Friday
NNPC to partner Borno government to establish gas power plant
The Group Managing Director, Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Alhaji Mele Kyari has said that the corporation will partner with Borno State Government to establish a Gas Power Plant following the vandalization of the national grid by insurgents which put the state almost three months into total blackout. Kyari who led a powerful delegation on a courtesy call on Governor Babagana Umara Zulum on Friday said, the Federal Government will not fold its arms and neglect the state which is been ravaged by insurgents, especially cut off from the national grid, as power is a source of income to the teaming people of the state. “We are here with my colleagues, the Head of Gas and Power Business, Engineer Yusuf Usman, Representatives of Greensville Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), which is a...
NSF: We’ve surpassed our expectations in swimming – Bayelsa coach
The coach of Bayelsa’s swimming team, Gentle Offoin, says the team has surpassed its expectations at the ongoing 20th National Sports Festival (NSF), Edo 2020. Offoin told newsmen in Edo on Friday, that nobody could stop Bayelsa in any swimming event after this NSF. The coach said the team’s success so far at the ongoing Edo 2020 was not magic, but due to hard work and the support of the state government. “Our success here is not magic, it is the training. We spent a lot of time training and training, even when the festival was postponed. “We kept training and at the end we got the result. “Our expectation for the festival was to win 10 gold medals, so far, we have nine and this is just the fifth day of the NSF and we hope to surpass our expectation,” he said. He added that the team hoped ...
Djibouti president set to extend 22-year rule
Djibouti’s President Ismail Omar Guelleh is expected to extend his two-decade rule of the tiny Horn of Africa nation as the country heads to the polls Friday. Guelleh, 73, is facing political newcomer Zakaria Ismail Farah, his only rival after traditional opposition parties decided to boycott the election. A businessman specialised in the importation of cleaning products, Farah, 56, is seen by observers as unlikely to pose a significant challenge to the strongman who has been in power for 22 years. Djibouti is a largely desert country strategically situated on one of the world’s busiest trade routes and at the crossroads between Africa and the Arabian peninsula, a short distance from war-torn Yemen. Under Guelleh, the country has exploited this geographical advantage, investing heavily in ...
Ukraine denies killing of child in attack on separatists
Ukraine on Monday denied reports that its forces had killed a five-year-old child in an attack on pro-Moscow eastern separatists, after Russia said it would launch an investigation. “This is a gross, cynical, nasty and godless manipulation,” Ukraine’s defence ministry told AFP in a written comment on the claim, denouncing it as “fake news”. Separatist authorities had at the weekend accused Ukrainian forces of killing the child and injuring a woman in a drone attack. On Monday, the Russian Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said the Ukrainian army had attacked civilian infrastructure on Friday in the separatist-held Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) using heavy armament and drones. As a result of an explosion, a five-year-old child was killed while his 66-year-old grandmother...
Mozambique army claims militants killed in battle
Mozambique’s military said on Sunday a “significant” number of militants had been killed during a battle over a key northern town and gas hub captured by the Islamic State (ISIS) last month. Palma was seized by the jihadists during coordinated attacks on 24 March, in what was seen as the biggest escalation of the insurgency ravaging the north of the African nation since 2017. The true death toll is not yet known, but thousands were displaced from the town of some 75 000 and the French energy giant Total suspended operations at its multibillion-dollar plant. On Sunday, the army escorted officials and journalists through the ravaged town, claiming a “significant” number of militants had been killed, and that they had now secured the surrounding area. Commander Chongo Vidigal, leading the mil...
Nigerian army urges journalists to protect national interests
The Commander, Sector 2, Operation Lafiya Dole, Adamu Nura, has appealed to journalists to prioritise Nigeria’s national interest in their reporting. Nura made the appeal, on Friday, while hosting members of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), who paid him a courtesy visit in Damaturu. “National interest is more important than any other interests, including public interest; because when you protect national interest, public interest will automatically be covered,” he said. He, therefore, enjoined journalists to always cooperate with security agencies, to protect the national interest in their reporting “and avoid giving any form of publicity to terrorists”. “Security is everybody’s business, without security nothing can be achieved,” he said. He added that the sector was ready to build...
Expert: Corporal punishment impedes autistic child’s development
Baerbel Jaja, Head, Government Special School, Lafia, Nasarawa State, says corporal and psychological punishments should not be meted to special needs persons. Jaja told newsmen in Lafia on Friday that corporal and psychological punishments hamper the overall functionality and the development of such persons. She said: “If you flog an autistic child, that’s the end of the development for that child. “You have killed his spirit. “Even for a normal child, if you keep flogging him, you have actually killed the spirit of that child and that will make him not to function well. “If an autistic child does not function the way you want, you have to be patient with him. “You cannot use force on any of this special need kids because it doesn’t work; it will rather close up the little you have achiev...
Zamfara governor: We rescued 2000 kidnapped victims through dialogue
The Zamfara State Governor, Bello Mohammad Matawalle, says his administration has secured the release of over 2000 kidnapped victims. He said this was achieved through dialogue and peace process initiated in the state. He said since he assumed office, over 62 bandits have accepted and embraced peace. The Governor, through his newly appointed Commissioner for Information, Alhaji Ibrahim Magaji Dosera, disclosed this at a news briefing in Kaduna on Friday. He said the repentant bandits are also helping in campaigning and convincing those who are yet to accept the dialogue and reconciliation process to do so. “They (repentant bandits) are also helping in the identification of the leaders of the recalcitrant bandits, including their camps and location for dialogue and reconciliation. Since the...
Namibian president caught in new fishing corruption allegations
Informante The president of Namibia has been implicated in new allegations of corruption involving the country’s lucrative fishing industry by an investigation released by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and The Namibian newspaper. According to a lawyer who allegedly arranged the deal, President Hage Geingob instructed his close associates to embezzle millions of dollars from a state-run fishing enterprise in order to bribe electors at the 2017 congress of the ruling SWAPO (South West Africa People’s Organization) party, reports the new investigation released on Friday. The lawyer, who is not named by the OCCRP, claims that Hage Geingob – elected as President of Namibia in 2014 and re-elected in 2019 – allegedly asked James Hatuikulipi, then chairman of the sta...
Niger’s new president blasts terrorists for war crimes
Niger’s new president Mohamed Bazoum lashed out on Friday at jihadists who have carried out devastating attacks on his country, accusing them of “war crimes” after he took the helm of the troubled nation. The inauguration marked the first-ever transition between elected presidents in Niger’s six decades of independence from France — a historic moment that has been widely praised. But the Sahel country’s problems were deeply underscored in the run-up to Friday’s ceremony, after a string of jihadist massacres and an alleged attempted coup just two days before the handover. Bazoum hit out at “terrorist groups whose barbarity has exceeded every limit.” These groups “carry out large-scale massacres of innocent civilians, and in doing so, commit real war crimes,” Bazoum declared. Niger is being ...
Easter: With God’s help, Nigeria will triumph over insecurity – NILDS chief
The director-general, National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS), Prof. Abubakar O. Sulaiman, has felicitated Nigerians, particularly of the Christian faith as the world celebrates Easter. The DG urged Nigerians to emulate the virtues and teachings of Jesus Christ, as he assured them of God’s ability to see them through whatever challenges or difficulties they might be experiencing; emphasizing that the insecurity in Nigeria would soon be a thing of the past and Nigeria would surely be victorious. According to a statement by the media office of NILDS on Friday, Prof Sulaiman noted that the crucifixion and resurrection is a strong message to the people and charged them to remain hopeful for a better Nigeria. He further urged the citizenry to strictly observe the publi...
Easter: Abuja airport records high traffic
The Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on Friday witnessed increased traffic due to huge number of passengers travelling to different parts of the country to celebrate Easter. According to NAN reports, flights from Abuja to other routes were fully booked before Thursday. Also, booking and check-in counters of many airlines were crowded with travelers rushing to board their flights. Many of the airline officials who spoke with NAN in separate interviews said there was upsurge in traffic, but ticket fare still remained same. The Max Air Station Manager, Kehinde Ogunyale, said that more people had chosen to fly home for the Easter celebration than the previous years. Ogunyele further said that Max Air also possibly experienced unique increase in passengers due to reduction in flight...
