Super Ministers and Other Stories by Reuben Abati

President Buhari and the new Ministers

Super Ministers and other stories

By Reuben Abati

HAVE you congratulated our new Ministers?"
"I am still thinking about it, actually. I don't know whether to congratulate them or to commiserate or to pity some of them. They have merged Ministries that need not be merged. Some Perm Secs are now floating. Six months and this is it?"
"What kind of talk is that? You have come again oh".
"I wonder too. At least you can see that round pegs have been put in round holes, and shame on all you doubting Thomases, our government is good to go."
""Who is talking politics? Can we discuss Nigeria and leave politics out of it? And please, leave that thing about pegs. Some pegs are neither round nor square, they are misshaped."
"Everything is political."

Lagos To Have 263 Days Of Rainfall

Lagos State is expected to witness 263 days of rainfall with severe thunderstorms and strong winds this year, says the Lagos State Government.
Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello disclosed this Wednesday at a news conference where he presented the 2014 Seasonal Rainfall Prediction and Socio-Economic implication for Lagos State, southwest Nigeria.
At the event held at the Conference Room of the Ministry of the Environment, Bello disclosed that the total length of rainy season for 2014 in Lagos has been predicted to be 263 days with a marginal error of nine days.
“The Seasonal Rainfall Prediction, SRP, rainfall onset date for this year began in the first week of March in the southernmost part of the country and late June in the far northern parts. However, rainfall onset in Lagos Stare commenced from 14 March, 2014 in Ikeja, with a three-day marginal error given,” he explained.
He said the rainy season had been predicted to end between the first week of October and fourth week of December in most parts of the country, noting that the rainfall cessation was predicted to be earlier than normal in most parts of the country, saying that in Lagos, the cessation date was predicted to be 21 December, 2014 with a marginal error of three days.

Boko Haram plots to Invade Lagos in Military Vehicles

AN alleged plot by the terrorist group, Boko Haram, to invade Lagos in vehicles painted with military colours has been uncovered by security operatives.

  The Guardian learnt at the weekend from military authorities that   the group planned to attack Lagos with weapons in vehicles used by senior military officers painted with the colours of the Army, Navy or Air Force.
  This intelligence has made military authorities to order soldiers and naval ratings to thoroughly search vehicles painted with military colours, including those belonging to generals.

Dangote $9.2 billion richer in 2013, Gates leads the world

The man who is the most generous giver on earth, Bill Gates is also the richest individual, according to a Bloomberg report today.
Gates net worth ballooned by $15.8 billion to $78.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires index, as shares of Microsoft, the world’s largest software maker, rose 40 percent in 2013.
Bloomberg says that the 58 year-old software tycoon recaptured the title of world’s richest person on May 16 from Mexican investor Carlos Slim.

Gates’s fortune has also benefited from a rally in stock holdings that include the Canadian National Railway Co. and sanitizing-products maker Ecolab Inc., which rose 34 percent and 45 percent respectively.

Amosun, Fashola mourn Islamic leader, Abdul Lateef Adegbite

Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun, and his Lagos State counterpart, Babatunde Fashola, have expressed sadness over the death of the Secretary-General of the Nigeria Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs, Dr. Abdul Lateef Adegbite.

The Islamic leader and Baba Adinni of Egbaland died in a Lagos hospital of an undisclosed ailment aged 79.
His death reportedly threw Abeokuta and Egbaland into fresh mourning, coming on the heels of the demise of two prominent Egba sons, Chief Oluwole Adeosun and Chief Segun Taiwo.

Lagos traffic law, not to make money – Fashola

LAGOS – Inspite of the downpour in Lagos yesterday, Governor Babatunde Fashola said that the success of the Lagos Road Traffic Law would be determined by the level of voluntary compliance, stressing that the objective of the law was not to fine violators and generate revenue for the state, but to ensure safety and order on the roads.
Fashola made the remarks while addressing traders and transport union workers as part of sensitization of the state government‘s “ Motor Park Safety and Health programme”, at Iyana Ipaja motor park.

N3bn Lagos GIS project’ll soon become operational – SG

Lagos residents will soon be enjoying the benefits of the N3bn mapping and enterprise Geographic Information Service project initiated by the state government, as the grey areas are currently being worked on to ensure smooth operations.

The project was conceived to produce a digital database for implementing developmental programmes and orderly development of the state; come up with a navigator system that will provide route maps in electronic format to guide motorists, while the active Global Positioning System reference station will allow for monitoring of transportation and security systems.

Lagos CJ frees 236 Kirikiri Prisons inmates

Lagos Chief Judge, Justice Ayotunde Philips yesterday released 233 inmates, majority of whom were awaiting trials at the Kirikiri Prisons, Lagos.
The exercise which formed part of the on-going new legal year programmes was also a step to de-congest the prisons.
Most of the lucky inmates  have stayed for over 12 years.
The Chief Judge, who was accompanied by senior members of the judiciary including judges and the Chief Registrar,  released 133 inmates from the Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison and 103 from the Medium Security Prison.
She, however, shifted forward the attempt to release inmates from the women prisons, also located at Kirikiri.

Female banker crushes LASTMA official

A female banker, Yinka Johnson, on Friday crushed an official of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, Mr. Hameed Balogun, while driving against the traffic in the Ajah area of the state.

This came three weeks after another official of the agency, Mustapher Adeleke, was crushed by a bus driver, who was driving against traffic.

The incident was recorded a week after the Governor Babatunde Fashola signed the new traffic law.

Task force arrests 52 sex workers

he Lagos State Taskforce on Environmental and Special Offences (Enforcement) Unit has arrested 52 commercial sex workers.

The ladies, whose ages range between 18 and 34 years, were raided at different spots in Isaac John and Toyin streets in Ikeja by policemen attached to the unit.

It was learnt that the exercise, which took place between 10pm on Wednesday and 1am on Thursday, was as a result of several petitions by residents of the areas against the sex workers.