'Steal & go to jail' President Goodluck advises Ministers

President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday warned ministers and presidential aides that his government would never offer protection to anyone in government with questionable integrity and corrupt tendencies. Jonathan, who spoke in Abuja at the opening of a two-day Presidential retreat and induction for new ministers, special advisers and permanent secretaries, said that his government was determined to sincerely wrestle and win the battle against graft. The retreat followed the completion of the swearing-in ceremony for members of his cabinet with the last batch of nine ministers who took oath of office on Thursday bringing the total number of ministers who had taken oath to 40 with the exception of Managing Director of the World Bank, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala who is yet to take oath of office because she is still trying to disengage her services from the bank.

The President said: “Let me reiterate that public funds are meant for the public good and I am quite pleased to note that this administration’s commitment to the rule of law is common knowledge because neither the Vice President nor I will offer protection to anyone in government whose integrity is called to question.

PRESIDENT JONATHAN APPOINTS MORE MINISTERS

12/07/2011 13:37:00

President Goodluck Jonathan named career diplomat Olugbenga Ashiru as foreign minister and Bart Nnaji as power minister among several Cabinet appointments late on Monday.

Mr. Ashiru has served as a diplomat for almost three decades and was recently Nigeria's high commissioner in South Africa.

Mr. Nnaji was the head of a company that built a major power distribution plant in a country suffering from chronic electricity shortages. He was also the former head of the presidential power task force. He will arguably have one of the toughest ministerial challenges.

Mr. Jonathan was sworn in for his first full term on May 29 and his ministerial choices are being watched closely by Nigerians and foreign investors keen for a team capable of driving badly needed reforms.

He has already reappointed 12 ministers from the outgoing government to their old jobs, including Oil Minister Deziani Alison-Madueke, a move his critics saw as an uninspiring start.

World Bank managing director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was approved by the Senate to join the Cabinet last week and is expected to be sworn in by Mr. Jonathan in an expanded role as finance minister in the coming days.

Ms. Okonjo-Iweala, a respected former finance minister who helped negotiate debt relief in 2005, said last week she was concerned about the high cost of government and the depletion of foreign reserves, despite high oil prices.

NIGER DELTA MILLITANTS WANTS A REPUBLIC

THE Niger Delta Liberation Force, NDLF, has urged President Goodluck Jonathan to convene a sovereign national conference, SNC, to afford Nigerians the opportunity to discuss and possibly give birth to the Republic of Niger Delta as was witnessed in Sudan, where the people met and agreed on the formation of a new nation, South Sudan Republic, without spilling blood.
Spokesman of the militant group, “Captain” Mark Anthony, in a statement, noted that Nigeria’s problem was political and what was needed to resolve it was a political solution, involving a roundtable conference of all the ethnic nationalities in the entity called Nigeria.
He said: “In SNC, every ethnic nationality shall come forward through a delegation and put up a referendum for the interest of every geo-political region. The referendum shall determine the continued existence or separation of the contraption called Nigeria. Nigeria is a creation of falsehood and it is standing on a keg of gun powder being mismanaged by former military dictators.
“We use this medium to hail great men like Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu, late Major Isaac Boro, Ken Saro-Wiwa and their followers, as well as all freedom fighters who had paid the supreme price with their lives for Biafra and Niger Delta, for their courage and patriotism. These great men were men of vision who saw the type of fake Nigeria left behind for us by the British imperialists.
“We also hail the people of the new South Sudan nation for their determination and doggedness. We the people of Niger Delta shall one day join the world to celebrate Niger Delta Republic. Nobody should deceive himself and play politics with our call for splitting Nigeria into segments for the interest of every geo-political region,” he added.