Govs should be blamed for unpaid salaries – Okonjo-Iweala

                Coordinating Minister for the economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

The Federal Government on Wednesday absolved itself of blame in the inability of some state governments to pay their workers’ salaries.

It said the governors of such states should be blamed for the development in their states because they were told through the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee to make the issue of wage a priority.

The Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said this in a statement by her Special Adviser on Communications,   Paul Nwabuikwu.

My brother stole 21 phones in one month –Adebayor

                                                                                       Emmanuel Adebayor

Former African Footballer of the Year Emmanuel Adebayor has launched an astonishing attack on his family, in which the Tottenham Hotspur striker accuses them of turning their backs on him, renting out property he paid for without his knowledge. In the case of his brother Rotimi, Adebayor accused him stealing mobile telephones while at a football academy in France.

In a lengthy Facebook post, the Togo international Adebayor talked about the financial burden of supporting his family but his reasons for bringing the issues light were an effort for other families to “learn from what happened in mine”, adding “keep in mind that none of this is about money.”

I’m cautiously optimistic about Buhari, says Soyinka

        Prof. Wole Soyinka

Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, says he believes that the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, cannot be worse than past presidents because he will be guided by a sense of history.

He, however, said he “is cautiously optimistic” about Buhari’s performance.

Soyinka said this while delivering a lecture titled, ‘Predicting Nigeria, Electoral Ironies’ at the Harvard University Hutchins Centre for African and African American Research in the United States, according to a gazette by the institution.

A former US Ambassador to Nigeria, Walter Carrington, had asked Soyinka if Buhari could reform Nigeria like the late Singaporean leader, Lee Kuan Yew.

Dangote insists on buying Arsenal

                                                      President, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote

Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has said he is still working towards buying Arsenal Football Club, despite the fact that his bid to acquire a stake in the club was rebuffed by the owners in 2010.

In an interview with Bloomberg, while on a journey from Addis Ababa to Lagos last Friday, Dangote expressed hope that his new strategy would enable him buy the north London club at a price the owners won’t want to resist.

He said, “I still hope, one day at the right price, that I’ll buy the team. I might buy it, not at a ridiculous price but a price that the owners won’t want to resist. I know my strategy,” Dangote, a known fan of the north London club, said.

‘Missing’ $20bn: Reps panel wants PwC probed

                                                                            Hon. Solomon Olamilekan

The House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts on Sunday asked the Federal Government and its agencies to stop further dealings with Pricewater House Cooper,   the firm that investigated the alleged $20bn missing oil money.

The committee said considering the controversy generated by the firm’s report on the missing money,   the International Federation of Accounting and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria should   probe   past audits carried out on behalf of the Federal Government the PwC.

A former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor and now the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi had last year   raised the alarm that   the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation did not remit the said sum to the federation account.