Starztrendz: September 2016

Friday, 30 September 2016

CONGRATS!! SEYI BABA

Wow! After losing their first child, #Seyi Law and his wife have welcomed a baby girl.

The bundle of joy arrived today and her happy dad announced her arrival. We are so happy for them.

May the Lord keep the baby and her parents

Recession: Northern elders call for sack of federal workers Read more:

Northern elders call for sack of federal workers

– The Northern Elders’ Forum (NEF) believes that the way to get out of the current economic recession is to tighten the reins on government spending. – The group says the way out of recession is to sack 50 per cent of the federal workers in the civil service – Spokesman, Prof. Ango Abdullahi says the sack or reduction of federal government spending by 50 percent would work

Prof. Abdullahi says workers should be sacked Spokesperson of the Northern Elder’s Forum (NEF), Prof. Ango Abdullahi has said that the way out the current economic recession is not selling national assets but sacking federal government workers. Abdullahi made the statement in an interview with Vanguard. The former presidential adviser on agriculture and food security said that sacking 50 per cent of the country’s public service workforce or the reduction of its federal government’s cost by 50 per cent or both could save the day. He said: “The Present recession was hinged on the fact that 2016 budget was pegged at N6 trillion with recurrent taking N4 trillion, while N2 trillion is set aside for capital project. “Nigeria is a poor country and it is consumption based. We import and consume and we hardly produce. “Yet we have a very unproductive workforce. Nigeria workforce is not the productive type, but it takes a good chunk of the budget every year. “This year, they said that of the N6 trillion appropriated, only N2 trillion will be generated. The rest N4 trillion would have to be sought from somewhere else. And now we are in a recession. So, I will suggest two ways from which we can get out of recessio.We must cut down unproductive spending. “And I am suggesting two ways in which we can do this and they are simple. The first one will not be socially and politically good. I will advise we go for the second one. “The first one is that we have to reduce the workforce by 50%. We are talking of a large unproductive workforce with a minimum wage of N18,000 per month both at the Federal, State and Local Government levels. But, I know that it will be difficult to achieve that one.
“The second one is that we can cut salary and allowances of the workforce by 50%. Nigeria has become poor, so we have to consume less. “What kind of workforce do we have that cannot produce 5000Mw of electricity, that cannot fix broken schools, roads etc? “The idea of the National Economic Council, NEC, that our national assets should be disposed of is bad and unacceptable. Their argument cannot fly. Look at NEPA. It is a public company that is over 100 years old. It was sold to the same people who vandalised the economy and made it not to work. Is NEPA any better today? “They have stolen enough dollars and rubbished the Naira. In short time, the Naira has been devalued by over 200%. These are people who have stashed away dollars. They want Nigeria’s assets to be sold to them as scraps. NEC is not serious.
“If Government is serious about the economy, the best sector to give attention is agriculture. Agriculture alone makes 40% of our GDP. But this year, only 1.2% of the budget was committed to agriculture. “Agriculture is the solution to our economy not oil. From 1914 to 1974 everything this country got to develop the oil sector was from agriculture. They are not serious about diversifying the economy. They are only interested in a bloated budget. “Today Nigeria is broke. As I have said, the recurrent should be cut down. Labour, Federal Government, the National Assembly and all relevant sectors should dialogue over this. Our National assets must never be sold. “It is unfortunate that all the campaign promises made by this government are not being kept. They told us during their campaigns, ‘Nigeria is an oil producing country why should we buy fuel for N87 per litre? When you vote us to power, we shall sell fuel for N55per litre. Today Fuel is officially N145 per litre.’ “In place of a strong Naira, within weeks the Naira went from N197 to a dollar to about N420. And they are the ones who had the money to mop up the dollar. Now, they want to sell our collective heritage so that they can come out with their dollars and buy. That is unacceptable.”

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Thursday, 29 September 2016

6 facts to know about Edo state governor-elect Godwin Obaseki

Mr Godwin Obaseki of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is the new governor-elect of Edo state after he defeated his closest rival Pastor Ize-Iyamu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). PDP supporters have however refused the election results and it is believed that protests are likely to ensue. Here are some less-known facts about the governor.

1.LIFE Chief Agho Obaseki Godwin Obaseki is a son of the famous Obaseki family. One of the family’s most popular sons was Chief Agho Obaseki, who was the great great grand son of the Obi of Nsukwa, in the now Aniocha region of the Delta state of Nigeria. As a young child, he went to St. Matthews Anglican primary school, Benin city. His secondary education was at Eghosa Anglican Grammar school, also in Benin city.

2.EDUCATION Godwin Ibaseki, the governor-elect of Edo state After secondary school, he attended the University of Ibadan where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Classics. For his MBA in Finance and International Business, he attended the Columbia University and Pace University in New York, the United States of America. He is also a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Stock Brokers, Nigeria, and an alumnus of the Lagos Business School Chief Executive. 4.Family Mr Godwin Obaseki with his wife Mrs Betsy Obaseki Apart from being from the famous and illustrious Obaseki family. He is married to Betsy Obaseki.

Apart from being from the famous and illustrious Obaseki family. He is married to Betsy Obaseki 4.CAREER Godwin Obaseki was the chairman of the Edo state Economic and Strategy Team (EST), which was inaugurated by Governor Adam Oshiomhole in march 2009. He also serves as an executive board member of several private companies including Afrinvest, Dorman Long Engineering Limited, Pillar Oil Limited, Seric Impianti International Limited. He was the founding secretary of a New York based US Africa Chamber of Commerce in 1992, which promoted US organisations doing business in Africa. 5.NGO He also serves as trustee, in the Dr Jackson Owen Obaseki Foundation, a family owned NGO, which is involved in providing free educational and health services to the less priviledged people. 6. Achievements He was the chairman of the following entities: – Tax Assessment Review Committee for Edo State Internal Revenue Service (TARC). – Committee on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME). – Committee on the Implementation of the Law Establishing the Edo State University of Science and Technology, Uzaire He was also the secretary, committee on Contributory Pension Scheme. On Thursday, September 29, he has been declared as the governor-elect of Edo state. Congratulations sir!