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http://ift.tt/2q9XE6P President Buhari It is very unfortunate that some elders who ought to be looked up to by the younger ones as towers of strength in a delicate and complicated federation are the ones making regular toxic statements that can destroy the country’s basis for unity. The provocative statements by a socio-political group, the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), to the effect that its members would not allow strict adherence to constitutional provisions should ailing President Muhammadu Buhari find it impossible to continue in office are insensitive, careless and unpatriotic in the extreme. To start with, President Buhari is only human and the prayers of all Nigerians are that he gets well soon to continue the execution of the duties of his office. The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) which has been very dubious in defending so-called“ northern interests” since the reported illness of the president met in Kano the other day and warned that some leaders of the ruling party had be...

http://ift.tt/2rqLHrr Vice President Yemi Osinbajo Minister advises youths to apply for national social investment programme Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has described Nigeria as a diversified country that cannot afford to break.Osinbajo stated this yesterday in Calabar during his visit to Cross River State where he performed the ground-breaking ceremony of the Calabar Industrial Park, which he described as one of the best industrial hubs in Africa. He said: “The industrial park is going to be a major industrial hub in Africa when completed. I am honoured to be part of the ground-breaking ceremony.The Acting President, who commended the Cross River State Governor, Prof. Ben Ayade, for the great initiative, pledged the support of the Federal Government to the construction of the super highway, as it would enhance economic and social development of the state. “Cross River State is so much an intriguing part of Nigeria and every part needs the other. We are greater together than ...

http://ift.tt/2s81POJ The playoffs, which is the final stage of the May Madness, has been confirmed to hold at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos.This final stage was preceded by the All-Stars game, which also featured three-point shootout and slam dunks. The countdown for the final four playoffs of the Continental Basketball League (CBL) has hit midway with players, dancers and singers gearing up for what is expected to be the biggest basketball carnival on the continent in recent times. The CBL features players from the USA, Senegal, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Gabon, Cameroun, South Africa, Egypt, Kenya, Burkina Faso, Chad and Ghana/Bahamas. The playoffs, which is the final stage of the May Madness, has been confirmed to hold at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos.This final stage was preceded by the All-Stars game, which also featured three-point shootout and slam dunks. Mayes Jordln from the USA won the three-pointer after beating fellow Americans Mark Hill, Israel Faulcon and J...

http://ift.tt/2rr0u5G Wale Babalakin Dr. Wale Babalakin (SAN) is the Chairman of Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL), operator of the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal Two (MMA2), Lagos. In an interactive session with the media in commemoration of 10th Anniversary celebration of MMA2, he addressed critical issues concerning the first privately-funded terminal in West Africa and the budding plan to concession airports nationwide. WOLE OYEBADE was there. Excerpts: MMA2 has been through a lot of ups and downs since it opened. What will you describe as achievements of the terminal in the last 10 years? May 2017 marks the 10th anniversary of MMA2 having begun operations on May 7, 2007. Despite a formidable resistance from certain segments of the authorities, the management and staff of Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited have worked diligently to ensure that the terminal remains the envy of all terminals in Nigeria today. They have been providing electricity continuously in...

http://ift.tt/2qHGVZS Senator Iyiola Omisore Former Deputy Governor of Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore, has called on the stakeholders, particularly members of the Corporate Nigeria, to come to the aid of Nigerian child. Omisore equally urged parents and guardians to pay serious attention to their children and wards and protect from abuse and violence by both internal and external predators. “These children,” according to him, “are our tomorrow. They are the future of this country. That is the reason we must be conscious of their physical and cognitive development and protect them from physical and mental abuse and exploitation. Parents must not allow the present economic reality to overwhelm the serious roles of teaching morals to their children and guiding them on the right path,” he stated. Noting that the government alone cannot shoulder the responsibility of catering for the need of its massive youth population against the current piteous state of the economy, the former...

http://ift.tt/2q9FvG5 Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, at a two-day retreat, tagged: “Reforming Local Government Administration in Edo,” organised for Local Government administrators in Benin City, has pledged his administration’s commitment to work with the councils to boost their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR). ‎He said the drop in crude oil prices had made it impossible for Federal allocation to sustain LGAs, as such, his administration has decided to put in place measures to assist them enhance their revenues. ‎The Governor said: “Let us be frank with ourselves, we need to strategise on how we can boost revenue and reduce costs; those are the solutions I can see. We have introduced the use of technology to collect revenue for LGAs in the state. In the pilot phase of the scheme, we were able to raise IGR from N42, 000 to N500, 000 at nine different collection points in Oredo LGA on a daily basis.” ‎ He promised that the state ...

http://ift.tt/2spPWCS The Head, UNIDO ITPO Nigeria, Mrs. Adebisi Olumodimu, gave the assurance at the closing ceremony of a four-day intensive training programme organised by UNIDO-ITPO Nigeria for three Federal Government agencies. The Investment and Technology Promotion Office (ITPO) of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), has assured stakeholders that it will work with Africa, and indeed Nigeria, to realise the projected growth of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs). It noted that the increase in global demand for Nigerian products is a pointer to Nigeria’s potential to contribute significantly to global economic development. The Head, UNIDO ITPO Nigeria, Mrs. Adebisi Olumodimu, gave the assurance at the closing ceremony of a four-day intensive training programme organised by UNIDO-ITPO Nigeria for three Federal Government agencies. She said a strong team had been developed to strengthen the training potential of the agencies toward impro...

http://ift.tt/2q3M5LI Lagos State governor, Akinwunmi Ambode PHOTO: LASG A democracy fiesta which began nationwide some days ago climaxed last Monday. Lagos strove to outdo other states with its Lagos My Success Story through which it celebrated those it considered as the exemplars of its exceptionalism. But the nebulous character of the concept became a source of excoriation for the state government in so far as it neglected some people whose successes constituted the excellence of the state. But this is not what has imbued the memory of the past few days with an unforgettable quality. Rather, it is the fact that the period unveiled a Lady Macbeth in the Lagos State house and that while the state government was valourising democracy which privileges the will of the people, it was at the same time serving one of its residents a robust measure of authoritarianism. If the state governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, is really concerned with the wellbeing of the people through building bridges...

http://ift.tt/2re4jNi It is noteworthy that we are beginning to realise that the Biafran issue will not go away until the fundamentals underpinning the agitation are resolved. As I was saying… Two days ago marked 50 years of the declaration of the Republic of Biafra by Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu. Predictably, there was muscle-flexing between the police and the groups pushing for the revalidation of the Biafran dream, a dream that cost the country more than two million lives and untold horrors. There are three main groups agitating for the dusting up of that declaration and actualising it. The combined efforts of security agencies were on the red alert days before last Tuesday in the East Central states. They crime-mapped everywhere and demonstrated their strength and readiness in the air and on land. In the words of DSP Geoffrey Ogbonna, “The aerial and land surveillance being experienced is part of the Command’s arrangements structured to upgrade her security network.” The day ev...

http://ift.tt/2r00QiP Peter Obi While writing the piece entitled “Peter Obi and One Wrist Watch” (The Guardian, May 10, 2017, page 17), I couldn’t have imagined that it would prompt anyone to question my credibility. That is what Echezona Okechi (a “former chairman, Anambra State House of Assembly Committee on Public Petitions”) does in his piece entitled “Peter Obi and the Rest of Us” (The Guardian, May 19, 2017, page 18). He does this by alleging that mine was “organised” as a “defence” of Peter Obi for making “the claim that he has been wearing only one wristwatch for the past 17 years to prove that he leads a spartan lifestyle.” Perhaps I wouldn’t need to write this rejoinder but for the need to respond to Okechi’s allegation that my piece was “organised”, with obvious implications. Interestingly, the statement Okechi ascribes to Obi is different from what Obi said. This can be confirmed from the video of Obi’s appearance at the public event where he made the claim. But Okec...

http://ift.tt/2qDa3gD Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) presidential hopeful, former triple jumper, Rosa Collins says she is highly disturbed that Nigeria is losing potential champions to other countries, including Bahrain. Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) presidential hopeful, former triple jumper, Rosa Collins says she is highly disturbed that Nigeria is losing potential champions to other countries, including Bahrain. Speaking in Lagos yesterday, Collins, the only female in the midst of 10 contestants for the AFN top position, disclosed that her target is to organize five competitions in a year, adding that she would work to bring back corporate sponsors to the sport. The former African champion said she would use her position as a top business women to lure back sponsors t6o athletics, just as she expressed confidence that she would create a credible AFN, which will be up to standard with the demands of modern realities. “During our time we enjoyed the sport. A...

http://ift.tt/2r7nCYZ Government Secondary School, Numan, Adamawa State won the girls’ title at the Central Conference of the Nestle Milo Secondary Schools Basketball Championship. They say the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. It is also acknowledged that the foundation set for children goes a long way in determining what their future would look like. Such was the event at the basketball hall of the Abuja National Stadium on May 2 and 3 when youths from nine northern states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) gathered to fight for honours for their schools and in the process achieve personal glory. The occasion was the Central Conference finals of the 19th Nestle Milo Secondary Schools Basketball Championship, which served as the qualifier for the annual national finals scheduled for later this year in Lagos. Ten teams from the 19 northern states of the country qualified for the play-off, but one, Gombe, could not make the event due to what some describ...

http://ift.tt/2oS1txu 90% of earnings to become dollar denominated Oando Nigeria Plc has announced that it has adopted a holistic strategy that would help mitigate impairments resulting from foreign exchange (FX) volatilities in its operations. To this effect, the company disclosed that 90 per cent of its earning would subsequently focus on dollar denomination to cushion the effect of volatilities while 10 per cent would remain in naira. The Managing Director of the company, Wale Tinubu, while addressing stockbrokers during the company’s facts behind the figures at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), in Lagos, on Thursday, explained that the completion of this restructuring exercise would help the company sustain its growth profile and boost profitability. Besides, the firm also unfolded plans to seek approval from the Federal Government for the refurbishment of one or two refineries.This, he said, would enable Nigeria to end fuel importation, stressing that the company would...

http://ift.tt/2pMikhN Herdsmen A gang of gunmen suspected to be herdsmen late Saturday attacked Etogi community, Gbara ward in Mokwa local council of Niger State killing 21 people.An eyewitness told The Guardian that the attack was a result of an earlier disagreement between some Fulani youth and members of the affected community, which led to the death of one herdsman. The herders who maintained a settlement near the community were offered land to farm on the agreement that certain percentage of the proceeds of their business would go to the village head. However, there was disagreement when the herders failed to remit the agreed percentage this year, while claiming that the land in question now belongs to them, a claim that led to a serious argument, which led to the death of one of the herdsmen. Enraged by the death of one of them, the herders were said to have mobilised support from their kinsmen elsewhere and launched an attack on the community mosque, when Muslims wer...

http://ift.tt/2qHUM1N Vía The Guardian Nigeria Newspaper http://ift.tt/2qHA2Hs

http://ift.tt/2oANyHk Olugbo of Ugboland, Oba Frederick Obateru Akinruntan The supremacy tussle among Yoruba monarchs deepened yesterday, as the Olugbo of Ugbo, Obateru Akinruntan, described his stool as the oldest in the southwest region. He made the claim at an event to mark the 30 years anniversary of Kola Olootu as a radio presenter in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.The monarch, who is the Chairman, Yoruba Obas’ Conflicts Resolution Committee, said he had published a book on the true history of the Yoruba race. He said his publication, the volume two of which would soon be released, placed the Olugbo above other monarchs in the region.Akinruntan tasked historians to research into the pre-Oduduwa history of the Yoruba race, adding that it was unfortunate that researchers focused more on Oduduwa’s arrival at Ile Ife, without disclosing the people that he met in that historic town. The monarch said it was an insult for the children of “immigrants,” to refer to themselves as...

http://ift.tt/2rbC6nS Super Eagles. PHOTO: AFP. • Supporter Club Members ‘Fight’ For Visa The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has refuted claims that the Super Eagles will face Togo in an international friendly in Paris on June 1. The NFF Director of Media and Communications, Ademola Olajire, explained to supersport.com that no game involving the Hawks of Togo has been included in the schedule of the Super Eagles for June 1. “There is no such game for the Super Eagles as I speak with you,” Olajire said. News of the planned international friend was first announced on an unverified account of the Togo Football Federation (FTF) on microblogging social networking service, Twitter, on Thursday. It announced that the Togo national team will face Nigeria in a friendly on June 1. The former African champions are billed to hold a camping exercises for 25 players in the French region of Corsica and Paris ahead of their 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match against the Bafa...