Panel inaugurated to probe uncompleted projects

President Olusegun Obasanjo has inaugurated a panel to review projects left uncompleted in Nigeria between January 1976 and December 1998, extending the probe to cover the period he ruled as military leader. In an interview broadcast on Monday by state-owned Voice of Nigeria, he also dispelled speculation that his administration merely wanted to probe previous regimes. “If then it is to probe past governments and government leaders, then I am being probed and my previous government is being probed by your panel,” he said. The radio said observers had described Obasanjo’s decision to include his period of military rule (1976-1979) in the period of review “as a signal to those in positions of responsibility to strive to be accountable”. The panel will take stock of all uncompleted projects, supplies and services for which contracts were awarded by government ministries since 1976. It has nine months to complete its task. Hundreds of projects, some of them already paid for, have never been finished. Senate asked to speed up vetting of ministerial nominees Obasanjo has asked the Senate to speed up the confirmation of his 49 ministerial nominees so he can get on with the business of governing, news reports said. “This is to ensure that government business was not unduly delayed,” Radio Nigeria quoted Doyin Okupe, the president’s special assistant on media and publicity, as saying. Obasanjo submitted his nominations to the Senate some two weeks ago, in line with constitutional requirements. Some senators have complained that the nominations are not sufficiently balanced by religious or regional representation within the Nigerian federation. These complaints have slowed down the confirmation process. Five killed in renewed clashes Five more people have died in renewed fighting in the troubled Niger Delta region of Nigeria, AFP reported. Quoting newspaper reports on Monday, it said armed Ijaw youths on Saturday attacked the Itsekiri town of Kantu, near the oil city of Warri. The attackers burned homes, killing the five, according to AFP. In a related development, the speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Francis Megwelle, called on the feuding communities to denounce their leaders for encouraging youths “to embark of senseless killings and destruction of property”, ‘The Guardian’ newspaper of Lagos reported on Tuesday. “There is a sinister force at work that had plagued Warri,” Megwelle said. He added that the issue of relocation or creation of a local government council headquarters - blamed for the cause of the unrest - had nothing to do with the real reason for the crisis. “The issue is just being used by the leaders,” he said. “It is greed.”