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http://ift.tt/eA8V8J By Ola Ajayi I badan —Oyo State governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State and Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State yesterday led dignitaries to pay tributes to the Director General, Development Agenda for Western Nigeria, DAWN, Commission, Mr Dipo Famakinwa, who died on April 2 at the age of 49. The tribute was organized by the Afenifere Renewal Group, ARG, the DAWN Commission and the Yoruba Academy. Governor Ajimobi described the deceased as one who took his duty as a divine assignment which must be achieved in his generation. “Famakinwa lived a short but remarkable life. He understood his assignment as a divine duty unto his generation. He not only took the job seriously but put his whole heart into it,” Ajimobi said. The governor who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, SSG, Mr Olalekan Ali, said; “We shall follow through on our agreed roadmap and by building the DAWN Commission into a truly empowered think-tank and regional development p...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J F ormer Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, has thrown his weight behind yesterday’s warning by former Minister of External Affairs, Prof, Bolaji Akinyemi, that secrets on the National Intelligence Agency, NIA, should not be leaked to the public. Akinyemi had issued the warning against the backdrop of ongoing probe of NIA Director-General, Ambassador Ayodele Oke, by the Presidential panel, headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. He said the gravity of the issue propelled him to react to the development, especially as it portended danger for the country’s security. Anyaoku said in a statement issued last night:  ‘’Apart from my intervention that led to the signing of the Abuja Accord by all the presidential candidates in the run-up to the 2015 national elections, I do not normally issue public statements on developments within our country. ‘’But because of its gravity, I feel compelled to publicly express my full support for the sta...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J By Chris Ochayi A BUJA —The Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors ANED, has cried out that N152.16bn of the N201.61 billion Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, fund, which is reflecting on accounts of Distribution Companies, DISCOs, was denying them access to commercial banks’ loans. Barrister Sunday Olurotimi Oduntan, who is ANED’s Director of Research and Advocacy, explained via a statement in Abuja that the loan, tagged Nigeria Electricity Market Stabilization Fund, NEMSF, was to pay for gas and other legacy debts incurred before private investors took over PHCN assets on November 1, 2013. He gave a breakdown which showed that only N58.45 billion (about 27.8 per cent) was designated for the DisCos, while the balance of N152.16bn (72.3 per cent) was for the Generation Companies (GenCos), gas suppliers and other service providers, which would be payable in bits during a 10 year period by the beneficiaries. Oduntan said only N49 billion had been received...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J By Godwin Oritse Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, Hadeza Bala Usman, has donated food items to Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, Bakassi Camp in Maiduguri, Borno State. During the donation, Usman, who almost broke down in tears, said: “The NPA believes that there is need to strengthen our CSR, which, among others, include projects addressing the needs of host communities in order to enlist support and synergy towards harmonious mutual dividends and partner government in the quest to provide for IDPS and others that are in need. “This continued support is expected of us as a responsible corporate entity and agency of the Federal Government.” The NPA helms person commended Governor Kashim Shettima for his commitment and courage in bringing dividends of good governance in a holistic manner to the people even under very difficult situations. Similarly, Governor Shettima commended the NPA boss’ gesture and promised that the relief items will b...

http://ift.tt/2oRd1Ba Liverpool's German midfielder Emre Can (C) celebrates with Liverpool's English midfielder Adam Lallana (L), Liverpool's Brazilian midfielder Lucas Leiva (2nd L) and Liverpool's German manager Jurgen Klopp after scoring the opening goal of the English Premier League football match between Watford and Liverpool at Vicarage Road Stadium in Watford, north of London on May 1, 2017. Adrian DENNIS / AFP Emre Can scored a sensational overhead bicycle kick as Liverpool galvanised their grip on third place in the Premier League by winning 1-0 at Watford on Monday. Having seen top-four rivals Manchester City, Manchester United and Arsenal all drop points on Sunday, Liverpool capitalised thanks to Can’s jaw-dropping effort in first-half injury time. The Germany midfielder’s fifth goal of the season took Liverpool three points above fourth-place City, albeit having played a game more, inching Jurgen Klopp’s side closer to Champions League qualification. ...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J By Chioma Obinna Concerned about the prevalence of malaria in the country, Fidson Healthcare Plc has said that all hands must be on deck for effective nationwide preventive actions. Fidson’s Product Manager, Antimalarial, Mr Adesoji Fasanya, who was reacting to the 2015 Nigeria Malaria Indicator Survey reports which estimated about 110 million clinically diagnosed cases of malaria and nearly 300,000 malaria-related childhood deaths annually,  stated that as a responsible indigenous pharmaceutical company, Fidson was actively participating in the global campaign by enlightening Nigerians, through all possible communication channels, on how they can prevent the spread of malaria. He further explained that Fidson’s primary responsibility is to ensure the provision and distribution of high-quality antimalarial drugs at affordable prices. “We are aware that there is a direct link between poverty and incidence of malaria. Therefore, the cost of therapy must be a...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J Former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, has thrown his weight behind yesterday’s warning by former Minister of External Affairs, Prof, Bolaji Akinyemi, that secrets on the National Intelligence Agency, NIA, should not be leaked to the public. Akinyemi had issued the warning against the backdrop of ongoing probe of NIA Director-General, Ambassador Ayodele Oke, by the Presidential panel, headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. He said the gravity of the issue propelled him to react to the development, especially as it portended danger for the country’s security system. Anyaoku in a statement issued Monday night said ”Apart from my intervention that led to the signing of the Abuja Accord by all the presidential candidates in the run-up to the 2015 national elections, I do not normally issue public statements on developments within our country. ”But because of its gravity, I feel compelled to publicly express my full support for the sta...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J By Oboh Agbonkhese LAGOS — THE Managing Director of Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics, LADOL, Dr. Amy Jadesimi, has said if the real private sector is supported by government and stakeholders, more LADOLs will thrive and drive economic growth in the country. She spoke during the inspection tour of LADOL facilities at Tarkwa Bay, Apapa, by Mr. Stuart Symington, the United States Ambassador to Nigeria. She said the idea is to build the type of infrastructure international firms can utilise with their technology to employ Nigerians. She said: “This is what happened in Dubai. We are going out to tell the international community to come and set up here. “We are specialised in industrial activities and everything is ready. There is even a 50Mw gas-fired power plant under construction.” Earlier, while commending the firm’s human capital development projects, Ambassador Symington told a high-powered LADOL management team that the downside of not developing is instability...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J Abuja – The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has predicted cloudy weather condition over the central states of the country on Tuesday, with chances of localised thunderstorms over Ibi and Mambilla during the morning hours. NiMet’s Weather Outlook by its Central Forecast Office (CFO) on Monday in Abuja, also predicted localised thunderstorms over the high ground areas later in the day. It added that the central states would have day and night temperatures of 31 to 38 and 18 to 25 degrees Celsius respectively. The agency predicted morning cloudiness with chances of localised thunderstorms over the southern states, with day and night temperatures of 31 to 35 and 20 to 25 degrees Celsius respectively. It also predicted evening/night localised thunderstorms over coastal cities of Port Harcourt, Calabar, Yenagoa, Akure, Ado Ekiti, Benin, Warri, Oshogbo, Owerri, Enugu, Awka and Abakaliki. According to NiMet, northern states will experience partly cloudy condit...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J By Nwafor Sunday The former  Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, has responded to the allegation levelled against him by the Minister of Transportion, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, over a two billion naira transferred by the former governor of Rivers state, Dr. Peter Odili to the Ministry of Aviation to fix Port-Harcourt runway. He made this known in a chat on ChannelsTV on Saturday. According to him, ” This is an absurd allegation, first and foremost I wasn’t given any money by the Rivers state government, it was my predecessor in the office that was given a loan by the Rivers state government and the money was not paid to Aviation, it was paid to FAAN. “It was a loan from the Rivers state government to FAAN as I understand it, the amount was two billion naira. Countering  Kayode stressed that “Professor Borisade was the minister then not me and the money wasn’t paid to the ministry it was paid to FAAN’s account and that is number one,. http://ift.tt...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J Abuja – Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Nigeria’s Vice-President on Monday described Nigerian-cooked jollof rice as “the best in the world”. //storify.com/Adekunle2/nigerian-cooked-jollof-rice-as-the-best-in-the-wor/embed?border=false //storify.com/Adekunle2/nigerian-cooked-jollof-rice-as-the-best-in-the-wor.js?border=false [ View the story “Nigerian-cooked jollof rice as “the best in the world”” on Storify ] The Vice-President while speaking at “The Platform Nigeria,” a Global Media live broadcast LIVE on Channels TV and online convened by Poju Oyemade, Senior Pastor of the Covenant Christian Centre, in Lagos said: “And by the way, we all know that Nigerian jollof rice is the best, we beat the Ghanaians and the Senegalese hands down.” “We have everything, and our people are doing incredibly innovative things. “Our music and entertainment industry is the fastest growing in the world,and of course, nobody is as funny as Nigerians, whether professional or amateur,”he noted...