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Tag: Nigerians

  • Kano Pillars mourn late Udoji, say he was an asset

    Kano Pillars mourn late Udoji, say he was an asset

    Kano Pillars Football Club’s Technical Committee Chairman, on Monday in Kano described the late Chinedu Udoji as an asset and a dedicated player.
    Chinedu Udoji, a central defender, died in a ghastly motor accident Sunday night, some hours after playing in the club’s home 1-1 draw with visiting Enyimba International FC of Aba.
    “His death was shocking and a great loss to the football family,’’ Haladu said in a statement signed by the club’s Media Officer, Rilwanu Malikawa.
    Udoji lost his life along Independence road in the Bompai area of Kano.
    According to reports, he was heading to his Badawa quarters residence after he visited the hotel where members of Enyimba International FC had lodged for the Match Day 9 fixture.

    READ ALSO: Kano Pillars confirm Udoji’s death

    Udoji spent many years with Enyimba, where he won several honours with them before joining Kano Pillars two years ago.
    He was said to be riding alone in his car with registration number KSF 499 BF when the accident happened.
    The corpse of the late Udoji has been deposited at the Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital in Kano and the incident reported to the Bompai Police Division.
    Haladu said the Kano Pillars’ management, technical crew, players, fans and the entire football family in Kano were in shock Monday morning following the player’s death.
    He said the club officials were processing all necessary documentation before taking Udoji’s corpse to his family for burial.
    “Our deepest condolences to his family, friends, fans, and football lovers all across the country,” Kano Pillars also said in a tweet about the incident.
    Born in 1989, the centre-back joined Kano Pillars ahead of the 2016/2017 season after spending seven years with Enyimba following his arrival from FC Abuja.
    He is survived by his wife and kids.

    NAN

  • IBB to Secondus, others: provide better choice for Nigerians

    IBB to Secondus, others: provide better choice for Nigerians

    Former military president Gen. Ibrahim Babangida has advised the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders to provide a better choice for Nigerians.

    Babangida spoke in Minna at the weekend while receiving members of the PDP National Working Committee (NWC), led by its National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus.

    A statement yesterday by the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, said the ex-military dictator expressed satisfaction with the rebranding so far achieved by the party ahead of the 2019 general elections.

    “I am happy at your assurances that there will be no imposition in all your primary elections. It is all about choice and you have promised to provide the best choice,” Babangida was quoted to have said.

    He was said to have hailed the December elective national convention of the PDP, and noted that not a few Nigerians believed that the national convention will hold, adding however that the outcome was successful.

    “Your ‘Reposition, Rebrand and Regain’ agenda is working and I mean particularly the rebranding. Some people believed that having been in government since 1999, the PDP will find opposition difficult but you are carrying on well and providing a better alternative.

    “You have also not abandoned the people in times of crisis. I monitored your activities in Benue, Taraba and you just said your party has sent members to Zamfara to commiserate with the people.  Surely, you have made the people the centre of your return and they will not forget you because you were with them in time of sorrow,” he was quieted to have said.

    Secondus was said to have earlier told Babangida that former Nigerian leaders must rally together to save the nation from the present administration.

    He lamented the killings and economic hardships, which Nigerians contend with on a daily basis, stressing that the country has never witnessed the type of division the people were facing.

    Secondus said: “As a leader, you made the welfare of Nigerians the thrust of governance. You were also concerned about the peace and unity of this nation. You created and built people as well as institutions.

    “Today, our nation is drifting and as a leader you cannot afford to keep quiet and watch on the sides. Leaders like you must come together and take a firm position on how to save our nation from the precipice.”

  • Appeal court: Nigerians can’t pursue Shell spill claim in U.K.

    Appeal court: Nigerians can’t pursue Shell spill claim in U.K.

    The Court of Appeal in London ruled yesterday that two Niger Delta communities cannot pursue Royal Dutch Shell in English courts over oil spills in their regions.

    The split decision upheld a High Court ruling in 2017 that was a setback to attempts to hold British multinationals liable at home for their subsidiaries’ actions abroad.

    The court rejected the appeal from a law firm, Leigh Day, on behalf of Bille and Ogale communities.

    It upheld a ruling that English courts did not have jurisdiction over claims against Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).

    SPDC is jointly operated with the Federal Government.

    Shell said the court “rightly upheld” the earlier ruling, adding that Nigeria’s “well-developed justice system” was the correct place for the claims.

    Leigh Day said the two communities intended to bring the case to Britain’s Supreme Court.

    “We are hopeful that the Supreme Court will grant permission to appeal and will come to a different view,” Leigh Day partner Daniel Leader said.

  • UK’s Unexplained Wealth Orders: Why Nigerians should take note

    In our secondary school days, those unfortunate enough to lose their belongings would be admonished ‘lost property….careless owner’. The United Kingdom government is planning to teach many high net worth Nigerians and some members of our middle class, a financially painful school lesson.

    In recent years, the UK had one of the best performing property markets in the world. It was buoyed by inflows from Russia, China, Dubai and Nigeria. With high global oil prices, this new class of super-rich were feted and courted by the British with few questions asked as they snapped up attractive UK properties. But there were warnings that all was not well. In March 2015, Reuters cited the UK as a haven for illicit funds.

    Transparency International’s Executive Director, Robert Barrington, in 2015 said, “There is growing evidence that the UK property market has become a safe haven for corrupt capital stolen from around the world, facilitated by the laws which allow UK property to be owned by secret offshore companies.” Over 36,000 properties in London, mainly in highbrow areas, are said to be owned by offshore companies. Various reports cited London as a money laundering haven, but the UK Government was conspicuously silent on the issue, turning a blind eye as millions of dollars poured in.

    Sceptics may suggest that the UK government is looking for how to fund the bill for its Brexit divorce from the European Union or to finance its budget deficit. Whatever the reason, the new UK law that introduces ‘Unexplained Wealth Orders’ is a carefully devised move that could see a massive transfer of wealth from Nigeria and the countries mentioned above to Britain.

    From January 31, new powers enable the UK government to query ‘Unexplained Wealth’ and seize assets whose funding source cannot be explained. UK Courts can grant Unexplained Wealth Orders (UWOs) and forfeit property for which the owners are unable to prove the source of fund. The properties will be transferred to the UK Government and sold to fund their law enforcement efforts.

    Whilst the narrative in the UK is that the plan is to tackle Russian oligarchs, Nigerians will undoubtedly be affected due to their love for all things British and the threshold is just £50,000 (N25M). According to a British law firm, Mishcon de Reya, the requirements for obtaining the UWOs include that “there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the known sources of the respondents’ lawfully obtained income would have been insufficient for the purposes of enabling them to obtain the property.” There is a special focus on politically exposed persons, but there is an implied presumption of guilt for non-politicians too. Interestingly, the orders can be obtained even if the property was purchased before the law came into effect and it does not matter where the property is located, whether or not the person resides in the UK or whether there may be other persons who hold the property. In summary, it will be relatively easy for UK Government to secure these orders against foreigners.

    Those who have followed that standard advice to have two or even three layers of nominee ownership to shield the identity of the true owner will find themselves as targets. This standard structure, advocated by offshore specialists who set up trusts in Mauritius, British Virgin Islands and other havens, will not offer protection against UWO’s if the ultimate owner cannot explain the source of funds. The UK has already put in place the Beneficial Ownership register for Overseas Legal Entities. This means that a Nigerian who owns a UK property through a Mauritius based Trust, for example, could see their names exposed and therefore need to prove the legitimacy of the source of funds.

    However thankfully, for Nigerians there is a way out. This is one of those rare situations, where Nigerians should be extremely grateful to their government.

    The ongoing Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme’s tax amnesty is a potential escape. VAIDS allows Nigerians to regularise their tax status but importantly entails an asset declaration. This basically allows citizens to restate their income and assets over the last seven years and beyond. There is therefore hope of a valid defence against an UWO application. If a Nigerian is confronted with an UWO action, but had declared the asset and paid the right taxes no matter how many years after the purchase, it will be hard for the UK to justify a seizure.

    Without the tax amnesty, Nigerians would be at serious risk, scrambling around to procure backdated tax clearance certificates which would be readily disregarded by the UK courts on the grounds that there would be no evidence of tax payment in the year under question. Of course, VAIDS was not designed as an amnesty for looted funds or hot money but it could offer a very valuable protection.

    Nigerians have traditionally not paid taxes and have never been asked to fully explain their income. That era is over forever and with the volume of investments in the UK property market, we are particularly vulnerable. For the UK government to dispute the validity of a VAIDS declaration that Nigeria has accepted and on which taxes have been paid, would violate the bilateral tax treaties between the two countries and would mean the UK questioning the legality of the Nigerian government’s ongoing tax amnesty.

    My simple advice to my fellow Nigerians first, is to thank President Muhammadu Buhari and his economic management team for this timely intervention but ask for an extension of time. Secondly, Nigerians should run, declare and regularise their tax status, so that the UK’s Unexplained Wealth law does not become an unexplained loss of wealth. Anyone ignoring this threat is doing so at his or her own peril.

     

    • Olaniyan, a tax lawyer, writes from South London.
  • Female banker, 27, bolts with employer’s N690,000

    Female banker, 27, bolts with employer’s N690,000

    For allegedly pilfering depositors’ money, a 27-year-old female banker, Ogunumoye Oluwaseun, was on Monday brought before an Abeokuta Chief Magistrates’ Court.

    To date, the accused had allegedly stolen N691,050, belonging to Astra Polaris Micro Finance Bank ( APMFB ), Abeokuta.

    The accused, whose address is unknown, is facing a charge of stealing.

    She denied the charge, but the Police Prosecutor Sunday Eigbejiale insisted that the accused committed the offence from May 2016 to August 2017 at Astra Polaris Micro Finance Bank, Onikolobo Branch, Abeokuta, Ogun capital.

    Eigbejiale said the accused,as a marketer, she collected money from customers and failed to remit same to the bank.

    READ ALSO: Forex: CBN intervenes in retail SMIS with $325.64m

    “The accused collected N691,050 from some customers at different times and failed to remit the money into the coffers of her employer.

    “When the theft was discovered by the bank, the accused absconded from work from Oct. 4, 2017 and all efforts to recover the money from her proved abortive,’’ the inspector said.

    The offence contravened Section 390 ( 9 ) of the Criminal Code, Laws of Ogun, 2006.

    In her ruling, Chief Magistrate Adeola Adelaja granted her bail in the sum of N500, 000 with two sureties in like sum.

    She adjourned the case until March 21 for hearing.

    NAN

  • Kano Fire Service saves 158 lives, N809m worth of goods in January

    Kano Fire Service saves 158 lives, N809m worth of goods in January

    The Kano State Fire Service said on Monday that it saved 158 lives and goods worth N809 million from the 93 fire outbreaks in the state in January.

    The Public Relations Officer of the service, Alhaji Saidu Mohammed, however told newsmen in Kano that 12 lives were lost in the incidents.

    Mohammed said about 110 shops were affected in the fire outbreaks while property valued at N382 million were destroyed during the period.

    READ ALSO: Eight die in tanker explosion on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway

    The public relation’s officer did not give the actual number of residential houses that were affected.

    He said that the service received 89 rescue calls and 19 false alarms from the residents during the month.

    Mohammed attributed the major causes of the fire outbreaks to the use of inferior electrical materials, poor handling of electrical appliances, cooking gas and boiling ring as well as accidents.

    He advised the residents to always be careful with electrical appliances in their homes and shops.

    NAN

  • Cancer : Gov’s wife urges women to adopt monthly breast self-examination

    Cancer : Gov’s wife urges women to adopt monthly breast self-examination

    Wife of the Kwara state Governor, Mrs Omolewa Ahmed, has advised sexually active females to adopt monthly breast self-examination as a precautionary measure against breast Cancer.

    Mrs Ahmed made the call on Monday while addressing students on an advocacy sensitization visit at the Kwara State College of Technology, Offa, and the College of Education in Ilemona, Oyun Local Government Area.

    According to her, cancer has become wide spread, caused massive morbidity worldwide,while new cases of the deadly disease are expected to increase by about seventy per cent over the next two decades.

    She said her foundation had set up LEAH Anti-cancer Clubs both in secondary and tertiary institutions in the state to reach out to adolescents and young adults on breast and cervical cancer prevention.

    READ ALSO: Doctors: cancer treatable

    The governor’s wife called for the inclusion of breast and cervical cancer screening in pre-admission medical check-ups and the establishment of basic cancer screening centres in the institutions.

    The Provost, College of Technology Offa, Malam Aliu Abdu-Rauf, attributed the high rate of cancer deaths to Ignorance and called for more research on ways to curb the disease.

    Also, the Provost, College of Education Ilemona, Alhaji Kunle Oyewale, said the sensitization initiative was a major contribution to the fight against the disease.

    NAN

  • Four Chinese, 16 Nigerians held for illegal mining in Ebonyi

    Four Chinese, 16 Nigerians held for illegal mining in Ebonyi

    Four Chinese nationals and 16 Nigerians have been arrested at a mining site in Echara Unuphu, Abakaliki Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, for illegal mining.

    Their arrest was at the instance of the Ebonyi State Government.

    Senior Special Adviser to Governor David Umahi on Internal Security, Dr. Kenneth Ugbala, described their actions as “shocking”.

    He said the miners did not follow best practices in their activities and were creating environmental and security problems to the state.

    According to Ugbala, the miners dug a deep tunnel which they may be using for other illegal activities

    He said: “The future of this state is at stake because of the activities of these illegal miners. I was in China recently and I know that the Chinese don’t temper with their environment no matter the problem.

    “With the type of problem created here in the name of mining, it is possible that this tunnel they created may lead to the Government House and other places.

    “So, what do we expect? A total collapse! When we are living up here, another road is underground in the name of mining. There is no society, environment or state that this type of thing is seen. It’s not as if they pay IGR, and what type of IGR will be more important than the future of our children and the people. We will fish-out all these people.”

    One of the suspects, Nnamdi Peter, who hails from Enugu State, said he has worked in the mining tunnel for three months.

    He said: “In the first place, I don’t know this is illegal mining. If it is illegal, I wouldn’t have been working here. The company should have carried out Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) with NESRA before embarking on this type of mining.”

    The Chinese men refused to speak to reporters, and only gesticulated with their hands that they don’t speak or understand English.

  • What Nigerians want from Buhari

    What Nigerians want from Buhari

    The streets have become an epistemic community where the mood of the country and the direction of thoughts are expressed, moulded, patterned and structured. When one interacts with the streets, one is able to know who is popular and unpopular, which person governs well and which does not; the streets’ engagement is important in sampling the dynamics of thoughts of the ordinary Nigerian who bears the brunt of present mis-governance. Unfortunately, the leadership of the country is surrounded by sycophants who create impression that without President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB), Nigeria cannot get to the promised land. To this set of people, who thought there is no alternative to PMB, they must be living in fools’ paradise as PMB was a candidate of circumstance and protest vote in 2015. The same reasons of ethnic sentiments, religious favouritism and nepotism which made Nigerians reject PMB in the serial election losses of 2003, 2007 and 2011 have now become real in their consequences. All these elements of his characterisation have played out in governance, fighting corruption and management of the economy.

    Nigerians have moved from ‘it must be Buhari’ (Sai Buhari) of 2015 to Kai Buhari. From Sai Buhari to Kai Buhari is how ordinary Nigerians have constructed the social reality which confronts them in present day Nigeria. As a trained sociologist, the society is my laboratory and I get data through constant interaction with it.  I had gone to purchase brake pad and shock absorber for my ailing car owing to the deplorable status of roads in my state. The spare part seller told me the brake pad which I bought last for around N1000 now cost N2500. When I screamed, he simply shuddered and said “we are in the season of change Oga. Na Buhari time. You know na Kai Buhari we dey now”.

    After hearing the submission, I marvelled at how ordinary Nigerians construct social reality and map out strategy to make their life better for the future. Those who suffer bad policy and poor governance are planning ahead while the horse riders and their cronies think they can continue to ride the horse for life. PMB as the proverbial horse rider is a big man that is not on ground to feel the pains of those being governed. The fatalities recorded as a result of the killer Fulani herdsmen have surpassed the record of Boko Haram. Yet the PMB government has been incapacitated by clannish considerations while farming communities are degraded. PMB and his government have shown that man is born equal but some are more equal than others by not arresting and prosecuting those who are stretching the limits of tolerance. A seemingly contradictory government wants one Nigeria while tearing it apart by its actions and inactions. Peace eludes settlements where injustice is allowed to thrive. How did we get here?

    In PMB’s Chatham House 2015 speech, he presented himself as a converted democrat “who is ready to operate under democratic norms”. And for me, rule of law is one of the norms constantly flouted by his government. Many court rulings have been disobeyed. Personal affairs get jet-speed attention but the health, education needs, unemployment and electricity needs of Nigerians, and carnage of farming communities by Fulani herdsmen gets country’s unification consideration and setting up of committee from PMB and no arrests. He only begs the victims to accommodate their fellow countrymen. Such approach to national issue is unpardonable as he had promised Nigerians in his packaged 2015 Chatham house speech never to allow problems to irresponsibly fester.

    Hear him: “Let me assure you that if I am elected President, the world will have no cause to worry about Nigeria as it has had to recently; that Nigeria will return to its stabilising role in West Africa; and that no inch of Nigerian territory will ever be lost to the enemy because we will pay special attention to the welfare of our soldiers in and out of service, we will give them adequate and modern arms and ammunitions to work with, we will improve intelligence gathering and border controls to choke Boko Haram’s financial and equipment channels, we will be tough on terrorism and tough on its root causes by initiating a comprehensive economic development plan promoting infrastructural development, job creation, agriculture and industry in the affected areas. We will always act on time and not allow problems to irresponsibly fester”.

    While successes have been recorded in the area of reclaiming territories from Boko Haram (who still kills) and recovering parts of the looted funds, PMB has failed to switch on the inner light of his vehicle which accommodates politically complicit and untouchable tribal comrades. PMB should know that those who purport to clean a dirty town must start from within. Unlike Boko Haram that is restricted to the northeast, Fulani herdsmen are presently widespread nationwide. Yet, the federal government want colonies established for herders noted for killing, raping and destroying livelihoods. As a criminologist, the widespread of Fulani herdsmen in virtually all nooks and crannies of the country portends security threat going by their activities in the last decade. Accumulation by dispossession has become their trademark while they sabotage the economy of others to sustain their livelihoods. I should also warn that increasing distrust in the capability of the state to secure lives and properties allows people to resort to self-help. This should not be allowed to happen.

    In the area of economic governance, we can’t celebrate either. The economy has grown on paper while the masses get choked to death in the same economy that favours the rich. To know if there is development, we should ask PMB the same question he asked Goodluck Jonathan then: what is happening to poverty? What is happening to unemployment? What is happening to inequality?

    As the minister of petroleum resources, PMB has failed to ensure governance and accountability in that sector. Today Nigerians buy petroleum products at N180 per litre or more owing to unfulfilled promise to fix our refineries. What this implies is that Buhari is not the messiah we are looking for. He can only do his bit while others continue from there. Therefore, Kai Buhari underscores the masses’ period of agonising and warning to PMB. Certainly, the lice of unresolved problems of unemployment, health, education, economy, Fulani herdsmen terrorism continues to stain our hands. A presidency that approaches public issues with jet-speed, and bridges inequality gap is desired. But can the leopard change its skin?

     

    • Dr Tade, a sociologist sent this piece via dotad2003@yahoo.com
  • Two Nigerians make 9mobile £15,000 prize final shortlist

    Two Nigerians make 9mobile £15,000 prize final shortlist

    Two Nigerians, Ayobami Adebayo and Lesley Nneka Arimah, have made the final shortlist for this year’s 9mobile Prize for Literature, sponsored by telecoms company, 9mobile. With them on the list is South Africa’s Marcus Low.

    The shortlist for the Pan-African literary prize, announced by 9mobile, has three shortlisted titles: What it Means When a Man Falls Down From the Sky (Farafina, 2017) by Nigeria’s Lesley Nneka Arimah; Stay with Me (Canongate Books, 2017) by Ayobami Adebayo, also a Nigerian, and Asylum by Marcus Low (Pan Macmillan South Africa, 2017).

    Adebayo, Arimah and Low were on a  longlist unveiled last December, which featured nine books chosen by the prize’s panel (a Nigerian academic and poet, Prof Harry Garuba (chair), Ugandan writer Doreen Baingana, a fellow of Ebedi International Writers Residency and South African writer Siphiwo Mahala).

    The three finalists, according to Garuba, were selected after a thorough, objective and painstaking review of their books. “These three books embody what we would like to see coming from young African writers – fresh storylines, intriguing plots and characters you would want to meet in real life,” he said.

    The judges are faced with the task of deciding which of these three impressive first-time writers will win the year’s edition. The winner will be announced during the Grand Finale to be held this year.

    The winner of the 9mobile Prize will receive £15,000, an engraved Montblanc Meisterstück pen, and a 9mobile-sponsored fellowship at the University of East Anglia, where he/she will be mentored by renowned literature teacher Professor Giles Foden, author of The Last King of Scotland, while the three finalists will have copies of their books purchased by 9mobile for distribution to schools, libraries and book clubs across Africa. This, according to the prize’s sponsor, is in fulfillment of the company’s goal of making books available across the continent, and developing the publishing industry.

    “We are happy to have reached this stage. Knowing the high standards desired by the 9mobile Prize for Literature, we ensured that the adjudication process was objective, while upholding quality and relevance. We congratulate 9mobile and the shortlisted writers, and note that the entire exercise we went through gives us a glimpse of an even more promising and rewarding literary industry for African writers,” he added.

    9mobile Prize for Literature is the first pan-African literary prize that celebrates debut African writers of published fiction. It is open  to writers from Africa, resident anywhere in the world. Zimbabwe’s NoViolet Bulawayo won the inaugural edition of the prize in 2013 with We Need New Names, and South African novelist Songeziwe Mahlangu won with Penumbra in 2014. Fiston Mwanza Mujila from the Democratic Republic of Congo won in 2015 with Tram 83, and in 2017 Nigeria’s Jowhor Ile won for his first book And After Many Days.

    While restating the company’s support for African literature, Director, Brand and Experience, 9mobile, Elvis Ogiemwanye, voiced his satisfaction for the fact that every stage of the 2018 9mobile Prize for Literature has been inspiring. He commended the judges and patrons for their diligence.

    He said: “We at 9mobile have always been amazed by the resilience and commitment of writers on the continent in spite of the huge challenges they face. This was, in fact, one of the reasons we initiated the prize and it’s heartwarming that we are almost at the end of another cycle. We are as excited as the rest of Africa and can’t wait to see who will emerge winner at the grand finale. I’m sure it will be a great outing, with African literature the better for it.”

    Lesley, based in the US, is 2015 Commonwealth Short Story Prize for Africa winner. She has twice been shortlisted for the Caine Prize. She was named as one of the fiction writers honoured by the National Book Foundation, called “Five under 35” September 2017. In 2016 and last year, she was shortlisted for the Caine Prize. Her work has appeared in Harper’s, Per Contra, The New Yorker, and other publications. Her debut collection of short stories was published by Riverhead Books and Tinder Press (UK) in April 2017. Entitled: What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky, the collection was republished in Nigeria, by Farafina Books, in November 2017.

    Low’s is one of South African brightest young minds, whose debut novel, Asylum, speaks of a strong voice of advocacy. The novelist is also a journalist and public health specialist and advocate based in Cape Town. Marcus has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Cape Town.

    The 2017 winner of The Future Awards Africa Prize for Arts and Culture, Ayobami was listed by the Financial Times as one of the bright stars of Nigerian literature in 2015. A fellow of Ebedi International Writers Residency, Ayobami, based in Nigeria, was shortlisted for the Miles Morland Scholarship in 2014 and 2015; and has also been a writer in residence at Ledig House Omi, Hedgebrook, Sinthian Cultural Institute, Ox-Bow School of Art, Siena Art Institute. Stay with Me, her debut novel, was shortlisted for last year’s Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction.