Nation
Minister: Nigeria’s earlier break-up prediction failed, others will
Information minister Lai Mohammed says a prediction that Nigeria would break up in 2015 did not materialise, asserting that current predictions by individuals and organisations will also fail. A former U.S. ambassador to Nigeria, John Campbell, and one other expert had suggested that Nigeria had become a failed state calling on the U.S. government to step to salvage the country from total collapse. Mr Mohammed stated, “This declaration is merely the opinions of two persons, former U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria and a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations John Campbell, and the President Emeritus of World Peace Foundation, Robert Rotberg. “Declaring any nation a failed state is not done at the whims and caprices of one or two persons, no matter their status. Just because Nigeria is ...
Mass grave reopens wounds among indigenous survivors of colonial Canadian school system
The discovery of the remains of 215 children at a former residential school in Canada has reopened wounds for survivors of the system, they said, as the government pledged to spend previously promised money to search for more unmarked graves. The Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc indigenous nation in British Columbia announced last week it had found the remains of 215 children, some as young as three, buried at the site of the Kamloops Indian Residential School, once Canada’s largest such school. Between 1831 and 1996, Canada’s residential school system forcibly separated about 150,000 children from their homes and subjected them to abuse, rape and malnutrition at schools across the country in what the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2015 called “cultural genocide”. Run by the government and c...
PDP tasks federal government on Dangote refinery shares
The Peoples Democratic Party has advised the Federal Government to ensure transparency in its planned acquisition of 20 per cent shares in Dangote refinery. The PDP said this in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, in Abuja. Ologbondiyan said: “The PDP has nothing against any genuine and honest incentives for private refineries, but we insist that such must not be used as avenues for siphoning funds from national treasury. “The transaction must be made completely open, in terms of conditions for crude barter trade, duration, equity sharing and signatories among other things.” Ologbondiyan urged the National Assembly to take advantage of its oversight power on the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to ensure that the deal was transparent. “The PDP insists...
Ex-Governor Mimiko: President Buhari‘ll be judged based on fight against insecurity
Former Ondo State governor, Segun Mimiko, has said posterity will judge President Muhammadu Buhari based on his ability to tackle the present security challenges ravaging the country. Mimiko stated this, on Tuesday, while speaking at the 71st birthday ceremony/ public presentation of biography of the former chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), Joseph Akinlaja, in Abuja. The former governor, who stated that the country is perching precariously at the precipice, noted that President Buhari has an opportunity to determine his legacy. According to him, President Buhari will not be remembered by the kilometers of railway gauges built by his administration nor the Second Niger Bridge, but by his ability to tackle insecurity across the country. He said...
Constitution Review: Sultan canvasses unrestricted usage of hijab
Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, the Sultan of Sokoto, has advocated the use of Hijab by Muslim women, without restrictions and in total observance of the freedom of religion in the country. The Sultan, who is also the President-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), stated this in Birnin Kebbi, on Tuesday, at the North West Zonal Public Hearing on the Constitution Review organised by the House of Representatives for Stakeholders from Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara. Abubakar wondered why the wearing of the Hijab would be a problem for others who were not using it, stressing that the other religions could also be encouraged to adopt what their religions ordered them to do. “The most important issue is the issue of religion. Almighty God created us to worship Him and you m...
Sultan: Scrapping NYSC scheme not interest of Nigeria’s unity
The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, says agitation for the scrapping of the National Youth Service (NYSC) scheme is not in the interest of Nigeria’s unity. Abubakar spoke when he hosted some selected members of NYSC Batch A stream 2 corps members posted to Sokoto state in his palace on Monday in Sokoto. The Sultan said that those agitating for the scrapping of the scheme did not mean well for the country. The emir explained that the NYSC scheme was established to foster the nation’s unity and strengthen ties among Nigerians. “I heard there are efforts for the scrapping of the NYSC scheme, I assure you that those behind that struggle do not mean well for this country, ” Abubakar said. According to him, the NYSC scheme is the most needed programme in view of the present situation wh...
IPOB sit-at-home: Black marketers sell petrol at N300 per liter in Ebonyi
Black marketers on major streets of Abakaliki cashed in on the sit-at-home order by the Proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) on Monday to make brisk business. They sold the premium motor spirit, otherwise called petrol, for between N200 and N350 per litre, following the closure of fuel outlets in the city due to the IPOB order. In separate interviews with newsmen, a cross-section of the hawkers expressed happiness over the development. Chidi Onu, who said he “made good business”, frowned at the restriction on business activities by IPOB. “Well, it is not my fault that these things are happening. It is high time we sat on a roundtable as citizens to discuss many issues affecting us as a nation. “Yes, the IPOB order has favoured me. I only came out to sell and have something for my ...
Group urges President Buhari to suspend NDDC forensic audit
The South South Reawakening Group, has called for the immediate suspension of the ongoing forensic audit of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), describing it as a “circus of corruption”. Converner of the group, Joseph Ambakederimo, in a statement, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint a board for the NDDC to start a new phase for the development of the region. According to them, it was no longer news that the forensic audit ordered by the President has now been turned into “a circus for mismanagement and misappropriation of public funds to oil the machinery of political interests of a few, while the region and its people continue to suffer the perpetual psychological torture of these buccaneers.” The group recalled that the NDDC is still presently being run by an interim s...
Resident doctors extend strike ultimatum by two weeks for federal government, states to act
The National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has extended its strike ultimatum by two weeks to let the Federal and State governments to address the issues of welfare of their members across the country. The extension is contained in a communiqué at the end of the association’s 41st Ordinary General Meeting (OGM) which held in Nnewi/Awka, Anambra, between May 25 and May 29. The communiqué was release by Dr Uyilawa Okhuaihesuyi, National President of NARD, in the company of other members of the executive. It said that the association would resume a total strike action if its demands remained unattended to at the end of the period. It said that the strike was suspended following government’s promises as entailed in the Memorandum of Actions, signed at the instance of Minister of Labour...
Justice Adah: Nigerians must work hard to ensure the country remains one
A legal luminary in the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, Justice Steve Adah, has stressed the need for all Nigerians to work hard to ensure that the country remains one indivisible entity. Justice Adah who stated this on Saturday at the 35th anniversary celebration of the Faith Women Fellowship in Makurdi, Benue State capital recalled that on May 29, 1999, Nigeria returned to democratic rule but has had little or nothing to show for it 22 years after. While speaking on the theme, “Defy Limitations to Soar Higher”, Adah noted that God had ordained Nigeria as the most populous black nation in the world to remain one indivisible country despite the numerous tribes, religion and political affiliation of the people. ‘May 29th of every four years, our presidents take oath of office. This is a da...
Ebonyi governor urges residents to ignore IPOB’s sit-at-home order
Ebonyi State governor David Umahi has urged the people of the state to ignore the sit-at-home order by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and go about their normal activities. He stated this on Saturday in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State capital. He said: “I have been getting voices from certain agitators that tomorrow there will be no movement, this is foolishness. If there is no movement in the southeast, is there no movement in the whole country? What an Ebonyi man will never accept is to go into second slavery under any guise. “We know the Biafra we need is to have enough money so that we cleanse up the toga of the slavery that our brothers and sisters subjected us into when we were under what they want us to be under. “We need money, if you love Ebonyi state, bring money, come up and put ...
COAS: Why President Buhari settled for General Yahaya – minister
The Minister of Defence, Maj. Gen. Bashir Salihi Magashi (retd) said President Muhammadu Buhari has expediently put national interest above ethnic and religious chauvinism in the appointment of Major General Farouk Yahaya as the new Chief of Army Staff (COAS). Magashi noted that certain factors were considered and General Yahaya satisfied all requirements. The Minister said, “these include his unblemished track records of service, Professional, Command and Operational competences among other yardsticks that culminated into his emergence as most suitably qualified new Army boss.” He, therefore, commended the appointment of General Yahaya as the 22nd Chief of Army Staff, succeeding the late Lt. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, who died in a plane crash alongside ten others last Friday in Kaduna. The m...
