UEFA Champions League Last 16 Draw

Manchester United will face Real Madrird in the last-16 of the Champions League, Arsenal will travel to Bayern, while Celtic have been handed a tie against Italian champions Juventus.

The tie of the round sees Cristiano Ronaldo return to his old club for the first time since leaving for £80 million in 2009, while there is also a glamour game with fellow Spanish side Barcelona drawn against AC Milan.

First legs: February 12, 13, 19 and 20
Second legs: March 5, 6, 12 and 13

Round of 16

Galatasaray	v	Schalke 04
Celtic	v	Juventus
Arsenal	v	Bayern Munich
Shakhtar Donetsk	v	Borussia Dortmund
AC Milan	v	Barcelona
Real Madrid	v	Manchester United
Valencia	v	Paris Saint-Germain
FC Porto	v	Malaga

Via ESPN

National Assembly queries N5.7bn for 249 PPPRA Workers

The National Assembly Joint Committee on Petroleum (Downstream) has asked the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency to justify the N5.7bn budget for overheads and personnel for the 2012 period.

The committee, which comprised the Senate and the House of Representatives committees on Petroleum (Downstream), while considering the budget performance of the agency on Tuesday, noted that the said amount was voted for the payment of allowances and salaries of 249 members of staff of the agency.

Details of the PPPRA budget also showed that N2.1bn was earmarked for regular allowances, and had been released and utilised even before the end of the fiscal year.

According to PPPRA’s Executive Secretary, Mr. Reginald Stanley, out of the N5.7bn, a total of N4.95bn had been released.

But the committee wondered why the agency would spend N5.7bn on 249 workers and instructed it to submit to its nominal roll.

The committee also observed that the agency’s budget statement did not include the revenue profile, which should detail its sources of revenue.

In response, Stanley said PPPRA had two sources of revenue namely; internally generated revenue and the 15 kobo administration charge per litre of petroleum products on which subsidy was being paid by the Federal Government.

He also said the IGR raised through Value Added Tax and withholding taxes were paid directly into the Federation Account.

Via Punch

Sanusi to FG: Sack 50% of Civil Servants

Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido yesterday lamented the high cost of servicing the nation’s civil service and called on the Federal Government to fire at least 50 per cent of its entire workforce.

Sanusi, in his presentation at the  Second Annual Capital Market Committee Retreat in Warri, Delta State,  said the country  spends  70 per cent of its earnings on salaries and entitlements of civil servants.

He argued that having the Federal Government’s staff strength reduced by half would free up capital for infrastructure development in the country and buoy the economy.

The CBN governor had in a lecture  last year claimed that 25 per cent of the overheads of the Federal Government budget went to the National Assembly.

“Twenty five per cent of the overhead of the Federal Government budget goes to National Assembly. I have figures from the office of budget for the year 2010. Total government overhead is N536, 268,49, 280. Total overhead of the National Assembly is N136,259,768, 112 which is exactly 25.1 per cent of Federal Government overhead. The overhead of the National Assembly as a percentage of the Federal Government budget in 2009 was 19. 87 and in 2008 was 14.19”, he had  said.

Sanusi, at the retreat on Tuesday, advocated a more compact and less expensive system of government that would reduce overhead costs.

He said, “At the moment 70 per cent of Federal Government’s revenue goes for payment of salaries and entitlement of civil servants, leaving 30 per cent for development of 167 million Nigerians. That means that for every naira government earns, 70 kobo   is consumed by civil servants.

“You have to fire half of the civil service because the revenue  of the government  is supposed to be for 167 million Nigerians. Any society where government spends 70 per cent of its revenue on its civil service has a problem. It is unsustainable.

“The various tiers of government should cut down their recurrent expenditure and use the fund to provide basic infrastructure like schools, hospital, etc.

“How can we be using the proceeds from our major source of revenue to service recurrent expenditure, by paying salaries, allowances, etc. The country should be thinking of enhancing its productivity base rather than spending on things that cannot create wealth.”

Sanusi  added that  the country did not need  over 100 senators,  400 members of  the House of Representatives to make laws. He said when the expenses of lawmakers, civil servants and those in the executive arm of government are totalled, Nigerians will find out that their national revenue has been consumed by the Executive,  lawmakers and civil servants.

He also  faulted ‘wastage’ of funds on  the maintenance of 774 Local Government Area chairmen,  their   aides, councillors and other appendages of the  third  tier of government.

“Do we need 774 LGAs? Do we need 36 states some of which are  not viable? why not just remove them and have only state governments?,” he asked rhethorically.

According to him, “there are state governors whose monthly allocations are barely enough to pay salaries. I hear such governors complain and I say ‘why complain when the solution is simple?’ It is irresponsible to use all your money to pay salaries and wait for another month’s allocation and pay salaries and after four years, you would have done nothing.”

Via Punch

Boko Haram writes FG asking for dialogue

The Islamist militant group,  Boko Haram,  has distributed a letter requesting dialogue  with the Federal  Government. The letter, which was  sent through head of journalists in Borno State, Aba Kakami, came less than 72 hours after a double suicide bombing  led to the death of  at least 17 people at the Protestant Military Church, Armed Forces Command and Staff College in Jaji, Kaduna State.

Kakami  has often received and distributed statements from the sect.

According to an  international news agency, Reuters, the letter was signed by Sheik Abu Mohammed Ibn Abdulazeez, a man known  in  security sources to be a moderate senior member of the sect.

The letter, if  genuine,  would  mark a change  of departure  of  tactics by the  group which has been been responsible for  many  bombings in the country.

Nearly 3,000 people have died violent deaths related to the conflict since the sect launched its uprising in 2009, according to a count by Human Rights Watch. Boko Haram has replaced militancy in the oil-rich Niger Delta over that time to become the biggest security threat to Nigeria.

Communication  with Boko Haram , which   wants  imposition of  sharia  on Nigeria, has been even more sporadic than normal since the military killed its  spokesman, Abu Qaqa, in September.

Abdulazeez first contacted journalists in Maiduguri earlier this month, setting conditions for peace talks in the teleconference and nominating former Head of State,   Muhammadu Buhari , as a mediator. Buhari has since declined the offer.

“We are by this letter of invitation to our respected elders proving to government that we are not joking with the government, but we are awaiting the response of those concerned,” Abdulazeez said in the letter.

Abdulazeez said he was speaking on behalf of Abubakar Shekau, the sect’s leader.

But even if Abdulazeez does represent Shekau, the extent to which Boko Haram is controlled by Shekau is in doubt, and analysts think military pressure has fragmented it.

The letter nominated  Imam Gabchiya, an official  of  the University  of  Maiduguri, Borno State as  mediator.

Via Punch

Woman Dies After Three Airlines Say She’s Too Fat to Fly

Late last month, Bronx resident Vilma Soltesz and her husband Janos tried to board three separate airlines from Hungary to New York City, but they were repeatedly turned away. Why? Well, because they couldn't stuff Vilma's fatness into the plane, a seat, a wheelchair, an elevator — take your pick. This whole thing is a big mess and ends with a horrific twist. Vilma was was headed to New York to get treatment for kidney-failure to save her life, and since she was obviously unable to make the trip, she died. Ugh.

The couple originally travelled from their house in the Bronx to their vacation home in Hungary via Delta and KLM airlines. Their travel agent bought Vilma two tickets to ensure she'd have proper space, so it appears they were doing everything right per fat person flying protocol.

The return flight is where things get weird. On October 15, the couple attempted to board their KLM flight home for Vilma's meeting with her physicians about her kidneys. However, KLM didn't have the proper... I'm not sure what. KLM spokeswoman Ellen van Ginkel explained the set of circumstances that had them unable to take Vilma back home.

"It appeared on the passenger's return that it was not physically possible for her to board the aircraft, despite every effort made by KLM to this end," van Ginkel said. "A seat or belt extender did not offer a solution, either."

Wait, why didn't the seat belt extender work? What was difference between this flight and the ones that brought her to Hungary? I'm honestly confused.

So, after a five-hour wait, the couple was directed to Prague for a Delta flight but the wheelchair couldn't hold her. I'm guessing she had her own personal wheelchair, I'm not sure why that wasn't used? Also, allegedly the elevator couldn't hold her. 

Delta spokesman Russel Cason said that "despite a determined good-faith effort by Delta in Prague, we were also physically unable to board her on our aircraft."

Finally, the couple tried to board a Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to New York on October 22, but issues "arose when the plane crew and local fire officials could not fit Vilma in a three-seat gap after 30 minutes of trying."

Via Jezebel

Jose Mujica: The World’s ‘Poorest’ President • Donates 90% Salary to Poor • Shuns Presidential Mansion • Rides 1987 Volkswagen

It’s a common grumble that politicians’ lifestyles are far removed from those of their electorate. Not so in Uruguay. Meet the president – who lives on a ramshackle farm and gives away most of his pay.

Laundry is strung outside the house. The water comes from a well in a yard, overgrown with weeds. Only two police officers and Manuela, a three-legged dog, keep watch outside. This is the residence of the president of Uruguay, Jose Mujica, whose lifestyle clearly differs sharply from that of most other world leaders.

President Mujica has shunned the luxurious house that the Uruguayan state provides for its leaders and opted to stay at his wife’s farmhouse, off a dirt road outside the capital, Montevideo. The president and his wife work the land themselves, growing flowers.

This austere lifestyle – and the fact that Mujica donates about 90% of his monthly salary, equivalent to $12,000 (£7,500), to charity – has led him to be labelled the poorest president in the world. “I may appear to be an eccentric old man … But this is a free choice.”

“I’ve lived like this most of my life,” he says, sitting on an old chair in his garden, using a cushion favoured by Manuela the dog. “I can live well with what I have.”

His charitable donations – which benefit poor people and small entrepreneurs – mean his salary is roughly in line with the average Uruguayan income of $775 (£485) a month. All the president’s wealth is a 1987 VW Beetle.

Elected in 2009, Mujica spent the 1960s and 1970s as part of the Uruguayan guerrilla Tupamaros, a leftist armed group inspired by the Cuban revolution. He was shot six times and spent 14 years in jail. Most of his detention was spent in harsh conditions and isolation, until he was freed in 1985 when Uruguay returned to democracy. Those years in jail, Mujica says, helped shape his outlook on life.

“I’m called ‘the poorest president’, but I don’t feel poor. Poor people are those who only work to try to keep an expensive lifestyle, and always want more and more,” he says.

“This is a matter of freedom. If you don’t have many possessions then you don’t need to work all your life like a slave to sustain them, and therefore you have more time for yourself,” he says.

Via Punch

Total Fuel Subsidy Removal Is A Must – Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday launched a fresh campaign to totally remove the subsidy on fuel, barely a year after a similar campaign and forceful removal of subsidy almost brought the country to a standstill.

Jonathan said only the total removal of subsidy on petroleum products would attract investors to the oil sector and put an end to the importation of petroleum products as it is currently being done.

Jonathan started the fresh campaign to totally remove subsidy while receiving the report of the graduating participants of the Senior Executive Course 34, 2012, of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, near Jos, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

“Why is it that people are not building refineries in Nigeria despite that it is a big business? It is because of the policy of subsidy, and that is why we want to get out of it,” the President said. “There are certain decisions that government must take that may be painful at the beginning and people must be properly informed so that they will be ready to bear the pains.”

“I believe that you do not need a lifetime to change a nation. Under 10 years, Nigeria can change and people will not even believe that this is Nigeria again. Immediately you come up with strong policies in key sectors of the economy and keep it for 10 years, the change will be astronomical,” he said.

He said Canada had 16 functional refineries and Nigeria has four that are struggling to refine at 30 per cent of installed capacity because all the refineries in Canada are privately-owned.

Via Punch