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Mr Eddie Osarenkhoe, former President, Finance Houses Association of Nigeria (FHAN), on Sunday urged the Federal Government to embark on comprehensive rehabilitation of the nation’s three refineries to ensure maximum efficiency.

Osarenkhoe made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

The refineries are in Port Harcourt, Kaduna and Warri.

Osarenkhoe said that repairing them would enable the country to feel the impact of the rising prices of crude oil at the international market.

He lamented the continuous importation of petroleum products for domestic consumption, saying the practice had made the rising prices of crude oil not to be felt in the nation's economy.

Osarenkhoe also said Nigeria, being one of the largest exporter of crude oil, should position itself in a favourable way that would deliver good standard of living to its citizens.

“The rising Nigerian crude oil in the international market is supposed to impart positively on the economy and alleviate the suffering of the citizens,” he said.

He added that the government set 79 dollars as benchmark for crude oil in the 2013 budget and the prices had been fluctuating between 109 and 116 dollars at the international market.

“If the Federal Government can repair the refineries and manage the excesses from the crude oil effectively, these will lead to infrastructure building and development,” Osarenkhoe said.

He said the effective use of the surplus would also impart on the Gross Domestic Product by adding value to per capital income of the people.

“The government deficits have been on the increase due to the uncontrollable spending that had imparted negatively on the inflation rate,” he said.

Osarenkhoe, however, advised the Federal Government to be disciplined in its spending and ensure that the recurrent expenditure was drastically reduced.

He suggested that government should also use part of the surplus to address the epileptic power supply, to ensure stable electricity and attract inflow of foreign investors. (NAN)

Primate Rufus Ositelu of The Church of the Lord Aladura Worldwide says that licensing of religious preachers before operating in the country will not work.

Ositelu told newsmen in Ibadan on Sunday that the recent suggestion on preachers' permit by the Sultan of Sokoto, Saad Abubakar, was commendable due to security challenges, particularly in the north.

He said that one would also agree with the sultan, considering the background from where he spoke.

Ositelu, however, said considering the huge population and different religions, monitoring all religious preachers through permits was not practicable.

"The sultan made the suggestion because he knows that many clerics gave sermons which incited violence in the past,'' he said.

Ositelu recalled the case of the botched Miss World beauty pageant which ignited violence in the country following the clerics' preaching in the north.

He said such cases must have been the catalyst behind the sultan's suggestion.

Ositelu commended the sultan and described him as a true leader who had worked with Christian counterparts to fight religious violence in the country.

He said there was no way the government could control clerics and preachers in the country, saying it was not practicable.

Ositelu, who visited Ibadan to preach at a crusade organised by his church tagged "South-West for Christ" with the theme "divine encounter", suggested the establishment of state police to curb insecurity.

The cleric said state police, a form of community policing, could exist side by side with the federal police as practised in the U.S.

Ositelu said since the system would come from the local populace, it would be easier to prevent criminals from operating.

According to the primate, many unsolved criminal and murder cases were neglected in the past by federal police.

Church leaders, including host Rev. Amos Ajibola, Head, West-North Province of the church, attended the crusade.(NAN)

The Minister of State for Health, Dr Muhammad Pate, has enjoined expectant mothers go to hospitals or medical centres to deliver their babies to avail themselves of the usage of health facilities. Pate said this was necessary to enable HIV positive mot...

The Kaduna State Government will partner with the Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology (NITT) on traffic decongestion in the state.

Gov. Mukhtar Yero of Kaduna state said this when he met with the NITT Director- General, Alhaji Aminu Yusuf in Kaduna.

Yero said the partnership would also improve the capacity for transport workers and improve the transport system in the state.

He directed the state Commissioner for Works and Transport, Alhaji Sulaiman Richifa to arrange a meeting with the institute on ways they could partner to develop the state's transport system.

He added that the state government would soon disburse 700 tricycles, 40 taxis and 50 buses to ease transportation problems.  

“I direct the commissioner for works and transport to immediately after this visit arrange a meeting with you and your management to design areas of collaboration.

"Most of our people are engaged in transportation and the training would help us in this endeavour," he said.

The governor urged NITT and other Federal Government institutions to pay their taxes promptly as the board of internal revenue would soon carry out a verification exercise and “collect what belongs to us”.

Yero stressed the need for federal institutions to employ indigenes in keeping with the quota stipulated by the 1999 Constitution.

“We want to seek your cooperation to ensure that our people are properly employed in your institute, this is applicable to all federal institutions in Kaduna state.

" We want to ensure that they all meet up with the employment requirement if not, we would demand for it to be made up.

Earlier, the NITT Director-General emphasised the role of the transport sector in socio-economic development of the state.

Yusuf appealed to the government to prevail on various ministries to take advantage of the institute's programmes to ensure efficiency in transportation. (NAN)

A leader of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in Jigawa State, Alhaji Magaji Dogo Dan Umaru, has faulted critics of the members representing Kazaure, Roni, Gwiwa and Yankwashi federal constituency, Hon. Bashir Adamu Kazaure and that of Dutse/ K...

The Kwara State Government has said that it will not condone cultism in all its tertiary institutions. The Commissioner for Tertiary Education, Science and Technology, Alhaji Aliyu Lade, made this known on Friday when he paid an unscheduled visit to Kw...