₦airaland Forum

A custodian, Michael Vaudreuil at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts is used to picking things up at school; but over the weekend, he picked up something he will definitely want to keep: a college degree.

The 54 year-old graduated with a mechanical engineering degree from the same place where he's cleaned and emptied the trash for the past eight years.

His filling board read: "Old dog has new tricks."

Vaudreuil shares his success story with newsmen: "Graduation was a crowning achievement, one of the best days of my life."

After his plastering business went under in 2007 and took most of his life with it, Vaudreuil took the custodian's job. He had lost his house, his business and his hope, "I was just a shell of a person at that time," he recounted.

So he got the custodian's gig at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, which just so happened to have tuition-free classes for employees.

“This was my last chance. After dabbling in some psychology classes, I got serious and took on mechanical engineering, which was a natural fit because I am more of a hands-on kind of guy.

“I found the classwork challenging, but I loved being stretched intellectually. And being a student of a certain age in class wasn't a burden at all.

"I was never once made to feel uncomfortable; never felt like I was getting any easy pass," he emphasised. My presence (as a non-traditional student) didn't attract a lot of attention. Or so he thought.

Vaudreuil’s graduation attracted media attention, as several students he had classes with through the years said they found him to be an inspiration.

With all of the media attention his graduation has attracted, Vaudreuil said he's heard from several students he had classes with through the years. They told him they found him to be an inspiration even back then.

As he picks a new job, Vaudreuil said: "I've got plenty of gas in the tank. I'm chomping at the bit to get to work."

One of the biggest mysteries in global finance has just been disclosed: Saudi Arabia owes United States a whooping some of $117 billion.

The Treasury Department announced on Monday, ending four decades of keeping the figure secret, that Saudi Arabia stockpiled $116.8 billion of U.S. Treasuries as of March.

Though well behind the $1 trillion-plus owned by China and Japan each, this discovery makes Saudi Arabia the 13th largest foreign holder of U.S. debt. The Saudi figure was first reported by Bloomberg News based on a Freedom of Information Act request.

The Treasury Department kept Saudi Arabia's precise holdings secret since the 1970s. Saudi's holdings were lumped together with that of other oil exporting nations, including Venezuela and Iraq.

However, this was brought to an end as the treasury department disclosed precise holdings by specific countries that were previously grouped together.

A treasury official told newsmen that this move became necessary following a review aimed at trying to provide more ‘comprehensive and transparent’ data.

There is a twist to the latest development as it is possible that Saudi Arabia owns even more U.S. debt than what was revealed on Monday. That's because Saudi Arabia's central bank listed owning $587 billion of foreign reserves as of March. Typically, central banks park the majority of their foreign reserves in U.S. Treasuries – the numbers don't really add up.

According to reports, the mystery had taken on greater significance in recent months. Since the end of 2014 the Saudis have burned through more than $130 billion of foreign-exchange reserves to help cope with the crash in oil prices.

The treasury department said Saudi Arabia's U.S. debt holdings of $116.8 billion are down from $123.6 billion in January.

The new treasury report also revealed that the Cayman Islands, with about 60,000 people, owned $265 billion of U.S. Treasuries as of March. That's the third-highest sum in the world and a reflection of the nation's status as a major tax haven. The Cayman Islands does not have a corporate tax, encouraging multinational companies to store vast sums of money there to avoid taxes.

Bermuda is another popular tax haven; sitting on $63 billion of U.S. debt. Previously both the Cayman Islands and Bermuda were lumped together in a group of Caribbean banking centre.

The upper legislative chamber of the National Assembly on Tuesday gave a nod to the decision of the Federal Government (FG) which had earlier jerked up the price of petroleum from N86 per litre to N145 per litre.

In an executive session led by the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, the Senate charged the FG to engage the labour unions so as to stop the threatened strike.

The Deputy Senate President argued that the upper legislative chamber sympathised with Nigerians for the hardship which the new price of petrol will cause and called on the government to implement palliatives.

According to him, “The Senate in a closed session deliberated on the increase in the pump price of PMS by the Federal Government and the threats by organised labour to embark on a nationwide strike.

“We resolved as follows: that we sympathise with ordinary people of Nigeria on the hardships they are going through.

“That the Senate will engage the Federal Government to find sustainable ways of improving the welfare of the people of Nigeria.

“That we call on the government to continue to engage the organised labour and other stakeholders to resolve issues in order not to ground the system and impose more hardships on our people.

“That government should immediately start implementing palliative measures contained in the 2016 Appropriation Act passed by the National Assembly.”

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, on Monday, said that Nigeria loses 800,000 barrels of oil by day leading to a decline in crude oil production from 2.2 million barrels per day to 1.4 million barrels per day due to pipeline vandalism. The minister made this known when he appeared before the House of Representatives to explain the recent petrol price hike. [ 284 more words. ]

http://newsbreakers.ng/nigeria-loses-80000-barrels-daily-p…/

In an attempt to promote reading culture among young people, Poise Nigeria has launched ‪#‎40FirstJobs‬, a book-reading event that details the humble beginnings of selected successful persons and their experiences on their first jobs. The event will mark the official launch of the book, 40First Jobs: Our Role Models Way Back Then, a book which bears testimonials to how some now-famous Nigerians turned challenges at their first jobs into stepping stones to stardom. [ 116 more words. ]

http://newsbreakers.ng/poise-nigeria-promotes-positive-val…/

The National Industrial Court on Tuesday granted an interim order restraining the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) from embarking on its planned strike on Wednesday over the hike in fuel price, pending the hearing and determination of a suit brought before it by the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF). The court was approached by the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, who sought an order restraining the NLC from proceeding with the planned strike. [ 165 more words. ]

http://newsbreakers.ng/7200-2/

Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, is optimistic that, in six months’ time, petrol price, under the new dispensation, will take a downward trend from the N135 – N145 per litre band. Kachikwu tells the fuel price hike story in this interview.

What the Federal Government has just announced, is it deregulation or liberalisation of what?

I try not to get involved in the semantics of those. The reality is that we are freeing up the economy, freeing up the business. The ultimate of what we are headed for is that everybody should be able to do the business, bring in the business.

People want to have an argument about what to call it but at the end of the day, the basic objective is what was achieved with diesel or kerosene, which is that government will have less control over the business and individuals will be free to compete and Nigerians would reap the benefit.

The issue is that for diesel, we know no agency is fixing the price for it; so the question is: why is there a price cap for petrol?

The reason is that we are starting from a point where, because of the sensitivity of PMS, you want to be sure that, at the initial stage, you want to be sure of how you do your pricing. Ultimately, we would let the market dynamics take place.

At N145 for PMS, some marketers are insisting that this is no deregulation?

With diesel, it’s consumption is nothing compared to PMS and the sensitivities are different. What we’ve done is an upper cap. We have not told anybody what price to sell. We believe that efficiencies would tell people at what price to sell.

We have a price band of N135 to N145. But the reality is that those are guidelines.

It’s going to depend on how you get your forex, how efficient you are through the entire chain of the business because if you are interested and involved in the tankage, the distribution, the logistics, you have greater efficiency and that will impact your pricing.

We sat down after a very long conversation with those who play in the sector to look at the PPPRA template. For every item that the PPPRA has used guidance for, those issues were covered. Ultimately, as the market stabilizes – mind you, the NNPC is still a player – and don’t forget that this is a transition period and, at the end of the day, there is a social responsibility that the product, which is not just like the diesel which has a selective consumption, is everywhere for Nigerians.

We would help transit that period but you will see that as the market dynamics take hold – and this is going to be pretty fast – because there are lots of Nigerians who are active players who have been prevented by government intrusions. As they get better and it gets to a point where the market has stabilised, we begin to pull back a bit in terms of determinants of pricing.

Part of the concerns Nigerians still have is how they are going to cope with this because agencies like the PPMC, DPR, the PEF, and, despite the price of N87, people were still buying the product for over N100. What is the guarantee that the pricing guidelines would not be flouted again and then you have the product going for over N200?

Then, the reality was that the difference you saw then is part of what we are trying to address now. Lots of arbitrages because, at the end of the day, NNPC provides the product, largely subsidised, and then people took advantage and sold at the wrong prices.

Now these people are going to be bringing in their own products. And even when NNPC brings in its products, it will sell at those prices, so there will be no opportunity for these short-term arbitrages. Those benefits, now, will come from your own skill sets and efficiency.

What has happened, really, is that we have provided an opportunity for people to take advantage of government’s liberalisation of the environment so that the advantages people were taking before, which never really percolated down to the Nigerian masses, are no longer there. The loss factor government used to bear, the inefficiency that comes with the inability of the government to cover the whole spectrum, but people are making vast sums of money while the environment is challenged. And the reality is that if you left the environment free for people to perform and trade, you will be amazed at what will happen to pricing.

I will almost take a bet with you that, in six months’ time, you will be amazed what will happen to the N145 price – because it will be going downwards.

Nigerians want to know at what price the NNPC and its affiliates will be selling, especially for the products that come from the refineries here in Nigeria?

In terms of what NNPC will sell for, we will compete with everybody else at the new price.

What I expect is that within the cities, we will try to stay as close to the competition as much as possible because you do not want to have a massive gap with the emergence of queues at NNPC stations which was the case with the old price of N86.50. You’ll be astonished how much time people will spend at the stations just because of that 50kobo difference – and this is understandable. Within the cities, you will probably won’t have much of a difference between the marketers – N1/N2. But as you go into the hinterlands, NNPC stations would want to stay at about N135 than the N145 band.

In terms of what the refineries would sell for, the refineries will become competitive and one of the reasons refineries have not worked well in this country is because PMS is largely subsidised. Nobody wants to invest in refineries because, at the end of the day, when you put in all the capital investment and government tells you what you’re going to sell for, most times it doesn’t take into consideration the market issues; the little that we produce today and, for the first time three of our refineries are working albeit at very low capacity levels, we would like to see that upgraded. The little we produce, which is less than 10million litres a day, we will sell at competitive prices for the first time and those products would be bought by everybody – NNPC, major marketers and all the other players.

You made reference to the issue of forex as being one of the challenges. What happened to the arrangement of preference in getting forex for the marketers?

We’ve since stopped that because the fundamentals are these: We’ve moved from a position where the government earned between $110/$117 a barrel, to an average of about $40 a barrel which is about 70% drop in supply of forex. Two, with the problems of vandalization, militancy and the like, we are losing about 500,000 to 600,000 barrels a day and, as a matter of fact, we are now down from production of 2.2million to 1.4million barrels a day; so in terms of volume and in terms of value, we are far away from where we were before. There is, largely, very substantial diminishing income, so the government cannot, therefore, make, as a priority, the downstream sector to continue to get forex to import. That’s practical reality because you don’t give what you don’t have.

I want Nigerians to understand that we feel the pain and we have tried to avoid it since we came in, in October last year. We’ve done everything we can. We first went on to the issue of the subsidies that we inherited – which were based on 50/55million litres per day. But we said these numbers were bloated. And we did our findings and came up with a figure of 45million litre consumption a day. And that was the first attempt at subsidy and then we came to the second pint of saying we are not even going to have subsidy again. We are going to exit it because there was so much fraud involved in it. And from January to March, if you look at our books, there were no subsidies. The price modulation helped us to achieve that, but in April, the bleeding started when the price of oil went forward and we couldn’t find the forex we needed, subsidy came right back.

Luckily, because of the first three months of proper management, we were able to cover the subsidy in April. And so that helped, but as you continue, if you do not take the steps that we have taken now, a massive subsidy will continue. So the reality is that the forex you’re looking for is not even there. It’s not just that somebody is not giving you forex, it is that the capacity to find and have forex has substantially diminished and a lot of work is going on to try and recover that – pipeline repairs, exiting cash calls which we are working on. We are doing a lot of work in trying to bundle up forex.

We’ve struggled, queues continue to go and now they are back. And it will continue to happen unless we address the issues.

As emotive as it is, we do share the sympathies and pain but, as a responsible government, we’ve got to take decisions and try and solve problems.

That’s the reality and we’ve come to see that if you free up Nigerians to find sources of fund, they will find those secondary sources, they will import the products, the burden on NNPC will reduce, and the country will have peace and subsidy will go away permanently. The extra earnings that will go into NNPC will be used to repair the refineries and infrastructure in the country.

People are now talking about the ripple effects on the average Nigerian. Are there palliatives for the short, medium and long term for Nigerians if you say you feel their pains?

First, let me say that we had this debate about palliatives and I think one of the things we do wrong sometimes is that when we initiate these policies because we are trying so hard to sell what ordinarily should have been right, we begin to throw palliatives at people. And at the end of the day, the government ends up not delivering. So what I’ve advised on this is that, firstly, how did we come to the pricing of N145? It’s a simple conversion of using forex ($) at N285. It is from nowhere but it is the secondary source that people buy forex from, versus the N320 which is the black market; so if you add it up and divide, you come to about N141/142 and so, at that price, there isn’t much gap for palliative. It’s simple, go out, source for your funds, import and come and deliver.

For the NNPC, obviously, there would be some earnings because the NNPC could have sold for less than this; so the earnings from that can be deployed as the Federal Government wants into infrastructure.

In terms of palliatives, there are lots of palliatives in the budget because there are projects that would impact, positively, on the lives of Nigerians.

It is not on the basis of petroleum products pricing that government would be providing palliatives, the government is cognizant of the fact that it’s business is to provide palliatives to Nigerians and that is what we are doing.

This is still early days, we would look at the earnings by NNPC and deploy where necessary for the benefit of Nigerians.

Let me just add this, most state governments are owing workers’ salaries for up to four months. And this is because, as income drops, funds become scarce and it impacts on states.

The first palliative is that, as we continue to block leakages and improve our efficiencies to tackle some problems that we met when we came in, the states should begin to get more money from the Federation Account. Once that is achieved, there would be an easing of the burden. NNPC would also become more efficient achieving more returns on investment because of competition. In the case of diesel today, NNPC’s participation is less than 10% because most of it has been taken over by private businesses. There’s so much work to be done and so much money is needed. With what we are doing now, there would be so much money freed for government to deliver more for the people because we are there to serve the people.

So, I will rather look at palliatives from the 2016 Budget point of view than attempt to sell this using palliative.

What would happen to the 445,000 barrels that NNPC gets?

In terms of the 445,000 barrels that NNPC gets, today, cumulatively, that comes to about 14 cargoes and about four or five of those go into the refineries – when the refineries were not working, we sold that and put the money into the Federation Account. We would like to see a situation where the refineries are kept working, not because they are the most efficient now but it is good that we keep them working because, in terms of strategic reserves, they are very helpful – Kaduna can take care of the North, Warri and Port Harcourt can distribute towards the west and east respectively, rather than the massive 1,500 trucks moving every day.

To Nigerians

We want to appeal to Nigerians that we are doing our very best. We came in to meet problems and we have been working tirelessly to ensure that things get better. We hope that Nigerians see the honesty of what we are doing are not trying to lie to Nigerians or embellish the issues.

We want Nigerians to trust us.

Kachikwu spoke on Channels Television programme, SUNRISE DAILY



Source: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/05/fuel-price-hike-story-kachikwu/

A Lagos based civil society group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has called on the United Kingdom (UK) authorities to extradite Nigeria’s former petroleum minister Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke to face charges of corruption and money laundering, as the charges she is currently facing in UK court do not sufficiently capture the gravity of her alleged crimes, and the increasing allegations of corruption against her in Nigeria. [ 685 more words. ]

http://newsbreakers.ng/serap-wants-uk-extradite-diezani-co…/

The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has sealed Nicon Luxury, Abuja, a hotel belonging to businessman, Jimoh Ibrahim, over unpaid taxes.

http://newsbreakers.ng/firs-seals-jimoh-ibrahims-nicon-lux…/

Lagos State University Students Union (LASUSU) has made a special appeal to the management of the institution to review its decision to distance itself from the activities of the external commercial buses operating on campus under diverse business names. The President LASUSU, Tayo Sekoni, made this appeal when he granted an interview to newsmen, stating that though the management's decision was targeted at rebranding the image of the university, there was need for scraping the existing ones. [ 312 more words. ]

http://newsbreakers.ng/lasu-sug-appeal-management-review-c…/

Barring any last minute change, sixteen bank chiefs will be arraigned before a Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos over alleged fraud to the tune of N2.6 billion. The defendants are Nigeria International Bank Ltd, Chief C. S Sankey, Adekunle Oladosun, Okechi Egwu, Lulu Ndubuka, Oyowole Ariyo, Kabiru Bello, and J.E Eriagbon. The other accused persons are Samson Ebie, Steve Obodomechine, Mikky Dons Nig. [ 92 more words. ]

http://newsbreakers.ng/n2-6-billion-fraud-bank-chiefs-dock…/

Brazilian President, Dilma Rousseff was suspended Thursday to face impeachment, ceding power to her vice-president-turned-enemy Michel Temer in a political earthquake ending 13 years of leftist rule over Latin America’s biggest nation. A nearly 22-hour debate in the Senate closed with an overwhelming 55-22 vote against Brazil’s first female president. Pro-impeachment senators broke into applause and posed for selfies and congratulatory group photos in the blue-carpeted, circular chamber. [ 113 more words. ]

http://newsbreakers.ng/breaking-brazilian-president-dilma-…/

A former Facebook contractor has disclosed he witnessed colleagues suppress news about popular conservative topics from the website's trending section.

The allegation by the anonymous contractor ignited a debate over whether Facebook and other social media companies are prioritising liberal viewpoints in their trending topics.
Facebook refutes the allegations, noting that it is bias and not to be taken seriously.

According to the company statement, “What the former worker is describing, if it happened, would have violated the company’s ‘trending’ guidelines.

“These guidelines do not permit the suppression of political perspectives nor do they permit the prioritisation of one viewpoint over another or one news outlet over another.”

The head of the Facebook team responsible for trending topics, Tom Stocky, mentioned in a separate post that he has found no evidence that the anonymous allegations are true.

“But the bottom line is that humans, unlike algorithms, have hearts. And the company can’t know for sure what was in the hearts of the workers who were selecting certain stories while rejecting others,” Stocky explains.

Some website operators are elated about the Gizmodo report; this is evident as the allegation is currently trending on Facebook.

The anonymous contractor discloses a long-held view among some prominent conservatives that Facebook (FB, Tech30), Twitter (TWTR, Tech30) and other technology companies are infected by liberal bias.

According to the co-founder of the conservative web site The Federalist, Sean Davis, who tweeted about the alleged suppression, he writes, “We've all experienced it.”

Three former Facebook workers who spoke with newsmen resonated what some of Gizmodo’s other sources said that personal biases might creep into the day-to-day ‘trending’ work, but they never detected institutional bias for or against conservative information.

One of the sources reiterated, “On the contrary, the guidance from management was that it should be objectively representing what people are talking about, regardless of political views.”

Another source, a former trending topic curator, said the teams prized transparency and open communication. While some stories that were trending across Facebook were blocked from appearing in the box, the intent was to weed out spam and other objectionable content.

“Blacklisted topics had to be logged by the team along with reasons. They were also checked. We were also very open with each other about the content we edited,” the source added.

A third source said, “No one ever told me to suppress a conservative story.”

However, the issue here is whether Facebook’s guidelines were violated by former contractors and whether they’re still being violated today.

The editor-in-chief and publisher of MIT Technology review, Jason Pontin said Monday’s report came amid a period of widespread paranoia amongst conservatives and Trump supporters that mainstream media, social media companies like Facebook and Twitter, and other elite institutions are routinely shadow blocking conservative opinions.

According to a report, Nigerian students at the Howard University in Washington DC made the nation proud on Saturday, May 7 as they received special awards for excellence. Out of the 96 graduating Doctor of Pharmacy candidates, 43 of them were Nigerians and of the 27 awards given, 16 went to Nigerians, the report revealed. “The university awarded more than 1,300 bachelor’s degrees, more than 300 master’s degrees, and over 100 Ph.Ds. [ 186 more words. ]

http://newsbreakers.ng/16-nigerian-students-receive-specia…/

The Federal Government on Wednesday announced the increment on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) to N145 per litre.

This is contained in a statement released by the Honourable Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu:

We have just finished a meeting of various stakeholders presided over by His Excellency, the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The meeting had in attendance the Leadership of the Senate, House of Representatives, Governors Forum, and Labour Unions (NLC, TUC, NUPENG, and PENGASSAN).

The meeting reviewed:

1. The current fuel scarcity and supply difficulties in the country.

2. The exorbitant prices being paid by Nigerians for the product. These prices range on the average from N150 to N250 per litre currently.

3. The meeting also noted that the main reason for the current problem is the inability of importers of petroleum products to source for foreign exchange at the official rate due to the massive decline of foreign exchange earnings of the federal government. As a result, private marketers have been unable to meet their approximate 50% portion of total national supply of PMS.

Following a detailed presentation by the Honorable Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, it has now become obvious that the only option and course of action now open to the government is to take the following decisions:

1. In order to increase and stabilise the supply of the product, any Nigerian entity is now free to import the product, subject to existing quality specifications and other guidelines issued by Regulatory Agencies.

2. All oil marketers will be allowed to import PMS on the basis of FOREX procured from secondary sources and accordingly PPPRA template will reflect this in the pricing of the product.

Pursuant to this, PPPRA has informed me that it will be announcing a new price band effective today, 11th May, 2016 and that the new price for PMS will not be above N145 per litre.

We expect that this new policy will lead to improved supply and competition and eventually drive down pump prices, as we have experienced with diesel. In addition, this will also lead to increased product availability and encourage investments in refineries and other parts of the downstream sector. It will also prevent diversion of petroleum products and set a stable environment for the downstream sector in Nigeria.

We share the pains of Nigerians but, as we have constantly said, the inherited difficulties of the past and the challenges of the current times imply that we must take difficult decisions on these sorts of critical national issues. Along with this decision, the federal government has in the 2016 budget made an unprecedented social protection provision to cushion the current challenges.

We believe in the long term, that improved supply and competition will drive down prices.

The DPR and PPPRA have been mandated to ensure strict regulatory compliance including dealing decisively with anyone involved in hoarding petroleum products.

Thank you.

SIGNED

Honourable Minister of State for Petroleum Resources.

President Muhammadu Buhari has told the British government that he is not interested in an apology by its Prime Minister David Cameron who made a scathing remark about Nigeria on Tuesday, but that assets belonging to Nigeria are returned. Buhari said this on Wednesday at a meeting hosted by the Commonwealth ahead of the anti-corruption summit in London. “I’m not going to demand any apology. [ 95 more words. ]

http://newsbreakers.ng/keep-apology-return-assets-buhari-t…/

Friends, family and fans gathered yesterday, May 10, to celebrate the music icon, 2Face Idibia as he was conferred with an honorary degree in music by the Igbinedion University, Okada, Benin.


His beloved wife, Annie Idibia, stood by her husband as he received his Master of Arts certificate.

Michel Platini will step down as UEFA president after his six-year ban from football was reduced to four years by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Platini was initially banned for eight years by the FIFA disciplinary committee over a £1.3m payment given to him by then-FIFA president Sepp Blatter in 2011. Both men claimed the money was for work Platini did for Blatter between 1998-2002. [ 85 more words. ]

http://newsbreakers.ng/platini-step-uefa-president/

The Lagos State Police Command has arrested Lekan Shonde, a man alleged to have murdered his wife last week. He was picked up on Monday by the Command's Rapid Response Squad (RRS). The Commissioner of Police on Friday had detailed the Commander of the RRS to fish out Lekan Shonde from his hideout. He was tracked down to a location in Ikeja by the Squad’s Commander on Saturday and a surveillance team was mobilised to monitor the residence. He was arrested after much persuasion and taken to the Lagos State Commissioner of Police.

http://newsbreakers.ng/breaking-police-arrests-alleged-wif…/

Information getting to our newsroom shows that the spokesperson of the immediate past president, Goodluck Jonathan’s Campaign Organisation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode has complied with the invitation extended to him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). This is because he has formerly reported to the Abuja office of the commission apparently to give answers to the N840 million he allegedly collected few days to the presidential election. [ 53 more words. ]

http://newsbreakers.ng/fani-kayode-complies-efccs-invitati…/

The Nigerian Army revealed that it has rescued over 11,000 civilians held captive at various territories by the Boko Haram sect. The Army explained that operations that rescued the captives were carried out within the past six weeks.

Meanwhile the troops say that they have intensified their efforts to clear and mop up all insurgent activities in the north east.

The military further stated that the rescue operations were carried out across the regions with different outposts and that a significant number of them were received from Cameroonian authorities.

Nigeria's former president Olusegun Obasanjo has berated the battle for supremacy among monarchs in the South-West. Speaking while playing host to the Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Saliu Adetunji, at his Hilltop Residence in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Obasanjo regarded the hierarchical tussle as a distraction which could result in a setback. The former president noted that good governance and welfare of their subjects should be paramount to them. [ 150 more words. ]

http://newsbreakers.ng/obasanjo-knocks-yoruba-obas-over-su…/

A Lagos High Court sitting in Igbosere has sentenced a business man, Femi Ogunlowo, to seven years imprisonment for duping a Switzerland fertilizer company, Uralkali Trading SA, to the tune of N171.2 m.

The court presided over by Justice Raliat Adebiyi, sentenced the convict after pronouncing him guilty of all the amended four counts charge of conspiracy to steal, retaining stolen property, money laundering, retaining proceeds of criminal conduct and forgery, levelled against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

During the trial, the EFCC counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo had informed the court that the convict committed the offence between January 5 and 29, 2015, in Lagos.

Oyedepo had also informed the court that the convict conspired and obtained $859, 940, USD, from Uralkali Trading SA of Geneva, Switzerland through false pretenses.

Oyedepo further informed the court that on January 6, 2015, the convict tried to disguise the source of the money through an unlawful financial transaction.

While also claiming that on October 4, 2015, in Lagos, the convict forged a document titled Federal Republic of Nigeria National Driver’s License No: YYY 13850AA dated February 22, 2014, which he claimed to have been issued by the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC).

The convict had denied all the charges. And he was admitted to bail.

However, at the resumed proceedings of the matter which was slated for judgment, Justice Adebiyi pronounced that the prosecution has been able to prove its case beyond every reasonable doubt.

Consequently, the judge pronounced the convict guilty of all the four counts amended charge and sentenced him to one and half years on count one and two, and two years on counts three and four, making a total of seven years’ imprisonment.

The judge, however, ordered that the terms of the sentences are to run concurrently.

The convict, Femi Ogunlowo, was first arraigned before the court on March 14, 2016, by the EFCC alongside eight companies: Forston Construction Limited, Cheslinks Power System Limited, Cheslinks Concept Investment Limited, De Beauvior Intergrated Limited, Crestcom Educational Development Limited, Sun Riser International Company Limited (still at large), Yuandeng Plastic and Hardware Moulds Company (still at large) and China Great Value Industrial Company.

The counts were however reduced to four in an amended charge.

Pastor Akin, the younger brother of Nigeria’s vice president, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, revealed some family secrets in an interview granted to The Sun. Akin was the Attorney General and Commissioner for justice in Ogun state between 2003 and 2011. In this interview, he disclosed how their father brought them up on the principles of integrity, about their childhood, and about the marriage of the vice president to Dolapo Awolowo’s grand­daughter. [ 2930 more words. ]

http://newsbreakers.ng/osinbajos-brother-shares-family-sec…/

A 10-year-old boy who discovered a bug in the photo-sharing platform, Instagram has received a reward of $10,000 from Facebook. Jani who is from Finland, discovered the bug in Instagram without the help of anyone. The security flaw allowed him to delete other people’s Instagram comments. After the bug was discovered, he reported the issue by email and offered proof by deleting a message on one of Facebook’s test Instagram accounts. [ 147 more words. ]

http://newsbreakers.ng/10-year-old-boy-receives-10000-rewa…/

A former Lagos State Sports Commissioner, Ademola Adeniji-Adele, is dead. Family sources revealed that Mr Adeniji-Adele passed away in India where he had gone for a medical check-up after developing some complications. He was 60. Mr Adeniji-Adele served as commissioner between 2007 and 2011 during the first tenure of former Governor Tunde Fashola. At press time, the Lagos State Government plans to announce the death of the politician.

http://newsbreakers.ng/breakingex-lagos-sports-commissione…/

A bill for a law which prescribes five-year jail term for lecturers who engage in sexual relationship with students passed its first reading in the Senate on Wednesday. The bill, sponsored by Ovie Omo-Agege (Labour-Delta Central) and co-sponsored by 46 other senators, seeks to completely prohibit any form of sexual relationship between lecturers and their students. Briefing journalists after plenary, Mr. [ 221 more words. ]

http://newsbreakers.ng/senate-moves-ban-lecturer-student-s…/

Afghanistan Police Spokesman, Abdul Asir, has revealed that about sixty students of a girl school were mysteriously poisoned in Rustaq district of northern Afghanistan’s Takhar province on Wednesday. He said the affected students had been taken to the hospital for medical treatment. Asir added that investigation had been initiated to determine the reason for the problem. This is the second incident of its kind in Takhar province in the past two weeks, the official said. [ 42 more words. ]

http://newsbreakers.ng/students-poisoned-afghanistan/

A tricycle operator, Muyideen Ibrahim who was arrested by the Lagos State Police Command over alleged armed robbery has made public that some of the arms used by robbers were given to them by politicians during campaigns. Ibrahim, 29 was arrested alongside other robbery suspects said to have been terrorising the state. Other arrested members of the gang are: Ramonu Sanusi, Rilawanu Ayinde , Sodiq Olaide and Kazeem Idris. [ 165 more words. ]

http://newsbreakers.ng/politicians-sponsor-us-robbery-susp…/

Against the background of reports of continued attacks on communities across the country by armed herdsmen, President Muhammadu Buhari late Monday in Abuja restated his administration's resolve to deal decisively and expeditiously with the matter. Speaking at a meeting with members of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), President Buhari confirmed that heads of national security agencies have been ordered to take all necessary action to apprehend and expose those behind the heinous attacks. [ 269 more words. ]

http://newsbreakers.ng/id-deal-herdsmen-decisively-buhari-…/

Justice Lateef Lawal-Akapo of a Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja, on Tuesday granted bail to the two engineers who supervised the construction of the collapsed six-storey guest house owned by the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN). In his ruling on the bail application initiated by the contractors through their lawyers, the trial judge granted the duo bail in the sum of N10 million with two sureties in like sum. [ 321 more words. ]

http://newsbreakers.ng/synagogue-building-collapse-judge-g…/