Showing posts with label Govt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Govt. Show all posts
Saturday, 29 November 2014
Stars step our in style for Creative Industry event with GEJ
Friday, 28 November 2014
Photos: President Jonathan at OAU today
Must Read: How i Bought a Brand New Galaxy Tablet @N10,600 and HP Laptop @30k [Brand New]
FG approves the purchase of N9.2bn cooking stoves for rural women
Speaking with state house correspondence after the FEC meeting, the Supervising Minister of Information, Dr. Nurudeen Muhammed said the scheme which is a federal government initiative, is geared towards reducing the use of firewood among rural women in Nigeria.
"The National Clean Cooking Scheme is an aggressive drive to engender clean cooking culture amongst the poor rural women, to reduce and possibly eliminate cooking with solid fossil which is detrimental to health. The scheme is expected to provide 20 million clean stoves over a five-year period at the rate of four million stoves per annum, which will be distributed free of charge. It will also reduce incessant felling of trees, which exposes the country to ecological problems” he said.
The Minister said N9.2bn, inclusive of Value Added Tax, was approved for the procurement of 750,000 units of clean cooking stoves and 18,000 wonder bags, a non-electric slow cooker invented by Sarah Collins, a South African eco-entrepreneur, who came up with the idea of surrounding the pan with cushions six years ago during a power cut in her country.
He said the stoves were expected to be delivered by Messrs Integra Renewable Energy Services Limited within a period of 12 weeks.
Minister of Environment Mrs. Lawrecia Mallam who also spoke on the initiative, said the government decided to purchase the cooking stoves for the rural women because it considers cooking with firewood a silent killer.
Thursday, 27 November 2014
Boko Haram: Police to Stop Salaries of 30 Missing Policemen
,+Suleiman+Abba_3.jpg) |
| Police Chief Suleiman Abba |
The policemen were declared missing in August after an attack on the Police Training School, Gwoza, Borno State, by Boko Haram insurgents. And might be given up for dead if they did not report to their commanding officers by the end of the first quarter of the New Year.
It was however learnt that the missing police personnel would be declared dead formally after seven years.
About 159 personnel drawn from Mopol 50, Abuja; Mopol 38, Akwanga and Mopol 58, Lafia,
Nasarawa State, were undergoing training at the school when Boko Haram gunmen attacked them on August 20,2014, killing some and seizing their arms and ammunition. A number of the policemen escaped but 30 of them are yet to be accounted for, three months after the incident.
Though the Inspector-General of Police, Suleiman Abba, had expressed hope that the men might be alive but he was silent on the efforts being made to search for them.
PUNCH reports they learnt that the salaries of the affected personnel might be suspended if their emolument forms were not submitted to the officers-in-charge of the Mechanised Salary Sections, who process police salaries.
It was learnt that the emolument forms had been given to the rank and file to be filled and submitted before the end of the year.
Findings indicated that any backlog salaries of the missing officers would be paid the moment they show up to fill the emolument form. A police source told them:
“The salaries of the missing officers are still being paid for now, but by April next year, it would be stopped because they did not fill the emolument forms that would ensure the continuous payment of their salaries.”One of the MOPOL commandants in Abuja was said to have given money to family members of some of the missing policemen recently when they complained of hardships they encountered in accessing the bank accounts of their missing breadwinners.
“I was there when the commander gave out N50,000 to each of the women to assist them because of the hardship they are facing since their husband went missing at Gwoza; you know that some men don’t open up to their wives about their finances, so you can understand what the women are going through,” the source stated.But the Force Public Relations Officer, Emmanuel Ojukwu, in a text message, said it was not true that the salaries of the personnel would be stopped, noting that “they are only presumed dead after seven years.
Wednesday, 26 November 2014
Our National Debt Rises by 30.3% (N10.8 Trillion) In 12 Months!
The total debt of the Federal Government, the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory rose from N8.32tn on September 30, 2013 to N10.84tn on September 30, 2014.
This means that the nation’s total debt stock rose by N2.52tn or 30.29 per cent within one year period.
Statistics obtained from the website of
the Debt Management Office in Abuja on Monday indicated that the N8.32tn
did not include the domestic debt of the states in 2013.
Details of the current debt status of
the country showed that the external debts of both the federal and state
governments stood at $9.52bn or N1.48tn.
As of September 30, the domestic debt
stock of the Federal Government alone stood at $49.12bn or N7.65tn. The
domestic debt of states, on the other hand, stood at $10.97bn or
N1.71tn.
In comparison, the external debt of both
the federal and state governments stood at N1.28tn (or $8.26bn) as of
September 30, 2013. Also, the domestic debt of the Federal Government a
year ago stood at N7.03tn.
Dissecting the Federal Government’s
current domestic debt of N7.65tn by instruments, the Federal Government
Bond contributed N4.6tn or 60.12 per cent to the profile; the Nigerian
Treasury Bills contributed N2.74tn or 35.76 per cent while Treasury
Bonds contributed N315.39bn or 4.12 per cent.
As of June 2014, out of a total external debt of $3.01bn owed by the states, the Lagos State Government owed $1.02bn.
Other major holders of the country’s
external sub-national debts include Kaduna State which owes $245.51m and
Cross River State, $120.21m. Others are Ogun $116.69m; Bauchi,
$111.61m; and Oyo, $80.11m.
The states least exposed to foreign
debts are Borno, $16.07m; Plateau, $22.99m; Taraba, $24.06m; Delta,
$24.7m; and Benue, $28.79m.
However, in comparison to the nation’s
total external indebtedness, the states owed 32.13 per cent; leaving the
Federal Government with 67.87 per cent.
Loans from China Export Import Bank and
monies raised from Eurobond accounted for $2.54bn of the Federal
Government’s $6.36bn external debt while multilateral sources accounted
for $3.82bn.
As of June 2013, the nation’s total
external loan stood at $6.92bn. This means that over a period of one
year, the country’s external debt rose by $2.46bn, showing 35.51 per
cent increase.
The growth of the nation’s debt stock
can be seen in the budget for debt servicing. The Federal Government
plans to spend N2.08tn servicing the country’s debt within the next
three years.
The figures for debt servicing as well
as the county’s debt stock are contained in the Medium Term Expenditure
Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper of the Federal Government.
PunchNg
Monday, 24 November 2014
Moro Bans Use Of Phones In Prisons, Says Inmates Not Allowed To Dress Indecently
The Federal Government has banned the use of mobile phones
in all the prison formations by inmates and prison officials. It also directed
the Nigerian Prison Service authorities to recover all handsets from inmates
within 30 days.
Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, who handed down the order
on Saturday in Abuja, during an interactive meeting with the senior officers of
the Prison Service, decried indecent dressing by the inmates.
He stated that no inmate should be allowed to wear their
choice of clothes or shoes, as is the practice presently, “no matter highly
placed they may be.”
Moro said, “I have visited some prisons in other countries
as the Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; Nobody, no matter highly
placed you are, you don’t come to prison with your phones, not even the
minister of Interior as the supervising minister over the prisons. So, why are
you an exception?
“Henceforth, no matter who you are including myself, that
nobody goes into prison with telephones. And so, as you are going from here,
create a meeting platform where all the officers that work in the prisons as
they walk into prisons, they submit their phones and collect them when they
close.
“Secondly, it means that you have one month to recover all
the phones in the custody of inmates across the prison formations. Within one
month, all prison formation must recover all telephones from inmates.”
The minister threatened to deal with the NPS management if
it failed to carry out the directive, adding that he would know if the phones
were not recovered from the inmates as ordered.
“Don’t forget that I will know if you fail to do this,
because we have various agencies in Nigeria that are tracking telephone usages
and MTN and other service providers could make available such facilities. The
consequence of not doing this, you should already know,” he told the senior
prison officials.
Saturday, 22 November 2014
Gambia's President Yahya Jammeh Approves Law Jailing Gay People For Life
A copy of the legislation, which was obtained by The Associated Press on Friday, indicates that President Yahya Jammeh signed it on Oct. 9, though no government officials have yet publicly notified the country of the new law. Jammeh, one of Africa’s most vocal anti-gay leaders, instructed gays and lesbians in 2008 to leave the country or risk decapitation.
Lawmakers approved the legislation in August, prompting an outcry from organizations including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. The law contains language identical to an anti-gay bill signed into law in Uganda earlier this year but later overturned by a court on procedural grounds.
Uncompromising: Gambian President Yahya Jammeh is one of Africa’s most vocal anti-gay leaders
Amnesty International recently reported that Gambian security forces are torturing people arrested in raids, threatening them with rape and pressuring them to confess to homosexual acts.
The recent arrests are the first under the new law, Amnesty said Thursday. The group said at least four men, a 17-year-old boy and nine women have reportedly been arrested in recent weeks on suspicion of committing homosexual acts. An earlier statement described how the suspects were detained at the headquarters of the National Intelligence Agency in Banjul.
“They were subjected to torture and ill-treatment to force them to confess their so-called `crimes’ and to reveal information about other individuals perceived to be gay or lesbian,” Amnesty said.
Amnesty accused the security forces of resorting to beatings and the threat of rape and other abuses if they did not confess.
AP
What are your thoughts on this law and that of many African countries that stand against homosexuality?
Nigerians To Pay More For Electricity As New Gas Price Takes Effect December 1
NERC said on Thursday in Abuja that the review of the regulated price of $1.8 per Million British Thermal Unit (MBTU) for natural gas in 2014 to power plants would definitely take off on December 1.
The vice chairman of the electricity regulatory authority, Mohammed Bello, said that the upward review of electricity tariffs was inevitable despite the continued poor electricity supply in the country.
Mr. Bello said apart from gas price, NERC took into consideration other factors such as inflation, foreign exchange rate and power generation capacity, before approving the recent tariff review.
He described tariffs review as a sensitive issue to electricity consumers, who are always opposed to any tariffs increment without improvement in electricity supply.
Friday, 21 November 2014
"How Enugu Doctor ‘Killed’ My Son' - Senator Jim Nwobodo
Senator Jim Nwobodo yesterday narrated how his son, Dr. Ifeanyichukwu Nwobodo jnr died following the alleged negligence of a doctor.
TheNation reports Nwobodo said his son was cured at the Anderson Medical Cancer Centre in Houston, Texas, United States. That Ifeanyichukwu was asked to stay longer in the U.S. but he wanted to return because he was feeling homesick.
The former governor of the old Anambra State said his son developed pains in the legs and he was
taken to a consultant oncologist at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Enugu.
He added that the doctor, instead of taking him to the teaching hospital, which had facilities for emergency, referred his son to his private clinic. According to Nwobodo, the injection administered on his son led to complications.
The senator spoke yesterday when Abia State Governor Theodore Orji visited him in Enugu. Nwobodo said the doctor tried to rush his son to Niger Foundation Hospital, but he died on the way.
He said:
“My son was ill for five months before I knew about it and we were planning to go to India before we took him to the U.S. He was given a visa for two years because the cancer was at stage four, but they treated him. When he came back, his leg started to swell and he thought he should see a doctor and I advised him to see the best oncologist. It took us three weeks to see the doctor.
Ön Friday – I was speaking with him three times a day – and he was to see the doctor by 5pm and between 5:30 and 6pm, I called him and he said he was with the doctor. I requested to speak with the doctor but he said he was busy but instead of the doctor taking him to UNTH, he took him to his private clinic, where he had no equipment, no facility at all. I called him again and when I didn’t hear from him I sent him text and I asked the doctor to tell me why he gave my son injection that made him unconscious, he said he was sorry and that he was trying to resuscitate him.
I spoke with him by 6:30pm and by 7 pm he was dead. It is painful because this is something that would have been averted and I can’t understand why a dean of Department of Medicine should leave the hospital where he has all the equipment to go to his private clinic and I believe that is how some other people die.”
"I Hardly Get What I Want in Life" - President Jonathan
President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday told a gathering of the Peoples Democratic Party leaders in the Presidential Villa, Abuja that he hardly gets what he looks forward to in life. According to PUNCH, Jonathan, who boasted that no party would defeat the PDP during the 2015 polls said sometimes, things that he did not think about are the ones he gets.
Jonathan said:
“In my own life, the things I look for I hardly get. It’s what I don’t even think about that I get sometimes. I believe most of you will smile. But collectively, first and foremost, let us unite the party and work together for our collective victory.
Let me use this unique opportunity to plead with all of us who are aspiring for electoral
offices that the world does not begin and end with the office you are looking for. Sometimes, you would be looking for an office, you may not be able to get it for one reason or the other. Let us say somebody blocked you, so be it, let somebody block you. But if God wants something better for you, even after that blocking, you will get something else.
I plead with all of us that we should not play the do-or-die, except I get it, let the party sink. We are taking inventory of all what is happening in all the states and I promise that we will try and use as many people as possible. There are challenges in some states. People may deliberately block you. You may even be the best candidate in that particular constituency, but let us move ahead.
I’m yet to see those who can beat the PDP. They will continue to make the noise but they cannot beat us, because the gap between PDP and others is very wide. The way we do things and the way they do things are very different; the way we talk and the way they talk are very different; the way we reason and the way they reason are very different.
Our commitment to transform this country and their thinking about Nigeria are very different. And I promise you my party men and women and indeed all Nigerians that with your support, collectively we must move this country to where we want it to be. Every day, every week and every month, we must add something; we must change and continue to change.”
Thursday, 20 November 2014
Too Bad! Three female police officers beaten, stripped n*ked in public
The Three female police officers were said to have been assaulted and stripped on Wednesday after honouring an invitation by a landlady in the area to arrest one of her tenants.
The police officers are currently receiving treatment at an undisclosed hospital.
According to the Nation, things got heated up when the tenant insisted on taking her bath before going to the police station but the police officers said she should follow them.
Other residents in the area reportedly joined the tenant to beat and strip the officers.
The landlady who was identified as Mrs. Okebuse said she invited the police because she had given the tenants quit notice.
She said, “When the police came to make arrest, they started fighting the police. I ran for my life and hid in the other compound.”
An eyewitness said the landlady uses police to harass her tenants.
“The woman was taking her bath and the police officers refused to allow the woman to take her bath,” the eyewitness said.
The state’s Police Commissioner, Foluso Adebanjo, said the perpetrators of the attack would be dealt with according to the full extent of the law.
He said suspects arrested have since been charged to court.
Source: the Nation
The police officers are currently receiving treatment at an undisclosed hospital.
According to the Nation, things got heated up when the tenant insisted on taking her bath before going to the police station but the police officers said she should follow them.
Other residents in the area reportedly joined the tenant to beat and strip the officers.
The landlady who was identified as Mrs. Okebuse said she invited the police because she had given the tenants quit notice.
She said, “When the police came to make arrest, they started fighting the police. I ran for my life and hid in the other compound.”
An eyewitness said the landlady uses police to harass her tenants.
“The woman was taking her bath and the police officers refused to allow the woman to take her bath,” the eyewitness said.
The state’s Police Commissioner, Foluso Adebanjo, said the perpetrators of the attack would be dealt with according to the full extent of the law.
He said suspects arrested have since been charged to court.
Source: the Nation
Wednesday, 19 November 2014
Erm, they now sell this in public in Lagos? [Photos]
Sunday, 16 November 2014
Benue state governor & his deputy in Auto crash Yesterday (Photo)
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Too Bad, Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue State and his deputy, Chief Steven Lawani, were involved in a ghastly road accident on Friday in which eight people were injured.The accident came a day before the governor’s 50th birthday which holds today.
The governor’s official vehicle in which he was travelling and his spare vehicle were directly affected by the impact of the crash. The two officials who were in the same vehicle escaped unhurt.
According to the Tribune ,It was gathered that the governor and his deputy were on their way to an official assignment in Wannune, Tarka Local Government Area and Gboko when the accident occurred.
According to an eyewitness, an oncoming vehicle which overtook another vehicle lost control, sommersaulted, then hit the spare vehicle of the governor as well as the vehicle in which both the governor and his deputy were travelling.
The accident happened at Angbaaye, a few kilometres after Makurdi, the state capital.
The governor’s spare vehicle was badly damaged while the impact of the accident on the on coming vehicle was very severe.
Both the governor and his deputy however rushed to rescue the victims in the oncoming vehicle who were believed to be traders heading to Makurdi.
Governor Suswam, who detailed some top government officials to take the injured persons to the hospital in Makurdi, however, proceeded to Gboko where he flagged off road project, while his deputy alighted at Tarka Local Government where he flagged off tree planting project.
The eight people who were injured were rushed to Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Makurdi, for medical attention.
As a follow up to the governor’s 50th birthday ceremony which holds today, he has also scheduled a thanksgiving ceremony for tomorrow, at Aper Aku Stadium. President Goodluck Jonathan is expected at the ceremony.
Source Tribune
Wednesday, 12 November 2014
Photos: President Jonathan unveils new N100 notes
The new N100 note designed to commemorate Nigeria's 100 years of amalgamation was unveiled by President Jonathan today Nov. 12th at the state house during the Federal Executive Council meeting.
While presenting the notes to other members of the Council, the president said it was a laudable gesture by the CBN to produce the notes which would serve as a reminder of Nigeria's centenary celebration.
Speaking on the new notes, Central Bank governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele said the notes will be in circulation from December 2014
Sunday, 9 November 2014
Emir of Kano, Sanusi receives seized travel passports from SSS
The SSS yesterday November 8th returned the international travel passports (diplomatic & standard) of the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammad Sanusi II, which they seized a few months ago after he was removed as the head of the Central Bank.
His diplomatic passport was seized at Lagos airport on his return from Niger Republic while his standard passport was seized at the Kano Airport when he tried to travel to France.
The passports was returned to him at his Palace yesterday following his recent reconciliation with president Jonathan.
Wednesday, 5 November 2014
GEJ, other ECOWAS leaders head to Ouagadougou for crisis talk
President Goodluck Jonathan will travel to Ouagadougou tomorrow as a member of the three-man delegation of Heads of State and Government raised by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to facilitate the rapid resolution of the current political crisis in Burkina Faso.
Other members of the delegation
of ECOWAS leaders are President Macky Sall of Senegal and President John Mahama
of Ghana who is the current Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State
and Government.
During their one-day visit to Ouagadougou,
President Jonathan and his Ghanaian and Senegalese counterparts are expected to
meet with Burkina Faso’s interim Head of State, Lt.-Col. Isaac Zida, opposition
leaders, members of civil society and other political stakeholders in the
country.
Recent political turmoil in Burkina
Faso led to the resignation of former President Blaise Compaore and the
assumption of power by Lt.-Col. Zida
The African Union’s democratic charter requires
its 54 member-states to act against the forceful overthrow of elected
governments on the continent.
The Union has given the Burkina Faso military an
ultimatum to transfer power back to a civilian administration within two weeks
or face sanctions.
President Jonathan will be
accompanied to Ouagadougou by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Dr.
Nurudeen Mohammed and some of his principal aides and advisers.
Reuben
Abati
Special
Adviser to the President
(Media
& Publicity)
November
4, 2014
Photo of GEJ at the presidential wing of Abuja airport on his way to Bukina Faso
Sunday, 2 November 2014
Toyota, 4 Other Auto Brands To Locate Assembly Plants In Ogun
Toyota motors and other four Japanese and Korean automobile brands have concluded arrangements to locate assembly plants at Kobape on the outskirts of Abeokuta in Obafemi-Owode local government area of Ogun state.
This was the declaration of Governor Ibikunle Amosun on Tuesday at the 2015 Ogun State Budget Town Hall Meeting held in Abeokuta, adding that the foreign automobile companies are in the last stage of perfecting their documents to commence operations in the State.Governor Amosun, who expressed satisfaction for the choice of Ogun state by these automobile companies, explained that the location of both local and foreign industries to the State in recent times, “is a testimony to the latest ranking by the World Bank report on doing Business in Nigeria which listed Ogun as one of the five most improved states in Nigeria.”
He explained that State’s present economic move was targeted at domesticating larger percentage of capital flight and expenditure spent by both public and private sectors of the State’s economy, saying the localisation of many manufacturing industries to the State “would definitely make Ogun State, the next economic centre of Nigeria.”
This was the declaration of Governor Ibikunle Amosun on Tuesday at the 2015 Ogun State Budget Town Hall Meeting held in Abeokuta, adding that the foreign automobile companies are in the last stage of perfecting their documents to commence operations in the State.Governor Amosun, who expressed satisfaction for the choice of Ogun state by these automobile companies, explained that the location of both local and foreign industries to the State in recent times, “is a testimony to the latest ranking by the World Bank report on doing Business in Nigeria which listed Ogun as one of the five most improved states in Nigeria.”
He explained that State’s present economic move was targeted at domesticating larger percentage of capital flight and expenditure spent by both public and private sectors of the State’s economy, saying the localisation of many manufacturing industries to the State “would definitely make Ogun State, the next economic centre of Nigeria.”