approach to be market driven rather than products driven.Investors are only interested on how the product will be received in the market.2. Quality is the competition.3. Present your distribution plan to the targeted audience.4. Exploit you company uniqueness. (Like traded secret)5. Emphasis to be on management strength.6. Present attractive projections – be realistic in you market data.7. Show possible funding source because banks interest always lies on stability, security, cash flow coverage & fund return8. Close with a bang – drive home your points that you are offering a good deal.“Until you are able to say where your money goes you are not qualified to handle money”Click here to read the main articleA MUST HAVE FOR ENTREPRENEURS1. Intelligent, brilliant and has potentials2. Has a forward looking disposition towards the market prospects3. Believe God is more or his side than with anyone else4. Is faced by the twin evil of poor basic infrastructures, small or no capital.5. Is not attuned to borrowing to leverage.6. May or may not keep adequate recordsClick here to read the main articleSCHEMES FOR THE ENTERPRENEURSThe scheme are mostly credit orientated a few offer capacity building/ training and infrastructure development for entrepreneurs. Some are for export while some are in form of tax incentives owned by state, federal government Private Sector foreign agencies, non governmental organization; schemes for groups, individuals, firms etc. Micro Credit approaches are adopted in certain cases a general problem of poor access to the schemesClick here to read the main article
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