Jonathan Blew N150bn Days To 2015 Elections-Osinbajo And Other Interesting Newspaper Headlines

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has slammed former president Goodluck Jonathan who he claimed spent N153 billion on infrastructure in three years but frittered away N150 billion in one single transaction a few weeks to the elections of 2015.According to DAILY SUN and THE GUARDIAN the VP who spoke at the seventh Presidential Quarterly Business Forum for Private Sector stakeholders at the State House Conference Centre, Presidential Villa, Abuja, yesterday, while the current administration with less revenue has  increased capital funding by 400 per cent in power, works and housing, defence, transportation, agriculture sectors, the Jonathan administration with surplus funds spent N14 billion on agriculture in 2014 and N15 billion on transportation. “So if your total infrastructure spending is N150 billion and you can share N153 billion, that is completely incredible. That sort of thing doesn’t happen anywhere else in the world. And when we are talking about the economy, we must simply understand that that is the problem,” he said.

On the unfortunate issue of the Dapchi school girls NEW Telegraph reveals Amnesty  saying Security forces were alerted before abduction. Amnesty International, yesterday, revealed that Nigerian security forces got advance warnings that a convoy of Boko Haram fighters was heading towards Dapchi, a town where 110 schoolgirls were abducted by terrorists on February 19. The girls were abducted from Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State in an assault reminiscent of the infamous Chibok girls’ abduction of April 2014. In a report on the incident released yesterday, Amnesty International said that at least five calls were made to security forces between 2p.m. and 6:30p.m. on that fateful day, warning them that the armed group was on the way to Dapchi. According to the report, the first call was made to the Nigeria Army Command in Geidam, 54km from Dapchi, informing them that Boko Haram fighters had been seen at Futchimiram heading to Gumsa, a village about 30km from Dapchi. However, the evidence documented by the group shows that the military did nothing to engage with Boko Haram and ensure the protection of civilians.

VANGUARD reports the CJN saying Corruption in judiciary goes beyond bribery. The Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Walter Onnoghen, on Monday, maintained that corruption in the judiciary was not limited to bribe-taking, saying it includes the giving of judgments or orders based on considerations other than legal merit. He said the National Judicial Council, NJC, under his watch, would tackle the canckerworm head-on with a view to weeding out some “questionable characters” from the Bench.

Moving to insistent attacks by suspected herdsmen, Herdsmen kill Monarch, wife, nine others in Kogi Attack heads DAILY INDEPENDENT and NIGERIAN TRIBUNE. Eleven persons, including a traditional ruler, the Onu Agbenema, Musa Edibo, and his wife, were on Monday killed in separate attacks on Agbenema, Aj’Ichekpa, Opada, and Iyade villages in Omala Local Government Area of Kogi State by suspected herdsmen. Several houses were burnt down by the herdsmen who were armed with sophisticated weapons, according to residents. They hid in the bushes around these villages from where they launched deadly attacks on their targets, they said.

46 Senators sign up to back Buhari in polls order battle heads THE NATION today. Some Senators are planning to resist the National Assembly’s plot to override President Muhammadu Buhari’s veto on amendments to the Electoral Act, The Nation has learnt. Their major concern is to ensure that the President’s veto survives, especially the rejection of the new Order of Elections for 2019. No fewer than 46 of the 108 senators have signed a register to stop moves by the Senate to pass the amendments to the Electoral Act without Buhari’s assent.

FRC: Lagos, Osun, C’River’s Debts Exceed Revenues By Over 480% heads THE PUNCH. The debt status of most states of the federation exceeds 50 per cent of their annual revenues. For 18 states, the debt profiles exceed their gross and net revenues by more than 200 per cent. Lagos, Osun and Cross River states record over 480 per cent debt to gross revenue. The Fiscal Responsibility Commission, which stated this in its 2016 Annual Report obtained by our correspondent in Abuja on Monday, said the development was contrary to the guidelines of the Debt Management Office on debt sustainability.

Finally CBN dollar reserves to hit $57bn by year end heads BUSINESS DAY. Nigeria’s foreign currency reserves is expected to hit $57 billion by year end, several analysts and a senior official at the central bank told BusinessDay over the weekend.