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Sam Amadi to deliver 6th JFCN annual lecture
Dr. Sam Amadi, a former Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission(NERC), is the Guest Speaker at the 6th Annual lecture of Just Friends Club of Nigeria which holds at Bolingo Hotel, Abuja on Tuesday, November 5, 2024. The time of the event is 10 am.
A statement by the club’s President, Mr. Fred Ohwahwa,stated that the topic of Dr. Amadi’s lecture is: “ HIGH COST OF GOVERNANCE AS AN IMPEDIMENT TO DEVELOPMENT.”
Dr. Amadi is currently the Director of Abuja School of Social and Political Thought and a Visiting Professor at the Emerald Energy Institute at the University of Port Harcourt.
He holds a research doctorate degree (SJD) in Law from Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts (2004), a Master of Public Administration (MPA) {2003} and a Master’s in Law (LL.M (2001) from the same institution. He has an LL.B. from the University of Calabar, in 1992. He was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1993 after passing from the Nigerian Law School.
The Chairman of the 6th JFCN Annual Lecture is a former Executive Director (Programmes) of Nigerian Television Authority(NTA) and former Director General of National Lottery Regulatory Commission, Olorogun Peter Igho.
The panelists are Dr. Ahmed Adamu, an associate professor and a petroleum economist at Nile University, Abuja; Dr. Felix Oisamoje, an adjunct Senior Lecturer of Mass Communications at Bingham University, Keffi; and Mr. Maxwell Kadiri of Open Society Justice Initiative.
The Master of Ceremony is Mrs. Eugenia Abu, a broadcast journalist, writer, poet and media consultant, best known as a former News Anchor and Correspondent for NTA.
It would be recalled that the Guest Speaker at the inaugural Annual Lecture was Mr. Benjamin Ezra Dikki, then Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises. Dikki spoke on “The Federal Government’s Privatization and Economic Reform Programme.” The Guest Speaker at the 2nd JFCN Annual Lecture was Mr. Tony Ejinkeonye, then President, Abuja Chamber of Commerce & Industry, who spoke on “the Role of the Private Sector in FCT Development.”
The 3rd JFCN Annual Lecture had Dr. Abraham Nwankwo, a former Director General of Debt Management Office, as Guest Speaker and his topic was “Realism and Paradox in Financing Nigeria’s Huge Infrastructure Needs.” The 4th JFCN Annual lecture had Rev. Father George Ehusani as Guest Speaker.His topic was “Beyond The 2023 Elections: That Nigeria May Be Saved.” A former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Prof. Chidi Anslem Odinkalu, was the Guest Speaker at the 5th JFCN Annual Lecture. His topic was “Resetting Nigeria.”
JFCN is a socio-cultural organisation that fosters and encourages the spirit of oneness, companionship and comradeship amongst members and between the club and other friendly associations. The club is also involved in recreation, sports and engages in acts of philanthropy in favour of the needy members of the society at large. Its members are professionals in engineering, communication, accounting, business, legal and other sectors of the economy.
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Davido’s father, Adedeji narrates how govt officials want to frustrate his power plant project
Adedeji Adeleke, the father of the award-winning superstar, David, popularly called Davido, has revealed what he went through securing the environmental permit for his power plant worth over $2 billion.
The billionaire industrialist disclosed this while speaking as a Layperson from the West-Central Africa Division during the Seventh Day Adventist General Conference Annual Council on Tuesday, which was held in Maryland, United States of America.
While sharing his experience as a Baptist member, Adeleke recounted how he ran into bottlenecks with ‘difficult government officials’, with a particular official saying to him that the project would never ‘see the light of day’.
He said he went on his knees and prayed to God because he did not want to accept the government official’s statement as the final say for his company, Pacific Energy which was closely working with Chinese engineering companies for the construction and design of the power projects.
“I am a businessman in Nigeria. I’m into the electricity business. I own a power plant, I generate about 15 per cent of the electricity needs for Nigeria. I have Chinese engineering companies that work for me. I’m building the biggest power plant in Nigeria that will be completed in January 2025. It is a 1,250-megawatt power plant.
“During the course of the design and getting the permit, we ran into difficult government officials. For environmental reasons, our permit was denied, and the particular government officials that I held a meeting with told me to my face that my project would never see the light of the day. But while he was saying that, I was saying in my mind that this guy is talking as if he is God. I was saying in my mind that God should listen to him; Because he is not God, whatever he is saying is null and void.”
“So I left, disappointed and I told my Chinese friends that unfortunately we have difficulty and this project is going to stall. Meanwhile, the project is worth about $2 billion. In the process, a lot of money had already gone into the design and preliminaries. Before we get to the stage where we would need a permit and then break ground. So my Chinese friend was worried because the Afrexim Bank of China was involved so that meant bankruptcy for him. I told him not to worry,” he said.
Adeleke further stressed that his Chinese friend had to travel down to Nigeria to discuss a way out because he never believed that prayer was enough to get the project done, noting that it did as the then Minister of Power granted the approval because he saw that the project was a brilliant one.
Recall that Adeleke had earlier spoken about this power project while delivering a lecture note at the 9th graduation ceremony of Adeleke University, Ede, Osun State in July 2023
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Yoruba Nation: Stop intimidating British High Commissioner, Igboho cautions FG
Yoruba nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo, otherwise known as Sunday Igboho, has warned the Federal Government against intimidating the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Richard Montgomery, over his recent petition on the Yoruba nation.
Recall Igboho had, on Saturday, submitted a 25-page petition to the office of UK Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, at 10 Downing Street, London, pushing for the recognition of a sovereign Yoruba nation.
In a statement personally signed by Igboho and made available to newsmen on Wednesday, the activist described the reported summoning of Montgomery by the Nigerian government as unnecessary, labelling it an attempt to pressure the diplomat.
He insisted that such moves would not derail the ongoing push for a Yoruba nation.
The statement read, “The British government colonised Nigeria, and we are well within our rights to submit a petition to them regarding our demand for a sovereign Yoruba nation. Nigeria gained independence on October 1, 1960, from the British government, but the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates in 1914 was a decision made by the British.”
Igboho argued that Yoruba people have a constitutional right to demand secession 100 years after the amalgamation, calling the union a “marriage of inconvenience.”
“The main reason we submitted our letter to the UK government is to have them serve as a witness before the United Nations whenever the issue of the Yoruba nation is brought up at an international level,” the statement continued.
He added that the standard response time for such official letters is around two weeks, suggesting that Prime Minister Starmer might not have even read the petition yet.
However, Igboho reassured the Yoruba people that the intimidation tactics of the Nigerian government would not deter the movement.
The statement added, “We remain committed to peaceful, non-violent, and legitimate methods of ensuring the birth of a Yoruba nation. Our people should stay calm and resolute, confident in our collective struggle for emancipation so that we can harness our great potential in a vibrant Yoruba nation once it is created out of the current Nigerian contraption.”
Igboho further stated that the summoning of Montgomery in Abuja would not halt the campaign, adding that he would not hesitate to rally global support for the cause.
“We will continue to seek international backing and bring our agenda before the global community,” the statement concluded.
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