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Wednesday, July 23, 2014 Vol. 1 No. 155
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Subsidy: FG, fuel marketers spat over interest, forex differentials lMarketers insist govt owes N190bn Adeola Yusuf
T
he Federal Government and fuel marketers are on a collision course over the
government’s plan to stop payment of Foreign Exchange Differential (FED) and interest on fuel subsidy, which has now accumulated to N190
billion. Marketers have been collecting a lump sum of money running into billions of naira as FED and interest, which is dif-
ferent from the subsidy claims proper, a payment perceived to be fraudulent by the Federal Ministry of Finance. The ministry had declared that it would henceforth not pay the FED and
interest again. In a statement entitled ‘Final Payment of Interest and Foreign Exchange Differential Cost’, the ministry told oil marketers cleared by the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) and Special Fraud Unit (SFU) that it would not pay interest and FED on fuel subsidy again. The ministry had paid N44.1 billion to oil marketCONTINUED ON PAGE 2
Jonathan: I’ll visit Chibok after schoolgirls’ release lAssures escaped pupils, parents of safety, education l100 days after, women pray, urge Boko Haram to release abductees Lateef Ibrahim, Anule Emmanuel and Yekeen Nurudeen Abuja
P
resident Goodluck Jonathan yesterday finally met with 51 of the escaped schoolgirls abducted on April 14, by Boko Haram
at the State House, Abuja, with a promise to visit Chibok, Borno State, after the release of the over 200 pupils still in captivity. At the over two-hour meeting behind closed doors with the girls who were accompanied by their parents, the president told them that his
decision to visit the community at that time would be to enable the people receive him with joy instead of their present state of grief. About 200 people from Chibok were conveyed in large capacity buses by security operatives to the banquet hall, venue of the
meeting. The president has been severely criticised for his failure to visit the community since the abduction, which attracted international attention to Nigeria. Yesterday’s meeting, the first since the abduction, came after that of last week which was
aborted following intrigues that were blamed on the #BringBackOurGirls campaign group. Jonathan, who was initially reluctant to meet the abductees and the Chibok community, was persuaded to change his mind last week following his encounter with Pakistani
teenage girls’ education activist, Malala Yousafzai, who was on an advocacy visit to Nigeria. Malala had extracted a promise from the president to meet and support the escaped girls and intensify efforts at rescuing those in captivity. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
APC on mission to truncate democracy, says PDP lKwankwaso urges FG to stop promoting disunity Onyekachi Eze and Muhammad Kabir
T
R-L: Head, Business Support Group, Globacom, Mr. Yomi Ogunbamowo; Head of Data, Mr. Segun Adeyemo and Adebanke Kuyinu at the launch of Glo Ringa which enables all Glo prepaid customers to make calls at 11k per second in Lagos...yesterday.
Four killed in Kogi, Anambra oil well dispute
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he Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of attacking established institutions, including the military because of its desire to truncate democracy. It also accused APCcontrolled state governments of undermining democracy with their sack of local government chairmen and nullification of local government elections won by opposition parties in their domains. But in what could be regarded as a counter-
attack, Kano State Governor, Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso, who is an APC member, warned the Federal Government against doing things that will further divide Nigerians along ethno-religious line. At a press conference in Abuja yesterday, PDP National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, said CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
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