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http://ift.tt/eA8V8J By Chioma Obinna Abakaliki—With over 400,000 Nigerian women living with obstetric fistula, wife of  Ebonyi State Governor, Mrs. Rachel Umahi, has urged  them to take up the challenge of disseminating information on the debilitating condition. According to statistics from the United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA, over two million women still live with the condition globally. Obstetric Fistula is a hole between the vagina and rectum or bladder, caused by prolonged, obstructed labour, leaving a woman incontinent of urine or faeces or both. Speaking at an event to mark the day in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, with the theme, Hope, Healing and Dignity for All, Umahi, who lamented challenges faced by victims, said: “We know how to do one thing, spreading of information, so we must take up the job of spreading the word on fistula prevention.” Umahi urged women to go for regular medical check up to prevent health complications, including fistula. She said: “Run...

http://ift.tt/2fXv82P …As Nigerians express concern By Godwin Oritse, Godfrey Bivbere & Glory Onyeagu LAGOS—FOLLOWING the interception of a 20-foot container laden with arms at the Tin Can Island Command of Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, the Comptroller General of Customs, Col Hammed Ali (retd), has ordered that the import be moved to the Federal Operations Unit (FOU) of the service in Ikeja, pending investigation. Disclosing this to Vanguard, yesterday, Public Relations Officer of Tin Can Island Customs Command, Mr. Uche Ejesieme, said the container would be moved to FOU before the close of work today (yesterday). Ejesieme also said the Customs Area Comptroller, Mr. Yusuf Bashar, has expressed concern over the frequency with which illegal imports were shipped into the country and as such, directed all officers in the command to be on the alert to ensure unwholesome cargoes were detected. A visit to the port showed that the offensive consignment had been loaded on a truck wait...

http://ift.tt/2qxPYvD By Marie-Therese Nanlong Jos—THE Plateau State Government has allocated of N6,107,103,000, representing 8.71 percent of its 2017 budget to the agriculture sub-sector. The government also assured farmers in state of adequate support and timely supply of quality input to boost food security, not only in the state, but the entire country. The farmers, who have been urged to organise themselves into cooperative society and get registered so that they could have dependable database and easy access to government’s interven-tion, were also promised improved collaboration to expose them to new farming techniques. The assurances were given by the state Commissioner for Finance, Tamwakat Weli, while giving a breakdown of the 2017 budget, where she disclosed that over N6 billion had been allocated to the agriculture and rural development sub-sector. The post Agric gets 8.71% of Plateau’s 2017 budget appeared first on Vanguard News . Vía Vanguard News http://ift.tt/2q...

http://ift.tt/2kilwPl A High Court in London has awarded James Ibori, former Delta State governor, a nominal £1 (about N400) as damages over his claim of unlawful detention by Amber Rudd, British Home Secretary. Cheema-Grubb, the judge, agreed that between December 20 and 21 last year, Ibori, who spent years in UK jail for money laundering, was unlawfully held for one day, 18 hours and 10 minutes. Ibori had claimed £4,000 in damages. She said the Home Secretary “failed to have regard to her limits to detain” as attempts were made to claw back millions from him. But in rejecting Ibori’s bid for thousands in compensation, the judge ruled: “There is no compensatory loss to Mr Ibori and I fix nominal damages at £1.” In a statement on Monday, Tony Eluemunor, media aide to Ibori, said the former Delta State governor defeated the British Secretary of State for Home Department in an unlawful detention suit. He added that the court had ordered that his principal be compensated for malici...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J By Egufe Yafugborhi WARRI—THE gas spillage stimulated by rupture on a pipeline belonging to the Nigerian Gas Company, NGC, at Camp 5, near Kuritie, Warri South-West Local Government Area, Delta State, has sparked a war of words between host, Gbaramatu Kingdom and the firm over the likely cause of the incident. The NGC, following a Joint Investigation Visit, JIV, said that the pipeline was ruptured, Saturday, from a blast by saboteurs, but the Gbaramatu Traditional Council, in its reaction, described the JIV report as compromised for “deliberately not involving the council,” among other reasons. JTF Commander, Rear Admiral Suleiman Apochi, in an early appraisal, said the command was looking at other options on probable cause of the incident as investigations continued on the matter. Community Relations Officer, NGC, Violin Antaih, said: “It has been confirmed, even by the community people, that it was a third party sabotage. If you have a picture of the blast, ...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J By Onaivi Cephas STATISTICS have a deft way of creating one impression or the other, sometimes for good, and at other unwelcome times, for bad. The latest Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI, Quarterly Review shows Nigeria’s debt profile and indicates a drastic drop in the revenue profile of most states of the federation. In the South-South zone, the report ominously avers that the debt profile of the state  governments  is on the increase, consisting of domestic and external debts between December 2015 and June 30th, 2016. For instance, Lagos State has the highest cumulative debt of N603.25 billion as against the state’s revenue of N410.5bn for 2016. The second on the debt table is Delta State with N331.95 billion growing debt as against N142.78 of the state revenue. Akwa Ibom state occupied the fourth place on rising debt profiles with N161.23 billion. What cannot be ignored in the NEITI report is that it clearly vindicates E...