Days
Charles Udeogaranya: Ndigbo Republic may emerge if South-East fails to produce president in 2023
A Presidential aspirant of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in 2019, Chief Charles Udeogaranya, has said that the way things are going in Nigeria, Ndigbo Republic may emerge instead of Biafra. According to him, “if after 50 years of Nigeria/Biafra civil war and political power brokers do not find it expediently urgent to close this monumental gap of inequality by giving a sense of belonging to the South-East region of Nigeria, then Ndigbo Republic (NR) is inevitable and I will lead the struggle of its actualisation.” Udeogaranya said that Ndigbo remains more Nigerian than any other Nigerian ethnic group and will always play their big brother role of pan-Africanism. Ndigbo, he said wants the best for the Yoruba nation, Hausa nation, Fulani nation, Ijaw nation and every other nationality ...
Okomu Oil Palm wants central bank to review anchor borrowers programme
Okomu Oil Palm Company Plc. wants a review of CBN’s Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) to accommodate more farmers and to shore up the nation’s foreign earnings from agriculture. The ABP is targeted at smallholder farmers engaged in the production of rice, maize, wheat and cash crops like oil palm, cocoa and rubber, among others. Speaking with newsmen on Monday in Benin, Okomu Oil’s Managing Director, Dr Graham Hefer, noted that cash crop farmers were yet to fully benefit from the programme. He said food crop farmers had an edge because they could cultivate, harvest, sell and repay their loans within the specified one year period. “It is easy for farmers engaged in annual crops to meet their targets. “This doesn’t happen with cash crops because in the first three years of oil palm production...
IPMAN advises Nigerian to stop panic buying of petrol
AHA Taxis The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has advised Nigerians to stop panic buying and stocking of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol. Alhaji Suleiman Yakubu, the National Public Relations Officer of IPMAN, gave the advice in an interview with newsmen on Sunday in Abuja. Yakubu fielded questions on the long fuel queues recorded at some filling stations in Abuja. He decried the panic purchases and long queues witnessed in various filling stations across the nation’s federal capital. Yakubu however said that crude oil price has gone up and it has affected the price products. He assured Nigerians that normal supply of petroleum products would soon be restored since loading have commenced at various deports. “We want to assure the buyers that g...
Former NAF chief Nsikak Eduok laid to rest in Akwa Ibom
It was a harvest of tributes for a former Chief of Air Staff, late Air Marshall Nsikak Eduok as his remains were laid to rest in his hometown in Ibesikpo Asutan, Akwa Ibom state on Saturday. Chief of Air Staff, Oladayo Amao who spoke at the Ibom Hall grounds Uyo during the funeral service conducted by United Evangelical Church, Founded as Qua Iboe Church, described late AM Eduok as a man of valour, integrity and a great achiever with unprecedented strive for success. Based on these sterling attributes, the Force has decided to immortalise him by naming Ultrafit Gymnasium center at the Nigerian Air Force Base Yola after him. According to him, late Eduok was one of the best hands the force had, one who changed the landscape of the service and was mentor to many retired and serving officers. ...
Nigerian telecoms’ workers issue 14-day ultimatum to Huawei
The Private Telecommunications and Communications Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PTECSSAN) has issued a 14-day ultimatum to Huawei Technologies Nigeria Limited to halt what it described as disregard and denial of workers’ fundamental rights to freedom of association as enshrined in Section 40 of the Nigerian Constitution. Speaking to journalists in Lagos, yesterday, the General Secretary of PTECSSAN, Okonu Abdullahi, said all efforts in the past to address all the labour-related issues confronting the workers in the company have been rebuffed by its management. According to him, “All our efforts in the past to address all the labour-related issues confronting the workers in the company have been rebuffed by its management. Ultimate of which is gross disregard and denial of workers th...
Nigerian government to launch new pricing framework for gas operations
The chairman of National Gas Expansion Programme (NGEP), Mohammed Ibrahim, says the federal government will launch a new pricing framework to regulate operations in the gas sector. He was speaking on Friday at the 12th Nigerian Gas Association international conference. Represented by Olasupo Agbaje, a member of NGPE, Ibrahim said Nigeria needs to unlock new frontiers in the gas sector. He said the government is working towards achieving a 40 per cent conversion from petrol to gas for vehicles in the country. “As a nation we are committed to unlocking new frontiers through a combination of policy and technology. In terms of unlocking these frontiers, we find that we need to undertake a pricing framework review that has been concluded and in the next few days, we are going to be having a new...
Court orders Ekiti university to reinstate sacked workers
File Photo The National Industrial Court in Akure has ordered the Ekiti State University (EKSU), Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, to reinstate 85 non-teaching staff members sacked by the institution in December 2019. The judge, Kiyersohot Damulak, also gave the university a 30-day ultimatum to pay the reinstated workers their salaries, emoluments, and allowances from the date of their unlawful disengagement till date. In the judgement delivered on January 28, a copy of which was seen by newsmen on Wednesday, the court also directed the university to pay the workers the three months salary they were being owed before they unlawfully disengaged. Damulak also ordered the university to pay each of the sacked workers N50,000 as the cost of prosecuting the case. The award totaled N4,250,000 for the 85 wo...
Cameroon police arrest ‘suspected homosexuals’ at AIDS centre
Police in Cameroon have arrested nine people on suspicion of homosexuality, most of them at an HIV/AIDS care centre, an LGBT rights lawyer said on Thursday. A police officer in the western town of Bafoussam, where the nine were detained on Tuesday and remained in custody two days later, said “we arrested them to verify whether they were homosexuals”. “By the end of the day, we will see, based on the evidence, whether some may be released and others referred to the prosecutor’s office,” which will decide whether to charge them, told AFP on condition of anonymity. Seven of those arrested were picked up at the headquarters of the Colibri association, whose main mission is the care of people infected with HIV/AIDS, according to lawyer Alice Nkom of the Association for the Defence of Homosexual...
Zimbabwean vice president accused of soliciting sex at his office
Zimbabwe’s 71-year-old Vice President Kembo Mohadi on Wednesday refuted accusations of sexual misconduct by an online news outlet, saying he is the victim of “political machinations”. An online publication ZimLive has in recent days published audio recordings of phone conversations it claims are of Mohadi apparently soliciting sex from several women including, a married junior intelligence officer in his office. In one of the racy audios, a man can be heard scheduling to have sex at his office. Reading out a statement, at a news conference, Mohadi “categorically” distanced himself from the “imagined immoral behaviour”, and accused unnamed political opponents of waging a voice morphing campaign to discredit him. Victim “I am innocent and a victim of political machinations being peddled thro...
Australia’s competition chief claims victory after Facebook standoff
The architect of Australian media reforms being watched around the world claimed victory on Wednesday, even as critics said concessions to the laws forcing Big Tech to pay for news content have given Facebook and Google a get-out clause. The Australian government made late changes to the laws after Facebook last week blocked news content in Australia, escalating a dispute over the proposed legislation and catching international attention. The amended legislation is expected to pass the Senate this week, despite opposition from some minor opposition parties and independent politicians who argue it disadvantages smaller news companies. Rod Sims, the chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), told Reuters the bargaining power imbalance he was tasked with correcting...
Minister: When Nigeria receives coronavirus vaccines doesn’t lie in our hands
Since the beginning of January 2021, Nigeria has been expecting the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines, but nothing has happened to date. The World Health Organisation, WHO and GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, CEPI, came up with the COVAX initiative to ensure that low and middle-income countries have access to vaccines. But COVAX has not given a precise date for when it will begin distributing the vaccines. Nigeria has put all its hopes on the COVAX Facility. The federal government is also expecting some vaccines from the Africa Union arrangement, expected to deploy from March. This development has attracted criticisms about the government’s readiness and commitment towards ensuring the timely vaccination of Nigerians against the dreaded pande...
Minister: When Nigeria receives coronavirus vaccines doesn’t lie in our hands
Since the beginning of January 2021, Nigeria has been expecting the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines, but nothing has happened to date. The World Health Organisation, WHO and GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, CEPI, came up with the COVAX initiative to ensure that low and middle-income countries have access to vaccines. But COVAX has not given a precise date for when it will begin distributing the vaccines. Nigeria has put all its hopes on the COVAX Facility. The federal government is also expecting some vaccines from the Africa Union arrangement, expected to deploy from March. This development has attracted criticisms about the government’s readiness and commitment towards ensuring the timely vaccination of Nigerians against the dreaded pande...
