Thursday 4 December 2014
Top News: Jonathan’s leadership style defective -Kolade
Top News: Jonathan’s leadership style defective -Kolade: Former Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Dr. Christopher Kolade, on Thursday, condemned President Goodluck Jonathan for not...
Jonathan’s leadership style defective -Kolade
Former Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Dr. Christopher Kolade, on Thursday, condemned President Goodluck Jonathan for not showing the right leadership in the manner he carries on with his responsibilities as the President.
He spoke at the sixth Christopher Kolade Symposium, organised by the Nigeria Leadership Initiative, an organisation he is a pioneer patron.
He made specific reference to Jonathan’s decision to honour a political rally in Kano shortly after a bombing that killed several people early in the year in Abuja, saying the best he could have done was “to postpone the political event.”
For choosing to continue with the programme, he said, the President did not demonstrate that he was sensitive to the pains of the people.
While chiding the campaigns of pro-Jonathan non-governmental organisations, the respected statesman said, “Nigeria was, at every other time, better than now”.
He said those who said the country “had never been this good” were lying, and that at over 80 years, he could tell that the country had a robust history.
He lamented the drift in leadership quality, a situation, he believed, should be a source of worry to all Nigerians.
“If we get to a point when we do not care how the country is led, we have lost hope. The country is where it is today because some people sacrificed. Unfortunately, beyond stealing, our leaders are not ready to sacrifice anything”, he added.
Kolade said he took up a responsibility to lead the Subsidy Re-investment and Empowerment Programme to demonstrate his love for the country.
Reneging, he said, would have amounted to wishing that the initiative would fail.
He said he rejected allowances offered with the job because he was financially stable.
The former envoy said no Nigerian was happy with the leadership style and the manner public institutions were operated.
Chief Executive Officer of the initiative, Yinka Oyinlola, charged Nigerians to roll out a template of engagement and action rather than complaining.
He said character deficit was the biggest challenge the country would address to position itself for greatness.
Oyinlola lamented the impunity in the Nigeria political system, saying it was a dangerous trend when the executive sought to supplant the legislature and the judiciary.
He spoke at the sixth Christopher Kolade Symposium, organised by the Nigeria Leadership Initiative, an organisation he is a pioneer patron.
He made specific reference to Jonathan’s decision to honour a political rally in Kano shortly after a bombing that killed several people early in the year in Abuja, saying the best he could have done was “to postpone the political event.”
For choosing to continue with the programme, he said, the President did not demonstrate that he was sensitive to the pains of the people.
While chiding the campaigns of pro-Jonathan non-governmental organisations, the respected statesman said, “Nigeria was, at every other time, better than now”.
He said those who said the country “had never been this good” were lying, and that at over 80 years, he could tell that the country had a robust history.
He lamented the drift in leadership quality, a situation, he believed, should be a source of worry to all Nigerians.
“If we get to a point when we do not care how the country is led, we have lost hope. The country is where it is today because some people sacrificed. Unfortunately, beyond stealing, our leaders are not ready to sacrifice anything”, he added.
Kolade said he took up a responsibility to lead the Subsidy Re-investment and Empowerment Programme to demonstrate his love for the country.
Reneging, he said, would have amounted to wishing that the initiative would fail.
He said he rejected allowances offered with the job because he was financially stable.
The former envoy said no Nigerian was happy with the leadership style and the manner public institutions were operated.
Chief Executive Officer of the initiative, Yinka Oyinlola, charged Nigerians to roll out a template of engagement and action rather than complaining.
He said character deficit was the biggest challenge the country would address to position itself for greatness.
Oyinlola lamented the impunity in the Nigeria political system, saying it was a dangerous trend when the executive sought to supplant the legislature and the judiciary.
Top News: Putin defends foreign policy in state address
Top News: Putin defends foreign policy in state address: Russian President Vladimir Putin has defended the Kremlin’s foreign policy, seen by western governments as agressive, saying that its action...
Putin defends foreign policy in state address
Russian President Vladimir Putin has defended the Kremlin’s foreign policy, seen by western governments as agressive, saying that its actions are necessary for his country’s survival.
In his annual state-of-the-nation address at the Grand Kremlin palace on Thursday, Putin defended the annexation of Crimea in March and accused the West of using the crisis in Ukraine as a pretext to slap sanctions on Russia.
“The policy of containment wasn’t thought up yesterday, it’s been the plight of our country for many years. Whenever anyone thinks that Russia is getting too strong and independent, then these instruments are applied,” Putin said.
Russia has also been accused of supplying pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine with ammunition and manpower in a conflict that has killed more than 4,300 people.
In response, the European Union imposed several rounds of sanctions on Russia that targets Russia’s finance, defence and energy sectors.
Putin also pledged that Russia would not scale back its ties with the West despite bitter ongoing confrontation over the Ukraine crisis.
“Under no circumstances are we going to scale back our ties with Europe, US, at the same time we will revive and expand traditional ties with the south of the American continent, will continue cooperation with Africa, with countries in the Middle East,” Putin said.
Meanwhile, Washington said it does not want to see Russia isolate itself “through its own actions,” US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday, calling on Moscow to help halt the raging Ukraine crisis.
“The United States and countries that support Ukraine’s sovereignty and rights do not seek confrontation. It is not our design or desire that we see a Russia isolated through its own actions,” Kerry told a meeting in Switzerland of top diplomats from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) nations.
The Russian leader is currently under pressure to show that his government has an answer for Russia’s worsening economy, with sanctions and the falling price of energy exports sending the ruble into a tailspin,
In his annual state-of-the-nation address at the Grand Kremlin palace on Thursday, Putin defended the annexation of Crimea in March and accused the West of using the crisis in Ukraine as a pretext to slap sanctions on Russia.
“The policy of containment wasn’t thought up yesterday, it’s been the plight of our country for many years. Whenever anyone thinks that Russia is getting too strong and independent, then these instruments are applied,” Putin said.
Russia has also been accused of supplying pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine with ammunition and manpower in a conflict that has killed more than 4,300 people.
In response, the European Union imposed several rounds of sanctions on Russia that targets Russia’s finance, defence and energy sectors.
Putin also pledged that Russia would not scale back its ties with the West despite bitter ongoing confrontation over the Ukraine crisis.
“Under no circumstances are we going to scale back our ties with Europe, US, at the same time we will revive and expand traditional ties with the south of the American continent, will continue cooperation with Africa, with countries in the Middle East,” Putin said.
Meanwhile, Washington said it does not want to see Russia isolate itself “through its own actions,” US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday, calling on Moscow to help halt the raging Ukraine crisis.
“The United States and countries that support Ukraine’s sovereignty and rights do not seek confrontation. It is not our design or desire that we see a Russia isolated through its own actions,” Kerry told a meeting in Switzerland of top diplomats from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) nations.
The Russian leader is currently under pressure to show that his government has an answer for Russia’s worsening economy, with sanctions and the falling price of energy exports sending the ruble into a tailspin,
16 dead in Baghdad twin blasts
At least 16 people have been killed in two car bombs that went off in the Sadr district of Iraq’s capital Baghdad, police sources have told Al Jazeera.
The blasts happened at around 6:30 pm (15:30 GMT) on Thursday in two different parts of the district.
Al Jazeera’s Jane Arraf, reporting from Baghdad, said: “One of the car bombs hit in Sadr City hit a small street with small cafes there that were packed with people having dinner. The other one was at a crowded outdoor market.”
Later on, a roadside bomb exploded near a restaurant in Baghdad’s Shia northern neighbourhood of Shaab, killing three people and wounding 12 others, the AP news agency reported.
Medical officials confirmed the casualties. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to brief the media.
Iraq sees near-daily bombings and other attacks mainly targeting Shia neighbourhoods and security forces. The attacks are often claimed by the Sunni Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group which seized much of northern and western Iraq in a summer offensive.
The blasts happened at around 6:30 pm (15:30 GMT) on Thursday in two different parts of the district.
Al Jazeera’s Jane Arraf, reporting from Baghdad, said: “One of the car bombs hit in Sadr City hit a small street with small cafes there that were packed with people having dinner. The other one was at a crowded outdoor market.”
Later on, a roadside bomb exploded near a restaurant in Baghdad’s Shia northern neighbourhood of Shaab, killing three people and wounding 12 others, the AP news agency reported.
Medical officials confirmed the casualties. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to brief the media.
Iraq sees near-daily bombings and other attacks mainly targeting Shia neighbourhoods and security forces. The attacks are often claimed by the Sunni Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group which seized much of northern and western Iraq in a summer offensive.
Thursday 27 November 2014
Nigerian govt lying about state of economy — Obasanjo
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Wednesday lambasted President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration over the state of the country’s economy, saying government was deceiving Nigerians with its claims of fantastic economic growth.
“What the public know or see of the economy is not what the economy truly is,” the former president told guests in Abuja at the public presentation of an autobiography of the former Chairman Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission, ICPC, Mustapha Akanbi.
“The economy is in the doldrums, if not in reverse. The often-quoted GDP (gross domestic product) growth neither reflects on the living condition of most of our people, nor on most of the indigenous industries and services where capacity utilization is almost 50 per cent,” he added.
The Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had said during a recent media briefing in Abuja that “in spite of global uncertainty, the country’s economy continues to evolve with dynamism, stability and resilience riding on sound macroeconomic management, even in the face of oil price and quantity shocks.”
According to Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala, the government’s strong macroeconomic management capacity had resulted in the country’s GDP growth (estimated at 6.5 per cent in 2013) being one of the fastest in the world (26th), with the recent GDP rebasing making the country the largest economy in Africa ahead of South Africa.
But the former president said the recent developments around the economy as a result of falling global oil prices are indications that such claims of superior economic performance are a farce, particularly the management of the proceeds from oil and gas resources, which shows the country did not adequately prepare rainy days.
He blamed the poor economic situation in the country on corruption, adding that the non-investment and disinvestment in the oil and gas sector by the major international oil companies had added another dimension to the issue.
Nigeria’s continued heavy dependence on oil resources, he noted, had not adequately prepared the country against any shock, pointing out that with the $78 per barrel benchmark proposed in the 2015 budget, it was clear the country would be in a bind if oil price fell to $75 per barrel.
“We had not adequately prepared for the rainy days in the management of proceeds from oil and gas resources. With crude oil purchase by the U.S. from Nigeria going down by some 30 per cent in the last three years as a result of shale oil revolution, things are not looking up in the oil and gas sector, and hence, in the economy,” he noted.
Referring to the prediction by the International Energy Agency, IEA, that global crude oil price would continue to fall through the first half of 2015 and even to the end of the year, Mr. Obasanjo said with the shale oil revolution and U.S. self-sufficiency in energy as well as possibility of her becoming a net exporter, the country must re-strategize to survive.
If nothing is done to check the situation, the former president said the country may in future find it difficult to fund its budget and may have to borrow to pay salaries and allowances.
Revenue allocations to states and local governments, he noted, had already drastically reduced in recent times, with capital projects at all levels drastically cut or stopped. Though the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, on Tuesday announced the immediate devaluation of the Naira by 8.38 per cent to stem crashing value of the national currency, Mr. Obasanjo warned that sooner or later the country may be compelled to drastically devalue again without any benefit to the commodity economy.
“We will all sink deeper in poverty, except for those who have corruptly stashed money abroad and who will start to bring such illegal and illegitimate funds back home to harvest more Naira. All the economic gains of recent years and the rebuilding of the middle class may be lost.
“In the end, more businesses will close down, business men and women, entrepreneurs and investors will incur more debts. Foreign investors may temporarily stop investing in a downturn economy. Because of the Naira depreciation, workers, particularly in the public sector, will ask for pay increase, which may be justified, but will sink us deeper in the swamp.
“The scenario, which may sound alarmist, is hard to imagine, but the signs are there, and it would appear that those who should act are dancing foxtrot, while their trousers are catching fire,” Mr. Obasanjo said.
New Russian Stealth Jet Fighter Called ‘Super Weapon’ Giving Russia Edge Over U.S. In Skies
A new Russian jet fighter, using stealth technology designed to conceal the plane from radar, is being called a “super weapon” by military experts who say that the fifth-generation Russian fighter jet actually surpasses United States fighters and could give Russia an advantage in the skies.
Known as the TA-50 PAK FA, the new Russian stealth fighter is developed by the Russian aeronautic giant Sukhoi and is set to go into action in 2016. Russia is developing the new super fighter together with India, which is kicking in 25 percent of the T-50 program’s $20 billion projected cost.
Each T-50 PAK FA stealth jet fighter costs about $50 million to build. Russia is India’s second-biggest supplier of weapons, behind only the United States.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has called the new fifth-generation stealth fighter “superior to our main competitor, the F-22, in terms of maneuverability, weaponry and range.”
The Lockheed F-22 Raptor is one of the two most sophisticated stealth fighters in the U.S. arsenal, matched only by another fifth-generation Lockheed plane, the F-35 Lightning II. And according to U.S. military aviation experts, Putin’s claim was not just an empty boast.
“The analysis that I have seen on the PAK-FA indicates a pretty sophisticated design that is at least equal to, and some have said even superior to, U.S. fifth-generation aircraft,” said former U.S. Air Force intelligence head Lt. Gen. Dave Deptula, in an interview with the National Interest magazine. “It certainly has greater agility with its combination of thrust vectoring, all moving tail surfaces, and excellent aerodynamic design, than does the F-35.”
A top U.S. military aviation official, who spoke anonymously to the National Interest, seconded Deptula’s opinion.
“Performance-wise it certainly looks to compete with the Raptor,” the official told the magazine.
While the new Russian stealth fighter is said to be less “stealthy,” that is, able to evade radar detection, than its U.S. counterparts, it makes up for that slight disadvantage with its incredible maneuverability in the skies that experts say is at least on par with the Raptor and far exceeds the Lightning II.
But the U.S. fighters still hold one advantage — data technology. The U.S. fighter jets still have better “sensor and data fusion,” in other words, technology for processing information about the jet fighter’s surroundings and feeding it to the pilot in a way that lets him make quick decisions.
“In the future — while aerodynamic performance will continue to be important — [planes require] speed, range and payload to a greater degree than maneuverability,” Deptula said. “Even more important will be the ability to ubiquitously share knowledge to the point that we have faster decision advantage than any adversary.”
The Russians, however, are already at work on their sixth-generation jet fighters, which could solve the data problems and are scheduled to be ready for action by 2025.
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