ODUAH'S BULLETPROOF CAR SCANDAL SWEPT UNDER THE CARPET

The Senate on Tuesday rejected the explanation of the Minister of Aviation,  Ms. Stella Oduah, on the ill-fated crash involving a 23-year – old Propeller aeroplane belonging to the Associated Airlines on October 3.The upper legislative house asked the minister to re-submit a detailed presentation on the incident.Oduah, who appeared before the senate committee on aviation in company with heads of the various agencies under her ministry had limited her presentation to the information retrieved from the black box of the aircraft.The proceeding was however a dissapointment to many Nigerians who had expected that with the minister’s appearance before the Senate on Tuesday, she would be quizzed on the two BMW bulletproof cars purchased for her by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority at a cost of N255m. Oduah, who refused to talk to journalists after the exercise,  had explained that the Accident Investigations Bureau began investigation on the data retrieved form the black box in the airport’s  laboratory.She also showed a two-minute video clips of the  conversations between the two pilots,  adding that both engines of the aircrafts were faulty and should not have flown.

FG SLACKS ON DEC 9 ASUU ULTIMATUM

The Presidency said on Monday it was no longer interested in the December 9  deadline  it handed over to the striking university  teachers  to return to work.Rather, it said it was satisfied with the lecturers’  level of compliance with  the  directive to them  to resume work or be sacked.The Senior Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, said this while briefing journalists on the payment of the N200bn by the Federal Government into the “Revitalisation of Universities Infrastructure” account with the Central Bank of Nigeria.Okupe’s claim of “substantial compliance” was however described as  total falsehood by the Academic Staff Union of Universities leadership, which also said it would not attend a meeting on Wednesday 11/12/13  with the Supervising Minister of Education, Mr. Nyesom Wike, and vice-chancellors on  the University Needs Assessment Report Implementation Committee.Okupe had  told journalists   that  the Federal Government  was soft pedalling on the threat to sack the defiant ASUU members  because  many senior citizens and institutions had intervened.He said that as of Sunday evening, government had reports that   there was substantial compliance by many lecturers   with the directive.The Presidential aide  added that   the development  encouraged  the  government   to mellow down on its earlier tough stance.

CBN TO LAUNCH 2ND PHASE OF BIOMETRICS IN FEB 2014

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, yesterday, said it would officially launch the 2nd phase of biometric details of all bank customers in the country come February 14, 2014.The apex bank said it also allocated N132billion of SMEs funds to women entrepreneurs in the country.Governor of the CBN, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, who disclosed this at the CBN and World Economic Forum meeting theme in Abuja, said the second phase would ensure full capture of biometric details of all banks customers nationwide in less than a year. The project, according to him, is expected to provide a centralized platform through which banks might enroll and uniquely verify the identity of each customer through ‘know your customer,’ KYC, purposes, perform credit checks, verify customer’s integrity and authenticate customers from a point of transaction device. Sanusi said the project represented a major landmark in the Bankers Committee’s efforts at promoting financial inclusion drive, expanding banking services, access to credit and more importantly, dealing with money laundering and other financial industry problems.

FG TIGHTENS PENSION SECURITY

In a bid to rid the country of pension scam, the Federal Government is deploying operatives of Economic Finance and Crimes Commission, EFCC, Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, and Public Complaints Commission, PCC, to deal with those involved.Director General of Pension Transitional Arrangement Department, PTAD, Mrs. Nellie Mayshak, disclosed this yesterday when the Commissioner, Public Complaints Commission, PCC, Chief Obunike Ohaegbu, visited her in Abuja.She expressed dismay at the activities of fraudsters that had caused pains on Nigerians who served the country meritoriously, stressing that with the involvement of EFCC, ICPC and PCC, there would be effective management of pension scheme.

IN YOUR OPINION WHO IS GREATER MAHATMA GANDHI OR NELSON MANDELA

Both great leaders in their own right and both have made immense contribution to the positive growth of the world. If you were to pick one of them as greater or that has contributed more to the world, who would you pick and why?

GOLDMAN SACHS BANKER JAILED OVER IBORI'S LOOT

Former Goldman Sachs banker, Elias Preko, was yesterday, sentenced to 4-1/2 years in prison by a London court for laundering $5 million on behalf of James Ibori, the former Governor of Delta State, James Ibori.Ibori is serving 13 years in a British jail after pleading guilty last year to 10 counts of fraud and money laundering.He is the most senior Nigerian politician to be held to account for the corruption that has blighted Africa’s most populous country and top oil producer, where the case is being closely watched.Harvard graduate Preko, 54, became the fifth of Ibori’s associates to be jailed for assisting his corruption after the former governor’s wife, mistress, sister and lawyer were all convicted by British courts in previous trials. The cases have been tried in London because some of the money was laundered in Britain and some of the defendants were based there. Attempts by Nigeria’s own anti-corruption agency to prosecute Ibori, dating back to 2007, have foundered.A jury at London’s Southwark Crown Court unanimously convicted Preko, a Ghanaian national, of two offences of money laundering between March 2003 and April 2008 when he was arrested.He was charged with assisting Ibori in channeling stolen money through a web of offshore trusts and shell companies. Preko had left Goldman Sachs before he committed the offences and the bank is not accused of any wrongdoing. The court heard Preko tried to open accounts on Ibori’s behalf when he was still working there but this was not authorised by the bank.

SYRIAN TROOPS TAKEOVER STRATEGIC TOWN

The road needed to ship chemical weapons out of Syria has been seized by troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, as the conflict passed its 1,000th day.The Damascus-Homs highway had been blocked for around 20 days, preventing the delivery of fuel to the capital, as troops battled with rebel fighters to secure control of the town of Nabaak.The Syrian army has been fighting for several weeks to secure the Qalamoun region, north of Damascus, in a bid to sever rebel supply routes across the nearby border with Lebanon.