ATTENCAO

The Peoples Democratic Party , the Nigeria Labour Congress and civil rights groups , on Sunday , lashed out at the Federal Government for the killing of lecturers and oil workers on their way to the Lake Chad Basin by the Boko Haram sect. Also , the Academic Staff Union of Universities has threatened to “call out ” its members if its abducted members in the University of Maiduguri are not freed . At least 48 people, including five lecturers of UNIMAID , about 15 soldiers, 11 members of the Civilian Joint Task Force and workers of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation , were killed on Thursday on their way to prospect for crude oil in Barno Yasu in the Magumeri Local Government Area of Borno State. The Nigerian Army had, in a statement on Friday by its spokesman , Brig- Gen. Sani Usman , said it had rescued some of the workers , who were attacked by the sect . Shortly after the Army issued the statement , the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe ...

The presidential panel that investigated the suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir David Lawal and the Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency, Ayo Oke, has recommended that the duo be replaced. Daily Trust on Sunday learnt at the weekend that the Acting President Yemi Osinbajo-led committee recommended that the suspended government official and the nation’s top spy master be disengaged and replaced. Others members of the investigation panel are; the National Security Adviser, General Babagana Monguno (rtd) and the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami. President Muhammadu Buhari had on April 19, suspended Babachir and Oke and set up the three-man committee to investigate alleged infractions against both officials within a period of two weeks. Babachir was investigated for allegedly awarding millions of naira contracts to a company in which he had interest, Global Vision Limited, under the Presidential Initiative on the No...

Manchester United are close to signing Chelsea midfielder Nemanja Matic, according to Sky sources. United hope to complete a deal for the 28-year-old in the coming days as Jose Mourinho continues his summer spending spree at Old Trafford. Sky sources understand the United hierarchy have agreed a £40million fee for Matic, who made 40 appearances in all competitions last season. Speaking after United's pre-season over Valerenga on Sunday , Mourinho said: "I'm waiting for news. I know that he wants that very, very much and when a player wants very, very much the chance is bigger, so I think we have a chance, but in football until it's official, I have so many things happen that I refuse to say more than I am telling you now." Serie A champions Juventus have given up on their pursuit of Matic and have instead turned their attention to Paris Saint-Germain's Blaise Matuidi, as well as Sevilla midfielder Steven N'Zonzi, according to Sky Italia. The 28-year-...

Resident doctors have threatened to down tools in the next 21 days except the federal government meet their demands. The National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) also referred Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole; a former health minister, Dr Onyebuchi Chukwu, and one other, all life members, for sanction for carrying out activities and actions inimical to welfare and progress of the association. In a communiqué at the end of the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the association in Calabar by its president, Dr Onyebueze John; Secretary General, Dr Aneke Emmanuel and Publicity Secretary, Dr Asinobi Ugoeze, the resident doctors demanded their immediate enrollment on the IPPIS platform without further delay. Other demands include, according to the communiqué, “The circularization of house officer entry point despite various collective agreements on same. “The plan of the Federal Government to stagnate the promotion of resident doctors. “The de...

The Senate on Saturday replied Sagay, asking him to stop making ‘nonsensical statements’ capable of denigrating the nation’s parliament. The red chamber stated this while reacting to a statement credited to the professor of law, which was widely published in the mass media on Saturday. Sagay had described the 8th Senate as the worst in the history of Nigeria, adding that its members would be kicked out in 2019 general election. He also described the ongoing constitution amendment by the National Assembly as a hypocritical exercise, which would lead nowhere. He further lambasted the Bukola Saraki-led Senate for refusing to devolve power to the states, scrapping the State Independent Electoral Commission and for refusing to ensure 35 per cent affirmative action for women. But the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Aliyu Sabi-Abdullahi, asked Sagay to go back to the classroom if he had become overwhelmed by the national assignment given to hi...

France's new president, Emmanuel Macron, vowed to attract more foreign investment and to push for greater European integration. His government's decision to block an Italian takeover of France's STX shipyard has broken both promises in one fell swoop. Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Thursday France would temporarily nationalize the yard -- blocking a deal that would have seen Italy's Fincantieri SpA take over 48 percent of STX, with an Italian banking foundation buying a further 6 percent. Le Maire said he was defending "France's strategic interests in shipbuilding." This rationale is hard to credit. The shipyard's previous owner was Korea's STX Offshore & Shipbuilding Co. Ltd., so the facility was already in foreign hands. Francois Hollande, Macron's predecessor, had already cleared the new deal in April, having secured a string of concessions. These included a veto for the French government to protect intellectual prope...

The President of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has given insights into the drive behind the success of his businesses. Dangote disclosed this in an interview for the 2017 KPMG CEO Outlook. For the third year in a row, KPMG has surveyed CEOs from leading corporations around the world to assess their perception of the global economy, their top concerns and their expectations for the near future. Dangote was one of the CEOs that were specially profiled in the global report. The Dangote Group, one of the leading diversified business conglomerates in Africa, generates revenues in excess of US$3 billion and employs more than 26,000 people, with business interests as diverse as cement, sugar, pasta, natural gas, and telecommunications. The company’s various businesses are growing at paces that would make most CEOs envious. But Dangote said the group was focused on aggressive growth. “I think really, the future is looking very, very bright,” he told KPMG in t...

Sokoto State government has risen in defence of Sultan Sa'ad Abubakar III, following an alleged probe by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, over the N700 million purportedly transferred into the monarch's account. The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Reporting Unit, NFIU, had allegedly flagged the account of the Chief of Staff to the Sultan of Sokoto, Kabiru Tafida, following transfer of N700 million in two tranches from the state government. However, Special Adviser to Governor Aminu Tambuwal on Media and Public Affairs, Imam Imam, said in a statement, yesterday, that the approval of the said sum was given by the State Executive Council, SEC, on December 28, 2016. The statement read in part: "Sokoto State govern-ment, concerned about the lack of a befitting office and residential accommodation for use by officials and members of the Sultanate Council, approved, within its capital estimates of the 2016 Supplementary Budget and 2017 Budget, N200 million a...

Former Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has been named an independent non-executive director at Standard Chartered Plc in the United Kingdom. According to a statement released by the company yesterday, her appointment is effective from November 1, 2017. She will earn £130,000 per annum for her expertise in financial and development financing. José Viñals, Group Chairman, said: “Ngozi is a globally recognised African and international figure. “She has significant geopolitical, economic, risk and development experience and expertise at a national governmental level and in international organisations, which will provide significant insight and value to the Board. “She also has deep knowledge of Africa as well as emerging and developing markets. I am delighted to welcome her to Standard Chartered.”

Facts have emerged that 48 persons died in the attack by Boko Haram on the oil exploration team to the Lake Chad Basin. Sources at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) and the Maimalari Army Barracks revealed Thursday that 48 corpses were brought into Maiduguri from the scene of the attack. The details of the corpses showed that 18 soldiers were lost, 15 Civilian JTF members were killed alongside five university staff and four Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) drivers. It was also gathered that six persons who were wounded in the attack but escaped to somewhere in Yobe State were later found dead and brought to Maiduguri. Apart from the wounded soldiers admitted to the military hospital in the town, two members of the Civilian JTF was at Thursday on admission at the UMTH.

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) wednesday approved N3.38 billion to boost the production of potatoes in Plateau State. The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, who made the disclosure said the money would be borrowed from Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) with one per cent interest rate and 25 years moratorium. The minister who said the loan was not fresh, explained that it had previously been cancelled by the federal government with the intention to make a fresh request for the loan on behalf of Plateau State which she said was responsible for 95 per cent of potato production in the country. According to her, following ADB’s comprehensive programme on potato production in Plateau State, 100,000 families and 17 local government areas of Plateau State would benefit from the loan while 60,000 jobs would be created by the initiative. “My approval was on behalf of Plateau State to support the potato value chain. There is a loan that we had previously cancelled from ...

Those interested in the dustbin of Nigeria's history will one day find APC inside the rubble, among the putrefaction, just beside PDP, and bring out her carcass for examination. Such students of the dustbin of history will likely conclude that APC's signature contribution to the Nigerian tragedy is not in the empirical failure to deliver on measurable electoral promises in virtually all areas of national life but in the deadening of the Nigerian mind. A nation's mind is lost when the capacity for ironic sentience dies. And no group of Nigerians, at any moment in our chequered national history, has contributed more to the assassination of irony than the confederacy of parochial interests in the leadership of APC. If blindness to irony stopped within the ranks of APC's leadership, if it was limited to Governors, Senators, Reps, and other political figures within her ranks, I wouldn't be so worried. It would be their funeral. I am not in the habit of s...

The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) on Monday said the bombing of Rann and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp in Borno State has remained a traumatic incident to its pilots fighting Boko Haram insurgency in the North-east. While tendering apologies to victims of the Rann bombing, NAF Director of Public Relations and Information, Air Commodore Olatokunbo Adesanya, said authorities are working hard to prevent any future incident. He said: “Sequel to the official statement by the Defence Headquarters on the unfortunate Rann bombing incident on 17 January 2017, the Nigerian Air Force (NAF), being the service directly involved in the incident, would once more like to convey its deepest regrets to all concerned. “It is important to reiterate that no NAF pilot leaves his base with the intention of going to kill the same set of people that he greatly sacrifices day and night to protect. “The unfortunate bombing of innocent civilians in Rann, Borno State has, therefore, rema...

Suicide bombers on Sunday night attacked two internally displaced persons’ (IDP) camps in Maiduguri, Borno State, leaving six dead and several others injured. According to the spokesman of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Abdulkadir Ibrahim, three suicide bombers, a male and two females, attacked both Dalori 1 and Dalori 2 IDP camps — two of the largest camps housing victims of the Boko Haram insurgency in Borno State. Two of the suicide bombers successfully detonated their explosive devices at the Dalori 1 camp, leading to their deaths and three others, with 17 others injured. At the Dalori 2 camp, an attempt by a female suicide bomber to scale the fence into the camp was foiled by security men on watch who shot at her and the subsequent detonation of the improvised explosive device (IED) on her person left a hole on the wall. According to NEMA, she died in the process and left many others injured. Ibrahim said in a statement: “At about 11.20 pm y...

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recently said that the price of yam increased in June, amid flag-off of export of the foodstuff to Europe by the Federal Government. Data released by the bureau for June 2017, tagged ‘Selected Food Price Watch’ revealed that the average price of 1 kilogramme of yam tuber increased by 32.84 per cent between June 2016 and June 2017. Similarly, there was a 4.62 per cent increase in the price of the product between May and June, as the price of 1 kilogramme of yam jumped to N292.06 from N279.15 in May. The development came after the Federal Government began to export yams to Europe and the United States, as part of moves to diversify its oil-dependent economy and earn much-needed foreign exchange. Agriculture minister, Audu Ogbeh, who flagged off the first consignment of the fibrous tuber from Tincan Island Ports, Lagos in June, said, “Oil and gas cannot employ millions of people just like agriculture so we must work hard to move ...

The Naira on Monday regained strength against the dollar at the parallel market. The Nigerian currency gained one point to exchange at N365 to the dollar at the parallel market, stronger than N366 posted on Friday, while the Pound Sterling and the Euro traded at N475 and N420, respectively. At the Bureau De Change (BDC) window, the Naira traded at N362 to the dollar, while the pound sterling and the Euro closed at N417 and N419. The Naira, however, depreciated at the investors’ window as it closed at N367.3 to the dollar. Trading at the interbank market saw the Naira close at N305.8 to the dollar. Traders said that activities at the market were at low key as stakeholders awaited the outcome of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). NAN reports that the Naira has remained stable for about two months due to the sustained interventions by the CBN at the foreign exchange market. Traders urged the apex bank to continue to boost liquidit...

President Donald Trump warned Republicans on Monday that they have one "last chance" to pass the party's health care reforms, as US lawmakers brace for a vote whose fate remained uncertain. With the effort to repeal and replace Obamacare floundering in Congress, the Senate was expected to vote Tuesday to begin debate on the latest Republican plan, a bid to dismantle the 2010 reforms of Trump's predecessor but delay the actual implementation to allow time for a viable replacement to be crafted. By any measure it is an iffy proposition, with previous versions having collapsed in recent weeks. Senate Republican leaders acknowledge they do not know whether there is sufficient support within the party to open debate on the new plan, a sign of Republican division about the impact such reforms might have on millions of American families. With less than three weeks before the Senate is to leave Washington for its already-delayed summer recess, Trump called on his party to...

The Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (retd), has said that the Nigeria Customs Service generated N720 billion in 2016. He made this known while defending the budget of the service before the Senate Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariff on Monday in Abuja. It was a subsidiary budget defence for Nigeria Customs Service as a revenue generating agency of government. Ali said that the approved revenue target for 2016 was N937 billion comprising of 862 billion for the federation and N75 billion for non-federation. He added that the service, however, collected total revenue of N720.7 billion or 77 per cent during the period. He stressed that the revenue collected was with a negative variance of N 216.6 billion or 23 per cent when compared with the target for the year. The comptroller-general noted that the revenue performance of N720.7 billion in 2016 had a negative variance of N13.6 billion or 1.9 per cent when compared with N734 billion collected in 2015. ”Durin...

The Senate has recommended the concession of N200 to $1 by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to intending pilgrims embarking on the 2017 Hajj, to bring the cost of the pilgrimage down to a bearable level. This is in spite of the CBN's benchmark of N305 to $1, for the 2017 Hajj operations, approved by the fedeal government. The Senate also urged the government to extend concessions on naira-dollar exchange rate to the National Hajj Commission (NAHCON) and the Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission (NCPC) once every year for pilgrimages. The position of the lawmakers followed the adoption of the recommendations of its Senator Monsurat Sunmonu (Oyo Central)-led Committee on Foreign Affairs, on the alleged extortion of pilgrims by NAHCON. The report was borne out of an investigation of the circumstances surrounding the present feeding regime and exorbitant airfare as fixed by NAHCON, with a view to exposing any sharp practices. Thisday CBN Replies The Central Bank of Nigeria, CB...

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon.Yakubu Dogara, thursday assured Nigerians that the 'Not Too Young To Run Bill' in the constitution amendment report laid before the House will be followed through. His assurance came on the backdrop of growing public outcry that the bill may have been removed from the proposed amendment. He made the remarks during plenary following a clarification on the matter by the Chairman of the House Ad hoc Committee on Review of the Constitution, Hon. Sulaimon Yussuf Lasun. Dogara assured Nigerians that the bill was not removed from the report which would be considered next week, reaffirming his support for youth inclusion in politics. He said the House would live up to the promise it made to do all within its powers to pass the bill. He said: "The young people should be informed that we made a promise and we will keep to our promise, by God's grace." The deputy speaker had explained that rumours spreading that the bill...

Nigerian musician, Innocent Idibia, popularly known as Tuface, was in Borno state on a two-day visit to camps for internally displaced persons, IDPs. At one of the camps visited, he said Boko Haram was a product of irresponsible leadership in Nigeria. Tuface is currently an “unofficial” Ambassador for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, UNHCR on IDPs. He was flown into Maiduguri aboard a UN aircraft on Tuesday. Immediately after his arrival, he was flown to Ngala village about 100 km from Maiduguri with some UNHCR officials where he visited the IDP camp there. Tuface also visited the Bakasi IDP Camp, one of the largest in the state, on Wednesday. The singer said he was moved to tears when he met the thousands of displaced persons living in a total state of lack and deprivation. In an interactive session with journalists at the UNHCR office in Maiduguri, he said he has launched a song and dedicated the proceeds to the cause of the IDPs. He said he chose to ch...

Of the N243.8 billion released on Monday by the federal government to the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as the second tranche of Paris Club refunds, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, Kano and Rivers got N10 billion each, making the five states the highest recipients of the refunds for over-deductions on Paris and London Club Loans and multilateral debts between 1995 and 2002. A statement Tuesday by the Director (Information) in the Ministry of Finance, Salisu Na’Inna Dambatta, who confirmed that the second tranche of the Paris Club refunds had been released to all states and the FCT, added that the funds were released on the premise that a minimum of 75 per cent of the funds would be applied to the payment of workers’ salaries and pensions by states that owe salaries and pension. The statement said Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, Kano and Rivers States got N10 billion each, and were closely followed by Lagos and Katsina which got N8,371,938,133.11 and ...

Nigeria’s inflation rate fell for a fifth consecutive in June even as food-price growth surged. Inflation eased to 16.1 percent from 16.3 percent in May, the Abuja-based National Bureau of Statistics said in an emailed report Monday. The median of 15 economists’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg was for 16 percent. Prices rose 1.6 percent in the month. Inflation has been above the upper end of the central bank’s target band of 6 percent to 9 percent for two years. Governor Godwin Emefiele kept the main policy rate at a record high of 14 percent since last July to fight price growth and support the naira even as the economy has contracted for five consecutive quarters. It will next review the rate on July 25. Emefiele said last month tight monetary policy will continue. The average gasoline price rose 1.2 percent in June from a year earlier compared with a 10.3 percent increase in May, the statistics office said in a separate report. Food inflation accelerated to 19.9 ...

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, says it will not condone multiple registration for Direct Entry and Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME. The agency also said it had so far remitted more than N5 billion to government, the highest ever in the 40 years of its existence. A statement signed by JAMB’s Head of Public Relations, Fabian Benjamin, said in Abuja on Sunday. Mr. Benjamin described the act of multiple registration as a serious offence in the process of obtaining the Board’s application forms presently on sale. He said that the warning had become imperative for people to know and understand that violation of such rule would attract sanctions. “Candidates are to note that our advertisement for 2017 UTME clearly states the penalty for any candidate caught buying two forms. “Members of the public are requested to note that any candidate who indulges in double registration will be caught by our software and disqualified. ...