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Sunday, 07 May 2017 03:04

Nigerians share before-and-after photos of Buhari, lament frail looks

Nigerians have expressed concerns on how much the physical appearance of President Muhammadu Buhari has changed over the past few months. While comparing the 2015 and 2017 photos of the President on social media last week, concerned citizens bemoaned the President’s frail looks. The two photos, placed side by side and trending online, showed Buhari looking significantly leaner in one than the other. The President also appeared pale and shaven-headed in the frail-looking picture, with his native hat slouched over his forehead. Again, several Nigerians took to the comments section of a video posted on PUNCH’s Facebook page, in which…

Sunday, 07 May 2017 03:03

82 Chibok girls freed in Boko Haram exchange

Eighty-two Chibok schoolgirls seized three years ago by Boko Haram have been freed in exchange for detained suspects with the extremist group, federal government announced early Sunday, in the largest release negotiated yet in the battle to save nearly 300 girls whose mass abduction exposed the mounting threat posed by the Islamic State-linked fighters. The statement from the office of President Muhammadu Buhari was the first confirmation that his government had made a swap for the girls. After an initial release of 21 Chibok girls in October, the government denied making an exchange or paying ransom. The April 2014 abduction…

Sunday, 07 May 2017 03:02

Timeline: Kidnapped Chibok girls, 3 years later

Federal government says 82 Chibok schoolgirls are free more than three years after a mass abduction by Boko Haram extremists. It is the second group release; Nigeria announced in October that 21 girls had been freed after negotiations with the extremists. The kidnapping shocked the world and put tremendous pressure on Nigeria's government to counter Boko Haram and free thousands who have been taken captive over the years. Here are some of the key events surrounding the Chibok crisis: ___ April 2014: Boko Haram extremists kidnap 276 schoolgirls from Chibok in northern Nigeria, the region where the insurgency emerged several…

Sunday, 07 May 2017 03:00

Boko Haram attacks slowing down our operations – UNDP

United Nations Development Program (UNDP) on Friday expressed worry that attacks by Boko Haram have continued to slow down its operation in northeast Nigeria where it plans to spend $4 million this year. The UN body said it had secured donations from its development partners and planned to spend the money on humanitarian activities in the region. Boko Haram insurgency has affected about 4.5 million people especially women and children. UNDP’s regional coordinator and head of Maiduguri Sub-Office, Joerg Kuehnel, told journalists in Maiduguri that most areas targeted were inaccessible and unsecured because Boko Haram insurgents were still using them…

Sunday, 07 May 2017 02:58

Lagos-Ibadan expressway accident: Police confirm 26 dead, 11 injured

Oyo State Police Command says 26 people died in the Saturday morning motor accident that occurred at the Ibadan end of Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. The command’s public relations officer, Mr Kunle Ajisebutu, confirmed the accident and said 11 others including three children sustained severe injuries. Ajisebutu said witnesses reported that two commercial buses had a head-on-collision with the vehicles immediately bursting into flames claiming 26 lives. “Corpses of the dead have been deposited at Adeoyo General Hospital, Yemetu, while the injured were taken to Ibadan Central Hospital, and University College Hospital, (UCH) Ibadan for medical attention. “Police investigation has begun. “The…

Sunday, 07 May 2017 02:55

FG says it has 'almost tripled' budget for Niger Delta amnesty

The federal government has almost tripled the budget for an amnesty programme for militants in oil-producing heartland, the presidency said on Saturday, a key factor in maintaining a tenuous peace in the Niger Delta and supporting crude production. An additional 30 billion naira ($98.47 million) would be released for the former militants and an extra 5 billion naira added at some later stage, the presidency said in a statement. Until 2016 the annual budget was 20 billion naira. Funding of former militants under the 2009 amnesty is key to maintaining the relative stability in the Delta and stopping attacks on…

Sunday, 07 May 2017 02:48

France bans extremely thin models

A law in France banning the use of unhealthily thin fashion models has come into effect. Models will need to provide a doctor's certificate attesting to their overall physical health, with special regard to their body mass index (BMI) - a measure of weight in relation to height. The health ministry says the aim is to fight eating disorders and inaccessible ideals of beauty. Digitally altered photos will also have to be labelled from 1 October. Images where a model's appearance has been manipulated will need to be marked photographie retouchée (English: retouched photograph). A previous version of the bill…

Saturday, 06 May 2017 02:43

Buhari’s health status: CSOs, lawyers, others give FG ultimatum

Civil society organisations and some lawyers have issued an ultimatum asking the Presidency to publicly disclose the true state of health of President Muhammadu Buhari on or before May 29, to put a rest to speculations that the government has been hijacked by a cabal. These groups and individuals have threatened to hold protests throughout the country against the alleged cabal in the presidency should the uncertainty over the President’s health status continue beyond his administration’s second anniversary in office, which is May 29. They expressed disappointment with the way information surrounding the President’s health status is being managed by…

Saturday, 06 May 2017 02:42

Scarcity of Nigerian international passport to persist as FG, vendor disagree on pricing

The scarcity of the e-passport booklets may not abate soon as the Federal Government has yet to reach an agreement on the new pricing of the travel document with the vendor, Iris Smart Technology Ltd. ISTL had reduced the production and supply of the 32-page passports since last year following the foreign exchange crisis in the country which had reportedly increased the production cost of the booklets. This is as investigation by the House of Representatives Committee on Interior revealed that the Federal Government made arrangements for the production of just 10 million passport booklets for the country in the…

Friday, 05 May 2017 16:11

Buhari attends Juma’at service

President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday joined Muslim faithfuls to observe the Juma’at prayers inside a mosque in the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Buhari was joined for the two-rakat prayers by top government officials including Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Muhammed Bello; and Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami. Punch

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Friday, 05 May 2017 16:07

Service Chiefs, Finance Minister meet in Aso Rock

In a bid to immediately end the humanitarian crisis in the North east, the Presidency on Friday held a meeting with Service Chiefs and other government officials. Those in the meeting included Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Gabriel Olonisakin, Chief of Army Staff, Lt-General Tukur Buratai and Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adesun. A top presidency source who confided in Vanguard said that the meeting was urgently summoned to discuss measures that would lead to lasting solution to the humanitarian crisis in zone. The source added that the other military chiefs couldn’t make it to the meeting because they were…

Friday, 05 May 2017 16:04

FG to employ 47,000 people to fix roads – Fashola

The federal government is set to employ 47,000 people in its drive to construct roads across the country, an official has said. Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, made this disclosure at a stakeholder’s meeting organised by Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, COREN, on Thursday in Abuja. Fashola noted that to implement the plan, the government would collaborate with the National Assembly. The former Lagos State governor, who explained how vocational and technical education had significantly contributed to the development of Singapore, Canada and South Africa , amongst others, said Nigeria must shape its…

Friday, 05 May 2017 16:03

Aregbesola holds 'Ogbeni Till Daybreak', to take questions all night

Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun state is to take questions from varied audience for seven hours from late night Friday May 5, 2017 into the early hours of Saturday May 6, 2017 as he holds a repackaged public engagement forum, 'Ogbeni Till Day Break', on Friday. The programme, which commences by 11pm on Friday, holds at the WOCDIF Event Centre, Ring Road Osogbo. The event will afford people of the state and others outside the state opportunities to interact with the Governor 'live' on activities of the administration. Those who are in attendance will ask the Governor face-to -face questions…

Friday, 05 May 2017 03:41

Make your health status public, douse tension, NMA, others tell Buhari

Amidst growing concerns on the health status of President Muhammadu Buhari, the President’s Personal Assistant on Social Media, Lauretta Onochie, on Thursday, disclosed that the President would go on another medical vacation. She however said the ailing Nigerian leader would not do so by being hounded by anyone. Onochie disclosed this on her Twitter handle, @Laurestar, while reacting to statements by individuals and groups on the matter. She said Buhari, who returned to the country on March 10 after a 49-day medical sojourn in the United Kingdom, would embark on the medical vacation only on his doctor’s appointment. “President Buhari…

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