The Nation June 27 2011

Page 1

Nigeria’s truly national newspaper

25 dead, 12 injured as Boko Haram strikes in Borno NEWS PAGE 2

•Three bombs go off in beer gardens

31 , ENOR OMS F S W ER GO X SI TH LA XCO O E P3

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TR UTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM TRUTH

VOL. 6, NO. 1803 MONDAY, JUNE 27, 2011

N150.00

13 ex-ministers lucky as Jonathan drops 24 THE ‘LUCKY’ 13

•Aganga

•Adoke

•Rufai

•Orubebe

•Alison-Madueke

•Sulaiman

•Mohammed

•Usman

•Nwogu

•Maku

•Olubolade

•Chukwu

Josephine Anenih, Kayode, Njeze, Nwike, Olasunkanmi under consideration Ajumogobia may succeed Ogwu as Permanent Representative to the UN

T

HE President may have dropped 24 of his 42 former ministers, it was learnt. Besides, 16 technocrats may join the cabinet. But the battle for nomination continued at the weekend, with Soutsouth leader Chief Edwin Clark and Riv-

From Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation, Abuja

ers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi struggling for the Southsouth ticket. The immediate past Minister of Foreign Affairs, Odein Ajumogobia, may not make the cabinet list, following

plans by the President to appoint him as Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN), it was learnt. If Ajumogobia scales over the security hurdle, he may succeed the nation’s outgoing Permanent Representative, Prof. Joy Ogwu, whose ten-

ure will expire in the next few months. According to sources, the President has foreclosed the return of 24 former ministers. But 12 former ministers have been screened. The likelihood of their making the cabinet is put at about 90 per cent by a Presidency source.

Six others are still awaiting the President’s decision. They are said to be “under consideration”. The “lucky” 13 ex-ministers are: Mrs. Diezani AllisonMadueke (Petroleum Resources); Senator Bala Continued on page 2

•Sada

States can pay N18,000, says ex-RMAFC boss

S •Tukur

TATES can pay the N18,000 minimum wage without the removal of fuel subsidy, a former chairman of the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Alhaji Hamman Tukur, said yesterday. The RMAFC is the statutory organisation responsible for adjusting the revenue formula and distribution of national resources from the Federation Account among the

From Tony Akowe, Kaduna

three tiers of government. The body fixes the salaries of public officers. Tukur, the immediate past chair of the body, disagreed with governors who have told President Goodluck Jonathan to remove subsidy on petrol to free more cash for sharing from the federation account for them to pay the N18,000 minimum wage. Tukur spoke yesterday in Kaduna

at the sixth Mahmud Urwatu Armiya’u Foundation Annual Lecture and Presentation of Awards organised by the Kaduna branch of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE). He said there was enough cash for the government to pay the minimum wage without necessarily passing the pain to the ordinary Nigerian through the removal of fuel subsidy. The former RMAFC boss said as an insider in the revenue allocation and

distribution, he was aware that enough money comes into the Federation Account and does not see why the governors should be pressing for the removal of fuel subsidy. Hamman said: “The governors will stay in Abuja and say they don’t have money. The money they get from the Federation Account alone is enough to pay workers. It is unfortunate that the Continued on page 2

•POLITICS P17 •SPORTS P23 •CITYBEATS P25 •JOBS P43 •LABOUR P49


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