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
Professor Adebiyi Daramola, Vice Chancellor, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo State and the Bursar, Emmanuel Ademola Oresegun, are being quizzed at the Iyaganku, Ibadan office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in respect to an alleged case of Abuse of Office and misappropriation of funds.
The Vice Chancellor allegedly withdrew Furniture Allowance annually instead of once in 4 years as approved and was paying himself Housing Allowance while residing in the University's Vice Chancellor's Quarters.
It is further alleged that he diverted funds from various unrelated subheads to finance other projects without the appropriate approvals.
Contrary to well acclaimed hygienic practice, a medical expert has warned of the dangers in completely shaving the pubic hair. Dr Arikawe Adeolu, an Abuja-based medical expert, advised that it is safer to trim the hair rather than shaving it off completely. He said that complete shaving of the hair could cause infection.
Shavers for shaving pubic hair
Adeolu told our correspondent on Tuesday that shaving or waxing of the hair around the pubic could cause cracks and expose the skin to bacterial infection.
He added that the pubic hair served a major purpose of providing some level of cushioning for the individual, especially during sexual activity, preventing the skin from rubbing against another and causing abrasion.
He explained that if the skin around the pubic region was completely shaved and the individual's skin came into contact with another person's skin, friction would be increased due to the skin to skin contact.
He advised that individuals who were worried about the lack of hygiene due to untended pubic hair should consider trimming rather than complete shaving or waxing of the hair.
"When you completely shave the pubic hair, it re-grows in a slanted fashion with the tip sometimes growing into the pubic skin, which can crack open the skin.
"It is usually a small crack which cannot be seen with the naked eyes but due to this crack and loss of integrity of the skin at that level, there is increased risk of getting infection.
"Complete shaving can also cause boil to develop in that region. This is because when you shave, you cause some level of abrasion in the area which opens up the skin.
"These small openings cannot be seen with the eye but they are big enough for the micro organisms to get into the body.
"Also, because the pubic area is always moist, this serves as breeding ground for organisms like bacteria."
Adeolu said that trimming the pubic hair would also help to reduce the risk of contacting Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI), which could also be contacted when fluid from an infected partner's genitalia came into contact with the pubic area.
According to him, if the partner is already infected, the virus in the semen or body fluid can easily penetrate the skin of the other to infect the individual.
He said that this infection was mostly caused by a virus known as 'Molluscum contagiosum', adding that there had been significant increase in incidences of such infection in hospitals.
"It is a viral infection that is also categorised as an STI. It affects the skin and does not need treatment; usually after a couple of weeks or months, the symptoms go away by themselves.
"You also have an increased risk of contacting other STIs such as HIV, Hepatitis, genital warts by complete shaving of the pubic hair,'' Adeolu said.
FCT Minister Muhammad Bello has directed that any motorist who beats traffic light should be arrested and taken immediately for psychiatric test.
Bello gave this directive during an interactive session with the FCT Press Corps on Wednesday in Abuja.
He also directed the FCT Health and Human Services Secretariat to make ambulances available at traffic interchanges to convey any motorist arrested by the police.
He also requested the Police to permanently station speed bikes at various traffic intersections for the purpose enforcing the directive.
According to him, the bill for the test and administrative processes will be borne by the erring motorist, to serve as a deterrent to others.
Bello also said that if the arrested motorist was certified to be alright and medically fit, the culprit should be prosecuted to face the consequences of his/her bizarre action.
He further asked the Police to commence immediate implementation of the directive.
Senior officers from the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police and Inspector are expected to man the speed bikes, to ensure a high level of discipline.
A Professor of Medicine, Ed Nwobodo, on Wednesday said five per cent of breast cancer cases occurred in men.
Nwobodo, who works at the College of Medicine, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nnewi, spoke at the "Go Pink Day'' organised by an NGO, Breast Without Spot, to mark the World Cancer Day in Enugu.
World Health Organisation (WHO) has set aside every Oct. 5 to raise awareness on early detection of cancer and treatment as well as palliative care.
Nwobodo said it was wrong to believe that men do not develop breast cancer.
"There have been several cases of breast cancer in men though, it was not as pronounced as that of women.
File Photo: Breast examination
"Why such was not often reported was due to reluctance in men to present themselves for screening, as they were fond of hiding their health challenges.
"Men always hide their health challenges and that is why prostate cancer is still going to be an epidemic and big time problem with us, because it is always reported late.
"Current data suggests that we are going to see more and more cancer cases of all sorts among our people.
"However, if we can do away with late detection then, we are well on our ways to winning the war against cancer," he said.
Nwobodo said breast cancer spread rapidly and could cause other forms of cancer, adding that the disease was not a death sentence, if properly managed.
"We have a choice of doing simple early examination in order to arrest the other consequences of having negative inevitable outcome.
"Those of us in the research world are not sure of whether some societal or living habits, or foods or some environmental issues have arisen and led to these cancers," he said.
The expert, however, expressed dismay that health systems, which could have been in the fore-front of the crusade against cancer, were not working.
"Choose 10 hospitals in Enugu State outside University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital and Enugu State University Teaching Hospital, and maybe the specialist hospitals.
"You will not find any medical practitioner from 2.00 p.m., everyone is gone, and it is worse on weekends.
"When you eventually see somebody in the hospitals, they will invent 20 excuses on why they will not attend to you. Even, their facial expressions and approaches will scare you," Nwobodo said.
He said that there were a lot more that both the governments and non-governmental organisations could to do to provide interventions and sensitise people on the deadly disease.
The consultant said that most people died of ignorance because they had no faith in the health facilities.
"We need to get some forms of community mobilisation because cancer is terribly high in the rural areas.
"Recently, we went on a cancer screening mission in one of the local government areas in the state.
"At some point, when we had seen 150 women and looked at their cervix, 17 of them were positive for cervical cancer, while we discovered 20 women with breast cancer," he said.
Nwobodo said that in one of the communities where the screening took place, three out of seven men screened for prostate had clear indication of early signs of prostate enlargement or cancer.
"There are no support systems. There are no facilitators to help them to get into a treatment routine such that they can begin to intervene.
"We need to provide rural women with health insurance cover and break the inertia of people wanting to get into the treatment route," Nwobodo said.
In her remarks, the Programme Manager of the organisation, Mrs Chinenye Okwuosa, said that cancer had created a huge burden and high mortality rate.
Okwuosa attributed the surge to late detection, hence the essence of the sensitisation.
She said that the group would provide free cancer screening in some parts of the state.
BY FRANCIS IGATA ENUGU – The dominance of the country’s security outfits leadership by Muslims, was Wednesday, identified as a grand plan by President Muhammad Buhari to Islamise Nigeria regardless of its constitutional provisions which stipulates freedom of religion.
This revelation was made known by the renowned constitutional lawyer, Prof Ben Nwabueze who was almost close to tears over what has become of Nigeria under Buhari.*Prof. Ben Nwabueze
Nwabueze said while fielding questions from newsmen haven hurried out of a meeting of Igbo Leader of thought, ILT, in Enugu that,”This is a very crucial meeting for us because we have not met for more than a year. And if you look at our agenda, such critical issues for discussion, issues like Islamisation agenda and its impact on the unity of the country.
“Islamisation agenda is real, it's not something that somebody has just conjured up, it's there. And it's been implemented gradually. Look at the security agencies; every aspect of security islamists are in control in its entirety. They are methodically, the way they are going about its implementation. Look at Fulani herdsmen menace, it is part of it.
The Lagos State Chapter of PDP has called on the Federal Government to reintroduce the `Option A4 voting system in the country.
The Deputy Chairman of the party, Chief Ola Apena, made the call in an interview on Wednesday.
Apena, who was reacting to the allegation by a coalition of accredited election observers that the Sept. 28 Edo governorship election was rigged in APC's favour, said that if reintroduced, Option A4 would eliminate any form of election malpractice.
"I think we should go back to Option A4 because Option A4 does not allow for this kind of manipulation.
"Once, a line is formed at the appointed time, if you have been accredited, they will give you something to show that you have been accredited, you come back, you line up and they count you.
"I think, our level of tolerance, our level of honesty, our level of transparency in this country does not accommodate this balloting system that we are using because we will always find desperadoes not necessarily within APC, but even with the PDP.''
The PDP chieftain expressed regret that the social media is compounding INEC's problems as results announced at the various polling units are usually posted on the internet, thus making any form of manipulation thereafter difficult.
"The advent of social media is creating a lot of problems for the electoral body because as the results are announced at each polling unit, so it goes on internet.
"It is a big problem because when you now go behind and start cancelling, doing all sorts of things, giving us some reasons why you have to cancel, people will doubt the outcome of the election.
"It is not good for our democracy,'' he said.
In Nigeria, Open ballot system (Obs), also known as Option A4, is a voting method in which voters vote openly by queuing or otherwise, indicating the candidate of their choice.
This is as opposed to a secret ballot, where a voter's choices are confidential.
The system minimizes incidences of election rigging that comes with the secret ballot system as well as other electoral fraudulent-related practices.
The Open ballot system was first adopted in the Third Republic during the 1993 Nigerian presidential election - an election that was widely regarded as the freest and fairest in the country's political history.
Governor of Yobe State, Alhaji Ibrahim Gaidam, has described Air Peace's commitment to funding corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects as unmatchable.
The governor made the statement when Air Peace presented relief items running into millions of naira to the state government for distribution to internally-displaced persons (IDPs) in Yobe.
Corporate Communications Manager of Air Peace, Chris Iwarah (2ndleft) presenting relief materials donated by the Air Peace airline to Internally-Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Yobe State to the Executive Secretary, Yobe State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Musa Idi Jidawa
Gaidam, who was represented at the presentation ceremony at the Governor's Office in Damaturu by the Executive Secretary, Yobe State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Mr. Musa Idi Jidawa, urged Nigerians to emulate the airline's example.
Yobe, he said, was saddled with caring for a total of 23, 016 IDPs in four camps at Pompomari, Bukar Ibn Ali Elkanemi, Kurareta and Ngabrawa in Damaturu, the state capital. He, however, said the 391 IDPs sheltered at Bukar Ibn Ali Elkanemi Camp had voluntarily returned to their villages -Gambir, Malumti and Mittiri.
He assured that the relief items donated by Air Peace would be properly utilised, assuring that there had never been any reported case of abuse in the distribution of items donated to IDP camps in the state.
He expressed gratitude to the management of Air Peace for the donation, urging Nigerians and corporate organisations to emulate the airline's good example. Earlier, the Corporate Communications Manager of Air Peace, Chris Iwarah, said the airline donated the relief items because it was concerned about the plight of the IDPs.
The donation comprising rice, millet, maize, beans, vegetable oil and salt, he said, was the airline's contribution to government's effort to address the challenge of caring for IDPs in the country.
Air Peace, he added, had distinguished itself with its focus on corporate social responsibility projects, including the recent donation of a police station in Uli, Anambra State.
A pressure group, Edo Youths Coalition, has urged the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the just-concluded governorship poll in Edo, Mr Osagie Ize-Iyamu, to accept the outcome of the exercise.
Secretary-General of the group, Mr Toju Igbene, made the call on Wednesday during a solidarity rally by members of the group at the secretariat of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Benin.
The group challenged Ize-Iyamu to emulate former President Goodluck Jonathan, who conceded defeat before the official declaration of his opponent, Muhammadu Buhari, as the winner of 2015 presidential poll.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had on Sept. 29 declared Godwin Obaseki of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the winner of the governorship poll in the state conducted the preceding day.
Obaseki polled 319, 483 votes to defeat Ize-Iyamu, his closest rival, who got 253, 173 votes.
Ize-Iyamu and Obasek
Members of the coalition displayed placards whose inscriptions included "God has upheld the will of the people'', "There was no loss of life, no intimidation of anybody during the election'' and "It is time for Edo people to look critically''.
"Let us develop the spirit of sportsmanship; that is why we keep respecting Dr Godluck Jonathan.
"He lost an election, and he was the first to put a call to Buhari to congratulate him. Let us develop that spirit; let us develop that culture," Igbene said.
He described the outcome of the election as the will of the people and passed a vote of confidence on INEC and security agencies for their dedication to duty before, during and after the election.
He added that the poll was free, fair, credible and acceptable.
The group leader urged the governor-elect, Obaseki, to work assiduously to fulfil the promises made to the electorate during his campaign.
With the latest outbreak of cholera in the country, PZ Cussions and Concerns Universal, a UK based NGO, are joining forces with some of Nigeria’s top entertainers to inspire a generation of school children that will adopt the life-saving habit of handwashing with soap.
The one month-long campaign which will be formally launched next week in Lagos is designed to promote hand hygiene among school children.
The Global Handwashing Day is an annual worldwide celebration involving over 200 million people coming together on 15th October every year to promote a simple and life-saving message-“Handwashing with soap saves lives.”
According to the Director of Strategic Partnerships, Concerns Universal, Mr Tim Kellow, the key to addressing this situation is to ‘make handwashing a habit. “As habits take up to four weeks to form, we are holding a month-long campaign to engage children with fun and creative activities to promote the handwashing habit. Kellow said at the events billed to hold across Nigeria, children will be inspired by songs recorded exclusively by Sunny Neji and 2Face Idibia, and empowered as ‘Hygiene Heroes.
LAUNCH: From left: Campaign Ambassador, Mr. Sunny Neji , Concern Universal, Mr Tim Kellow, Managing Director, PZ Cussons family, Mr Alex Goma and PZ Cussons Foundation Mrs Yomi Ifaturoti during the media launch of the campaign in Lagos.
The campaign will reach its climax on Global Handwashing Day in Lagos where Campaign Ambassadors, Sunny Neji will perform alongside his band, comedian Koffi and other special guests.
“Throughout October, thousands of children from more than 200 schools will take part in the events across Southern Nigeria. Children will take part in handwashing games and demonstrations that will empower them to return to their schools and communities and spread the campaigns vital message. Schools will also compete to show that they have the ‘CareX Factor’.
He explained that the talent competition enables children to get creative about hand washing by performing their own version of Sunny Neji’s campaign anthem ‘Wash Your Hands O’.
The events will kick-off in Cross River and Benue States, culminating in a major celebration event in Lagos on Global Handwashing Day, Saturday, 15th October 2016 – where schools will compete against each other for prizes and the chance to perform with their musical heroe.
Also speaking, Managing Director, PZ Cussons Family, Mr. Alex Goma, stressed the need for children to realise they need for them to wash their hands.
The Nigerian Army reiterated Wednesday that it has defeated Boko Haram noting that what was presently happening in the epicenter of the battle were minor skirmishes by the failing group to gain relevance.
Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai who made the disclosure noted that it was in the bid to convince the nation of the victory over the terrorists, that the Army is organizing this year's Nigerian Army Sports Festival holding in Abuja next week after a period of about eight years in the cooler.
His words, "We have more than degraded the Boko Haram. I want to say this is the beginning of the celebration of the victory of the Armed Forces especially the Nigerian army on the defeat of the Boko Haram. We have started the process of celebrating our victory over the Boko Haram".
According to the Army Chief, 1760 athletes of the Nigerian Army from various divisions will compete in 19 events including traditional military sports like Combat Relay, Obstacle sports, Tug of war, boxing, cross country and others.
CHIEF OF ARMY STAFF (COAS), LT.-GEN. TUKUR BURATAI
For the Southern part of the country, Buratai said the Army will be introducing swimming and other riverine sports because of the peculiarity of the region and that a test case scenario will be kick-started which will be built upon in future.
Asked why certain divisions of the army (7& 8 division) were being excluded from the week-long festival, Buratai said, "Since the creation of 7 division, it was created within the conflict period, they have been in the theatre of operation; have not been in peace time period to exercise for the event. It would also be a distraction to pull them out.
"For 8 division, it is about three or four months old. It has been deeply involved in the operation. We want to give them time to really concentrate in the fight against Boko Haram in the North East. Give them time to completely dominate the area.
Asked if the fighting will not distract the army from so many operations it was involved in, the Army Chief said, "Yes we are fighting but it will not prevent us from carrying out other professional engagement that would even make us to fight better; and to develop physical capacity to fight better.
"Like I said, this is the beginning of the celebration of the Armed Forces, particularly the Army on the engagement with Boko Haram. We have started celebrating the defeat of the Boko Haram."
On why the Nigerian army seemed to be lacking in certain areas where the force was noted for in past that produced medal winners for the nation at global sporting events, Buratai said, "we last held a sporting festival of such nature in 2009 and now we are reviving it".
"Just like football where we have qualified for the nationwide league, we are reviving Boxing, Cross Country, Long Distance and Marathon. The army boxing team in April won the Lagos State boxing championship. Our boxers also went to Kazakhstan and did very well.
Emphasizing that sports festivals of the army is part of the training schedule of personnel since physical fitness and development is critical to their mental well being, he said the event is meant to promote the spirit of espiri de corp among personnel and to foster relationship between the army and civil populace.
To encourage national records to be broken, Buratai stated that "anybody that won gold medals, shatters existing records, was due to earn certain privileges including promotion, special recommendation among others.
ILORIN-Federal government has been urged to extend retirement age of teachers to 70 years like it was done to professors in the nation’s universities.
The Kwara state chairman of Nigeria Union of Teachers, Comrade Musa Abubakar made the appeal in Ilorin on Wednesday while addressing the teeming teachers during the occasion of this year’s world teachers day held at Teachers House, Ilorin.
Abubakar noted that,”the demand became imperative in view of the fact that, teachers suffer the same fate all over the world irrespective of their operation”,stressing that,”Justice demand that teachers should be bound by common destiny”.
Abubakar added that, “The extension of retirement of age of professors in the tertiary institutions to 70 years be extended to teacher who constitute the foundation of education i.e primary and secondary education.
Teacher
?”It is obvious that vacuum created by the retired teachers in the state in recent time will be difficult to fill within the next decade”.
?Abubakar who decried the state of education in the country said that,”teachers profession that should gather the best brain of nation to mould the character of our future leaders is seen as a stepping stone for greener pasture”.
He also lamented that,”It is a crypic but painful that the condition of teachers has not changed significantly with other profession. “Education which remain the hope of the hopeless and the sure way to eradicate poverty and disease is jeaopardised. “Education policies in the country do not reflect the aspiration of the people”.
The chairman also berated the non payment of teacher’s of salary in the country as when due especially in the state.
According to him,”as I speak, teachers in Kwara are owed five months salary and 56 per cent(i.e 15 per cent January, 25 per cent June, 8 per cent August and 8 per cent September) and this is no doubt? has affected the quality of education in our public schools as the working condition of the teacher is the learning condition of the child”.
?He also called on the federal government to take over the funding of primary education, Comrade Abubakar noting that,”finance of the local government is over stressed and cannot cope with the funding of primary schools”.
Abubakar who ?called on the state government to publish the findings of the bio-metric exercises carried out in the state said that those whose salaries have been put on hold as a result of no BVN, wrong BVN and next of kin and been duely cleared, be paid without further delay.
He also said that, his administration has taken the welfare of teachers as major priority so as to enhance their productivity in their various places of working.
He said that,”in doing this, we have opened a commodity account with a sum of N25million to service the need of the serving members. It is a revolving scheme that caters for the domestic needs of the teachers”.
Abubakar added,”it is worthy to mention that the historic teachers estate has been completed and it has since been given out for commercial purpose”.
Abuja – The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)will soon commence the first large scale commercial bio-fuel venture as alternative to fossil fuel, Dr Maikanti Baru, Group Managing Director (GMD), has disclosed.
Baru made the disclosure on Wednesday in Abuja at a two day Environment Dialogue, titled `Diversification of the Economy, the Role of Jatropha.'
The GMD, who was represented by Mr Babatunde Adeniran, the corporation's Group Executive Director, Gas and Power, said the project became necessary due to the increasing negative impact of fossil fuel to the environment.
The NNPC boss said the corporation would cultivate jatropha plants along the borders of the over 5,000 kilometers of NNPC pipeline right- of- way across the country.
Jetropha, is an environmental and economic agro-allied plant called Binidazugu in the North, Lapalapa in South West, Okwa Ekpu in the East and it has over 175 species.
The plant could be used to produce bio-fuel which could serve as alternative to diesel.
It could also serve as wind breakers and shelter belts to curb flooding, desertification and erosion.
Baru stated that bio-fuel, as a renewable source of energy, was currently drawing international recognition as alternative choice of fuel because of its Eco-friendliness, socio-economic and climate benefits.
" As one of the key business areas, NNPC is currently diversifying its products portfolio for enhanced and sustainable energy mix.
"We are doing this by integrating bio-fuel production from selected energy crops with a robust agriculture development programme," he said.
The GMD explained that based on its commercial considerations, jatropha ranked second to oil palm as the bio-oil of choice for biodiesel production in the NNPC bio-fuel programme.
"Jatropha is considered an appropriate hedge plant for reclaiming forests in extinction, managing desertification, creating soil balance and a logical solution to food versus fuel contest," he said.
He pledged the commitment of the corporation to implement the country's Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
Heritage Bank has expressed its readiness to collaborate with customers to grow businesses that would aid job creation and economic development.
The bank made the pledge in a statement issued in Lagos to celebrate Customers' Service/Appreciation Week.
The bank said it was poised to collaborate with its customers to grow their businesses to conglomerates to be listed on the nation's bourse.
Ms Adaeze Udensi, the bank's Executive Director, South Bank, was quoted by the statement as saying that the bank would continue to partner customers in their business expansion and development.
"Our desire is for Nigerian businesses to be listed on the stock exchange and eventually become global brands and household names.
Bank
"We believe that businesses like yours are the backbone of the economy because you create jobs and play a huge role in moving our country out of this present recession.
"I encourage you to rise up to this challenge facing every Nigerian entrepreneur and make our economy vibrant again," Udensi said.
She said that the bank, in order to partner and create wealth for individual customers, organised the business fair to showcase and celebrate business activities of its various customers to commemorate the Customers' Service Week.
"The Heritage Bank business fair is where new deals are brokered and partnerships initiated and a place to connect," she said.
Mr Ola Olabinjo, the bank's Executive Director, Abuja & North Bank, was also quoted as saying that the business week of the bank was a sure foundation of taking Nigeria's economy out of recession.
Olabinjo said that small businesses were the foundation of every economy and assured them that the bank would grant them the necessary support to do this.
"It is not the size of the balance sheet of the bank that grows an economy, but the patriotism of the bank and the small businesses and we are determined to go the long walk with you," Olabinjo said.
The statement said that the event, which was open to all retail segments of Heritage Bank's clients, would be taken beyond Lagos to other cities across the country.
"It is all about giving back to our customers, finding ways to support them as well as appreciating them for their patronage.
"We are open to feedback as we get the feedback and clamour to do more; we can always adjust," she said.
A British chef went on trial on Wednesday accused of drugging and murdering four young men he met on gay networking sites, then dumping their bodies in or near a graveyard close to his London home.
Stephen Port, 41, invited the men back to his flat and spiked their drinks or injected them with drugs so he could have sex with them while they were unconscious, a London court heard.
Four of his victims died of overdoses and Port is accused of dragging their bodies outside, planting bottles of the party drug GHB on some of them and writing a fake suicide note for another.
He is accused of sexually assaulting or raping another eight victims who survived.
“In the pursuit of nothing more than his own sexual gratification, (Port) variously drugged, sexually assaulted and in four cases killed young gay men he had invited back to his flat,” prosecuting lawyer Jonathan Rees said.
Port faces 29 charges relating to 12 men between February 2012 and October 2015, including the murders of four men in their 20s.
All four died in “strikingly similar” circumstances, the court heard, and in each case, Port is accused of lying to police about his involvement with the victims.
Port denies all the charges against him.
The court heard how Port was attracted to smaller men with boyish looks, known as “twinks”, who he met on social networking sites such as Grindr.
He also allegedly used the sites to buy a range of drugs, including poppers, Viagra, Meow Meow — a synthetic stimulant — and GHB and GBL, chemically similar substances which can induce euphoria but can also have strong sedative effects.
By Omeiza Ajayi ABUJA – An Abuja-based anti-corruption movement, The Integrity Group, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to probe Nigeria’s former first ladies or stop the “seeming witch-hunt” of the country’s immediate-past first lady, Dame Patience Jonathan.
Warning that the continued ‘media trial’ of the ex-president’s wife could trigger off more violent reactions in the Niger Delta, the group said the onus is on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC to prove its case rather than asking Mrs Jonathan to explain the source of her wealth.* Dame Patience Jonathan
At a news conference addressed by its Executive Director, Livingstone Wechie, the group contended that; “No Nigerian under any law, including Patience Jonathan is under any obligation to explain how he/she made his/her money. If the EFCC thinks anybody stole money, they should by evidence show how and wherefrom the money was stolen.
“The cumulative value of the monies in the Skye Bank account that Mrs Jonathan claims is less than $10 million. The report credited to the EFCC that the monies were in excess of $30 million is completely false, malicious and misleading and this is deliberate. The EFCC is challenged to provide public evidence of its claim of $31 million lodged in Skye Bank”.
The group added that, “this attack on Patience and Goodluck Jonathan may spark up avoidable security problems in the old Eastern Nigeria and we are willing to support Mr President in averting same.
“As such, our message is, arrest and prosecute all former first families including their aides and seize all their assets and money or leave Goodluck and Patience Jonathan alone and restore all their seized assets”.
UYO-Governor Emmanuel Udom of Akwa Ibom State has said that the state’s maiden heritage festival, tagged “IbomFest 2016”, will help to promote foreign investments.
Speaking at the unveiling of the event at the state house in Uyo, Governor Udom said: "I believe that this event will promote foreign direct investment vis-Ã -vis foreign exchange from visiting tourists, opportunity for establishment of trade relations with states and countries that will participate in the event, employment generation through involvement of men and women, youths, artistes, arts/crafts vendors, transporters, food vendors, hoteliers and others.
Gov Emmanuel Udom
"The event, therefore, in the spirit of the Dakkada philosophy, is positioned to contribute significantly towards the enhancement of the revenue base of the state and yield positive harvests to the people and government of the state."
According to the Governor’s Special Assistant on Tourism and Development, Ms. Ini Edo, the festival, which is themed Our Culture Beyond Borders, is in line with the desire of the governor to ensure that Akwa Ibom remains the choice destination for tourists and investors and this had spurred the pace of infrastructure and socio-economic development witnessed in the state.
She also revealed that the event will help strengthen relationship between government, policy makers and local and international stakeholders in the tourism industry.
Kelechi Iheanacho and teammates might no longer be able to surf the web while in training due to Pep Guardiola's attempts to foster team spirit at Manchester City it has emerged.
Argentine defender, Pablo Zabaleta, made the revelation saying Guardiola is so eager for his players to communicate with each other face-to-face that he has blocked the internet in some areas of the club's City Football Academy (CFA) to encourage them to spend less time on their mobile phones.
Guardiola is famous for his passionate approach to the game and has already implemented some huge changes at the Etihad following his summer arrival from Bayern Munich.
"You always want and dream to be trained by the best coaches, and today I have the opportunity to work with one of the best," the Argentine defender told Tyc Sports.
"Actually, you learn a lot, especially the way you live it. Beyond knowledge, his passion for football.
"He forces us to have breakfast and lunch together at the club. The internet is cut off, we are held incommunicado. We don't even use 3G."
Aside no longer being able to trawl the Internet, City players must now eat all their meals together in a bid to improve squad harmony, while calorific treats including pizza and fruit juice have been banned.
Saheed Obadina, the national Aquatic Coach, said on Wednesday that the National Aquatic Federation would select an eight man team for Africa Swimming Senior Championship (ASSC) in South Africa (SA).
Obadina revealed in Abuja that the swimmers who would participate in the championships were currently undergoing training in their various states.
According to him, four male and four female swimmers in the elite category will represent the country in Blue Mountain, South Africa.
"We are looking forward to having four males and four females in the elite category to make the final selection.
"The federation has yet to release their names, since they are still monitoring their training in camp, but it is still possible that we may drop some people.
"We will replace them as training goes on which as you know, we have more than that in camp before the final eight selection,'' he said.
He added that the swimmers would win medals for the country.
"With the ones we have on ground definitely Nigeria will win some medals at the championships.
" Definitely, the swimmers that will represent Nigeria at the Africa Swimming Championships are training, getting prepared in their various states with their coaches.
"But soon, the federation will call them together in Lagos, where we will put final touches to their training before we travel for the championships,'' he said.
The African Swimming Senior Championships is scheduled for Oct. 16 to Oct. 23.
At the iconic National Arts Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos, on Tuesday, history was made when the Tony Elumelu Foundation, founded by businessman extraordinaire, Tony Elumelu signed a ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ (MoU) with the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism championed by the minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, to inject $100 million for the upliftment of the creative arts industry.
The $100 million, which is spread across 10-year period, actually began last year and it is to last for another nine years. While the Elumelu Foundation is bringing the financial muscle to the table, the Information ministry is to create the enabling environmental by being the vehicle that will facilitate the values engendered by the financial impetus of the Foundation.
At the signing of the MoU on Tuesday, the three main facilitators of the innovation, the minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, founder of the Foundation, Mr Tony Elumelu and the proponent of the concept and Chief Executive Officer of Elumelu Entrepreneur Programme, Ms Mandavin put pens to paper before a huge audience that includes film-makers, film directors, musicians, entertainment entrepreneurs, creative arts personalities and other stakeholders in the creative arts.
During her rousing speech. Ms Parminder Vir highlighted the importance of creative arts to national economy by bringing to fore in figures the contribution of the creative arts industry from different countries. In her summation she said the British creative industry contributes $84 billion dollars to the national economy of the country every year. She also said that the creative industry in India contributes 14% GDP growth rate to the country’s economy and maintained that if the industry in Nigeria is given the same impetus as these economies, the creative arts contribution to national development will be phenomenal.
In her words:" The film industry in Nigeria’s total worth is estimated between at $500 million to $1 billion and it provides jobs for millions of people. Unfortunately, most of this money is not retained in the economy. If there are structures in place, most of this will be retained to drive the economy. Millions of dollars are lost through piracy because of lack of structured channels of distribution. This and other things, is what the MoU will seek to address"
Continuing, she said: "We cannot afford to ignore the amazing opportunities in the Nigerian creative Industry. The music sector currently is worth over $250 million dollars with potential to grow to over $450 in the next ten years and it provides more than 50% of African music contents across several platforms. Of course, MoUs are easy to sign but it is the implementation that is the hard part. First, the clear definition of what is creative industry is, must be ascertained."
Highlighting the process through which the MoU will be implemented, she said the creative arts stakeholders and investors, financiers and business leaders will be brought together, as they did in Britain and India, and be charged with the central issue of how to provide the necessary framework to build business capacities in the sector toward attracting sustainable investment.
During the signing, the Hon. Minister said, "My Ministry recognises the urgent need to develop Nigeria's creative industries and increase its contribution to the national economy. Nigeria currently has creative industries but no creative economy. This partnership will leverage the experience of the private sector to help the creative industries retain the commercial opportunity and the financial benefits."
In April, the Minister approached TEF with a challenge: "How can we work together to help transform the currently underdeveloped and unstructured creative industry ecosystem into an organized and profitable pool of creative industries that provide meaningful employment to thousands of Nigerians?"
The Foundation's response is the framework which undergirds the MOU.
While speaking at the event, Chairman of Heirs Holdings and UBA Plc Mr. Tony O. Elumelu, CON said, "Without doubt, Nollywood is a global leader and our young musicians are emerging as international sensations with serious earning potential. Nigerians are good at starting creative businesses, but they lack the capacity to scale, proper business management and the investment necessary to become self-sustaining. This partnership will provide the framework for building business capacity and attracting sustainable investment."
Also speaking at the event, the CEO of the Foundation, Parminder Vir, OBE, expressed her optimism at the future of the creative industry in Nigeria. A seasoned filmmaker herself, Ms. Vir stated, "Nigeria has an abundance of creative excellence, talent and cultural IP in film, television, music, fashion, ICT, performing arts and this partnership is designed to support the growth of this sector for leading businesses, facilities, entrepreneurs and institutions engaged in the fast growing sector."
The event was well attended by several industry representatives including luminaries like Joke Silva, Zeb Ejiro, Obi Asika, Ali Baba, D'Banj, Chioma Ude, Nimi AkinkugbeRalph Nwadike, Audu Maikori, Princess Dolapo Oni Sijuwade and more.
Germany will build a military base in Niger to support the UN mission fighting jihadists in neighbouring Mali, Berlin’s ambassador to Niamey said Wednesday.
Bernd von Munchow-Pohl also announced in a speech to mark the anniversary of Germany’s reunification seen by AFP that German Chancellor Angela Merkel would visit Niger in the next few days.
“With the establishment of a German military airbase in Niamey in support of the MINUSMA mission in Mali, which Niger has supported since the beginning, a new chapter in our cooperation has begun,” he said, using the acronym for the UN mission in Mali.
“(Germany) is ready to engage more in the Sahel region (and) assume even more responsibility,” he said.
“Niger is a central partner for us in this respect (and) a key country in the fight against terrorism and illegal migration” from West Africa.
The US and France already operate bases in Niger as part of the battle against jihadists in the Sahel region — principally in Libya and Mali. They have also deployed drones to Niamey and Agadez in the north to monitor jihadist movements.
Experts say Niger, the poorest country in the Sahel, is becoming “a crucial base” for Western powers in the fight against jihadists.
