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Sunday, 05 March 2017 03:08

AU Chairperson calls Buhari to wish him good health

Chairperson of the African Union (AU), President Alpha Conde of Guinea, on Friday, called President Muhammadu Buhari in London, to wish him good health and speedy recovery. Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina disclosed this in a statement. He said Conde called Buhari on behalf of leaders of member countries of the AU. Adesina said Conde assured the Nigerian President that all African leaders stand with him in prayers at a time like this. He said: “Buhari, while thanking President Conde for the telephone call, used the opportunity to congratulate him on his recent…

Sunday, 05 March 2017 03:07

U.S. govt expresses concern over SSS’ ability to investigate fraud

As the President Muhammadu Buhari administration continues its anti-corruption effort, the United States government has expressed concern over the capacity of Nigeria’s States Security Service, SSS, to investigate money laundering. The U.S. government also expressed worry about the SSS’ refusal to share intelligence with sister agencies to investigate financial improprieties. “There are concerns about the Department of State Services’ capacity to investigate money laundering and that it does not share case information with other agencies that also conduct financial investigations", the report states. The assessment is contained in March 2017 edition of the International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) authored…

Sunday, 05 March 2017 03:01

Trump claims Obama wiretapped him during campaign; Obama refutes it

U.S. President Donald Trump accused predecessor Barack Obama on Saturday of wiretapping him during the late stages of the 2016 election campaign, but offered no evidence for an allegation which an Obama spokesman said was "simply false". Trump made the accusation in a series of early morning tweets just weeks into his administration and amid rising scrutiny of his campaign's ties to Russia. "How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!", Trump wrote in one tweet. "I'd bet a good lawyer could make a great…

Saturday, 04 March 2017 17:39

FG wants Shell to open major pipeline but attack feared

Nigeria wants Royal Dutch Shell to reopen one of its main pipelines but the oil multinational is resisting, analysts say, for fear it could once again be bombed by militants. The Trans Forcados Pipeline, the main feed to the 400,000-barrel-a-day Forcados export terminal, has been shut for all but three weeks of the past year, Lagos-based SBM Intelligence said in its weekly risk analysis published Friday. In their most sophisticated attack, militants used divers to blow up an underwater section of the pipeline in the Atlantic a year ago. Defying militant death threats, Shell flew in underwater engineers who took…

Saturday, 04 March 2017 17:30

New Tor Tiv says Tiv people marginalised

Newly installed Tor Tiv, HRM Orchivirigh Professor James Ortese Ayatse, has called on the federal government to give more Benue people appointments as they are central to the government’s economic diversification programme. The paramount ruler stated this in his inaugural speech in Gboko, at a grand ceremony at the Joseph Sarwuan Tarka Stadium. His full title will be His Royal Majesty, Begha U Tiv, Orchivirigh, Prof Ortese Iorzua James Ayatse. The ceremony was witnessed by many dignitaries, including state governors, Senate President Bukola Saraki, Speaker Yakubu Dogara and former vice-president Atiku Abubakar. Ayatse specifically noted that ”the Tiv people, who…

Saturday, 04 March 2017 17:28

Lagos-Kano train derails in Osun

The cargo section of a passenger train travelling from Lagos to Kano on Saturday got detached from the main body and later derailed in Osogbo, Osun state. Mechanical fault was suspected. The three wagons attached to the end of the passenger train got detached from the rest of the coaches at Ifon area of Osun at about 1:45am. The pilotless wagons lumbered to the interchange at the terminus around Old Garage area in Osogbo where the wheels got off the track and the wagons tumbled. A witness, Mr Biodun Opatoyinbi said that only one Mr Yakubu popularly called Baba Ibeji,…

Saturday, 04 March 2017 03:02

Fresh crisis brews over Buhari’s extension of Perm Sec’s tenure

A crisis is looming in the federal civil service over the extension of the tenure of Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Dr. Jamila Shu’ara, by President Muhammadu Buhari. President of Trade Union Congress, Mr. Bala Kaigama, said on Friday that the group had written a letter to Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, to protest the extension of the Permanent Secretary’s tenure. He said the letter was sent to Acting President on March 2, 2017 (Thursday), adding that affiliate unions of the TUC would occupy the ministry if Shu’ara failed to leave. House of Representatives’ Committee on Basic Education, had on…

Saturday, 04 March 2017 02:51

Contractors risk 10-year jail for falsification – BPP

Mr Yahaya Ishaku of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), has warned that contractors involved in falsification of contracts and other violations of Public Procurement Act risked 10-year jail term. Ishaku, who is Director, Compliance, Certification and Monitoring in BPP, gave the warning at the closing of a three-day training for government personnel on corruption in public procurement. The training with the theme “Fighting Corruption in Public Procurement’’ was organised by United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, with funding from the European Union. Participants were officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and other…

Friday, 03 March 2017 16:56

FG directs oil companies to relocate headquarters to Niger-Delta

Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo has directed the International Oil Companies operating in the Niger-Delta region to relocate their headquarters to their States of operation to mitigate tension in host communities. Osinbajo gave the directive at a Town Hall meeting in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital on Thursday during continuation visit to the region to dialogue with stakeholders. The Acting President urged Minister of State, Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu to begin the process of engaging the International Oil Companies on the way forward to actualize the directive, saying “I think it is the right thing to do”. He disclosed that…

Friday, 03 March 2017 16:53

Ex-NNPC boss, Andrew Yakubu drags EFCC to court

Former Group Managing Director of the National Nigerian Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Andrew Yakubu has dragged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over forfeiture order. It would be recalled that earlier last week, Justice Zainab Bage Abubakar of the federal high court Kano, while ruling on an ex pate application filed before it by the EFCC’s counsel, ordered that the $9.8 million and 74,000 pounds recovered from Mr. Yakubu be forfeited to the federal government. Mr. Yakubu was dragged before Justice Zainab by the commission after it recovered $9.8 million and 74,000 pounds from his residence in Kaduna state.…

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Friday, 03 March 2017 16:50

Suicide bombers destroy 3 fuel tankers in Maiduguri

Three suicide bombers set ablaze three fuel tankers in the center of Nigeria's northeastern city of Maiduguri before dawn Friday, officials said, just days before a planned visit by the U.N. Security Council. Soldiers fired at one of the bombers, a teenage girl, to avert what could have been a major attack on the city's main fuel depot, according to the police chief and a witness. "We are lucky. Today could have been another sad day for us in Maiduguri", police commissioner Damian Chukwu told reporters at the scene, where firefighters were dousing several fires. The attack, outside a gas…

Friday, 03 March 2017 16:41

300 children die of lead poisoning in Zamfara

Emir of Bukkuyum in Zamfara, Alhaji Muhammadu Usman, has said that over 300 children died as a result of lead poisoning at Yar-Galma village of Bukkuyum Local Government Area of the state. The emir made the disclosure on Friday at Yar-Galma during the inauguration of a solar-powered borehole, drilled by the Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation (SABMF). Usman commended the foundation for initiating the project. The traditional ruler who lamented that lead poisoning had adversely affected several communities in the area appealed to government and other NGOs to emulate the foundation. Chairman of the foundation, retired Justice Mamman Nasir, said…

Friday, 03 March 2017 16:38

Akeredolu bans logging activities in Ondo

Ondo State Governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu, has banned logging activities in forest reserves across the 18 local government areas of the state. In a statement signed by Mr Toyin Akinkuotu, the state Head of Service, on Friday in Akure, Akeredolu said that the ban had immediate effect. The governor also dissolved every taskforce on forestry and related matters. He directed law enforcement agencies and forestry officials to ensure strict compliance with the directives. ‘‘This development is coming on the heels of reported illegal exploration activities going on in forest reserves across the state. ‘‘The illegal activities have resulted in loss…

Friday, 03 March 2017 03:10

Buhari inherited a bad economy, made it worse – Soludo

A former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, on Thursday said President Muhammadu Buhari had worsened the “very bad” economic situation he inherited when he assumed power in 2015. Soludo spoke at the ‘Big Ideas Podium’, a public policy debate organised by the Afri Heritage Institution in Enugu, where he canvassed what he termed a “citizens united” campaign by Nigerians to demand change and accountability from government at all levels. Besides Soludo, other speakers at the inaugural edition of the Big Ideas Podium were a former Cross River State Governor, Donald Duke; a former Chief Economic…

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