₦airaland Forum

A total of 754 vessels dumped the eastern ports in the country within a period of three years due to shallow depth and pirate attacks. The eastern ports comprise Calabar, Onne, Delta and Rivers ports, all in the restive Niger Delta region. The ports, it was observed, are the shortest distances for haulage of cargoes for catchment states of Anambra, Imo, Enugu, Edo, Kogi, Abuja, Ondo, Benue, Kastina and Kano. The ports also have quick identification and documentation of cargoes and excellent delivery of cargo procedures. Aside the shallow depth, the ports operate on security level two on the International Ships Ports Security (ISPS) Code 2 due to insecurity in the region. As a result of this, the number of vessels that berth at these ports receded from 2,268 vessels in 2013 to 1514 in 2016 due to insecurity and shallow draft that wouldn’t allow big vessels berth at the ports. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the number of vessels that berthed at the Delta port dropped from 609 in 2013 to 433 in 2016, while the Gross Registered Tonnage at the port also dropped from 8,687,160 in 2013 to 6,177,809 in 2016. Also, vessels that berthed at the Rivers port dropped from 439 in 2013 to 287 in 2016, while the Gross Registered Tonnage at the port also dropped from 6,761,057 in 2014 to 4,560,844 in 2016. The number of vessels that berthed at the Calabar port dropped from 373 in 2013 to 189 in 2016, while the Gross Registered Tonnage, which peaked at 4,087,599 in 2015 dropped to 3,803,199 in 2016. The number of vessels that berthed at the Onne port dropped from 847 in 2014 to 605 in 2016, while the Gross Registered Tonnage at the port also dropped from 43,916,846 in 2014 to 35,937,547 in 2016. Speaking on the level of insecurity in the Niger Delta, the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, at the second stakeholders’ interactive session held in Warri, Delta State, noted that one of the factors militating against the success of the maritime sector was insecurity in the Niger Delta region, which he said was also hampering the growth and development of the region. He said, “Niger Delta is not working because of you (Niger-Deltans). How many Lagosians ‎are in the water in Lagos? None. Reason why vessels will not come to Eastern port is because there is war insurance risk placed on vessels because of restiveness in the region. “War insurance means if the goods cost N10,000 in Lagos, it will get it N20,000 here because there is extra cost on it. There is insecurity in Lagos but not worse like we have here in Eastern ports. Even as a minister, I can’t enter a boat from Warri to Port Harcourt but I can move around Lagos at any time of the day. “I asked a former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, why people from Anambra won’t import through Port Harcourt port and he said it cost less to import from Lagos and move to Onitsha even with the price they pay on the road. It is cheaper to import from Lagos to Aba and Aba to Port Harcourt is 30 minutes drive. He said it cost less even when it is evident that it will take eight hours. The truth must be told; Warri used to be heaven but the reverse is the case now”. Also speaking, the president, Delta Shippers’ Association (DELSA), Dr. Austin Egbegbadia, said insecurity in the Niger Delta was overblown. The DELSA boss also attributed challenges facing the port to unresolved dredging of Escravos bar that leads to Warri port, saying in the past seven years there were no records of insecurity in the state. His words: “One of the numerous challenges facing the Delta port is the erroneous perception that the Delta ports are unsafe by both local and international investors. Indeed, we may have had challenges in the past, but successive governments, including the current one, have largely curtailed these. “It is worthy of note that in the past seven years there is no record of incident of insecurity. We are confident that in collaboration with stakeholders in the organised private sector such as the Chamber of Commerce as well as government MDAs, we can debunk this negative impression and systematically launder our image positively”.

http://www.akelicious.com/2018/02/754-ships-desert-eastern-ports.html

Former head of state, General Yakubu Gowon has reiterated his call on Nigerians to pray for peace, unity and prosperity of the country.
Gowon made the call on Saturday, February 24, during a two-day National Prayer Rally organised under the aegis of Nigeria Prays, at the Government House, Maiduguri.

He noted that such prayers were imperative to promote unity and harmonious coexistence as well as address the nagging social and economic problems bedeviling the country.He also admonished Nigerians to shun violence and acts capable of disrupting peace and stability in the country.
The former head of state lauded the Federal and State Governments efforts to restore peace and address the humanitarian crisis caused by Boko Haram insurgency in the northeast region.
Gowon further commended the Borno Government over its rehabilitation, reconstruction and resettlement programmes designed to provide decent residential homes, schools, clinics, religious places of worship and other public structures.
He said: “The governor’s commitment to the restoration of peace is acknowledged by Nigerians. On behalf of Christian’s community, I commend you and associate with your achievements.’’
In his remarks, Governor Kashim Shettima said that the people of the state had demonstrated high level of religious tolerance and harmonious coexistence in view of its diverse cultures and beliefs.
Shettima commended Gowon for his patriotism and selfless service to the unity and progress of the nation.
“Gowon worked for Nigeria without enriching himself and making sure that the word of God remains his watch word in the unification of the country.
“We are one people and must remain one; as leaders, we must work to make our people unite for the betterment of all,’’ he said.According to him, the state government has been providing relief materials to the people displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency to assuage their sufferings.Akelicious gathered that Shettima, who was excited played host to the ex-head of state, said he was honoured to receive and appreciate him for standing by Nigeria and for one Nigeria.

http://www.akelicious.com/2018/02/gowon-calls-for-peace-unity-in-nigeria.html

National leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Bolaji Ahmed Tinubu is reported to have asked the national chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, and his national working committee to resign during his visit to the party secretariat.

Tinubu, who was appointed by President Buhari to chair the APC reconciliation committee, had visited the party’s secretariat where he met Oyegun and others.
After the meeting, Oyegun was seen in Kogi State where he received defecting members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and was also said to have unilaterally inaugurated officials parallel to those already heading the state chapter of the party.
Following the development, Tinubu had written to Oyegun, copied President Muhammadu Buhari, Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara, accusing the chairman of sabotaging his efforts in reconciling aggrieved members of the party.
He specifically mentioned Kogi, Kaduna, Kano, and Adamawa as the key states where Odigie-Oyegun is working to frustrate his efforts in reconciling aggrieved members of the party.
Speaking with Independent on the genesis of the current crisis between the two party stalwarts, a member of the party’s NWC, who would not want his name mentioned, said Tinubu during the closed door meeting he had with them at the party secretariat asked Oyegun and the NWC to resign as a way of finding a lasting solution to the crisis rocking the party.
The source said during Tinubu’s visit to the party secretariat, he had asked them to resign as members of the NWC led by Chief Oyegun but they refused and told him that it is impossible since their tenure will end in June.
The source also said that they later understood the former Lagos State Governor wanted to install a Caretaker Committee to be headed by Chief Bisi Akande, thereby having his structures in charge of the party, adding that this is the genesis of the crisis.

http://www.akelicious.com/2018/02/apc-crisis-tinubu-asks-oyegun-nwc.html

Former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, who is currently undergoing extensive cancer treatment in the United Kingdom, has strongly refuted claims that she awarded crude oil swaps valued at $24 billion without supporting contracts.

In a statement, supported by letters from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to the former minister when she was in office, which was issued in Abuja through her spokesman, Mr. Clem Aguiyi, Alison-Madueke rejected reports attributed to the probe in the House of Representatives on the oil swaps claiming that she granted an “extension” instead of approval for the renewal of the contracts for the swaps.

She described the latest attack on her person as a fabricated tissue of lies deviously concocted to sustain the escalating evil narrative against her person.


Recalling the events and putting the facts in proper perspective, the former minister who spoke through Aguiyi insisted that what she gave were “approvals for renewal of contract for first, a one-year term each for Messrs Trafigura Beheer BV and Messrs Society Ivoirienne de Raffinage (SIR) in August 2010 and then for a two-year term in August 2011 for the same companies”.

The NNPC subsidiary, Duke Oil, was given approval for a one-year term in January 2011, while two other approvals were consequently sought by the group managing director of NNPC – the first of these on the 29th August 2014 was seeking to ratify all three aforementioned approvals which had apparently variously expired during the course of 2013, the statement said.

“In view of the criticality of the situation, the former minister immediately approved/ratified all three renewals. Expiration of those terms were put at 31st December 2014, following assurances to the former minister that the contractual obligations of the parties to NNPC had in fact been fully met, despite the regrettable lapse in renewal time,” it added.

Alison-Madueke, in the statement, revealed that the said lapses in expiration to renewal dates were seven months for Duke Oil, 10 months for SIR and 12 months for Trafigura.

“Secondly, on the 28th of October 2014, following the recommendation of the then GMD, NNPC, the minister approved OPAs for a new term of two years commencing from 1st January 2015.

“The entities recommended by NNPC were Sahara Energy Resources Ltd, Aiteo Energy and Duke Oil. NNPC strongly recommended and outlined the benefits of the OPAs over the SWAPs and put forward the case for migration from the OPAs and crude exchange (swap) contracts to OPAs fully.

“NNPC posited that the ‘experienced benefits of the OPAs to the federation’ would be much greater. All approvals were due process-driven and were only given by the former minister following formal statutory written requests, which contained the technical basis for the renewal and were sent to her by the GMD, NNPC, as is the normal practice.

“NNPC had clearly requested for the approval of the former minister for renewal of the crude oil for refined products exchange agreement and renewal of the offshore processing agreements on all the various occasions outlined earlier in this press release.

“Whereas, it was the former minister’s responsibility to either give or refuse approval, it was not within her purview as minister to draft, initiate or conclude the processes of signing the final contracts, as it is the statutory responsibility of NNPC to ensure that all technical areas are duly covered and all requisite due process parameters are duly implemented,” the statement noted.

According to her spokesman, “There would have been little need to respond to this particular issue at this time considering that the former minister is still indisposed and would have wished to be left alone to recuperate.
“She will speak for herself in due time. It is nevertheless imperative that records are set straight so that Nigerians and posterity will know the truth.

“Mr. (Austin) Oniwon (former GMD, NNPC) was right when he stated that the 445,000 barrels of crude oil for domestic refining is the property of NNPC, bought from the Federal Government of Nigeria at the prevailing rate and therefore as GMD, he did not need the Federal Executive Council’s or presidential approval to enter into swap arrangements that will enable NNPC fulfill its statutory obligations.

“It was also correct that contrary to the picture being painted in the media not more than 210,000 bpd out of the 445,000 bpd lifted by NNPC to ensure adequate supply and distribution of petroleum products was traded under the following swap arrangement: OPS – SIR – 60,000bpd; Swap – Trafigura – 60,000bpd; and swap – Duke Oil – 90,000bpd.

“What the GMD was required to execute of the above was the statutory approval from the minister for the companies! Refineries chosen by NNPC to participate in the swaps as outlined in Section 4 of the Petroleum Act and Section 20 of the NNPCAct.”

Continuing, Aguiyi said that it is incorrect to say that the former minister gave “approval for extensions” unless “extension” could legally be substituted for “renewal” because what Alison-Madueke gave (and the records are there) was approval for “renewal of contracts”.
“And these approvals were given based on the letters of request received from the GMD of NNPC,” he added.

Aguiyi also described as “extremely disturbing” reports that Trafigura and SIR had lifted crude worth $24 billion before their respective contracts were signed in 2014 and that those contracts were back-dated to look like they were signed in 2011 when their initial contracts first expired.

“If indeed that was the case, then the former minister could not have been party to it, as she was not involved in either the preparation or the signing of NNPC contracts.

“She reaffirmed that she most certainly signed the second set of requisite approvals requested by NNPC for renewal of the contracts of both Messrs Trafigura Beheer BV and Messrs Societe Ivoirienne de Raffinage in August of 2011 for a two-year term.
“The former minister clearly fulfilled her statutory obligations by signing the request for approval for the renewals as and when presented to her.

“She noted that on the 29th August 2014, NNPC sought her approval for a new short contract ratification term that would expire on 31st December 2014.

“It became apparent that NNPC had failed to request for ministerial approval between late 2013 and August 2014 when the previous respective contracts had variously expired which meant that the various transactions had had no written contractual cover for the periods varying from seven to 12 months as follows:

• SIR: contract expired 3rd October 2013 and was renewed 29th August 2014 (10 months without written contract);
• Trafigura: contract expired 30th September 2013 and was renewed 29th August 2014. (12 months without written contract);
• Duke Oil: contract expired 30th January 2014 and was renewed 29th August 2014. (seven months without written contract).

“It must be noted that the corporation gave assurances to the former minister that it had assiduously upheld all its rights and performed its obligations as if a written contract existed during the periods mentioned, thereby ensuring the protection and safeguard of all national interest,” Alison-Madueke’s spokesman said.

He added that the former minister also took time to correct what she described as the erroneous impression being created by the media that she originated the OPAs and swaps.

“It is important to note that the crude oil swap arrangement predates the tenure of Mrs. Alison-Madueke as Minister of Petroleum Resources. All the Swap/ Offshore Processing arrangements currently in place and under her watch followed the same rigid template that was established by late Alhaji Rilwanu Lukman as Petroleum Resources Minister and approved by late President Musa Yar’Adua in 2009.

“The Yar’Adua administration had in 2009 signed a one-year term Offshore Processing Agreement with Nigermed Petroleum SA, a joint venture company between NNPC and British Petroleum International (BPI),” he disclosed.

According to her spokesman, “The OPA and Crude Oil for Product Swap were strategic arrangements/decisions reached by the NNPC and the federal government in 2009 in view of the down-time of the nation’s refineries.

“The arrangement was designed to help NNPC achieve an effective and robust petroleum products delivery option to the Nigerian public. Under this arrangement, it was the responsibility of NNPC to identify a crude oil trader and term contract holder who had affiliations with a refinery.

“The former minister’s role was limited to granting statutory approval to requests made by NNPC in this regard. The former minister never exceeded her powers nor did she take on the role of anyone else,” he added.

http://www.akelicious.com/2018/02/alison-madueke-refutes-claims-she.html

Officials of Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., from its headquarters in Japan, recently visited Nigeria to discuss strategies with the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) on how to expand the capacity of the Nissan manufacturing facility to produce and supply affordably priced vehicles; create opportunity for workers, as well as ancillary firms and the communities.

The visit, according to a statement by VON Nigeria, was part of on-going appraisal of Nissan’s vehicle assembly project in the country.


Leader of the Nissan delegation, Senior Vice President Middle-East, Africa and India (AMI) Peyman Kargar said: “Our visit to the Nissan facility in Nigeria is aimed at helping the plant to sustain its status as a reassuring brand with proclivity for improved performance, sales and after sales.”

Also adding that the time is right for Nigeria to sustainably and inclusively explore the gains of automotive policy to produce vehicles with unprecedented value, yet affordably priced, Mr. Kargar said: “Nigeria is one of Nissan’s most outstanding markets in Africa growth strategy and we are ready to partner with the federal government to develop the market and explore the country’s strategic regional partners in the West Coast, to make Nigeria the automobile hub for evolving West African markets.”

He said Nissan remains committed to the Nigerian economy, which has a strong potential of becoming Africa’s wealthiest country.

Kargar referred to Nigeria’s auto policy as exceptionally inclusive and thorough, one of the traits that inform Nissan’s eagerness to make a greater contribution in the Nigerian market.

“We are happy to continue our collaboration with the government to transform Nigeria into a notable manufacturing and distribution hub,” he said.

The six-man delegation was received by the NADDC Director General/CEO Jelani Aliyu before proceeding on to inspect the Stallion NMN facility at VON Automobile Nigeria.

Other delegates include Nissan South Africa Managing Director/CEO Mike Whitfield, Managing Director Sales and Marketing Xavier Gobille, Director Sales and Operations Jim Dando as well as Africa, Middle East and India Managing Director Frederic Posez and Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. Programme, Product, Marketing Intelligence General manager Vincent Valdmann.

Local Nissan custodian – Stallion NMN, member of the Stallion Group became the first indigenous stakeholder in 2014 to roll-out locally assembled Nissan vehicles consequent upon the ratification of the National Automotive Policy, assembling four Nissan models including Patrol SUV, NP300, NV350 and Almera.

The company has since inaugurated 11 Nissan dealerships across six geopolitical zones of the country, and achieved 10% market share in FY14 and 18% market share in FY15 coupled with notable presence in Victoria Island and Gbagada Lagos as well as in Abuja and Port-Harcourt.

Nissan seeks to continue to provide expertise and technological adivisory support to boost Nigeria’s economic diversification strategies, using the automotive sub-sector to achieve inclusive and shared growth.

Stallion NMN Managing Director Pavir Singh said they are midful of the challenges of affordability, saying the company is keen on producing qualitative standard and affordably priced vehicles to cater for different spheres of needs.

Mr. Singh said, “We as manufacturers are willing to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the federal government, making vehilces affordable for everyone. We have demonstarted the capacity of our plant, which can produce 100,000 vehicles annually.

“The auto industry worldwide contributes an average of 11.5 percent to the GDP of their respective countries and the same can be replicated here in Nigeria.”

http://www.akelicious.com/2018/02/nissan-delegation-discusses-vibrant.html

Japaul Oil & Maritime Services Plc said it signed an agreement with private equity firm, Milost Global Inc. for $350million in shares and loans for business expansion.

Milost will invest $250 million in equity and add another $100 million in convertible loans, Japaul Chairman Jegede Paul told Bloomberg.The fresh injection of capital will enable the company to fix grounded vessels, finance new contracts and expand into mining, he said.

Two calls to numbers listed by New York-based Milost Global on its website for comment went unanswered on Tuesday. Japaul’s oil and gas operations suffered a setback with the 2014 plunge in crude prices, which forced exploration and production companies to scale back their activities. As prices are recovering, the company wants to take advantage of new business opportunities in the industry. The company plans to be able to absorb future oil and gas price shocks by diversifying into mining, Paul said.

http://www.akelicious.com/2018/02/japaul-to-receive-350m-funding-from.html

The University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) has expressed its commitment to ensuring a synergy with the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission (ICPC) even as the hospital pledged zero tolerance for corrupt practices among members of staff.

The Chief Medical Director (CMD) of UBTH, Prof. Darlington Obaseki, made this known during the inauguration of UBTH Anti-Corruption and Transparency Unit (ACTU) by the Edo State office of ICPC on Wednesday.

Obaseki, who said the hospital’s vision is to provide quality healthcare delivery in West Africa as well as to improve client’s health by the integration of consistent quality care, education and research in a compassionate environment, called on the workers to shun corrupt practices.

Obaseki, who applauded the initiative by ICPC, said it will “open up the space for UBTH to embrace transparency in all its activities and operations”.“The initiative will give staff of UBTH room to vent their agitations if any, through the unit. We welcome the committee and the anti-corruption fight.”

ICPC Commissioner for Edo/Delta states, Olukile Olusesan, harped on institutional reforms and reviews to check corruption in the ongoing fight against graft in the country. He sued for synergy for all stakeholders to support the unit inaugurated at UBTH.Chairman, UBTH Anti-Corruption and Transparency Unit (ACTU), Dr. Steve Ayinbuomwan, assured of the committee’s commitment to its mandate, swhich is to serve for three years.

Delivering a lecture Mr. Ezeh Ansel from ICPC in a paper presentation titled “Building Strong Institutions through the Activities of Anti-Corruption and Transparent Monitoring Units”, lauded the CMD of UBTH, Prof. Obaseki for sustaining a strong health institution. “Your rear knowledge of medicine places you in a pedestal of integrity worthy of emulation at all times. It is with this mindset that we have come to build on the already existing relationship to provide a common front against corruption and corrupt practices in the hospital”.

Ansel said the commission’s duty is not only to fight corruption through investigation, arrest and prosecution of corrupt persons, but also to prevent the occurrence of corrupt practices and ensure the infusion and institutionalization of integrity in the nation through preventive measures, public education and mobilization.

http://www.akelicious.com/2018/02/icpc-ubth-collaborate-in-fight-against.html

Impending plans by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to spend $1.8 billion on the Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of the nation’s three refineries located in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna may have been put on hold by the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on Petroleum Downstream.

The suspension order came as the NNPC to dust up its 2017 proposal to spend about $1.8 billion on the refineries turn around maintenance.

The House had subsequently set up the ad-hoc committee to carry out a comprehensive investigation of the state of the refineries to ascertain their actual maintenance cost.

Addressing journalists yesterday, Garba Muhammad, Chairman of the committee, said the lawmakers have asked NNPC to withhold the planned spend for the time being.

“The committee has communicated Ibe Kachikwu, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, and Maikanti Baru, Group Managing Director of NNPC, requesting them to stay action on the facilities, pending the outcome of the committee’s investigation,” he said.

“We also want to seek full cooperation of the stakeholders and the general public in the course of the full exercise,” he said.

The abysmal performance of the nation’s refineries has been a source of concern and national embarrassment to oil and gas stakeholders.

For instance, the latest monthly (November 2017) operations report for NNPC indicated that the three refineries produced 55,187 MT of finished petroleum products and 39,562 MT of intermediate products out of 107,748 MT of crude processed at a combined capacity utilisation of 5.92 per cent compared to 17.63 per cent combined capacity utilisation achieved in October 2017.

The decrease in operational performance recorded, according to NNPC, was attributed to decline in crude processed by WRPC while PHRC and KRPC remained shut during the month under review, adding that ongoing revamping of the refineries will enhance capacity utilisation once completed.

However, the decision of the Reps’ ad-hoc committee to suspend further spending on the refineries may have contradicted the Minister’s position, who told a gathering of oil and gas stakeholders at the Nigeria International Petroleum Summit (NIPS), that government would name investors for the refineries next month.

Kachikwu said the government was also considering a policy that would compel multinational oil and gas firms operating in the company to build refineries in Nigeria. The minister said by that time, international oil firms are no longer be allowed to ship out all the crude they produce in Nigeria.

The minister noted that emphasis would shift to local production of substantial portion of the crude produced in the country.

But a Professor of Petroleum Economics and Policy Research, and President of the Nigerian Association for Energy Economics, Omowunmi lledare, said it was very unfortunate that many have described the condition of Nigerian refineries as hopeless. He said it was not that the country doesn’t have experts, who can actually make the refinery work, but the biggest challenge is the mentality of the people.

“With the level of professionalism, people tend to convert commonwealth to personal wealth. If we don’t have a reorientation whereby we regard commonwealth and make the process of converting it to personal wealth more difficult, not much would be achieved,’’ he worried.

http://www.akelicious.com/2018/02/tam-reps-reject-planned-18bn-spend-on.html

The chairman and chief exeutive officer (CEO) of Innoson Group, manufacturers of INNOSON brand of vehicles, Chief Innocent Chukwuma, has claimed that the Guarantee Trust Bank (GTB) is currently indebted to him to the tune of N21 billion. Contrary to the insinuations in some quarters, the Nnewi-based INNOSON Vehicles Manufacturing Company (IVM) boss rather stated that the presidency was not only happy with him for his contributions towards the improvement of the nation’s economy, but that it had given him all the support he requested from it. The vehicle manufacturer spoke when the delegation of LEADERSHIP Group, led by the business development manager, Mrs Mariam Ogbe, visited his office to deliver to him a letter conveying to him the decision by the Board of Editors of the newspapers group to honour him as the LEADERSHIP Person of the Year 2017. Taking the delegation on a lengthy narration of his current travails in the hands of the EFCC, Chief Chukwuma stated that the incident actually dates back to the former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s regime. He stated that GTB at the time funded an importation business for him with N1.5billion but that the Nigerian Customs Service later seized the goods and illegally auctioned them, claiming that he did not pay the stipulated import charges. He said that while he went to court to challenge the action of the Customs authorities, he however started paying GT bank the N1.5billion knowing that the loan was money belonging to members of the public. He explained that he had paid N1.3billion out of the N1.5billion within the stated 24 months, remaining just N200million, excluding the interest, when the Court delivered judgment in his favour and ordered Customs to pay him N2.4billion being the value of his imported goods that was illegally auctioned. Chukwuma stated that at that time, the Customs had “over N10 billion in GT bank, but that GT bank, rather than agreeing to release the money so that Customs would pay him as ordered by the Court, approached the Nigerian Customs and advised them to appeal the judgment.” He stated that when the Customs authorities refused to accede, GT bank went and filed an appeal against the judgement but that the Appeal Court rather delivered ruling in his favour and even ordered the bank to pay him the judgment debt. He stated that instead of paying him, GT bank reported him to the EFCC, adding that it was during the investigation, which involved external auditors employed by him, that GT bank and NDIC, following his arrest by the EFCC, that it was discovered that GT bank had been tampering with his account with the bank and in the process had withdrawn illegally a total sum of N560million. Chukwuma stated that it was this illegal withdrawal made on his account and the accruing interests as stipulated in the Monetary Policy Guidelines of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Customs judgment debt in his favour that had plunged GT bank into being indebted to him to the tune of N21 billion. The INNOSON boss said: “I don’t have any problem with (federal) government. Government is supporting me in every aspect; all the support I requested from the government, government has approved them. So, I don’t have any issue with the government. “It is GT bank that stole my money from my account with it, and when I discovered, I took them (GT bank) to court. The court told them to pay me my money. They went to the Appeal Court; the Appeal Court told them to pay me the money. They now went to the Supreme Court, and, up until now the appeal is yet to be decided. “This incident started during the President Olusegun Obasanjo’s government. At that time GT bank funded some goods I imported with the sum of N1.5billion. I contributed 25% of this sum. The Customs later seized the containers and auctioned them unlawfully. “I went to GT bank and told them that they should not worry, that I will pay the money; that I know that it was not their fault; that it is Customs that auctioned my containers. I told them that I know that it was public money that they used in funding the importation for me; that I will pay the money. “I begged them that the only thing they will do for me is that they should spread the loan for me to pay within 24 months. I told them that my business can pay the money. They agreed and spread the money for me. Now, after two years, I had paid GT bank N1.3billion, remaining N200million. Let me ask you, if someone owes N1.5billion, and he pays N1.3billion, has he not tried? “I gave GT bank my property ‘which Dangote Group is using’ as security for the loan. The property is worth N3billion, but GT bank said it is N1.4billion. “When I started paying the N1.5billion loan, I focused on paying the principal sum, excluding the accrued interest. My intention was to pay up the principal and then approach the bank to negotiate the amount I will pay on the accrued interest. I did the same with Diamond bank; when I finished paying Diamond bank the principal, I went to them and we discussed the interest because they know that my goods were auctioned, and that the interest is their gain. So, after discussing with them they shared the interest into two and I paid them half. That is how I settled with them. “So, after I paid GT bank N1.3billion, l told them, now that what is remaining on the principal is N200million, excluding the interest, let me finish paying the principal first. But they refused. I begged them to share the N200million and the interest and let me pay the money in 12 months. They agreed. That time I had already taken the Customs to court for auctioning my containers illegally. “I had paid GTB for three months when the Court decided my case against the Customs. The Court awarded N2.4billion to me against the Customs for auctioning my containers illegally.“At that time, Customs had over N10billion in GTB, I got a garnishee order absolute ordering GTB to pay the judgment debt to me. But GTB refused to pay me. Instead, they went on to appeal the judgment. Interestingly the appeal court ordered them to pay the judgment debt to me. They still went to appeal at the Supreme Court. The appeal is still pending at the Supreme Court as at today. “Because GTB failed to pay the judgment debt as ordered by the court, I stopped paying them (GTB) the N200million, and the interest. I told them that it is because I have paid you up to N1.3billion out of the N1.5billion that is why they don’t want to obey the court judgment so that they can pay me. GTB now went on to involve the EFCC. This is the key reason why I’m having an issue with the EFCC now. “It was when they reported me to the EFCC that God now exposed them. When EFCÇ invited me, I told the EFCC everything. I took all my documents to an external auditor who now found out that GTB had made excess withdrawal of N780million from my account in the bank. “I now gave a copy of this auditor’s report to the GTB and EFCC. I told them that I am not going to pay any money again until we counter-balance the account so that we know who owes who. GTB now brought in an external auditor and EFCC brought in NDIC. After about two weeks, after thorough examination of the auditors’ reports, GTB auditors admitted that GT bank made some illegal withdrawals of N560 million from my account, instead of the N780 million my own auditor found out. I told GTB to put it in writing, which they did. “I accepted GTB position in good faith and told them that they will refund me the admitted sum to me with interest. They agreed, but said they will pay only 7 percent. I said no because the interest I’m paying them on the loan was 22%. “I wrote a letter to the Central Bank, and requested them to furnish me with the CBN monetary policy guidelines. I discovered from the monetary policy guidelines that GTB should refund me the N560 million at 22% interest rate within two weeks they admitted stealing the money, and failure to do so will attract a penalty of 100% refund. GTB refused to refund. I now sued GTB to Court. And the Court ruled that GTB should pay me N4.7billion. The court also said the money shall be paid at 22% interest until the liquidation of the judgment debt.” “So, as at today that I am talking to you, the money GT bank owes me is about N21billion. I believe that one day the truth will triumph over lies. I believe that they are doing the same thing they did to my account to some other customers, and one day they will find out,” he said.


http://www.akelicious.com/2018/02/gtbank-owes-me-n21bn-innoson.html

An Abuja Federal High Court on Tuesday ordered counsel to the elusive leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu’, Ifeanyi Ejiofor to produce his client.

Justice Binta Nyako ordered Ejiofor to produce the elusive IPOB leader during the next adjournment date of March 28, or for his sureties to explain his whereabouts.


The judge gave the order, following an application for adjournment of the trial made by the prosecuting counsel, Mr Shuaibu Labaran.
Kanu was admitted to bail on April 25, 2017 and the Chairman, South East Senate caucus, Sen. Enyinnaya Abaribe, a Jewish High Chief Priest, Immanuu-El Shalom and a Chartered Accountant, Tochukwu Uchendu signed his bail bond.
Since he was granted bail, the separatist leader has not appeared in court and his counsel had repeatedly told the court that his client was in the custody of the Nigerian Army.
Justice Nyako had earlier granted an application seeking to separate Kanu’s charges from that of the other defendants, Chidiebere Onwudiwe, Benjamin Madubugwu, David Nwawuisi.

The judge granted the application after non of Kanu’s co-defendants raised an objection.
Labaran’s reason for seeking seperation of trial was due to Kanu’s refusal to appear in court.
Kanu and his co-defendants are standing trial on a five-count charge bordering on felony.

http://www.akelicious.com/2018/02/court-orders-defence-counsel-senator.html

Owners of Daily Times of Nigeria, DTN, Folio Communications Limited has welcomed the takeover of Daily Times of Nigeria by the Asset Management Company of Nigeria, AMCON, stating that the intervention will stop the dissipation of heritage newspaper’s assets by some property scavengers in their track.

It, however, stated that the contest as to who owns Daily Times is an exercise in futility since Folio Communications Limited “bought and fully paid” for the medium in 2004 through a widely publicised and transparent privatisation process and recieved DTN from the Bureau of Public Enterprises.


In a statement issued on Tuesday by its Media/Publicity Adviser, Bonaventure Melah, Folio Communications Ltd said it has resuscitated and transformed DTN from a moribund entity to a thriving firm that is now a much-sought-after bride in the media industry.

It stated that it did all this despite series of litigations and other forms of distractions the company has faced these past years and the state of DTN’s equipment which were completely obsolete and unserviceable when the

The statement reads, “It is noteworthy to state here that on acquisition of Daily Times of Nigeria and in line with our technical bid, DTN operation was unbundled into Entertainment/Lifestyle (Miss Nigeria}; Publications and Assets Management.

“While Assets and Liabilities remained in the tradename of DTN as a going concern with clear mandate to manage assets and liabilities, Publications and Lifestyle/Entertainment were moved under direct management of Folio Communications Limited without encumbrances.


“We need to mention also that on acquisition of Daily Times, we inherited more than 150 disputes worth over N5billion in contingent liability with net asset of about N2billion.

“Folio has successfully managed this portfolios with a net asset value of over N7billion and AMCON has the only major liability in the books which is less than 20% of DTN asset value which taken out would still leave DTN as a healthy Company.

“In addition, Folio has for the past five (5) years been consistent in the publication of this legacy newspaper (DTN) while Daily Times online version is now at the forefront among credible and reliable sources of breaking and vital news.

“We therefore assure the public that DTN will continue to be on your newsstand everyday enriched with quality news content and in classical design that is fit for only Nigeria’s best media brand. This is even as we pledge to give maximum support to the DTN Receiver/Manager throughout the period of this assignment.”

http://www.akelicious.com/2018/02/daily-times-reacts-to-amcon-takeover_88.html

All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kaduna State has nullified the suspension of Governor Nasir El-Rufai by another faction of the party in the state. The Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi-led faction of the party had earlier suspended the governor, but another faction supporting the governor describe the Hunkuyi-led faction as illegitimate. The party said the suspension of the governor is laughable and should be disregarded.

This came in the wake of a pronouncement by the APC that sales of forms for party primaries ahead of the Kaduna State local government elections slated for May 12, will commence this week.

Acting Secretary of the party, Yahaya Baba Pate, who briefed newsmen on the outcome of the State Exeucitve Council said the meeting adopted the recommendations of the SEC on the local government elections and commended the ongoing registration of party members.

Pate said the party is set to roll out the timetable in few days time, for the primaries ahead of the council elections.

Reacting to the suspension of Governor El-Rufai by a faction of the party, the acting secretary said, the ‘so called’ chairman of the faction, Danladi Wada is an impostor, who lacks power to suspend any member of the party.

According to him, “the authentic chairman of the party is Alhaji Shuaibu Idris. He is the chairman recognised by the national leadership of the party. Just last week, he received an invitation letter from the national secretariat, signed by the National Chairman, Chief Odigie Oyegun, inviting him for National Executive Committee meeting next week.

“The Senator Hunkuyi-led group is illegitimate. As far as we are concerned, most of them have been expelled including the so called factional chairman, Danladi Wada. As for Senator Hunkuyi, he is under six months suspension, because we cannot expel him. Only the national leadership can expel him, because he is a political office holder.” he said.

In another development, the Federal Government is engaging 100,000 agents under the Community Health Influencers, Promoters and Services (CHIPS) program.

This is in order to reduce high rate of maternal and child mortality in the country.

Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Faisal Shuaib made the disclosure during an interview with newsmen shortly after the first meeting with Northern Traditional Leaders Committee on Primary Health Care Delivery in Kaduna yesterday.


CHIPS is a community-based programme whereby individuals with basic criteria including commitment, agility, will be selected by traditional institution to carry out basic medical needs of the people in their communities, diagnose and call on the next point of call when necessary.


They must be residing within the community and would be adequately trained before deployment to render the services the programme is targeted.

According to him, the development became necessary because Nigeria was losing about one million women and children to preventable medical conditions.

“The gathering of the northern traditional committee on PHC here today is to review what we were able to achieve in 2017 and strategise for high priority intervention in our communities this year.

This means going back to the basis, the community to engage the traditional institution knowing full well that we cannot have meaningful progress as regard to provision of healthcare services to our people without listening to them.

http://www.akelicious.com/2018/02/kaduna-apc-faction-nullifies-el-rufais.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDoGN4xFOwg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_AQyVBxqE4

The 30-day moving average of Nigeria’s foreign external reserves last week accrued by $442.8 million or 1.07 per cent rising to $41.54 billion as at February 14, 2018 according to latest data on the website of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The reserves had reached a five year high mark last week as it crossed $41 billion on February 8, 2018, a level it last achieved in December 2013. Analysts project that the reserves will continue to accrue this year, rising to almost $50 billion. The rising exports in the country as well as the increased confidence and inflow of foreign exchange through the Nigeria Autonomous Foreign Exchange (NAFEX) window were also factors contributing to the accretion of the external reserves. The reserves has this year increased by $2.62 billion or 6.7 per cent from $38.91 billion which it was as at January 2, 2018. Last week, inflow of foreign exchange at the Nigeria Autonomous Foreign Exchange window, also known as the Investors and Exporters window stood at $789.9 million CBN director, Banking Supervision, Ahmed Abdullahi, while noting the increasing optimism in the Nigerian economy, said it is being fueled by “the fact that we have a very low risk rating in the economy and we have one of the lowest risk premium as per the debt market. “There is a very high confidence in the economy occasioned by the fact that the reserves is at the highest level and we are talking of reserves of about $42 billion at the moment. We closed the year at about $40 billion in 2017 and it has risen to about $42 billion,” he stated. The CBN has introduced several polices to increase the flow of foreign exchange into the country and stem the volatility at the foreign exchange market. Its most successful policy according to analysts is the NAFEX also known as the Investors and Exporters window which has seen an inflow of over $32.9 billion since its launch in April last year. According to analysts at FBNQuest, based on the balance of payments for the 12 months through to September 2017, the reserves at the end of January 2018 covered 15.1 months’ merchandise imports, and 10.2 months when services are added. FBNQuest analysts noted that the rapid accumulation of $12.69 billion over 12 months “is due to two sizeable Eurobond launches, a small diaspora bond issue and the recovery in oil export revenues (through the NNPC’s share of production). We have to add the CBN’s foreign exchange reforms in H1 2017 because the substantial autonomous inflows have reduced its need to supply forex to the various windows. We should stress that the data are gross and mask the swap transactions the CBN has entered into with local banks.”

http://www.akelicious.com/2018/02/nigerias-external-reserves-rise-by-11.html

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board says the much-anticipated conduct of the 2018 Mock Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination will hold on Feb. 26.

JAMB’s Head, Media and Information, Dr Fabian Benjamin, on Sunday in Lagos said a total of 245,753 of the 1,652,795 candidates that registered for this year’s UTME are expected to write the test.

“We are happy to announce to the public that the board has concluded arrangement for the conduct of the mock UTME, slated for Monday, February 26.



“This is irrespective of the ongoing strike embarked upon by members of non-academic unions of federal universities nationwide.

“Candidates will soon be informed on when to print notifications for the examination and in addition, notifications will be sent through e-mails and text messages on the schedules of their examination,” Benjamin said.

He explained that the examination was expected to be hitch-free because the board had successfully reduced incidences of malfunctioning of computers by electronically integrating the systems to see their functionality and effectiveness through link tests.

“What this means is that, at the end if the exercise, whatever system that is not seen will not be used for the mock examination.

“The 2018 exercise sold a total of 1, 966,918 candidate generating profiles.

“In previous examinations, this number of candidates would have paid for the forms but through our efficient and effective system of ensuring that candidates do not waste resources, we decided to introduce the profile generating regime.

“By this method, candidates will first have to generate personal profiles before proceeding to obtain pins, in between which they are open to deciding whether to go ahead to pay for the registration documents or otherwise,” Benjamin explained.

The main UTME is expected to hold nationwide from March 9 to March 17.

http://www.akelicious.com/2018/02/jamb-fixes-feb-26-for-mock-test.html

Last year December, a lot of ladies that wedded traditional wore ISIAGU during their IGBA NKWU.

Elders didn't complain
TRADITIONAL rulers didn't complain
Titles chiefs didn't complain etc

But I know that when I was growing up, ISIAGU is meant for titled chief.

The clothes isn't meant for anyone not to talk of women putting it on.

This days, both young guys, children, ladies etc wear ISIAGU on a daily basis

Do you think it's right?
Do you think NDI IGBO want to abolish the belief that isi Agu is only meant for tilted cheifs or do you think it's civilization?

you can also drop your comments by clicking the link http://www.akelicious.com/2018/02/do-you-think-its-right-women-wearing.html

Worldwide, an estimated 140 million births take place every year and most of these occur without complications for women and their babies, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said.

Nothemba Simelela, WHO’s Assistant Director-General for Family, Women, Children and Adolescents, stated this while issuing new guidelines on global care standards throughout labour and immediately after childbirth.

The WHO official said the new guidelines aimed at reducing the use of needless and potentially harmful routine clinical and medical interventions.

Simelela said: “We want women to give birth in a safe environment with skilled birth attendants in well-equipped facilities.


“However, the increasing medicalisation of normal childbirth processes are undermining a woman’s own capability to give birth and negatively impacting her birth experience”.

Worldwide, an estimated 140 million births take place every year and most of these occur without complications for women and their babies.

However, according to WHO, over the past 20 years, health practitioners have increased the use of interventions that were previously only used to avoid risks or treat complications, such as oxytocin infusion to speed up labour or caesarean sections.

Studies show that a substantial proportion of healthy pregnant women undergo at least one clinical intervention during labour and birth.

“If labour is progressing normally, and the woman and her baby are in good condition, they do not need to receive additional interventions to accelerate labour,” Simelela added.

Based on 56 evidence-based recommendations, the new guidelines include having a companion of choice during labour and childbirth.


It also include ensuring respectful care and good communication between women and health providers and maintaining privacy and confidentiality.

It further allowed women to make decisions about their pain management, labour and birth positions and natural urge to push, among others.

It recognised that every labour and childbirth is unique and that the duration of the active first stage of labour varies from one woman to another.

The UN agency also noted that with more women giving birth in health facilities with skilled health professionals and timely referrals, they deserved better quality of care.

Estimates show that about 830 women die from pregnancy- or childbirth-related complications around the world every day – the majority of which can be prevented with high-quality care.

“Achieving the best possible physical, emotional, and psychological outcomes for the woman and her baby requires a model of care in which health systems empower all women to access care that focuses on the mother and child,” WHO underscored.

http://www.akelicious.com/2018/02/140m-babies-born-annually-who.html

Lassa fever has claimed two pregnant women and a man in Makurdi, Benue State.

The Commissioner for Health and Human Services, Dr Cecilia Ojabo disclosed this to newsmen in Makurdi on Thurdsay.


She said one of the pregnant women was confirmed positive when her blood sample was sent to a specialist hospital in Irua in Edo State, while the other died on her way to the hospital after testing positive for Lassa fever at Federal medical center Makurdi.
“The first pregnant patient commenced treatment for Lassa fever at the designated centre located at the Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Makurdi but died in the process,” she said.
She also confirmed that a second pregnant woman died on Thursday morning after showing symptoms of the disease.
“Just this morning, l got a report from the Federal Medical Centre, Makurdi that another suspected case of Lassa fever was recorded and they were advised to take the patient to the infection unit in the teaching hospital but on their way to the hospital, the patient died with her pregnancy.

“Seven persons close to the victims had been placed under surveillance”, Ojabo stated.
Ojaba also disclosed that a patient from the Guma Local Government Area of the state manifested late symptoms of Lassa fever when he started bleeding from the nose, ears and mouth.
According to her, the victim was admitted to the Benue State University Teaching Hospital but before doctors could obtain his blood sample for the test at Irua, he died.

http://www.akelicious.com/2018/02/lassa-fever-kills-two-pregnant-women.html

For the twelfth consecutive month, inflation rate has continued a downward trajectory, recording a slowdown from 15.37 per cent in December 2017 to 15.13 per cent in January 2018, a 0.24 percentage points decrease.

According to latest figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures inflation, started 2018, increasing by 15.13 per cent (year-on-year) in January.


The statistics agency stated: “This was 0.24 per cent points lower than the rate recorded in December (15.37 per cent) making it the twelfth consecutive disinflation (slowdown in the inflation rate though still positive) in headline year on year inflation since January 2017.

Based on the new NBS’ figures, increases were recorded in all Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose (COICOP) divisions that yield the headline index.

On a month-on-month basis, the headline index increased by 0.80 per cent in January 2018, showing 0.21 percentage points increase over the rate of 0.59 per cent recorded in December 2017.

The percentage change in the average composite CPI for the twelve-month period ending January 2018 over the average of the CPI for the previous twelve-month period was 16.22 per cent, showing 0.28 percentage points decline over 16.50 per cent recorded in December 2017.

The urban inflation rate rose by 15.56 per cent (year-on-year) in January 2018 from 16.78 per cent recorded in December 2017, while the rural inflation rate also eased by 14.76 per cent in January 2018 from 15.02 per cent in December 2017.

On month-on-month basis, the urban index rose by 0.83 per cent in January 2018, up by 0.17 from 0.66 per cent recorded in December 2017, while the rural index also rose by 0.77 per cent in January 2018, up by 0.23 when compared with 0.54 per cent in December 2017.
The corresponding twelve-month year-on-year average percentage change for the urban index is 16.55 per cent in January 2018.

This is less than 16.92 per cent reported in December 2017, while the corresponding rural inflation rate in January 2018 is 15.89 per cent compared to 16.10 per cent recorded in December 2017.

High year-on-year food prices and food price pressure continued into December though generally at a slower pace year-on-year.

The food index increased by 18.92 per cent (year-on-year) in January 2017, down from the rate recorded in December (19.42 per cent).

On a month-on-month basis, the food sub-index increased by 0.87 per cent in January 2018, down by 0.29 per cent from 0.58 per cent recorded in December.

The average annual rate of change of the food sub-index for the twelve-month period ending January 2018 over the previous twelve-month average was 19.62 per cent, 0.07 percentage points from the average annual rate of change recorded in December 2017 (19.55) per cent.

The rise in the food index was caused by increases in prices of imported food in general as well as bread and cereals, milk, cheese and eggs, vegetables, fish, coffee tea and cocoa, meat, potatoes, yam and other tubers and oil and fats.

The ‘’All Items Less Farm Produce’’ or Core sub-index, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce, stood during the month of January 2018 at 12.10 per cent, similar to rate recorded in December 2017.

On a month-on-month basis, the Core sub-index increased by 0.68 per cent in January 2018, higher from 0.51 per cent recorded in December.
The average 12-month annual rate of change of the index was 13.01 per cent for the twelve-month period ending January 2018, this is 0.45 percentage points lower than 13.46 per cent recorded in December 2017.

The highest increases were recorded in prices of fuel and lubricants for personal transport and transport equipment, vehicle spare parts, accommodation services, maintenance and repair of personal transport equipment, appliances articles and products for personal care, hotels and restaurants, hairdressing salons and personal grooming establishments, clothing materials and other articles of clothing, garments, non-durable household goods and solid fuels.

In January 2018, all items inflation on a year-on-year basis was highest in Kebbi (18.55 per cent), Nasarawa (18.49 per cent) and Bauchi (18.01 per cent), while Delta (12.77 per cent), Kogi State (13.28 per cent) and Anambra (13.34 per cent) recorded the slowest rise in headline year-on- year inflation.
On a month-on-month basis however, January 2018 all items inflation was highest in Kogi (2.72%), Bayelsa (2.39%) and Sokoto (1.68%), while Kebbi, Bauchi and Cross River recorded price deflation on a month on month all item basis in January 2018.

In January 2018, food inflation on a year-on-year basis was highest in Kwara (24.46%), Nasarawa (22.77%) and Bayelsa (22.60%), while Bauchi (13.34%), Anambra (14.63%) and Benue (14.78%) recorded the slowest rise in food inflation.

On a month-on-month basis, however, January 2018 food inflation was highest in Bayelsa (3.47%), Kogi (3.38%) and Nasarawa (2.26%), while Cross River, Kebbi.

Yobe, Anambra and Delta all recorded food price deflation or negative inflation (general decrease in the general price level of goods and services or a negative inflation rate) in January 2018.

http://www.akelicious.com/2018/02/inflation-declines-for-12th-consecutive.html

The Osun Government is to spend N22.2 billion for the running of the office of Gov. Rauf Aregbesola in the 2018 fiscal year, Sen. Mudashiru Husain, the Commissioner for Cabinet Matters, has said.



Hussain disclosed this while speaking at the 2018 budget defence session at the State House of Assembly on Thursday in Osogbo.

He said the Office of the Governor was made up of 30 bureaus and agencies, all of which were funded from the state’s budget.


Husain, said N13.9 billion of the amount would be spent on recurrent expenditure, while the balance of N8.3 billion would be devoted to capital expenditure.

The commissioner said the proposed spending represented 0.9 percent reduction in the 2017 figure of N22.4 billion.

He said revenue projection and capital receipts for the agencies in 2018 stood at N4.3 billion as against the 2017 figure of N18.4 billion.

According to the commissioner, the reduction in the proposed revenue was due to restructuring of agencies of government as well as the prevailing economic hardship in the country.Husain said that Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in the state was below expectation, saying there was need for government agencies to be more aggressive in increasing revenue generation for government to finance its projects.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Aregbesola had on Dec. 28, presented the 2018 budget proposal of N173 billion to the House for approval.

Meanwhile, the Head of Service, Mr Gboyega Oyebade, has said that government released N1 billion for the payment of gratuity to retirees in the state.

The Head of Service, who appeared at the budget defence alongside the Commissioner for Budget, said retirees who had completed their documentation would be paid within a week.

He said retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme would also be issued bond certificates.

In his remarks, Mr Kamil Oyedele, Chairman, House Committee on Finance and Appropriation, said all revenue generating agencies must live up to their responsibility of improving IGR in the state.

http://www.akelicious.com/2018/02/osun-governors-office-to-spend-n22bn-in.html

The Managing Director of Air Peace, Mr Allen Onyema, on Thursday said Nigerian airlines were opposed to implementation of the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) because of the absence of a level playing field.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Onyema made the assertion while speaking with newsmen in Lagos.

He said that currently, the treaty does not favour Nigeria because other countries use high charges to discourage Nigerian airlines from operating to their cities.


Onyema said when airlines from such countries come to Nigeria, they pay relatively less charges than what they levy Nigerian carriers.The airline chief said what Nigerian airlines were demanding was observation of the principle of reciprocity by the Federal Government.

“When we say that this Single African Air Transport Market does not favour us, it is not because we cannot compete.

“It means that it does not favour us at this stage, except a level playing field is created.

“This is not only happening in Nigeria; when Emirates was eroding the US market, the airlines in America cried out.

“Their government did something about it and put policies that tried to stunt the spread of the Gulf airlines into America.

“This is in order to protect their own. So, we must try to protect our own in this country. If we don’t protect our own airlines, they will continue to struggle,” he said.

Onyema also spoke on safety in Nigeria’s aviation industry, commending the authorities for significant improvements over the years.

He attributed the feat to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority’s strict adherence to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) recommended practices.

Onyema said the NCAA, in the last four years under the management of the current Director-General, Capt. Muhtar Usman, had improved the safety rating of the aviation industry.

He said that for instance, since the last accident involving Associated Aviation in 2013, there had not been any accident or major incident involving commercial airlines operating in Nigeria.

The airline chief said this accounted for Nigeria’s successive ICAO and the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) audits with 96.4 per cent pass mark for safety.

“Talking about regulation, I think Nigerian airlines are well regulated.

“The NCAA is doing a wonderful job on that. It is not easy; sometimes you don’t feel comfortable with the way they are doing it, but they have to do it.

“The kind of regulation NCAA brings to bear on Nigerian airlines cannot be compared to any other; even in advanced countries.

“For instance, we had a bird strike on our first day in Kano and the pilot made air return back to the airport.

“We sent our British engineers to Kano to rescue the aircraft. Then we sent another aircraft to Abuja to go and airlift the passengers.

“Do you know that after the British engineers rectified it, NCAA insisted on being on the flight when we carried out a test flight? I was happy when I heard that,” he said.

http://www.akelicious.com/2018/02/why-nigerian-airlines-are-against-saatm.html

Residents of No. 6, Soyinka Street, Bariga in Shomolu Local Government Area of Lagos State yesterday woke up to the tragedy caused by a midnight fire, which burnt a five-month old infant beyond recognition, left two other children in critical condition, and destroyed property worth millions of naira.

The fire, which begun at about 11:20p.m. on Tuesday night was reportedly caused by a candlelight, which had been lit by one of the tenants in the one-storey apartment. The mother of the baby had gone to ease herself in the toilet when the candle, which had exhausted its wax, melted on an inflammable material, leading to the fire engulfing the whole room.

Spreading like a wildfire, the inferno escalated to other parts of the building, which alerted neighbours, who quickly mobilized to salvage the situation. They were able to rescue two children who were trapped in the building, but could do nothing to prevent the fire from burning the five-month old baby to death.


Efforts of The Guardian to have a chat with the mother of the toddler and two rescued kids, who had unknowingly begun the fire, proved abortive, as she was engaged in a non-stop heart-rending wailing.

According to another tenant who pleaded for anonymity, she said the fire could have resulted in more casualties but for the quick intervention of neighbours.

“I was outside when the fire started. It was the joint effort of we the tenants and the residents that enabled us to quench the fire. It was a tough battle that lasted for almost four hours all through the night. However, we were able to rescue two children, but unfortunately, a baby was killed in the fire.”

There was a mild drama when the dust had settled at the scene of the fire yesterday morning, as embittered youths attacked fire fighters, who were responding to distress call hours after the incident was reported. They threw stones at their bus, broke the glasses of their vehicles and nearly injured some of the officials. The fire fighters immediately beat a retreat to avoid the violent scene before the situation got worse.

One of the youths who spoke to The Guardian said they took the violent action because of the lateness of the fire service to the scene. “We called them immediately the fire started. They told us they were on their way. An hour later, we called them again; they said they were filling their tank with water. The third time we called them, they told us they were stuck in traffic. Why then should they come now that the situation had been put under control? Do they want to steal our achievement?” the furious man asked.

http://www.akelicious.com/2018/02/candle-fire-kills-baby-in-lagos.html

The Federal Government on Wednesday promised to provide working environment conducive for public servants to ensure quality service delivery in the country.

Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita, Head of Civil Service of the Federation (HOS) made the promise at the 2nd Edition of the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) quarterly breakfast meeting with organised labour in Abuja.

She said that efforts were already being made to enhance service delivery, as workers cannot perform optimally if their environment was not favourable.


“The issue of a conducive working environment for staff that has been raised by organised labour is very dear to my heart.
“To achieve this I have set up a committee on office allocation and expansion with focus on maintenance, rehabilitation and expansion of office allocations to MDAs.

“Similarly, I have also approved the constitution of two committees on the development of a policy framework for Public Service Disaster Prevention and Safety Management’’, she said.
The HOS disclosed that the issue of promotions for the 2014 batch of Directors in the administration cadre has finally been resolved.
She added that the lifting of the court injunction on the promotion issue led to the conduct of examinations for 2015 to 2017 batch of Directors in the same cadre.
“Over 290 directors sat for the exams, out of which 140 were successful. With this achievement I am certain that going forward, the Civil Service will ventilate itself and officers will be rewarded for hard work.
“With this, departments which were hitherto manned by officers in acting capacity would now be manned by substantive directors,’’ she said.
Oyo-Ita stated that the meeting presented a good opportunity to improve industrial relations.

She, however, urged labour leaders to fully explore the opportunity presented by this platform to resolve burning issues in order to promote industrial harmony.
While speaking to newsmen, Mr Mohammed Kiri, Deputy President, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), commended the Head of Service for her efforts in improving the livelihood of public servants.
Kiri explained that the meeting is a platform for interaction between the union leaders and the government officials on major areas that affects the welfare and work of the Nigerian workers.
He added that the meeting has brought about smooth passage of memos to councils and quicken approval of recommendations made for the growth of the workforce.
According to Kiri, there are a lot of issues affecting workers in the public service, especially succession and favourable working conditions.
“The public service has a crisis of succession, you find out that in a particular office, all the professionals have retired and they are not being replaced.
“This issue is more predominant in the states, where you find only clerks and messengers in an organisation because there has been no employment in the past so the civil service workforce is shrinking.
“And of course the working environment is another mind boggling issue for us and I have reported this severally.
“You go into the Federal Secretariat; you cannot afford to enter any of the toilets because it is filthy and smelling.
“But am glad the Head of Service has addressed the issue in this meeting on efforts being made to decongest offices and create a good environment for workers,’’ Kiri said.

http://www.akelicious.com/2018/02/fg-pledges-to-enhance-working.html

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has closed registration for the 2018 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

This was confirmed in a statement signed by the board’s spokesman, Fabian Benjamin, on Tuesday.

He said candidates who paid and obtained pins but have not been able to register, have 24 hours to complete their registration.

“The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) wishes to inform the general public that the sale of 2018 UTME application is closed.
“However, the public is urged to note that all candidates who paid and obtained pins and could not unsuccessfully register at the close of sale are allowed to quickly within 24 hours complete their registration as no complaints would be entertained afterwards.
“For purposes of emphasis, this applies to only candidates who had initiated registration processes and have paid and procured the registration epins but could not register at the close of sales.
“Take note that candidates are not to generate any profile code for the purpose of 2018 UTME registration as doing so would have no effect and a waste of time and resources,” the statement read.
Benjamin also said over 1.6million candidates applied within the three months that registration was open.
“The board commenced the sale of the 2018 UTME registration on the 6th of December 2017 and was to close on the 6th of February, 2018 but extended to 11th of February, 2018.
“At the close of pin vending a total of 1,662,818 candidates paid and obtained the epins while 1,650,547 had successfully registered for the 2018 UTME. The difference are the numbers outstanding who have not registered but are holding the epins and are now allowed to register within 24 hours,” he added.

more details at

http://www.akelicious.com/2018/02/jamb-closes-registration-for-2018-utme.html

The ANC has decided to sack Jacob Zuma as President of South Africa, a senior official said on Tuesday, after a marathon meeting to determine the fate of a leader whose scandal-plagued years in power darkened and divided Nelson Mandela’s ‘Rainbow Nation’.

The decision by the ruling party’s national executive came in the early hours of the morning, after 13 hours of tense deliberations and one face-to-face meeting between Zuma and his presumed successor, deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa.

Zuma has been living on borrowed time since Ramaphosa, a union leader once tipped as Mandela’s pick to take over the reins, was elected as head of the 106-year-old ANC in December, narrowly defeating Zuma’s ex-wife, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

In spite of the damning decision to order Zuma’s “recall” – ANC-speak for ‘remove from office’ – domestic media have speculated that the 75-year-old might yet defy the party’s wishes, forcing it into the indignity of having to unseat him in parliament.




Shortly before midnight, the SABC state broadcaster said Zuma had been told in person by Ramaphosa that he had 48 hours to resign.

A senior party source later told Reuters Zuma had made clear that he was going nowhere.

“Ramaphosa went to speak with him,” the source said, adding that when Ramaphosa returned to the ANC meeting in a Pretoria hotel, the discussions were tense and difficult”.

“We decided to recall Zuma. He hasn’t been told yet,” the source said.

The ANC said it would hold a media briefing at 1000 GMT to reveal the results of the meeting.

Zuma’s spokesman did not answer his mobile phone.


On Friday his wife Tobeka Madiba-Zuma posted comments on Instagram suggesting Zuma, who has challenged and defied attempts by the ANC and courts to rein him in, was prepared to fight and believed he was the victim of a Western conspiracy.

“He will finish what he started because he does not take orders beyond the Atlantic Ocean,” she said.

South Africa’s economy, the most sophisticated on the continent, has stagnated under Zuma’s nine-year tenure, with banks and mining firms reluctant to invest because of policy uncertainty and rampant corruption.

more details at http://www.akelicious.com/2018/02/anc-to-remove-zuma-as-south-africa.html

The Kogi Muslim Pilgrim Welfare Board says 717 slots had been allocated to the state for this year’s hajj by the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria.

The Executive Chairman of the board, Sheikh Lukman Abdullah, who disclosed this on Monday in Lokoja, said that the figure was far less than the 838 slots allocated to the state in 2017.

Abdullah spoke during a courtesy call on the Chairman of the state Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists ( NUJ ), Mr Adeiza Momoh Jimoh.

He, however, said that the board was making efforts to get additional slots, adding that preparations for the 2018 hajj had commenced.


Abdallah, who said that the greatest challenge facing the board and intending pilgrims was time, noted that all intending pilgrims had been given March 31 deadline to complete the payment of N1.5 million hajj fare.

The Chairman reiterated that the green color e-passport, national identity card and medical report are compulsory for all intending pilgrims.

He said that accommodation had been secured near the sacred mosques in Mecca and Medinah, adding that efforts were in the pipeline to enhance the welfare of pilgrims before, during and after the hajj.

In his remarks, Jimoh assured the board of support, especially in the area of sensitisation of pilgrims and members of the public.

He urged the board to always carry along the media in all its activities, adding that more slots should be allocated to Muslim journalists.

http://www.akelicious.com/2018/02/kogi-gets-717-slots-for-2018-hajj.html

Britain’s Serious Fraud Office said Monday that it has charged Barclays Bank over the lender’s emergency fundraising from Qatar during the financial crisis a decade ago.

Barclays Bank’s parent company, Barclays PLC, and four former top executives were already charged over the same alleged offence last June, but the SFO has now decided to extend the charges.

It is the first time that a British bank is facing a criminal trial over its conduct during the notorious 2008 global financial crisis.


On Monday, the SFO revealed that it had also charged the lender’s Barclays Bank PLC division with fraud, over the $3.0-billion (2.4-billion-euro) loan given by the bank to Qatar ten years ago in return for financial aid the other way.

“The Serious Fraud Office has today charged Barclays Bank PLC with unlawful financial assistance,” the SFO said in a statement.

“The charges relate to financial assistance Barclays Bank gave to Qatar Holding between October 1 and November 30 2008, which was in the form of a $3.0-billion loan for the purpose of directly or indirectly acquiring shares in Barclays PLC.”

The charges concern emergency funding secured from Qatari investors in 2008 as the global banking sector went into meltdown.

In order to avoid asking the UK government for a taxpayer bailout, Barclays raised nearly £12 billion (13.5 billion euros, $16.6 billion) from investors in the Middle East, including the Qatari state sovereign wealth fund, to help it weather the storm.

In turn, Barclays loaned $3.0 billion to the State of Qatar.

By contrast, rivals Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds had to have billions of pounds of British taxpayers’ money pumped into them.

The SFO investigation arose amid concerns that Barclays may have been effectively lending itself money, known as “financial assistance”, which is illegal.

The bank said it would fight the charges brought against both Barclays PLC and Barclays Bank PLC. And it did not expect the charges to have any impact on customers or clients.

The case against Barclays PLC and the four former executives — ex-CEO John Varley and Roger Jenkins, Thomas Kalaris, and Richard Boath — is scheduled to go to court in 2019.

Investors shrugged off the news on Monday.

“Although a potential worry, the news was no great surprise for investors,” noted Ian Forrest, analyst at The Share Centre.

“That was reflected by the fact that the market took the news in its stride… in early trading, in line with the generally positive market mood.”

Barclays’ share price was up almost 0.7 percent at 194.18 pence in afternoon deals on London’s FTSE 100 index, which was 1.2 percent higher at 7,177.77 points.

http://www.akelicious.com/2018/02/barclays-bank-charged-over-qatar.html

More than 200 youths on Monday surrendered arms and ammunition after renouncing their membership of different cult groups in Ikorodu area of Lagos.

The ceremony, which took place at the palace of the Ikorodu monarch, Oba Kabiru Shotobi, was attended by the state Police Commissioner, Edgal Imohimi and heads of other security agencies.

According to Imohimi, arms surrendered by the youths included 15 locally made long guns, 30 bullets, 11 cutlasses, four axes, four double-barrel guns, five short locally made pistols and a sword.

He said the development was as a result of the community policing and community partnership put together by the state police command.


He assured the repented cultists that the command would do all within its might to ensure Ikorodu was rid of criminality.

Imohimi said: “Today, we are in Ikorodu at the instance of our royal father and his lieutenants to take over these arms and ammunition that belong to members of major cult groups who renounced such confraternity.

“We have identified leaders of Aiye, Aye and Buccaneer, who have come out with their over 200 members to give up arms. What is happening here is that jointly, we are making history. All these weapons have been voluntarily handed over by cultists who have renounced membership and have pledged to build Ikorodu and allow peace and security to reign.

“These arms are weapons of destruction and I am happy you volunteered to relinquish them. They would be sent to police armoury. I heard that there are still few persons in your midst, who do not want to join this drive to shun cultism. Be vigilant and do not allow them to carry out their activities in Ikorodu.

“I have told my men here to partner you in order to arrest such persons. I know you have fears and uncertainties but I can assure that there is a process. Your renunciation is the first step. Thereafter, the oba will approach the local government chairman to train you in vocational skills before your reintegration into the society.

“There would also be opportunities for soft loans to establish your vocational trade. Ikorodu is the fastest growing part of Lagos and the world is concerned about what is happening here.


“I hereby call on youths of other communities in Lagos to renounce cultism. I am also appealing to youths to shun hard drugs. If you take these drugs, you won’t have a bright future. Do not allow drug dealers to rob you of your future.

“Anywhere you find a drug dealer in Ikorodu, report to the police and the person would be arrested.”

http://www.akelicious.com/2018/02/over-200-youths-renounce-cultism-in.html

150, 000 policemen attached to VIP’s, unauthorised persons – Police Service Commission
The Police Service Commission (PSC), said that more than 150,000 policemen were attached to VIP’s and unauthourised persons in the country.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that President Muhammadu Buhari, in 2015 directed that police personnel attached to unauthorised persons and VIPs in the country be withdrawn and deployed to confront the security challenges in the nation.

The Chairman of the commission, Mr Mike Okiro made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday, in Abuja.


“We cannot afford to have more than half of the population of the Police in private hands,” he said.

He said that the commission in conjunction with the Nigeria Police Force, had commenced the implementation of the withdrawal of policemen but the exercise was stalled due to lack of fund.

“We could not sustain the enforcement of the order on the withdrawal of policemen attached to unqualified persons in the country because of lack of fund.
He expressed disappointment at the practice where persons who served as ministers for over 10 to 15 years still go about with police security.

Okiro said that the nation cannot be battling with shortage of manpower in the force while majority of these officers would be in the service of few privileged Nigerians.

The chairman said that that the number of policemen in the country was inadequate for the population, hence the request for the recruitment of more policemen.

He said that issue of paucity of fund had been one of the problems hindering the recruitment of more policemen for enhanced service delivery.

“The Nigeria police Force is underfunded and not only in the area of manpower.

“The issue of funding is very strategic to the Nigeria Police Force. If you want to police Nigeria as it should be, the entire budget of Nigeria cannot be enough for that,” he said.

The chairman said that the Police Trust Fund bill before the National Assembly if passed into law would go a long way to address the issue of funding for the police.

http://www.akelicious.com/2018/02/150-000-policemen-attached-to-vips.html

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari quit his role as the Minister of Petroleum “to save Nigerians the trauma of sleeping in fuel stations” in order to get fuel.

The party made the call in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, on Sunday, insisting that “the failure of the Buhari Presidency to resolve its inflicted unabated fuel crisis, which has brought untold hardship to Nigerians” is unpardonable.

“We call on President Buhari to quit this all-important ministry of petroleum resources and allow competent hands to save our people from the anguish and pains they have been subjected to in the last few months,” it said.

Many Nigerians have struggled to get fuel in recent months after the nation was hit by fuel scarcity late in 2017. While fuel queues have disappeared in several parts of the country, many people still have difficulty getting petrol and are forced to buy the product above the official price of N145 per litre.

As the Minister of Petroleum, the PDP said President Buhari must directly accept responsibility “for the manifest failure in the oil sector, even as his government should be held responsible for the exacerbated economic and security situation in the country under its watch”.

To turn the situation around, the opposition party wants the President to appoint “competent hands” to manage the affairs to the ministry.

At the height of the fuel scarcity, some Nigerians had called on the President to quit his role as Petroleum Minister. Some others debated the legality or otherwise of the President’s decision to occupy the position.

For the PDP, if the President “had heed wise counsel from well-meaning Nigerians, since last year, to quit office as the minister of Petroleum and allow a more competent and knowledgeable person to run the ministry, the situation would not have degenerated to excruciating pains Nigerians suffer today”.

The party also accused the Presidency of unapologetically failing to fix a national problem, which it promised to resolve within one week in December, saying it has no solution but intends to continue to hold the nation to ransom.

Arguing that “poor coordination, inefficiency and reported heavy sleazes in the petroleum sector”, under the direct supervision of the President, raises a lot of issues which require urgent action, the PDP said the President has failed to take decisive steps.

“Rather, the sector has been delivered to an APC cabal, whose mission, particularly, the desperate re-election bid, largely account for the biting fuel situation and the economic misery Nigerians suffer today,” it said.

http://www.akelicious.com/2018/02/quit-as-petroleum-minister-pdp-tells.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pa2lP_bQIm8