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
Cote d'Iviore Prime Minister, Daniel Duncan on Monday, announced that he and his entire government were stepping down.
According to report, a cabinet reshuffle had already been expected, but it was delayed because of a mutiny by soldiers over pay, local media reported.
A new cabinet was expected to be in place by Tuesday, a report added.
A two day mutiny by soldiers over pay and other allowances was reported last week.
The mutiny began on Friday when aggrieved soldiers in Bouake demanded their bonus payments and took control of the city.
Cote d'Iviore Prime Minister, Daniel Duncan, steps down
Soldiers stationed across the country followed suit shortly thereafter, culminating in the taking over of the military headquarters in Abidjan, the largest city in the country, on Saturday.
Ivorian Minister of Defense Alain Richard Donwahi flew into Bouake in an attempt to calm the situation, but was kidnapped by rogue soldiers and held in detention for two hours.
President Alassane Ouattara announced on state television on Saturday night that a deal had been reached putting an end to the uprising.
A troop involved in the mutiny confirmed that the mutineers and the government came to an agreement on Saturday night.
The details of the deal was unclear but Reuters revealed that soldiers demanded 5 million CFA francs ($8,000) each.
The soldiers warned the government that they would resume the mutiny if their demands are not met.
Peace returned to the country on Sunday after saying the Bouake roads were cleared of barricades that soldiers had built.
The Nigeria Customs Service has generated N898 billion as revenue in 2016, including VAT, says the service Spokesman, Mr Joseph Attah.
Attah told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja that the figure was however less than the N904 billion collected in 2015.
He attributed the shortfall to the difficulty in accessing foreign exchange and removal of the 41 items.
According to him, the service was given a target of N937 billion as revenue in 2016.
"The strict insistence of the Comptroller General on application of instant laws enabled the service to generate a total that is inclusive of VAT of N898 billion.
"If VAT is removed, duty collection only is N720 billion, our performance represent a percentage of 76.90 per cent.
"Hopefully we will do better in 2017,'' Attah said.
According to him, the comptroller General in recent time had taken steps to effect some redeployment in a bid to strengthen operations and reposition the service for improved delivery. (NAN)
President Muhammadu Buhari will flag-off the Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) revitalisation programme aimed at achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC), the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole has said.
Adewole announced this in a statement he issued to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Monday.
He said that the flag-off would take place by 9 a.m. at the Kuchigoro, Gwarinpa PHC along the Airport Road, Abuja, on January 10.
The initiative, he said, would address the gross inequalities in health access and outcomes, especially among women and children.
"It is a pro-poor initiative and will have tremendous direct benefits on household economics.
"A cardinal philosophy of the current administration was to ensure the implementation of UHC through the availability of quality healthcare services in an equitable manner without any financial barriers at the point of accessing health care,'' Adewole said.
The minister said that it was against this backdrop a number of health sector reform initiatives were embarked upon to keep Nigeria on track towards achieving UHC.
NAN also reports the programme is a cardinal agenda of Buhari administration to revive 10,000 PHCs nationwide to scale up primary healthcare delivery at the grassroots. (NAN)
Mr Clement Odeh, the Executive Secretary, Nasarawa State Christians Pilgrims Welfare Board, has attributed failure of pilgrims from the state to embark on 2016 pilgrimage to Jerusalem to non-availability of visas.
Odeh, who disclosed this to newsmen on Monday, said that the Nigerian Christians Pilgrims Commission (NCPC) failed to secure visas for the state pilgrims last year.
He said that the board had concluded all arrangements, including payment of the required funds early enough to ensure a hitch-free exercise within the scheduled time of between October and December.
"Our job at the board was completed for the all the intending pilgrims.
"We had to push it to the NCPC saddled with the procurement of visas and flight schedules, but without the visas and flight schedules, we cannot travel.
"Nasarawa is among seven states that could not embark on the journey last year with over 2,000 intending pilgrims still waiting to be airlifted,'' Odeh said.
He lamented that the NCPC could not sincerely explain to the board why it could not secure visas and flight schedules for the pilgrims to embark on the journey.
"This to me, is a clear indication that some people are not doing their jobs and should be prepared to take responsibility given the fact that the exercise had a time line,'' he said.
Odeh also blamed the Unity Bank for not making available the Basic Travel Allowance (BTA) in dollars since the foreign exchange had been fully paid for over a month.
He said that if the visas had been procured and flight schedules released without the BTA, the exercise would have still been thwarted.
"We were at the NCPC last week and they assured us that the documents will soon be ready for the intending pilgrims to embark on the journey as spillover,'' Odeh said.
He therefore called on the management of Unity Bank to expedite action in order to make the BTA available for the intending pilgrims to participate in the exercise.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that 77 intending pilgrims were scheduled to embarked on the 2016 exercise from the state as against the 145, who made the journey in 2015. (NAN)
The Nigeria Army on Monday said it has released 1,250 Boko Haram suspects who have been cleared of no links with insurgency.
Brig.-Gen. Victor Ezugwu, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 7 Division of the army, disclosed this when the Head of Sub Delegation of ICRC, Mr Beat Mosimann, visit him at the Maimalari cantonment in Maiduguri.
Ezugwu said that the cleared suspects were released in about seven batches after been cleared of having no link with Boko Haram.
"We are keeping this on the regular release because the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Burutai, want us to ensure that it is only people who has contact and connection with Boko Haram that have insurgency issues to sort that should be detained so that those who do not have contact should be released.
"By the end of this January and February another batch of detainees would be cleared.
"The ICRC wants us to collaborate in the area of welfare for our detainees and we have assured them that we are going to continue doing our best interns of welfare in accordance with the international practice.
"Our approach in handling detained suspects is multi agency so what we do is that we collaborate with NGOs so that once there is gap in what we are doing they will tell us.
"In terms of feeding, we are providing solid Nigerian foods for the detainees; good food supplement that would enhance their wellbeing.
"Access to exercise and the best out of accommodation. We are hoping that things will get better in 2017.''
Mosimann had earlier said that ICRC has mapped out several programmes in 2017 to assist IDPs who would soon be returning back to their respective librated communities.
"We have discussed with the army on issues of protection of especially that of the detainees which was part of our mandate to see how we can improve on that.
"It is part of our mandate, which was stipulated in Geneva convention, to assist wounded persons not just soldiers but anybody who is wounded in a conflict situation.
"Our job is purely humanitarian. The humanitarian situation had quite improved. We thank the army for supporting the people in librating their communities and ICRC will support this people to go back," said Musimann.
Donald Trump hit back at Meryl Streep on Monday, calling her an overrated actress after the three-time Oscar winner condemned the U.S. President-elect's imitation of a disabled reporter. Streep had turned an acceptance speech at Sunday's Golden Globe awards into a blistering attack on Trump.
"This instinct to humiliate when it's modelled by someone in the public platform, by someone powerful, it filters down into everybody's life," she said.
Streep and much of Hollywood supported Trump's rival, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, in the November election.
Trump, a Republican, wrote on Twitter: "Meryl Streep, one of the most overrated actresses in Hollywood, doesn't know me but attacked last night at the Golden Globes.
"She is a Hillary flunky who lost big."
President-elect Donald J. Trump & Meryl Streep
The tweet was Trump's second public response to the Streep speech. Early on Monday, he said in a telephone interview with the New York Times: "People keep saying I intended to mock the reporter's disability, as if Meryl Streep and others could read my mind, and I did no such thing."
Streep was referring to a 2015 incident at a South Carolina rally where Trump flailed his arms and slurred in his speech in apparent ridicule of New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski, who has a physical disability.
In his Twitter comments, Trump repeated his denial that he had mocked the reporter.
Streep, without naming Trump, used almost the entire speech when accepting the Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award to criticize the real estate mogul's behaviour and policies, while calling for Hollywood to stand strong against any attacks and to support a free press. I've lost my voice from screaming in lamentation this weekend.
I have lost my mind sometime earlier this year, so I have to read. Thank you, Hollywood Foreign Press. Just to pick up on what Hugh Laurie said, you, and all of us in this room, belong to the most vilified segments in American society right now. Think about it. Hollywood. Foreigners. The Press. Who are we? What is Hollywood, anyway? It's just a bunch of people from other places.
I was born and raised in the public schools of New Jersey. Viola [Davis] was born in a sharecropper's cabin in South Carolina and came up in Central Falls, Rhode Island. Sarah Paulson was born in Florida and raised by a single mom in Brooklyn. Sarah Jessica Parker was one of sever or eight kids from Ohio. Amy Adams was born in Vicenza, Veneto, Italy. Natalie Portman was born in Jerusalem. Where are their birth certificates?
The beautiful Ruth Negga was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, raised in Ireland, and she's here nominated for playing a small town girl from Virginia. Ryan Gosling, like all the nicest people, is Canadian. Dev Patel was born in Kenya, raised in London, and is here for playing an Indian raised in Tasmania. So Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners, and if we kick them all out, you'll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts, which are not the arts.
It was that moment, when the person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter, someone he outranked in privilege, power and the capacity to fight back. It kind of broke my heart when I saw it, and I still can't get it out of my head, because it wasn't in a movie; it was real life.
This instinct to humiliate, when it's modelled by someone in the public platform, by someone powerful, it filters down into everybody's life, because it kind of gives permission for other people to do the same thing. Disrespect invites disrespect. Violence incites violence. When the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose.
An actor's only job is to enter the lives of people that are different from us and let you feel what that feels like. There were many, many, many powerful performances this year that did exactly that—breathtaking, compassionate work. But there was one performance this year that stunned me, that sank it's hooks in my heart.
It wasn't because it was good—there was nothing good about it—but it was effective and it did it's job. It made its intended audience laugh, and show their teeth. It was that moment, when the person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter, someone he outranked in privilege, power and the capacity to fight back.
It kind of broke my heart when I saw it, and I still can't get it out of my head, because it wasn't in a movie; it was real life. This instinct to humiliate, when it's modelled by someone in the public platform, by someone powerful, it filters down into everybody's life, because it kind of gives permission for other people to do the same thing. Disrespect invites disrespect. Violence incites violence. When the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose.
This brings me to the press. We need the principled press to hold power to account, to call them to the carpet for every outrage. That's why our founders enshrined the press and its freedoms in our constitution. So I only ask the famously well-heeled Hollywood Foreign Press and all of us in our community to join the Committee to Protect Journalists, because we're going to need them going forward, and they'll need us to safeguard the truth.
One more thing: Once, when I was standing around on the set one day, whining about something, that we were going to work through supper or the long hours or whatever, Tommy Lee Jones said to me, 'Isn't it such a privilege, Meryl, just to be an actor?' Yeah, it is, and we have to remind each other of the privilege, and the responsibility, of the act of empathy.
We should all be very proud of the work Hollywood honours here tonight. As my friend, the dear departed Princess Leia, said to me once: Take your broken heart, make it into art.
The Kremlin on Monday refuted accusations of Russia's involvement in hacker attacks during the U.S. 2016 presidential election, saying that it was a "tiresome witch-hunt.''
"We continue to categorically rule out any involvement of Moscow and Russian officials and agencies in any hacker attacks,'' Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.
Earlier this month, the U.S. intelligence community published the declassified part of a report.
"Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent U.S. Elections,'' claiming that "Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the U.S. presidential election.''
The report said Moscow's action aimed to "undermine public faith in the U.S. democratic process,'' via Russian government agencies, state-funded media, paid social media users as well as hackers, in order to secure Donald Trump's victory in the presidential election.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump agree to improve relations of both countries
Peskov said that the allegations in the U.S. intelligence community publication had no proof and had been prepared at an "amateur, emotional level,'' which was hardly applicable to the highly professional work of high-quality security services.
On Sunday, the Trump team said Trump had accepted the U.S. intelligence community's findings that Russia was behind the cyber attacks targeting the presidential election, accusations that Trump had also repeatedly rebuffed.
But Trump has said that the alleged hacking activities have no impact on the election results and he didn't directly acknowledge Moscow's responsibility.
The Deputy Director Army Public Relations, Colonel Mustapha Anka, in a rstatement disclosed the new pattern Boko Haram terrorists adopt in carrying out their operations.
The Press release in full read “This is to draw the attention of the general public to recent trend used by desperate remnants of Boko Haram Terrorists (BHT). Recently, two female suicide bombers knocked at the door of one Bulama and Usman about 200 meters apart in Kalari general area of Maiduguri.
“The daughter of the Bulama opened the door, while the Usman himself opened his own door immediately the suicide bombers detonated their suicide vest, in the process killing the unsuspected little girl, Usman including the two female suicide bombers.
“The general public is hereby advised to be cautious and weary of strange persons knocking at their doors. Security is a collective responsibility; the public is to engage in neighborhood watch. Suspicious movement of persons should be reported to security agents without any delay. The public is once again reminded that curfew is still enforced by 10pm daily, any defaulter will be prosecuted accordingly.
“You are please requested to disseminate this information to the public through your medium. Thank you for your usual cooperation”
Head coach of Katsina United, Bala Nikyu has said the club do not fancy any ambition of emerging champions in their first season in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL). He however was quick to assure their fans that the newly-promoted side will play to ensure they are not relegated at the end of the season.
Katsina United, a former powerhouse of the elite league of Nigeria in the 1990's returned to the top league at the end of last season after over a decade in the lower ranks.
Nikyu, who guided the club to win the playoff tourney and emerge overall champions of the Nigeria National League (NNL) said they intend to approach the elite division with the same spirit that saw them through in the second tier.
Bala Nikyu
“We’ve recruited the players we need and we are set for the NPFL challenge. We will fight to survive and maintain our NPFL status; that will be our first target before we set our sights on getting a place on the continent which isn’t impossible,” Nikyu began.
Katsina United at some point changed name to Spotlight FC, and have in the past finished as runners-up in the Federation Cup.
Nikyu continued: “Every team that is in the league must be respected whether they are new entrants or old horses, so no team should underrate us as we could be spoilers. We have an exciting pool of young players that form the bulk of our team.”
Katsina United will start life again in the NPFL with a home fixture against fellow returnees, Gombe United on January 15 and Nikyu is confident his team will begin on a winning note.
“We know Gombe United and we intend to start our return to the elite division with a win, so Gombe United will be our first victim, I assure you,” concluded Nikyu, a former national women’s U-17 team coach.
Mr Babatunde Fashola, the Minister of Works, Power and Housing, on Monday warned the distribution companies in the country to step up their service delivery or quit.
Fashola gave the warning at the opening ceremony of the 11th Monthly Stakeholders meeting in Lagos.
According to him, we all know the issues around metering and billing system; we must build the trust and confidence that customers' complains will be addressed.
"We need to do whatever is possible in our various distribution areas to improve the quality of service and continue to train our personnel to recognise that customer is king.
"If we cannot provide or solve their problems, we own it a duty to explain what we are doing.
"We own it a duty to fish out a few members of staff, not all, because we have some dedicated staff.
"I am conscious of the challenges the operators are facing.
"We are working as hard as we can to make the environment more responsive to you and as I have said and will repeat that as pioneers, you will carry some burdens.
"You will have to sacrifice, perhaps more than what you have done,'' he said.
Fashola said that without the customers and the consumers, there would be no business.
"I think that all of us in the public and private sector must understand that. If you don't have the skill and the patient to serve, leave.
"But I am optimistic that things will get better, I am optimistic that we can win together and we can win for the Nigeria people," the minister said.
On the liquidity issues, Fashola said that government was working with other development partners.
"Local and international partners would have shown commitment and inspiring appetite to play in this market.
"We are trying to see what we can do together in order to bring the liquidity issues under some control and from there eventually solve it.
"Our partners in government are also inspiring and show understanding of what the challenges are. So, it is quick decision making now.
"Collaboration and decisions will be fair, but firm, and we expect that people will respect the decisions and also processes to be re-engaged as they come," the minister said.
In his remarks, the Managing Director, Ikeja Electric, Mr Anthony Youdeiwoe, said that 2016 was a challenging year for stakeholders.
According to him, though, the challenges still remain, they are better discussed whenever we meet like this.''
He said that efforts were also ongoing to address the challenges and proffer solutions.
Abuja – FIFA President Gianni Infantino has written to Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) President Amaju Pinnick to commiserate with Nigeria over the killing of former youth international Douglas Uzama.
This is contained in a statement issued by NFF's Spokesman on Monday in Abuja.
Infantino had in a letter dated Jan. 6, personally signed by him said "I would like to express my deepest sympathy on hearing the news of the tragic passing of Nigerian youth international Douglas Uzama.
"On behalf of FIFA and the worldwide family of football, please allow me to extend my deepest condolences to the football community of Nigeria, and most importantly, to his family, friends and loved ones.
"We hope that in some way, our words of support may help bring a little bit of peace and solace in this time of sadness," he said.
NAN recalls that the former U-17 and U-20 international player Uzama, who was on the books of Gombe United FC, was murdered by unknown persons in Benin City on Thursday, Dec. 29, 2016.
The NFF has already called on the Nigeria Police to intensify the search for his killers in order to bring them to justice. (NAN)
Pope Francis on Monday described jihadist attacks around the world as “homicidal madness” and urged religious leaders to reassert that “one can never kill in God’s name”.
The leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics also called on government leaders to combat the poverty that, he said, could allow fundamentalism to flourish.
In a hard-hitting and wide-ranging speech to the Vatican diplomatic corps, the 80-year-old pontiff voiced sorrow that, at the start of 2017, religion was still being used as a pretext for “rejection, marginalisation and violence.”
He cited the “fundamentalist-inspired terrorism” that in 2016 claimed victims in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Belgium, Burkina Faso, Egypt, France, Germany, Iraq, Jordan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Tunisia, Turkey and the United States.
“These are vile acts that use children to kill, as in Nigeria, or target people at prayer, as in the Coptic Cathedral of Cairo, or travellers or workers, as in Brussels, or passers-by in the streets of cities like Nice and Berlin, or simply people celebrating the arrival of the new year, as in Istanbul,” Francis said.
“We are dealing with a homicidal madness which misuses God’s name in order to disseminate death, in a play for domination and power.
“Hence I appeal to all religious authorities to join in reaffirming unequivocally that one can never kill in God’s name.”Pope Francis AFP PHOTO
– Poverty ‘fertile terrain’ –
More controversially, Francis went on to suggest a link between poverty and acts of terror.
“Fundamentalist terrorism is the fruit of a profound spiritual poverty, and often is linked to significant social poverty,” he said.
“It can only be fully defeated with the joint contribution of religious and political leaders.”
While religious leaders had to ensure that believers “do not separate fear of God from love of neighbour” politicians had to deliver religious freedom and societies capable of incorporating it within their model of citizenship, he argued.
“Government leaders are also responsible for ensuring that conditions do not exist that can serve as fertile terrain for the spread of forms of fundamentalism. This calls for suitable social policies aimed at combating poverty…”
The Argentinian pontiff’s comments will have come as no surprise given his determination to make poverty the defining theme of his papacy.
But they are likely to be disputed by those who argue that emphasising the potential role of disadvantage and discrimination in fostering jihadism risks absolving the perpetrators of atrocities of responsibility for their actions.
Francis also touched on several other themes dear to his heart, including the plight of migrants seeking better lives in wealthier countries.
– Korea nuclear warning –
While reiterating past calls for a “common commitment” to offering a dignified welcome to allow migrants, displaced persons and refugees, his New Year message was tempered by a rarer recognition of the difficulties involved.
Integration had to be done in a way that ensured host societies did not sense their security, cultural identity and political-social stability were not threatened, he said.
Immigrants too had to remember their “duty to respect the laws, culture and traditions” of their new homes.
On other issues Francis:
— Said “particularly disturbing” developments on the Korean peninsula risk sparking a new nuclear arms race
— Urged Israel and the Palestinians to resume dialogue, telling them: “No conflict can become a habit impossible to break.”
— Called for intensified efforts to foster peace in Libya, South Sudan/Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo
— Urged efforts to promote peaceful co-existence in Myanmar and international efforts to aid those in “grave and pressing need” – an apparent reference to the country’s persecuted Rohingya Muslims.
— Described Europe as being at a “decisive moment” in its history, one requiring an update of the “idea of Europe” based on a new humanism.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) is to release no fewer than 162 reports on different sectors of the economy this year.
According to the 2017 tentative data release calendar posted on the bureau's Website on Monday in Abuja, the NBS is expected to release 34 data in the first quarter.
According to the calendar, analysed by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the bureau released data on consumer price index and inflation, price watch on diesel, petrol and kerosene.
Other items on the calendar are telecommunications sector data, monthly Federal Account Allocation Committee disbursements, gross domestic products and capital importation in the quarter.
Also in the statistics are foreign trade merchandise, airline and passenger travel, multiple indicator cluster survey and report on women and children.
Unemployment and under-employment watch, labour productivity report and online recruitment service report are also listed.
The bureau is expected to release 43 data in the second quarter.
The data will focus mainly on statistics on corruption, motor vehicles, road accidents, energy and environmental statistics.
It will also focus on airline and passage travel data in addition to petroleum products and inflation reports.
In the third quarter, the bureau will release 38 data ranging, from financial services data, household consumption expenditure, port activities, national agriculture sample survey and solid mineral and mining sector survey.
However, the bureau will be releasing 47 reports in the last quarter which will be the highest data in the year.
It will also be releasing social statistics report for 2016, demographic statistics bulletin and 2016 statistical report on men and women, among others.
The bureau will also be releasing monthly reports on FACC disbursements, consumer price index and inflation reports as well as price watch on diesel, petrol and kerosene. (NAN)
Liverpool and Brazil footballer Roberto Firmino has had his Merseyside home burgled, with jewellery, watches and clothing stolen, according to reports.
The player and his family were out when thieves struck at their home in Mossley Hill at about 22:00 GMT on Dec. 22.
The burglars made an "untidy search" before making off on foot, police said.
Detective Inspector Steve Christian said the "targeted'' theft had "clearly been very upsetting'' for the 25-year-old forward.
Firmino
The footballer and his wife, along with their two children, moved to a hotel after the break-in.
The men were described as wearing hoods, with one said to have been wearing a navy blue Puffa coat.
The burglary is the latest in a number of break-ins at the homes of Premier League footballers in the North West in the past two years.
The homes of Manchester United's Wayne Rooney and Everton players Romelu Lukaku and Tom Cleverly have also been targeted.
Merseyside Police said there was no evidence that the break-in in Mossley Hill was linked to those burglaries.
Firmino, who signed for the Reds in 2015, was charged with drink-driving four days after the break-in.
Gov. Godwin Obaseki of Edo on Monday in Benin inaugurated the Family Court, to exclusively handle matters pertaining to children in both civil and criminal matters.
He said if Nigeria could implement the family court, it would go a long way to address some of the challenges facing families.
The governor, represented by his deputy, Mr Philip Shaibu, assured that the government would support the judiciary, especially as the 2017 appropriation bill provides for infrastructural development.
He said that government would provide more courts as well as improve on the welfare of judges and judicial workers .
The inauguration of the court marks the beginning of the implementation of the Edo State Child Rights Bill.
The bill was passed into law in 2007 and was assented to by former governor, Oserhiemen Osunbor.
The Chief Judge, Justice Cromwell Idahosa, who spoke, said that the Child Rights Bill extensively caters for the interest and rights of the child.
Idahosa added that the court shall have exclusive jurisdiction to handle all matters pertaining to children in both civil and criminal matters.
"With the inauguration of this court, there shall now be speedy trials in matters relating to children's welfare and protection, specifically from undue exposure and exploitation.
"The court will strive to provide families with the best possible outcome in child rights' cases in accordance with the law and best global practices, he said.
Edo Chairman, Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Mr Ede Asenoguan, said the inauguration would place the state amongst the few states in the country that have established the family court.
"We are happy that today, our collective dream of caring for the rights of our children has been given a boost by this inauguration.
"Certainly, our children deserve the best and I believe that no effort shall be spared in ensuring that the rights of children are protected and enforced whenever or wherever same is breached or violated, "he said.
ABUJA-The mediatory team mandated by the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS to intervene in the political impasse brewing up in The Gambia has again schedule to meet with President Yahya Jammeh.
Rising from a high powered meeting presided over by Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, the team announced the decision.
The Cross River State Government lost over N130 million revenue in 2016 due to allocation of cocoa farms to ghost farmers, Mr Oscar Ofuka, Special Adviser to Gov. Ben Ayade on Cocoa Development, has said.
Governor Ben Ayade
Ofuka made the disclosure on Monday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Calabar.
He said the governor had consequently directed a total review of allocations done by the Cocoa Allocation Committee to ensure that genuine farmers were given allocation.
"The governor has directed me to review the allocations with a view to ensuring that the right farmers are given Cocoa farmlands.
"But, the implication of this shoddy exercise is that the state has lost over N130 million from the projected revenue from cocoa allocation in 2016.
"The projected revenue was N200 million, supposed to be generated from payments for allocation fees by farmers.
"But, only N68 million was realised. This is a huge set back to the government's revenue drive.
"Also, the state lost a whole farming year, and we are about losing another year due to this discrepancies,'' Ofuka said.
The governor's aide said that his office had mapped out strategy to begin verification of farmers to ascertain genuine allottees in the state three Cocoa Estates.
"We will first undertake physical verification exercise where farmers will be made to stand in front of their farms to receive their cocoa seedlings.
"And later, we will carry out biometric capture of the farmers,'' Ofuka said.
He lauded the governor's quick intervention on the matter, assuring the farmers that the state government's target of 500,000 metric tons of cocoa annually would be feasible.
Ofuka advised politicians, who were not professional farmers, to allow real cocoa farmers to do their work for the overall benefit of the state.
"We are trying to make cocoa our alternative revenue generating base in view of the dwindling federal allocation,'' he said.
The Ebonyi State Commissioner for Education, Prof. John Eke, on Monday expressed dissatisfaction at the poor turnout of pupils and students as schools resumed in the state.
Eke, irked by the development, directed school authorities to ensure attendance of pupils and students was taken in all government-approved schools.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the schools resumed for the second term of the 2016/2107 academic session.
The commissioner, who visited schools to monitor resumption of teaching and learning, told newsmen that laxity, truancy and nonchalant attitude by pupils and students would not be tolerated.
"We are not happy with the level of attendance of pupils and students to schools in both public and private primary and secondary schools that we visited during the exercise.
"As a government committed to high academic excellence, we cannot condone such irresponsible attitude to learning by our pupils and students.
"We have ordered for immediate opening of attendance register in all government-approved schools in the state.
"We also advise parents and guardians to release their children and wards, as effective teaching and learning have commenced.
"I wish to sound it loud and clear that sanction is awaiting all those who chose to absent themselves from the first day of reopening of schools.
"We shall continue the monitoring exercise," Eke said.
The commissioner lauded the teachers for resuming academic activities, reminding them that government was committed to their welfare.
"We are happy with our teachers because there is almost 100 per cent of attendance in all the schools visited.
"The teachers were also busy teaching the few pupils and students that resumed for academic activities.
"I want to remind them that government has placed the welfare of teachers top in its priority list,'' the commissioner said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the schools visited by the commissioner and top ministry officials include Holy Child Secondary School, in Izzi Local Government Area.
He also visited Government Technical College, Abakaliki, Model Urban Secondary Schools, Abakaliki, Ezza Road Primary School and Holy Ghost Secondary School, among others.
Argentina's former captain Diego Maradona is delighted by plans to expand the World Cup to 48 teams, saying that it would rekindle interest in the tournament.
The FIFA Council is expected to approve a proposal to expand the finals from 32 to 48 teams, starting in 2026, when it meets on Tuesday.
Maradona, one of the greatest players to grace the game, has been a long-time critic of FIFA but the two sides buried the hatchet last year after Gianni Infantino was elected President of the global soccer body to replace Sepp Blatter.
"I'm delighted by Gianni's initiative because it gives chances to teams that otherwise would start the qualifiers knowing they had no chance of getting to the World-Cup," Maradona told reporters after a veterans' match at FIFA-headquarters on Monday.
"It gives each country the dream and it renews the passion for football, it appears to me to be a fantastic idea," added Maradona, who captained Argentina to World Cup success in 1986.
He said it was important for the sport that FIFA's image improved after it was battered by a corruption scandal that has seen 40 individuals and two sports marketing companies indicted in the U.S.
"We want a FIFA that is clean so people come back to the stadiums, with so much corruption people have got tired of always seeing the same thing," said the 56-year-old.
Maradona was a frequent critic of Infantino's predecessor Sepp Blatter and claimed there was "a mafia" inside FIFA.
He had also previously criticised Infantino, saying it was "very wrong to go from drawing the lots to running for FIFA president."
The remark was a reference to Infantino's previous role as general secretary of European soccer governing body UEFA, where his duties included supervising draws for European competitions.
