Contract termination: FG challenges Bi-Courtney to go to court R onMI FADEYI
he Federal GoI.'eITImen' yesterday said that iI was ready 10 meet Bi-Courtney Con9ortium in coW"t o\w the termination 0( the N89.53 concession agreement for the construction d the LagosIbadanExpres;swm.t The .."....,...., had on M~ a. 3XI9 granted Bj. Courtney the concession of the road for a period of 25 yean under a Design. Bulld. Operate and Trans-
T
f... (D1lO'!') scheme. 1be concesslon was revoked on Monday by the government which immediateIy..,.,...., the services rL Julius Berger and RCC
Onolememen stated that
not have to invite them be-
long before the termination of the ooncesslon agreement, Bi-Courtney was infanned 0( breaches o(!he
fore terminating the agree-
agreement.
Nigeria to rnconstruct the road Reacting yesterday to the threat by Bi-Courtney to take legal action against thegowmmentOl.wthedecIsion. Mitiliter 0( _
-nus is a process p t. erned by law and at e\-ery point. parties know what they are doing with regard to compliance and hreaclr
Mr: Mike Onolememen said that the oompany was free to &0 to court. saying that government was prepared &r sudt action.
that h was DOl: officially infonned before the amoession agreement was ter"minated but Onolememen said that government does
es", hesa.ld BI-Counney had _
ment.
M
"GO\wnment does DOl tuM! 10 invite them bef... terminating the agreemenl, "'e will meet them in court, they are free to go to court." the minister said While a.nnotUlClng the termination d the ooncession agreement on Moo""" Onolememen had said that the decision was based largely on the failure cl the ttlmpany to reach flnanclal close as provided for- in the agreemenl
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FG distributes grains to Ondo flood victims the release of the Items was
H AKEEM G BADAMOSI
A bout
"'AI<lJRE="-_ _ _ _ __ !m
metric
tonnes of food items were d.istri~ ute<! yesterday by !he _ era! GoYemment to Dood victims in Ondo State.. The items., including 660 metric tonnes of maize, UKl metric tonnes of sorghum and 60 metric tonnes of Gam. wm"e kladl'd in :rJ tr.rlIen. The items ",we depklyed from the National Strategic Grain Reserve Silos kx:atcd in Ibadan and. Akure. The distribution. which wasflagged.(){J by the Min-
isterof AgricultW"eandRuraJ Dewklpmen{, ·Dr Akinwwni Adesina in Akure, the state capital, was part eX the 40,000 metric tonnes
d food items released from the strategic resen~ by President Goodluck J0nathan as palliath-es for the flood \'ictims. Speaking al the Akure Silos. the venue d the distribution, Adesina said thm
part cf the rour-prmged approrach to the ~nt
!he flood disaster which v.lRIId ca;t the gownunent
0(
N9.7 billion. The minister: represented by Dr. Julius ~mi. the Regional Din!ctor ~ the Wesrern Zone U" the Fede!-a1 Mlnistty 0( AgrlaIIture and Rural ~ment, said the gestUre would also include the dIstrlbutlon of seedlings to _ pn>
curement and disoibution 0( subsk1i2ed fertilizers and
procurement of small-scale lrrigatlon water pumps for off-season farming.
He said that N11..G billion hadlieen apprO\1!d by the President for an all-indum'!! programme which ~'3S initiatOO to address the housing and health challenges caused by the flood.. He said: --nus is to address the immediate cha1lenges eX displaced families and further put in place measures thai ",ill reduce the impact on displaced fanners."
Orubebe VOWS to sue Melaye over 'spurious' allegations T OLA A KINMlTTlMI ABUJA
~~~~~~~~ Minister ~
Reps threaten to arrest NAPIMS manager over budget defence he House of Representabves Committee on Petroleum ResoW"CeS (Upstream) yesterday threatened to issue .....arrant of arrest on the
T
Group Genera] of
National
Investment
Manager Petroleum
M~ement
Services (NAPlMS). Me M .
Fiddi 'Ibis
was sequel.
to
Fiddi's inability to appear befon! the committee to . . fend the tqal1isatioo's budget estimate for 2013 and a~ praisal of 2012 budget. ChaIrman d the c0mmittee. Hon. Muriana AJIbola. issued the threat III a budget defence with some agencies in the petrOiewn S<CIo< He said the NAPIMS
boss had never taken the c:omm1nee serious. in spite of the fact that invitation
letter was duly served on him.
said: "By this Iet-
tel' as h is done every year;
the NAPIMS managl!ment team an! supposed to appear before us for" briefing on their perfonnant:e. "'They should tell us how
public fund in the productiondcrude,voiuchv.-ecall 'cash calls' in the last one ye&
--nus is to enable our committeeto klok into their
"'Ibis 1etter in our usual practicewasal9owrinento all the JV partners, ",'00. of cause on:linarlly ought to also submit their independent budget performance
r_='---"""'' ---'' .:spen=,,'.:N.::igena'' '--= ·s---'pro=posaI==-ro.-::::'' =13.=--_ _ _.::fm-=--=the~year=__='''::l2.=__ _
P RISCIlLA D ENNIS
N
iger State Gover·
nor 8abangida AU·
Y" yesterday_ the call for autonomy for
Ioc:al go....nunents in Nigeria He saki. that if local goYernmerus "'ere granted autonomy as being agitated fO[.IIJ05t d them twUld fold upGo\-ernor AUyu said that the current 18 per cent being allocated to locol gov-
ernment councils from the federal revenue would not be able to take some local
bebe. has threatened to sue
a former member cl the
House fA Representatives. Han Oino Meiaye. for what be claimed spurious allegations against him with the intent cl destroying his reputation. Qrubebe
"""""'"
as
vantage of the klcal g(M!rn-
I a _ ! h e _ . . . -_ - b y Me~ 10 the Code d Corxhx:t aw-eau (OO!) and !he ~
~
ment couocils, the financia1
The ..,.,.,.-no.- spoke when National offidals 0( the Associatioo fi Local
autonomy being agitated
pendemComlJt - Canand _ 0Iferas
Aliyu opposes autonomy for LG MINNA
0( N;ger Delta Affairs. £1de.- Godsday Ont-
goyernmeots far unless it is
Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) led by the ChaIrman, Han. Ozor N\\'3bueze OWor, visited him at the Go\'el'11lDeIlt House in Min-
na. the state capital He saki financlal autonomy would create more problems unless the rev· enue formula Is a4Jwted to the advantage of the local
goo.oemment councils. Allyu said: YVnless we able to get the revenue formula d1anged to the ad-
an!
for y,ill create more prot,.. lcms Instead 0( solving thenL" He belle\-es that eight local (JM!'I"Ilmeflt arnas in Niger State wouJd "go UDder" if they were not gi\'m enough financial suppon. 'Mle ALCON Nationa1 President., N",'3bueze Okafor. earlier" urged the governor to \\'Ori<; toY.'atds ttmt:ing a strong local goYernment system that VtllUld have the capacity to deliver to the people in the grassroots.
legislator adding that Mev_ ery well-meaning Nigerian and indeed the Nigerian media h:n--e seen through Dino's deliberate manipulations and falsehood. Archibong said as far as the minister was c:oncemed. his laY.')'erS wiD SIXll meet Dino Meia)-e in ooun.. She said: Nit is an established norm in this country that every public officer M
on assumption cl office is given an asset declaration farm by the Code d Conduct Bureau to flU and declare his or her assets. 1t is. therefore, laughable for an,yone to suggest that the' Hon. Minister of
_OCl'C) aocusinghim
Niger Delta
d~dassets.
Godsday Orubebe. has not declared his assets. The claim is ma.1idous and another deliberate attempt to mis-inform Nigerians."
He said since the allegations raised by Melaye in the petitions lacked any iota of truth. he would not like to join issues with him on them in the rJll'd1a. but may seek legal redress in
oowt Orubebe, whose Chief Press Sec:t-etan< Mrs. Juliet
Archl"'-
reactOO
)<SIer-
day to allegations eX nonfull disclosure eX assets against him. said the minister was through with the
Affairs.
Elder