ENUGU—Enugu State Housing Development Corporation, ESHDC, said it has embarked on provision of houses for low income earners in the state.

Ugwuanyi Already, the corporation has acquired over five sites in Enugu metropolis and outskirts of the city for housing estates, just as it said there are also provisions for houses for the medium and high income earners.

Among the sites currently being developed, according the General Manager of the corporation, Mr. Chukwuemelie Agu, are Ugwuoba Housing, meant for civil servants who shuttle between Enugu and Anambra States; Coal City View at Agu Abor and Rangers Estate at Akagbe Ugwu.

Agu said the corporation decided to develop estates in the outskirts of Enugu metropolis in order to de-congest the metropolis and accommodate the rapid expansion which the city is witnessing as the capital of the South-East region.

Ministers: APC chieftain expresses confidence in Fashola, Mamora(Opens in a new browser tab) He said that to achieve this, the corporation is talking with the Federal Mortgage Bank and funding sources to partner and provide the houses to the low income earners on good and affordable conditions.

According to him, many workers are showing interest in having their own houses as about 1,000 off-takers have already indicated interest, explaining that the houses would be built based on specifications and capabilities of the beneficiaries to pay.

See more photos here;



Sources; https://maniagist.com/2019/08/08/enugu-govt-begins-housing-projects-for-civil-servants-photos-speak/

A former Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Nduese Essien, has said oil companies in the Niger Delta were laying off contractors and workers because of the delay in releasing funds for the Joint Venture Cash Calls (JVC) to oil companies by the Federal Government.

The former House of Representatives member spoke in a statement yesterday in Abuja.

According to him, the Federal Government’s delay in meeting its financial obligations to the oil companies led to the termination of contracts with service operators.

Essien said the operators have in turn laid off their workers thereby compounding the unemployment situation in the country.

He said: “The joint cash calls to the petroleum industry are always suffering delayed payments. Currently, some operators have laid off some of their services contractors who have equally laid off their workers, thus compounding the unemployment situation.”

The former minister said the Federal Government was setting wrong priorities for itself by budgeting N2.2 billion for Ruga settlement.

When we were thinking that the Federal Government had suspended the Ruga project, behold the Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters, Ita Enang, has just alerted the country that a provision of N2.2 billion had already been made in the 2019 budget for the scheme and that money had always been spent on Ruga. The National Assembly should as soon as possible, vire the provision for Ruga to other uses to clear itself of complicity in this scheme,” he added.




Source; https://maniagist.com/2019/08/07/oil-firms-sacking-contractors-workers-due-to-delayed-payment-from-fg/

Customs officers at Onne Port in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, have arrested a five-man gang who specialises in breaking containers.

The Area Controller in charge of the port, Galadima Saidu, said yesterday that the stolen drugs were already seized, but the container was broken, while some drugs were packed into two vehicles.

He said Customs officers turned down the N1million bribe given to them to allow the theft, adding that the cash was part of the exhibits.

On July 30, at about 2240hrs, the command arrested some men who broke and opened a 1x 40 ft seized container comprising drugs warehoused and loaded into two vehicles, a Mercedes Benz Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) with registration number: EPE 828 AR and a Toyota Camry with number plate EKY 159 BD,” Saudi said.

He gave a breakdown of the seizures as 14 cartons of 50 packs per carton and 49 extra packs of Cols Time tablets. Four cartons of 22 packets per carton and 10 extra packets of Really Extra Analgesic. Two cartons – (60 packets per carton) of Tramadol tablets.

One carton and 10 packs of Really Extra-analgesic and anti-inflammative tablets.

Saidu said an interim committee was set up to investigate the incident, adding that the five suspects and the vehicles were detained.

He said an exhibit of N1 million was recovered from an officer, who was instructed to play along, in order to arrest the suspects.

It is regrettable that while the Nigeria Customs Service is working round the clock to free this country of illicit goods, some recalcitrant and unpatriotic citizens are not relenting in their desperate efforts to sabotage our efforts by spreading harmful drugs.

The Nigeria Customs is poised to leave no stone unturned in ensuring that these perpetrators know no sleep as long as they refuse to give up,” he said



Source; https://maniagist.com/2019/08/07/customs-arrested-a-five-man-gang-who-specialises-in-breaking-containersphoto/

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control has warned Nigerians against use of pesticides and other agro chemicals in homes for domestic purposes.

The Director General of the Agency, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, gave the warning on Tuesday at a one-day sensitisation workshop organised by the agency for agro dealers in Kano.

Adeyeye, represented by the Head, Veterinary and Agro Allied Department, Malam Bukar Usman, said the sensitisation was imperative due to the increasing number of cases of abuse of such products.

She said that it was essential to sensitise the agro dealers on the health hazards posed by some of the chemicals being sold to the public for domestic use.

She said: “The agency understands that the pressing need to produce more food is a major concern for farmers, companies and government, yet there is need to pay attention to fake agrochemicals.

The neglect of good manufacturing practices or good warehouse practice, both accidental and deliberate, derives the circulation of substandard crop protection products.

She added that the agency had recently received complaints from concerned citizens on misuse, abuse, presence of counterfeit, substandard and fake pesticides in the country, which had affected the welbeing of citizens and crops.

Adeyeye, however, stressed that the sensitisation was meant to be a proactive measure to avoid Nigeria becoming a dumping ground for substandard and fake agro allied chemicals.



Source; https://maniagist.com/2019/08/07/nafdac-warns-populace-against-use-of-pesticides-in-homes-revealed/

Is all about confusion

Total of 276 Army officers are to sit for the 2019 qualifying examination for Senior Staff Course in the Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji, Kaduna State.

The News Agency of Nigeria is reporting that Army officers must pass the examination before attending the Senior Staff Course.

The examination is conducted by Nigerian Army Training and Doctrine Command and is expected to last for a week.

The Examination President and of Commander TRADOC, Major General Abubakar Tarfa, said while addressing the candidates on Sunday at Jaji Military Cantonment in Kaduna State that the examination is a key determinant to their progress in the Army.

Tarfa said: “As you are aware, the SSCQE is a major prerequisite for you to attend the Senior Staff Course at the AFCSC here in Jaji or any of the subscribed Staff Colleges oversees, hence the need for you to qualify requires no further emphasis.

I believe that while majority of you are first attempters, others are attempting the examination for second and third time.

The examination is an assessment of your present level of proficiency as well as determinant of your capabilities to undertake higher responsibilities that may be assigned to you in future.

The Examination President said competent and dedicated members of the examination panel had put together “far and acceptable requirements and solutions for the examination.

Tarfa therefore urged the officers to be serious and determined so as to produce the best results.

He assured them of absolute integrity and understanding of members of the examination panel.

“There is no excuse for failure and I expect nothing short of 100 percent pass in this examination,” the commander said.

He however warned that the Army has zero tolerance for examination malpractice and reminded the candidates that Army headquarters policy allows a maximum of three attempts for each candidate to pass the examination.



Source; https://maniagist.com/2019/08/05/army-officers-to-sit-for-senior-staff-course-qualifying-exams-in-jaji-kaduna/

NIGERIAN medical doctor, Tongdiyen Laura Jasper has been listed among the three successful applicants for grant into research work on HIV, by the International AIDS Society initiative, Collaborative Initiative for Pediatric HIV Education and Research (CIPHER). The international AIDS society is one of the biggest AIDS coordinating bodies globally.

Dr. Jasper, a public health physician, who is a graduate of medicine, University of Jos was among the 150 shortlisted from about a thousand entries and the only African who made the final four shortlisted for the grant.

he has two years to come up with a structured programme of attending to children living with HIV in the country.

The research work aims at exploring facilitators and barriers to ART adherence among young children to develop a caregiver peer mentor training curriculum and intervention programme and to also test the impact of caregiver peer support, a locally adopted behavioural intervention, to improve adherence and promote achievement of viral suppression among children.

Currently, Nigeria has the second highest number of children living with the virus behind South Africa. Nigeria with 1.9 million people living with HIV/AIDS, while 0.2 per cent are children between age 0-14 years.

Besides, the country accounted for 37, 000 of the world’s 160,000 new cases of babies born with HIV in 2016. While, South Africathe hardest-hit country in the world, with 7.1 million people living with the virushad only 12,000 newly infected children in 2016.

Hence, the work of Jasper, mother of four is to see how the viral load of these children can be suppressed with appropriate structured programme that will ensure that children do not miss any of their drug routines.

Jasper who has been working in the HIV programme in the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria for about three years now said the project starts in October 2019.

The choice of project according to her is borne out of the fact that children on HIV treatment don’t achieve viral load suppression when compared to their counterpart from Africa.

Hence, it is the curiosity to know what could be responsible for this and how best to help the children achieve viral load suppression that motivated her to go into the project.

“The aim is to discuss HIV pediatric matters and to help people come up with evidence for action to be taken into consideration for children living with HIV/AIDS,” she said.



Source; https://maniagist.com/2019/08/04/nigerian-doctor-gets-international-grant-on-hiv-aids-project/

Amnesty International has asked the Federal Government to immediately charge the publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore, or release him.

The rights group made its opinion known in a series of tweets on Saturday.

The tweet read, “AI is concerned about the arrest of Omoyele Sowore by DSS operatives. We urge the authorities to respect his rights and follow due process. If not charged for any offence, he should be released immediately.



Source; https://maniagist.com/2019/08/03/dont-keep-sowore-in-detention-amnesty-global-tells-fg/

The Lagos State Signage and Advertising Agency (LASAA) has announced the suspension of the advertising agency whose truck was used in displaying some semi-nude strippers seductively dancing on a pole in Lagos traffic.

In the report which was signed by its Chief Executive Officer, Mobolaji Sanusi, the group thought the suspension of Provision Media System narrow would manage to survive until the completion of the investigation.

The statement read in part, The Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency has suspended, pending final investigation, the practicing Licence of an advertising firm, Provision Media System Limited, over indecent advertisement around the Lekki/Ikoyi toll gate.”

LASAA said the unregistered mobile advertising truck which had no valid registration for the current year 2019 was “illegally deployed in engaging in an abysmally debasing projection of semi-nude women for several hours around the Lekki/Ikoyi toll gate.

The agency said a check on its records for the current year 2019 confirmed that the truck with Lagos State number plate, APP713XL, was not registered with the agency for the deplorable purpose for which it was deployed by the company on Saturday.

We wish to state, without equivocation that, no outdoor mobile advert truck within the jurisdiction of our dear state is licensed to display such crass immorality of the calibre that the owner(s) of this unregistered truck exhibited on our roads over the weekend”, the agency said.


Source; https://maniagist.com/2019/08/03/lasaa-bans-bdvertising-firm-for-using-truck-to-display-strippers-in-lagosreview/

Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has disclosed that, the charge had been dragged to incite over 1,600 period in next of kin to the 2019 universal elections.

The INEC boss said most of the cases stem from acrimonous political party primaries.

He stated this in Kaduna on Saturday shortly after receiving award of excellence from the Kaduna chapter of the National Institute of Public Relations (NIPR).

Professor Yakubu who was fielding questions from newsmen on the possibility of credible, rancour and litigation free elections in Nigeria said, said, acrimonies from political party primaries was responsible for most of the crises and court cases.

According to him, “we can have election that us free, but elections starts from party primaries, because they produce the candidates for the general education. However, before the last general elections, we had some of the most acrimonous party primaries in the history of elections in Nigeria, resulting to a large number of litigations.

“As we speak, INEC has been dragged to court 809 times over the conduct of primaries by political parties. If you add that to the post election litigations, we have so far been dragged to court over 1,600 times. So, we have been dragged to court of party primaries that, the suits challenging the conduct of the election.

“That not withstanding, elections can be free and fair, we are doing our best as an electoral comission, but INEC has its responsibilities clearly cut out, others have theirs, especially the political parties have theirs. But, working together, we will actually get to where we desire to be.” He said.



Source; https://maniagist.com/2019/08/03/weve-been-dragged-to-court-1600-times-over-2019-polls-inec-chairman/

The Miyetti-Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), has said that Fulani herdsmen were not responsible for Thursday’s killing of the Catholic priest of St James the Greater Parish, Ugbawka, Enugu state.

The Herdsmen umbrella amount alleged it has been busy with stream of accusations next the assassination which it discribed as unfortunate.

The group said it was part of security and peace committee in Enugu state, hence it was bound to control its members and ensures that criminals do not infiltrate it’s members conducting their business of cow rearing.

Chairman of MACBAN in South East, Alhaji Giddado Siddiki in a statement on Saturday said: “Again our hearts bleed over the most bastardly murder of a Catholic priest, Reverend Father Paul Offu, of the Catholic Diocese of Enugu.

This is one murder too many! It is most condemnable and heartily regretted.

Again our society aches as a result of the activities of criminals who care less about the value of human life. It is painful that the security apparatuses of the government have not been able to contain the excesses of these men of the underworld who have continued to diminish the value of life in our society.

We hereby most heartily condole the members of the Catholic Diocese of Enugu, and all the Christian faithful on this very painful and irreparable loss.

We once more call on the government to rise to the occasion and provide adequate security for the citizens of Nigeria across the length and breadth of the country.

We maintain that crime, in whatever form of its perpetration, is anti-society. Criminals of any guise cause pains to society and should therefore be properly identified and made to face the full wrath of the law.

While we mourn the sudden departure of Father Offu, we are very hopeful that this occasion will agitate the government sufficiently to respond to the challenge of criminality amongst us.

Please let all of us be duly consoled. May God receive the soul of His dutiful servant in Paradise.



Source; https://www.google.com/amp/s/thenationonlineng.net/miyetti-allah-defends-fulani-herdsmen-over-catholic-priests-murder/amp/

A Ugandan activist, who wrote a poem criticising long-time President Yoweri Museveni was sentenced to a year and a half in prison on Friday, stripping in protest as the sentence was read.

Stella Nyanzi “was convicted on cyber harassment against the president and his mother,” judiciary spokesman Solomon Muita said.

Nyanzi was sentenced via a video link to her prison cell, during which she “stripped naked,” Muita said.

The activist and university lecturer was arrested after posting a poem on Facebook in 2018 that read in part: “Yoweri Museveni, they say it was your birthday yesterday. You should have died at birth, you dirty delinquent dictator.”

Museveni, 74, has been in power since 1986, and in 2018 made the highly controversial move of extending presidential term limits that could now see him remain in power until 2030.


Source; https://maniagist.com/2019/08/02/activist-gets-18-month-condemnation-for-online-poem-about-leader/

The Non-Academic Staff Unions in universities on Friday handed the Federal Government a 14-day ultimatum within which it should accede to their demands or face a nationwide strike.

The non-teaching staff under the aegis of Joint Action Committee comprising the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities and Educational Institutions, NASU and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, have directed all their branches to resume nationwide protest in all the universities with effect from Tuesday, August 6, 2019.

The two unions in a circular to all the branches after the JAC meeting held in Abuja said that at the expiration of the 14-day ultimatum, they would be left with no other option than to withdraw their services and shut down the universities if the Federal Government failed to address their grievances.

The directive was contained in a circular to all their branches titled; “Notice of Industrial Action”, signed by the Chairman of JAC and President of SSANU, Samson Ugwoke and the General Secretary of NASU, Peters Adeyemi, obtained by journalists in Abuja on Friday.

The circular reads, “This is to inform you that the Joint Action Committee of NASU and SSANU met today, Thursday August 1, 2019, to consider the issues which led to the nationwide protest in our various branches, viz, payment of earned allowances, University Staff Schools matter, renegotiation of 2009 FGN/Unions Agreement,among others.

“After extensive deliberations, JAC further observed that no date has been rescheduled by the President of the Senate, His Excellency, Senator Ahmed Lawan for the meeting with the leadership of JAC national.

“The meeting earlier scheduled by the Federal Ministry of Education with the leadership of JAC national has been rescheduled for Wednesday, August 7, 2019 with no reason(s) stated.

“That a 14-day ultimatum of industrial action be given to the Federal Government of Nigeria to address the pending issues with effect from Monday, August 5, 2019. During the period of the ultimatum, all branches are hereby directed to carry out peaceful protest on Tuesday, August 6 2019 and Thursday, August 15 2019 respectively.

“At the expiration of the 14-day ultimatum, Sunday, August 18 2019, without any positive response from the Federal Government of Nigeria, members shall proceed on a 5-day warning strike in all branches from Monday 19 to Friday, 23 August 2019.


Source; https://maniagist.com/2019/08/02/strike-nasu-ssanu-give-fg-14-day-ultimatum/

Pres. Buhari says the Federal Government’s introduced National Social Investment Programme (NSIP), has in three years, lifted no fewer than 5 million Nigerians out of extreme poverty.

According to NAN, he made the disclosure at the opening of the Global Youth Employment Forum of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Abuja on Thursday.

He noted that the FG had an in-depth understanding of the rapidly changing demographics and the emerging world of work.

“We note at this point that the issue of youth unemployment has assumed a global significant, and on the front burner of development discourse.


The government understands the need to focus attention on youth empowerment by creating the enabling environment for job opportunities and capacity building.

The present administration from the onset, made the investment in our people, one of the key goals of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, which is the national development blueprint from the period of 2017 to 2020.


The implementation of the plan also has the flagship programme such as the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP). It has yielded some measurable outcomes in the form of increased school enrolment and the creation of more jobs.

One of the key components of the NSIP is the N-Power programme and its sub-components has led to the creation of job opportunities in different sectors of the economy.

For example, in the past three years, the programme has yielded over 2 million direct and indirect employment opportunities and has lifted over 5 million Nigerians out of extreme poverty.

In addition to this achievement, some sectors of the economy with high propensity for massive job creation and employment generation were specifically target by the government for various forms of support.’’

The president said some programmes were also targeted at the informal sectors, improving their capacity and boosting the domestic economy, such as the import restriction the executive order on ease of doing business.


Source; https://maniagist.com/2019/08/01/we-have-lifted-5m-nigerians-out-of-extreme-poverty-buhari/

A man who reportedly sneaked into the ceiling of Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) in Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi State with plans to rob it has been arrested.

It was alleged that the suspect, identified as Idam Jeremiah, had intended to pigskin in the ceiling until the reservoir congested to customers subsequently he might thieve change from the bank.

A witness, who preferred anonymity, also told our correspondent that the young man pretended to be a customer of the bank to gain entrance into the bank.

as he entered the set he pretended as if he required to utilize the toilet and climbed into the ceiling,” he said.

It was gathered that one of the cleaners in the bank noticed the slippers he abandoned in the toilet as he climbed into the ceiling, also leaving some stains on the wall.

“She called the attention of the security men at the bank and one of them went up the ceiling to find out if someone was there. That was how we discovered someone hiding in the ceiling,” the source said.

It was also gathered that after he was discovered in the ceiling the bank management called in the police but the man refused to come until they threatened to shoot him.

The spokesman of Kebbi law enforcement Command, DSP Nafiu Abubakar, incorrigible the episode to our correspondent. He thought “The issue is tranquil core investigated by the CID.”


Source; https://maniagist.com/2019/07/31/man-arrested-after-hiding-in-gtbank-ceiling-in-attempt-to-rob/