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
By Nwabueze Okonkwo ONITSHA – Four persons were feared dead, while few others sustained various degrees of injuries yesterday at Obosi community in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra state when a cooking gas exploded poured on the victims at a gas station.
The incident, according to the source, occured at Trinity gas limited station at Obosi when there was refilling of gas to customer’s cylinder.
The source stated that as soon as the cylinder exploded, the first casualty was the gas station attendant and three customers who died instantly, while scores of others were injured.
An eye-witness told newsmen that the explosion severed and scattered the bodies of the victims at the gas station to the extend that parts of their bodies could not be identified.
The State Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO Nkeiruka Nwode. an Assistant Superintendent of Police, ASP who confirmed the incident, said that four yet to be identified dead bodies suspected to be customers were killed by the explosion while many were injured, adding that their bodies were deposited at a morgue at Obosi.
She said that the gas station has been cordoned off while investigation has commenced to ascertain the cause of the explosion, stressing that the police would make the report public after the investigation.
The PPRO however commiserated with the families of those who lost their lives to the explosion and prayed God to accept their souls in his Kingdom.
Entertainment maverick Charly boy and the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), on Wednesday eulogised late Afrobeat legend, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, exactly two decades after his demise.
Charly Boy described the late Fela as "unequalled legend who preached against corruption, injustice and other societal ills.
"The truth is Fela never dies; he lives on with his music.
"What Fela stood against across Africa, and Nigeria in particular, that made many to call him a mad man, are still very much our problems today.
"He talked about suffering and smiling, corruption, and fear of death that made people keep quiet or indifferent to bad governance.
"Nigeria will forever miss this great social activist and advocate of justice and equity," he said.
Charly boy, who was a past President of Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria (PMAN), added that Fela was a pride to Nigeria, by taking the African musical genre to the global stage.
On his part, Mr Agility Onwura, Chairman, FCT chapter of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), described the late afrobeat superstar as a "philosopher and a voice to the voiceless.
"Fela was an advocate to the common man, who believed in equity and fairness.
"His death was not just a lost to Nigerians, but to the global music industry.
"He belonged to the class of Bob Marley, Martin Luther King (Jnr) and other preachers of human freedom."
Onwurah added that Fela was a multi-talented instrumentalist and singer who believed in his brand without any sense of competition.
He urged young artistes to emulate Fela's doggedness, passion and consistency that made his music remain timeless and inspiring, even 20 years after his demise.
Newsmen report that Fela Anikulapo Kuti, who died on Aug. 2, 1997 at 59, was a Nigerian musician, pioneer of the Afrobeat music genre, human rights activist, and political maverick.
The "Abami Eda", as he was also known, was often hailed as one of Africa's most bold and charismatic music performers.
Fela made the decision to sing in Pidgin English so that his music could be enjoyed by individuals all over Africa, where the local languages spoken are very diverse and numerous.
As popular as Fela's music had become in Nigeria and elsewhere, it was also very unpopular with the ruling government, and raids on his popular shrine, Kalakuta Republic were frequent.
Some of his popular songs include 'Shakara', 'Zombie','Gentleman' and 'Suffering and 'Smiling'
Neymar could be presented as a Paris Saint-Germain player as early as this weekend for a world record fee as Barcelona admitted defeat in convincing the Brazilian to stay at the Camp Nou on Wednesday.
Neymar
The player has travelled to Porto by private jet from Barcelona surrounded by his entourage, including his father and agent Neymar Sr, after saying goodbye to his Barca teammates.
Among that party was Wagner Ribeiro, an advisor to the player, who claimed PSG would pay his 222 million euro ($260 million) buyout clause in the “coming hours”.
That would more than double the current transfer record set by Paul Pogba’s £89.3 million ($111 million, 105.2 million euros) move to Manchester United last year.
Earlier, Barcelona ended weeks of speculation by publicly confirming for the first time the 25-year-old’s wish to leave after four years at the Camp Nou.
“Neymar Jr, accompanied by his father and representative, communicated to FC Barcelona this morning his decision to leave the club,” Barca said in a statement.
“The club have informed them that the buyout clause in his contract, that from July 1 is 222 million euros, must be paid in full.”
Neymar has been tempted to Paris by an astronomical offer that would reportedly see his wages tripled to 30 million euros a year after tax.
However, on the field he also faces the challenge of stepping out of the shadow of five-time World Player of the Year Lionel Messi to try and prove himself as the world’s best.
“It was a huge pleasure having shared all those years with you, my friend @neymarjr,” Messi posted on Instagram alongside a montage displaying some of the pair’s finest moments together.
“I wish you lots of luck in this new stage in your life. See you soon tkm,” he added. “Tkm” stands for “te quiero mucho” (I love you loads).
“Thanks brother. I will miss you man,” Neymar replied.
Presuming both clubs don’t come to a late agreement, the buyout clause would have to be paid to Barcelona via Spain’s La Liga to free the player from the contract he signed last year and runs until 2021.
However, La Liga president Javier Tebas has threatened not to accept PSG’s money over what he perceives as a failure on the French side’s part to comply with UEFA’s financial fair play rules (FFP).
Clubs can be sanctioned by UEFA for making a loss of more than 30 million euros over a three-year period.
“We will not accept this money from a club like PSG,” Tebas told Madrid sports daily AS on Wednesday. “Especially when this club is infringing rules and laws.”
– Champions League dream –
Winning the Champions League for a first time is the dream driving PSG’s owners Oryx Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) to fund a deal that could herald the start of a new era at the elite level of European football.
Since QSI’s takeover in 2011, PSG have failed to make it beyond the quarter-final stage in recent seasons – most notably blowing a 4-0 first leg lead to lose 6-1 to a Neymar-inspired Barcelona in the last 16 of last season’s competition in March.
Prising Neymar from the grip of Barca would truly announce PSG’s presence as a contender for the likes of Barca, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich to fear.
Neymar has formed one of the deadliest strike partnerships in football history with Messi and Luis Suarez over the past three seasons.
Together they have won two La Liga titles, a Champions League and three Spanish Cups, whilst Neymar has scored 105 goals and provided 80 assists in just 186 games.
However, his four-year spell in Spain has also been overshadowed by the murky transfer deal which brought him to Barcelona from Santos in 2013.
He and his parents as well as Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu face charges of fraud and corruption in an ongoing case brought by DIS, a Brazilian investment company.
DIS owned 40 percent of the players’ rights at the time of the deal and believe they were deliberately cheated out of their real share due to the complex structure of the transfer.
Minister of Finance Kemi Adeosun said on Wednesday that the volume of trade between Nigeria and Singapore reached N846 billion from 2011 to 2015 while the absolute balance of trade was N222 billion in favour of Nigeria.
She announced this in Abuja at the signing of an agreement on avoidance of double taxation with Singapore.
The balance of trade net of petroleum export stood at N42 billion in favour of Singapore, while the volume of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from Singapore to Nigeria between 2010 and March 2015 was 908.8 million dollars.
She said Nigeria's relations with Singapore had been on the increase since 2012, culminating in the first Nigeria-Singapore Business and Investment Forum in 2013.
She said negotiations for the agreement on avoidance of double taxation was held in Singapore in October 2013 but was concluded in October 2014.
She said Singapore was identified as a suitable tax treaty partner for Nigeria because it was currently one of the fastest growing economies in the world with a highly developed and successful free-market economy.
"It operates in a remarkably open and transparent environment, with stable prices and a per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) higher than that of most developed countries.''
She added that the treaty with Singapore was very important because of its consistency with Nigeria's on-going efforts to expand its treaty network.
Adeosun said the agreement had clearly spelt out taxing rights of each other in respect of different income derived from each country.
She said it would facilitate inter-state trade, economic and business activities by ensuring that nationals or enterprises of the two states were not taxed twice on the income of profits derived from the other country.
"It will assist prospective investors to know their income tax obligation in the other country as well as available tax incentives.
"It also spells out clearly, tax jurisdiction of each country in respect of all possible areas of business activities which give rise to taxation.''
Dr Koh Koon, Senior Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Singapore, said the treaty was important to both countries to increase the trade volume between them.
"We hope that both governments would happily ratify both agreements so that it sends a strong signal to business communities on both sides that both our governments are committed to ease of doing business.
"This will enable companies to begin to look at investments on both sides seriously.''
Nigeria's political structure had become "anachronistic and deserved total restructuring," Sen. Mao Ohuabunwa (PDP), representing Abia north senatorial district, has said.
Ohuabunwa made the statement on Wednesday while briefing newsmen in Umuahia on the fate of the bill on restructuring, which suffered a setback at the National Assembly.
He said that the current political structure in Nigeria was a product of military rule which operated a unitary system of government. "Having come out of military rule, there is no way a democratic system of government can work effectively with the unitary structure, which has become anachronistic.
"Now that we have democracy, we should use democratic structure," the law maker said.
The senator expressed regret that majority of lawmakers voted against devolution of powers to the states.
He blamed the development on their misunderstanding of the concept of restructuring and true federalism.
Ohuabunwa said, "what we want is total restructuring." According to him, all the pro-restructuring lawmakers would further engage their colleagues to educate them on the imperatives of restructuring. He noted that in their wisdom, the founding fathers of the nation laid down a suitable structure in the First Republic.
"What the present crop of political leaders should do is to go back and adopt the original structures of true federalism," he said.
Ohuabunwa said that he had transformed his political structure, known as "Follow Better," to a non-governmental organization (NGO). He said that he would use the NGO to reach his constituents with programmes that would help to improve their lives.
In his remarks at the inauguration of the local government and clan coordinators of the NGO, the senator charged them to be committed to the task of transforming the area.
The Senate on Wednesday gave executives of Glo Mobile and other firms allegedly involved in N30 trillion Federal Government revenue leakage till Thursday to appear before it for defence.
The other companies given the deadline by the Senate Joint Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariff and Marine Transport, probing the revenue loss are British American Tobacco Company, CCEC Nigeria Ltd and Dana Group.
Also affected are African Wire and Allied Ltd, Admiral Overseas Nigeria Ltd., Aarti Steel Nigeria Ltd., Gagsel International, Fries Land Capina, Etco Nigeria Ltd and Encounter Ltd.
They also include Edic Chemicals and Allied Distributors Ltd, Don Climax Group and De United Foods
Chairman of the committee, Sen. Hope Uzodinma, gave the ultimatum at an investigative meeting with some of the firms in Abuja.
He decried the failure of the firms to honour the committee's invitation to Wednesday's meeting, saying it was disrespect to the National Assembly and would not be tolerated.
Uzodinma said that of the 30 firms invited between Tuesday and Wednesday, only 14 appeared before members of the committee.
According to him, the chief executive officers are expected to cut short whatever engagement they have to honour the invitation in view of the magnitude of the investigation.
"It is only in Nigeria that the Senate will invite an entity for an interactive session, particularly in a case that borders on investigation, financial mismanagement and infractions, and the company will be complacent.
"The companies will not be willing to come or sometimes send junior officers.
"I have directed, and we are working with security agencies, that any company that is invited and has something to explain and refuses to appear, we will issue a warrant for such persons to be arrested.
"We are giving them the final opportunity to appear and if they fail, we will issue a warrant of arrest.
"In this investigation, we are working with the Nigeria Police.
"This is because we are using their facilities to process some of our data so that the information we will present to the public will be information with high integrity that will not be questioned by anybody.
"We have directed that the firms must come tomorrow, Thursday unfailingly,'' he said.
Addressing representatives of firms present at the meeting, Uzodinma said that they would be given documents arising from the investigation carried out by the committee to study and comply.
He said that the documents specified the various forms of infractions carried out by each of the firms involved in the import and export value chain.
"We have put everything in different categories and for category one, it is unutilised Form M. You applied for Form M and approval and allocation were given.
"But, rather than import with the allocation, God knows what happened because you did not do that.
"Then pre-arrival assessment report that was issued, you abandoned them yet you took your goods. We do not know how you took the goods away and the money is still open in the data base.
"Then Single Goods Declarations (SGDs) which you people did by yourself then abandoned and yet collected your goods.
"These are all indicated in the documents we have handed over to you.
"So, if there are such legitimate approvals, we want to see a copy, otherwise we will assume that they were not cancelled, in which case we will be expecting you to make payment,'' he told them.
"On classification, we have cases where a pre-arrival assessment is carried out and a particular item is classified under a particular HS (Tariff Handbook) Code.
"When you now go to SGD, if it is a classification of 35 per cent, you see that you declared five per cent instead of the 35 per cent that was issued to you.
"So, we have worked out the difference. Unless there is evidence that what you shipped were no longer what came to Nigeria which we doubt, you will be liable.
"Then, wrong classification is another category. That one deals directly with those bringing vehicles with reverse gear and you declare them as CKD.
"For instance, Dag Motorcycle Industries Ltd, when you bring in tricycle which has reverse gear, there are cases where they are classified wrongly.
"All these must be submitted on Monday so that by Wednesday we will be able to deal with definite figures on what amount of money that we should be expecting to receive as unutilised foreign exchange allocation,'' he added.
The lawmaker expressed concern that most approved Form Ms were not given to genuine users, leading to increasing exchange rate.
He said the committee would ensure that henceforth, foreign exchange was given to genuine importers to strengthen the Naira against foreign currencies as well as improve employment opportunities, among other benefits.
He stressed that the committee was extending its investigation to the operation of Free Trade Zone Agreement.
Uzodinma said, "most of you who have been importing in the name of free trade zone, under that policy you know you have to do 30 per cent value addition.
"But, we have identified all the trade free zones that imported finished goods and those goods did not even get to the free trade zones.
"The goods ended up in the various warehouses in Apapa, and when they make the money, because there is no documentation, they have surplus Naira.
"With the surplus Naira, they in turn buy dollar at any rate and in the process kill our local manufacturers, who really want dollar to be able to do their businesses.''
The joint committee was mandated by the Senate to carry out holistic investigation into alleged N30 trillion revenue leakages in foreign exchange and the entire import and export value chain between 2006 and 2017.
The committee has so far met with all indicted commercial banks as well as government agencies and is currently meeting with the companies alleged to be involved in the unwholesome acts.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Wednesday, secured the conviction of one Muhammad Nasir of Ministry of Housing and Transport, Gombe State, before Justice Abubakar Jauro of the Gombe State High Court.
He was convicted on one count charge of impersonation for using the name of one Abdullahi Ibrahim to obtain a One Hundred and Twenty One Thousand, Nine Hundred and Ninety Nine Naira (N121, 999.00) loan without the knowledge of the said Abdullahi, and diverting the proceeds to his use.
The convict, sometime in August 2011, accessed the secret files at the Ministry of Housing and Transport's registry and obtained copies of Abdullahi's pay slips which he used to apply for the loan from Gombe State Civil Service Union.
Muhammad Nasir, the Gombe civil servant jailed for fraud
The charge read, "That you Muhammed Nasiru sometime in August 2011 or thereabout, at Gombe, Gombe State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did obtain the sum of One Hundred and Twenty One Thousand, Nine Hundred and Ninety Nine Naira (N121, 999.00) as loan in the name and on behalf of one Abdullahi Ibrahim with the pretence that the said loan was applied for by him, which pretence you knew to be false and converted the said sum to your personal use and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 321 of the Penal Code Law of Northern Nigeria and Punishable under Section 322 of the same Law".
When the charge was read to him, the convict pleaded guilty.
Consequently, the prosecution counsel Zarami Muhammad urged the court to convict and sentence him accordingly.
Justice Jauro therefore convicted and sentenced him to one year imprisonment with the option of N30, 000 fine.
–Declares state of emergency on science and technology —Gives 3-yr tax rebate to pioneer industries in Nigeria By Johnbosco Agbakwuru
ABUJA – THE Federal Executive Council, FEC, Wednesday approved a new policy that for any foreign professionals to practice in Nigeria, they have to be registered and certified by all the necessary regulatory bodies.
This is as the Federal Government has declared a state of emergency on science and technology to boost technological acquisition for the industrial growth of the country.
Meantime, to attract foreign industries, the Federal Executive Council has approved tax rebate which will serve as an incentive for pioneer industries operating in Nigeria.
Briefing State House Correspondents after weekly FEC meeting at the Council Chamber, Presidential Villa Abuja, the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu said, “We agreed that from now on, any person who wants to practice any profession that has anything to do with science, engineering and technology, medical doctors, accountants, quantity surveyors just to mention but a few, that first they have to be certified by appropriate regulatory bodies in Nigeria.”
The Minister said that FEC in its deliberations approved policy that will help to change the direction that will be taken as a nation, a direction that will be very useful in helping to start looking inwards to produce the things that the country needs as against depending on outside to import our requirements.
He said, “Some of the highlights will involve where we have bulk purchases major items that will bring into the country those who normally would have supplied from outside the country will now come to Nigeria and establish their factories to produce in Nigeria.
“By doing so, they will offer job opportunities to our people, tax will be paid to government, wealth will be created and most importantly, Nigeria will now acquire the necessary technology that will help us build capacity.
“This is very important in our building our local capacity. There are so many areas that this new policy has coved because the aim of this new policy is to make sure that in the next ten years, Nigeria firms will be in a position to carry out very complex jobs. A sort of jobs that we don’t currently have the expertise to do in the country.
“And for such jobs, we will rely on foreign expertise and foreign firms for now but when they come, they have to work with Nigerian firms so that these Nigerian firms will understudy them and this will be from the conception to the commissioning.
“That is the only way that we can hope to acquire to acquire the necessary technology to build our local capacity because our aim is like in the next ten years like I said we will be able to have own domestic firms, Nigerian firms to carry out all these jobs.
“And in about 20 years, we want to see Nigerian firms competing with the very best in the world.
“So, the Federal Executive Council, accepted to declare a state of emergency for science and technology and this is very important because even the economic recovery and growth plan 2018 to 2020 recognizes the cardinal place of science and technology in driving this recovery and growth plan of government.
“We are not looking for transfer of technology because we know it will not happen, what we are looking for is acquisition of technology and we are interested in building our own capacity.
“We are convinced that we can do this and we believe that with the approval given to this policy once implemented, we will be in a position to acquire technology.
“This policy is a very comprehensive policy. We will pay a lot of attention to training. We will make sure that we have all the artisans we need, all the technicians that we need so that once somebody is building a house, once you get up to finishing of that house, you are most likely going to bring people from outside country. Many of them come from our neighbouring countries. This we will not allow to continue. So we want to build the requisite manpower.
“We will also use the Ministry of Interior to help us with a new classification in our immigration policy. Those areas that we lack expertise as of now, we will use that classification to bring in those who have such expertise particularly from African countries.
“Then we will also be working closely with Nigerians in the Diaspora because many Nigerians outside the country have a lot of skills which we need at this time particularly in order to implement this policy, we will be working with them.”
FG approves tax rebate for pioneer industries
Also briefing journalists, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enalema said government has approved tax rebate for pioneer industry to establish in the country, noting that the policy was to serve as an incentive to attract new investors.
The Minister said, “FEC approved a memorandum that was presented to amend the list of pioneer industries and products that will enjoy pioneer status going forward.
“As many of you know the pioneer incentive scheme is governed by ye Industrial Development Income Tax Relief Act and the whole purpose is to give tax holidays to industries we consider pioneer.
“Pioneer doesn’t mean that they are new it only means that they are not yet mature, we want those industries to grow. We want to attract investment in them and you will find that this covers a wide range of industries and those tax holidays ranges from three to five years.
“The pioneer list was last reviewed by the Federal Executive Council in 2006, so you could see that this was long overdue.
“On doing the review, special attention was paid to the ERGP to capture the current realities that will help to implement the plan to make sure we attract the kind of investment, industries and players that will help to implement and realize our objectives in the ERGP.
“I should also point out that there was multi stakeholder engagement, private and public sector in arriving at the industries that will be included in the pioneer incentive scheme.
“In terms of the recommendations approved by FEC today: we have tried to remove all ambiguities in the definition of industries by reclassifying industries according to the international standard in industrial classification which is the global standard which is also the standard that is used by the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics.
“The other thing we also did is to agree that the pioneer list will be reviewed regularly every two years, biannually so that just that if things come up, we live in a fast changing world and we are being responsive to our world. In the case of additions to the list they will be effected immediately, for deletion of industries that we consider mature there will be a three year window that will be allowed for those that are already investing in that industry that were enjoying pioneer status to carry on till the end of that three year period.
“Against this backdrop, we then approved 27 industries that were recommended for addition to the pioneer list today.
“We also recommended and it was accepted by the Council that mineral oil prospecting which is governed by the Petroleum Profit Tax should not be part of the pioneer industries list which is really industries governed by the Companies Income Tax Act.
“It was also accepted that given the success we have achieved in cement which are now net exporters, maybe that is an industry which we could say that we are now where we want to be in terms of maturity even though there is still a lot of scope for the application and the use of cement and you know that will continue. We already have critical mass in cement
“The scheme will ensure that it will not deprive us of revenue. It is an incentive to make people enter your market, new enter industries, invest more for people who are already here. It will increase our tax base over time.”
The Controller-General of the Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS), Ahmed Ja'afaru has redeployed 32 senior officers as part of its efforts to ensure efficient service delivery.
Mr. Francis Enobore, the NPS Spokesperson, made this known to newsmen in a statement issued on Wednesday in Abuja.
According to him, the redeployment is contained in a posting instruction issued on August 1, and signed by the CGP.
Enobore said the posting was in line with the need to have the recently promoted Deputy Controllers-General take charge as substantive Directorate heads.
He said the posting was also to address some administrative gaps pursuant to the present administration's drive for excellent service delivery.
In the posting, DCG Shehu Kangiwa now heads the Finance and Accounts Directorate, while DCG Dorathy Atagiri takes charge of the Directorate of Health and Social Welfare Services.
DCG MBE Shemfe heads the Directorate of Operations and DCG Charles Ahaotu heads Works and Logistics Directorate.
DCG Ogundana Jerome, who was the Zonal Coordinator in charge of Zone A Lagos, now takes charge of the Directorate of Inmates Training and Productivity.
Others include ACG Emmanuel Ogundele, who takes over Prisons Academy, Ijebu-Igbo as Commandant, ACG K.A Babalola moves to Zone A, Lagos as Zonal Coordinator. ACG AI Omale, CP Bukar Shettima Hauwa and CP KN Okuori proceed on retirement.
The redeployment also affected 21 other senior officers across board.
On July 14, five Assistant Controllers-General promoted to the rank of Deputy Controllers-General of Prisons were formally decorated by the Minister of Interior, retired Lt. Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau.
The NPS boss wished the retiring officers well in their future endeavours and charged the Directorate heads and other command officers to deploy all available resources at their disposal in order to add value to their output.
By Dapo Akinrefon THE All Progressives Congress, APC, in Mushin local government and Odi-Olowo/ Ojuwoye Local Council Development Area (LCDA) have resolved their grievances with a pledge of loyalty to the leadership of Senator Bola Ahmed Tibubu and Governor Akinwunmi Ambode.
The peace parley followed a feud where some leaders of party had faulted the process where candidates emerged in Lagos before the July 22 local government elections.
At a well attended meeting at the Ganiyu Solomon Hall, Odi Olowo/Ojuwoye Mushin yesterday, former Minority Whip of the Senate, Senator Ganiyu Solomon, chairmen of Mushin Local Government and Odi-Olowo/ Ojuwoye Local Council Development Area (LCDA) and other stakeholders restated their loyalty to Tinubu and Ambode.
The party leaders took turns to state that they have decided to close ranks in the interest of the party and appreciate the developmental strides of the APC administration.
However, the National Legal Adviser, Dr. Muiz Banire was conspicuously absent at the peace parley.
Recall that Mushin, particularly Odi-Olowo Ojuwoye LCDA were among areas that controversy trailed the APC chairmanship and councillorship primaries.
Addressing newsmen after the meeting, Senator Solomon commended members of the party for resolving their grievances in the interest of Lagos and the area.
Commending Tinubu for steps he took in stabilizing the party, he said as a leader he should be respected in whatever circumstance.
While he said the door was open to aggrieved party members to return, he said "as you can see, this meeting accepted some members that were previously aggrieved."
The former lawmaker added that there could be no alternative to the marvelous work the party and Ambode have embarked upon in the last two years in 2019 saying "it is therefore imperative of us to open our heart to all our members that are willing to return to base."
The Federal Executive Council on Wednesday approved 27 new industries and products to enter into the pioneer status to give tax holidays to them for three years, to enable them to grow and expand investments.
The list was last reviewed in 2006 and the approval was to bring the industrial policy of the country to global best practices.
The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Okechukwu Enelamah, gave the hint while addressing State House Correspondents on the decisions of FEC.
"The FEC gave approval to a memorandum that was presented to amend the list of pioneer industries and products that will enjoy pioneer status going forward.
"The pioneer incentive scheme is governed by the Industrial Development Income Tax Relief Act.
"The whole purpose of it is to give tax holidays to industries that we consider pioneer, not mature, to enable them to grow and attract investment in them,'' he said.
He said that the list covered a wide range of industries and the tax relief covered three to five years.
Enelamah said that the pioneer status review attention was paid to the administration's economic recovery and growth plan and to capture the current realities that would enable the realisation of the growth plan.
He added that there was multi stakeholder engagement involving the public and private sectors in identifying the industries suitable for the pioneer incentive scheme.
"We have tried to remove all ambiguities in the definition of industries by reclassifying industries according to the international standard industrial classification, which is the same standard used by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics.
"We also agreed that the pioneer list should be reviewed every two years and that in the case of additions to the list, it will be affected immediately.
"In case of deletion from the list, there will be a three-year window that will be allowed for those investing in that industry and enjoying pioneer status to carry on till the end of that three-year period.
"Against this backdrop, we then approved 27 industries that were recommended for addition to the pioneer list,'' he added.
The minister stated that the list would be made public, adding that the mineral oil prospecting, already governed by the petroleum profit tax, was not part of the pioneer industries, same for the cement where the country already had become net exporters.
He said that rather than lose revenue, the status was an incentive to enable new industries to enter the market, enter new industries and invest more for those already in, adding that it did not remove tax payments for existing industries.
"This is fairly a well-used policy and carrot by countries and Nigeria had it before but we had to review it because it had not been reviewed since 2006.
"The whole idea is that it is an incentive to attract people to invest more in sectors,'' he said, adding that most of the agro and agro-processing, industrialization, creative industries, power, science and technology and players should be allowed to have tax incentive.
"It will increase our tax revenue instead of the reverse,'' he added.
The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Saddique Abubakar, on Wednesday inaugurated a storey building containing 18 units of two bedroom flats for Non-Commissioned Officers of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) in Minna, Niger.
Abubakar inaugurated the building at the Air Force base, Minna.
He said that the Air Force had dedicated the facility to late Lance Corporal Tanko DJ who died during operation Zaman Lafiya on April 28, 2016 in the North-East.
"This is aimed at enhancing the morale of Nigerian Air Force officers and men in service.
"This is to assure you that your supreme sacrifice to our fatherland will never go in vain,'' he said.
He said that NAF was committed to the well being of its personnel, hence creating enabling environment for their effective service delivery to the country.
Abubakar, who was represented by the Chief of Administration, AVM Lawal Alooma, expressed satisfaction with the quality of work.
He assured of proper supervision of the projects which he said were also ongoing in other air force bases across the country.
He urged the officers and men of the Service to respect the rule of law and pay allegiance to constituted authorities.
Air Commodore Idi Amin, Commander 351 Best Service Group (BSG), Minna, commended NAF for the gesture and assured of judicious use of the facility.
Power Oil took the city of Enugu and Port Harcourt by storm over the weekend with the activation of the third edition of its annual health awareness walk tagged "Power Oil WalkHeartOn, which witnessed massive participation in both cities on the same day.
The annual heart health awareness walk is strategically designed to promote a healthy lifestyle and remind Nigerians on the benefits of a daily fitness routine. It is aimed at encouraging Nigerians to walk at least 30 minutes every day to keep fit and stay healthy.
Registration of participants started in the early hours of the morning at both locations before the 5 kilometres walk kicked off in Enugu at the Nnamdi Azikwe Stadium into Ogui Road, towards Otigba round about and back to the Stadium, the walk was led by the Commissioner for Youths & Sports, Enugu State, Hon. Charles Ndukwe. While in Port Harcourt, movement started from the Liberation Stadium into Elekahia Road towards roundabout around the Air Force junction and back to the Stadium.
Hon. Charles Ndukwe, the Commissioner for Youths & Sports, Enugu State, praised the brand for partnering with Enugu State on this project. He also considered the initiative a worthy one as it encourages everyone, especially the youths to imbibe the culture of exercising which is in line with the vision of the state.
Speaking at the fitness Walk in Enugu, Miss. Amisha Chawla, Brand Manager, Power Oil, said: "It is actually the first time we are having Enugu on board the WalkHeartOn project and I must say the excitement being exhibited by the indigents is indescribable. Also, it was such great feelings to record this magnitude of crowd joined in on a good course as this.
She also confirmed that the expectation of crowd was greatly surpassed in both locations as people came out enmass to join the healthy walk. The comedians and Guest Artists in both cities (Nigga Raw & MC Bonus in Enugu and Sound Sultan & Funnybone in PortHarcourt) also took active parts in leading the walk to encourage and demonstrate to the public the importance of leading a healthy lifestyle by taking a healthy walk for a healthy heart.
Mrs. Omotayo Abiodun, Public Relations Manager, Power Oil, who was part of the Port Harcourt Walk, also spoke about the high record of participation in the city while also confirming the last leg scheduled to hold simultaneously in Abuja and Ibadan for this week will be another blockbuster.
Nollywood actor, Segun Arinze says he desires to do a musical collaboration with Augustine Miles Kelechi popularly known as Tekno, in future.
Arinze disclosed this in an interview with newsmen on Wednesday in Abuja.
"Right now, I am more focused in my career as an actor and TV presenter; you know am doing the Give and Take Lottery on TV.
"So I am focused on that, but you never can tell; if I want to do a collabo, it should be with Tekno; I like Tekno; am his biggest fan.
"However, I like Davido, Wizkid Tekno, Phyno and the rest; I am impressed with what they are doing.
"However, many be in a near future it will come through, you never can tell, it might be a blend of the old and young,'' Arinze said.
Arinze explained that artists like Timi Dakolo Wizkide Davido and others might be doing something with him, but declined to give the details.
He reiterated that he was impressed with what Nigerian musical artists were doing on world stage.
"For Davido, it is a big point for him that somebody like R. Kelly can use his music for remix; he should be proud about that and Nigerians should also be proud for him.''
Nwesmen report that the talented actor released a music album, `Nwanyi Yanga' in 1992.
Arinze was born in Onitsha, Anambra to a Yoruba father and an Igbo mother.
He attended Victory College of Commerce in Ilorin, then proceeded to Taba Commercial College in Kaduna State to complete his secondary education.
Arinze studied Dramatic Arts at the Obafemi Awolowo University.
Fresh facts have emerged detailing how one Mr. Sylvanus Amachukwu Godwin, a Nigerian national with Passport Number A06011089 aboard an Ethiopian Airlines Flight 606 en-route Addis Ababa to Guangzhou, China allegedly slumped and died of high grams of drug in body. Indications are that the late Godwin may have died of some drug in his body system but the airline authorities are yet to conclude investigations as to the proper cause of his death.
In a telephone conversation with Nigerian Consul General to China, Ambassador Wale Oloko, Godwin's death was announced to the consulate when the aircraft landed at the Baiyun International Airport in Guangzhou, China. The consulate was informed that the Nigerian collapsed while in the flight and though first-aid measures were administered on him, he unfortunately died before the aircraft could reach China.
It was also learnt that the corpse has been taken to the Aviation Hospital's mortuary within the Baiyun International Airport complex for expected post mortem to determine the cause of the sudden death.
Ambassador Oloko noted that the Mission is not restricting investigations on its part and has gone ahead to advise the management of Ethiopian airlines to use the information on the reservation system to reach the family of the deceased in Nigeria, with a view to arranging the repatriation of the body in line with the international aviation regulations, on the fact that the incident took place inside the aircraft and before disembarkation.
Moreover, the Consul General also said that the airport and Ethiopian Airlines authorities are insisting on a comprehensive post mortem examination and the Mission believes they are doing so in order to avoid and or exonerate the management from potential liability.
In light of the fresh development, Nigerians are urged to understand the dangers of drug trafficking and the negative impact on the country's image.
This is necessary, following the backdrop of the many reported incidents of Nigerians that have been arrested at the airport upon arrival on Ethiopian Airlines flights with drug in their system.
By Gabriel Olawale Former President Olusegun Obasanjo Wednesday highlighted some of the reasons why all Nigeria leaders after his administration were unable to increase power generation capacity from where he left it 10 years ago. Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo Speaking at the book launch in Lagos titled, ‘Making Africa Work’, which he co-author with Director of Brenthurst Foundation, Dr. Greg Mills; President of NEWSEUM, Dr. Jeffrey Herbst and Major General (rtd), Dickie Davis, Obasanjo said that lack of good leadership, continuity in governance and financial constrain responsible for the diminishing status of power generation in the country.
Obasanjo explained that during his administration, they came up with an agenda called ‘NEEDS’ which is National Economic Empowerment Strategy.
“The idea is that we would have something that will lead us in every aspect of governance and we make Federal, States and Local governments buy into it.
“The idea is that we would have something that will lead us in every aspect of governance and we make Federal, States and Local governments buy into it.
“When we were planning it, we went round the country sample people’s opinion and consult traditional leaders. The incoming administration after us was not left out in it and during my administration we implement the first phase of NEEDS and it was supposed to be continuity.
“But to my surprise, the administration that succeeded our tenure which campaign on the basis of continuity fail us.
“When they assume office, the first statement they make on energy was that in four years they will generate 30,000 megawatts of electricity. That time the highest we generate was 4,000 megawatts.
“I was shocked, in four years how will they do it? I quickly send someone to educate him because as at that time we are in the process of generating 10,000 megawatts.
“It is regrettable that the administration that succeeded us did not even generate up to 3,750 megawatts that we were able to generate before we left.
A former management staff of First Bank plc. who recently retired from the leading bank but seeks anonymity has urged the management team of Syke Bank led by Tokunbo Abiru to concentrate on the task of taking the bank to the next level rather than dissipating energy in battles against the former Board and management of the bank.
"Since Tokunbo Abiru's assumption of office as the managing director of Skye Bank, he has embarked on a policy of total annihilation of the former management. He has embarked on avoidable battles with the former board and bank customers.
"Inadvertently, Abiru is de-marketing the bank with his combative policy. If you embark on a campaign against such critical stakeholders, you are indirectly de-marketing your bank. The strategy has resulted in disastrous consequences for the fortunes of the bank. His actions have caused more harm to the bank. When you raise undue alarm with petitions and media trials, you are scaring away customers. The bank is the loser at the end of the day."
He said further: "As a management staff of First Bank, from our books then, we knew how some executive directors used their positions to line their pockets, setting the bank back by millions of dollars and billions of naira.
"Although we did not hide our books from the regulatory authorities, we did not embark on petition writing to the Presidency or engage in media trials. We left the regulatory bodies to do their jobs. We couldn't have engaged in such battles as the backlash would have had negative impact on our bank. I can only urge him to face the task of deploying strategic marketing initiatives to take the bank to the next level instead of this endless battle with the former management."
Only last week, an online publication, the capital.ng.com published a detailed story of how the then Executive Director with First Bank and now Managing Director of Skye Bank, Tokunbo Abiru was unceremoniously sacked from First Bank due to his unprofessional and unethical conduct while he held sway at the First Bank.
The publication reported how Abiru allegedly granted a lot of nonperforming loans running into millions of dollars and billions of naira, aside from many infractions. The insinuation was strong that Mr Abiru benefitted enormously from the financial heist.
The former management staff of First Bank, in reacting to the story, retorted: "our own strategy at First Bank is in line with the Banking tradition globally: Take any infraction to the regulatory authority and not to the political authority or media trial. If we had embarked on such strategies in respect of the issues raised in the report, we would have ended up rubbishing our institution. The regulatory authorities are strong enough to take necessary actions without creating a crisis for the bank."
"The present board under Abiru is adopting the worst crisis management technique in the history of Skye Bank and may not be able to take the bank out of the present problem, in spite of the unrestrained access to the low interest CBN largesse which is alleged being seriously misapplied."
Reflecting further on appropriate measures to stabilize a bank facing challenges, he said: "first, my years in the management level of the biggest and oldest bank in the country has taught one that the class of customers you need to give all the support are those you have extended facilities to and have shown commitment to repayment. Don't take hasty steps that will make payment difficult. It is neither in your interest nor in the interest of the customer.
"Second, the authorities should endeavor to constitute for banks, boards that are nonpolitical, Boards that are not the lackeys of political god fathers but professional managers whose strategies are not influenced by partisan political considerations."
On Skye Bank loans exposure, he quipped: "Banks are there to offer facilities. All banks including Skye offers facilities to customers that meet the requirements. Don't forget the exposure you are talking even predated the birth of Skye. One of the legacy banks that eventually became Skye, Eko International Bank came to the merger with a debt overhang of over N8 billion in 2005.
The exposure we are talking about did not happen in only two years of the immediate past Board. It took years to accumulate. What you need is to put right strategies in place to recover the loans, thereby increasing your capital adequacy."
Renowned poet, Odia Ofeimun, has called on the National Assembly to futher review the constitution to devolve more powers to states.
He also made case for local government autonomy, which the National Assembly had made provisions for.
The National Assembly recently came under attacks from Nigerians for killing the bill on devolution of powers to states.
But Ofeimun, who spoke as guest speaker at the maiden annual political science lecture tagged, "Constitutionality and the redress of Military overhang in contemporary politics," organised by Department of Political Science, Lagos State University, Ojo, Lagos, said true federalism was the way out for Nigeria.
He stood in for the initial speaker, Osahene Boakye Djan, Ghana’sw former Deputy Head of State, who was to speak on the topic "Constitutionality: Understanding Military Approach to Power and Governance" but could not make it.
Ofeimun noted that Nigeria might not be able to escape military interference if the constitution was not clearly defined.
He said: "To avoid soldiers interference in Nigeria on the guise of making things better, we must have a realistic political sovereignty and a defined constitution, as the constitutionality of a constitution is what legalises it, while the political sovereignty of a nation is its population."
Calling for a review of the constitution, the scholar said: " There is no running away from the notion that true federalism is the solution to Nigeria's problems. However, all components must be listened to.
"For us to have meaningful development, the local and state governments should only send 40% of what they produce to the federal government, we must also take away some items on the exclusive list to the concurrent list for more autonomy to the other arms of government.''
Swansea manager Paul Clement wants the future of Everton target Gylfi Sigurdsson to be resolved by the end of the week.
Gylfi Sigurdsson
Clement has rejected two Everton bids for Sigurdsson as he holds out for a £50 million fee for the Iceland midfielder.
Sigurdsson missed Swansea’s tour to the United States after withdrawing following interest from the Toffees, with the club saying he was “not in the right frame of mind”.
The 27-year-old has since rejoined training but will not feature in Swansea’s friendly against Sampdoria this weekend.
“He will not play against Sampdoria on Saturday. Talks are still going on and hopefully we are going to get some news in the next couple of days,” Clement said on Wednesday.
“The deal needs to be the best for all parties involved, we have got a very important season coming up.
“We know what happened last season — if you don’t make a good start — and we don’t want that to happen again.”
With Everton so far unwilling to match Swansea’s valuation, there have been reports Ronald Koeman’s side will offer cash plus England Under-20 right-back Callum Connolly in a bid to seal the deal.
ABUJA– The rank of Kogi State chapter of All Progressive Congress, APC, has depleted as one of its chieftain and governorship aspirant in the 2015 election, Prince Mohammed Abdullahi, is set to dump the party for Accord party.
Abdullahi's exit would be a big loss for the party's state chapter, which has being enmeshed in intra-party squabble in the recent time, especially in the aftermath of high wire political manoeuvring occasioned the demise of the party's governorship candidate for the November 21, 2015 election, Prince Abubakar Audu.
Preparations are already on top gear by jubilant leadership of Kogi State chapter of Accord party to receive the politician popularly known as Elephant and his teeming supporters in their thousands into party fold.
Vanguard gathered from a reliable source close to the businessman turned politician that formal ceremony to usher him into his new party would take place at the Lokoja Stadium, Kogi State.
The source quoted Abdullahi as saying, "he and his supporters have found a platform in the Accord party which we believe has a manifestoes we can implement to take our people out of the present rate of poverty to the developmental level which God has placed us with the resources to achieve.
"The people should see our ambitions as a movement to liberate them and I believe we can do it as it is possible. I am a man of principles and I believe that as a loyal party man I need to respect views of every other party organs.
"I am of the view that the principles that led us to join APC as a political organization to achieve our political interest and aspirations is being eroded by some powerful political interest who have vested interest. The vested interest we are talking about is not about the people", he said.
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