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
A nursery school pupil Guo Jintong, suffocated to death after her teacher allegedly taped her mouth shut because she was talking too much during morning exercise.
The incident happened at the Huadian Experimental Kindergarten in north-eastern China's Jilin Province.
The six-year-old Jintong was pronounced dead by paramedics who arrived about 30 minutes after she had already been reported unconscious.
A witness said she was "too chatty" as her class did stretches and aerobic exercises in the morning, so her teacher allegedly sealed her mouth shut.
She claimed tape and possibly even glue was used to seal her shut and she was "smothered" to death in a few short minutes.
Realising the girl appeared "abnormal", her teacher brought her to the school nurse who called an ambulance.
The child was taken to hospital, but doctors said they were "unable to bring her back".
The nursery school has yet to release a statement about the incident, but government officials have confirmed the case and said they are investigating with local police.
A candlelight vigil was held for Jintong by members of the public, and her parents have also been filmed sitting outside the kindergarten's gate waiting for an answer from the school.
The Mandate Health Empowerment Initiative (MHEI), a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) has urged the Federal Government to ensure strict monitoring of the ban on sale of cigarettes to persons under 18 years.
Cigarette smoking
Mr Ameh Zion, the President of MHEI, made the call in an interview withnewsmen in Abuja on Saturday.
Zion said that only strict monitoring would ensure total compliance to the stipulations of the ban by marketers, distributors and sellers of cigarettes.
He said major sellers and distributors of the substance should be given the mandate to collect and confirm personal information of buyers to ensure the latter met the age bracket.
According to Zion, this strategy will help with the monitoring of the sale of cigarettes to under-aged persons in the country.
"This ban by the Federal Government is a welcome development as it will boost the campaign against substance use and abuse in the country.
"We hope to ride on this development in taking our mental health campaign to the grassroots because investigation has shown that substance abuse is one of the causes of mental disorder.
"We have also discovered various communities within the territory where drug and substance abuse is on the rise. Carrying out monitoring will not be an easy task.
"The Federal Government needs to work with major producers and distributors of this substance and give them the mandate to check and identify buyers,'' Zion said.
Newsmen report that the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, had on June 1 announced the enforcement of ban on sale of cigarettes to persons less than 18 years in Nigeria.
The minister made the announcement in Abuja at a briefing to mark the "World No Tobacco Day".
He called for the immediate implementation and enforcement of key sections of the 2015 National Tobacco Control (NTC) Act.
Adewole said that government would begin to implement the prohibition of sale of tobacco products to and by anyone below 18 and ban on sale of cigarettes in single sticks.
He said cigarettes must now be sold in packs of 20 sticks only; and smokeless tobacco should be sold in a minimum of a pack of 30 grams.
He also banned the sale or offer for sale or distribution of tobacco or tobacco products through mail, internet or other online device including prohibition of interference of tobacco industry in public health and related issues.
According to a World Health Organisation estimate, more than 4.5 million Nigerian adults are addicted to smoking tobacco substances.
Mr Wahab Gbadamosi, the Public Relations Officer, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) says the service is presently registers only corporate taxpayers for issuance of Tax Identification Number (TIN).
Gbadamosi, who said this in an interview with newsmen in Abuja on Saturday, said the service no longer registers individuals for issuance of TIN.
He said the development was due to the directive by the Senate Committee on the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to stop collection of Personal Income Tax (PIT) in Abuja.
"The FIRS no longer registers individuals for TIN, we only register corporate taxpayers.
"We used to capture individuals in Abuja when we were collecting PIT for FCT.
"We operate like a state in Abuja but about two months ago, the Senate Committee on FCT, chaired by Sen. Dino Melaye directed that the FCT minister should set up the FIRS board to take over collection of taxes in Abuja,'' Gbadamosi said.
According to him, the Joint Tax Board (JTB) has a provision for issuing TIN and can issue TIN to individual taxpayers.
According to him, JTB is an umbrella body for states.
He said that if anyone wants to obtain individual TIN can go to JTB office in Asokoro, FCT to register and obtain TIN.
Gbadamosi added if anyone registered for individual TIN in Lagos or other state and have not been issued TIN, can also visit JTB Asokoro.
The Spokesperson urged individuals who want to register for TIN to check JTB website, adding that they don't need to go to any tax office as there were processes of obtaining TIN.
"It is not possible that one registers for TIN and was not given. If you registered in Lagos or any other state, you will be given TIN immediately.
"If you were truly captured in any state and was not given TIN, then visit JTB office.
"TIN is unique to a corporate entity or individual. Once you have it, it is okay for any part of the country,'' he added.
According to him, the use of TIN is primarily for everyone whether private or corporate, as the use of TIN is not only for civil servants but cuts across.
NAN reports that the taxpayer TIN is an electronic system for taxpayers' registration nationwide in Nigeria, and it is unique to an identified taxpayer for life.
JTB has over the years continued to contribute to the advancement of the tax administration in Nigeria, especially in the area of harmonisation of PIT administration throughout Nigeria.
Shouting “Killers!” and “We want justice”, dozens of people stormed the town hall in London’s richest borough on Friday, accusing the authorities of ignoring the plight of the victims of the Grenfell Tower block blaze.
Three days after fire ripped through the 24-storey block, killing at least 30 people, residents are desperate for answers — and for the bodies of their loved ones, many of which are still inside.
During an angry protest outside the headquarters of the offices of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, which manages the social housing block, a group broke off and scuffled with security guards in the lobby of the red-brick building.
“Shame on you!”, they shouted in a stand-off involving around 30 people, as many police officers, as well as a dozen security guards.
Hundreds of people, including singer and human rights campaigner Lily Allen, were protesting outside, holding up signs saying “Justice for Grenfell”.
One protester held up a “Wanted” poster for an executive who manages the building, accusing him of “corporate manslaughter”.
“It is criminal to wrap homes in flammable plastic,” read another sign after it emerged that cladding installed on the exterior walls as part of a recent refurbishment was not fire-resistant.
Residents had long complained about fire safety risks at Grenfell Tower, but said the concerns of the multi-ethnic, largely working-class inhabitants had been brushed off by local authorities.
“We are in the richest borough in the UK and in this very borough we have a building where some of the poorest live and the safety measures are totally inadequate,” said Mustafa Al Mansur, one of the organisers of the demonstration.
“We need to know what commitment the council is taking to ensure this tragedy is not repeated,” he said. “We need to know exactly the number of people who were there during this tragedy.”
There were chaotic scenes as angry protesters shouted through a loudspeaker, with one woman saying: “We are in pain. We have been trodden on by people who say they are there to protect us.”
Another said: “It was a death trap and they knew it.”
The protesters also held up pictures of those still missing and now feared dead, as the crowd shouted: “No justice, no peace!”
– Can’t respect the bodies –
“We are not here to trouble people. We just want answers,” said Salwa Buamani, 25, who attended the protest with her three-year-old niece on her shoulders.
“I have friends in the tower and they are not telling us anything,” she told AFP, adding: “We can’t respect the bodies.”
The death toll was revised up Friday from 17 to 30, but police warned they expect it to increase further, with as many as 70 people thought to still be missing.
Many of those in the crowd were calling for the remains of their loved ones to be returned, highlighting how survivors had described walking over bodies on the stairwell as they fled.
“They (the authorities) are clearly aware roughly of the number of bodies,” said local resident Karen Brown, 36, whose friend’s 12-year-old daughter Jessica was among those missing.
“The fact that they are not telling people is very frustrating. We are not stupid we are aware people are dead. Just tell them!”
A man shouted: “Where are our children now? In the building! No one takes care of their bodies. Shame on you!”
The crowds moved back towards the blackened tower, gaining numbers until several thousands were marching through the affluent streets around Notting Hill and Kensington High Street.
It developed an almost festive atmosphere, with locals providing free food and revellers in pubs and residents on balconies standing up and applauding as the protesters walked by.
But there was still anger, largely directed at Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May, who was earlier heckled and booed after visiting survivors in a church nearby.
“Theresa May it’s time to go” they shouted, while others held up banners saying “Tories out”.
Watch peoples reaction as Theresa May approaches her vehicle. Remember its an extract from Channel 4 News.
There is a saying that goes that, it is only a person that has not been to the farm of another person's father that proclaims his father's as the biggest. This is exactly what holds true recently for Evia Simon, the acclaimed Nollywood queen of booty.
Tasha and Evia Simon
Bootylicious Evia ran into this Tanzanian girl at a nightclub in Abuja and she was simply overawed by the backside this girl, called Tasha has and just couldn't keep it down as she raised alarm that she's seeing a butt that her’s is like a baby's in comparison.
" When you see your senior you should show some respect. Sexy Tasha from Tanzania. She's simply getting the guys mad. Tasha please pity them biko. Fun night out," she posted on her Instagram with some videos of the girl twerking her backside, with some guys falling over themselves to have a feel of it.
When Potpourri asked her, Evia, if truly she surrenders to the girl. Her reply was unequivocal.
" Yes o, is like mine is still learning beside hers o"
Confusion on Twitter as #FreeEvans campaign started on Saturday begging for mercy for the arrested billionaire kidnapper, Chukwudubem Onwuamadike, alias Evans.
Here are what some Nigerian are saying about the hashtag.
A large fire broke out at a packed beach in Bournemouth, England, as sun-seekers were enjoying the hot weather.
Witnesses reported seeing someone 'throw a flare' behind one of the beach huts, which then sparked a large blaze on the grass on the beach.Fire on Bournemouth beach in England
The fire began at around 3.30 p.m. as witnesses reported seeing huge plumes of smoke.
One woman told the Daily Echo she saw a flare go off moments before the flames travelled up the cliff, but this has not been confirmed by police.
Police wrote on Facebook: "There is currently a fire in foliage in the area of Pier Approach.
"Everything is under control, but we ask you please to AVOID THE AREA at the current time to allow Emergency Services to deal with it swiftly and effectively."
"There was a scream and the smoke went up the cliff. The fire started immediately after that."
One beach-goer, John Farr, told the Daily Echo a yellow smoke bomb had been the alleged cause.
He said: "It was a yellow bomb, I saw a load of yellow smoke and thought what's that.
"It caught fire and just went up. Someone said they saw a child chuck it in there. The smoke was going everywhere, it was awful."
A spokesman for Dorset Police said: "Dorset Police is currently assisting the fire service following a fire along the cliffs on Undercliff Drive in Bournemouth.
"The fire is at East Cliff between Pier Approach toward Boscombe pier.
"Officers have set up a cordon and assisting the fire service who are tackling the blaze.
"A section of the promenade has been evacuated as a precaution. There have not been any reports of any injuries.
"We advise people to avoid the area while emergency services deal with the incident."
A spokesman for Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service said they have sent four pumps with help from the aerial ladder platform to tackle the blaze.
Authorities have asked the public to clear the area.
Bournemouth council tweeted: "Our Seafront Rangers are at the scene of the East Cliff fire, guiding beach goers away from danger and ensuring the area is clear."
Nigerian male Barbie and Internet personality, Bobrisky, born Okuneye Idris Olarenwaju has had to answer questions too many times about his sexuality that he just doesn't give a damn anymore. Some have called him gay, while others toy with the idea of him being a transgender, but whatever dirt has been hurled at this male Ogun State indigene, he has remained resolute and ready to throw back his own punches.
Africa's Male Barbie and Cross Dresser, Bobrisky
The guy, who once told Potpourri in a chat that both men and women envy him, has thrown a shade at Nigerian women, saying he is prettier than 70% of them, telling them to stop hating him and appreciate the fact that he is a successful entrepreneur.
In an Instagram post, he wrote: "I'm prettier than 70% women in Nigeria, so, please stop hating, come and learn from Bobrisky. Did I hear some of you saying I don't have a pussy and breast? Oh sorry, what has your breast and pussy given you? Iphone and 100k? I am sorry for you. I don't have any butt but my bae got me a Benz and a house. Some of you that have breast and pussy, have you asked yourself why your man still cheat on you. Awon Olodo. The day the bloggers will know my bae, chai, most of you girls will cry."
Of course, Bobrisky has denied being gay, but more and more of his posts in recent times are running contrary to that.
When one of his followers told him he's sick to have posted such, he simply replied, " You are sick too, use your unfollow button, bastard"
By AbdulSalam Muhammad KANO – The Kano State Chapter of the All Progressive Congress (APC) weekend reversed the purported expulsion of Abdulmumini Jibril Kofa and Alhaji Sani Kanti Ranka from the party.Abdumumin Jibrin
The APC's Public Relation Officer, Alhaji Bashir Karaye told reporters in Kano Saturday evening that the steps adopted by the feuding group at Bebeji local chapter was “unconstitutional ” .
Bashir said “we recognized that both Kano Ranka and Kofa were still card carrying members, and the status quo ante remains “.
Ranks faction has been enmeshed in power struggle with Abdulmumuni Jibrin group over the soul of the party culminating in expulsion and counter expulsions.
The spokesman of the party said due processes were not followed in the purported expulsions of the leading light in the party.
Karaye affirmed that “Ranka is still the chairman of APC in Bebeji while Abdulmumini Kofa a genuine member of APC.”
Karaye therefore assured that the party would not accept any contrary action to the provisions of its constitution, as he urged the two warring groups to sheath their swords, while the investigative committee is working around the clock to finding lasting solution to the problem.
In his quest to fulfill his parents dreams and contributing to the development of hospitality industry and tourism in Lagos State and Nigeria at large, former Nigerian ambassador to the Republic of Congo and a legal practitioner, Greg Ozumba Mbadiwe MFR, with the support of the Mbadiwes, have launched a luxurious hotel and tourist centre, King Celia Hotels and suites, in the heart of Lagos.
Greg Mbadiwe
The 5 star relaxation centre situated at 8 Jibowu Street, Yaba, according to the brains behind it, was part of his desire to accomplish his parents, especially his father's dream. According to Mbadiwe, "My venture into hospitality business is to make the dream of my father a reality. My late father wanted to build a hotel in our hometown before his death, but the project is still awaiting attention right now. Also, having partnered with some Congolese to set up a relaxation, Brassaville Beach Hotel, I felt it is important to boost the hospitality and tourism of my country too with this initiative."
"Located on two floors are 50 luxury rooms ranging from standard, deluxe, executive rooms and suites for guests. Other facilities include well designed parking space, 24hour electricity and room service, as well as internet facility. For recreation, we have a swimming pool, gymnasium, on site bar and restaurant, conference room, standard event center among others. Also, it is situated only five minutes away from the Ozone Cinemas, and easily accessible to the business districts of Lagos such as Ikeja, Victoria Island and Lekki," added the General Manager, Hassan Fawaz, a renowned hospitality business expert.
Sosoliso plane crash survivor, Kechi Okwuchi, became an instant international singing star when she wowed the judges of America's Got Talent reality show recently with her sonorous voice and powerful vocal. All four judges; Mel B, Howie Mandel, Hedi Klum and Simon Cowell and the whole audience had to stay on their feet to greet the genius of the brilliant lady who cheated death in the ill-fated Port Harcourt bound Sosoliso flight of 2005, where 107 persons lost their lives.
Kechi
Kechi, who is through to the next round of the competition, is now grappling with realities of fame as her Instagram page has been cloned by some fraudsters who have seen her as a prospect to defraud people. Kechi who opened her Instagram page on May 24, 2017 already has over 26,000 followers. This must have prompted the fraudsters into thinking she's a fertile land to milk for unscrupulous gains. Even the cloned handle, in matter of days, has had over one thousand followers.
"Guys, this is not my account, if you followed, thinking it was me, it isn't. It's just a PSA," she warned.
Kechi, who had more than 100 surgeries, in the US after the crash, graduated with a First Class degree from University of Thomas Houston. She only opened her Instagram account after joining the America's Got Talent reality show.
This season, physically speaking, heavens have opened. In several parts of this country, we are experiencing rainfall. However, spiritually speaking, when heaven opens, there is usually a voice. At other times, there may be no voice but something spectacular happens. When heaven opens, blessings come down. Things turn around for the best.
How do we know? Let's refer to the gospel according to St. Luke 3 vs. 21 and 22
" Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened".
What happened? Verse 22 " And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased".
Brethren, from then on things changed. Jesus was empowered and miracles began to happen. Lives were transformed. The blind began to see, the lame began to leap, inadequacy changed to abundance and many more.
This season, I pray that Heaven will open for you and your life will experience a turn around. Whatever has been your source of worry will become a testimony in Jesus name.
Let's take a look at the life of a young boy called Samuel. He was a product of a closed womb. The child of a woman that was called barren. You are familiar with the story of how his mother decided to give him back to the Lord .
Samuel was just like any other child ministering unto Eli. He slept on his mat in the house of Eli but one day, heaven opened for him.
How? Ist Samuel 3 verses 3-21 gives us a detail record of how God spoke to Samuel.
Let's consider verses 8&9 " And the LORD called Samuel again the third time. And he rose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call me. And Eli perceived that the LORD had called the child. Therefore Eli said unto Samuel , Go lie down: and it shall be, if he calls thee, that thou shalt say, Speak LORD; for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and lay down in his place".
Heavens opened and Samuel heard the voice of God. This season, in the name of Jesus, concerning that issue that has been a point of sorrow, heaven will open and you will hear his voice in the mighty name of Jesus.
Samuel heard the voice of God and from that day, his life changed. His life was transformed from a child ministering to a servant of God to a great prophet of God.
What we are saying is that that when heavens open for you, your breakthrough will come in. You will begin to succeed where others have failed.
But it is one thing for heaven to open unto you, it is another thing for you to keep the channel open. God in his mercy might decide to speak to you through the voice of the Holy Spirit or give you a revelation by way of a vision or a dream but whether that channel will remain open could be determined by you.
What do I mean? For instance, a couple is trusting God for the fruit of the womb. Like several others, they have gone from one physician to another and they have been told to just go and relax that babies will come.
Year after year, they continue to wait but no baby was forth coming. At the same time they have been prayerful. During one of such praying sessions, the pastor told them that God would visit them and they would be parents.
Both of them heard the pastor and told him they believe. One year, two years, there was no physical manifestation of the promise of God. Soon they began to give in to societal pressure. The man began to get into relationships with strange women. The woman too due to the influence of friends, also began to commit adultery. They began to cheat on each other. Still no baby came.
Unknown to the man, the woman he got into a relationship with is a cultist. The woman too did not know that the man she had a secret relationship with had another agenda.
No baby came, their marriage began to sink. Two friends had become enemies. It got to a point that they were no longer on speaking terms.
The man went down, completely down financially and the marriage broke down.
The couple went their separate ways. Both worse than they started.
Brethren, whose fault is it? Would you say God did not speak? God spoke, but they failed to live a life that would bring down the promised blessing.
What are you doing in that secret corner of your room that is contrary to the word of God?
Have you gotten yourself to a stage where you believe that God is not coming fast enough for you and you decided to take other steps? Be prepared for the consequences of your action.
For us to have the joy of the Lord in our lives, we must believe in the word of God and live by his word. There is no short cut. You cannot jump God's queue but your desperate cry can provoke God's mercy and he will attend to you in a manner that will surprise you.
Brethren what one is saying in today's article is that God is merciful and will open heaven for those who trust in him. Heavens will open for those who serve no other god but Jehovah.
Testimony- I 'll share this testimony by a member of Living Faith Church popularly called Winners Chapel written by the man.
He wrote, " Success was an illusion in my family. We only heard of people succeeding but had never experienced it. Rather, it had been death after death. But God said to me "My son, you will not die". Today, I am the first graduate in my family and the first person to know God. There were many problems, but God was my strength. I came to this church last year, jobless, I had no money to feed myself. I was about getting married. I had to cancel the wedding because I had no job. But I was trusting God for provisions for the wedding. For the first two weeks, I was trekking to and from church. The first time I would give an offering in church, I gave five Naira. Three months after, I gave that offering, I got a job and a month later, I changed the job for a better one. Two weeks ago, I got married. I single-handedly sponsored the wedding without borrowing from any body! God raised me from grass to grace".
Brethren do you see the difference? In what way was this brother different from the couple? God spoke to both of them. The difference was that this brother held on to the word. He continued to trust God.He also made a sacrificial giving. You may say only five Naira but for someone who was jobless that was a great sacrifice. He said while waiting there were many problems but God was his strength.
Who is your strength? Is it that herbalist that your parents are urging you to come and consult so that you don't remain childless in your marriage?
Are you putting your trust in a fake prophet who is promising you that bathing by the river in the dark of the night will bring you riches?
Brethren, you have a choice. Keep the Lord's channel of communication open or shut it with your unholy conduct.
My suggestion is, hold on to the Lord steadfastly. Cry to him in desperation and his mercy will turn your situation around for the best.
Since Nollywood actress, Collette Orji started her blog, Cocowonder blog and her marriage counseling section, she has been a thorn in the flesh of men. The highly liberated, opinionated beautiful thespian is particularly pissed about how African men regard and treat their wives. To her, a man and a woman should be equal in a marriage.
Collette Orji
Though her blog is known to be a bit feminist in outlook and has raised many questions concerning the rights of a woman and man in a marriage, many men felt she crossed the line recently when she openly advised her readers, whom, she calls Cocowonders’ addicts, not to marry men who can't cook. Predictably, it was an outrage of responses from the menfolk but Coco, as she is called by friends, stood her ground, ready to take on anyone who dares to challenge her.
" Yes! I have said it. I can see women screaming Coco has come again and I can hear the men saying, 'abomination'," she offered, as cool as cucumber.
"Last year, I learnt a certain pastor made this statement boldly, and to tell you the truth, why should any man marry a woman who don't know how to cook also. But you see, what is good for the goose is good for the gander. Equal….. Equality of the sexes. That's my mantra," she stressed.
"The marriage bond among my Nigerian folks is alarming, sickening and outright disdainful. It kills the young and discourages the single. There's almost no hope for my African (I love restricting to Nigerian) marriages. The women have become hopeless lovers glued on Telemundo and fairy tale Philippines’ movies as their escape for what they deem impossible in their own lives and marriages. The only message they hear and listen to every day from their husbands is, 'I am the head of this house … and submission!'
"Some of these men have zero submission spirit, simply to lick a woman properly and let her moan from the joy of his tongue on her clitoris, they would not do. Very insubordinate men, zero submission in their spirit and to worsen it.. some will come here and type Coco, the Bible says and pastor says. But you see these African men, marrying a woman because of food. I'm telling you, because of food. And the women will come here and respond that my pastor says and the Bible says…. and others will say it's love.
"Do you know the worst one? A man will take a girl to his family who will wait to eat her food and the family will say you cannot marry her because she didn't cook well… kai!!! Women have suffered," she ranted in deference.
The Jigawa Government has directed the state's Ministry of Agriculture to deploy 630 youths trained on pest control to all the local government areas affected by army worm invasion.
The state Acting Governor,Ibrahim Hassan, gave the directives on Saturday during an assessment tour of affected farmlands.
Nigerian youths
Hassan, in a statement by his Director Press, Alhaji Ahmad Haruna, noted that the menace is threatening to wipe out early planted rice, sorghum, guinea corn and maize across the state.
Hassan also ordered the state's Agricultural Supply Company (JASCO) to release all the needed chemicals and pesticides without further delay to tackle the menace.
"The Agric ministry should mobilize and deploy the 630 youths who were trained as pest control agents under the value chain programme to spray the affected areas and create buffer zones to check further infestation.
"JASCO should immediately release enough cartons of contact pesticides at no cost to farmers for use by the pest control team."
The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola on Saturday signed a N4.34 Billion Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Dangote Group and other stakeholders for the reconstruction of Apapa Wharf Road.
The project is to be funded by AG Dangote Construction Company Ltd, an arm of the Dangote Group, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and Flour Mills of Nigeria.
Newsmen report that the site was handed over to the stakeholders for commencement of reconstruction works after the agreement was signed in Lagos.
Fashola explained that the gridlock in Apapa became compounded and had reached an unbearable level as transporters ignored the old system of moving cargo through rail to trucks and containers.
Fashola
He said that the choice of the transporters to use road instead of rail for haulage increased gridlock, caused degeneration as well as well as hardship to residents of Apapa.
The minister commended the "leadership role'' of the stakeholders to solve the complex problems in Apapa and its environs.
According to him, the situation has caused stress to residents, business owners and other stakeholders in the state.
"As a result of all these unsavory practices, we have reached a point of near total gridlock, it is difficult to move cargo in or out, difficult for residents to get home and this must stop,'' he said.
Fashola said that it took time to reach an agreement on the project because the stakeholders were putting up an effective design that would address the drainage problem because the area was water logged.
"We have finished with the design, we now have a Bill of Quantity and the cost of the road is N4.34 billion to be funded and paid for by these three groups, Flour Mills of Nigeria, AG Dangote Construction Company Ltd and NPA,'' he said.
The minister said that although the parties were funding the project, the Federal Ministry of Power Works and Housing would supervise it through all the stages to ensure quality and compliance with standards.
Fashola sought for the cooperation of all residents of Lagos and directed the Apapa Area Commander of the Nigerian Police Force, DSP My Nuru to apprehend reckless drivers who drive against traffic during the period of construction.
He also appealed to Nuru to tackle all bureaucracies that would affect free flow of traffic while apprehending offenders.
Fashola also appealed for synergy among law enforcement and traffic regulatory agencies for better traffic management to reduce stress on road users during the one-year duration of the project.
The Managing Director, Flour Mills of Nigeria, Mr Paul Gbededo said that Wharf Road was the "most important road in the entire country'' which needed more attention.
"This kind of road cannot be handled with levity,'' he said.
Responding to issues of lack of holding bays raised by transport unions, the Managing Director of NPA, Ms. Hadiza Usman said that government would support the private sector to drive the initiative to set up new ones. "We have received proposals on electronic management of holding bays, we are working through processes and we would soon conclude on that,'' she said.
She said that tank farms that do not have holding bays for their trucks would soon be sanctioned.
Usman said that the NPA was also working on providing weigh bridges within the ports as well as enforce implementation in a few months to take care of problem of high axle load on the roads.
Mr Joseph Makonjuola, the Honorary Adviser to Dangote Group of Companies assured that the company would contribute its funding as part of its corporate Social responsibility and would still meet its tax obligations to government.
In his remarks, the Managing Director of AG Dangote Construction Company Ltd, Mr Ashif Juma, while giving a brief of the two-kilometer road project said that rigid pavement would be used on the road.
He also assured that high quality materials that would withstand stress would be used.
Representatives of truck owners, transport unions, maritime operators, business owners in Apapa were among stakeholders present at the ceremony
President Donald Trump left Saturday with his wife and young son to spend the weekend at Camp David for the first time.
Since taking power on January 20, Trump has spent most weekends at his resort estate Mar-a-Lago in Florida.
But this time, Trump, First Lady Melania and their 11-year-old son Barron embarked on the Marine One helicopter for the short trip to the official US presidential retreat in the mountains of western Maryland, according to pool reports from journalists traveling with them.
Trump wore an open-collar white shirt and waved as he walked across the White House grounds to the helicopter.
Melania was in a light blue dress and wore sunglasses on an overcast day. Barron was in football garb with knee-high red socks. The first family is scheduled to return to Washington late Sunday.
Trump’s trips to Florida aboard Air Force One have raised complaints among some Americans because of the cost and the disruption it causes for Palm Beach locals because of the enhanced security traveling with the president.
Camp David is best known for hosting secret Middle East talks that laid the groundwork for Israel and Egypt to sign a peace accord in 1979.
The residence has also been used by US presidents to receive visiting foreign leaders and host diplomatic talks.
In 2013, thousands of young men formed a rag-tag militia and rounded up Boko Haram members in Maiduguri, northeast Nigeria, then handed them over to the military. File: Health officials carry the body of a victim of a suicide bomb attack out of an ambulance in Potiskum, in northeast Nigeria’s Yobe State, on June 15, 2015. Ten people were killed in twin suicide bombings in Potiskum, northeast Nigeria, a police source and a civilian vigilante assisting the military against Boko Haram told AFP on June 15. Eight vigilantes were killed in the first blast in the Igwanda area of the city, while two died in the second outside a tavern and brothel in the Dorawa area. AFP PHOTO The Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF), as it later became known, was instrumental in driving the Islamist militants out of the strategic city.
Since then, the ranks of the “vigilantes” have swollen to about 20,000 across the remote region.
Armed with home-made muskets, swords, axes, slingshots and bows and arrows, they man security checkpoints and even accompany the military on operations against the jihadists.
“If it wasn’t for the CJTF (Maiduguri) would have long fallen into the hands of Boko Haram,” said Saad Abubakar, a community leader in the Borno state capital.
“They are a fearless band of committed young men who know Boko Haram members and the terrain very well,” he told AFP.
But with a relative calm returning to the northeast as a result of a sustained counter-insurgency, one question is increasingly being asked: what to do with the vigilantes?
Some have already been implicated in allegations of human rights abuses and there are fears that with no alternative employment, some could turn to a life of crime.
“What next after the war is our concern,” said the Borno state coordinator of the CJTF, Abba Aji Kalli.
“Some vigilantes may decide to become criminals. The government should think twice before it’s too late.”
– No alternative –
The CJTF is largely made up of uneducated and unemployed young men, who receive no regular wage and are instead reliant on hand-outs from sympathetic locals.
Many lost their jobs in farming, herding, fishing and trading as a result of the conflict, which has left at least 20,000 dead and displaced more than 2.6 million others since 2009.
Umar Usman, 32, used to be a food spices trader and was one of 700 vigilantes trained in weapons handling.
He said he has no other way of earning a living and agreed that crime could be a way out for some.
“Going by the current trend we are heading towards a repeat of the Bakassi Boys scenario,” he suggested.
The Bakassi Boys were a militia in Nigeria’s oil-rich south, who were formed to fight armed robbery and other crime in 1998.
Politicians used them as violent enforcers during the 2003 elections but they turned to crime, including oil theft and kidnapping for ransom, when they were disbanded.
In Maiduguri itself, the ECOMOG, which took its name from the West African peace-keeping mission during the Liberian civil war, was a similar gang for hire.
They were used during the 2007 elections to intimidate political opponents and allow electoral fraud through threats and violence.
When they were let go, it is thought some joined Boko Haram.
“With money at the disposal of desperate politicians, it is very easy for the poverty-stricken and hungry vigilantes to compromise,” said Abubakar.
– Grooming a monster? –
The military has made efforts to reign in the vigilantes, organising them into groups or sectors with central and unit commands, and given them basic security training.
Many young men have been given a sense of purpose through volunteering, not to mention a degree of authority, in a region blighted by poverty and unemployment.
Vigilante Modu Grema, however, said lax recruitment procedures has raised fears that criminals — and even Boko Haram members — may already have infiltrated their ranks.
In February, the head of the CJTF, Lawan Jaafar, was arrested on suspicion of links to the militants. Two local politicians are also in custody for alleged complicity with Boko Haram.
Grema said the influx of new members has compromised the structure and led to indiscipline, but Kalli maintained “appropriate sanctions” were given to offenders.
“We never take the law into our own hands,” he said, citing the case of one vigilante who was convicted and sentenced to death in January last year for killing a civilian.
Borno state governor Kashim Shettima has acknowledged the potential security threat from the CJTF.
Some 1,700 vigilantes have been recruited into a youth empowerment scheme since 2013, which gives them a guaranteed monthly stipend of 15,000 naira.
The authorities want to recruit 1,000 more as firefighters and 500 as road traffic personnel, while a further 500 have joined the army and 30 the intelligence agency.
Kalli, however, said more was needed to secure the future, while Umar had a stark warning if the current situation continued.
“The government is unwittingly grooming another monster that will haunt it after Boko Haram is defeated,” he said.
' they've called the group evil, a corrupter of young women'
It is one of Facebook's fastest growing communities and has become such a phenomenon that, last week, Mark Zuckerberg asked to meet its founder. But what is Fin?
•Ms Omolola, FIN founder, with the Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg
Female IN or Fin is a "secret" Facebook group that recently clocked over a million members, largely from Nigeria.
But it's a secret that founder Lola Omolola wants you to know all about – if you're a woman that is.
Though it has a vaguely romantic air, secret is just Facebook terminology, Ms Omolola says. It means invitation-only – you need to know a member to get in.
"It's a safe place, for a woman who has something to say," Ms Omolola explains.
"You don't have to agree but it is her story, she can say it."
The group is a sort of confessional space, where women share stories that they might be uncomfortable – or even afraid – to tell in person.
It doesn't offer anonymity – members have to post under their real names.
And the stories are stunning, although they remain strictly confidential.
In the few days that I've been a Finster, I've read testimonies on domestic abuse, physical and emotional violence, child abuse and rape.
One woman speaks about the moment she told her parents she was about to have a child as a single girl of 17, another about finally being accepted as a lesbian by her mother after many years.
They are brave and intimate, telling of failed relationships or unconventional sexual preferences.
The posts are brutally honest but many of them are laced with self-deprecating humour.
Like the woman who mortified herself on a first date in front of a banquet hall of people or the lady who stole the keys of a bus driver after he bumped her car and refused to apologise.
Many of the stories speak of a distinctly Nigerian experience.
Until recently the group was called Female In Nigeria, so it's not a surprise that most of its members are just that.
"The Nigerian woman has been the core of this process, because I am a Nigerian woman," says Ms Omolola.
A former journalist, she moved from Nigeria to the US in the early 2000s at the age of 24 and started the group nearly three years ago.
She had had an idea to start something for some time – a forum where Nigerian women could talk openly about the issues that affected them. But it was the kidnap of the Chibok girls that drove her to do it.
"I knew the cause of it," she says.
"When you grow up in a place where a woman's voice is not even valid, everything reinforces that idea that we're not good enough."
It didn't surprise her that a group of men could kidnap and enslave these girls, because they didn't see them as equals.
"Between the ages of three and six I noticed that whenever a girl shows any sign of self-awareness she gets silenced. When I said anything I got a pinch – a real, live pinch."
Those pinches came from aunties, uncles, even her mother but never from her father. And it's him that Ms Omolola traces her early feminism to.
Her father was a part-time businessman and was often at home with the children while her mum worked as full-time haematologist.
"We never felt any gender disparity," she says.
"I realise now how much effort it must have taken. It was not something he was just stumbling into. It was an active choice."
Fin started out as a group where women could discuss women's issues – one of the first blogs was on domestic violence – and Ms Omolola expected it to be an abstract conversation.
But women responded with their own stories.
Almost instantly it became a place where people could share things they had never shared before.
"When we started I used to cry. I stopped sleeping, I stopped eating," she says. "I was not ready for the stories that were coming out."
"There were women who had been abused for 40 years and hadn't told anyone. No-one should live like that."
Now the group gets hundreds of applications for posts every day but they are managed and approved by a group of 28 volunteers. About four or five make it on the page.
Fin has strict rules. Above anything else, Finsters are not allowed to judge each other. Any negative comments are removed, as is the member who posts them.
"I noticed that those people who try to shut women up in real life, they came there," says Ms Omolola.
"They are so deeply conditioned to work against their own interest.
"It's the online version of the pinch and the shush."
But the pinchers and shushers were persistent.
In a religiously conservative society like Nigeria, expressions of female sexual freedom were never going to go unchallenged.
Some members tried to get around the ban by commenting with passages from the bible which condemned the woman's actions.
That inspired a second rule – no preaching.
"We prohibit religious-themed advice," it says in the rules. "Fin is not a place of worship."
People have likened Fin and its founder to the devil, they've called the group evil, a corrupter of young women.
Ms Omolola says she has been the subject of concerted attacks by church groups. But she's not worried.
"Most people think that the controversy would kill me," she says. "They don't realise that it's actually empowering me."
After amassing a million-strong membership and a high-profile meeting with Mr Zuckerberg, what is next for Fin?
Ms Omolola has dreams of expanding the group into bricks and mortar, providing centres where women can go to talk about their experiences in a safe space.
But that may be a long way off.
"It needs money and right now I have none," she says. "I can't even pay my rent."
It's something that she discussed with Zuckerberg and though Facebook haven't offered funding yet, she's still in conversation with it on how to move the group forward.
From day one, she says, she had offers from companies who want to advertise on Fin but she has refused to monetise women's stories.
On Mr Zuckerberg's prompt she is now focusing on promoting the message of the site – female empowerment and tolerance.
Since Nigeria have an acting president, the Minister of information, Mr. Lia Mohammed, said ‘I don’t have to speak to Muhammadu Buhari’ who is on medical vacation since 7th of May 2017.
He made this known in a chat with the Channels television on ‘Politics Today’ anchored by Mr. Seun Okinbaloye, while speaking on the likely day Buhari will come back from his medical trip.
Mr. Seun who reminded Lai Mohammed his duty as the Information Minister was replied by the Minister “I don’t have to speak to him since we have an acting president”. Without being specific on the likely arrival of Mr president to Nigeria Lai Mohammed said “The president made it clear when he was living, that the length of his stay will be determined by his doctors.
“The most authentic news we have so far is the one from the wife of Mr. president, Aisha Buhari who came back and said that Mr. president is recovering very fast. I think that is the best I can say for now, he said.
Lai Mohammed
Speaking on the viral negative speeches and skepticism of people over Aisha Buhari not being able to see her husband when she traveled to London, Lai Mohammed said, “I have no reason to doubt what the wife of the president said. “She said I saw my husband and he is doing very well, so I have no reason to doubt her,” he firmly said.
Recall that governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State yesterday led eminent people of the country to pray for quick recovery of President Mohammadu Buhari, who is on medical vacation in London. The governor at the prayer said the President would soon return to the country to continue the good work of redirecting the course of the country.
The prayer which was held during the jumat prayer observed at the Government House mosque, Lokoja, was attended by a former governor of Kano state, Senator Kabiru Gaya.
The governor said "President Muhammadu Buhari is the man the world see when they look at Nigeria. He is Africa's number one anti-corruption crusader whose integrity has helped rebound the nation's global respectability.
COALITION of State Chairmen of Registered Political Parties in Delta State, has called on Prof Pat Utomi to vie for the state governorship seat in 2019, saying he is the best person with the right combination of knowledge, experience, integrity, network, broad acceptability and the best chance to win and chart a new way forward for the state.
Pat Utomi
The coalition in a statement by signed by their chairman, secretary, Chief Efe Tobor (Mega People Political Party) and Prince Jude Eze (Kowa Party) respectively, on behalf of the political parties, said “Delta State needs an honest statesman of the first order to create the state of our dream. It needs a man of integrity whose word is his bond. It needs a leader Deltans can trust to change the rigged political system.
“Having carried out an assessment of all the available options in the opposition and reviewed their pedigree, education and political experience, we concluded that you are the best person to win and have the ability to chart a new way forward for Delta State.
“We trust that you can rescue Delta State from the challenges that has held it down for so many years now. It is for these reasons that we respectfully implore you to run for Governor of Delta State in 2019. Any of our political platforms is available for your use to actualize your political dreams”.
We do so because we believe that what truly matters is not which political party controls the government but whether the government is led by a competent person.
“It is germane that you take this request seriously, and step forward in service to your state, with a heart of love to your brothers and sisters. We are confident that you will begin a new chapter in the political leadership of Delta State come 2019, with a focus on creating opportunities, advancing education, providing safe and practicable healthcare, focusing on our youths and giving all Deltans fresh hope to excel in every endeavor, under a peaceful and safe environment.
“We also believe that your candidacy would help to unify the many contending interests in Delta opposition across party lines. More so, your inspirational candidacy will help in no small measure to strengthen the opposition by the new energy and zeal that it will bring to the political process. This will help you to compete very well across the entire length and breadth of Delta state, with very great potential for a resounding victory.
“We have been disappointed too many times, but we are very confident that you will not disappoint Deltans. We have exhausted our options and this time around, we won’t count on, nor depend on ‘money politics’ as we will ensure that this ‘old style of politics’ definitely fails come 2019.
“You are a singular ray of hope that Deltans can rely on today. We implore you therefore to pick up the mantle, and take that bold and blessed step. Be most assured that you can leave the rest to us and all other Deltans who look up to you as the ‘Moses’ of our time”.
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
US President Donald Trump vowed to overhaul Barack Obama’s deal to restore ties with Cuba on Friday, promising to instead support the Cuban people against their “cruel and brutal” regime.
US President, Donald Trump
Trump flew to Miami’s Little Havana, spiritual home of the Cuban-American exile community, to denounce his predecessor’s “one-sided” settlement and vow before a partisan crowd to work for Cuba’s freedom.
In practical terms, Trump’s review of the deal was limited — it does not break diplomatic ties with Raul Castro’s communist regime, but it tightens rules for Americans traveling to Cuba, bans ties with a military-run tourism firm and reaffirms the existing US trade embargo.
“Effective immediately, I am canceling the last administration’s completely one-sided deal with Cuba,” he declared before a cheering audience of Cuban-Americans at the Manuel Artime Theater in Little Havana.
That may have been overstating his case; a US Treasury statement on Trump’s new measures showed that they mainly relate to stricter enforcement of existing laws that had been loosened as Obama sought a rapprochement.
But they won roars of approval and cries of “Viva Cuba libre!” from the invited crowd of Cuban-Americans and Cuban exiles, including veterans of the ill-fated Brigade 2506, which in 1961 launched the failed US-backed Bay of Pigs invasion to “liberate” the communist-run island.
“Our policy will seek a much better deal for the Cuban people and for the United States of America. We do not want US dollars to prop up a military monopoly that exploits and abuses the citizens of Cuba,” Trump said.
“We will not lift sanctions on the Cuban regime until all political prisoners are free,” he said, introducing the crowd to a group of Cuban dissidents who met him at the airport to make the case for more pressure on Castro’s one-party regime.
The new measures prohibit financial transactions with Cuba’s military-backed tourism conglomerate GAESA, a body which might otherwise have hoped for a windfall from a new surge in American visitors.
Run by Castro’s son-in-law Luis Rodriguez Lopez-Callejas, GAESA is involved in joint ventures with several foreign firms that have driven a tourism boom on the island, including the Marriott hotel chain.
– Human rights – Signing a new National Security Presidential Memorandum, Trump announced stricter application of the rules under which Americans can travel to Cuba.
American citizens will still be able to take commercial flights to Cuba, but only for 12 specific reasons — ranging from journalism to educational activities — which will be more tightly enforced.
Cuban-Americans will still be able to travel to Cuba and send remittances, limiting the impact in Florida, where many Cuban emigres settled and where many of them turned out last year to vote for Trump.
Miami’s Cuban-American population has a reputation for diehard anti-communism and an opposition to thawing ties, but in the Little Havana district on Thursday, some — even those who had fled oppression — were philosophical about detente.
“Obama did the right thing,” said 77-year-old Manuel Gonzales, who left the island in 2006. “The only person responsible for the embargo was Castro. We have to look forward, not back.”
Others were not so forgiving.
Marta Diaz, now 75, left Cuba in 1967 and time has done nothing to dull her anger towards the authoritarian regime. She urged Trump to impose “harsh measures” until the Havana regime falls.
– Small businesses – Boosting travel was a key aim of Obama’s painstaking effort to restore ties with Cuba after a half-century chill, which reached a symbolic climax with a visit by the then-president in 2016.
Some 285,000 people visited the Caribbean country in 2016, up 74 percent over 2015, with Americans the third-biggest group after Canadians and Cuban expats.
“New restrictions on engagement with Cuban economy only pushes Cuba to China and Russia who will gladly make up the difference,” argued former White House official Ben Rhodes, the architect of Obama’s Cuba policy.
“Any limitations on travel hurt Cuban small business owners — restaurants, shops, taxis — that depend on travelers for revenue.”
Engage Cuba, a group lobbying for an end to the embargo, estimates that 10,000 US jobs in aviation and the cruise business already depend on Cuba.
Cuba’s new ambassador to the US, Jose Ramon Cabanas, who re-opened the embassy in Washington last year, tweeted a picture of American tourists ambling through a street market with the ironic message: “Now it is official: these are the new enemies of US Foreign Policy. Watch out!!
Abuja – The Nigerian Mission in South Africa on Friday said it had waded into issues surrounding the alleged quit order given to Nigerians by two communities in that country.
Amb. Martin Cobham, Nigeria's Acting High Commissioner in South Africa, said on telephone from Pretoria that the mission was on top of the situation.
The Nigeria Union in South Africa had accused two communities in that country of ordering Nigerians residing within their territories to vacate.
Nigeria's Acting High Commissioner in South Africa said that he had engaged in processes to nip in the bud whatever crisis or situation that could affect the welfare of Nigerians living in South Africa.
"I engaged the union leader who has given me the graphic details of what happened.
"In view of that I have engaged with the authorities here to bring in the community, the police and the Nigerians living there for a meeting so as to prevent any mayhem.
"On Monday I am going to dispatch our officials to the Northern Cape Province to engage in a meeting with the local police and the community for a tripartite meeting," he said.
The High Commissioner said that he would also meet with the authority to ensure that instruction was given to the police not to allow any outbreak of violence.
"All we are trying to ensure is to nip in the bud any breakdown of law and order or anything that could lead to violence.
"So we in the embassy are on top of the situation. And I am engaging the union leader and my office is equally engaging the South African Foreign Ministry on the issue.
"So I believe with this measure we will be able to contain all these excesses," he said.
The President of the union, Mr Ikechukwu Anyene, had alleged that the Kuruman community in Northern Cape Province also gave Nigerians till Friday, June 16 to leave.
Anyene also said that the Klaafontein community, Extension 5, Johannesburg, directed landlords not to renew the rent of Nigerians in the community.
He said that the grievance of the South Africans was that Nigerians were responsible for some social vices such as illicit drug trade and prostitution.
Isanlu-Isin (Kwara) – The Federal Government is set to recruit 300,000 youths in the second batch of its N-Power social intervention and job creation programme.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed disclosed this on Friday in Isanlu-Isin community near Omu-Aran town in Kwara State.
Mohammed said that the Federal Government would "reopen the N-POWER portal by next week to commence the process for the recruitment".
He enjoined the youths to take advantage of the recruitment exercise by completing the application process on line, adding than 200,000 people benefitted from the first batch of the programme.
The minister said that no fewer than 27,000 people had benefited from the Conditional Cash Transfer programme, while government had given 7,000 interest free loans to market men and women across the country.
The minister said the home grown school feeding programme of government had covered over 1.2 million pupils and the Kwara State would be on the team of the social intervention programme in September.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the minister was in Isanlu-Isin to explore ways to develop the road leading to Owu Water Fall, located near to the community.
The Water Fall, which is 120 metres above sea level is credited to be the highest and most spectacular natural water fall in West Africa and a significant symbol of nature.
The minister recalled that he had visited the Owu water fall in February, where he advocated Public-Private-Partnership for its development.
He said he was glad to hear that efforts had been made as far back as 2009 to develop the road leading to the fall.
Mohammed urged the community leader to make available to him documents relating to the contract to enable him move for quick execution of the project.
"It has been revealed to me that the contract for the construction of the road had been advertised and bided for and the Bureau of Public Procurement had issued a No Objection Certificate.
"If we get those documents, we can see how we can revive the contract
"The fall is one of the tallest in Africa and it is just lying there fallow.
"If we can get the road done, it will attract tourists and revive the economy of the surrounding communities," the minister said.
The traditional ruler of Isanlu-Osin, Oba Solomon Oloyede thanked the minister for the visit and expressed the support of his people for the government of President Muhammadu Buhari.
He commended the government for its efforts at restoring peace and security to the nation as well as the successes recorded in its anti corruption fight.
The monarch urged the government to do its best in fixing the road linking the community to the Owu Water Fall.
Earlier in an address, the President of Isanlu-Osin Development Association, Mr Emmanuel Oladele said that the contract for the construction of the road to the fall was captured in 2009 budget.
He appealed to the Minister to use his good offices for government to revisit the contract in its 2018 budget.
Port Harcourt – The Federal Government has ordered investigation into educational qualification of members of staff of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr Uguru Usani gave the directive when he visited the commission on Friday in Port Harcourt.
He expressed optimism the investigation would expose ghost workers and staff members, who gained employment in the commission with forged certificates.
According to him, the Federal Government was committed to purge the commission of sleazy practices with focus to fast track development of the Niger Delta.
"We have observed that there are several people working in NDDC with forged certificates, which is partly responsible for the bad image of the commission.
"Directors of the various departments in the commission are expected to submit the nominal roll of their respective departments to the NDDC Managing Director, Nsima Ekere, within one week.
"We will not tolerate any delay to this directive and as such, failure to submit the nominal roll on or before one week would lead to sanction.
"Any departmental head who signed for a ghost worker would face the music," he said.
Usani, who was accompanied by the House Committee Chairman on the NDDC, Mr Nicholas Mutu, warned against political interference in the process.
He said, henceforth, political interference in the running of the commission would be resisted and assured that Federal Government was committed to "governance without partisanship."
Mr Nsima Ekere, the Managing Director of NDDC, said the commission would partner the Ministry of Niger Delta, its supervising ministry, to complete construction of the East-West road project.
He said the road project, which cut across six states in the Niger Delta, would cost in excess of N70 billion to complete.
"The strategy will be to harness private sector collaboration to complete the road project. The portions that have totally collapsed will be addressed immediately.
"We will involve multiple contractors, especially the Eleme-Refinery Junction road, which is a strategic link to the oil and gas industry in Nigeria.
"The East-West road is also strategic because it connects Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Cross River states," he said.
Ekere said the commission had deployed a technology designed to monitor project with focus to reduce incidences of abandoned projects in the area.
He said the technology would enable the commission to monitor project sites and record progress of work in real time.
"With this technology, contractors will longer lie to us that they are on site when the work is not going on," he said.
The Lagos State Government on Friday arraigned a suspected notorious land grabber, Chief Kamorudeen Lamina before a Special Offences Court sitting in Oshodi over alleged forceful dispossession of residents from their legitimate rights to land ownership. Suspected Land Grabbing Kingpin, Chief Kamorudeen Lamina (3rd left) along with other defendants arraigned at the Lagos State Special Offences Court on Friday, June 16, 2017. Lamina, popularly known as Sir K, was arraigned alongside six others on a six-count charge by the Special Anti-Land Grabbing Task Force set up by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s administration.
Lamina and his gang were said to have been terrorising the people of Ikorodu area of the State for some time before he was arrested on Thursday.
Others arraigned alongside him are Mr Omotola Ogunsanmi, Mr Samson Shobule (A.K.A Samson Salau), Biliaminu Orega (A.K.A Biliaminu Salau), Alhaji Jimoh Aromasodu, Alhaji Wasiu Orenuga and Alhaji Nurudeen Kasali.
In counts one and two, Lamina, sometime in February 2017 in Mowo Kekere area of Ikorodu Local Government, allegedly took over one plot of land forcefully which was sold to one Mrs Ebere Okafor by Ifegbuwa family contrary to Section 2 (1) of the Lagos State Properties Protection Law 2016.
The action was allegedly carried out by Lamina despite the fact that the sale of the land had been ratified with proof of payment.
In count three, Lamina was accused of forcefully taking over and remaining in possession of 200 plots of land in Mowo Kekere belonging to Planet Properties Ltd contrary to Section 2 (2) of the same law, while in count five, the defendants were said to have fraudulently sold 60 hectares of land which had been previously sold by the rightful owner contrary to Section 8 (1) (b) of the law.
The fraudulent sale, which was allegedly carried out in January 2017, was perfected by the defendants fraudulently claiming to be the descendants of Ifegbuwa family.
In count six, the defendants were accused of fraudulent selling 25 hectares of land to third parties without any lawful right to do so, an offence punishable under the law.
After the charges were read to them, they all pleaded not guilty, while their lawyers, Mr E Obatayo and B.O Abdusalam applied to the court to grant them bail in most liberal terms.
The lawyers argued that the offences for which their clients were charged are bailable, and that they were ready to defend the case.
The prosecutor, Ms Mosunmola Balogun from the Lagos State Ministry of Justice did not oppose the bail application but urged the court to impose conditions which would make the defendants available for trial
In his ruling, Magistrate Lateef Owolabi granted bail to the defendants in the sum of N1million and two sureties in like sum.
One of the sureties must be a land owner in Lagos, while the other must be a civil servant not below grade level 15. The sureties must have three years tax clearance and registration with Lagos State Residents Registration Agency (LASRRA).
The Magistrate also ordered the defendants to deposit N150,000 each with the court, while they are to be remanded in Badagry Prison pending when they are able to meet the bail conditions.
The matter has been adjourned to July 13.
Speaking to journalists at the end of the proceedings, Chairman of the Lagos State Anti-Land Grabbing Task Force, Mr. Jide Bakare said the administration of Governor Ambode, through the arraignment, was sending a strong message to others still involved in the act of forceful dispossession of property it would no longer be business as usual.
Ekiti state governor, Ayodele Fayose has reiterated his desire to land the number one job in the country when the opportunity comes calling.
Ayodele Fayose
The governor stated this when he met with political office holders at the Government's House, Ado Ekiti. He went ahead to say that former governors Segun Oni and Kayode Fayemi who are nursing the ambition of contesting in the forthcoming governorship election will fail.
Speaking, Fayose said “Just because Ayo Fayose has won a second term to become governor of Ekiti, some people also think they can come back now, but I want to tell them that it is not possible. I am the man wholeheartedly loved by Ekiti people because of the many developmental projects that have brought great infrastructural and developmental advancement to Ekiti.
"If you go around Ekiti, you will see my handiwork dotting every nook and cranny of the state. This is why I am the man who every Ekiti people will follow in 2018."
"I have penchant for taking powers; that one in Buhari's hand. I will take it. I'm going straight to that villa. I'm the next president.
"I want to be the next president of Nigeria. My own won't be this change that has brought nothing, we are going to represent the people well and tell them the truth."
The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) has expressed shock at the acquittal of several high profile individuals charged with corruption saying that it was time for the country to invite international lawyers to prosecute high profile corruption cases. Buhari CISLAC in a statement Friday night particularly lamented what it described as the obvious fact of the corruption in the judiciary which it claimed the authorities seem unable to address.
CISLAC in the statement issued by its executive director, Auwal Ibrahim Musa also regretted what it claimed as the lack of synergy among the country's anti-corruption agencies and called on the authorities to address.
Noting what it described as the seeming poor capacity of the prosecuting personnel, CISLAC said:
"The use of international prosecutors should be explored since national prosecution does not seem to be effective in solving high profile corruption cases. This call is further strengthened on the face of the conviction the British Government was able to achieve on the James Ibori case when the Nigerian authority failed to deal with the situation.
"We urge citizens to continue to demand for accountability from the government and to support the anti-corruption agencies saddled with the responsibility of fighting corruption.
"CISLAC has noted that the lack of synergy among anti-corruption agencies and international bodies has hampered and slowed down this fight. In addition, ill preparations and non-timely prosecution of some cases has led to the acquittal of these allegedly corrupt individuals.
"CISLAC therefore calls for an urgent and expedient judicial reform if the fight against corruption is to have any effect in the country. Special Courts to handle corruption cases should be created as a matter of urgency.
"We further urge the Federal Government to be proactive, thorough in its investigations and gathering of facts before going to court in order to avoid loopholes through which these corrupt individuals can meander their way through.
"CISLAC notes the need for highly experienced lawyers to be recruited to handle these cases in court as inadequate capacity of lawyers handling these high profile cases has worked in the favour of these individuals.
"We observe that there is need for anti-corruption agencies to be adequately funded in order to aid their work. Hence, a collaborative effort on the part of the Judiciary, Executive and Legislature in fighting corruption is expedient."
Ekiti state governor, Ayodele Fayose has said that he will take power out of Buhari's hand as the next Nigerian president..
The governor spoke at a meeting with political office holders at the Government's House, Ado Ekiti, where he also inspected Osoko Political Institute Centre.
He said, "Just because Ayo Fayose has won a second term to become governor of Ekiti, some people also think they can come back now, but I want to tell them that it is not possible. I am the man wholeheartedly loved by Ekiti people because of the many developmental projects that have brought great infrastructural and developmental advancement to Ekiti.
"If you go around Ekiti, you will see my handiwork dotting every nook and cranny of the state. This is why I am the man who every Ekiti people will follow in 2018."
"I have penchant for taking powers; that one in Buhari's hand. I will take it. I'm going straight to that villa. I'm the next president.
"I want to be the next president of Nigeria. My own won't be this change that has brought nothing, we are going to represent the people well and tell them the truth."
Ayogu Nnamdi, a prosecution witness in the trial of Henry Ugbolue, an aide to Kingsley Kuku (former Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Niger Delta) on Thursday, June 15, 2017 told Justice M. M. Kolo of the FCT High Court Wuse, Abuja that the accounts of Great & Gamaliel Alliance Limited received a turnover of about N35.2million in two months.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, had on April 20, 2016 arraigned Ugbolue and Lawrence Pepple, both former aides to Kuku on two separate charges bordering on criminal conspiracy, false declaration of assets and fraudulent acquisition of property to the tune of N55million.
Kuku (a fugitive) and Ugbolue were alleged to have conspired among themselves and awarded contracts running into millions to companies in which they had interests. It was alleged that Ugbolue was the sole signatory of Great & Gamaliel Alliance Limited, the company which provided integrated management of communications and stakeholders' engagement chain for the office of the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta.
On his part, Pepple was the director and sole signatory for KER Global Wave Limited, which was awarded a contract to provide Reintegration Support Services by the Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta under the Presidential Amnesty Programme.
Testifying, Nnamdi, a bank compliance officer, who testified as PW1, told the court that, "a sum of N35, 206,564.89 was paid to the account of Great & Gamaliel Alliance Limited between March 4 and May 15, 2014 through the Office of Special Adviser to President on Niger Delta".
Counsel to EFCC, Faruk Abdullah, sought to tender account opening documents, statement of account and mandate card in evidence, but the admissibility of the documents was objected to by Ugbolue's counsel, G. E. Ezeuko, SAN, on the grounds that the documents were originals of public documents adding that, only certified true copies of public documents are admissible.
Ezeuko argued that, "one of the account statements has no certificate of identification and the one with certificate of identification did not comply with Section 84 (4) of the Evidence Act".
He also noted that one of the account statements was not in the proof of evidence given to him.
Responding, Abdallah argued that, "we concede that the documents are originals of public document. However, contrary to the submission of the defendant's counsel, the original of a public document is admissible as it's a primary document itself. The Supreme Court had settled this when it held that, such document is the best form of document".
Abdallah added that, "It's only when you intend to tender a secondary evidence of a public document that it must be certified".
Justice Kolo deferred ruling on the admissibility of the documents. He, however, admitted the documents, in the interim, as exhibits D & E adding that, "in the event the documents were found inadmissible everything relating to it would be expunged from the court record".
The judge, thereafter, adjourned to September 20, 2017
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Friday arraigned a former branch Manager, Florence Onome Odior and four others namely; Orion Sunday, (her busband) ,Patricia Jegede a.k.a Joe Nek Services, Joseph Alexander Esiso, Zackary Petroleum Nigeria Limited and Tegha and Associates Nigeria Limited before Justice Ohimai Ovbiagele of the federal high court sitting in Benin, Edo State.
They were arraigned on a 19 count charge bothering on Stealing, forgery, obtaining under false pretence,uttering and conspiracy to defraud contrary to section 467(2)(d) of the criminal code laws of Edo State of Nigeria, 2006
The former bank manger while a branch manager in 2012 defrauded one Moses Obozokhae to the tune fifty million eight hunded and fourth thousand naira only using a forged and uttered document titled: United Bank for Africa Certificate of deposit with reference No TDO9990001445 dated 2nd August 2012
One of the charges reads: that you Florence Onome Odior sometimes in 2012 whilst being a branch manager in the employment of United Bank for Africa (UBA) in Benin, Edo State within the jurisdiction of this honourable court with intent to defraud did steal by converting to your personal use the sum of N 85,840,000,00( Eight Five Million Eight Hundred and Fourty thousand Naira Only) property of Moses Obozohae. When the charges were read to them, they all pleaded not guilty.
Consequently the prosecution counsel, Mustapha Aliyu prayed the judge for an overturn of their administrative bail asking that they be remanded in prison custody as they have all jumped bail and asked for a shortets possible time for commencement of trial .
Counsel to the 1&2 Accused persons , C.J. Ekegwuba reminded the court that today was for plea taking and bail hearing prosecution counsel responded that he had countered the bail application presented by his colleagues and had submitted same this morning.
C.J.Ekegwuba told the court that the offence her clients is charged for is not a capital offence and they have never had any criminal record adding that they have never jumped bail and needed medical attention now as 1st accused is sick moreover they have been on administrative bail hence the need to be considered.
Counsels to 3rd, 4th and 5th accused persons aligned their position with counsel to the 1&2 accused.
Prosecution counsel however told the court that he didn’t see any reason of them continuing with the administrative bail as they have jumped bail and can also be attended to at the Nigerian prison adding that in Nigerian prison, you are treated and even feed for free all at no cost.
After listening to all the counsels argument, justice Ohimai Ovbiagele adjoined to Thursday, June 24,2017 for ruling on continuation of bail and 12 and 13 July ,2017 for commencement of trial .
Cristiano Ronaldo, battling accusations of tax evasion and speculation over his club future, is concentrating only on the Confederations Cup, his Portugal teammate Andre Silva said Friday.
“He takes this tournament very seriously and is focused. He is motivated, just like me,” said the 21-year-old Silva at a news conference in Kazan ahead of Portugal’s opening Confederations Cup match against Mexico on Sunday.
“He is concentrating on playing for the national team and he wants to give the motivation to have a good tournament.”
Ronaldo insisted Wednesday he had a “clear conscience” after Spanish prosecutors accused the Real Madrid star of evading 14.7 million euros in tax through offshore companies.
“Conscience clear, always,” Ronaldo told reporters at Lisbon airport as he and his Portuguese teammates prepared to fly out to Russia.
Real Madrid also gave their backing to Ronaldo, releasing a statement saying the club had “full confidence in our player Cristiano Ronaldo, who we understand has acted in accordance with the legality regarding compliance with his tax obligations”.
Mrs. Ngozi Olojeme, former Deputy Chairman, Finance Committee of former President Goodluck Jonathan campaign organisation has been declared wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Wilson Uwujaren, spokesman of the commission, told TheCable on Friday..
Ngozi Olojeme
"Yes, she (Olojeme) has been declared wanted," he said in response to a question from TheCable.
Olojeme, who is also the former chairman of the National Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), was alleged to have diverted $48m of the organisation's fund.
"It was discovered that the NSITF accounts in First Bank of Nigeria and other banks have witnessed a total turnover of over N62,358,401,927 between 2012 and 2015 from the Employee Compensation Scheme contributions," an EFCC report detailing the allegations, read.
"That out of the N62bn, the federal government contributed N13,600,000,000 while the sum of N48,758,401,927.80 was contributed by the private sector. That there were several payments to individuals and companies from the NSITF bank accounts for purported contracts or consultancy services.
"That some individuals and companies that received these payments, in turn, transferred part of the monies directly to the NSITF officials while others transferred huge sums to bureau de change operators who changed them to dollars."
"That through this process, Dr Ngozi Olojeme, the then NSITF board chairman, has collected a total sum of $48,485,127 from Mr Chuka Eze (her account officer at FBN), which cash he collected on her behalf being the dollar equivalent of monies paid to BDCs by NSITF contractors.
"That she has refused to honour invitation and all efforts to get her to come and tell her own side of the story have proved abortive hence her arrest warrant has been obtained from court.
"We ask for the EFCC chairman's approval to declare the suspect wanted."
The Oyo State Police Command has arrested 16 suspects alleged to have been involved in armed robbery and kidnapping.
The state Police Commissioner, Mr Abiodun Odude, on Friday in Ibadan, said the suspects were responsible for the spate of robberies in Akobo and other parts of the state.
He said that their arrest followed their latest attack on Wisdom Estate, Akobo, Ibadan, at about 2am on June 3.
Odude said that the suspected bandits attacked residents of the Estate and robbed victims of their valuable properties and cash.
"During a raid carried out by the Idi-Aro Police Division, one of the suspects was arrested and some of the jewellery and mobile phones earlier snatched from victims during the robbery operation were recovered from him.
"His arrest and subsequent confession led to the arrest of other members of the gang by operatives of the Special Anti Robbery Squad of the command.
" More stolen items were recovered from the suspects who confessed to have carried out several armed robbery operations in Egbeda , Olodo and other places in the state," he said.
The CP said that the suspects used machetes to maim and kill innocent victims.
Odude said that three of the victims who sustained severe machete cuts on the head, stomach and hands were lying in critical condition at the intensive care unit of a private hospital in Ibadan.
Newsmen report that some victims who were present to identify the robbers at the parade ground narrated how the suspects terrorised the entire estate.
According to them, the bandits forcefullly gained entry into their homes breaking walls, windows and burglar proof.
One of the victims explained how the robbers killed two of his security dogs and inflicted machete cuts on his grandmother during the operation.
Items recovered from the suspects include three long cutlasses, five finger rings, 10 different mobile phones, 12 assorted wristwatches, two gold pendants, a pair of gold earrings and 13 different criminal charms.
Arsenal must spend more on wages if it hopes to keep players away from global competitors, former midfielder Emmanuel Petit told said Friday, adding fans also needed to lay off embattled manager Arsene Wenger.
Arsenal’s French manager Arsene Wenger holds the FA Cup trophy on the pitch after their win over Chelsea in the English FA Cup final football match between Arsenal and Chelsea at Wembley stadium in London on May 27, 2017. Aaron Ramsey scored a 79th-minute header to earn Arsenal a stunning 2-1 win over Double-chasing Chelsea on Saturday and deliver embattled manager Arsene Wenger a record seventh FA Cup. / AFP PHOTO
It is 13-years since Wenger’s ‘Invincibles’ won the last of his three Premier League titles and the club has just come through their worst season in two decades.
Former French national Petit was at the heart of Arsenal’s glory days under Wenger but he said fans risked fixating on that era without understanding the present.
“I think that at times it has gone much too far (criticism of Wenger),” he said in Bangkok where Petit was taking part in the first-round draw of the EFL’s newly rebranded Carabao Cup.
“I think that, once again, people have been suffering from amnesia. I think that they tend to focus on what happened in the past, rather than the whole picture.”
Wenger has spent much of the last year facing down a growing fan rebellion against his long tenure that looks unlikely to subside unless the team returns to their winning ways.
A surprise FA Cup win against Premier League champions Chelsea last month briefly lifted supporter spirits and was followed by the news that Wenger had signed a new two-year contract.
Wenger now faces a tough task of attracting new talent and keeping his best players.
For starters, he has to persuade Alexis Sanchez to sign a new contract amid rumours the Chile forward will attract offers from Bayern Munich and Manchester City.
Sanchez and team-mate Mesut Ozil are both holding out for weekly wages of around £300,000-per-week and have just one year left on their current deals.
Petit, still sporting his trademark ponytail, said Arsenal has no choice but to compete on wages.
“I think it’s time now for Arsenal to be competitive both in the transfer market but also in terms of its wage structure, because all the big European clubs are forced to spend crazy sums of money now,” he said.
“There’s so much competition nowadays, you see it with China, where you have clubs which are able to offer 40 million a year to the top players in Europe, obviously that upsets the market.”
Wenger’s transfer mishaps have left Arsenal lacking presence in midfield and bereft of an instinctive finisher, while their myriad defensive woes were exposed time and again.
Majority shareholder Stan Kroenke is ready to give Wenger £100 million ($128 million, 114 million euros) to spend, with Leicester’s Riyad Mahrez, Monaco’s Kylian Mbappe and AC Milan’s Carlos Bacca all linked to the Gunners.
Asked what he thought about Mbappe, Petit replied: “A kid who no-one had heard of six months ago and now is worth more than a hundred million euros, you know what I mean… things move very fast in football.”
Kaduna – The Gender Awareness Trust, on Friday urged the Kaduna State Government to legislate against early marriage, so as to provide adolescent girls with opportunities to live productive and meaningful lives.
The group made the call in Kaduna while unveiling a new tool kit in Hausa language developed to guide faith leaders preach against early marriage and providing opportunities for adolescent girls to excel in life.
The event was organised as part of activities to mark the Day of the African Child.
The group said that the government must intervene to delay the time for marriage and allow girls acquire meaningful education.
Tida Leo, the group's Project Officer, called for the domestication of the Child Right Act in the state, to insure the welfare and safety of children, as well as protect them from violence.
"The Kaduna State Government, CSOs and other concerned citizens should support institutions to give proper care to children with disabilities and children caught up in violence."
Leo stressed that Muslim and Christian leaders should use scriptural evidence to influence the attitude of their congregation to stop early marriage and allow girls access to educational and empowerment opportunities.
On the tool kits, the project officer said it was developed "as a guide for faith leaders to adequately address specific issues that negatively affect the social and economic growth of girls in Northern Nigeria."
She explained that the group had targeted 12 communities in Kaduna State to ensure that faith leaders there use the Hausa tool kits to campaign for better lives for girls.
The tool kit is tagged in Hausa as `Inganta yin zabi da bada dama ga “yan mata masu matsakaitan shekaru -Kundin aiki ga Shugabannin Addini.'
Leo stressed that the main message was to highlight the increasing challenges faced by young girls due to lack of economic empowerment and education.
She stressed that culture had played significant role in denying young girls opportunities to explore their potentials in life, with some forced to abandon school and marry early.
"Religious and traditional leaders can significantly influence the behaviour of the society and individuals to ensure that girls have better opportunities in life," she said.
A 20-year-old US woman was convicted of involuntary manslaughter Friday for ordering her teenage boyfriend to follow through on his long-planned suicide and for failing to save him from harm.
Michelle Carter broke down in tears and sobbed into a tissue during the 20-minute juvenile court hearing in Massachusetts, which is likely to break new ground in a state that has no law against encouraging someone to commit suicide.
Conrad Roy, 18, was found dead from carbon monoxide poisoning in his pickup truck in a parking lot in July 2014.
The trial heard that Carter and Roy exchanged hundreds of text messages in which the young woman, who was 17 at the time, urged him to follow through on his plan to kill himself, to conceal it from his parents and lie to his mother.
But Judge Lawrence Moniz said it was her instruction to Roy to get back into the vehicle — during a telephone call after he stepped out — and her failure to sound the alarm that was crucial to the conviction.
Failure to take reasonable steps to alleviate the risk to another “can result in a charge of manslaughter,” he noted in his decision.
“This court, having reviewed the evidence and applied the law thereto, now finds you guilty on the indictment charging you with the involuntary manslaughter of the person Conrad Roy,” Moniz told the packed court room.
Carter, who waived her right to a jury trial, faces up to 20 years in prison. She will remain on bail until sentencing on August 3 in Taunton, south of Boston.
In the closely-watched case, legal experts had questioned whether Carter’s actions were enough to secure a conviction under involuntary manslaughter.
The defense argued that Roy had been on a path to suicide “for years” and sought to minimize Carter’s role in her boyfriend’s life, saying the pair were in a “long-term texting relationship” and had met in person only a handful of times.
The judge agreed that Roy had been “struggling” and “took significant action” himself, such as extensive research, securing a generator, water pump, parking his vehicle in an unnoticeable area and starting the pump.
– ‘No action’ –
“However he breaks that chain of self-causation by exiting the vehicle, he takes himself out of the toxic environment,” Moniz said.
He did the same thing during previous attempts on his life, pausing to tell someone — first a parent and then a friend who got him help.
But it was different when he told Carter, in July 2014.
“Instructing Mr Roy to get back into the truck constitutes wanton and reckless conduct by Miss Carter, creating a situation where there is a high degree of likelihood that substantial harm would result to Mr Roy,” the judge said.
In subsequent text messages to friends, Carter admitted to hearing him coughing and the loud noise of the motor, the judge noted.
Prosecutors told the trial that the defendant stayed on the telephone listening to her boyfriend as he died in the truck.
“She called no one,” Moniz said, despite knowing where he was and having his family’s telephone numbers. “And finally, she did not issue a simple additional instruction: ‘get out of the truck’.”
The judge rejected a theory of involuntary intoxication raised by psychiatrist Peter Breggin, a defense witness who testified that Carter’s own medication would have hindered her state of mind.
Conrad Roy’s father, who has the same name as his son, welcomed the verdict, and thanked the judge before bursting into sobs.
“This has been a very tough time for our family,” he told reporters.
“In reality there are no winners here today,” prosecuting attorney Katie Rayburn said.
“Two families have been torn apart and will be affected by this for years to come. With that being said, we fervently hope that today’s guilty verdict will bring some measure of justice to the friends and family of Conrad Roy.”
Keffi (Nasarawa State) – Striking workers of Nasarawa State Government on Friday said that non-payment of their salaries had made them to break Ramadan fast with only water.
In interviews in Keffi, the workers called on the government to pay them their three months' salary arrears and other entitlements to save their families from hardship.
The workers began an indefinite strike on May 12 to press home their demand for payment of salary arrears, and regular promotion of workers, among others things.
A teacher, Alhaji Garba Audu, said: "I am a teacher with the state Ministry of Education.
"For more than three months, we have not been paid our salaries, and this has caused untold hardship for us and our family members.
"To have money to buy foodstuff to break Ramadan fast is a problem; most of us break our fast with water due to the non-payment of our salaries.
"Fasting has a lot of blessings from Allah, and every Muslim is expected to partake in it; hence, the need for the state government to pay workers' salaries.''
He appealed to the state government to meet the workers' demands to end the strike and restore industrial harmony.
Another worker, Mr Samson Dauda of the Ministry of Works and Housing, said that the strike had also negatively affected all sectors of the state economy.
"To meet my basic needs and those of my family members is a challenge. For over three months now, we have not been paid. This is not fair,'' he said.
Hajiya Maryam Sani, who works with the state Ministry of Agriculture, told NAN: "Most of us are breaking our Ramadan fast with water, which is not supposed to be," she said.
She also appealed to the government to meet the workers' demands to alleviate their suffering.
Some other workers, who pleaded anonymity, accused the state government of neglecting its civil servants.
They said that no nation could achieve speedy development without the contributions of its workforce.
They urged the government to meet their demands.
Mr A. Adeka, who was recently removed as the Chairman of the workers' union, announced the suspension of the strike on May 26, saying that the government had begun meeting the workers' demands.
However, on May 27, Mr Bala Umar, who replaced Adeka, told the workers not to resume work, saying that the government had yet to meet the demands.
The state Gov. Tanko Al-Makura, on May 29, said that the workers were not on strike as far as he was concerned.
He warned that any worker who would not resume work, would be taking a risk.
Calabar – Mr Christian Ita, Senior Special Assistant and Chief Press Secretary to Gov. Ben Ayade of Cross River, says the directive on dress code for public servants is yet to be implemented. Governor Ben Ayade Ayade recently gave an order to members of his cabinet to wear only clothes made from the Calabar Garment Factory beginning from June 1.
The factory, which produces finished clothing items, is a brainchild of his administration.
Ita who disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday, in Calabar, in a telephone interview said that the Cross River Garment Factory was yet to begin mass production. .
"Presently the garment factory is only producing on demand from organisations and institutions; they are yet to have sales outlet in Calabar or elsewhere.
"The governor's directive has not actually taken effect but I know that the clothes worn by all the cabinet members during the June 1 inauguration of the factory by the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo were produced at the factory, '' he said.
He added that, already some organisations have placed orders at the factory including the National Peace Corps of Nigeria and some government schools in Akwa Ibom state.
Ita further stated that the recent commissioning has increased the volume of activities in the factory, adding that, it has boosted the economy of the state.
"The inauguration has added momentum to the production process and we believe that, in no distant time, the fabrics from the factory will hit the Calabar market and spread to other parts of Nigeria.
"And in a matter of time too it will go global, as you know, it is the largest garment factory in Africa, '' he said
Similarly, an economist, Dr Richard Agan, said the directive, if fully adhered to, would improve local production of clothes in the factory.
Again, a lecturer in the University of Calabar, further suggested that the state government should employ competent hands in the factory with a view to meeting the trending designs and styles.
Also, Mr Chukwudi Azinta, a businessman, said he was waiting for the factory to open sales outlets in the Calabar metropolis, adding that such outlets could be effectively managed by seasoned businessmen.
Azinta added that with the short distance from the factory, it would be easier for him to stock his shop with varieties from the attires.
Meanwhile, a source closed to the governor's office who pleaded anonymity told NAN that the governor's directive was not backed with additional increment in salaries "to make his orders effective.''
"In view of the current economic recession, it will be difficult to enforce the decision of the governor without cash backing.
"The governor's directive is in line with his mandate to promote the true Nigerian dressing culture but it will be best implemented if our pay package is increased,'' the source said.
Lagos – Mrs Kemi Adeosun, the Minister of Finance, said the Federal Government invested the sum of N200 billion on roads in 2016.Finance Minister, Mrs Kemi ADEOSUN
According to the minister, the amount is part of N1.2 trillion earmarked for capital projects to ensure ease of doing business.
Adeosun said this on Friday at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and Bloomberg Chief Executive Officer roundtable held in Lagos.
She said that the N200 billion was against N90 million earmarked for road construction in 2015.
According to her, government will continue to prioritise infrastructure development to unlock growth potential.
The finance minister said that diversification of the economy would not be achieved without a good transportation system and power supply to improve ease of doing business.
She said that the country was vast, adding that to actualise its potential, infrastructure development was crucial for sustainable growth and development.
"For the past two years in Nigeria, the road had been rough in economic terms but the worst times are over and we have the opportunity to grow,'' she said.
According to Adeosun, Nigeria cannot rely on oil to grow, as oil contributes 10 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product and 60 per cent of the government revenue.
"We must not rely on oil but must use the oil revenue to generate activities in other sectors of the economy.
"We cannot benchmark ourselves with Saudi Arabia because their oil production was far away from us.
"They have 30 million populations and generate 10 million barrels of oil every day and Nigeria with 190 million generates 2.2 million barrels of oil every day.
She added that the country must use the oil revenue to generate and stimulate activity in other areas of the economy.
"This is encapsulated in our recent release of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).''
The finance minister said that the country needed three things to grow, partnership with the private sector in service delivery, infrastructure development and effective revenue generation to ensure sustainable growth of the economy.
She said that government would strengthen revenue mobilisation by driving tax payment through tax collection strategy to achieve inclusive growth.
Adeosun lamented that the country had only 14 million active tax payers as against 69.9 million qualified tax payers.
"These practices harm Nigeria and this practice must stop,'' she said.
She added that only 214 firms in the entire nation pay tax of N20 million in the country, noting that all of these companies were based in Lagos State.
"If we want to grow, we must address this and we must step on big toes,'' Adeosun said.
She stated that more effective revenue generation and blockage of leakages were crucial to economic growth and development.
Lagos – The Nigerian Stock Exchange on Friday moved a total of 493.27 million shares valued at N6.24 billion exchanged by investors in 5,474 deals.
The turnover was lower by 14 per cent when compared with 573.60 million shares worth N7.85 billion transacted in 6,584 deals on Thursday.
NAN reports that Lasaco Insurance emerged the most active, trading 87.01 million shares valued at N43.52 million.
It was trailed by Zenith Bank with an exchange of 73.67 million shares valued at N43.52 million, while Access Bank sold 64.01 million shares worth N639.99 million.
A breakdown of the price movement chart indicated that Nestle led the gainers' table, growing by N7 to close at N907 per share.
Presco followed with a gain of N3.44 to close at N72.33 and Okomu Oil increased by N3.44 to close at N70.18 per share.
Consequently, the All-Share Index improved by 12.72 points or 0.04 per cent to close at 33,810.56 against 33,797.84 recorded on Thursday.
Also, the market capitalisation which opened at N11.687 trillion rose by four billion naira or 0.03 per cent to close at N11.691 trillion.
On the other hand, Total Nigeria topped the losers' table, declining by N11. 50 to close at N271 per share.
Beta Glass trailed with a loss of N2.74 to close at N52.17 and international Breweries shed N1.90 to close at N26.05 per share.
Mobil Oil was down by 90k to close at N264.10 and Oando lost 32k to close at N8.36 per share. (NAN)
