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Abuja - Senate President David Mark on Monday advocated stiff punishment for anyone caught vandalising national assets and infrastructure irrespective of status to serve as deterrent. Mark made the call in a remark at the opening of a two-day Stakeholders' Forum held in Abuja on ``Protection of Critical National Assets and Infrastructure (CNAI).’’ The form was organised by the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) for stakeholders to interact and come out with measures to protect state assets. Mark, however, noted that some of those charged with the responsibility of handling and protecting the assets colluded with vandals to destroy such infrastructure for selfish reasons. The senate president, who was represented by Sen. Mohammed Magoro, Chairman, Senate Committee on National Security and Intelligence, said that the most critical asset of any nation was its human resource. According to him, protection of assets must start from within not from without and the critical asse...

By HENRY UMORU & JOSEPH ERUNKE ABUJA—THE Senate, Thursday, mandated its Committees on Finance and Petroleum (Upstream) to wade into the contentious $1.092 billion Malabu Oil Deal. Senate President, David Mark, who brought up the issue before his colleagues, during plenary, said there was need for the upper legislative chamber to carry out a thorough investigation with a view to unravelling the circumstances surrounding the controversies in the issue. Recall that the House of Representatives, had last week, summoned the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke over a letter purportedly written to a foreign organisation, Global Witness, saying the House cleared him of any wrong doing in deal. The Royal Dutch oil giant Shell and Italy’s oil major ENI, are being investigated by the British government for alleged money laundering over the Malabu Oil deal . The two oil firms with huge investment value in Nigeria are suspected to be connected to a money-l...

By SAM EYOBOKA, SOLA OGUNDIPE, HENRY UMORU & JOSEPH ERUNKE ABUJA— SENATE President, David Mark, yesterday, said proponents of Section 29 (4)(b) in the constitution hid under religious guise to get the section sail through during last week’s clause-by-clause voting in the on-going constitution amendment process. He said it was time Nigerians shunned religion when dealing with sensitive issues if the country must forge ahead. Already, the Christian Association of Nigerian, CAN, has concluded plans to mobilize Nigerians to protest the non-amendment of provisions of the Constitution, just as the Paediatric Association of Nigeria, PAN, has called for immediate reinstatement of the age of marriage to 18 years. Religious sentiment Mark, who said but for religious sentiment that was injected into the voting period, the section in question which tends to give support to underage marriage, would have been completely deleted from the nation’s constitution. [caption id="attachment_405725...