Prof. Isaac Adewole of the College of Medicine as emerged as the new Vice Chancellor of University of Ibadan. More details later.

    THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) appears to have begun a shaky journey to producing an acceptable voters’ register for the 2011 general elections.
A few days after the National Assembly hastily approved the sum of N87.721 billion for INEC to conduct the polls, posers, especially ethical questions, have been raised over the process of selecting would-be-executors of the contracts for the projects.
In fact, statistics and other information at the disposal of The Guardian, show that the entire process of selecting the contractors and suppliers of Direct Data Capturing Machines (DDCM) may have fallen far short of acceptable standards of transparency.
Worried public officials, who are abreast of the entire process, told The Guardian yesterday that the selection of contractors for the project may have made a mockery of the Federal Government’s acclaimed adherence to due process and public procurement system.
There are also allegations that both the technology to be used and the machines to be supplied may pose some challenges for a country like Nigeria with its epileptic power supply. There are also posers over the cost of the machines as well as the suitability of the firms for the jobs.
The Guardian learnt that while a Bangladeshi firm, which made bids for the supply of the machines at $1, 250 was not even considered, INEC has opted to acquire each machine for $2,000 from other sources. About 150,000 machines are required for the exercise.
Curiously, companies that won the DDCM contracts are reportedly now approaching the rejected firm for the supply of the machines.
A pathetic aspect of the saga is that because of his newness on the job, Chairman of INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega, may have relied only on the advice of key officials of the commission, who are alleged to have vested interests and may indeed be behind some of the contractors. 
So far, 11 companies have been hired by INEC to handle the voters’ registration exercise, with some of them allegedly sponsored by some government officials and those of INEC while one among those listed for the integration scheme, according to sources, has no known antecedents with data and the solution required for the project.
Also worrisome to stakeholders is that two of the companies featuring on the new deal had previously failed to deliver when they were hired for similar jobs before the 2007 general elections while one, which had also worked on the DDCM contract in 2007, was alleged to be involved in untoward practices leading to faults in the previous exercise. “There are problems in this exercise and Jega, being new and working with a sense of urgency, is only being compelled to sanction a less than ideal process,” the source said.
The contractors for the voters’ register are classified into three: Hardware, software supply and data integration. Four companies are involved

Buba Marwa, Jimoh Ibrahim, Aliko Dangote make the list
By  Daily Sun Staff

The Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) on Wednesday released a fresh debtors’ list, revealing that customers owe the latest five banks, whose audit reports were recently released, about N400 billion.

Bank PHB tops the list of the debt-ridden banks with N170 billion non-performing loans.Its subsidiary, Spring Bank,follows with N95.5 billion loan.Equitorial Trust Bank(ETB) has N46 billion loan in its portfolio, while Unity Bank and Wema Bank are owed N36.5 billion and N36 billion respectively.

DEBTORS to the five troubled banks whose managements were recently sacked by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have been reportedly barred by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from travelling outside the shores of the country pending the final payment of their debts. The five troubled banks are Union, FinBank, Oceanic, Afribank and Intercontinental. Debtors to the banks named by the CBN included billionaires Aliko Dangote and Femi Otedola, Rahmanniya Oil boss and potential in-law to President Umaru YarAdua, Alhaji Abdulraham Bashir, and Senator Ifeanyi Araraume.
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WAZIRI

POLITICIANS standing trial for alleged corruption will not be allowed to contest next year’s elections, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said Thursday.
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Former governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu,  and AC Chieftain  two days ago  issued the PDP a yellow card and said that the Action Congress is in a hurry to send the Peoples Democratic Party packing in next year’s elections. He also described Maurice Iwu, former INEC Chairman as a fraudulent man and challenged him to a court duel,“The software that is associated with the current voters register was pirated by Iwu’s administration; let him sue me, I know the address of the Canadian company".

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EMMANUEL Adebayor's feud with Robin van Persie began last season when he walked off with his strike partner's boots.
And Adebayor add insult to injury by dragging Van Persie into his battle with the FA.
The City striker was banned for three matches for raking Dutchman Van Persie's face with his studs during the explosive clash with Arsenal.
But the roots of their confrontation stretch back to the final day of last season when Adebayor scooped up boots and kit from the Arsenal dressing room. Read more...
 

There is good news on the tennis front. The hapless lineswoman who got threatened by Serena Williams can now walk the streets of this sinful world without fear or hindrance. She has been adequately assured (with public apologies) by the tennis champion that she never meant to shove a tennis ball down her throat - even though she may have said so in anger during her semi-final match against come-back mom, Kim Clisjters, in the US Tennis Open.