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Tag: Nigeria News

  • Ogoni clean-up: Rivers lawmaker calls for patience with FG

    Ogoni clean-up: Rivers lawmaker calls for patience with FG

    Mr Josiah Olu, an APC lawmaker representing Eleme Constituency in the Rivers Assembly has enjoined pressure groups agitating against the delayed Ogoni clean-up to be patient with the Federal Government.

    Olu made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Port Harcourt.

    He said that the Ogoni clean-up required extensive planning, scientific analysis, community involvement, and genuine partnership to achieve needed goal.

    Olu urged the people of Ogoni to exercise patience as the federal government strive towards implementing the United Nations Environmental Programme ( UNEP ) report on Ogoniland in accordance with its framework.

    According to him, the framework for the Ogoni clean-up is developed in a manner that embraces an all inclusive remediation of Ogoni land.

    The lawmaker said that although the implementation stage of the program was slow it was still ongoing in line with its original framework and should not be viewed as an abandoned project.

    “The issue of delay in the implementation of the UNEP report in Ogoni began with the past administration that ran for six years without any program of action to support commencement of the exercise.

    “This present administration has within two years shown commitments towards implementation as it has already constituted governing bodies to take charge of the entire process,” he said.

    Olu said that relevant stakeholders had shown clear commitment by creating a Governing Council and Board of Trustees of the Ogoni Restoration Fund in August 2016 to oversee and fund the clean-up.

    In another development, the lawmaker has decried the non payment of arrears of salaries and allowances of some lawmakers in the state since 2015.

    According to him, the state Ministry of Finance attributed the delay to unverified bio-metrics of the affected lawmakers.

    He, however, said that the affected lawmakers had been verified by the ministry but were yet to be paid.

    Olu called on Gov. Nyesom Wike to ensure that arrears of the affected lawmakers were cleared to alleviate their sufferings.

    NAN

  • Manchester City not invincible, Wenger insists

    Manchester City not invincible, Wenger insists

    Manchester City have opened up an eight-point gap at the top of the English Premier League, but Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is not convinced they can have an unbeaten season.

    Pep Guardiola’s side have scored 38 goals along the way, prompting some to be predicting an unbeaten season for them.

    City have won 10 of their opening 11 games, and only a home draw against Everton in August deprived them of a perfect start.

    Their 3-1 win over Arsenal earlier this month extended their winning streak to 15 games in all competitions.

    Arsenal are the only team to go unbeaten throughout an entire Premier League season, and that was 2003-04.

    When asked whether City could emulate his “Invincibles” the Frenchman said there was still a long way to go.

    “They are a good side but they are not an unstoppable side,” Wenger said.

    “People always want to predict what will happen in the game.

    “I don’t know more than you. Maybe, maybe not, but at the moment only one team has done it”.

    Arsenal, who trail City by 12 points in sixth, host Tottenham Hotspur in the north London derby on Saturday.

    NAN

  • Minister supports Kogi Governor on fiscal discipline, urges ASUP shelve strike

    Minister supports Kogi Governor on fiscal discipline, urges ASUP shelve strike

    The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Prof. Stephen Ocheni, has expressed satisfaction with the performance of Gov. Yahaya Bello of Kogi in his quest for financial probity and fiscal discipline.

    Ocheni said this at a news conference on the internal security and industrial and labour harmony in Kogi on Monday in Abuja.

    The minister called on the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) to call off their strike and embrace dialogue in the interest of their students.

    He also condemned opposition for embarking on campaign of calumny to discredit the Governor.

    He said that it was most unfortunate that opposition politicians were celebrating and politicising the internal security and industrial issues in Kogi instead of condemning it and supporting the government.

    Ocheni said rather than the opposition to join hand with the Governor now that the economy of the state was recuperating for a greater Kogi State, it had embarked on cheap negative blackmail.

    “The government’s is striving hard to put the economy back on sound footing through surgical operation for quick economic recovery,” he said.

    According to him, one of the giant strides in this direction was the massive flushing out of over 20,000 ghost workers in the state civil service.

    He added that the anomaly had gone on in the state since its creation but was halted through a result oriented staff screening exercise.

    He said that the governor had also put in place measures to strengthen the economy of the state through improved fiscal discipline, reduction in corruption, transparency and accountability.

    Ocheni said that the governor had also adopted the contributory pension scheme to ensure that every employee received his retirement benefits as and when due.

    He commended the governor for his achievement on security, adding that the governor’s effort had changed the narratives associated with the past insecurity of lives and property in the state.

    He lauded the governor and the organised labour for the amicable resolution of the industrial dispute in the state.

    “The task ahead is to build a new Kogi state and imbibe the culture of change in order to change the wrong ways of doing government business,” he said.

    NAN

  • Oyo Police chief denies shooting female workers of IAR&T

    Oyo Police chief denies shooting female workers of IAR&T

    Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Mr Abiodun Odude, says his men were not responsible for shooting of two female members of staff of the Institute of Agricultural Research and Training ( IAR&T ), Ibadan.

    Odude made the clarification in a telephone interview in Ibadan.

    The police chief spoke on the reports that policemen drafted to quell students’ protest at the Federal College of Agriculture ( FCA ), Apata, Ibadan, shot two workers of the institute.

    In his comments, Prof. James Adediran, the Executive Director of IAR&T, insisted that two members of staff of the institute were shot by the policemen drafted to quell the students protest at the college.

    “In the process of shooting, two personnel of IAR&T who have nothing to do neither with the students nor the college were shot with live bullets,’’ he said.

    Students of the College of Agriculture had on Monday morning staged a protest over the closure of their school.

    Protesting students blocked the gates to the IAR&T preventing vehicles and people from gaining access into the institute which shares the same premises with college.

    This, however, caused a gridlock on Ibadan-Abeokuta Road at Apata.

    “A woman was shot in the abdomen while a young lady, an intern with us, was shot in the thigh.

    “Two of them are lying critically ill at the Emergency Department of UCH, Ibadan,’’ Adediran said.

    Also, Odude said that the students blocked the Ibadan-Abeokuta Road during the protest, attacked vehicles and threw stones at the police.

    He said that four policemen were wounded as a result of the stones thrown at them by the students.

    “Police fired teargas to push the students to the extreme and were able to arrest some of the students that threw the stones.

    “There was no gun shot,’’ Odude insisted.

    NAN

  • Lagos Assembly passes Cooperative College Bill

    Lagos Assembly passes Cooperative College Bill

    The Lagos State House of Assembly has passed into law, a bill for the establishment of Lagos State Cooperative College to further enhance economic development of the state.

    The Assembly passed the bill after Third Reading on the floor of the House on Monday.

    The lawmakers took turns to perfect some corrections in the 31-section bill before it was finally passed by the House.

    The Speaker, Mr Mudashiru Obasa, conducted a voice vote on each of the sections of the bill before passage by the House.

    Obasa said: “Having considered the Third Reading for a bill to establish the Lagos State Cooperative College and for Connected Purposes, the bill is hereby passed into law.’’

    The speaker directed the Clerk of the House, Mr Azeez Sanni, to forward a clean copy of the bill to Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode for his assent.

    NAN reports that the House, however, stepped down, until further notice, report of its Committee on Transportation on Lagos State Waterways Authority Regulation 2017 over some inadequacies.

    The report was laid by the Acting Chairman of the committee, Mr Mojeed Fatai representing Ibeju-Lekki I.

    NAN

  • Zuma again denounces ‘monopoly’ white economic power

    Zuma again denounces ‘monopoly’ white economic power

    President Jacob Zuma of South Africa reiterated his call for radical reforms to shift the balance of “monopoly” economic power away from whites who dominated under apartheid.

    He made the remarks, reiterating a staple criticism leveled by his ruling ANC about South Africa’s economy, against the backdrop of widespread allegations of corruption against Zuma and his friends, the Indian-born Gupta brothers

    Zuma said without such change blacks would stay poor for a long time.

    He was responding to a question about his role as an enemy of “white capital”, during an interview with the ANN7 news network, which was founded by the Guptas.

    Zuma and the Guptas have denied any wrongdoing.

    “I don’t know why there is a debate in fact. Because there is a monopoly capital and in South Africa it is white … because of our history, it does have a colour.

    “It is white,” Zuma, who steps down as head of the ANC in December but can remain head of state until elections due in 2019, said.

    “Companies that dominate in the mines, there are not many … You will find the same companies in charge.

    “That means they are monopolising the economy and they’re not black,” he said.

    The Chamber of Mines in the world’s top platinum producer says that in 2016, 39 per cent of the sector was owned by “historically disadvantaged South Africans”, meaning non-whites.

    Zuma said the policy of “radical economic transformation,” which has also seen moves to change the constitution to allow for the expropriation of land for redistribution to landless blacks, was needed to “correct the past.”

    “The ANC must follow this policy because if you don‘t, we are going to stay in poverty, in inequality, for a long time.”

    The frontrunners to replace Zuma at the helm of the ANC are Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, a trade unionist who amassed a fortune in the world of business, and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, former chair of the AU and Zuma’s ex-wife.

    Ramaphosa is viewed more favourably by foreign investors, who help cover the country’s deficits.

    Many of them are unsettled by Dlamini-Zuma’s calls to radically redistribute wealth and her perceived links to her former husband.

    In a separate interview on state broadcaster SABC, ANC Secretary Gen. Gwede Mantashe said “state capture is a reality,” referring to allegations that the Guptas and others have undue political influence with access to state resources and contracts under Zuma.

    Mantashe is regarded as an ally of Ramaphosa with ties that go back to the 1980s when they were involved in the founding of the National Union of Mineworkers.

    NAN

  • Nigeria receives $64.63m from sale of power to Benin, Niger Republics

    The Federal Government has generated $64.6 million revenue from sale of electricity to neighbouring Benin and Niger republics, Minister for Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, has said.

    Fashola gave the figure in an address presented at the 21st meeting of the Power Sector Stakeholders Conference in Asaba.

    The minister said that the government had made efforts to recover the huge debt owed by its international customers to reduce liquidity challenges in the power sector.

    “Only recently, the federal government received the sum of $64.630.65 million from the republics of Benin and Niger for electricity power supplied to these two nations.

    “It is our belief that our effort at recovering some of these debts owed by our international customers will help towards the reducing liquidity challenges we face in the power sector,” Fashola said.

    Fashola said the monthly stakeholders’ conference was an avenue to assess and evaluate the progress of collective efforts at boosting power supply in the country.

    He listed some of the major challenges facing the sector to include estimated billing and inadequate prepaid meters for customers.

    The minister also used the occasion to inaugurate the New Asaba Injection Substation, a 215 MVA substation expected to boost power supply to parts of Delta.

    Fashola said: “With today’s commissioning of the New Asaba 215 MVA  interjection substation, there will now be more electricity for the people of Bonsac, Akwuebulu, Oduke and all other surrounding areas.”

    The stressed that the federal government was working assiduously towards connecting rural areas to the national grid and appealed to people in rural areas to be patient.

    “To those communities that electricity power has not reached across the country, I implore you to be patient, because we have certainly not forgotten you.

    “I want to assure you that one by one, we will get to you so that every community in Nigeria can enjoy electricity supply,” he said.

    Earlier in an address, Mrs. Funke Osibodu, the Managing Director, Benin Electricity Distribution Company ( BEDC ), lauded the initiators of the monthly stakeholders conference.

    She said that the meeting allowed stakeholders to critically analyse their challenges and efforts towards achieving a common goal for the development of the sector.

    “This forum affords all of us an avenue to interact, understand each other and evaluate our common efforts and challenges towards achieving the goal of equitable power distribution to our people.

    “Here at the Benin Electricity Distribution Company, we have started making progress in the area of load management and we have also improved our billing system,” Osibodu said.

    The BEDC boss stated that the company, with franchise area covering Edo, Delta and Ondo states, had energised several communities that have been without electricity for years.

    She listed Ibusa and Ogwashi-Uku communities in Delta as some of the communities that BEDC has successfully energised.

    In his address, Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta, lauded BEDC for the inauguration and official switch-on of the New Asaba Interjection Substation, saying it would boost power supply in the area.

    Okowa, represented by the state Commissioner for Energy, Mr. Newworld Sufugha, expressed urged BEDC to focus on providing prepaid meters to its customers.

    NAN

  • FRSC takes safety campaigns to primary schools in Plateau

    FRSC takes safety campaigns to primary schools in Plateau

    The Jos Zonal Command of the Federal Road Safety Corps ( FRSC ) has embarked on a child Safety campaign in primary schools in Plateau.

    Flagging-off the campaign at the St. Luke Primary School on Monday in Jos, the Zonal Commanding Officer, Mr Jonas Agwu, said the initiative was “timely”.

    According to Agwu, the rationale behind the campaign was to stem the spate at which underaged children die from road accidents.

    “If you take a copious check, you will see that children below the ages of twelve are not being transported properly by motorists.

    “What I have noticed in my five months stay on the Plateau is that drivers and car owners are careless about the safety of the children while plying roads; they have very poor attitude to the safety of the child.

    “So, it is based on this that we decided to take the safety campaign to the children directly, so they will know their rights on one hand, and can correct adults when they do the wrong thing on the other hand.

    “If we say and believe that the kids are the leaders of tomorrow, then we have to do the right thing in safeguarding their future,” he said.

    The Zonal Commanding Officer appealed to motorists to acquire baby seats for their cars as well as ensure its usage when necessary, for safety of children.

    Agwu also warned against allowing children to use the front passenger’s seat, as such acts could be risky to the safety of the children.

    The campaign was organised in conjunction with Rotary Club of Jos, Sherehills and the Nija Pikin Iniative Development.

    NAN

  • Masari presents N211.4bn appropriation for Katsina in 2018

    Masari presents N211.4bn appropriation for Katsina in 2018

    Gov. Aminu Masari of Katsina State on Monday presented the 2018 appropriation bill of N211.4 billion at the State House of Assembly.

    Masari, who presented the estimates in Katsina, said the budget was tagged “Budget of Actualization’’.

    He said that the appropriation bill had a capital expenditure of N160 billion, representing 75.7 per cent of the total budget, while recurrent expenditure was put at N51.4 billion, representing 24.3 per cent.

    Masari said that the projected Internally Generated Revenue ( IGR ) to finance the budget was N10.2 billion as well as N26.2 billion from other internal sources, while N131 billion was expected from the Federation Account.

    He said that the 2018 recurrent revenue increased by 30 per cent, compared to the figure in 2017, just as the recurrent expenditure in 2018 increased by 17.4 per cent over that of 2017, which was 13 per cent.

    The governor said that the personnel cost in the 2018 budget was N24.6 billion, overhead cost N12 billion, while consolidated revenue and other charges were N14.6 billion.

    He said under capital expenditure, the economic sector received N42.8 billion; social sector, N47.1 billion; regional development, N52.1 billion, while administration received N6.8 billion.

    Masari said that judiciary was allocated N691.2 million; the legislature N302.7 million; while contingency  had N2.6 billion and N7.3 billion was for debt servicing.

    Education sector received the lion share of N42.4 billion, representing 20 per cent of the budget.

    Responding, the Speaker, Alhaji Abubakar Yahaya, promised to ensure speedy passage of the budget for people of the state to continue to enjoy the dividends of democracy.

    Yahaya said that the house would scrutinise the budget with the aim of making necessary amendments.

    NAN

  • FG to invest more in entertainment infrastructure – Lai Mohammed

    FG to invest more in entertainment infrastructure – Lai Mohammed

     The Federal Government( FG ) says it will provide the needed facilities for the entertainment industry to thrive in the country.

    Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed said this in an interview on the sideline of the 4th All African Music Awards (AFRIMA) 2017 in Lagos.

    He said that the administration of President Mohammadu Buhari, would continue to support the entertainment industry by providing infrastructural facilities.

    On the significance of the AFRIMA to Nigeria’s economy and entertainment industry, Mohammed said that in order to encourage the entertainment industry, government would partner with private investors to invest more in the entertainment facilities.

    “The entertainment industry is overwhelming in the world right now and in Nigeria we need to do more in providing right atmosphere which is infrastructural facilities for the industry.

    “We are not just talking about power sector or water, we are talking about entertainment. We need to be on purpose, build halls that will encourage our artists and musicians.

    “We are talking about domestic tourism, domestic market where we can really expose our artists, so this will not only be about government but also private sector to provide the infrastructure.

    “On the part of government, we will encourage more private sector and philanthropists all over the world because it is not something we leave to government alone,’’ he said.

    Mohammed said that hosting of event such as AFRIMA was another way of generating income for the government because of the tourism factor which could bring more earnings.

    “Nigeria is having this event now, AFRIMA 2017, and we are talking about bringing another way of improving our economy through other income.

    “We must not forget that Nigeria hosted same award last year and we have to make another positive request for this year so that it can remain in Nigeria.

    “We thank the African Union (AU) for this opportunity for accepting Nigeria to host it again this year. We are also grateful to Lagos State government for the support of this award.

    “The positive thing about the award is that we have been able to move the music industry from the back corner to the front burner,’’ he said.
    Mohammed said that the concentration would not be placed only on agriculture or oil and gas, but also on creative industry as a means of diversifying the economy.

    “This means when we are talking about economy, we are not just talking about agriculture, solid mineral or construction but actually more in the creative industry.

    “Nigeria already has a very high advantage, and we can see that recently with the awards Nigerian are getting in the industry and most recent of the Wizkid award in U.K.

    “This shows the kind of influence we can have in the creative industry which can be positive to our economy,’’ he said.

    The minister was the Special Guest of Honour at the Awards Ceremony.

    NAN