Ministry of Works’s budget slashed by FG from N100bn to N11bn

The Minister of Works, Mike Onolememen, said the ministry’s N100bn proposed budget for 2015 was slashed by the Ministry of Finance to N11bn, representing an 89 per cent slash.

Onolememen, who was in the Senate to defend his ministry’s estimates for the fiscal year, added that no sum was approved for   the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency’s capital projects   and the Office of the Surveyor -General of the Federation.

He said the Finance ministry predicated its action on the economic realities on the ground.

First solar-powered plane

A Swiss solar-powered plane has taken off from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates marking the start of the first attempt to fly around the world without a drop of fuel.

The Solar Impulse 2, piloted by Andre Borschberg of Switzerland, took off at 7.12am local time (0412 GMT) on Monday from the UAE’s Al-Bateen airport and headed to Muscat, the capital of Oman, where it is expected to land later after the first leg of the journey.

The developers said the aim was to create awareness about replacing “old polluting technologies with clean and efficient technologies”.

Electricity meters now increased to N60,000

The cost of acquiring pre-paid electricity meters by consumers in the country has risen due to the fall in the value of the naira following the currency’s recent devaluation by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

A single-phase meter, according to findings by our correspondent, can now be obtained for N39,375, while the three-phase meter now goes for N60,909.

Before now, the single-phase and three-phase meters were selling for N25,000 and N50,000.

However, with the latest development, the cost of the single-phase meter has risen by 56 per cent,

RECs to review card reader test tomorrow --- Jega

There were indications on Monday that the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, would on Wednesday (tomorrow) review the outcome of the card reader test with Resident Electoral Commissioners.
The meeting would also review the commission’s readiness for the     March 28 and April 11 general elections.

An INEC commissioner, who confided in one of our correspondents, said, “The commission has been

Vandalisation: The problem to Nigeria's power sector

Two years ago or thereabout, President Goodluck Jonathan told Nigerians to be prepared to crown him the most popular President of the country. This was on the strength of a comment by one of the participants at a media chat that any President who solved the problem of electricity in Nigeria would go down as the most popular President in its history.

Obviously, the President’s confidence in that riposte could not have been misplaced. It must have flowed from these critical elements – the desire in his heart, the ideas in his head, the plan on the

Flight MH370: Underwater locator battery had expired

Catherine Gang, whose husband Li Zhi was onboard the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, holds a banner as she walks outside Yonghegong Lama Temple after a gathering of family members of the missing passengers in Beijing March 8, 2015.

The first comprehensive report into the mystery of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 on Sunday revealed that the battery of an underwater locator beacon had expired more than a year before the plane vanished on March 8, 2014.

Apart from that anomaly, the detailed report devoted pages after pages to describe the complete normality of the flight, shedding little light on aviation's biggest mystery.

Jonathan in fitness walk

President Goodluck Jonathan on Saturday promised to institute a special fund for the country’s sports sector if re-elected for a second term on March 28.

Jonathan made the promise while addressing sportsmen and others at a solidarity rally organised for him at the Eagle Square, Abuja.

Vice-President Namadi Sambo in his short remark at the event said Nigeria could not afford to be governed by a 73-year-old President.

Field testing of card readers successful

The field testing of card readers which was held on Saturday was largely successful but not without some hitches.

These irregularities in the exercise that was meant to be a dress rehearsal according to findings by our correspondents ranged from the inability of the card reader to identify some finger and thumb prints and slow pace of the process.

However, occurrences of success permeated most of the poll units visited by our correspondents.

The major grouse of electorate in Niger State was the time spent on the accreditation of each voter.

Buhari criticises FG over fuel scarcity

Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has condemned the hardship faced by Nigerians in the search for petrol, saying the citizens were wasting productive hours queuing at filling stations.

“The countless number of man hours that will be spent at petrol stations will reduce our productivity as a nation. This should not be so,” Buhari said in a tweet on Tuesday.

Reps warn FG: Removing Jega’ll lead to violence

The House of Representatives on Tuesday warned the Federal Government against tampering with the existing “arrangements” for the March 28 elections, particularly the removal of the Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega.

The House noted that changing the election plans either by further extending the dates or removing Jega would only lead to a magnitude of violence, worse than what was witnessed   after the 2011 polls.