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Kaduna Refinery The Federal Government has been advised to sell off any of the nation’s refineries that fails to come back on stream as well as deregulate the downstream sector of the oil and gas industry. The National Operation Controller, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mr. Mike Osatuyi, gave the advice while disclosing the Federal Government’s Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) intervention scheme with the association. The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, had recently given a 90-day fast-track ultimatum for the revival of the refineries. Four days to the end of the deadline, only one of the refineries (Kaduna) has resumed production. The nation’s refineries in Warri, Kaduna and Port Harcourt have a combined installed capacity of 445,000 barrels per day. Osatuyi said, “Refineries that will die will die. The ones that will survive will survive. If the refinery is not working, le

Chelsea and Nigeria midfielder Mikel Obi is loving life under new manager Guus Hiddink describing the Dutchman as a father figure. And with Hiddink the Nigerian is confident that the Stamford Bridge team will return to the top end of the table where they are more familiar with. The former Netherlands boss took charge of Chelsea against Watford on Saturday as he marked his first match on his return as the Blues manager. Mikel who didn’t enjoy much of playing time this season under former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho spoke just before his compatriot Odion Ighalo visited and scored his 13th Premier League goal. “He is still the same man (Hiddink). He likes to get involved in training, have a bit of banter with the players but at the same time it is all serious business and that is what we need,” Mikel told the official Chelsea website. “He is always like a father figure to the team, speaking to the players individually, putting an arm around them and getting feed

Wizkid As the countdown to 2015 Glo/CAF award continues, top artistes from different parts of Africa have been confirmed by the organisers for the event holding in Abuja on January 7. Some of the top acts expected to entertain guests at the event are Salif Keita, an afro-pop singer and songwriter from Mali; Ladysmith Black Mambazo, a South African male choral group who rose to worldwide prominence when they sang with Paul Simon on his 1986 album Graceland, and have won multiple awards, including four Grammy Awards. There are Awilo Longomba, Wizkid, King Sunny Ade, Korede Bello, Flavour and Omawumi. The event is held annually to celebrate the continent’s finest football stars. It attracts the biggest names in world sports, particularly football. The Glo-CAF event in Abuja will also provide opportunity for Glo subscribers and football fans to meet and interact with top African footballers and administrators. Globacom statement on Sunday read, “Our subscribers have be

  National Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh The national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party has said it is not easy to rebuild the party. It also said that since the party lost power for the first time since 1999, it was meeting a stiff opposition within the party on how to rebuild it. The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh, stated this in an interview with our correspondent in Abuja on Saturday. Metuh, nevertheless, said he was confident that the forces working against the rebuilding of the party within its fold and outside would fail. He said, “We have been rebuilding, but it is not easy. We are rebuilding, but there are different forces, and contending interests (working against it). It is not easy. “On one hand, we are dealing with a ruthless ruling party, and we also have some divisive elements in our party who are genuinely accepting some influence in the administration of the party. “Knowingly or unk

Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai The terrorist sect, Boko Haram has left people in troubled Maiduguri anxious and frightened after unleashing female suicide bombers on the Borno State capital. Over 60 persons have been killed in attacks by the insurgents in the last 24 hours on the town. Many of the attacks were from female suicide bombers smuggled by the insurgents into the town after confrontations with the military believed to be a decoy. A member of youth vigilance group who spoke anonymously to our correspondent, noted that the armed confrontations of the sect with the military was nothing but diversionary as the main plan was to smuggling female suicide bombers into the troubled town. He said there were diversionary attacks at Alidawari and Jiddari Polo areas on Sunday evening. He explained at Alidawari, the military engaged the terrorists in an attack where four corpses were initially seen on Sunday night. He, however, said that nine other cor

The victims A drunk policeman, Stephen James, on Saturday shot dead three male customers at a hotel in the Ketu area of Lagos State. SUNDAY PUNCH  learnt that among the deceased were twin brothers identified as Taiwo and Kehinde Oyesunle and their friend known simply as Jeje. The twins were the only children of their mother. The tragic incident; which happened outside the premises of Paulson Hotel on Anibaba Street around 4:20pm, threw the entire neighbourhood and its environs into chaos with passers-by and residents scampering in different directions. According to eyewitnesses, trouble started when the police sergeant with Force number 217884, threatened to shoot customers if they failed to buy him an alcoholic drink. The policeman, who was said to be a habitual smoker of marijuana, however, felt offended after the victims – Taiwo, Kehinde and Jeje – cautioned him to comport himself as an adult and a responsible policeman. The eyewitnesses said the policeman ambus

Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo A former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has called on well-meaning Nigerians to give back to the communities where they hail from, in order to stem the tide of rural-urban migration and unemployment among youths. He also said this would engender rural development in the country. Obasanjo made the call while delivering his goodwill message at the 2015 edition of the Ibogun-Olaogun Day held on Saturday at Ibogun- Olaogun Village, in Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun State. The former President, who recalled his formative years in the sleepy village, said there were no modern toilets, bathroom and clinic when he was growing up in the rural community. He, however, added that that those facilities including a secondary school built through communal efforts were now available in the village. He said, “Successful individuals who have made it in life will be doing the country a lot of good in reducing the menace of unemployment,

Boboye Oyeyemi Mobile courts set up the Federal Road Safety Corps for end-of-the-year patrols have so far convicted 783 traffic offenders, the News Agency of Nigeria has reported. The FRSC said in a statement that 878 traffic offenders were arraigned before the 200 mobile courts it set up ahead of the Yuletide. It said that while 783 of them were convicted, 95 others were discharged. The Corps Marshall, Boboye Oyeyemi, had said two days before Christmas that the corps lost 204 personnel to hit-and-run drivers in the course of duty within the last two years. The Corps Marshall, who disclosed this at a press briefing on the “Ember months operations” in Abuja, explained that the deaths of the corps personnel highlighted the sacrifices of the agency in ensuring that road fatality was reduced to the barest minimum in the country. Oyeyemi, who gave the assurance that the FRSC was committed to ensuring safety of travellers during the Yuletide, warned traffic offenders t

Kayode Fayemi The Minister of Solid Minerals and a former Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has said the N6.08tn 2016 budget proposed by President Muhammadu Buhari is realisable. The minister also said the budget was not bogus despite the dwindling revenues from crude oil. The Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, while criticising the budget, had said that, “It is only in a confused and clueless economy that government will plan to spend more when revenue has reduced by more than 50 per cent.” But speaking in Isan Ekiti on Sunday during a thanksgiving ceremony marking his ministerial appointment, Fayemi said there was no amount budgeted to develop a vast country like Nigeria that was too much. He lamented the neglect of the solid minerals sector since independence, saying the sector had the capacity to turn around the country’s economy, considering its local consumption by industries and export benefits. He argued that the Ministry of Power, Works an

President Muhammadu Buhari The House of Representatives said on Sunday that the 2016 budget would require “thorough overhauling” by the National Assembly to bring it in tune with current economic realities. It said it was unlikely that the N6.08tn budget would return to President Muhammadu Buhari in the same content and structure that it came to the National Assembly. Buhari had laid the estimates before a joint session of the Senate and the House of Representatives in Abuja on Tuesday last week, amid tumbling prices of crude oil. He had pegged the crude oil benchmark at $38 per barrel while actual price had dipped far below the projected budget figure. On Sunday, House Minority Leader, Mr. Leo Ogor, lent his voice to concerns on whether the budget was implementable. Ogor said the President should know that whatever estimates he sent to the National Assembly were “mere proposals”, which might not stand eventually. “What we have before us are mere proposals. N