The Niger Delta Avengers on Tuesday has claimed an attack on the Nembe Creek Trunk Line pipeline in the southern Niger Delta. The militant group said it would continue attacking energy facilities until the “environment prevails for genuine dialogue and negotiations” to end a spate of attacks dating back to January.

Reports reaching DAILY POST have it that the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, are currently in a meeting. The meeting is holding in the office of the Vice President at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. The parley may not unconnected to resolving the impasse arising from the Senate’s decision to reject President Muhammadu Buhari’s $30bn loan request.Also expected to be discussed is the 2016-2018 Medium Term Expenditure Framework.
Details later…

BigIyanga:

What a display of sophisticated idiocy. Trump neither mentioned Biafra nor Naija in his debate and victory speeches.
US has over $50bn investments in Naija from oil and gas to energy and household goods. Trump as businessman loves money more than black folks, so he's not going to allow Naija to disintegrate!! Btw, this the official US position!!

FSBoperator:


Well will never happen because she already conceded.

BigIyanga:

Nope. Trump didnt win popular vote! Why are Nigerians going tribal about Trump's victory

Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari, and his government have lost control as Nigeria’s
economic crisis sends that African nation into a
doom-loop. Everyone, including the President’s
wife, Aisha, knows that Nigeria is going down
the tubes. But not the International Monetary
Fund (IMF). As is often the case, the IMF doesn’t have a clue. The IMF’s October 2016 World
Economic Outlook projects Nigerian inflation to
average 15.4 percent for 2016. This number is in
sharp contrast to my Johns Hopkins-Cato Institute Troubled Currencies Project’s inflation estimate for Nigeria. We estimate that the year-over-year
inflation rate is currently 104.8 percent (see the
chart below). Why is the IMF so far off base? Because it is doing
what it often does: it is taking the Central Bank of
Nigeria’s (CBN) official inflation data at face value.
That official rate averaged 14.3 percent from
January to August of this year. For the IMF
forecast to materialize, official annual inflation in Nigeria would need to average 17.6 percent for
the September through December period. What
did the latest inflation report from the Central
bank of Nigeria show? According to the CBN,
annual inflation was 17.9 percent in September.
The IMF’s blind acceptance of the CBN’s data is a big mistake. Driving Nigeria’s surging inflation is the collapse
of its currency, the naira (NGN). Indeed, many of
Nigeria’s recent economic troubles are reflected
in the rapid depreciation of the naira. For over a
year, the CBN held the official exchange rate at
about 200 NGN/USD, with the aid of exchange controls. During this period, dollar shortages
raised their ugly heads and caused foreign
investment in Nigeria to deteriorate. The shortages even forced airlines to stop flights into
Lagos. Simultaneously, a black market (read: free market) for foreign currency developed and the
actual value of the naira deteriorated rapidly (see
the chart below). In June 2016, the CBN introduced a managed
“float” and claimed that the resulting NGN/USD
rate was a purely market driven exchange rate.
After a massive one-day depreciation of the
official NGN/USD rate, the naira has traded at
about 315 NGN/USD while the black market rate plunged to over 450. The sharp contrast between
official and black market rates is evidence that
the CBN is spreading disinformation (read: lying)
about its embrace of a free market for foreign
exchange. What's Day Trading: 15 Secrets to Success - Capital at risk Guardian Stockbrokers Top 10 reasons to invest in income MarketViews Reports have emerged claiming that Nigerian
businesses cannot access FX from the banks
officially tasked with providing it, so they are turning to bureaux de change (BDCs) and black
market dealers. On October 16, 2016 the black market rates and the BDC rates were both 460
NGN/USD, and the official rate was 315 NGN/USD.
The CBN brushes off the existence of the black
market, claiming these rates don’t reflect the true
value of the naira and only account for a small
portion of FX transactions. This is nonsense. If this were true, stories of businesses struggling
simply to access foreign exchange would not be
so common. The CBN’s claim to embrace a purely
free market determined Naira is a lie. Take what
the Central Bank of Nigeria says with a grain of
salt. Nigeria is in a doom loop – one that the
government and the CBN lie about and the IMF
blindly repeats.

Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, reportedly slumped over last Wednesday at the government house in Asaba.


According to an impeccable government house source, who pleaded for anonymity, Mr. Okowa who was billed to attend the World Teachers Day celebration at the cenotaph last Wednesday. However, after all preparations were put in place, Mr. Okowa reportedly slumped over at his office preventing his attendance.

Our source disclosed that immediately the governor was whisked away from the office to an undisclosed place for medical attention and his deputy, Kingsley Otuaro, was called to represent him at the event.

"I can tell you categorically that since that Wednesday till today the governor has not attended any public function. If you watch well, all the public functions, it’s the deputy that is representing him. Though, we can't tell why he slumped and the illness he is suffering from.

"Before becoming the state governor, he has been battling with unknown health challenges. Even when he was in the senate, he was with this unknown illness but some people close to him said what he is suffering from could not be far from some blood related illness," our source stated.

All efforts to contact the State Commissioner for Information, Patrick Ukah, proved abortive as his mobile line was switched off. However, the Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to governor, Charles Aniagwu swiftly debunked the story claiming it was not true.

SUBSEQUENT CONDUCT OF THE HON. MINISTER OF
INFORMATION AND CULTURE Having received our client’s drama materials,
the Hon. Minister held on to them without
communicating with our client any further. All
attempts to reach and meet with him again
were evidently rebuffed by the Hon. Minister.
Undaunted, our client reverted to the original skits first presented to the Hon. Minister and
produced many more skits of the Not in My
Country drama. This was launched publicly to
wide media coverage on the 3rd of May, 2016
in a well-attended event at Leadway/Protea
Hotel, Maryland, Ikeja. The countless media coverage of news stories, opinions and
columns are available in print and electronic
media for all to see. Thereafter, our client
embarked on an aggressive nationwide
stakeholder engagement. Despite the Minister’s
silence after receiving the work, our client sent him a reminder letter, newspaper cuttings of
his launch and a comprehensive copy of his
Not in My Country project on the 9th of June
2016. Till date, the Hon. Minister has not replied
any of these correspondences. When on the 8th of September, 2016 the Hon
Minister launched a drama skit model of the
Change Begins with Me campaign, certain
persons who were privy to our client’s project
and others who witnessed his protracted
exchanges with the Minister have made statements and accusations. Rather, contrary to
all the Hon. Minister has said about him, our
client has neither released nor commissioned
anyone to release any comment on this matter
before now. For the avoidance of doubt, let the
following be known to the government, the Hon Minister and the Nigerian public as our
client’s stand on this issue: i. our client has read every reaction, some
spontaneous, some self serving and some
others patriotic since Alhaji Lai Mohammed
launched his ‘Change Begins With Me’
campaign; ii. our client has read some concerned public
reaction to the campaign questioning the
originality of some of its components and
accusing the Hon Minister of re-adapting the
drama concept of our client’s project to his
change campaign; iii. our client has read the Hon. Minister’s
sponsored and orchestrated media attacks on
his person and associates, tagging him as
someone “seeking shortcut to success”, a
blackmailer etc; iv. in all of this, our client has urged his group
of very patriotic young Nigerians and his
hardworking crew not to say a word in
response. Our client has equally consistently
refrained from uttering any rejoinder to the
Minister’s publications and correspondences. Naturally, our client wishes to state his side of
the story, but does not want to be mistaken
for a sponsored detractor of this government; v. our client has read the comments of all those
who believe the Minister’s account simply
because they are not aware of every shred of
evidence that shows all that transpired
between the parties till the Minister launched
this Change Begins with Me campaign on September 8, 2016; vi. our client is away in the United States to
further the traction his Not In My Country
project has gained and enhance it further
through strategic and sustainable ingredients
from a global dimension pursuant to
negotiations that began long before the advent of this administration; Without taking a stance on the issue and
without prejudice to a more robust response
to the Hon Minister’s threatened suit, we
believe that the law and reason will vindicate
our client’s narrative over and above any
contrary incredible narrative.

MR. FADEYI’S SILENCE SO FAR AND HIS STANCE
ON THE ISSUES We have the instruction of Akin Fadeyi to
write you this letter. Our client, Akin Fadeyi is
the creator of the anti-corruption media
campaign project “Not in My Country”. The ‘Not
In My Country’ project has been the subject of
a heated media exchange over allegations of copyright infringement and counter-allegations
of blackmail between some actors and other
concerned citizens who were privy to the ‘Not
in My Country’ anti-corruption campaign
project and the Hon. Minister of Information,
Culture and Tourism, Alhaji Lai Mohammed. By this letter, we seek to state our client’s position
for the first time in a public space, on the many
issues thrown up by the media fray. It is our
hope that upon reading this letter, Your
Excellency will come to appreciate our client’s
status as a partner in the pious goals of this administration and the need to thoroughly
investigate the issues surrounding the media
report. For the records, our client chose to remain
silent for three crucial reasons. First, our client
is a private business man genuinely concerned
with advancing our Nigerian society by
innovative thinking and development projects,
not a politician with any vested interests. Second, as shown below, the ‘Not in My
Country’ anti-corruption campaign project is a
product of our client’s lifelong vision to do
something towards ridding our society of the
cankerworm of decadence. On this point alone,
our client has the same goals as the present administration in tackling corruption
effectively at the grassroots. Third, our client will not sacrifice this noblest of
goals on the altar of claiming his personal
individual rights, especially not in a way
capable of being bastardized or confused with
propaganda, among other distractions. That is
not to say our client will not defend his work and hard-earned intellectual property rights in
a court of competent jurisdiction at the
appropriate time. Indeed, our client awaits
Alhaji Lai Mohammed to make good his threats
to sue him, in preparation for which he has
instructed our law firm to commence the preparation of processes in answer to any
summons filed against him. Without a doubt,
when our client responds to any processes
filed, his actions and motives will be clear and
unmistakable. BRIEF HISTORY OF OUR CLIENT’S 1-MINUTE
DRAMA SKIT ‘NOT IN MY COUNTRY’ ANTI-
CORRUPTION CAMPAIGN PROJECT Your Excellency, our client is an enterprising
young man with over a decade experience in
initiating, coordinating and executing national
(re)orientation and other development projects
in Nigeria. Specifically, our client conceived and
initiated the ‘Not in My Country’ anti-corruption campaign project as far back as the year 2007
at the University of Lagos. In a Letter granting
his request to use the University premises for
‘a three minutes clip demo tape on Saturday,
September 29, 2007’, the Principal Assistant
Registrar acknowledged that the “…project is on national re-orientation campaign aimed at
changing the attitudes of youths for the better
especially in the area of examination
malpractices and moral integrity” (Please find
attached Letter dated September 26, 2007). From those days of little beginnings, our client
kept working hard at his vision for this
project- an effective anti-corruption media
campaign which the Nigerian public would
easily connect with and ultimately respond to.
Thus, our client has records of having presented some of his drama skits to officials
of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other
Related Offences Commission (ICPC) in 2007. In
2008, our client took the project to Messrs
Joseph Adeyeye, Casmir Igbokwe and Steve
Ayorinde, the current Honorable Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Lagos, who was
then Editor of the Punch. Since then, our client
kept developing this project into the media
campaign to eradicate corruption over time-
using the 1-minute drama skit model- which
our client has perfected in his ‘Not in My Country’ project.

A Presidential Aide, Lauretta
Onochie on Sunday said that
Nigeria was safer and better
under the administration of
President Muhammadu Buhari
than it was under former
President Jonathan.
Onochie, a Personal
Assistant on Social Media to
President Buhari, stated this
in an article in response to
the comment by People’s
Democratic Party, PDP,
Director of New Media, Mr
Deji Adeyanju.
It would be recalled that
Adeyanju had said that the
2016 Independence
Anniversary was the worst
since 1960, adding that the
current administration was
breaking rules of law and
infringing on rights.
The PDP in Niger had also in
its statement to mark the
Independence Anniversary
said Nigerians
are poorer.
However, Ms Onochie
stressed that all the
problems of the current
administration were caused
by the previous
administrations, especially
that of President Jonathan
which Adeyanju was a part
of.
“The whole world is aware
that Nigeria is a much secure
and safe nation under
President Buhari.
“The American Secretary of
State, John Kerry has been
dashing around Nigeria in
safety, Facebook’s founder,
Mark Zuckerberg, was seen
on the streets of Nigeria,
jogging with ordinary
Nigerians in safety.

Afenifere leader, Chief Ayo
Adebanjo in a recent
interview talked on the
leadership style of president
Muhammad Buhari and the
Involvement of the All
Progressive Congress
National Leader, Asiwaju Bola
Tinubu, in the affairs of the
country.
What do you think of the
rift between the
chairman of the All
progressive Congress,
Chief John Odigie -
Oyegun, and the APC
National Leader,
Asiwaju Tinubu?
Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, was
used by the people who do
not have the interest of the
Yoruba ‘s at heart. He chose
to follow the President
sheepishly, despite my
warnings to him that Buhari,
has not changed. Bola
Tinubu, chose to blindly
support Buhari. I am not
concerned about the APC
politics, but rather what is
happening in the party is
more than a gang up against
Tinubu. I am worried for
Tinubu, because he is the
voice of the Yoruba people.
Is there any link
between it and the socio
-political crisis in
Nigeria?
That is the reason we are
having problems in Nigeria
today. You have the
Movement for the
Actualization of the
Sovereign state of Biafra,
the Niger Delta Avengers,
and the Indigenous People of
Biafra. It is a question of the
constitution of the nation.
It’s unfortunate that some
people are blindly following
Buhari hoping he will share
power with them.
I agree with the people who
said Tinubu made a mistake
to have supported Buhari to
emerge as Nigeria’s
President. The APC is a
melting pot of various
interest groups; you have
the Tinubu group, the Buhari
group and the other groups.
If the ruling party is
fragmented then we are in a
mess. The mess was evident
from the beginning of this
administration when the
party could not agree on who
should take positions in the
National Assembly. The APC
is characterized by personal
reasons, selfishness, and
narrow-mindedness. They
came together without a
definite purpose on what to
take to the government.
What is the way
forward?
I wish Tinubu can get things
right, regroup and get out of
the unholy alliance he got
himself involved in, for the
benefit of the Yoruba nation
and the south. In 2019,there
will be no APC and if there is,
it won’t be in this form.

Telecommunications
Company, MTN, on Friday
fired hundreds of staff in its
Nigeria offices without
severance pay, several
affected staff have told
PREMIUM TIMES.
The staff said they were not
properly about their
dismissal and that the
company failed to respect
their contractual agreements.
They said MTN had informed
them of a plan to outsource
staff, but since it was not the
first time that would happen,
they took the information
casually.
“In 2012 they outsourced us
to a company called DNSSL.
Now what we have heard is
that MTN is taking us away
from DNSSL to an Indian
company, ICON,” said one
staff, who has worked with
the company for over five
years.
He said they were told by
MTN about two weeks ago
that the contracts would
terminate at the end of
September. With no further
information, the staff thought
they would return to MTN.
“But on reaching here today,
they placed security all over
the place, numbering up to
50 private security
operatives,” he said.
He said while a company
could hire and fire,
employees also should be
fairly remunerated.
“For five years since I have
been with them, salaries
have not been reviewed. We
work on public holidays, yet
there were no plans for any
overtime payments. We
operate an invoice system,
which allows payments within
intervals of a month, starting
from the 15th of every
month.

ost high-profile kidnap
cases in 2016.
BY SAHARAREPORTERS, NEW
YORK
SEP 30, 2016
SaharaReporters has
learned that a group of
heavily armed kidnappers
yesterday abducted
Margaret Emefiele, the wife
of Nigeria’s Central Bank
Governor, Godwin Emefiele.
A source close to Mr.
Emefiele told our
correspondent that Mrs.
Emefiele was kidnapped
along the Benin-Agbor Road.
Our source disclosed that
the kidnappers have made
contact with their victim’s
husband, adding that they
were demanding a huge sum
in ransom.
Mrs. Emefiele’s kidnap
represents one of the most
high-profile kidnap cases in
2016.
Our effort to reach the CBN
governor were unsuccessful.
CBN Governor Godwin
Emefiele

LAGOS, Sept 30 (Reuters) -
Nigeria's foreign exchange
reserves fell to $24.59
billion by Sept. 28, down 3.37
percent from the previous
month, latest central bank
data showed on Friday, as
the bank stepped up its
intervention to prop up the
ailing naira currency.
The reserves of Africa's
largest economy stood at $
25.45 billion last month. The
reserves had declined 19
percent from a year ago.
The central bank has been
selling the dollar to support
the currency, but the naira
hit a fresh all-time low of
490 per dollar on the black
market on Friday.
(Reporting by Oludare
Mayowa; Editing by Gareth
Jones)

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural
Development, Audu Ogbeh, on Thursday in Abuja
unveiled plantain bread made by the Concerned
Youth Empowerment Association of Nigeria
(CYEN).
Represented by the Deputy Director, Gender and
Youth in the ministry, Karima Babangida, Ogbeh
said the development had come at a time when
unemployment, diabetes, obesity, cancer were on
the rise.
He said bread was commonly eaten across the
country but for medical reasons, some were
unable to eat the regular wheat or cassava bread.
The minister said the association provided a
healthier option to cassava and wheat bread for
those with health challenges.
“Plantains are so versatile and nutritious; if you
are looking for flour alternative, then, look no
further because you can make pizza, chips,
bread, dessert and many more from plantain
flour.
“The demand is on the increase due to increase
awareness of its health benefits; it is rich in iron,
Vitamin A, B, C, magnesium and phosphorus.
“It has high resistant starch which helps to make
people slimmer and healthier, they are diuretic
and can help prevent ulcer, kidney and bladder
problems and are essential for healthy
pregnancy,” he said.
Ogbeh urged youth in the country to avail
themselves of the exciting opportunities that
abound in agricultural sector.
The minister said the agric sector needed youth
participant to change the labour composition and
replace aging farmers.
The National President of the association, Noble
Adelu, said the initiative was driven by patriotic
concern to cut down the rate of food importation
into the country.
Adelu said the initiative would build the monetary
value of the Naira for a robust economy and
enhance the use farm produce for the production
of medical and prophylactic product.
“As concerned Nigerians, CYEN wants to see a
better Nigeria and so we went into research and
we discovered that we could make use of plantain
flour in place of wheat flour which we import to
make bread.
“The flour can be used to bake bread, cake, make
`fufu’ and other pastries,’’ he said.
The president said when the initiative is expanded
it would create jobs along the value chain and
create market for plantain farmers across the
country.
He said there had been no realistic support from
the Federal Government, saying that funds to
support young farmers in CBN’s custody have
stringent and unrealistic conditions attached.
In his remarks, the Director-General, National
Board for Technology Incubation (NBTI),
Mohammed Jibrin, said depending on importation
of wheat flour was a “rape of our economy”.
Mr. Jibrin said Nigeria could not move out of
recession if it continued to spend six billion dollars
on wheat importation annually.
He said the innovation would save the country
billions of dollars and ensures more nutritious
option for wheat.
The director-general said promotion of innovative
entrepreneur ventures was the core mandate of
NBTI, saying that it shall marshal all its arsenals to
ensure the initiative succeeds. (NAN)

FORMER President, Chief Olusegun
Obasanjo has thrown his weight behind call for
the sale of national assets to raise money by the
Federal Government, but, cautioned the
government against selling them to cabals.
Obasanjo also said he foresaw the current
economic recession two years ago and warned of
its consequences.
The former President said this, yesterday, at the
opening session of a two-day National Council of
Finance and Economic Development conference
held at the Green Legacy Resort, Olusegun
Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta.
The conference was held in conjunction with
Federal Ministry of Finance with the conference
theme: Enhancing Revenue Generation and
Obtaining best value for money in expenditure.
The former president, who identified port
authorities and Nigeria National Petroleum
Corporation, as part of assets that Nigeria could
partly sell to generate fund, said: “I think the
problem is in the coinage selling of asset as if we
want to throw away our inheritance.
His words: “Look, the Nigeria National Petroleum
Corporation, NNPC, was run as personal things,
even the Central Bank was also run that way.
They write notes to the Central Bank to release so
much. We cannot have a country run that way.
We started NNPC about the same time Norway
started and look at where we are.
I said it this morning, two institutions that were
not tampered badly or not tampered at all in the
last six years, was NLNG, the second one was
pension fund which is going to about N6 trillion
which has captured only seven million people out
of over 20 million wage earners, if we can even
double that, you imagine what that can be.”
Continuing, the former president said: “I see no
reason why 48 percent of NNPC cannot be
privatised. Don’t give it out to cabals, friends,
relations, kiths and kins, let it go public so that
even my driver can buy 10 per cent of NNPC and
there should be limit to the share any individual
or any cooperate organisation can buy, there is
nothing wrong in that. The NNPC will then be run
as NLNG was run.”
While calling on the Federal government to be
transparent in the sale of the assets, he said “The
only fear the people would entertain is the
magomago, if there is no ‘magomago’ in it and it
is transparent, yes. And when the money comes,
the way it will be spent, yes, and when you have
money and you want to buy again, yes.
I don’t see anything there, government should
not feel shy, lets come out and say ‘this is what
we are doing and this is why we are doing it’ and
let people see and if anybody wants to ask
questions, let them ask question, that is the way I
see it and if any person is not happy about what I
said, I have no apologies.”
On the way out, he said the major problem with
Nigeria is that “we are spending more than we
are earning and we have not been able to save for
the rainy day.”
He suggested a three-fold solution; which
includes: borrowing, spending less and earning
more to solve the nation’s economic challenges.