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http://ift.tt/eA8V8J The wife of the President, Mrs Aisha Buhari on Tuesday left Nigeria for the United Kingdom where she is expected to join her husband who is there on a ‘medical follow-up’. Mrs Buhari “will spend some time with her Husband, President Muhammadu Buhari who is on a medical vacation,” said Bisi Olumide-Ajay, her media aide, in a statement. President Buhari three weeks ago departed Nigeria to see his doctors in London. Buhari’s special adviser on media and publicity, Femi Adesina, in a statement, said the length of the President’s stay in London will be determined by the doctors, saying that government will continue to function normally under the able leadership of the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo. Adesina explained that President Buhari had planned to leave much earlier but decided to tarry a bit, due to the arrival of 82 Chibok girls who arrived Abuja ‎earlier in the day. “The President wishes to assure all Nigerians that there is no cause for worry. He i...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J Unions in the oil and gas sector have described the passage of the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) as a welcome development, saying it will increase inflow of foreign investment. The unions are the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN). It will be recalled that the Senate on Thursday passed the PIGB after about 17 years of considering the Petroleum Industry Bill, (PIB). Mr Joseph Ogbebor, the General Secretary of NUPENG told the News Agency of Nigeria on Friday in Lagos that the passage of the bill was long overdue. Ogbebor said that it was a welcome development for the oil and gas sector as the union had been campaigning for the passage of the bill for over 15 years. He said that the bill, if finally passed into law by the president would attract more foreign investors and boost accountability and transparency. On the unbundling of Nigeria Natio...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J Lavun (Niger) – The Enuma FADAMA Rice Production Cluster in Kuchita, Lavun Local Government Area of Niger, says that Federal Government’s ban on importation of rice has boosted rice farming in the country. Mr Ndatsu Fari, the Chairman of the group, said on Thursday in Minna that the ban had helped rice farmers to improve their productivity. He said that the policy had encouraged mechanised farming, while strengthening smallholder rice farmers and increasing local production of the commodity. “Rice importation in Nigeria has been an impediment to local rice production because our government and farmers no longer paid attention to production of our own rice,’’ he said. “So, we are supporting the Federal Government’s ban on importation of rice, as this will encourage local rice farmers and industries,’’ he said. Fari, however, urged the government to make farm inputs and implements available, affordable and accessible to farmers, as this would boost the nation’s...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J A brigade loyal to east Libyan forces said they had taken full control of an air base in southern Libya on Thursday following a long-standing dispute with a rival faction from the western city of Misrata. Forces loyal to the self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) posted videos and pictures showing them driving into Tamanhent air base, which had previously been controlled by the Third Force, early in the morning. Tamanhent appeared to be empty as LNA forces entered. Taking Tamanhent, about 32 km northeast of the oasis city of Sabha, extends LNA’s reach in Libya’s central desert. The region has become a flashpoint between forces loyal to the LNA and their western-based opponents, some of them aligned with the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli. The two sides represent the main factions in a sporadic conflict between shifting alliances that have fought for power in Libya since 2014. The LNA is led by eastern-based commander Khalifa Haftar ...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J In the light of harsh economic conditions arising from the economic recession, mothers say they are prioritising their family needs to survive. Some women said in interviews with newsmen in Abuja on Thursday that they were adopting stringent measures in running their homes. The women, who live in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, said applied the concept of opportunity cost in their homes. A food seller, Mrs Beatrice John, said she had reduced the amount of foodstuff she normally bought and substituted costly food items with cheaper ones. John, a mother of five, said she used to buy bags of foodstuffs but now bought in (mudu) small measures ’’ because of the high cost of food items. “Before, I could buy half a bag of garri or rice but now I buy in mudu; instead of N1,000 piece of meat I buy N400; instead of eating fish, we eat enough vegetables and okro soup. ‘’I cannot afford to buy even beverage, the high cost of things has really affected the qu...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J Some lawyers have called on the National Judicial Council (NJC) to treat all petitions before it on merit without favouritism or political bias. They made the call in separate interviews with newsmen on Thursday in Abuja. Mr Ibrahim Abdullahi said that the recent call by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen urging Nigerians to write petitions against corrupt judges was pertinent. Abdullahi, however, urged the council to handle all petitions and their investigations accordingly and devoid of prejudice. ”The National Judicial Council, which is saddled with the responsibility of disciplinary actions on judges so to speak, should treat petitions against judges on merit. ”We have heard of cases whereby some judges were being petitioned before the council and nothing was done while some judges had lost their jobs as a result of the petition. ”All petitions should be treated on merit and if possible it should be done in the public,” he said. Mr Ko...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J The management of the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) Plc. has invited  unions in the sector for talks to resolve the dispute which led to the disruption of the company’s operations on Monday. Mr Olayinka Abioye, General Secretary,  National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), confirmed the development to newsmen in Lagos on Thursday. “Management has invited us for a meeting and we have started discussions since yesterday. “We are hoping that we can wrap up the whole discussion which centred on review of salaries, allowances and promotions that have been frozen for over seven years. “We have started well and we are hoping that management will come to terms with the realities on ground and do justice to the demands of workers,”Abioye said. NAN reports that the unions had, on Monday, grounded operations at the headquarters of the ground handling company at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos, for about three hours. The aggrieved...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J By Omeiza Ajayi ABUJA – Saturday’s election into the various offices of the Kogi state chapter of the National Youth Council of Nigeria NYCN is now threatened due to complaints by election observers about irregularities that have marred the screening exercise. Observers who have been monitoring the exercise since Monday at the Lokoja Township Stadium faulted the Screening Committee for allegedly shifting the goalpost in the middle of the game. In a preliminary report made available to Vanguard in Abuja, one of the observers, Ismail Mohammed of ‘Youth in the Gap’ said while the committee granted certain waivers to some aspirants, it disqualified others without extending the waivers to them. “They introduced a caveat in the middle of the whole process, saying aspirants who have never held positions in their various local government chapters are not eligible to contest. The funny thing is that the council’s constitution is more like a secret document which many o...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J Prof. Temitope Alonge, a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, says  women are three times more  prone to  Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) than men. Alonge, who is also the Chief Medical Director of  UCH, made the disclosure in an interview with the Newsmen in Ibadan on Wednesday. He said that symptoms of the ailment  in women tended to appear between ages 30 and 60 while they  develop in  men  later. Alonge said while there may also be a genetic basis for the disease, cigarette smoking and periodontics were  major risk factors. According to Alonge, arthritis  refers to more than 100 conditions that affect the musculus-skeletal system. “The joints are the parts of the body where bones meet each other. When arthritis is present, the joints may become inflamed, stiff, red  and painful. “Damage from  RA may occur in tissues surrounding the joints including the t...

http://ift.tt/2q5gFoz Some of the recently released girls from Chibok wait in Abuja on May 8, 2017. The United Nations on May 8, 2017 welcomed the release of 82 Nigerian schoolgirls after years of Boko Haram captivity and appealed to their families and communities not to ostracize them. The teenage girls who were among more than 200 kidnapped in 2014 from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, northeast Nigeria, northeast Nigeria, were freed on May 6, 2017 after a prisoner swap agreed with the Islamist group. / AFP PHOTO / STEFAN HEUNIS Eighty-two Nigerian schoolgirls who were released from Boko Haram captivity after more than three years face a wait to be reunited with their families, a town elder said on Wednesday. Yakubu Nkeki, head of the Abducted Chibok Girls Parents’ group, said parents of the girls would only be able to see their daughters once government approval was given. “This may take some time, as the girls are now undergoing medical and mental evaluation t...

http://ift.tt/2pSfIlF Real Madrid's French coach Zinedine Zidane / AFP PHOTO / PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU Past Champions League glory over Atletico Madrid is of no advantage to Real Madrid for Tuesday’s semi-final, first leg between the pair, Real boss Zinedine Zidane claimed on Monday. Real have beaten Atletico in each of the past three seasons in the Champions League, including twice in the final in agonising circumstances for the red and white part of Madrid in 2014 and 2016. “What happened in the past is in the past, we can’t rely on that now,” said Zidane on Monday. “It has been positive for us, but now it is a completely different tie and they will be doing their upmost to go through as well. “The extra motivation comes from it being a Champions League semi-final.” Both sides are seeking historic firsts as Real eye a 12th European crown in Cardiff on May 3 by becoming the first side to retain the trophy in the Champions League era. Meanwhile, Atletico are still see...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J Private Winnie Gofit of the Nigerian Army has won a gold medal in the 75kg Women Freestyle Wrestling competition in the on-going African Wrestling Championships in Marrakech, Morocco. Gofit also doubles as the National Champion for Judo and Wrestling in the 75kg category. According to a statement issued by the Army Spokesman, Brig.-Gen. Sani Usman in Abuja, Nigerian army wrestlers formed part of the Nigeria National Wrestling Team to the championship. The event will end later on Sunday with the final bouts of the male category wrestling. The post Wrestling Championship: female soldier wins gold medal appeared first on Vanguard News . Vía Vanguard News http://ift.tt/2pjwj0R

http://ift.tt/2pul1Fo French presidential election candidate for the far-right Front National (FN) party Marine Le Pen (L) arrives at the Alteo aluminium plant in Gardanne, southern France, on April 30, 2017. The Alteo aluminium plant has been disposing of the so-called waste "red mud" generated by the production process in the sea, through a 47km long underground and 7km long undersea pipeline connecting the Gardanne site to the Cassidaigne submarine canyon, south of Cassis, east of Marseille. Elena FUSCO / AFP With a week to go before France’s presidential election runoff, far-right candidate Marine Le Pen played the green card outside a controversial aluminium plant in the south of the country. Le Pen has made a series of targeted campaign stops in a bid to close a 19-point gap in voter surveys with centrist frontrunner Emmanuel Macron, 39. Vowing to pursue a vision of “true ecology”, the 48-year-old National Front (FN) candidate said the Alteo plant in the town of G...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J The Ibadan School of Government and Public Policy (ISGPP) says it is partnering with Google Inc. revolutionise internet in Africa. Dr Tunji Olaopa, the Executive Vice Chairman, ISGPP said this in a statement in Ibadan on Sunday. He said that the partnership would commence with an international conference with the theme; “Strengthening Internet Policy through Theoretically Grounded Research’’, According to him, the three-day round table conference will hold at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan on May 2. “The three-day round table will examine the appropriate ways Africa should participate in the internet revolution with implication for economic diversification. “The round table will also examine access to technological infrastructure and finance, content, privacy and security as well as knowledge and capacity building.’’ The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the conference is expected to come up with resolutions for im...