Total Blackout Imminent As GENCOs, DISCOs Battle N400bn Debt

Nigeria may be set for a total blackout as power generation as well as distribution companies say over N400bn debts are stifling their operations.

While GENCOs’ debt is put at over N300bn, DISCOs have complained of being owed over N100bn by customers.

With such a huge debt burden, the power firms said they lack the funding required for their operations, including the purchase of equipment and spare parts.

The Executive Secretary, Association of Power Generation Companies, Dr. Joy Ogaji, said, “The debt is over N300bn that GENCOs are being owed. If the situation is not checked, there will be blackout. It is so imminent that I don’t know if most of the generation we are having now can go beyond Christmas if the payment problem is not solved. We can’t pay contractors; most of the machines are packing up.”

Ogaji said the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company Plc should be blamed for the problem, saying, “As GENCOs, we don’t really have any direct relationship with DISCOs at the moment; GENCOs are meant to generate power and government brought NBET as a wholesaler, which takes all the power being generated by GENCOs and sells to the DISCOs. So the onus lies on NBET to collect the money from the DISCOs.

“The claim on whether DISCOs are remitting money or not should not be the problem of the GENCOs, but that of NBET. Government told us that NBET is properly capitalised and has enough money to meet all of the GENCOs’ payments. But unfortunately, NBET has not been able to do that.”

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Blasts, Gunfight In Indonesian Capital, At Least 6 Dead

Militants launched a gun and bomb assault killing at least six people in the center of the Indonesian capital on Thursday, police said, in an attack that followed a threat by Islamic State fighters to put the country in their “spotlight.”
Media said six bombs went off and a Reuters witness saw three dead people and a gunfight going on. One blast was in a Starbucks cafe and security forces were later seen entering the building.
Police said they suspected a suicide bomber was responsible for at least one of the blasts and up to 14 militant gunmen were involved in the attack, Metro TV reported.

“The Starbucks cafe windows are blown out. I see three dead people on the road. There has been a lull in the shooting but someone is on the roof of the building and police are aiming their guns at him,” said a Reuters photographer.

Indonesia has been on edge in recent weeks over the threat posed by Islamist militants and counter-terrorism police have launched a crackdown on people with suspected links to Islamic State.

“We have previously received a threat from Islamic State that Indonesia will be the spotlight,” police spokesman Anton Charliyan told reporters. But he said police did not know who was resposible.

He said three policemen and three civilians had been killed.

“I saw a police officer shot right in front of me,” one witness told TV One.

One explosion went off in front of a shopping center called the Sarinah mall, on a main avenue. Media said a police post outside the mall was blown up.
Police snipers were deployed among hundreds of other security officers.

A U.N. building near the scene was in lock-down with no one allowed in or out, a witness said. Some other high-rise buildings in the area were evacuated.
Indonesia’s central bank is located in the same area, and a spokesman for the bank said a policy meeting was going ahead and a decision on interest rates would be announced as planned later in the day.

An explosion was heard in the western suburb of Palmerah, according to a domestic media tweet, but police said they could not confirm a blast there.
Indonesia has the world’s largest Muslim population, the vast majority of whom practice a moderate form of the religion.

The country saw a spate of militant attacks in the 2000s, the deadliest of which was a nightclub bombing on the holiday island of Bali that killed 202 people, most of them tourists.

Police have been largely successful in destroying domestic militant cells since then, but officials have more recently been worrying about a resurgence inspired by groups such as Islamic State and Indonesians who return after fighting with the group.

The last major militant attacks in Jakarta were in July 2009, with bombs at the JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels.

Source: http://www.kevindjakporblog.com/2016/01/blasts-gunfight-in-indonesian-capital.html#ixzz3xEdrNqoD

Nine Princes Battle For Ooni Stool

Nine princes, at the weekend, emerged top contenders from the Giesi Ruling House for the vacant stool of Ooni of Ife, vacated by Oba Okunade Sijuwade, who died recently in a London hospital.

Initially, 35 individuals from the ruling house were said to have shown interest in the stool, a development that made the Giesi family to set up a committee to work on the list of contestants, with the intent to choose a capable candidate. It was gathered that the ruling house held a meeting at the weekend, in the family compound at Agbedede Lane in Ile-Ife.

A very reliable source at the meeting said yesterday that the report of a selection screening committee set up to prune down the list of the initial 35 aspirants was submitted to Prince Modupe Fadehan, head of Giesi family.

The source, who attended the meeting but preferred anonymity, in a telephone chat, said: “Well, that is a good development for us and we are sure that a good man will be picked as the Ooni. This is the normal process and we know it will not cause disaffection.

“The normal thing is that the Ruling House will send names of qualified candidates to the kingmakers. For instance, the Ogboru family sent 14 names, out of which the late Oba Sijuwade emerged.”

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Bala Mohammed, 5 Others In Battle For PDP Chair

Former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Sen. Bala Mohammed, and five others are in the race for Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) national chairman, it was learnt yesterday.

Others are Prof. Ahmed Alkali, a former Special Adviser on Political Affairs to  former President Goodluck Jonathan, former Minister of State for Power Mohammed Wakil and Deputy National Publicity Secretary Jalo Abdullahi.

Some governors are pushing for ex-Governor Sule Lamido, a onetime National Secretary of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) and a former Deputy National Chairman of PDP and ex-Katsina State Governor Ibrahim Shema.

But party leaders, including some members of the Board of Trustees (BOT), are insisting that the Northeast should retain the position.

Read More: thenationonlineng

Buhari, Oyegun Frown As APC Members Battle For Ministerial Slot

Deputy National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Engr. Segun Oni and the National Publicity secretary of the party, Alhaji Lai Mohammed are currently jostling for a place in the cabinet of the president Muhammadu Buhari as ministers, Vanguard has learnt.

Similarly, five other members of the party’s National Working Committee, NWC have also indicated interest in various ministerial positions.

President Buhari, Vanguard gathered is expected to send the list of his ministers to the National Assembly this week as both chambers of the federal parliament resume plenary today and that he is not that much happy with the APC’s demand to be part of his cabinet.

A source at the national party secretariat in Abuja who craved anonymity said that Oni who was the former governor of Ekiti State was banking on the slot of the state.

The source added that his chances might be brighter as the present governor of his state, Ayo Fayose who is a member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP is not likely to be given the opportunity of nominating a candidate.

He however expressed fear that Oni might run into difficulty with another former governor of the state, Dr. Kayode Fayemi who also played a visible role in the emergence of president Buhari.

Creditvanguardngr

Ex Govs, Buhari Associates Battle Tinubu

Eleven days to the assumption of office, close associates of President-elect Muhammadu Buhari and  some former governors are plotting to move against the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola tinubu. The plot is to whittle down the influence Tinubu will have on the incoming government.

Buhari’s associates and the former governors are mounting pressure on Buhari to review his ties with the APC national leader. They are accusing Tinubu of not allowing them have a say in the way the new government would be formed.

Many of those opposed to Tinubu in the party have presented themselves and others as candidates in the new government.

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