Development
China joins calls for IWF to publish list of election candidates
Nations from around the world have written to the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) to express their dismay at the governing body’s failure to publish the list of candidates for forthcoming elections. There have been complaints of poor governance, a lack of transparency, and giving an unfair advantage to certain candidates on the current IWF Executive Board who have the information that is denied to others. For the last elections in 2017 the list was published five days after the nominations deadline. This year, eight days have passed already and there is no sign of the IWF naming the candidates for President, first vice-president, vice-president, and a place on the Executive Board. The IWF is entitled, under current regulations, to wait until 30 days before the elections – Febr...
DJ Switch faults reopening of Lekki toll gate
Nigerian Disc Jockey, Catherine Udeh aka ‘DJ Switch,’ has kicked against the decision of the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Enquiry and Restitution for Victims of SARS to hand over the Lekki toll plaza to its owner, the Lekki Concession Company LLC. Newsmen had reported that the Judicial panel gave the company the nod to take over the plaza on Saturday and with this approval, the Lekki toll gate will commence operations. Reacting to this development, DJ Switch who gave a live recording of the shooting of protesters at the toll on October 2020, took to her Twitter account to express her opinion of the panel’s decision. She wrote: “We cannot allow operations to begin at the Lekki Tollgate when justice has not prevailed! “This is wrong! I have always known 4m the start The panel trolls screame...
NESG: Nigerian economy to beat IMF growth forecast in 2021
The Nigerian Economic Summit Group has predicted a growth rate of 2.9 per cent for the Nigerian economy in 2021, higher than the 1.5 per cent growth rate suggested by the International Monetary Fund. The NESG identified eight key policies and events that will help shape the outlook of Nigerian economy in 2021. This is contained in the group’s 2021 Macroeconomic Outlook Report titled, “Four Priorities for the Nigerian Economy in 2021 and Beyond,” launched virtually on Tuesday. According to the report, for Nigeria’s economy to get back on track, the economy needs a high, robust and sustained economic growth that will deliver a significant reduction in unemployment and poverty. The report said the government’s most important agenda in 2021 must be to address these problems as a foundation for...
Borno governor sacks health commissioner
Gov. Babagana Zulum of Borno has relieved the Commissioner of Health, Dr Salihu Kwaya-Bura, of his position. The sack is contained in a statement by the Special Adviser to the governor on Public Relations and Strategy, Malam Isa Gusau. Gusau said the removal was part of measures to reposition the ministry. ”The governor has directed his Chief of Staff, Isa Marte, a Professor of pharmacology and fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Science with specialty in cancer research, to oversee the affairs of the ministry pending the appointment of a substantive commissioner. “Zulum expresses gratitude to Kwayabura for his immense contributions to the development of Borno public health sector in nearly two years of the current administration and the years he had served under the previous administration,...
UNODC: General Marwa’s NDLEA appointment a positive sign
Oliver Stolpe, country representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), says he is confident Mohammed Marwa, chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), will excel in his new position. According to a release signed by Jonah Achema of the public affairs unit of NDLEA, Stolpes said the appointment of Marwa is a positive sign and has renewed global confidence in Nigeria’s drug control capability. “We have every confidence in your ability to deliver,” Stolpe said during a courtesy visit to the NDLEA headquarters in Abuja on Monday. He said the UNODC is in support of the National Drug Control Master Plan and other drug control documents being developed by NDLEA in its bid to wipe out illicit drugs in the country. “As a technical assistance provider, whic...
U.S. threatens to take action against detainers of Myanmar’s president, others
The U.S. has threatened to take action against those responsible for the detention of State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, as well as President Win Myint in Myanmar. “The United States is alarmed by reports that the Burmese military has taken steps to undermine the country’s democratic transition, including the arrest of State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and other civilian officials in Burma (Myanmar). “President (Joe) Biden has been briefed by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan,” White House Spokesperson Jen Psaki said in a statement. Earlier, Western media reported that Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint were detained along with other members of Myanmar’s ruling party in an early morning military raid on Monday. “We continue to affirm our strong support for Burma’s democratic ins...
Atiku Abubakar: Nigeria needs urgent rescue
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has declared Nigeria is in dire need of urgent rescue. Nigeria, he said, has been badly damaged and broken. He decried the unbearable and alarming conditions Nigerians are living with, lamenting hunger was ravaging as farmers have deserted their farms for fear of being killed. These were contained in a statement in Abuja on Sunday by Hon. Oladimeji Fabiyi, who stood in for the Waziri Adamawa at the weekend in Gombe State during the inauguration of the leadership of the North-east zone of the Nigeria Youth Congress for Atiku. “The hunger in the Northern Nigeria and indeed the entire country is getting to an unbearable and alarming rate as our farmers, fathers and mothers can no longer go to farm. “Agriculture is one of the comparative advantages the Nort...
Ex-President Obasanjo urges Nigerian youths to make it uncomfortable for old leaders to remain in government
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has urged youths to mobilise and make it uncomfortable for old leaders to remain in government. He stated this on Sunday during a virtual interview with academic and historian, Toyin Falola. Obasanjo, who was Nigeria’s president between 1999 and 2007 under the banner of the Peoples Democratic Party, also apologised to youths, saying his generation had done a lot of wrongs in Nigeria but the youths can change the fortunes of the country by taking over leadership. Many Nigerians have lamented the persistent recycling of leaders since post-independence Nigeria till date as some leaders who ruled Nigeria during the military era have been in charge in the last 21 years since the country returned to democracy in 1999. Responding to a question by a youth during ...
PDP accuses President Buhari of violating coronavirus law
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has expressed dismay over President Muhammadu Buhari’s alleged violation of his executive regulation on COVID-19, which prescribes 6-month jail term for defaulters. The party said it’s a huge national embarrassment and gross failure of leadership that President Buhari, who ought to lead by example, is being reported to have publicly violated the COVID-19 regulation, which he signed just about a week ago. In a statement on Sunday by the spokesman for the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, the party said it’s scandalous that while Nigerians are striving to obey the COVID-19 regulation, which stipulates the compulsory wearing of nose mask and physical distancing in the public, the President and some of his party men flouted the rule during his visit to his Daura countr...
Coronavirus: UAE restricts Nigerian passengers to Dubai airport
The United Arab Emirate, UAE, says passengers from Nigeria can no longer travel through other countries or airports to Dubai. This was made known in a notice by Dubai Airports, the operators of Dubai International Airport. The regulations restricted Nigerian passengers from transiting through other airports. The move comes as the United Kingdom on Friday suspended direct flights between the UAE and the UK as part of measures to curb the spread of the raging coronavirus disease. In a notice sent to travel partners, Dubai Airports said amongst other things, passengers from Nigeria can no longer travel through other countries or airports to Dubai. The notice was titled, ‘Dubai Travel Protocol Update–Travel From Nigeria’. It read, “Kindly be advised that effective from 01 February 2021, the fo...
Group hails Enugu governor on rural roads
A social group, Ishi-Obere Brothers Club, IBC, in Amufie autonomous community, Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area of Enugu state has applauded Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi’s effort at ensuring rural access roads in every community in the state. This commendation was made in a statement signed and issued to pressmen in Enugu by the chairman of the group, Pharm. Ernest Odo and financial secretary, Mr Chinedu Adonu respectively. Odo while expressing satisfaction with the construction of Amufie-Ugbaike-Inyi rural road which links the aforementioned communities to Abuja through Obollo Afor-Makurdi expressway said it was a shortcut for those travelling to Abuja. He expressed the view that the road would boost economy of the state, adding that rural roads development is a sure way of attaining rap...
