The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Nigerian Newspapers

  • JUST IN: Several persons abducted on Delta expressway

    An unknown number of persons have been reportedly abducted by gunmen around the Uvwiamuge axis of the Ughelli/Agbarho section of the East-West road in Ughelli North council area of Delta State.

    The Nation learnt that the incident, which took all of 30 minutes, occurred about 6:40pm on Monday.

    Some persons, including the Personal Assistant to the Bishop of Flock of Christ Mission, Simeon Okah, were abducted at the same spot nearly two months back.

    They were released after paying undisclosed sums as ransom.

    Witnesses said the hoodlums, who were about 20, only fled the scene after a gun battle with policemen.

    Read Also: Delta spends N377m on water reticulation

    According to them, at least eight persons were kidnapped by the armed

    But some commuters claimed that only four people were abducted by the gunmen and led through the thick bush along the highway.

    Several vehicles were said to have been abandoned by motorists while others reversed to avoid being victims.

    No fewer than 30 police officers were sighted at the scene after the ordeal.

    Police Commissioner, Mr Adeyinka Adeleke, confirmed the incident, adding that investigation is already ongoing.

    However, he stated that only one person was kidnapped, as his men stepped in timely to save the situation.

  • #BBNaija: Khafi Kareem the ‘controversial’ constable and self-acclaimed ‘celibate’

    Prior to Big Brother Naija 2019 ‘Pepper Dem’ edition, ‘Khafi Kareem’, was just a regular UK policewoman with dreams and aspirations to make it big in her own way.

    Interestingly, for the first time in the history of the competition, Khafi Kareem was one of the twenty-one Big Brother Naija 2019 housemates. She however got evicted from the reality show on Sunday, September 15.

    Khafi is a native of Ekiti, Nigeria, but she lives in London. Khafi who is aged 29 years old, is also a Police Officer in London.

    Her exit is coming after spending a total of 77 days and eleven weeks in the house thus bringing an end to her journey in the race for the mouth-watering cash prize of N30 million and other rewards bringing the total prize N60 million.

    Upon her entry into the house, she had Nigerians talking on Twitter especially with her status as a constable with the Metropolitan police UK.

    A quick look at her lifestyle especially during the house sojourn reveals that she’s a lady full of energy and positive vibes. She’s of the opinion that ‘you can reach anything as long as you believe in yourself’. She likes public speaking, dancing and singing.

    Khafi dislikes people who also try to control her or block her self-expression.

    While in the house, Khafi won the Innoson vehicle valued at N3.85 million during a challenge, she also won 220,000 Scanfrost TV during the ‘Scanforst challenge’, Arla cooking challenge, a co-winner of the Indomie N1million challenge, a co-winner of the TravelBeta challenge under team Lagos that won N1million prize.

    Read Also: Inside the ‘risky’ life of Bobrisky

    Recently, she dominated the news, both local and international, for allegedly breaching the rules and regulations at her workplace.

    It was reported that the she might face disciplinary actions from her employers, MET Police for partaking in BBNaija.

    A report published by several UK news outlets noted that she was refused permission to appear on the show by her superiors.

    However, the reality star’s management said the reports were not only derogatory but sensational.

    The management claimed that the UK Sun failed to inquire or get her side of the story before publishing the article.

    One of the highlights of Big Brother Naija 2019 has been the relationship between Khafi and Gedoni.

    Gedoni and Khafi did not only cross the line but they did rub it in the faces of other housemates, night after night.

    Ekpata Gedoni is a fashion entrepreneur from Cross River.

    In the post-eviction interview, Khafi said she bonded with Gedoni in the first week because they were both up for eviction.

    She told Ebuka that she believes he loves her as much she loves him, adding that she was a forlorn lover when he was evicted.

    In what appeared to be a controversy, Gedoni and Khafi were first captured in a sex act in the house on Saturday, July 20, then again on Tuesday, July 23, and again on Monday, July 29.

    Khafi revealed to Gedoni that she abstained from sex for eight years, after she converted from Islam to Christianity.

    Khafi has however maintained that she did not have sex with Gedoni. She reiterated that she is still celibate and did not have sex on the show.

    On his part, Gedoni has repeatedly said that they did not have sex and the rumours were unfounded.

    When asked to address the sex rumours, Gedoni told show host, Ebuka Obi-Uchendu that he was unhappy that the rumour went viral and felt terrible about it.

    He added, “I think I will allow Khafi to ask whether we had sex or not. There were intense moments but sex, no.”

    He detailed the moment he felt sparks for the bubbly Khafi and stated that his feelings for her were real.

    However, Gedoni Ekpata has reassured fans that his relationship with his love interest/co-star, Khafi Kareem is beyond the show.

    Gedoni said that he would be open to date his co-star, Khafi after the ongoing Big Brother Naija season four ends.

    So perhaps, while we might have assumed — whether because of their few on-screen bedtime moments or their romantic displays — that Gedoni and Khafi had sex number of times, they are both responsible for their private affairs or their public display of love.

  • Shell deploys aerial cameras to track spills, crude theft

    THE Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) said it has deployed high definition (HD) cameras for quick detection and response to crude oil spills from its facilities. The cameras will also help in tracking pipeline vandalism and crude theft from SPDC joint venture assets.

    The General Manager, External Relations, SPDC, Igo Weli, disclosed this yesterday at a media workshop for reporters in Warri, Delta State. “The cameras are attached to specialised helicopters which carry out daily over-flight of our facilities. This measure has improved the surveillance of our joint venture assets.”

    In addition, Weli said SPDC had implemented anti-theft protection mechanisms on key infrastructure, such as wellheads and manifolds to stem constant attacks from vandals and thereby prevent and minimise sabotage-related spills. According to him, the daily loss of over 11,000 barrels of oil per day in 2018 and the threat to the integrity of the joint venture assets necessitated the multi-pronged approach to protecting what he called ‘critical national assets.’

    He said: “We collaborate with community leaders, traditional rulers, civil societies and state governments in the Niger Delta to implement several initiatives and partnerships to raise awareness on the negative impact of crude oil theft and illegal oil refining. Such public enlightenment programmes on the negative impacts to people and the environment help to build greater trust in spill response and clean-up processes,” a statement its Media Relations Manager, Bamidele Odugbesan, quoted Weli as saying.

    Weli noted that SPDC would sustain its air and ground surveillance to complement the efforts of government security forces in checking crude theft, pipeline vandalism and illegal refining. “But for the efforts of Operation Delta Safe in protecting critical oil and gas assets, the situation would have gone beyond control. Weli called on the Operation Delta Safe – a special oil and gas asset protection force, and other government security forces to intensify their activities around oil and gas facilities.

    Read Also: What NNPC/Shell partnership does for society

    In its June 2019 monthly report, Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, which controls Nigeria’s 55 per cent interest in the SPDC JV had also reported a 77 per cent rise in oil pipeline vandalism while 106 pipeline breaches were recorded in June, up from 60 in May.

    Also speaking at the workshop, SPDC’s General Manager, Safety and Environment, Chidube Nnene-Anochie, noted that the majority of spill incidents on SPDC pipelines were as a result of sabotage. “We are burdened by the continuous increase in cases of sabotage and theft. Oil spills due to theft and sabotage of facilities as well as illegal refining, cause the most environmental damage from oil and gas operations in the Niger Delta,” Nnene-Anochie added.

    According to Nnene-Anochie, SPDC removed more than 1,160 illegal theft points from its pipelines between 2012 and end of 2018, adding that the attendant spills from the theft points were sometimes made worse by challenges of access to the incident sites to investigate and stop leaks. “We track the progress of our spill response from when we learn about the leak to when clean-up is completed and certified by regulators.”

    Represented by SPDC’s Compliance Monitoring Lead, Temitope Ajibade, Nnene-Anochie said no spill was acceptable to the company. “A key priority for Shell companies in Nigeria remains to achieve the goal of no spills from our operations. No spill is acceptable, and we work hard to prevent them. However, SPDC cleans and remediates areas impacted by spills from its facilities irrespective of the cause.”

    Other steps aimed at stemming crude theft, she explained, include SPDC promotion of alternative livelihoods through Shell’s flagship youth entrepreneurship programme, Shell LiveWIRE.

    Between 2003 when Shell LiveWIRE was launched in Nigeria and now, the programme has trained 7,072 Niger Delta youths in enterprise development and provided business start-up grants to 3,817.

     

  • Assembly urges Ganduje to rescue communities from erosion

    Kano State House of Assembly has urged the government to rescue the residents of three communities in Ungoggo Local Government from erosion.

    The advice followed a motion yesterday by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) member representing Ungoggo Constituency, Alhaji Aminu Sa’adu.

    He said the erosion, which affected Zangon Marikita, Gayawa and Dankunkuru communities, has destroyed houses, schools and business places.

    “It was necessary for me to call on the assembly to urge the government to rescue our communities because the situation caused by the erosion has crippled businesses, which is a great challenge to the economy,” he said.

    Read Also: Why I don’t have a cabinet yet – Ganduje

    Sa’adu said due to the collapse of some schools, as a result of the erosion, children in the affected areas cannot go to school, adding that “this is a threat to education in Kano.”

    “To tell you how serious the erosion affected the area, in a normal situation, from the Airport road it can take you only 10 minutes to get to these communities. But now it takes motorists not less than two hours before they get there.

    “The condition in which the residents live is bad,” he said.

    The session, presided over by Speaker Abdulazeez Garba-Gafasa, unanimously adopted the motion and urged the government to rescue the victims.

  • LADOL’s Lack of Commitment to Nigerian Economy

    Despite being the greatest beneficiary of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act of 2010, Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics (LADOL) has not made serious investment to develop local facilities and manpower for the benefit of the Nigerian economy.

    NOGICD Act makes it mandatory for foreign companies that win contracts in the industry to sub-contract  certain scopes of the works to Nigerian companies to boost the country’s economy.

    For instance, Saipem, a subsidiary of Italian oil giant, Eni, secured an engineering, procurement, commissioning and installation (EPCI) contract, worth about $3 billion, from Total Upstream Nigeria for the subsea development of the Egina oilfield.

    Some of the works were sub-contracted to indigenous companies.

    American oil services firm, FMC Technologies also awarded part of the Egina project to local companies.

    Truly Nigerian companies that worked as sub- contractors in these projects used the proceeds to develop their fabrication facilities to world standards so as to attract future projects and create job opportunities for Nigerians.

    Out of the many companies that participated in the Egina project in the name of local companies, LADOL was the greatest beneficiary.

    Apart from hosting the fabrication and integration yard in the LADOL Free Zone where the Egina Floating Production Storage Offloading (FPSO) unit was fabricated and integrated locally, LADOL also hosted the FPSO itself, which is the largest FPSO in the fleet of Total Group worldwide.

    By hosting the fabrication and integration yard in the free zone where the fabrication and integration works were carried out, LADOL also enjoyed significant revenues from the Egina project.

    When the FPSO arrived at the LADOL Free Zone in Lagos from South Korea, LADOL attracted the official visit of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

    The company made promises of future investments in the free zone before the vice president and also enjoyed major headlines in the media.

    Unfortunately, unlike the truly Nigerian companies that invested heavily in the development of their yards for future projects, LADOL cannot boast of employing more Nigerians since the FPSO sailed away.

    Rather, it devoted its resources to fight foreign companies that invested in the free zone, thereby hurting Nigerian economy.

    No wonder recent media reported have questioned its indigenous status.

    While Aveon Offshore, Doman Long Engineering, Nestoil, Niger Dock and other truly Nigerian companies that worked on the Egina project have re-invested their proceeds to create opportunities for the employment of Nigerian youths, LADOL can’t boast of such investments.

    Perhaps, the revenues the company generated from the project were repatriated to its foreign owners as being speculated by the industry stakeholders.

    LADOL was also privileged to be among the companies that used indigenous status to access the federal government’s Nigerian Content Intervention Fund but how the fund was utilised is known to only LADOL and its foreign promoters.

    Sadly, the company has refused to use the privileges it has enjoyed under the Nigerian Content Act to help create job opportunities for Nigerians by partnering foreign companies in a win-win situation.

    Indeed, only a foreign company like LADOL can make huge revenues from its operation in a local environment and refuse to give back to such local environment to boost the country’s economy.

    Instead, LADOL has been taking steps that will throw more Nigerians into the labour market by chasing away foreign companies and damaging Nigeria’s economy.

    While local companies are building alliances with foreign companies and investing heavily to take advantage of future opportunities, LADOL’s hostile attitude is chasing away foreign investors.

    Without foreign companies coming into Nigeria to help transfer technology and develop local capacity, it will be difficult for Nigerians to grow the capacity and skills to execute complex and challenging projects.

    Until the Nigerian government and its agencies take practical steps to identify the real and truly Nigerian companies, the country’s economy will continue to experience challenges.

    • Alabi, a local content advocate, writes from Warri, Delta State

  • NCC gets Sept 26 deadline to tidy 9.2m SIM cards

    THE Minister of Communications,  Dr Ibrahim Pantami on Monday gave the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) September 26 to rectify all improperly registered subscriber identity module (SIM) cards in the country.

    Pantami, who received the Management Team of the Commission in his Office in Abuja, however, praised the Commission for its ability to reduce the number of improperly registered SIM cards from 9.2 million to 2.42 million within one week.

    He told the team led by its board Chairman Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye that it had become necessary to ensure that not a single SIM card is being used in the country without proper registration considering its security implications and the challenges facing the country.

    Read Also: FG orders NCC to block 9.2m sim cards

    Pantami said: “Based on the report I received today from the NCC, within the period I issued a statement on improperly registered SIM and now, they were able to reduce the number significantly.

    “Within this period, they were able to rectify at least over 6. 775 million lines with incomplete registration of SIM cards.  So the total number of incomplete registration of SIM cards as it is today based on the repoert I recieved is 2.42 million.  So the reduction within this period is about 73. 2 per cent.

    “This is a significant achievement from 9.2 million we are back to 2.4 million.  Within this period, 6.775 million have been rectified and this highly commendable.”

     

  • Emir decries falling standard of education

    Emir of Lafia Justice Sidi Bage (retd) has expressed dismay over the falling standard of education.

    He said all hands should be on deck to improve it.

    Bage, Chairman, Nasarawa State Council of Chiefs, spoke when the management of National Teachers’ Institute (NTI), Nasarawa branch, visited him yesterday.

    The emir, represented by Madakin Lafia, Alhaji Isiaka Dauda, underscored the roles of the institute in training and retraining of teachers for the development of the country.

    “I want to commend you for the visit and to urge you to continue to discharge your duties without fear or favour.

    “The activities of your institute, which involve training and retraining of teachers, will restore the lost glory of education,” he said.

    Bage urged the management of the institute to work towards tackling the challenges facing education.

    He assured them of his emirate council support to enable them carry out their activities effectively.

    The first class traditional ruler enjoined his subjects and other Nigerians to live in peace and tolerate one another irrespective of their affiliation.

    Mr. Abubakar Audu, the state coordinator of the institute, said the visit was to seek royal blessing and inform him of the activities of the institute in the state.

    “Our mission is to train and retrain teachers to ensure that quality teachers are produced,” he said.

    Audu said the institute would maintain standard in order to produce qualified teachers.

  • Polio immunisation compliance rate high in Sokoto

    AS the polio immunisation for children between 0-59 months began last Saturday across 10 local governments in Sokoto State, it is observed that mobilisation and awareness advocacy have influenced compliance in communities, as against the previous exercise.

    Most of the local governments have designed work plans to ease and encourage compliance by the residents.

    This has made it easy for vaccinators to access homes, to enable children get immunised.

    In some cases, some of the children defied their parents’ attitude against immunisation and get vaccinated.

    Wurno Local Government targets 69,280 for the MOPV4 exercise.

    Read Also: Why we chased away polio immunisation officials — Kano community

    On the first day of the exercise at Wamakko town, in Wamakko Local Government, over 50 pupils of Marassatul Hadith Islamiyya were vaccinated out of a targeted 70,340 children expected to be covered in the exercise.

    Addressing reporters who monitored the exercise, the headmaster, Malam Abubakar Liman, said the efforts of stakeholders for creating awareness, mobilisation and persuading households with the support of the community and ward leaders had changed the attitude against compliance.

    Listing the progress so far made, the World Health Organisation (WHO) Local Government Area Facilitator, Mr. Dahiru Arkilla, said it had immunised 47,540 children from the start of the exercise, adding: “We embarked on a two-day Direct Observed Polio Vaccine Exercise before commencing on the house-to-house immunisation.”

  • Samsung’s nominations for Dubai’s award places Nigeria on global maritime map

    Samsung Heavy Industries Nigeria (SHIN), the leading operator of the SHI-MCI fabrication and integration yard, has been nominated for an impressive count of four awards at the prestigious Seatrade Maritime Awards Middle East, Indian Subcontinent & Africa.

    SHIN is the only nominee to be listed for four individual awards as an entrant from Africa, underlining the breadth of its recent achievements in successfully fabricating and integrating the Egina FPSO, the largest FPSO in the world.

    The Seatrade Maritime Awards are recognised internationally as the gold standard in the industry and will drive increased interest among the maritime industry into what Nigeria and the whole West African region has to offer.

    The awards hold in Dubai on September 22 and are the most influential awards in the maritime and shipping industry.

    They celebrate global achievements in a wide range of categories across shipping and services to the maritime industry.

    Read Also: Samsung Shines at Africa Assembly despite challenges to Foreign Businesses

     

    Samsung has been nominated for the following categories:

    Shipyard of the Year Award,which recognises excellence in newbuilding and/or repair yards in the Middle East, Indian Subcontinent and Africa.

    Contribution to Development of the Regional Maritime Cluster Award, which recognises a company, association, individual or system that has made a substantial contribution to strengthening the links between the region’s maritime elements.

    Africa Maritime Award, which recognises an organisation that has made a significant positive impact on the maritime industry within Africa.

    Education and Training Award, which recognises an educational institution, commercial organisation or an individual that has made a major contribution to maritime education and training in the region

    Commenting on the nominations, Managing Director of Samsung Heavy Industries Nigeria, Mr. Jejin Jeon, said: “When we conceived the idea of building a maritime construction facility in Nigeria, we aimed to fuse the technical know-how of Korea with the human power of Nigeria.

    “The award nominations not only recognise the hard work of our employees but also the trust of our local suppliers, the Nigerian government and our clients in having the courage to partner with us to create the Egina FPSO.

    “This recognises that Nigeria is at the forefront of industrial development in West Africa and a sign that the whole region is ready for the next step in the development of the maritime construction industry.

    “The high profile of these awards will certainly bring more international attention to our shores with an eagerness to learn more about doing business in this region for the benefit of all stakeholders,” he explained.

    Head of Group Marketing Services & Maritime Marketing, Seatrade Maritime, Emma Howell, said: “Samsung Heavy Industries Nigeria has done exceptionally well in being the only company from Africa to achieve four nominations for the Seatrade Maritime Awards.

    “Our Awards aim to support the growth and prosperity of the regional maritime industry by recognising companies around the world for their achievements.”

  • Ayade warned against creating more ministries

    Association of Cross River Professionals in Diaspora (ACRPD) has warned Governor Ben Ayade against creating 11 additional ministries, to bring the state ministries to 39.

    The group said creating additional ministries will be too much of a burden on the lean resources of the state.

    The professionals said in a statement: “Cross River State currently with 28 ministries has the largest number of ministries for any state in Nigeria. An additional 11 would mean that it will now have 39 ministries. This would mean that Cross River, a state with the lowest net allocation in Nigeria, will now have more ministries than the Federal Government, which has about 28 ministries, with 36 senior and seven junior ministers. Incredible.”

    The group advised Ayade to focus on consolidating on the little gains and achievements he has made in the last four years “rather than embarking on such grandiose plan that will finally cripple the state’s economy”.

    The group opined that the move to create more ministries was to please some of the political interests in the state. It questioned the rationale for the creation of some of the ministries, which they said are a duplication of existing ones.

    Read Also: Industrialisation: Ayade gets Chinese award of excellence

    “What is the justification for a Ministry of Industry and a Ministry of Trade and Investment? This is a doubling of efforts and seems a conduit to siphon state’s commonwealth, at best it will amount to pure wastage.

    “What is the rationale for the Ministry of Construction and Fabrication, when there is a Ministry of Works, with other departments and agencies, such as Road Maintenance, and Rural Development Agency…”

    Where is the sense in having a Ministry of Internal Revenue Service when there is a Board of Internal Revenue and a Ministry of Finance? Where in Nigeria (both federal and state levels) is the revenue service a ministry? It is always an executive board…

    “What is the logic in having a Ministry of Marine Services when there is a Ministry of Transportation? This is absolute duplication and misuse of semantics. The Ministry of Science and Morality? Nothing to say here as it sounds like a pure joke. We just don’t believe it,” they added.

    ACRPD, therefore, cautioned the governor to abandon such a spurious move and stick to his pledge to be forward looking and practical in his second term in office.