Obama rejects Keystone XL pipeline bid

President Obama announced Friday that he has rejected Canadian energy giant TransCanada's application to build the Keystone XL pipeline, saying that the pipeline was not in the U.S. national interest.
"The State Department has decided the Keystone XL pipeline would not serve the interests of the United States. I agree with that decision," Obama said at a White House press conference.

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The announcement caps a 7-year saga that has become one of the biggest environmental flashpoints of Obama’s presidency. It comes just days after the State Department refused to agree to TransCanada’s request to suspend the review process on the controversial project, which has seen enormous opposition from environmental groups.
Killing the pipeline allows Obama to claim aggressive action on the environment. That could strengthen his hand as world leaders prepare to finalize a major global climate pact next month in Paris that Obama hopes will be a crowning jewel for his legacy.
Alberta-based TransCanada first applied for Keystone permits in September 2008 -- shortly before Obama was elected. As envisioned, Keystone would snake from Canada's tar sands through Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska, then connect with existing pipelines to carry more than 800,000 barrels of crude oil a day to specialized refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast.
Democrats and environmental groups latched onto Keystone as emblematic of the type of dirty fossil fuels that must be phased out. Environmentalists chained themselves to construction equipment and the White House fence in protest.
But Republicans, Canadian politicians and the energy industry touted what they said were profound economic benefits -- thousands of U.S. construction jobs and billions injected into the economy. They argued transporting crude by pipeline would be safer than alternatives like rail, and charged Obama with hypocrisy for complaining about the lack of investment in U.S. infrastructure while obstructing an $8 billion project.
Obama dismissed the claims that Keystone would be a major job creator.
“If Congress is serious about wanting to create jobs, this is not the way to do it,” he said, before calling for a bipartisan infrastructure plan that he says would make a more significant impact on job creation.
Republicans called the decision disappointing.
“President Obama’s denial of the Keystone XL pipeline project today following the company’s request to suspend its application is not surprising, but it is disappointing," Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D. said in a statement.
"It [is] ironic that after delaying construction for more than seven years – postponing the jobs, revenues and other benefits that would result from the project – the president now finds it pressing to make a decision just as the company is asking for a pause to resolve any concerns," Hoeven said.
Some Democrats, such as Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., praised the decision as a positive step in protecting the environment.
"I want to thank the Obama Administration for protecting the health of the American people and the health of the planet by rejecting the ill-advised Keystone tar sands pipeline, which would have brought the filthiest oil known to humankind into our country in large amounts,” Boxer said.

FG plans N8tn budget for 2016

The Federal Government is currently working on the 2016 budget that will be between N7tn and N8tn. The figures are higher than the 2015 budget of N4.4tn.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo disclosed this in a paper entitled: ‘The economy – Where we are today’, which he delivered at a presidential retreat organised by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation for ministers-designate on Thursday.

The retreat, which ends today (Friday), is holding behind closed-doors inside the old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, and has ‘Delivering change: From precepts to practice’ as its theme.

According to a copy of the paper obtained by our correspondent, Osinbajo told his audience that the government was working towards pegging capital expenditure in the 2016 budget at N2tn.

This, he said, was against the N1.31tn allocated to capital expenditure in this year’s budget.

He further said that while the percentage of capital expenditure to recurrent expenditure in the 2015 budget was 19.4, the government would propose 40 per cent for next year’s budget.

Osinbajo said, “The budget process will be zero based, a method of budgeting by which all expenses must be justified for each new budget year.

“For the Medium Term Expenditure Framework, the actual 2015 budget is N4.4tn, while the proposed 2016 budget will be N7tn to N8tn.

“Capital expenditure for the 2015 budget is N1.31tn, while the proposed capital expenditure for 2016 is N2tn.”

The vice president also disclosed that 655 Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government had so far registered for the Treasury Single Account domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria.

He put the number of TSA sub-accounts so far created by the CBN at 755.

Osinbajo further said that 518 MDAs had been verified and now had access to the central bank’s accounts.

Despite the September 15 deadline given to all the MDAs to key into the TSA system, the vice president said 137 MDAs had yet to comply with the directive.

He added that a total of N1.4tn had so far been paid into the TSA to date.

A TSA is a unified structure of government bank accounts enabling consolidation and optimal utilisation of cash resources.

It is a bank account or a set of linked bank accounts through which the government transacts all its receipts and payments, and gets a consolidated view of its cash position at any given time.

While giving an overview of the current state of the nation’s economy, Osinbajo noted that Nigeria experienced its worst economic decline in decades in May 2015.

“In May 2015, Nigeria experienced its worst economic decline in decades with sharp decline in oil prices from an average of $105 between 2011 and 2014, to $45 in 2015; foreign reserves at 10-year low of $29.595bn; oil production has declined to 2.05 million barrels per day; and power supply down to less than 3,000MW,” he said.

The vice president noted that the insurgency being witnessed in the North-East also led to a decline in agriculture production and an extensive damage to infrastructure.

He also noted that extensive corruption and mismanagement of resources were noticed in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s parallel budgets and what he called the legacy defence expenditure in the North-East.

Osinbajo put the budget deficit in 2015 at N1.05tn against the N960bn recorded in 2014, adding that foreign reserves had reduced from $38.4bn in 2014 to $30.2bn this year.

The vice president also put the nation’s Absolute Poverty Index at 62.6 per cent, while unemployment was at 8.2 per cent.

While putting the population of the poor at 110 million, Osinbajo said most Nigerians had remained poor despite rising revenues and Gross Domestic Product growth because the nation’s main revenue earners, the extractive oil and gas, did not by themselves create many jobs.

He also attributed the situation to the irony of a top-down economic model where the major revenue earner was extractive and the value chain was poorly developed.

Other factors, according to him, are corruption and lack of transparency; infrastructure problems as well as low spending on health care, education and others.

Osinbajo said the nation could get out of possible recession by embarking on massive infrastructure building/renewal programme; social spending/social protection; improved consumer spending and job creation; and expansionist fiscal/monetary policies.

Dickson hails Buhari for revealing Nigeria’s financial status

The Governor of Bayelsa State, Seriake Dickson, has commended President Muhammadu Buhari for disclosing the economic status of the country.

Dickson urged Bayelsa people to brace up to the harsh financial situation facing the state.

He spoke at a meeting with the new Special Advisers at the Government House, Yenagoa, a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson, said on Thursday.

The governor said the way out of the present economic doldrums was diversification from oil and gas sector of the economy.

Dickson said, “Already, you are all aware of the statement by the President that our country is in a very dire financial situation. That comment has attracted a lot of criticisms, but I agree with the President that Nigerians are entitled to know the true state of the economy.

“Investors who want to do business in Nigeria are entitled to know the true state of our economy. Let me use this opportunity to call on all Bayelsans to listen to what the President has said that the entire country is broke.

“He has made us to understand that the financial situation that we are managing is a national phenomenon. It is not peculiar to Bayelsa.

“For the allocation of last month, the Federation Account Allocation Committee could not meet until the past month because they didn’t have money to share to the states and even when they met for the first time since I took over as governor, states have started getting zero allocation.

“I don’t know why people are blaming the President for saying that our country is broke, because that is the truth about the economy. States can’t pay salaries; we can’t meet our basic responsibilities. I can’t pay allowances to myself and my staff.

“However, even in the midst of that, we are managing to pay salaries. Even in this terrible month, we’ve directed that by Monday salaries of workers should be paid.”

He charged his appointees to bring their wealth of experience to bear in the present administration’s efforts to consolidate on its achievements.

According to him, the new aides were coming into government at a crucial moment of election and, therefore, urged them to join forces with other critical stakeholders of the Peoples Democratic Party to mobilise support for the party in the forthcoming election.

Why we prevented Dasuki from travelling abroad – DSS

The Department of State Services, DSS, late Thursday revealed that the raid, earlier in the day, on the Abuja home of Sambo Dasuki, former National Security Adviser, was for a different case he has before a committee probing an arms deal that occurred during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Dasuki is facing cases of alleged possession of illegal firearms as well as money laundering.
His home was reportedly raided Thursday by the DSS after a court had granted him the opportunity to travel abroad for medical treatment and had asked that his international passport be returned to him.
“The public may wish to note that the government set up the Committee to investigate procurement processes relating to a $2 billion arms transaction by the last administration, under which SAMBO was the NSA.
“It was on this premise that he was invited by the committee to shed more light on his involvement in the deal.
“It, therefore, remains surprising and shocking that SAMBO has refused to honour invitations of the committee but instead resorts to grandstanding and subtle blackmail of the service.
“His refusal to appear before the committee has left the service with no option than to adopt legal means to ensure his attendance,” the statement said.
The DSS added: “therefore, without doubt, SAMBO is pulling all strings available to him to evade justice and put the Service in bad light.
“The simple fact is that the DSS is not persecuting him. Nigerians are therefore enjoined to disregard the impression being created by him.
“This Service wishes to re-emphasise its commitment to the rule of law and strict adherence to democratic ideals.
“However, any person or group, no matter how highly placed, that may wish to test the will of the present democratic dispensation, will definitely be checked through the legal provisions of the law.”
The DSS described as unfounded the impression created by those sympathetic to Dasuki that the latest invasion contravened the court ruling.
“It may be recalled that SAMBO was initially arrested and charged to court for unlawful possession of firearms and money laundering, for which reason his international passport was seized and on the order of the court, returned to the registrar for custody.
“What has however brought the seeming standoff between SAMBO and the service, despite the court-ordered release of his international passport on 4th November, 2015, is his refusal to appear before a committee undertaking the investigation of an entirely different case,” the DSS stressed.

Nigeria among top five migrant countries to EU

Nigeria has been listed among the top five migrant countries to Europe. The most populous black nation in the world is only behind Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Eritrea.
According to the European Commission, three million migrants who are fleeing war and poverty are expected to enter the EU by 2017, a development likely to have a marginal positive impact on the economy of the continent.
Syria accounts for 53 per cent of the migrants and is followed by Afghanistan with 18 per cent while Iraq who is placed third accounts for six per cent.

Most of the migrants from these countries are fleeing the war in their countries but the story of Eritrea who accounts for five per cent of migrants and that of Nigeria which is three per cent can be put down to poverty, conflicts and abuses.
EU economic commissioner Pierre Moscovici believes that the influx of migrants could boost gross domestic product by 0.2 to 0.3 percent.
He said the “weak but positive” economic effect of the migrants could help offset growing hostility towards them.
“It means you can’t say the influx of refugees is likely to have a negative impact or kicking people out of the labour market,” Moscovici said, unveiling the Commission’s autumn economic forecast.

Migrants wait in Catania harbour after being rescued by the Italian coast guard on August 26, 2015 while as 50 bodies were found in the hold of a boat heading for Italy (AFP Photo/Dario Azzaro)

“That will combat a certain number of received ideas and backs the politics of President (Jean-Claude) Juncker,” who has pushed for the EU to do more to help them.
The Commission, the executive arm of the 28-nation European Union, said it expected one million migrant arrivals in 2015, soaring to 1.5 million in 2016 then decreasing to half a million in 2017.
UN refugee officials say more than 750,000 migrants have arrived in the EU by sea this year, up from 282,000 in total in 2014.
The vast majority have arrived in Greece (608,000), which has become the most common destination. Some 140,000 have arrived in Italy in 2015.
Most of the migrants head for Germany, hoping to get asylum there. German officials say their country is likely to host at least 800,000 new migrants this year, and the total could reach 1.5 million.
Additional report from AFP

Alaafin of Oyo celebrates his 77th birthday with his youngest wife, a sash and baloons

The Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III turned 77 years old a few weeks ago and celebrated the special day with his youngest wife, Olori Badirat Adeyemi, balloons, a cake and he wore a sash!