A Nigerian newspaper and Online version of the Vanguard, a daily publication in Nigeria covering Niger delta, general national news, politics, business, energy, sports, entertainment, fashion,lifestyle human interest stories, etc
The Police Command in Anambra said 14 suspected Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) members had been arrested in Onitsha over alleged illegal procession.
File: MASSOB protests
Mrs Nkeiruka Nwode, Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in the state, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, made the disclosure in an interview with newsmen in Onitsha on Tuesday.
Nwode said that the arrests were carried out in different parts of the town during a procession by the group to mark 17 years of its existence.
She explained that the persons were arrested for illegal procession, adding that no life was lost in the confusion that followed the arrest of the members.
However, Religious Administrator of MASSOB, Rev. Apostle Ezichukwu, claimed that more than 50 members were arrested, with 20 missing and one person allegedly shot by the police.
Ezichukwu, who said that the procession was peaceful, wondered why the police arrested members of the group.
He alleged that security personnel from the Army, Police, Navy and NSCDC were detaining MASSOB members at the Army Barracks, Onitsha, police headquarters, Awka and other police stations.
Also speaking, the Anambra North Zonal Leader of MASSOB, Mr Benjamin Omenka, appealed for the release of those arrested and urged members of the group to be patient.
According to him, the present call for restructuring by some segments of the country came as a result of the fear for Biafra independence by those who have tied the country down.
"Let the whole world know that we are resolute in our stand for a Biafra Republic.
"It is not compulsory that we shall remain one indivisible nation, so they should allow us to go to our Promised Land," he said, adding that the agitation would remain a peaceful one.
Dr Ben Ugheoke, the Chairman Academic Staff Union of Universities(ASUU), University of Abuja chapter, has denied issuing strike notice to the Federal Government.
Ugheoke, in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja said that he did not grant any interview or issue a statement on pending strike contrary to reports.
"My attention has been drawn to a publication online and on social media captioned- ASUU: union to begin strike October 2nd.
"The story is said to have been authored originally by Press Team of University of Abuja.
"The general public and ASUU National Executive Council (NEC) should know and note that no one came, either as journalist or any Press Team to interview me.
"I hereby denounce such a publication as the work of mischief makers, targeted at misleading the unsuspecting public about the trajectory of the struggles of ASUU.
"That are aimed at revitalising the university and indeed the education system of Nigeria."
He urged members of the public and stakeholders to disregard the report as it did not originate from him.
The Chief Medical Director (CMD) of Yusjib Industrial Medicare, Ilorin, Dr Yusuf Abdulraheem, says he has discovered a young lady that has been faking pregnancy for close to nine months.
Abdulraheem told newsmen on Tuesday in Ilorin that he discovered that the lady used clothing as a disguise for the pregnancy by stuffing them under her normal clothes to make her appear pregnant.
According to the doctor, he made the discovery while trying to examine the lady who is in her early twenties.
He said that the lady identified herself as Azeezat Abubakar.
The CMD said that the lady who was brought to the hospital for delivery, identified herself as Azeezat Abubakar.
He added that he became suspicious when she refused to be examined.
"She has been using my hospital name to claim money at home, telling her family she is doing her ante-natal in Yusjib.
"When her family brought her, I noticed that i had never seen her face before, but for the benefit of doubt, I told her to remove her folder which she could not locate.
"In the absence of one, I opened a new folder for her; I requested she come to the couch for examination only for her to be squatting.
"It was her mother-in-law who forced her to the couch and as I tried to examine her tommy, I discovered it was clothes she padded there'', Abdulraheem said.
The doctor condemned the incident and urged mothers to monitor their young girls with closely.
He also wondered why the mother-in-law did not discover the fake pregnancy for close to nine months.
All efforts to reach the family for comments proved abortive as they were not returning calls or text messages.
By LAWANI MIKAIRU Arik Air has just confirmed that it is suspending flight operation due to its inability to immediately renew its aircraft insurance.
A statement by its Spokesman, Mr Adebanji Ola said "Arik Air, West and Central Africa's largest airline has alerted all air travelers of a temporary disruption to its operations, pending approval of aircraft documentation related to insurance renewal."
"The airline said that it was working around the clock to resolve the necessary documentation, which has been a challenge due to the long weekend holidays due to Ed al Adha."
Acting Auditor-General for the Federation, Mrs Florence Anyanwu, has said that environmental audit of the River Niger would begin soon to prevent it from drying up like Lake Chad river.
She said this on Tuesday in Abuja during the 6th Annual Meeting of African Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions Working Group on Environmental Audit (AFROSAI WGEA).
The theme of the meeting is "Working together for a healthy and sustainable environment in Africa.''
Anyanwu said that the River Niger was drying up gradually on the Onitsha side and that in some countries where it flowed to, it had dried up.
She said that Nigeria represented the largest coastal area of the river and that there were lots of economic activities that it represented.
"There is also a whole lot of prospective power and navigation activity, so it is very relevant and important even in terms of agriculture.
"We do not want to sit back and watch what happened to Lake Chad to happen to River Niger.
"So the earlier we can address it as Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs), the earlier we can come up with recommendations to assist our member countries to be able to address them in policy formation and implementation.''
Anyanwu said that at the end of the meeting, the commencement of the auditing would begin "although the policy itself and the agreement to start that audit have already been adopted by the AFROSAI WGEA".
She also said that Nigeria would particularly like to see that the Niger Basin Authority comprising Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Cote d' Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Niger agree to commence the cooperative environmental audit project.
In her speech, Chairperson of AFROSAI WGEA, Mrs Mbah Fomundam, said that the meeting would address issues of wild legal poaching and illegal trade, bio-diversity and plastic pollution.
She said that for some years now environmental sustainability had become a global challenge that was synonymous to responsibility towards future generations.
"It therefore behoves on the SAIs to make sure that the governments are implementing the policies, because the environment is not only for us but for posterity, for the future, our children and our grandchildren.
"In this regard, good governance is important in ensuring that commitments taken in the area of environmental protection and sustainable development produce credible results.''
Fomundam said that the results of the audit of the Lake Chad had been submitted to the different governments, and that the different governments would meet to know the next step to take.
"The audit report was to look at the laws of each country, the international laws adopted as far as the Lake Chad is concerned or the environment concerning water and forestry.
"What laws have been adopted, what has the countries done to implement these laws, are they respecting these laws?''
Declaring the meeting open, the Minister of Environment, Mrs Amina Mohammed, said that environmental auditing was an essential component of sustainable environmental management.
Represented by the Director of Forestry, Mr Philip Bankole, she said that such audit provided the mechanism to know what had gone wrong over time while highlighting the need for urgent policy action.
She, however, said that the protection of the environment was the responsibility of all and that government would continue to provide the enabling atmosphere for sustainable environmental management.
Mr Tassilo Droste, Technical adviser to AFROSAI, in his remarks said that the report on the drying-up of Lake Chad was so important and that it was time for the recommendations to be implemented.
According to him, Lake Chad has become smaller than it was 40 years ago and as a shallow lake without sufficient rain, if it does not replenish fully will not serve its purpose.
"So the lake is smaller than it used to be and that happens in a context where there is more population; so you can imagine less water and increasing population at the same time.
"That means that there is more pressure on the environment, so more people have to share less water and that is obviously problematic."
Droste said that there was a multiplier effect to the drying of the river because people lived on fish and agriculture which needed water.
"If people do not have them, people would be forced to move into the big cities and there may be conflicts because of migration and so these are linked to how we manage the water in the Lake Chad area.''
The meeting which began on Monday would end on Thursday.
Angelique Kerber, the newly-crowned world number one in women tennis, says she has nothing left to prove after clinching the U.S. Open for a second Grand Slam this year.
Angelique Kerber
The German said at a news conference in Munich following her return to Germany on Tuesday that she now has to enjoy the benefits of her place in the record books.
The 28-year-old became the oldest player to rise to that rank when the new list was published on Monday.
It helped in capping a memorable summer that also included the Olympic silver medal at Rio de Janeiro and a Wimbledon final appearance.
Her success in Rio was followed up by a final defeat in Cincinnati to Katerina Pliskova, who she then beat in the U.S. Open final.
"In Cincinnati, that is where the questions about number one started coming up and that is where the additional pressure started,'' she said.
Kerber had started the year by winning the Australian Open but said her triumph in New York on Saturday, coupled with the number one ranking, had now taken off any pressure.
"Winning the second grand slam, it was a bit different,'' she said.
"I don't have anything to prove anymore. I am at the top, number one. I waited for this moment all my life,'' she said.
"Melbourne was different as it was my first grand slam. I had to deal with a lot of things off the court after that.''
Kerber had beaten Pliskova in three sets in New York, having secured the top spot days earlier following Serena Williams' exit.
Looking back, she said her improved fitness and mental strength had been key to her success.
"This year everything came together. The experiences, specifically dealing with pressure. I am even fitter now than earlier this year.
"I am more positive and can deal with things even if they do not go that well.
"This mental strength was a life-saver when I was trailing 3-1 in the third set," she said. "At 28, I am now at the peak of my career and can enjoy it."
Kerber said she would now put her tennis racquet to the side for a few days and would treat herself to a special gift with some of her $3.5 million prize money.
"It will probably be in the direction of jewellery. But exactly what it will be I do not know yet."
Rolling out the second-generation Apple Watch this week, Apple has positioned fitness, and fitness alone, as the device's main selling point. High-end fashion, and friend-to-friend gestures like the heartbeat share, were hardly mentioned. Exercise was the unrivaled star of the watch reveal.
Tim Cook's keynote introduced the new "Series 2" device with a promotional video dominated by sports: color bursts of swimming, tennis, basketball, cycling, stairs, skateboarding, jogging and on and on. The watch's featured hardware changes, in addition to the requisite processor upgrade, were a GPS chip and a new "swimproof" water rating.
The upgraded operating system, watchOS 3, is all about fitness too: new Activity watch faces, workout sharing, additional health metrics, and a new "Breathe" app. Cook called the watch the "ultimate device for a healthy life." He said he expected the new version to be "especially popular with runners" - and proceeded to invite Nike's brand chief to introduce a full-fledged, standalone unit: the Apple Watch Nike+. The Nike version, with its own specialized bands and watch faces, was hailed as the "perfect running partner."
The Series 2 announcement did include a brief mention of new Hermés bands, as well as enhanced emojis and a "Scribble" finger-drawn input system. But the original tripartite pitch - style, communication and health - was reduced to a single, focused sell: the Apple Watch is a fitness device. And with that shift Apple has substituted a strand of self-improvement - disciplined and quantitative - for its longstanding appeals to iconoclastic self-expression.
Equally prominent, in that first unveiling, were the watch's communication features. The Dick Tracy phone calls, the intimate "Digital Touch" messaging, the dedicated "Friends" side button: The stress, back in 2014, was on new, "subtle ways to communicate." With the Series 2 version, most of that fell away. Even the side button has been repurposed as an app-loading dock. And now it's your Activity rings - the addictive circles that track standing, movement and exercise - you're encouraged to share.
The business angle of Apple's pivot to fitness isn't that interesting. The company is following its customers and the broader wearables market - where lower-cost wristbands like Fitbit are reportedly picking up market share. The Nike+ deal isn't an aspirational bid to tap an underserved market. Instead, right now at least, exercise tracking is the reason consumers are buying smart watches and "basic" wearables like the Fitbit.
The intriguing thing about Apple's shift in marketing is its elevation of self-improvement over self-expression. The original watch was promoted as a custom display of personal style - as an identity statement on par with clothing. Cook described the original watch as the "most personal device Apple has ever created," and the device's web copy reinforced the point: Apple Watch is "more than a tool. It's a true expression of your personal taste." Or, in a later rendition: "From the way it works to the way it looks, Apple Watch isn't just something you wear. It's an essential part of who you are."
The new web copy, however, drops all the expressive language: The Series 2 Watch is "designed for all the ways you move," full of features that "help you stay active, motivated and connected."
Apple switches its flavor of self-help
The shift represents a victory of one mode of self-help over another. As sociologist Micki McGee observed in Self-Help, Inc., a pair of ethics have long competed in the American self-improvement market, one emphasizing self-mastery and the other self-discovery. Think Tony Robbins versus Oprah Winfrey: Robbins asks us to treat ourselves as objects to (relentlessly) work on, while Winfrey preaches meditative fulfillment.
What's novel about Apple's move is that self-discipline is getting delegated to a device. In a sense, watch wearers are outsourcing their superegos to a publicly traded company, the world's most valuable. With every tap-to-stand and Activity report - "a nudge when you need it" - the watch becomes more like a personal trainer, one coded by Apple engineers. By baking in fitness-sharing ("Healthy loves company"), the new watch appeals to social comparison and competition too - "whether it's to send encouragement or a little smack talk." And Apple's exercise-centric messaging is built around quantitative self-monitoring, via bar graphs and calorie counts and beats-per-minute tallies. The Series 2 "tracks all the ways you move throughout the day," reads new web copy. "Select up to five metrics to view at once."
Exercise is a good thing. But we shouldn't pretend the design and promotion of devices like the Apple Watch are value-neutral. By the time they're slotted under flawless in-store glass, they already have a set of ideals preinstalled. In the Apple Watch case, those values reflect their California origins: Our selves are objects to work on, to sculpt and measure, in competition with others. Indeed, the watch echoes the subculture of dedicated self-quantifiers, who - to a deliberate extent - define themselves in metrical terms.
The watch's new "Breathe" app is a fascinating case in counterpoint. The app, which encourages periodic deep breathing, is meant to "help you practice mindfulness every day." Here is a reminder of Silicon Valley's long flirtation with New Age mysticism - as well as the gauzy repurposing of Buddhist meditation for the self-help industry. If anything, the Breathe app is a throwback to Apple's expressivist marketing campaigns. And in that respect the new watch echoes a century-old American injunction: If you want to get ahead, go find yourself.
Rolling out the second-generation Apple Watch this week, Apple has positioned fitness, and fitness alone, as the device's main selling point. High-end fashion, and friend-to-friend gestures like the heartbeat share, were hardly mentioned. Exercise was the unrivaled star of the watch reveal.
Tim Cook's keynote introduced the new "Series 2" device with a promotional video dominated by sports: color bursts of swimming, tennis, basketball, cycling, stairs, skateboarding, jogging and on and on. The watch's featured hardware changes, in addition to the requisite processor upgrade, were a GPS chip and a new "swimproof" water rating.
The upgraded operating system, watchOS 3, is all about fitness too: new Activity watch faces, workout sharing, additional health metrics, and a new "Breathe" app. Cook called the watch the "ultimate device for a healthy life." He said he expected the new version to be "especially popular with runners" - and proceeded to invite Nike's brand chief to introduce a full-fledged, standalone unit: the Apple Watch Nike+. The Nike version, with its own specialized bands and watch faces, was hailed as the "perfect running partner."
The Series 2 announcement did include a brief mention of new Hermés bands, as well as enhanced emojis and a "Scribble" finger-drawn input system. But the original tripartite pitch - style, communication and health - was reduced to a single, focused sell: the Apple Watch is a fitness device. And with that shift Apple has substituted a strand of self-improvement - disciplined and quantitative - for its longstanding appeals to iconoclastic self-expression.
Equally prominent, in that first unveiling, were the watch's communication features. The Dick Tracy phone calls, the intimate "Digital Touch" messaging, the dedicated "Friends" side button: The stress, back in 2014, was on new, "subtle ways to communicate." With the Series 2 version, most of that fell away. Even the side button has been repurposed as an app-loading dock. And now it's your Activity rings - the addictive circles that track standing, movement and exercise - you're encouraged to share.
The business angle of Apple's pivot to fitness isn't that interesting. The company is following its customers and the broader wearables market - where lower-cost wristbands like Fitbit are reportedly picking up market share. The Nike+ deal isn't an aspirational bid to tap an underserved market. Instead, right now at least, exercise tracking is the reason consumers are buying smart watches and "basic" wearables like the Fitbit.
The intriguing thing about Apple's shift in marketing is its elevation of self-improvement over self-expression. The original watch was promoted as a custom display of personal style - as an identity statement on par with clothing. Cook described the original watch as the "most personal device Apple has ever created," and the device's web copy reinforced the point: Apple Watch is "more than a tool. It's a true expression of your personal taste." Or, in a later rendition: "From the way it works to the way it looks, Apple Watch isn't just something you wear. It's an essential part of who you are."
The new web copy, however, drops all the expressive language: The Series 2 Watch is "designed for all the ways you move," full of features that "help you stay active, motivated and connected."
Apple switches its flavor of self-help
The shift represents a victory of one mode of self-help over another. As sociologist Micki McGee observed in Self-Help, Inc., a pair of ethics have long competed in the American self-improvement market, one emphasizing self-mastery and the other self-discovery. Think Tony Robbins versus Oprah Winfrey: Robbins asks us to treat ourselves as objects to (relentlessly) work on, while Winfrey preaches meditative fulfillment.
What's novel about Apple's move is that self-discipline is getting delegated to a device. In a sense, watch wearers are outsourcing their superegos to a publicly traded company, the world's most valuable. With every tap-to-stand and Activity report - "a nudge when you need it" - the watch becomes more like a personal trainer, one coded by Apple engineers. By baking in fitness-sharing ("Healthy loves company"), the new watch appeals to social comparison and competition too - "whether it's to send encouragement or a little smack talk." And Apple's exercise-centric messaging is built around quantitative self-monitoring, via bar graphs and calorie counts and beats-per-minute tallies. The Series 2 "tracks all the ways you move throughout the day," reads new web copy. "Select up to five metrics to view at once."
Exercise is a good thing. But we shouldn't pretend the design and promotion of devices like the Apple Watch are value-neutral. By the time they're slotted under flawless in-store glass, they already have a set of ideals preinstalled. In the Apple Watch case, those values reflect their California origins: Our selves are objects to work on, to sculpt and measure, in competition with others. Indeed, the watch echoes the subculture of dedicated self-quantifiers, who - to a deliberate extent - define themselves in metrical terms.
The watch's new "Breathe" app is a fascinating case in counterpoint. The app, which encourages periodic deep breathing, is meant to "help you practice mindfulness every day." Here is a reminder of Silicon Valley's long flirtation with New Age mysticism - as well as the gauzy repurposing of Buddhist meditation for the self-help industry. If anything, the Breathe app is a throwback to Apple's expressivist marketing campaigns. And in that respect the new watch echoes a century-old American injunction: If you want to get ahead, go find yourself.
A cleric at the Redeem Christian Church of God, Mr Julius Olalekan, has said that God has not failed Nigeria in the fight against corruption. He also urged Nigerians to get closer to God to end current challenges facing the country. Olalekan, who is Pastor-in-charge of Ogun Region 12 of the church, made the call on Tuesday at the inauguration and dedication of the Provincial Headquarters, Ogun Province 18 of the church in Mowe, Ogun.
"Our leaders should have the fear of God in them; if there is the fear of God in our hearts, corruption will be removed from our hearts, and we will not steal the tax payer's money. "If we have the fear of God, it will be the beginning of wisdom; once there is the fear of God, the wisdom to excel, good governance and good leadership will come automatically.
"The government should pay attention to the plight of the citizens; the earlier the better, because if they allow things to degenerate further, it will amount to lots of losses. "Poverty and hunger should be addressed; the government should try to make the man on the street a little comfortable,'' he said.
In his speech, the Pastor-in-Charge of the new province of the church, Mr Lawrence Olunifesi, said that Nigeria was endowed with enormous resources.
"So far God has not failed Nigeria; we have mismanaged our God given resources; over time we have been complacent. "We have opportunity to have expanded; we have opportunity to become a producing country, but we have so much depended on oil revenue or resources alone,
"The church is praying hard that Nigeria will recover from its current challenges and there will be reduction in poverty. "For any government to succeed, the ordinary man on the street should be a bit comfortable. "But right now, we are educating our people not just to acquire certificates but to acquire skills and ability to be able to do something with their hands and be self-dependent.
"Nigeria is blessed with enormous land; we should go back to farming, and food scarcity will be reduced. "We should work with our hands; we should be able to create the change we needed, government and church alone cannot do it,'' he said.
City Police's senior officers in London have turned down a request from Premier League clubside West Ham to help secure their stadium on match days. Their action was based on the fact that the £700 million ground does not have a "satisfactory'' radio system. The club had requested a police presence in the ground after crowd trouble.
The Hammers only moved to the London Stadium at the start of the season. "Until there is comprehensive radio coverage, officers will not be routinely deployed within it,'' said the Metropolitan Police's Peter Terry. Terry, who is deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and in charge of specialist crime and operations, added: "The stadium operators are responsible for the safety and comfort of their customers and staff.
"This issue was highlighted to the stadium operators in October 2014 and the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) has been in negotiation with stadium operators regarding the provision of Airwave radio inside the stadium. "During this time, the MPS had spoken to the stadium operators several times to highlight the consequences of not installing such a system.
"The MPS is not able to provide Special Policing Services at this time as it would normally, as there is no satisfactory radio system across the ground.'' All of Great Britain's emergency services and more than 300 public safety organisations use the Airwave radio system to communicate. West Ham confirmed that 10 fans were ejected from the stadium during the 4-2 defeat by Watford on Saturday.
There were more disturbances during the first home Premier League game against Bournemouth last month. West Ham is a tenant at the London Stadium, which is owned by E20 and was built to host the 2012 London Olympics. E20 says it is addressing the recent trouble.
Documents released last year showed the taxpayer - not the club - would foot the bill for much of the match day operating costs, including security.
Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says it has discovered 41 fake and unlicenced service providers operating in the country's telecommunications landscape. The regulatory body made this known in its "2016 Q1 Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Reports", made available to newsmen, in Lagos.
It said there was compliance monitoring regarding the engagement of unlicenced service provider, providing internet/data access in Nigeria. The report stated that following the commissions' surveillance and intelligence gathering exercise, it was discovered that some financial institutions engaged the illegal providers for their internet and data services.
According to the report, in line with the commission's compliance processes, these banks were requested to provide the names and details of their service providers in this regard. "Arising from this compliance check, the Commission has discovered that 41 companies engaged were operating without the requisite authorisation.
"To this end, the Commission has commenced the necessary enforcement process in line with the provisions of the Nigerian Communications Act 2003," it said. The report said that the telecommunications umpire's activities were consistent with Section 89 of the Nigerian Communications Act 2003.
It said that the section mandated NCC to "monitor all significant matters relating to the performance of all licensed telecom service providers and publish annual reports at the end of each financial year".
The report noted that NCC had developed Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement strategies to ensure fair competition, ethical market conduct and optimal quality service in the telecommunications industry.
The Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, has told Air Force personnel involved in the fight against Boko Haram insurgents in the Northeast that President Muhammadu Buhari is very happy and appreciates their efforts.
Abubakar made the statement on Tuesday during an Eid El Kabir celebration lunch with Air Force troops at Yola Air Force Base. The CAS was represented by Chief of Policy and Plans, NAF headquarters, AVM James Abubakar. Abubakar said Buhari was full of appreciation for the troops and urged them to sustain the efforts toward bringing peace to the Northeast and Nigeria.
"The good work you are doing is appreciated by the commander-in-chief; he is sending his greetings to you at this festive time. "He commends your efforts and urges you to sustain your commitment for peace in the Northeast and Nigeria as a whole.
"We also want to use this opportunity to thank the commander-in-chief for his support to the Nigerian Air Force,'' Abubakar said. He said that NAF was also happy with the troops' performance and would continue to ensure their welfare and those of their families.
Earlier in an address of welcome, the Air Officer Commanding Tactical Air Command, AVM Muhammed Mohammadu, thanked the CAS for his commitment to their welfare and for always identifying with them to boost their morale. "We want to pledge our support and loyalty to Nigerian Air Force and the nation," Muhammadu said.
Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on Tuesday identified Nigeria's over-dependence on oil as responsible for the present economic recession the nation was passing through. Mohammed made the assertion at a news briefing in his residence in Oro, Irepodun Local Government Area in Kwara.
He said that the prevailing economic situation was not about trading blames, pointing out that "those who understand knew that this recession was bound to happen in such circumstance". He said that the crash in global price of oil exposed the country's defective economic policy, with oil accounting for over 60 per cent of the nation's Growth Domestic Product (GDP).
The minister stated that the situation was further compounded by inadequate reserve to cushion the effect of oil "misfortunes'' on the country.
"We have a very defective economic structure, which depended largely on a single platform of crude and fuel. "Crude oil accounts for between eight and 12 per cent of our GDP and another 53 per cent of the GDP which we call non-oil, unfortunately also depend on the same oil.
"When the price of oil now crashes in the international market, definitely you are bound to have this kind of shock in the economy," he said. He decried the citizens' preference for imported goods to local products, saying that substantial amount of the country's foreign exchange earnings was being expended on importation of goods and services.
Mohammed also blamed past administrations' inability to achieve massive investment on infrastructure to assist manufacturing industries and boost agriculture production for part of current probelm.
According to him, such inadequacies are responsible for the socio-economic imbalance being experienced in the country today. The minister, who acknowledged that there was growth in the nation's economy between 2010 and 2014, however, said the growth was only fueled by consumption.
"The growth was not fuelled by production or fuelled by investment, and that explains why it was short lived," he said. He said that the present administration's efforts to correct past anomalies could not be felt immediately because the rots in the system were too enormous for short term remedies.
Mohammed disclosed that the administration inherited a whooping debt of N67 billion on fertilizer procurement alone. He listed part of the administrations palliative reforms to include massive investment in infrastructure and agriculture production. "People say we should not talk about what happened yesterday but it is pertinent to learn, understand and move away from past mistakes.
"In the whole of 2014 the government then, expended about N18 billion on roads, but spent N35 billion on travels. "This year alone, we have spent N70 billion on roads. "People say why are these steps not being felt immediately; it is because the last government refused to pay contractors between 2012 and 2015 even when crude was selling at 100 dollars per barrel.
"Out of the N70 billion being owed Julius Berger, we have paid N14 billion. "If government was not owing Julius Berger in the past and we paid N14 billion to them, you would have seen them busy on the roads," he said.
He said that "Change Starts with Me" initiative launched by the Federal Government on Tuesday was to instill discipline and the needed change of attitude on both the leaders and the led. According to the minister, such remained the basic foundation and the driving force for actualising socio-economic transformation for the country.
"Nigerians have to change their attitude from the past; it is not only about the leaders but also the followers. "This is the only way we can achieve our desired progress, growth and development," he said.
Rising musician, Olusegun Olowokere aka Iceberg Slim has pleaded openly with colleagues in the music industry not to copy his latest hairstyle.
Olusegun Olowokere aka Iceberg Slim
The musician who is set to dole out cash to a lucky winner of his dance competition which is tagged The #WaveChallenge, in a chat with pressmen, pointed that his voice and his hairstyle are the unique features which distinguish him from other musicians.
According to Iceberg slim "I don’t sound like anyone else, from my accent to my tone/diction. Secondly, I try to constantly reinvent my hairstyle, so as to not look like anyone else either. So far, these two things have been distinguishing factors.
When I started the MoHawk in Nigeria, I saw the likes of Phyno and Peter (P-Square) replicate it. I later changed my hairstyle and decided to just do one single braid going to the back, now I see X-Busta and a few others have reproduced it, once again. If they weren’t entertainers, this would probably be fine. Well, I’ve changed it yet again! Please o, no more copy copy" He warned.
The musician who draws his inspiration from notable superstars like Drake, Kanye West, and 2Face, lauded the Nigerian music industry, affirming that it has definitely come a long way, and still has a long way to go. According to him "I’m honestly impressed at the level of success and global recognition we’ve achieved thus far. It can only get bigger and better with time."
Speaking on what prompted him to unveil the dance competition, he said "I asked everyone to do an Instagram video of themselves or someone else being creative to my song, “Wave”. They can sing, dance, rap, act, anything, while the video with the most views wins N100,000. It's just my way of appreciating my fans.
Other songs released by Ice berg include 'Too Much Money' featuring Banky W, 'Ayanfe (remix)' featuring M.I., I. He has also been featured by 2Face on the track titled “Best I Can Be”, and Tiwa Savage in the tracks 'Shout-Out' and 'Make Time'.
The Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki on Tuesday, assured Nigerians that the present economy recession rocking the country will soon be tackled through legislative support.
Saraki
Saraki, gave the assurance in Ilorin during an interaction with Journalists, while also affirming that Nigerians were really suffering.
According to him, the major preoccupation of the Senate upon resumption in September 20, will be on finding solutions to the economic recession.
"We are going to have an exhaustive and comprehensive debate on fixing the country's economy when we resume next week.
"Already, all the economic priority bills are being analysed and collated so that we can hit the ground running when we resume. We understand the pains that Nigerians are going through and we do not take this for granted.
"Additionally, the Senate intends to invite everybody involved in the management of the economy to address the Nigerian people through the parliament on the steps that are being taken to get us out of this mess," he said.
He said ,"We fully intend to hold all those involved in the economic management of the country accountable.
"However, we will do so in a manner that is transparent and beneficial to the country as a whole".
The Senate President said it was equally important to begin to formulate and actualise both legislative frameworks and executive policies to minimise the effects of the recession on Nigerians.
He added that it was also important for the parliament to start asking questions that will lead to plausible solutions.
"We need to ascertain our actual level of borrowing and what effect the devaluation of the naira has had on our economy.
"In every crisis, there is always an opportunity for positive reforms, in this regard, in order to solve this crisis, all hands must be on deck.
"Ideas should be sourced from all quarters, all arms of government, people of different political beliefs, from all socio-economic backgrounds and every part of Nigeria must work together at this time," Saraki said.
He reiterated his call for a broader and bolder economic plan with input from both legislative and executive arms of government, the private sector and professional groups.
All the groups, according to him, must work together to put in place interventions that will create more jobs, strengthen the naira, bring more investment into the country, and attain fiscal responsibility.
Saraki harped on the need for Nigeria to rally its best economic minds both from within the country and in the Diaspora in order to tackle the economic recession.
"This recession does not identify with any one party, we need to tap into the expertise of our best economic minds to come up with plans that both the executive and the legislature can evaluate and implement", he said.
Saraki therefore called on Nigerian pilgrims in Saudi Arabia to pray fervently for the recovery of the nation's ailing economy.
Enugu State Government has launched an interactive internet online platform "MY STEWARDSHIP" to engender people-oriented social engagement needed for an inclusive and responsive governance.
Speaking on the development to newsmen on Tuesday in Enugu, the State Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi gave the name of the interactive on-line platform as www.mystewardship.ng.
He said the digital ecosystem had become a veritable tool for good governance and citizen participation in government affairs.
"We are in the age of ideas and the world of Internet has provided a critical enabler for citizens to express themselves freely and willingly on issues of state resource management and value allocation. "As a government, it has increasingly become clear to us that we need to engage the people much more robustly to ensure we filter the best of ideas, views and opinions.
"That is why I have decided to launch this two-way social communication platform," he said. He noted that his government is determined to reach out to more people to enable them to understand better how the state was being managed and create an information exchange that would enrich policy issues and people-oriented programmes.
Ugwuanyi said he was fulfilled seeing the robust discussions and expressions of views by citizens of the state on the social media. He added that the time had come to harness these ideas and the people behind them into a community for easy harvest. "The past few months have been very challenging for us as a government, the country is going through a disturbing economic recession.
"We have also found ourselves confronting security challenges of very strange dimensions. "But I must admit that while there were a number of errors in commentaries on the issues, especially as it affect security, which bothered on lack of proper understanding of the workings and processes of government," he said.
He however said that there have been positive inflows of suggestions and ideas that we have been able to leverage in revamping and strengthening the security structure of the entire Enugu State.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday paid a visit to former military President, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida and former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar in Minna,Niger State.
The Minster of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola had said all businesses involving movement of trailers and tankers on Nigeria roads were to revert to rail transportation even as he blamed the past administrations for the recessions in the country.
Fashola, in Abuja Tuesday, expressed dismay at the rate the roads and bridges are collapsing as a result of stress of cargoes on them by the tankers and trailers, warned that unless the trend is reversed, the transportation business would be adversely affected.
The Minister promised to collaborate with the Minister of Transportation on ensuring that cargoes were routed through the rail.
Fashola said in pursuing the rail project, there is a lot of inter-ministerial collaboration between his Ministry and that of Transportation adding that the Minister of Transportation, Hon. Chibuike Amaechi, who, according to him, understands the issues more than any other person, would be in a better position to explain the progress being made in the sector.Minister of Power, Fashola
"Plans will take time to evolve. You will see that his Ministry has delivered the Abuja - Kaduna rail. You see that the Lagos-Kano rail project and all of that were high issues during the budget presentations. I think that all of us now in the Executive and in Parliament are on one page; we are all agreed and there is an understanding of what needs to be done", he said.
The Minister said there was need for all the stakeholders including government and all those in the transportation business, especially those in the trailer and tanker business moving cargo across the country, to agree on reverting to the rail transportation as means of moving heavy cargo in order to save the roads.
Recalling that he had in the past suggested to the drivers of articulated vehicles moving heavy cargos to begin to think of alternative means, seeing the damage they cause on the roads, Fashola pointed out that if this was not done in time the roads may collapse and so would their business.
"In the past, I told all the tanker drivers that if they could move from rail transport to tanker and container transport on roads and we have seen the damage we have done, there is no reason we cannot move back", the Minister said adding that although it may take time but there must be a common agreement to move off the roads "because if the roads fail, the transport business dies".
He declared, "So in the same way they import trailers to move their cargo, they can begin to make arrangements to import wagons. We must all agree that this is the way to go. I am convinced that this is the way to go for the future", adding that Nigerians have even designed tankers beyond the capacity found in any other parts of the world. "We must all agree because this is not sustainable", he said.
Fashola suggested that instead of building and reconstructing the rail-lines, the same containers and tankers could be configured to run on tracks adding, that the present administration was now moving cattle by rail from the North to Lagos and that, according to him, is how it should go to save the roads.
On the rehabilitation project, the Minister, who described it as an emergency intervention, added, "This is why Ijora-Apapa Bridge failed because it was just over burdened with cargo for a very long time and after sometime it could not hold it anymore".
Explaining his reason for the inspection, the Minister said, "I am here to see things for myself so that those who will give me budgetary support when they ask me for details I can give to them", adding that the project could not be appropriated in the 2016 budget but would be accommodated in the 2017 budget.
According to him, "The Chairman Senate committee on works is someone who is also committed to this project and to finish it. Unfortunately the appropriation did not deal with it this year probably next year in a sense that we give some relief to the people of Apapa and the environs and we hope that as we go on we will be able to revive the old rail tracks even if all it does is to move our cargo". The Ministry of Transportation, he said, is working to revive the rail transportation.
On how the Tin-Can Apapa Bridge and other roads in the area got to its present situation, Fashola, who recalled that Apapa was the nation's first industrial estate, declared, "You need to understand the history of Apapa itself. This is I believe Nigeria's first industrial estate; that is what led to the ports in the early twentieth century".
"If you go behind the ports you will see all the rail tracks to evacuate cargo from the ports. They were used to evacuate petroleum products from the depots. They go right behind Breweries past Iponri and to Iddo and then out. This is important because when we are seeking to understand what we are doing today or why we are where we are today, we must ask ourselves what we did yesterday", he said, adding, "It is an important question. Those who don't want to hear about yesterday have a problem because they won't understand today".
According to the Minister, "There is an appreciation of what is left undone which is what we had done yesterday. Clearly, they have come to haunt us. The analogy is when you go to a doctor to complain of stomach upset, the first question he will ask you is 'what did you eat yesterday' and that is where the treatment starts. If he does not get the right diagnosis that means you must go for a scan. If he discovers an intestinal obstruction that means you are going for surgery".
"So what we did yesterday is important in understanding what we must do today. Across the sectors and in all the places where we should have built, contractors were not paid for two to three years. We were coordinating and managing the economy and making budgets", he said.
The Minister, who said government was going through detailed scope of what needs to be done on the bridge, pointed out that what was being done at the moment was a temporary intervention adding, "That is why it is limited traffic that can pass here. We don't want an accident here; we don't want a disaster here while we are re-scoping the engineering work that needs to be done".
Pointing out that the expansion joints on the bridge have not been changed for a long time, Fashola explained further, "So that is what we are trying to see how we can change all that" adding that all the light fittings that came with the bridge which had all gone would be brought back to improve the security of the area and also the commuter experience.
"We are waiting for the final details and hoping that we would have it in good enough time so that we can then make appropriation for it in the next budget for them to start the work in full speed next year", the Minister said adding that efforts were also being made to get the structural drawing to enable the contractors know how to proceed.
The Minister, who said the contractor that built the bridge could not be reached, explained that the present contractors would need the drawing to know all the parts and joints where they need to change adding, "As soon as we get the drawings there is nothing that cannot be done. But I don't think that is what should delay us. I am sure the contractors want to start work in full swing".
He however blamed the present economic recession on the profligacy of the previous administrations, Fashola declared, "So that is what we did yesterday; so when you hear recession, workers were laid off, they were not paid and they couldn't pay school fees. While we were buying and selling, contractors were staying at home. So what you see now is a result of what we ate yesterday. So we must just change that diet and fund contractors".
A former senator, Sen. Abubakar Sodangi, has reiterated that he did not decamp from PDP to All Progressives Congress (APC) to contest for the governorship seat in 2019. Sodangi represented Nasarawa West at the National Assembly between 1999 and 2011 under the platform of PDP.
He made this known on Tuesday when he spoke with newsmen in his country home, Nasarawa, Nasarawa Local Government Area of the state. Sodangi debunked rumours making round in some quarter in the state that he defected to the APC to contest for the governorship seat in 2019 as not only false but unfounded.
He added that he was not contesting for governorship seat in 2019. "First and foremost, I want to use this medium to heartily facilitate with President Muhammadu Buhari, Gov.Tanko Al-Makura and all other Muslim faithful on the successful celebration of Eid-el-Kabir.
"I want to call on the Muslim ummah and other Nigerians to see sallah celebration as a way of transforming their faith with God and their brothers and to live in peace, unity, tolerate one another for the progress and development of our nation. "I want to use this medium to make it clear to the people of the state and the entire world that I did not leave the PDP to APC to vie for the state governorship seat in 2019.
"What made me to dumped the PDP for APC in the state is impunity, impostition of candidates, lack of internal democracy, lack of good party leadership among others. "And if anybody that said I defected to APC because of governorship seat, it is not true. "I defected to APC to add value and my experiences to the party through giving them positive advices and ideas that would bring much more progress and development to party, the state and the country at large," he said.
He said he would continue to assist his people, while urging the wealthy individuals and other Nigerians to assist the less privileged to better their standard of living. Sodangi urged Nigerians to support the APC-led government to enable them succeed in the task ahead of them.
He urged Nigerians, especially the youths to be law abiding, respect constituted authority and to engage in meaningful ventures in order to be self-reliant and contribute their quota to national development. The former senator urged the people of the state and other Nigerians to live in peace and tolerate one another irrespective of ethnic, religious and political affiliation for the overall development of the country.
