The Nation October 5, 2011

Page 1

Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

News News News

Alaafin calls for caution on pan-Yoruba conference P10 Terror suspect Abdulmuttalab attacks U.S. in court P4 Govt sacks CEOs of FAAN, NAMA, Aviation College P7 www.thenationonlineng.net

VOL. 7, NO. 1904 WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2011

TR UTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM TRUTH

N150.00

Fuel price to rise as govt insists subsidy must go Jonathan proposes N4.8 tr expenditure

O

PPONENTS of fuel subsidy removal may have lost the battle, with President Goodluck Jonathan hinting yesterday that it will go next year. This is in his administration’s four-year financial outlay made available to the National Assembly. Removal of fuel subsidy, say its opponents, will automatically send fuel prices rising. This, they note, will affect the cost of other goods and services. Besides, many believe the idea of subsidy is “a huge fraud” which allows some privileged few to steal. But the government maintains that the subsidy is of no benefit to the poor. If it is removed, says the government, the cash will go into rebuilding infrastructure. In separate letters to the Senate and the House of Representatives – read on the floor by the presiding officers – Dr Jonathan said the funds saved from the subsidy removal would be spent on safety nets for the poor. The plan – to remove the

THE FIGURES

$75

•Benchmark price for oil

N4.5tr

•Total spending for 2012

N1.2tr

•Savings from oil subsidy cut

N1.3tr

•Capital spending for 2012 From Onyedi Ojiabor, Sanni Onogu, Victor Oluwasegun and Dele Anofi, Abuja

subsidy – has been greeted with condemnation by organised labour. The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have vowed to challenge the move Continued on page 4

Obasanjo denies letter to Jonathan •Editors: we stand by our story

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ORMER President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday denied writing President Goodluck Jonathan to remove some chief executives. He described the story, published exclusively by The Nation yesterday, as a figment of the imagination. Obasanjo spoke at the presidential wing of the

By Kelvin Osa-Okunbor

Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos. He was on his way overseas. He arrived at the presidential wing in a three-car convoy, accompanied by his friend, Dr Femi Majekodunmi. The former president flew Continued on page 4

THE LETTER OBASANJO DENIED

Robbers seize Edo bank

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RMED robbers were holding staff and customers of an old generation bank in Auchi, Estako West Local Government Area of Edo State, hostage yesterday. The robbers attacked the bank, but could not escape because security agents had surrounded the premises. Soldiers and policemen delfated the tyres of the robbers’ vehicle.

News Page 10

Siasia gives Osaze Carte blanche

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N his return to the national team for the first time since March, Osaze Odemwingie has got a “licence to kill” from coach Samson Siasia when Syli National of Guinea come calling this weekend. Siasia welcomed Odemwingie back to the squad just before the team’s first training session, with a charge to pile misery on Guinea ... Sports Page 24

70 dead in Somalia

A

T least 70 people have been killed by a huge suicide blast near a government compound in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, say officials. Eyewitnesses said a truck carrying explosives was driven into a gate near a government ministry and detonated. A spokesman for the Islamist militant group al-Shabab told the BBC it carried out the attack.

Foreign Page 61

•MONEY P15 •NATION INVESTORS P17 •SPORT P24 •LIFE P29 •POLITICS P43


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The Nation October 5, 2011 by The Nation - Issuu