₦airaland Forum

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited on Monday said it was currently working on building pipelines that would deliver gas from Nigeria to Europe.

NNPC’s Group Managing Director, Mele Kyari, disclosed this while speaking virtually at the Atlantic Council Global Energy Forum. The forum was hosted in the United Arab Emirates.

He stated that Nigeria was moving away from dirtier fuel to cleaner energy, adding that gas had been picked by the Federal Government as Nigeria’s transition fuel.

Kyari said, “What we are doing is some kind of replacement such that we move from the dirtier fuel to cleaner fuel which is gas.

“And what we had to do is to build the enormous gas infrastructure required to ensure that there is sufficient supply of gas into the domestic market and provide some for the international market.

“And more than that, within the West African context, you will see that energy inefficiency and poverty that you see in Nigeria is also in many West African countries around us.”

He added, “Therefore, we are trying to see how we can build a network of pipeline infrastructure that will deliver gas and potentially to jump into Europe through Morocco or through Algeria.”

On Friday, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, told a delegation from the European Union that Nigeria was ready to step in as an alternative gas supplier to Europe.

Sylva, however, urged the European Union to step up investments in gas and hydrocarbon in Nigeria so that the country would be able to help meet the EU energy needs.

His call came on the heels of the festering war between Ukraine and Russia, which currently posed a threat to gas supply to European countries.

A Kaduna-bound train derailed on Monday after explosives believed to be planted on the rail track went off around Katari area of the State.

Daily Trust reports that the 6pm train, which took off from Idu Train Station at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) hit the explosive device about 30 minutes to Rigasa train station in Kaduna.

Details were sketchy at the time of filling this report but Daily Trust gathered that security agents have been mobilised to the area to rescue the passengers.

“There is no network in the area so we cannot get any information until the team we have dispatched returns,” said a top security source in Kaduna.

“What we know is that suspected IED’s were planted on the track and the train has derailed. We don’t know for sure if there is any injury or death,” he said.

Speaking with Daily Trust, Managing Director/CEO of the Nigerian Railway Corporation, Mr. Fidet Okhiria, confirmed the attack but did not go into details.

macrodata:
HAHAHAHA! Na una type dey make heaven. Just be good & love your neighbiur as yourself. It'll be fine.

Candidlady:
Lol two clowns

SmellySperm:
Omor e fit happen o. Especially if they have same size of kpekus

A chieftain of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chuks Ibegbu, on Monday rubbished claims that presidential aspirants like Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, are a threat to Igbo presidency in 2023.

Ibegbu said Tinubu and Atiku are not threats but distractions to Igbo presidency in 2023.

Speaking with DAILY POST, the former Deputy National Public Secretary of Ohanaeze Ndigbo said both Tinubu and Atiku are insensitive to the mood of Nigerians.

Recall that the founding National Chairman of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chekwas Okorie, had identified Tinubu and Atiku as a major threat to the pursuit of Igbo presidency in 2023.

Okorie expressed doubt over an Igbo man clinching the presidential ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and the All Progressives Congress, APC, with Tinubu and Atiku still in the race.

However, Ibegbu noted that Tinubu and Atiku’s presidential ambitions run contrary to the push for justice and equity.

He wondered why Atiku and Tinubu are so ambitious about running for the Presidency.

According to Ibegbu: “They are not threats but distractions and arbiters of injustice. They are clearly insensitive to the mood of the nation.

“Their ambition runs contrary to the mood of the nation for political justice and equity. Why must Atiku or Tinubu be overly ambitious to rule Nigeria in the past? What record did they keep in the past?

“Nigerians will decide if the nation will be the world capital of injustice and poverty as well.”

Themandator:
Please don't use this font again ..... I almost skipped it because I always relate it to that righteous lunatic guy

macrodata:
Your comment position & style of writing makes me believe this handle is Bro Righteousness.

MrSly:
Oga shut up if you have nothing to say and don't drag IPOB to your useless sit at home. IPOB has vehemently disowned sit at home order. You people are now obeying one slowpoke who could not even obey IPOB BOT but kept on running a parallel authority to cause havoc. Simon Ekpa is a coward and a toad who hides in far away Finland. He should come to anambra and start giving his orders to his hoodlums.

Nigeria’s former finance minister, Kemi Adeosun, has opened up on the ordeal that led to her premature resignation in 2018.

Addressing participants of the Uncommon Woman Conference, a church organised event in the UK, Ms Adeosun recounted the tough moment she stepped into the big shoes of her predecessor, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (now Director-General of the World Trade Organisation).

According to the former minister, she felt pressured from Nigerians who expected her to measure up to the high standards of her predecessor even from the first day she assumed office.

Ms Adeosun explained that the moment Nigeria’s economy began to show signs of improvement, a barrage of attacks were launched against her over her non-participation of the mandatory national youth service year.

“That period of life was tough for me. I went to step into the shoes of someone like Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. So, I was under fire from day one, it looked like things were not working. Then all of a sudden, the economy started to improve. It was like I was beginning to see the desired result. Then out of nowhere, the certificate scandal came. And before I knew it, everything turned upside down. And that was how the issue went viral,” recounted the former finance minister.

There had been controversy over Ms Adeosun’s NYSC certificate of exemption, rumoured to be forged. Many citizens argued over her ineligibility to serve as a nation’s minister over the alleged forgery.

A ruling by Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the Abuja division of the Federal High Court offered some succour to Ms Adeosun in July 2021 where it was declared that the NYSC certificate was not compulsory to take up a ministerial appointment.
The former minister who could not stand the heat of attacks charging at her career from all angles, deeming her incompetent and ineligible, stepped down from her ministerial job.

She stressed that being born and raised in the UK all her life, she relocated to Nigeria at the age of 34 – exceeding the age of participation in the NYSC programme, which informed her decision to obtain an exemption certificate.

“I was born and raised in the United Kingdom; indeed, my parental family home remains in London. My visits to Nigeria up until the age of 34 were holidays, with visas obtained in my UK passport.

“I obtained my first Nigerian passport at the age of 34 and when I relocated, there was debate as to whether the NYSC law applied to me,” Ms Adeosun enumerated. Upon enquiry as to my status relating to the NYSC, I was informed that due to my residency history and having exceeded the age of 30, I was exempted from the requirement to serve.”

“Until recent events, that remained my understanding,” she added.

According to Ms Adeosun, the controversy affected her mental health as she could no longer continue her mentoring programme, since the controversy contradicted the values she was teaching her mentees.

“I was so ashamed at that time because I was into teenagers’ mentoring and all of that. So, the experience negated the lessons I had taught my teenagers. I cried every day for three months; I didn’t do anything for anyone or myself for those months. I just cried, cried, and cried.”

Despite her victory in court three years later, Ms Adeosun explained she had to go into therapy to regain her mental health.

“I thought I would feel better when I got vindicated by the court but I still wasn’t happy. The court cleared my name three years later but it took another time of counselling and therapy before I felt better,” she said.

“It was thereafter I forged ahead with life and started my charity work.”

The Presidency has slammed the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for its latest statement on the emergence of former Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Adamu as the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

The PDP, while reacting to the emergence of Adamu as the newly-elected national chairman of the APC, told the former Governor to spare a moment to reflect on the corruption charges brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in 2010, for which he is yet to clear his name.

Recall that following the restoration of democracy in Nigeria in 1999, Adamu became a founding member of the PDP, under which he ran for and won the governorship election of Nasarawa State and spent eight years in office between May 1999 and 2007.

Adamu was later charged to court in 2010 by the EFCC, alongside 19 other Nasarawa State officials, with 149 counts of corruption. He was accused of embezzling N15 billion public funds.

While his corruption case with the EFCC was still on, Adamu and ten other PDP senators dumped the PDP and joined the APC on January 29, 2014.

And in a statement signed by Garba Shehu, President Muhammadu Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, the Presidency called the attention of the PDP to the Scriptures that teach of the virtue of sinners who repent and change their ways.

The Presidency said it was wrong for the main opposition to think that some of its members who left [and whose sins have been forgiven and forgotten) for joining the APC, cannot take up leadership positions.

Garba Shehu further suggested that some PDP members, who moved to the APC with the likes of Adamu in 2014, and later returned to the PDP in 2018, returned to their sins, “their old ways.”

He further slammed the media, accusing it of carrying fake news of crisis in the APC.

“What the Convention made clear was how the media has been peddling fake news of division, when the hard reality of unity, cohesion, and indeed personal warmth between members of the party’s leaders – incoming and outgoing – was evident for all to see,” Shehu claimed.

“Of course, the blame for this mindset ought rightly to go to the opposition who in all these years had done the work to only divide the country, leading to all manner of separatist agitations.

“When their fake news of disunity was undone by the facts, some in the opposition could not help themselves but took to the newspapers and the airwaves to find another way to shore up their reputations.

“That some of the APC’s new leadership were once in the opposition was the new line to take to the media, somehow suggesting that those who have left one party should not hold positions in another. Yet, do the Scriptures not teach us of the virtue of sinners who repent and change their ways?

“What the Scriptures say less is of sinners who repent, change their tune, and then choose to re-sin in full public view by returning to their former ways.

“Given that most important leaders of the opposition PDP first left the party before they returned to it, we might expect the media to ensure criticism of them. It is incredulous that anyone would consider them trustworthy or acceptable candidates for any public office.”

Lalasticlala, Mynd44

BeeBeeOoh:
You are right I must say, Onitsha is calm now.

Owerri road is not left out also, as a matter of fact, sanity have returned back to Onitsha and its environs

May God help Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo

God bless Ndi Anambra for making the right choice

God Bless Ndi IGBO

GOD BLESS LOVERS OF FREEDOM

Ahmed0336:
Great news!!!!

Kindly support your post with pictures if you can.

AsampeteNwaanyi:
Amen ooo

Soludo should keep up the tempo

Totilopussylick:
I weep for my dear country Nigeria

The vision and determination of President Muhammadu Buhari to significantly improve the economy, enhance security, and fight against corruption would continue as the focus of the Federal Government under the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) so as to create more jobs for Nigerians, increase access to healthcare, and build a united, strong nation, among others.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, stated this on Saturday night at the just-concluded APC national convention, which held at the Eagles Square in Abuja.

He spoke ahead of the President himself and joined him early this afternoon to witness the swearing-in of the newly elected National Working Committee (NWC) members of the party.

In his speech, the President urged the party to consider the nation and the people’s interest first in choosing leaders.

In the Vice President’s remarks in a statement by his media aide, Laolu Akande, he affirmed that, “we will actualise the pledge of universal health coverage for all. We will continue undaunted in the task of building infrastructure that will be the foundation of the great modern economy of our dreams. We will continue in the task of building a strong, united, fair and just Nigeria; a Nigeria where every young man and woman can find opportunities to work and prosper.”

Prof. Osinbajo further said creating more jobs and taking millions of Nigerians out of poverty must remain priority for government.

“We must focus on the objective of taking 100 million out of poverty in this decade, as promised by this government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari.

“We will not relent; we will not look back and we will not falter. And by the grace of God, this party, our party, the All Progressives Congress, will, in the coming decades, lead Nigeria and its great peoples to its manifest destiny.

“Our eyes must remain fixed on three things: one – jobs; two – jobs and three- jobs,” the VP noted

He urged leaders of the party to, in the coming months and years, “remain resolute, committed and focused on the vision of Mr. President to deliver on the economy, security for all and the fight against corruption.”

According to the VP, despite the challenges, including insurgency and the COVID-19 pandemic that affected global economies, the Buhari Administration, in the past eight years, has made great strides in ensuring national development.

But he observed that “the years of building are always difficult, and sometimes, painful. The building of a great edifice requires deep roots into the ground and a foundation as deep sometimes into the ground as the grand edifice that it will support.

“We cannot deny the difficulties we, as a party, and the government, and indeed, our people, have been through,” but the VP asserted that the Federal Government and the people will continue to build “the Nigeria of our dreams.”

“We have had to tackle terrorist activities, insurgency and security challenges in parts of the country. But our people have remained steadfast, resilient and determined to see the Nigeria of our dreams. And our government has also remained steadfast, determined, committed and focused.

Prof. Osinbajo also noted the achievements of the Administration in the areas of infrastructure and social investments, as well as the contributions of the private sector to national development.

“Eight years on, the government of our party and the Nigerian people has embarked on the largest investments in infrastructure in our history; investments in rail, roads, in power and broadband connectivity. We have birthed an irreversible agricultural revolution, investing more in agriculture than any previous government in the history of our nation. We have established the largest social investment programmes in Sub-Saharan Africa, feeding 9.5 million children daily in our home-grown school feeding programme, over 4 million beneficiaries of our Government Empowerment and Enterprise Programme (GEEP) – the MarketMoni, TraderMoni, FarmerMoni.

“Our private sector has, despite constraints, continued to do wonders. Only a few days ago, Mr. President commissioned the largest fertilizer plant in Africa and one of the largestt fertilizer plants in the world. And in a few months, the largest single line refinery in the world will become operational under this government and in this nation.

“Since 2015, in the tech sector, our young men and women have established world class companies. Today Nigeria can boast of 6 unicorns – tech companies valued at over 1 billion dollars each.”

While congratulating all the members of the party, the Vice President specially commended the founding fathers of the APC for their vision and foresight, noting that the APC was forged from different people and ideas, and from the position of an opposition.

The VP specifically mentioned President Muhammadu Buhari, whose vision and direction he noted “brought about that merger that became known as the APC.”

He also noted, among others, the former governor of Osun State and first interim Chairman of the APC, Chief Bisi Akande; national leader and former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; former governor of Sokoto State, Aliyu Wamakko; Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai; a former Governor of Abia State and Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu; and former governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha.

“These men, amongst others, sat together to craft what is known today as the All Progressives Congress, Africa’s largest political party and will be Africa’s most successful political party,” he added.

The convention also saw the emergence of Senator Abdullahi Adamu as the new national chairman of the APC, among other National and Zonal leaders of the party.

Lalasticlala Mynd44

chatinent:
Hunger bad.

THE abductors of a middle-aged man identified as Idowu in Ekiti State have released him after reported payment of a ransom of N750,000 plus beer, cigarettes and noodles by his family.

The victim was on Monday ambushed and kidnapped on Ikole-Ijesa Isu Road in Ikole Local Government Area at about 6.30 p.m. while travelling in his car. Saturday Tribune gathered that the victim, the manager of one of the relaxation centres in the council area, was released in the early hours of Friday in a bush close to the area.


According to a source close to the victim, the kidnappers had called the family and demanded for N2 million ransom before it was reduced to N750,000. The source added that aside from the N750,000, the gunmen also received from the family cans of beer, noodles, cigarettes, soft drinks and other items.

“They initially demanded N2 million from the family but after serious pleading, they agreed on N750,000 which the family paid. They collected other materials like beer, cigarettes, soft drinks and noodles before our man was released today (Friday). We want the government to do something about the increasing cases of kidnapping in this area,” the source said.


When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Sunday Abutu, confirmed the release of the victim but denied knowledge of ransom payment by the family.

The PPRO claimed that the victim regained his freedom due to the efforts of a combined team of the police, vigilante and Amotekun corps personnel in the state.

Lalasticlala, Mynd44

AntiMen:
If it will rest my head ,I don't mind, but no be me force feeling on myself.....did I?

Justice Akintayo Aluko of a Federal High Court in Lagos, on Friday, directed the Federal Government to permanently take over a vacant plot of land linked to a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke.

Justice Aluko’s order of the final forfeiture of the land located at Plot 13, Block I, Oniru Chieftaincy Family Private Estate, Lekki, Lagos, after listening to an application to that effect from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The application was filed by Ansalem B. Ozioko on behalf of the Head of Legal Section of the EFCC and argued by Abbas Mohammed, a Legal Officer in the Commission.

LEADERSHIP recall that Justice Babs Kuewuni of the same court had on May 15, 2018, granted an interim forfeiture of the said land.

In his ruling, Justice Aluko held that, “this motion on notice dated February 17, 2022, coming before this Honourable Court on 25th day of March 2022, praying the Court for the following reliefs; a final Order forfeiting the properties, assets listed and – described in the schedule herein to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

“And for such further orders as this Honourable Court may deem fit to make in the circumstance.

“After reading the affidavit in support of the motion paper sworn to by Babana Job, of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of 15A Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos State. And the court having heard A.O. Mohammed Esq, for the Plaintiff/ Applicant moved the application praying the court to grant the reliefs sought as endorsed on the motion paper.

“It is hereby ordered as follows, that a final order is hereby granted forfeiting the property/asset listed and described in the schedule herein to the Federal Government of Nigeria.”

The anti-graft agency had listed the former Petroleum Minister, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, a Nigerian lawyer, Donald Chidi Amamgbo and MEZ Group LLC, as respondents in the suit numbered FHC/L/CS/811/2018.

Justice Babs Kuewuni, who formerly presided over the court, had sometimes in 2018, granted interim forfeiture of the said land upon reading the affidavit in support of the motion paper sworn to by AbdulRasheed Bawa, now the chairman of the Commission, which was argued and moved by Anselem B. C. Ozioko.

Part of Justice kuewumi’s orders directed the EFCC to notify the persons in whose possession the properties sought to be forfeited are found to appear before this Honourable Court and show cause within 14 days why the properties should not be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

The order also directed the EFCC to publish in any Newspaper of the Interim Order, for persons in whose possession the properties sought to be forfeited are found or anyone interested in the properties sought to be forfeited to appear before this Honourable Court to show cause within 14 days why the final order of forfeiture of the properties mentioned in the relief 1 herein should not be made in favour of the Federal Government of Nigeria.

In asking the court for final forfeiture of the said land, the EFCC through one of its investigators, Babana Job, in an affidavit in support of the motion stated that sometime in 2016, a Search Warrant was executed at the Office and premises of Mr.u Donald Chidi Amamgbo (second Defendant in the suit) and a known acquaintance of the former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison Madueke (first Defendant).

The investigator stated that among the documents recovered from the office of the second defendant was an undated report titled: Highly Confidential Attorney work ProductAugust Report. The said report contained a list of 18 companies and several properties located in the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Nigeria.

He further claimed that the Commission extended an invitation to the second defendant and was unable to locate the first Defendant in respect of the discoveries during the search.

“The second defendant honoured the invitation extended to him and upon his report, he was confronted with the Highly Confidential Attorney Work Product August Report.

“In the course of the interview, he told the agency that he registered the 18 companies, including the third defendant to assist Mrs Diezani Alison Madueke (first Defendant) in holding titles of her properties and that all the properties belong to her,” he alleged.

The deponent stated that as part of investigative procedures, the Commission wrote and dispatched letters of investigation activities to Oniru Chieftaincy family property Company (Oniru), individuals, organizations and Financial institutions, replies were received and analysed.

Adding that based on the findings of the investigation, the EFCC commenced an action to forfeit the vacant plot at plot 13 Block Il, Oniru Chieftaincy Family Private Estate, Lekki, Lagos State.

And that the Court in a considered Ruling granted an Interim order of forfeiture against the plot 13 Block Il, Oniru Chieftaincy Family Private Estate, Lekki, Lagos State to the Federal Government of Nigeria. A copy of the interim order is herewith attached and marked as exhibit EFCC 28.

He also averred that in compliance with Court Order as contained in exhibit EFCC 28, the interim order of the Honourable Court has been published in The Nation Newspaper Vol. No. 4404 Monday, August 20, 2018, as ordered by the Honourable Court.

The EFCC operative claimed that no person or party has shown or signified interest to ‘show cause’ against the interim order of the court, which necessitated the present application for the final forfeiture order of the Honourable Court.

He stated that it was of utmost public interest and concern and in the interest of justice to grant this application.