Session
US: Chad rebels heading towards capital from north
The United States said rebel fighters in Chad appeared to be moving towards the capital N’Djamena and ordered non-essential staff to leave, warning of possible violence. A spokesman for the rebel Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT) said its fighters had “liberated” the province of Kanem, some 220 km (136 miles) from the capital N’Djamena, but the government denied this. “The authors of these false statements are not even on the ground, but somewhere in Europe,” the government said in a message posted to Facebook. A day earlier the British government urged its citizens to leave Chad because of information that two rebel convoys on the move, one near the town of Faya, some 770 km (478 miles) northeast of N’Djamena, and another by the town of Mao, the provincial capital of Kanem. On S...
YPP provides girls with sexual reproductive health information
Young people, especially girls and young women faced significant barriers in accessing sexual reproductive health information and services before the COVID-19 crisis. Now, due to the pandemic, there is a risk that young people accessing this life-saving information will move even further from their reach. To address this risk, a one-day Community Forum for adolescent girls and young women was organised by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Youth Participatory Platform (YPP) in collaboration with the Lagos State Ministry of Youth in Abesan Youth Center, Alimosho, Lagos. At the event, the CDC Secretary, Mosan Okunola LCDA, Mr. Olufemo Ojo, said “We must continue to provide young girls with information that empowers them to make informed decisions regarding their health and wellbeing....
DPR revokes Addax Petroleum oil mining licences
File Photo The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has revoked four Oil Mining Licences (OML) belonging to Addax Petroleum due to the non-development of the assets by the petroleum company. The affected assets are OML 123, 124, 126 and 137. Speaking during an interactive session with journalists in Lagos on Tuesday, the Director/Chief Executive Officer, DPR, Mr. Sarki Auwalu, who disclosed this, said it was discovered that over 50 per cent of the assets had remained underdeveloped, which he said was resulting to loss of revenue to the federal government. According to him, “Addax refused to develop the assets and Addax were therefore not operating the assets.” The DPR boss pointed out that going by the country’s Petroleum Act, “the first reason for a revocation is when you discover that...
PDP condemns attack on ex-CBn governor, urges security beef up in Anambra
File Photo Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has condemned the recent attack on the former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Chief Chukwuma Charles Soludo, describing it as callous, intimidation and unnecessary. The party said the killing of the three policemen attached to the former CBN governor was criminal and uncalled for, saying the police officers were doing their legitimate duty at the time of the incident. Honourable Ikechukwu Emenike, the Anambra South PDP Youth leader, who stated this in an interview with newsmen in Isuofoa, yesterday, said the gunmen disrupted Soludo’s interactive session with youths of Isuofia, who were gathered at the Isuofia Civic Center, shot dead three policemen and abducted Engineer Emeka Ezenwanne, the commissioner for Public Utility in the state who jumped ...
Napoli trio test negative for coronavirus
Napoli can breathe a sigh of relief as Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Alex Meret, and Lorenzo Insigne’s swab tests came back negative. Serie A clubs are concerned as four staff members of Italy national team tested positive for COVID, the FIGC announced on Wednesday after the Azzurri’s 2-0 win over Lithuania. However, according to Sky Sport Italia, Napoli’s Italy international Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Alex Meret, and Lorenzo have not contracted the virus as their swab tests came back negative. The trio returned to Naples in the morning and can now join their teammates in Castelvolturno for today’s training session. The Azzurri will face Crotone on Saturday and travel to Turin on Wednesday to play the rescheduled fixture from matchday 3 against Juventus. The Old Lady’s defender Leonardo Bonucci tested po...
Speaker Gbajabiamila: Nigerians deserve a Police Force they can trust
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila, has said a trusted Police Force working within the limits of the law is what Nigerians deserve. He assured Nigerians that the 9th House under his leadership would bequeath such a Police Force to them, and is working assiduously to achieve the goal. Gbajabiamila, who spoke at the National Assembly on Thursday during the opening of a public hearing on two bills by the House Committee on Police Affairs, said the House would meet these expectations as one of the key items on its Legislative Agenda. The bills are: “A Bill for an Act to Repeal the Police Service Commission Act and Enact the Police Service Commission Bill, 2020, to strengthen the Commission to be more Functional in its Operations and for Related Matters,” and: “...
ICPC drops forgery charges against ex-presidential aide
File Photo The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has amended the corruption and certificate forgery charges it filed against an ex-presidential aide, Okoi Obono-Obla. The amendment, coming less than two months after Obono-Obla and his co-defendants were arraigned by the commission, reduced the number of counts from 10 to five. The amended charges filed at the High Court of the FCT, in Apo, Abuja, on March 4 and seen by newsmen on Sunday, also revealed that the anti-corruption agency has backtracked on its allegations of certificate forgery sensationally levelled against Obono-Obla in 2019. Obono-Obla, a former special adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Prosecutions, was suspended by the President as the chairman of the Special Presidential Inv...
Victor Osimhen returns to training ahead of Bologna clash
Victor Osimhen has returned to full training ahead of Napoli’s Serie A game against Bologna at Stadio San Paolo on Sunday. The 22-year-old suffered head trauma after landing awkwardly on the turf following a collision with Cristian Romero in his side’s defeat to Atalanta on February 21. The forward spent the night in the hospital and underwent several tests but has been cleared of any damage to his head. The Nigeria international missed Napoli’s clash against Granada in the Europa League as well as their league games against Benevento and Sassuolo. The Parthenopeans have now confirmed the Super Eagles forward has rejoined the rest of his teammate in preparation for their league game against Sinisa Mihajlovic’s men “Osimhen did the whole session with the team,” read a statement from the clu...
Anambra Assembly expresses worry over spike in criminal activities
The Anambra House of Assembly has expressed worry over the increasing rate of crimes in the state and called for urgent measures to address the menace. Mr Noble Igwe, representing Ogbaru 1 Constituency, while speaking on a matter of urgent public importance, on Tuesday, lamented that the rate of crime had triggered fear among the residents. Igwe said there were recent reports of residents who had been victims of a wide range of violent crimes, including armed robbery, assault, burglary, carjacking, kidnapping and extortion. “Aware that security of lives and property is the primary function of the state government as enshrined in the constitution, there is the need to intensify efforts at taming the resurgence of crimes in some parts of the state, especially on theOnitsha-Owerri Road where ...
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...
Nigerian bank chief calls for review of educational reforms
The managing director/CEO of Sterling Bank Plc, Mr Abubakar Suleiman, has called for a review of Nigeria’s educational system so as to make it relevant to current and future human capital requirements in the country. Suleiman made the call while speaking as a panelist in a session on “Roadmap To Shared Prosperity – Ensuring Inclusive Human Capital Development” at the just concluded 8th Lagos Economic Summit, Ehingbeti 2021. He observed that Nigeria’s current educational system will continue to fail in its role of delivering the human resources needed by industry now and in the future unless the federal government redefines its commitment to the system. According to him, “The educational system that is operational in the country today appears to be only suitable for academia and not for inc...
Minimum wage: Osun has complied with law – NLC chair
The Osun State Chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has dismissed a media report that listed Osun among states in the country that were yet to implement the new national minimum wage. A newspaper had erroneously reported that during the last Central Working Committee and National Executive Council meeting of the NLC held in Abuja between 17 and 18 of February 2020, Osun was mentioned among states in the country that are yet to implement the new minimum wage However, a statement by the State Chairman of the NLC, Jacob Adekomi, described the reports as malicious and misleading, stressing that there was no time at the meeting Osun was mentioned among states that were yet to implement the minimum wage. According to the NLC Chairman, it is glaring that Osun State is among the few states...
