Saturday, December 27, 2008

The Day Barack Obama Made Me Shed Tears of Joy



August 29, 2008.
4.12 am
Lagos, Nigeria.

God woke me up at about 2.45 am to have a holy communion with me and to watch the live broadcast of the Democratic Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech of Senator Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention in Denver on Thursday night of August 28, 2008, which was already 3.30 am of Friday August 29, 2008, in Nigeria.

I heard every word delivered by Barack Obama and the response of the great audience was overwhelming!
He reiterated his commitment to the promises of the goals of his historic presidential campaign and to be honest to God, for the first time since I have been monitoring and evaluating the presidential ambition of Senator Barack Obama, I believed he is truly sincere and really capable of being elected as the next President of the United States of America on November 4, 2008. I felt tears in my eyes as I watched Barack Obama speak and I was happy for America.



Wednesday, December 24, 2008

SPECIAL REPORT: Former Willbros International Executive and Consultant Charged in $6 Million Foreign Bribery Conspiracy

19 Dec 2008 23:48 Africa/Lagos

SPECIAL REPORT: Former Willbros International Executive and Consultant Charged in $6 Million Foreign Bribery Conspiracy

WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A former executive and a consultant of Willbros International Inc. (WII), a subsidiary of Houston-based Willbros Group Inc. (Willbros), have been charged in connection with a conspiracy to pay more than $6 million in bribes to government officials in Nigeria and Ecuador, Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich of the Criminal Division announced today.


James K. Tillery, 49, a former executive of WII, and Paul G. Novak, 41, a former consultant to WII, were charged in an indictment unsealed today in U.S. District Court in Houston with conspiring to make more than $6 million in corrupt payments to Nigerian and Ecuadorian government officials. The bribes were allegedly paid in order to obtain and retain gas pipeline construction and rehabilitation business from state-owned oil companies in Nigeria and Ecuador in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The four-count indictment charges Tillery and Novak with one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA, two counts of violating the FCPA in connection with the authorization of specific corrupt payments to officials in Nigeria and Ecuador, and one count of conspiring to launder the bribe payments through purported consulting companies controlled by Novak.


According to the indictment, Tillery was a WII employee and executive from the 1980s through January 2005. From 2002 until January 2005, Tillery served as executive vice president and, later, as president of WII. Novak was an employee of WII in the mid-1990s, according to the indictment, who later worked as an oil and gas consultant in Nigeria, purporting to provide consulting services to companies in that field.


The indictment alleges that from late 2003 through March 2005, Tillery, Novak, a Nigerian national working with Novak as a "consultant" to Willbros, Nigeria-based employees of a major German engineering and construction company, and other WII employees conspired to make millions of dollars in corrupt payments to assist in obtaining and retaining a major gas pipeline engineering, procurement and construction project known as the Eastern Gas Gathering System (EGGS). Willbros and its German consortium partner offered to perform the work related to the EGGS project for approximately $387 million. In exchange for being awarded the EGGS project, the indictment alleges that Tillery, Novak, and others corruptly paid, promised to pay and authorized payments to officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the state-owned oil company in Nigeria; the Nigerian National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), NNPC's subsidiary that manages NNPC's investments in its joint ventures; a senior official in the executive branch of the Nigerian federal government; officials of a Nigerian political party; and officials of the company that operated the EGGS joint venture. The indictment alleges that most of the bribe payments were laundered through Novak and his Nigerian consulting company partner.


The indictment also alleges that Tillery, Novak, and other WII employees based in South America agreed to make approximately $300,000 in corrupt payments to officials of state-owned PetroEcuador and its subsidiary, PetroComercial, to assist in obtaining a project that involved the rehabilitation of approximately 16 kilometers of a gas pipeline running from Santo Domingo to El Beaterio, Ecuador. PetroComercial was WII's client on the $3 million project.


If convicted of all charges, Tillery and Novak each face sentences of up to 35 years in prison and fines of $250,000, or twice the pecuniary gain or loss from the offense, whichever is greater, for conspiring to violate the FCPA and for each violation of the FCPA; and $500,000 or twice the value of the funds involved in the transfer, whichever is greater, for the money laundering conspiracy.


Willbros, a publicly-traded company that provides construction, engineering and other services in the oil and gas industry, conducts international operations through WII. On May 14, 2008, Willbros and WII entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the Department of Justice and agreed to pay a $22 million criminal penalty in connection with corrupt payments to Nigerian and Ecuadorian government officials in violation of the FCPA. As part of the agreement, Willbros and WII agreed to cooperate, and have been cooperating, with the Department in its ongoing investigation.


The indictment was unsealed today after Novak was arrested upon his arrival into George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. Novak returned to the United States from Constantia, South Africa, after his U.S. passport was revoked. Tillery remains at large.


The case is being prosecuted by Assistant Chief Hank Bond Walther and Trial Attorney Laura N. Perkins of the Criminal Division's Fraud Section. It was previously handled by former Fraud Section Trial Attorney Thomas E. Stevens. The case is being investigated by the FBI and Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigations. Additional assistance was provided by the Criminal Division's Office of International Affairs, the Fort Worth, Texas, Regional Office of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).


An indictment is merely an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent of the charges, and it is the government's burden to prove a defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.


Source: U.S. Department of Justice

CONTACT: U.S. Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs,
+1-202-514-2008, TDD +1-202-514-1888


Web Site: http://www.usdoj.gov/

22 Dec 2008
23:08
PHOTO ADVISORY - Webster University Donates Hundreds of Business Books to Nigerian University
18:00
For Promoting Awareness to Global Poverty in the 2008 U.S. Presidential Elections, the ONE Campaign Grabs the 2008 Commitment to Development Award


Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Fake Dollars in Circulation in Nigeria



FAKE US DOLLARS IN CIRCULATION IN NIGERIA

Beware! There are fake dollars in circulation in Nigeria.
A Nigerian publisher and writer was duped by foreign exchange dealers on the Marina in Lagos when he later discovered that the $600 (six hundred dollars) he bought were fake.
He said that when he went looking for them, he could not find them again.
They were operating on the pavement of the MR. BIGGS restaurant on the Marina in Lagos, beside the Guaranty Trust Bank.


Sunday, December 21, 2008

Hit and Run Driver Kills Couple in Nigeria

Saturday morning December 20, 2008, both husband and wife were killed by a hit and run bus driver on the Ikot Ekpene Road in Akwa Ibom state in Nigeria.
An eye-witness said the couple were on a motorbike populary called Okada when they were knocked down by a speeding public transport minibus. They died on the spot.




Thursday, December 18, 2008

Science Makes Room for Enwonwu, Other Artists, in Outer Space

Science makes room for Enwonwu, other artists, in outer space
~ ADELEKE ADEYEMI


Ben Enwonwu (1921-1994)

‘Life is short; Art is long’. Science, it seems, has set itself the task of bearing empirical witness to the truth of the saying of the Romans of long ago. A new list of world artists after whom craters on Mercury are to be known has been released by the International Astronomical Union. The IAU has handled planetary and satellite nomenclature since its inception in 1919. The craters are named after famous deceased artists, musicians, or authors.

A crater is a natural depression that results from the high velocity impact of a projectile as it collides with a larger body. The term is widely used for the approximately circular depression in the surface of a planet, moon or other solid body in the Solar System. Impact craters provide the dominant landforms here.
Among those accorded the celestial honour is “sculptor and painter Benedict Chukwukadibia Enwonwu [1921-1994], the most renowned Nigerian artist of the 20th century,” according to a statement released by Messenger Science Team, the unit of IAU responsible for making recommendations.


Top are the newly designated Mercury craters. Enwonwu is left, middle

(Photo by NASA)

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) ratified the proposal from the MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) Science Team to name 15 craters on Mercury. All of the newly named craters were imaged during the mission's first flyby of the solar system's most tucked-in planet back in January 2008.

"We're pleased that the IAU has again acted promptly to approve this new set of names for prominent craters on Mercury," says MESSENGER Principal Investigator Sean Solomon of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. "These latest names honour a diverse suite of some of the most accomplished contributors to mankind's higher aspirations. They also make it much easier for planetary scientists to refer to major features on Mercury in talks and publications."

The newly named craters (in alphabetical order) are: Amaral, after Tarsila do Amaral (1886-1973) of Brazil, considered one of the leading Latin American modernist artists; Beckett, after Clarice Beckett (1887-1935), recognized as one of Australia's most important modernist artists; Dali, after Salvador Dali (1904-1989), a Spanish painter and leader of the Surrealist Movement; Enwonwu; Glinka, after Mikhail Glinka (1804-1857), a Russian composer considered to be the "father" of genuinely Russian music; Hovnatanian, after Hakop Hovnatanian (1806-1881), an Armenian painter known for his portraits; Moody, after Ronald Moody(1900-1984), a self-taught, Jamaica-born sculptor and painter who found success in mid-20th-century London and Paris; Munch, after Edvard Munch (1863-1944), a Norwegian Symbolist painter, printmaker, and draftsman, perhaps most well-known for his painting “The Scream”; Navoi, after Alisher Navoi (1441-1501), a 15th century Uzbek poet, considered by many to be the founder of early Turkic literature; Nawahi, after Joseph Nawahi (1842-1896), a self-taught artist, lawyer, educator, publisher, member of the Hawaiian legislature for many years, and principal adviser to famous Hawaiian Queen Lili'uokalani; Oskison, after John Milton Oskison (1874-1947), a Cherokee author who served as editor and editorial writer for the New York Evening Post; Poe, after Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), American poet, critic, editor, and author, best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre; Qi Baishi, after Qi Baishi (1864-1957), a renowned Chinese painter known for his whimsical water colours; Raden Saleh, after Raden Saleh (1807-1880), a 19th century Javanese naturalist painter considered to be the first modern artist from what is now Indonesia, and Sher-Gil, after Amrita Sher-Gil (1913-1941), an eminent Indian painter, today considered an important female painter of 20th-century India.

"It was quite enjoyable to consider candidate names from among the world's most accomplished people in the arts and humanities," says MESSENGER Participating Scientist Dave Blewett, of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, in Laurel, Madison, USA. "Having names for many of the prominent craters will help us to remember and discuss specific locations in this previously 'undiscovered country,'" Blewett adds. The addition of these craters, along with the 12 features named in April, brings the total to 27 newly named surface features for Mercury in 2008.

MESSENGER is a NASA-sponsored scientific investigation of the planet Mercury and the first space mission designed to orbit the planet that snuggles closet to the Sun. The MESSENGER spacecraft launched on August 3, 2004, after flybys of Earth, Venus, and Mercury, will start a yearlong study of its target planet in March 2011.


Thursday, December 11, 2008

InterAction Members Respond to the Crisis in Zimbabwe

11 Dec 2008 01:07 Africa/Lagos


InterAction Members Respond to the Crisis in Zimbabwe

WASHINGTON, Dec. 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Basic government services are not being provided in Zimbabwe. The public health system has collapsed and cholera and other communicable diseases are rampant. Staggering inflation and unemployment have resulted in shortages of food and fuel. Estimates are that 300,000 people remain at risk of cholera, which is being spread by a shortage of clean water and a lack of functioning sanitation services. To date, the outbreak has claimed over 600 lives.


InterAction members, along with their partner agencies, are providing numerous humanitarian interventions focusing on water, sanitation, hygiene, food distributions, medicine procurement and distribution, health services, education and relief to communities displaced by violence.


A regularly updated list of agencies responding is available at:
www.interaction.org/zimbabwe


InterAction has also developed guidelines on the most appropriate ways to help those affected by overseas disasters: http://www.interaction.org/disaster/guide_giving.html.


InterAction is a coalition of more than 170 U.S.-based private relief, international development and refugee assistance organizations. InterAction members have agreed to abide by a set of standards to ensure accountability to donors, professional competence and quality of service.


Source: InterAction

CONTACT: Nasserie Carew, +1-202-552-6561, ncarew@interaction.org, or
Tawana Jacobs, +1-202-552-6534, tjacobs@interaction.org, both of InterAction


Web Site: http://www.interaction.org/



5 Dec 2008
16:00
Foreign Secretary statement on Zimbabwe


4 Dec 2008
22:40
USAID Increases Assistance for Zimbabwe Cholera Outbreak




Recommended:
"Bye, Bye Mugabe" by Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima.
Available on Amazon

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Crude Rallies By More Than 10%

Crude Rallies By More Than 10%

November 24, 2008



11/24/08 With stock markets rallying on the US government's rescue of Citigroup combined with OPEC announcing the need for further crude output cuts, front month crude prices rallied this session to trade at levels well above $55.


Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Property Boom in Nigeria

Property boom in Nigeria
October 26, 2008



The property market in Nigeria's commercial capital, Lagos, is booming, with prices rising by up to 20%.


INQURIES ON REAL ESTATE IN NIGERIA
Contac: publisher@nigeriantimesinternational.com
Tel: 234 07032366127

Monday, October 13, 2008

Government of Nigeria: Federal Ministries

Government of Nigeria
Subsidiary Organisations
Operational Department - Ministry of Defence [6]
Sibling Organisations
Ministry of Aviation - Defunct 2007 [22]
Ministry of Commerce - Defunct 2007 [27]
Ministry of Communications - Defunct 2007 [8]
Ministry of Cooperation & Integration in Africa - Defunct 2007
Ministry of Education [30]
Ministry of Finance [26]
Ministry of Foreign Affairs [33]
Ministry of Health [17]
Ministry of Housing & Urban Development - Defunct 2007
Ministry of Industries - Defunct 2007 [43]
Ministry of Inter-Government Affairs, Youth Development & Special Duties - Defunct 2007
Ministry of Internal Affairs - Defunct 2007 [4]
Ministry of Justice
Ministry of Employment, Labour & Productivity - Defunct 2007 [5]
Ministry of Police Affairs - Defunct 2007 [6]
Ministry of Power & Steel - Defunct 2007 [37]
Ministry of Science & Technology [61]
Ministry of Solid Mineral Development - Defunct 2007 [13]
Ministry of Sport & Social Development - Defunct 2007 [12]
Ministry of Transportation [8]
Ministry of Water Resources - Defunct 2007 [29]
Ministry of Womens Affairs [8]
Ministry of Works - Defunct 2007 [18]
Ministry of Petroleum Resources - Defunct 2007 [2]
Ministry of Environment - Defunct 2007 [2]
National Pension Commission
National Bureau of Statistics
Central Bank of Nigeria [26]
The Presidency [37]
Ministry of Commerce & Industry [8]
Ministry of Information & Communications
Ministry of Interior [1]
Ministry of Mines & Steel Development
Ministry of Youth Development
Ministry of Environment & Housing
Ministry of Tourism, Culture & National Orientation - Defunct 2007 [1]
Ministry of Agriculture & Water Resources
Ministry of Energy [1]
Ministry of Labour [5]
Independent Corrupt Practices & Other Related Offences Commission


About

Nigerian Report reports news and information of vital importnace on Nigeria.
It is the brainchild of Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima, the Publisher and Editor of Nigerian Times International, the largest Nigerian news media network on the Internet.

The vision of Nigerian Report is to propel Nigeria in the leadership of Africa among the comity of nations in the world.

The mission of Nigerian Report is to use the mulitmedia to promote Nigeria and to motivate Nigerians to be patriotic citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.