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http://ift.tt/eA8V8J The Arewa Youth Forum has restated its call that Igbos must leave the northern region. Secretary of the forum, Ahmed Sule while in an interview with newsmen maintained that there is nothing abnormal in the North asking Igbos to vacate the region. Hear him: The post Video: We insist that nothing wrong in saying Igbos must leave – Arewa Youth Forum appeared first on Vanguard News . Vía Vanguard News http://ift.tt/2sf1499

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J European Council President Donald Tusk congratulated Theresa May on her reappointment on Friday as British prime minister and urged her to start talks as soon as possible on Britain’s exit from the EU to minimise disruption. “Our shared responsibility and urgent task now is to conduct the negotiations on the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union in the best possible spirit, securing the least disruptive outcome for our citizens, businesses and countries after March 2019,” said Tusk. He said: “the timeframe set by Article 50 of the Treaty leaves us with no time to lose,” he added, referring to a deadline of March 2019 when Britain will no longer be a member of the bloc, whether or not a deal is reached to avoid legal uncertainties. Earlier, the European Union leaders fear May’s shock loss of her majority in the snap British election will delay Brexit talks due to start this month and so raise the risk of negotiations failing. “We don’t know when Brexit talks ...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J Usain Bolt has cautioned Canadian young gun, Andre De Grasse to temper his expectations of dethroning him at the world championships in London in August. The 30-year-old Jamaican will run his final race on home soil at the Racers Grand Prix this weekend before hanging up his spikes after the London meet. De Grasse, who chased Bolt home for silver in the 200 metres and bronze in the 100m at the Rio Olympics last year, is widely tipped to be one of the athletes bidding to fill the void left by the sprint king’s retirement. “Over the years I’ve always tried to be diplomatic about how I answered a lot of questions. “But what bothers me the most when athletes are coming up through the ranks and they get to a certain level, they always want to beat me. I don’t know why?” Bolt told reporters in Kingston on Thursday. De Grasse, 22, said this week he intends to beat Bolt before the world record holder in both 100 and 200m brings down the curtain on his glittering ...

http://ift.tt/2svq1L3 Britain's Andy Murray returns the ball to Russia's Karen Khachanov during their tennis match at the Roland Garros 2017 French Open on June 5, 2017 in Paris. / AFP PHOTO / CHRISTOPHE SIMON Andy Murray racked up his 650th career win to reach the French Open quarter-finals Monday before paying an unscripted, emotional tribute to the victims of the London and Manchester terror attacks. World number one Murray, the runner-up in Paris to Novak Djokovic in 2016, brushed aside Karen Khachanov of Russia 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. In his seventh Paris quarter-final, Murray will face either Japanese eighth seed Kei Nishikori or Spain’s Fernando Verdasco. However, instead of discussing the match in the traditional on-court TV interview, Murray took the microphone to remember the 29 people who died in the recent outrages in London and Manchester. “Obviously there was terrible tragedy in London and Manchester. Paris has had its problems too in recent years,” said Murra...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J The UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) says an estimated 50 billion dollars leaves the shore of the continent illicitly mostly to the Western countries, every year. Mr Adeyinka Adeyemi, a senior adviser at ECA, told our Correspondent in New York that illicit financial flow had serious negative development impacts on the continent. Adeyemi also said that at least one trillion dollars had left the continent illicitly over the last 50 years, saying the figures were arrived at after decades of research on the issue. The UN official said African countries did not need aid from developed countries if the illicit assets from the continent over the decades are repatriated. He, therefore, challenged the destination countries to hold their aids to African countries in exchange for the return of these illicit assets to their countries of origin, mainly from Africa. “The issue of illicit financial flow is very serious in terms of the negative development impacts o...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on Tuesday said that the Federal Government through its agriculture empowerment programme had created new set of millionaires in farming. The minister stated this when he featured on a special edition of Channels TV programme, “Sunrise Daily” on the mid-term report of President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration. Mohammed said that many young farmers were empowered through the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Anchor Borrower Programme and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture’s Soil Map initiative. He said that the programme, which recorded huge success in rice and grain productions, particularly in Kebbi, Kano, Jigawa, Ebonyi and Sokoto states, had made farming attractive to young people. Mohammed said the initiative had also helped in boosting the local production of rice, increasing yields per hectares in grains production and reducing importation of rice. He said that in 2015, the country imported 580,...

http://ift.tt/2qRUSAY Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu. PHOTO: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg Nigeria’s minister of state for petroleum has insisted the country would stop importing refined petroleum products in 2019, noting that the country “must process rather than ship out oil.” Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu said he would walk away from his job if the 2019 target, which he claimed he set for himself, is not achieved. “2019 is the target time…I target 2019. If I don’t achieve it, I will walk…I put the date and I will achieve it,” the minister told BBC’s Stephen Sackur on ‘Hardtalk’. But he did not state when in 2019 the target would be met. Part of his plans includes reshaping the almost ‘comatose’ refineries, which he said have been able to produce 7 million litres since 2015. He also hopes the construction of a new refinery, for which an MoU has been signed, would help achieve his target. In spite of the government’s effort to ensure the oil and gas industry is reformed to achieve self-sufficien...