Michael Ojuroye Initiative (Ngo)

BY: FUNMI OJUROYE Nigerians were once again the losers, as six international oil companies — Royal Dutch Shell, ConocoPhilips, Chevron, Total, Eni and ExxonMobil — paid their shareholders a dividend of $38.76 billion (N6.201 trillion) in 2013. The dividends were for the 2012 financial year, which was approved by their respective shareholders a couple of weeks ago. The dividends declared by the six oil majors represent about 52.93 per cent of the Nigerian Stock Exchange’s, NSE, market capitalization of N11.714 trillion. The market capitalization of the NSE is the total market value of all the companies listed on the stock exchange. Last year, Nigerians also missed out from the over $30.82 billion or N4.87 trillion cumulative dividends declared by five IOCs in their home countries, following their refusal to list their shares on the NSE. The five oil majors operating in Nigeria – Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhilips, Statoil, and Eni, had declared a cumulative dividend of $30.82 bill...

BY:FUNMI OJUROYE An Egyptian court has ordered the release of former President Hosni Mubarak on charges of corruption. But it is not clear whether he will be freed from prison later on Wednesday. The prosecution may still appeal. The 85-year-old is also being retried on charges of complicity in the killing of protesters during the uprising that forced him from power in 2011, reports the BBC. He was sentenced to life in jail last year, but a retrial was later ordered after his appeal was upheld.

BY: FUNMI OJUROYE Akinlade, M. T. in this concluding part notes that the level at which violence is rocking northern Nigeria suggests that all is not well with the country. THE level at which violent conflicts ravage northern Nigeria today is a manifestation of the fact that, all is not well with the country as all the three geo-political zones in the region are affected. Meanwhile, all hope is not lost on peaceful co-existence of northern residents irrespective of social, political and economic status and place of origin as well as tribe/region as they can forgive themselves and put their differences aside as Blacks and Whites did in South Africa as well as Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda and Burundi did. Government has to take the lead in this process, if result is to be quickly achieved. Recommendations:  It is clear from the above that, the attainment of peace in northern Nigeria is a project that must be consciously and vigorously pursued. Meanwhile, the recipe for the...

BY: FUNMI OJUROYE Omoti Barry, Ketu, Lagos State, +23470524017: It is very painful that most of our leaders who happened to have benefitted from government  scholarship and were all educated in conducive school environment are the ones now destroying educational system in Nigeria. None of them is free of this blame because members of the military,  who travelled around the world  for training and various degrees were the very ones that started it while it was consolidated by our civilian leaders. How can we explain a situation whereby every year, we allow our tertiary institutions to be shut down without minding the consequences for the nation’s development.  It is not surprising that today, the nation’s universities are producing half-baked graduates, whose only ambition after school is to loot the nation’s resources.