₦airaland Forum

Management of Sun Publishing Limited, publishers of Daily Sun newspaper, has reacted to the sealing of its Lagos office by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Armed policemen and officials of the EFCC had on Saturday stormed the office located at 2, Coscharis street, Kikikiri Industrial Layout, Apapa, Lagos, marking the building "EFCC, keep off".

The EFCC had in a statement issued after the operation, attributed their actions to the recent judgement delivered against Slok Nigeria Limited by the Lagos state High Court.

But reacting in a statement sent to Igbere TV in Abuja, the Sun Publishing said its newspaper was not a party to the case of EFCC vs. Orji Kalu & 2 others, wondering why its premises should then be marked.

It, however, said that Slok and Senator Orji Kalu had filed an appeal against the High Court judgement and a hearing date given, wondering why the EFCC would not wait until the matter has been dispensed with at the Supreme Court.

The Sun insisted that it is a corporate limited liability company and its shares owned by various individuals distinct from Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, saying the court judgement should therefore not bind on them.

The Newspaper, therefore, called on the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, to urgently intervene in the matter and advise the EFCC appropriately on the legal consequences of its actions.

Full Statement,

“EFCC VISIT TO THE SUN OFFICE WITH ARMED POLICEMEN: OUR STAND

“Three officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) with four heavily armed policemen on Saturday, December 15, 2019 at about 10.00 am arrived the corporate headquarters of The Sun Publishing Limited at 2, Coscharis Street, Kirikiri Industrial Layout, Apapa, Lagos and put up a notice for staff and the general public to keep off the premises. The EFCC officials, who came in a white Toyota bus with registration number, ABUJA BWR-644GA, wrote on The Sun's fence, "EFCC, keep off." They also advised our staff to collect their personal belongings from the office as they will come back to seal the premises completely.

“We do not understand the legal basis for this EFCC action. It is on record that there is a pending appeal at the Supreme Court with Suit No: SC/546/2018 wherein The Sun Publishing Limited appealed against the Judgement delivered by the Court of Appeal on the interim forfeiture order made against it by a Federal High Court in 2007 based on ex parte proceeding. The Notice of Appeal and Motion for Stay of Execution were duly served on EFCC by the bailiffs of the Court.

“It is also pertinent to state that EFCC vide a letter written by Counsel to The Sun Publishing Limited, dated 22nd May, 2018 and duly received by one Caleb Peter on behalf of Rotimi Jacobs & Co. was further put on notice of the pending appeal at the Supreme Court and advised to stay action in the matter pending the hearing of the Motion for Stay of execution and the appeal.

“Again, it is instructive to state that The Sun Publishing Limited was not a party to the case of EFCC vs. Orji Uzor Kalu & 2 Others, so we do not see why the Judgment in that case should lead to attempt to seal The Sun Publishing Limited premises.

“Further more, we are aware that both Senator Orji Uzor Kalu and Slok Nig Limited have since appealed the Judgment delivered by Justice Mohammed Idris and a hearing date given.

“We wish to reiterate that The Sun Publishing Limited is an ongoing corporate limited liability company and its shares are owned by various individuals distinct from Senator Orji Uzor Kalu. Therefore, the recent Judgment against Senator Orji Uzor Kalu should not be used to disturb the operations of the company and the proprietary rights of its innocent shareholders until the matters are dispensed with at the Supreme Court.

“In view of the foregoing, we call and appeal to the Attorney General of the Federation and the Minister of Justice to urgently intervene and advise EFCC appropriately on the legal consequences of its actions.”


https://www.sunnewsonline.com/efcc-visit-to-the-sun-office-with-armed-policemen-our-stand/

The Niger state government says it will commence sensitisation of stakeholders in communities across the 25 local government areas as part of preparation for the development of the state urban policy.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports in Minna on Saturday that Niger government is getting a 900,000 dollar grant from the South Korean government for the policy.

The policy seeks to develop the human settlement sector in a holistic, comprehensive and integrated manner through the formation of the state urban development policy.

Prof. Mustapha Zubairu, Coordinator, Niger State Urban Support Programme (SUP), said in a statement to NAN that the sensitisation would involve holding town hall meetings with members of communities across the three zones of the state.

He said that the town hall meeting was to interact with stakeholders to ensure that those affected by the current urban challenges actively participate and contribute to the process.

“The grant is to enable the state government prepare its urban policy and Smart City alongside Iran and Myanmar strategy.

“The support is offer to three pilot projects, a platform to foster synergy, coherence, capacity development and mutual learning and exchange globally on national/subnational urban policy.


“Through this assistance, stakeholders can begin to use urban policy as an instrument for public and political awareness of the gain to be obtained from sustainable urban development,” he said

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2019/12/900000-grant-niger-govt-to-sensitise-communities-on-urban-policy/

The leader of the Indigenous People Of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has described Senator Orji Uzor Kalu's ill- advised conviction over alleged fraud and money laundering as politically motivated.

Kanu in a statement made available to Igbere TV on Thursday said he warned Sen. Kalu that the northerners do not love the Igbos.

He said this is because of the pathological hatred Alimajiris have towards Biafrans (Igbos especially) because their industry and ingenuity expose their mediocrity.

He, however, described Kalu as one who is committed to one Nigeria.

The statement reads,

"I warned him when he came to see me in Kuje Prison that those illiterate unity begging Alimajiris from the desert don't love him but he wouldn't listen."

"I warned him that Fulani caliphate will not rest until they conquer, subdue and enslave the entire East and West because of their sense of inferiority complex, but he wouldn't listen."

"I warned him of the pathological hatred these Alimajiris have towards Biafrans (Igbos especially) because our industry and ingenuity expose their mediocrity, but he wasn't having it. He was a committed One Nigeria apologist."

"I reminded him of what happened to Ken Saro Wiwa who like him believed so much in One Nigeria and ended up being killed by the same Alimajiri he served so dilligently against Biafra, but he wouldn't listen."

"Today they are picking them off one after the other because they know IPOB won't fight for any Efulefu. If he had known what was to become of him, he would have done exactly what I told him during our meeting, join the nearest IPOB family and support the Biafra restoration project. Isn't it ironic the only thing that will save Orji Uzor Kalu now is the coming of Biafra. Will Dave Umahi, Okezie Ikpeazu, Willie Obiano, Rochas Okorocha learn from this?"


http://igberetvnews.com/1178827/just-orji-kalus-conviction-politically-motivated-nnamdi-kanu/

The Nigerian Senate on Wednesday approved the nomination of Umar Mukhtar Gajiram (Borno) and Dr. Aiaiibo Sinikiem Johnson (Bayelsa) as Resident Electoral Commissioners for their respective states, it however struck out the nomination of Mr Raheem Muideen as the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Osun State allegations of his partisan membership of the ruling All Progressives Congress.

The lawmakers in a voice vote unanimously dismissed the nomination during its plenary on Wednesday.

Recall that Muideen had earlier during this screening on November 5, 2019 ,told the Senate Committee on Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that he remained a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Muideen had also during screening confirmed being a member of the governing party, he also revealed that he was a campaign director of a Governorship Aspirant in the state.

During the debate over the matter,the chairman of the committee, Senator Kabiru Gaya presenting the report of his committee on Wednesday told the Senate that Muideen’s nomination was not confirmed because he could not defend the allegations of bias levelled against him by a petitioner.

The Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo –Agege who presided at plenary, made efforts to save Muideen, but all his attempts proved abortive.

Omo-Agege had argued that since the petitioner failed to show up at the Senate panel to defend his petition, that Muideen should be confirmed.

But the Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe, pointed out that the committee had to stand down the confirmation of the Osun nominee because Muideen confirmed he was a card-carrying member of the APC.

According to him, the panel only deferred Muideen’s confirmation pending when he would clear himself of the allegation.

After approving the recommendations of the INEC panel, the Senate confirmed the appointment of other nominees but rejected that of Muideen

https://www.sunnewsonline.com/inec-for-belonging-to-apc-senate-dismisses-rec-nominee-confirms-others/

Kenneth Udeh, Abuja

The Nigerian Senate on Wednesday approved the nomination of Umar Mukhtar Gajiram (Borno) and Dr. Aiaiibo Sinikiem Johnson (Bayelsa) as Resident Electoral Commissioners for their respective states, it however struck out the nomination of Mr Raheem Muideen as the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Osun State allegations of his partisan membership of the ruling All Progressives Congress.



The lawmakers in a voice vote unanimously dismissed the nomination during its plenary on Wednesday.





Recall that Muideen had earlier during this screening on November 5, 2019 ,told the Senate Committee on Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that he remained a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC).



Muideen had also during screening confirmed being a member of the governing party, he also revealed that he was a campaign director of a Governorship Aspirant in the state.



During the debate over the matter,the chairman of the committee, Senator Kabiru Gaya presenting the report of his committee on Wednesday told the Senate that Muideen’s nomination was not confirmed because he could not defend the allegations of bias levelled against him by a petitioner.



The Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo –Agege who presided at plenary, made efforts to save Muideen, but all his attempts proved abortive.



Omo-Agege had argued that since the petitioner failed to show up at the Senate panel to defend his petition, that Muideen should be confirmed.



But the Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe, pointed out that the committee had to stand down the confirmation of the Osun nominee because Muideen confirmed he was a card-carrying member of the APC.



According to him, the panel only deferred Muideen’s confirmation pending when he would clear himself of the allegation.


After approving the recommendations of the INEC panel, the Senate confirmed the appointment of other nominees but rejected that of Muideen

https://www.sunnewsonline.com/inec-for-belonging-to-apc-senate-dismisses-rec-nominee-confirms-others/

By Kenneth Udeh

It was encomiums for President Muhammadu Buhari at the recent four-day 42nd African Parliamentary Union (APU) Conference held in the East African country of Djibouti as the Chief Whip of the Nigerian Senate and leader of Nigerian delegation to the conference, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, enumerated the Federal Government’s Social Investment Programme (SIP) and its constitutional support for youth participation in governance in Nigeria.



The 42nd session of the African Parliamentary Union drew legislators from Across 40 countries of the continent gathered with renewed energy for the development of the continent as a whole and more inclusion of all segments of the African society.

Kalu, while delivering his address at the conference, canvassed for youth participation in governance in Nigeria and other African countries. He cited Federal Government’s efforts at empowering youths’ participation in governance through the signing of the Not Too Young to Run Bill by President Buhari in May 2019.





Senator Kalu further cited the Federal Government’s school feeding and social reinvestment programmes like the N-Power all of which according to him, are aimed at empowering the youth via job creation.

Kalu’s address on the President Buhari’s efforts on youth empowerment generated cheers and commendations from other African lawmakers gathered at the conference.

His words: “On the issue of youths, President Muhammadu Buhari has already signed an act that constitutionally allows all youths of about 25 years and above to contest for seats in the House of Representatives and other similar positions. In Nigeria, we have many social programmes, one of which is the N-Power programme in which youths are engaged in a paid internship skill acquisition programme by the Federal Government.

“We also have the school feeding programme, where school children are fed daily. So, we are giving young men and women opportunities to participate in all levels of governance in Nigeria. It is a partnership between the elders and the young people, we need to do a lot more to create a better environment, where youths will be participatory in the democratic environment.



“So, the environment needs to protect the youth, so that we can create new jobs and break new grounds. I want to thank the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives for sending this powerful delegation to attend this conference and for giving us this opportunity of representing Nigeria and we shall continue to do better for the next four years.

“It is going to be interesting and interactive and we shall place Nigeria at a vintage position. President Buhari has asked us to go across the globe to make more friends for Nigeria and attract non-oil investment to the country and we are calling on our businessmen to support this drive. For me, everything we are doing would be centred on economic diplomacy.”

The four day conference concentrated on four areas of strategic importance to the African continent such as maternal and infant mortality as well as youth empowerment.



Also discussed at the conference were the issue of regional integration and the overall development of Africa, which have been the core themes at various African summits.

Deputy Chairman, APU’s Executive Committee, Tarek Radwan, who spoke on the disenfranchisement of women in governance, stressed the need to give youths the opportunity to take up specific roles in various African countries.

“We have seen a lot of segregation against women, but I believe it is time to empower youths to assume leadership roles in their respective countries. I am happy to see an enthusiastic delegation representing sister countries, and respectful, a country like Nigeria, and among discussions with these countries was how to enhance the role of the youths in a special committees,” he said.



Canvassing significant youth participation in Africa received more attention at the African Parliamentary Union as delegates at the conference who are mostly leaders in their national parliament expressed displeasure with the level of youth involvement in governance in the continent.

The delegates believe that the best constitutional support to increase youth participation in governance is the provision of quota system, especially in the parliament.

President, Parliament of Djibouti, Mohammed Ali Houmed, was of the opinion that the Union should serve as a melting point for Africans and empowerment of youths.

The union was also concerned with the provision of a conducive learning environment for African children to excel academically.



A motion for the urgent need for the union’s financial management to be made open to the delegates was moved by Moroccan and Nigerian delegates.

The Nigerian delegates raised a point of order on strict observance of the union’s rules and proceedings.

Hon. Boma Goodhead (Akuku-Toru/Asari Toru, Rivers State) expressed her displeasure over lack of transparency on APU’s finances and the sidelining of Nigeria from attaining decision making sessions at the APU.



Her words: “Most times we talk about transparency with finances and nobody is willing to tell us anything, so when the Moroccan delegate raised it, I had to support it because you have to tell us what you are doing with these funds.

“Whenever it comes to funding, they will always ask for our assistance, but when it comes to positioning, they will always gang up together to say ‘you are our big brothers, so you should allow smaller countries to be in front.’ But I have told them it would no longer be possible.

The Nigerian delegation led by Senator Kalu conveyed a sideline meeting of the five major donors to the union. The meeting tagged G5, resolved to canvass for the establishment of a Youth Committee in APU for the first time.

“We shall organise them to make sure that Nigeria is involved because I found out that Nigeria is not involved in the scheme of things,” Kalu added.

The G5 is also canvassing for strategic positions for the major financial donors like Nigeria, especially with the vibrancy of the Nigerian delegation as stated by the vice-chairman of the African Union Executive Committee. The union had already established other vital committees including that of women affairs.

https://www.newtelegraphng.com/2019/12/apu-african-lawmakers-laud-buhari-as-kalu-speaks-on-fgs-strides/

A former governor of Lagos state, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has described Senator Orji Uzor Kalu representing Abia North in the National Assembly, as a foremost and most respected Igbo leader.

Igbere TV reports that the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader (Tinubu) said Senator Kalu, a former governor of Abia state, has what it takes to lead the country, Nigeria to greater heights.

Describing Kalu as a distribalised Nigerian at a recent event monitored by Igbere TV, Tinubu said the Senate Chief Whip is a well respected leader with the passion for a united Nigeria.

“Orji Kalu is one of the foremost and respected Igbo leaders with passion for a united Nigeria,” Tinubu said.

“If given the opportunity, Kalu has the capacity to lead Nigeria to greater heights,” he added.

Senator Orji Uzor Kalu has been an advocate of the Igbo Presidency, and remains one of the leading voices in the whole of Southwest Nigeria.

According to Kalu, every Igbo person is looking forward to producing a President from the South-East.

He has equally maintained that producing an Igbo president is a task every true Igbo indigene must key into.

“An Igbo president will bring prosperity to Nigeria, because the Igbo man or woman has the capacity for business and investment in areas outside their homeland”, he said.

Recently, Senator Orji Kalu said Northern political elites should not canvass an end to rotational presidency until the South-East zone had produced the President of Nigeria.

He was reacting to the call by a prominent governor in the North-West geopolitical zone, for an end to power shift in the country.

Kalu, while speaking with journalists, insisted that the Igbo must take their turn in the number one seat of the country.

The APC chieftain also explained that the agreement at the end of the 1978 national conference was that all the major ethnic groups in Nigeria must produce the President on a rotational basis.

Kalu said, “Calling for an end to the zoning arrangement now will not bring peace to Nigeria. We have to complete the zoning system. That was the agreement at the earlier constitutional conference.

“All the major ethnic groups must produce the President before we would all agree that zoning has ended”.

The former governor hinted that the emergence of an Igbo person as president would equally bring an end to protests in the South-East region.

He dismissed the insinuations that Igbos would divide the country if elected as President.

“It is the right thing to do, Nigeria is built on a tripod. You should allow the South-East to have the Presidency by 2023,” Kalu said.

https://abacityblog.com/2019/12/03/orji-kalu-has-what-it-takes-to-lead-nigeria-to-greater-heights-tinubu/

Kenneth Udeh,Abuja

The Senate on Wednesday lamented the growing number of youths in correctional centres in the country due to their involvement in cyber crime, it urged those engaged in the act to take advantage of the numerous legitimate opportunities in ICT by converting their knowledge to make money and earn a
living rather than using it to commit a crime.

The Senate gave this advice at its deliberation over the motion titled “The Growth of Digital Technology and the Challenge of Cybercrime: Urgent Need to Safeguard the Future of Nigeria” sponsored by Sen. Yakubu, Oseni (Kogi Central).

The motion read;

“The Senate Notes that the growth of digital technology, otherwise referred to as ICT revolution has brought about improved performance in all aspects of society. It is an economic development pillar guaranteeing national competitive advantage. It has led to rapid global communication and networking, provided ease in finding detailed answers to millions of questions every day, accelerated the growth and penetration of mobile telephony and its associated multimedia services, and in deed, propelled increased end-successes in all human endeavors;

Further Notes that the world has moved into the blazing digital ecosystem accelerating at the speed of thought, with very effective concepts and disruptive innovation models such as Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, Robotics, Machine Learning, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and blockchain implementation and other emerging technologies, achieving rapid improvements in the knowledge society;

Observes that digital technology also promises to make the world a much safer place, as traffic authorities anticipate a vast reduction in traffic fatalities with possibility of saving nearly 300,0001ives over 10 years with the deployment of autonomous vehicle technology, and as crime statistics could drop by over 20% with deployment of metropolitan censors and cutting edge home security remote monitoring devices, amongst other advantages;

Worried that the gains of digital technology are being dampened by rapid evolution of cybersecurity threat landscape, with increased attacks in both sophistication and severity Reports indicate that there is currently a dramatic rise in cybercrime such as the ransomware epidemic, the refocusing of malware from personal computers (PCS) and laptops to smartphones and mobile devices, the deployment of billions of underprotected Internet of Things (ioT) devices, the legion of hackers-for-hire and more sophisticated launching of attacks on governments, businesses, educational establishments, defence infrastructure, etc;

Further worried that nefarious cyber-related activities are already costing the world huge losses in trillions of dollars Recently, the NotPetya malware caused billions of dollars in damage in many industries around the world. Global ransomware damage alone has been predicted to cost the world over 11 billion dollars in 2019 and 20 billion dollars in 2021. It is also predicted that a business will fall every 14 seconds in 2019 and 11 seconds in 2021, and that overall cybercrime is predicted to cost the world over 6 trillion dollars annually from 2021;

Alarmed that Nigeria is already plagued with the destructive cyber-crises Reports indicate that in 2017 alone, the country lost about 649 million dollars (ie over N250 billion) to cybercrime activities. The 2018 Report of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Cooperation (NDIC) indicates that there were 37,817 reported fraud cases within the year, out of which 59.2% were internet and technology based, costing businesses in Nigeria several billions of naira. It is also indicated that over 81% of cyber security incidents in the country are either unreported or unresolved, leaving room for the proliferation and escalation of illicit cyber activities. In fact, the recent apprehension of 77 cyber criminals by the FBI, several of whom are Nigerians, leaves much to worry about

Concerned that Nigeria still lags behind in infrastructure sophistication, data management and digital security and Imowhow which are critical to the development agenda. In fact, federal allocation to the ICT sector of the economy can only be considered as lip service, compared to the enormity of challenges therein. Manpower development in digital technology is equally a far cry. Even in Africa, Nigeria is at the bottom of cyber security manpower ratio to total population. Our institutions of learning do not seem to understand the world we live in today. Indeed, our cyber security consciousness and awareness rating does not come before that of any other country in the world;

Aware that the 8th Senate, desirous of keeping the country ahead of the cyber-challenge, had mandated the Committee on lCT and Cybercrime to interface with stakeholders, and that the Committee kick-started the process accordingly; and

Convinced that the bar for digital readiness and cyber security must be raised if Nigeria must speed up to the digital ecosystem and proactive cyber awareness and intelligence, as well as properly positioned herself for the unending economic development opportunities that come with ICT.”

Sponsor of the motion had Senator Yakubu had during his press briefing after the Plenary described the growing of cyber crime as worrisome , he called for increased awareness of money making opportunities in the ICT sector.



He said, ” Cyber crime is something that someone will sit at the comfort of his home and commit. If we go to our Nigerian prisons today, we see our young men that were arrested for one or two cyber crimes and to me it is something that we have to prevent.

I believe in prevention rather than going after those who committed the crime. We need proper creation of awareness that this knowledge that you have , you can equally convert to good use and make money for yourself, rather than using the knowledge to commit crime.

The ICT aspect we know that any nation that wants to grow, must pay attention to technology and if we see Nigeria and the world over you will see that we are behind in terms of ICT so we seek in the motion that the Federal Government to really pay attention to ICT in terms of budgetary provision particularly in education and to catch them young we have to move from manual to digital like E-learning and all that.

Mr. President said last time of how he intends to engage millions of our youths in jobs , but these youths can’t be engaged in only Government Ministries Agencies and Departments ( MDAs) the ICT/ communication sector is one area that can engage over 15% of our youths.

Senator Stella Odua(Anambra North) in her contribution to the motion made a case for the job opportunities in the ICT sector , she cited coding aa an example while also calling for increased budgetary allocation to the ICT sector .

She said ” We are losing a lot by not tapping into cyber opportunities, I mean the technology and ICT part of it. We can recall that Microsoft announced two years ago, that in the next five years they were going to have 228,000 jobs that were going to be technology and ICT related.

My concern is that we as a country are not fully prepared to participate in this aspect. Statistically an average ICT worker earns an average of 10,000 dollars. Take for example of In my village we have a young man or woman who is certified coder and when they are coding they earn 10,000 just imagine what that would do to my community. We have graduates who may not have seen computers not to talk of operating them. The gap I see and the opportunity loss is unnecessary, we must ensure that we don’t just domesticate ICT in all our schools but to make sure that the budgetary allocation closes this gap.



The senate accordingly resolved to: Mandate the Committee on ICT and Cybercrime to re-establish engagement with stakeholders with a view to galvanizing a comprehensive and broad-based approach to addressing Nigeria’s digital technology and cyber security crises and safeguarding the present and future of the country; Further mandate the Committee on ICT and Cybercrime to establish strategic engagements with MDAs with a view to ascertaining their ICT shortfalls, cyber security constraints, data management challenges, and possible remediation measures; Permit the Committee on ICT and Cybercrime to make inputs to budgetary provisions of MDAs on Information and Communication Technology and cybersecurity issues, with a view to ensuring appropriate funding of the all-important areas of concern; and Urge the Federal Government to deliberately take up measures to improve on budgetary provisions for, and attention to the development of digital technology and cyber-dependence safety.

https://www.sunnewsonline.com/digital-technologysenate-wants-cyber-criminals-to-make-legitimate-use-of-their-talent/

Kenneth Udeh

As bill for establishment of Federal of College Education, Kaduna, scales second reading.

Senator Sani, Uba representing Kaduna Central, has expressed his concern over the poor quality of teachers in the country, stating that schools no longer employ teachers who had acquired teacher formal training qualification(s).

The Kaduna Senator made this assertion on Wednesday’s Senate plenary
during the presentation of the second reading of bill sponsored by himself titled “A Bill for an Act to provide for the establishment of the Federal College of Education Giwa, Kaduna State and for other related matter thereof,2019 (SB.121) “.

Sani, during his presentation noted that the mass failures recorded in WAEC,UTME and other public examinations was a result of the deficit in the quality of teachers in schools in the country.

He said “The statistics is very scary with the population of our out school children in Nigeria which has risen from 10.5 million to 13.2 million and a massive failure of students in WAEC and NECO examinations. For those who passed out of secondary schools getting admission into tertiary institutions is now a Herculean task due to limited spaces.



“In 2017,1.8 million candidates who registered for the UTME were jostling for 850,000 admission spaces. A key issue that has been raised in respect to the falling standard of education is quality of teachers in our primary and secondary schools.

“There was a time in Nigeria when teachers colleges and colleges of education were given priority attention by the government. The quality teachers of teachers it produced, raised the standard of education and teachers commanded the respect and admiration of Nigerians.

Teaching has currently become an all comers affair, schools hardly insist on employing those who have gone through formal teachers training. The consequence has been a steady drop in the quality of students produced.

It is time we refocus attention on teacher’s colleges and colleges of Education.

“We must address the quality of teacher’s deficit in our educational system, the proposed Federal College of Education Giwa, Kaduna State .

We owe our children quality education, that is the only way we can compete effectively in the global economy. Quality education is the key to unlocking opportunities. As leaders, we are in a better position to understand and appreciate the value of education as a critical tool for economic growth and development.

It is, therefore our responsibility as representatives of the people to ensure that we channel funds to serve the most critical needs of the people amongst which is the provision of qualitative education.

Senator Gyang Istifanus (Plateau North), speaking in the same vein in support of the bill decried the alarming rate of out of school children in the North. He called on the Government to pay attention to teacher training noting that enrollment of children in schools was insufficient to address the educational challenges.

He said” We have witnessed the issue of out school children that has characterised the Northern part of the country and particularly the Northwest and steps are being taken to address this issue through aggressive enrollment of pupils and students.

One major issue is lack of teachers that meet up the teaching requirement, like in Kaduna State and became an issue that generated a lot of attention in the country . This requires that we need to have an institution that will train teachers that will be deployed to provide the necessary manpower in schools. It is not enough to have education infrastructure, it is not enough to have enrollment but it’s crucial to have the right staff and teachers that will man the school so established. I support the establishment of the institution (the bill), so that we do not have only the hardware but these software that is the teachers that will man the institutions.

The Senate referred the bill to the Senate committee on Tertiary Institutions for further consideration with a mandate to report back within four weeks.

https://www.sunnewsonline.com/educationsenator-sani-decries-mass-failure-poor-quality-of-teachers-in-the-country/

Worried by security reports of possible violence in the forthcoming local government elections in the state, the Niger state Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello has warned politicians and political thugs intending to ferment trouble of any kind to have a rethink as the security agents have been put on alert to deal ruthlessly with such individuals or group.
The governor in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mrs. Mary Noel Berje, said there is the need for all political stakeholders to eschew bitterness and rancor in order to guarantee a free, fair and peaceful elections.
The governor’s warning is coming on the heels of a number of security reports of a possible violence during the election scheduled to take place next week Saturday, November 30.
The state police commissioner, Alhaji Adamu Usman had during a stakeholders interactive meeting in Minna last week ahead of the elections raised alarm over possible violence during the elections.
The Police Boss fear was informed by the level of violence that characterized the conduct of the primary elections by some political parties and their Aspirants.
But the governor while issuing the warning in Minna on Wednesday, stated that in every democratic election, there has to be a winner and a loser, stressing that all candidates in the forthcoming elections should be ready to accept the outcome.
According to him, “where they are dissatisfied with the out come, they should seek redress in the court of law rather than resort to violence”.
The Governor therefore called on all eligible voters in the state to come out without fear of molestation to exercise their civic responsibility and conduct themselves in a peaceful and orderly manner in line with the electoral laws.
Governor Sani Bello assured that the state government will continue to improve on security in the state so as to protect the security of lives and property of the people before, during and after the elections.
He then directed the security agencies to collaborate and ensure that all eligible voters cast their votes without harassment and any form of intimidation adding that any form of electoral malpractice must be repelled.
He also used the opportunity to solicit the support of the electorate in voting for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, stressing that the ruling party will further expand its frontiers and enable it consolidates on the successes already attained.

https://www.sunnewsonline.com/niger-lg-polls-governor-bello-warns-trouble-makers-assures-hitch-free-exercise/

The Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State, under the aegis of Unity Group, Alhaji Ali Olanusi has declared unconditional support for National Chairman of the party, Comrade Adams Oshiomole, Igbere TV reports.

The Unity Group made known in a press statement made available Igbere TV on Tuesday, November 26.

The is coming barely few days after Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu with his lackey, Mr Ade Adetimehin and other conspirators launched a failed coup against the National Chairman.

Igbere TV reports that the group which is led by Olanusi, a former deputy governor and member of APC’s Board of Trustees (BOT) boasts that majority members of APC in Ondo State disowned Mr Ade Adetimehin, adding that Adetimehin has lost legitimacy.



The statement reads; “The only reason why Mr Ade Adetimehin was emboldened to join the failed coup is because the National Working Committee (NWC) is yet to punish him for anti-party activities.

This is a man who parades himself as chairman of APC in Ondo State but publicly campaigned for another political party, Action Alliance (AA), in the 2019 general elections.

“Instructively, recent political activities of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu are clear signals that the governor wants to destroy Ondo APC before jumping ship to another party.

“Finally, while saluting the party for upholding the suspension of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, we call on the National Chairman and the National Working Committee (NWC) to immediately dissolve the Ade Adetimehin-led State Executive Committee (SEC) of Ondo APC in line with the provisions of Article 13.4 (XVI) and (XVII) of party’s constitution.”, the group said.

http://igberetvnews.com/1163277/ondo-apc-declares-support-oshiomole/

Kenneth Udeh, Abuja

Niger State Governor Abubakar Sani Bello has advocated the need for structural adjustment in governance to boost economic growth and development in the country.

Governor Sani Bello was speaking at a 3-day Executive Leadership Retreat on Administrative Relationship, Strategic Communication and Management of Public of Finance for Economic Development organised for the newly sworn-in state commissioners and other top government functionaries at the 5th Chukker Polo Country Club, Kaduna.






He described the retreat as timely and informative, urging participants to ensure they block all leakages in the system so as to improve the finances in the state.

He emphasised that the future will be tougher than it is presently, calling for structural adjustment and financial prudence.



“The future is looking very bleak financially and things will be tougher,” the Governor told the gathering.

According to him, the state must work towards moving away from over-reliance on federal allocations and device other means of generating revenue so as to strengthen the state economy.

“We need to block leakages, and we must do some structural adjustment to survive the challenges of the future; and the only solution is to move away from dependence on federal allocations and to raise our internally generated revenue so that federal allocation becomes just an augmentation. Our main revenue should come from what we generate internally and what we get as FAAC should be an augmentation.

“We must change the narrative because we must survive. We must move our system from basically a public reliance system into a private sector system,” he added.

The Governor further charged participants on financial prudence, to avoid issuing irrelevant memos, and to complete ongoing projects before embarking on new ones which must affect the lives of citizens.

The Governor, who called on the commissioners and other government officials to ensure proper execution of government policies and projects, also urged them to imbibe ethical practices.

He called for honesty and sincerity in discharging their duties and for them resist the lure of illicit gain.

The Governor promised that state permanent secretaries and directors will undergo a similar retreat as they play a critical role in policy formulation and implementation.

In his remarks, the Chief of Staff, Government House, Alh. Balarebe Ibrahim, commended Governor Bello for the initiative, which he said has given participants the opportunity to brainstorm and consider the challenges of service delivery to the people.

He gave assures that the new executive council would do its best to make use of the knowledge acquired at the retreat to the narrative of governance under the Bello administration.

Among commissioners speaking at the retreat were Alh. Mamman Musa, Ramatu Yar’adua, Rifkatu Chidawa, Haruna Dukku, all appreciating the Governor for approving the retreat and assuring that they have gained new knowledge that will be useful in the discharge of their duties.

Also appreciating the Governor was the Chairman and Chief Consultant of MBS AMINATO Investment Limited, who thanked him for the opportunity afforded to carry out the exercise.

He assured that he will continue to do his best when called upon to carry out any assignment for the state.

Some of the presenters at the state retreat were Babawachiko Yahaya, Permanent Secretary, Economic Affairs, Dr Ogho Okiti and Alh. Musa Saleh.

https://www.sunnewsonline.com/niger-governor-says-hard-times-ahead-calls-for-structural-adjustment/

Kenneth Udeh, Abuja

Shouts of “Nay” rented the air in the Red-Chambers during Tuesday’s plenary session as the Senate tremendously shut down a temporary ban on generator importation into the country. The motion which was an additional prayer moved by Senator Francis Fadahunsi (Osun East) was aimed at curtailing the activities of generator importers as a means of making the Government sit up to address the nation’s power problems.Fadahunsi in his contribution to a motion moved by Senator Utazi Chukwuka titled “Addressing Nigeria’s Power Problems” made the prayer during a call for additional prayers by the Senate President Ahmed Lawan the prayer was however shut down in a voice vote by the Senators.



Sponsor of the motion, Senator Chukwuka Utazi (PDP, Enugu North) said Nigeria, with a population of 200 million and an annual growth rate of 2.6 percent per annum, is the seventh most populous nation on earth.



According to Utazi, the power generating or installed capacity of Nigeria in relation to its population and Gross Domestic Product cannot place the country to compete favourably in terms of development with other nations.

He, therefore, called on the Federal Government to find solutions to the power deficits faced by the country.


Citing Indonesia and Philippines as examples, the lawmaker noted that both countries with a population of 267 million and 107 million, respectively, have installed power capacity of 60,000 megawatts and generating capacity of 42,465 megawatts as well as installed capacity of 20,055 megawatts and generating capacity of 16,271 megawatts.

The lawmaker while expressing optimism that Nigeria can set a realisable target of generating capacity of 100,000 megawatts in the next ten years, said the same can be achieved through a mix of energy sources such as natural gas, hydro, coal, wind and renewable energy.

He added that the various zones in the country are naturally positioned to take advantage of the various energy mix and renewables, particularly solar energy.

“The northern part of the country with vast expanse of land can tap into large solar farms while the southern parts of the country with significant reserves of natural gas and cola can generate power from same.

“Both the North and South have large water bodies that can still be dammed for hydro,” Utazi said.

The lawmaker further posited that Nigeria can improve on its transmission infrastructure by up-scaling its networks from the current 330kv and 132kv to 765kv super grid to enable big power plants to send power through such grid over long distances.

He added that beyond generation and transmission, Distribution Companies (DisCos) lack the financial and technical capacities required, thereby resulting in their inability to pay for power which Generation Companies (GenCos) delivered to the grid.

However, Senator Francis Fadahunsi (Osun East), in his comments said :

“We have to look into the activities of generator importers, this has been our problem since we have alternatives. Our international airports are still running on generators. If we rely solely on our nation’s power generation we shall know how to revive it . If the government can at least for five years ban the importation of generators we shall sit tight and get serious. Senator

Francis further expressed that nation’s power sector was privatized in haste error to people who had no expertise in power. He’s said”the problem is the way power generation and distribution was concessioned hurriedly in the past to certain people who did not know about power just because they had money.

Senator Danjuma Goje (Gombe Central ), in his comments urged the Federal Government to look into other sources of power generation.

He said ” We can generate energy from other sources like coal , hydro,gas and solar . We needed to for example to determine how much percentage of power can we generate using coal”. If we take Gombe, Enugu , Kogi we have enough coal in those states to generate this 100 000 megawatts that we seek, but we have decided not to take any action”. Let’s go ahead and dismantle whatever needs to be dismantled, let’s make sure that if we divide this according to the six zones we have maybe Southeast Electric distribution company, Southwest Electric distribution company and so on.

The Senate resolved to set up an adhoc committee on the problems of power generation, transmission and distribution in Nigeria to investigate the various power issues and report back within four weeks , it also resolved to organize a national roundtable discussion on the problems and solutions on the nation’s power .

https://www.sunnewsonline.com/power-crisis-senate-rejects-temporary-ban-on-generator-importation/

The Chief Whip of the Nigerian Senate and former Governor of Abia State, Dr Orji Kalu, has congratulated the newly-elected Governor of Bayelsa State, Mr David Lyon of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on his victory in the November 16 election.

He attributed the success of the APC in the poll to the general acceptability of the party in Bayelsa State.

According to Kalu, the ideals of the APC will continue to place the party above other political parties, adding that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government has repositioned the country despite all odds.

In a press release by his media office, the Senator called on the newly-elected governor to be magnanimous in his victory by imbibing the spirit of sportsmanship and extending a hand of fellowship to his closest rival, Mr Duoye Diri of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and other governorship candidates in the election.

He said, “Following the victory of Mr David Lyon of the APC in the November 16 governorship election in Bayelsa State, it is clear that the electorate have confidence in the APC.

“The people have spoken with their votes and the newly elected-governor will, no doubt, live up to expectations.

“The governorship candidates of all the political parties must be commended for the level of maturity displayed before, during and after the poll.

“The results of the election were accepted across board in good faith.

“The Governor-elect must adopt a participatory approach to governance by running an all-inclusive government.

“The mandate given to the newly elected governor is for the entire citizenry of Bayelsa State, including the political opponents of the governor elect.

“The interest of the people must be placed above selfish ambitions.”

The former governor, while applauding the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), security agencies, civil society organisations and other stakeholders for ensuring a hitch-free poll, cautioned politicians against violence and other social vices.

https://www.today.ng/news/politics/bayelsa-elections-senator-kalu-salutes-governor-elect-david-lyon-victory-poll-264382

Men of the Niger State Fire Service this afternoon prevented a fire outbreak at the office of the Permanent Secretary, Niger State Government House, Minna.

The fire outbreak, which started at about 12:35 pm was put out by a combined team of fire fighters at about 1:03 pm.

Chief Press Secretary to the Governor of Niger State, Mrs Mary Noel-Berje, who made this known in a statement on Wednesday, hailed men of the state fire service who mobilised three fire-fighting vans to the scene within 15 minutes of the fire outbreak.

The permanent secretary’s office, which was under renovation had electrical fault. The fire affected office furniture and other office valuables.



Speaking during the incident, the Deputy Controller, State Fire Service, Salihu Bello, said even though there were no fire-fighting engines in the Government House as at the time of the incident, the state Fire Service was able to mobilise three engines to the scene under 15 minutes and stopped the fire.

He explained that lack of fire-fighting trucks in Government House was not intentional as those in the area were taken out for routine maintenance.

https://www.sunnewsonline.com/fire-fighters-prevent-fire-outbreak-in-niger-government-house/

Chief Whip of the 9th Senate , Senator Orji Uzor Kalu appeared in a northern inspired outfit for today's plenary.

The former Governor was congratulated officially by the President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan over his victory at the appeal court last week Thursday.

The Abia North Senator who doubles as the "Dan Baiwan Hausa" of Northern Nigeria was hosted in the Senate President's office after the day's plenary.

Recall that the court of appeal led by Justice Stephen Adah had on Thursday affirmed Senator Kalu as the winner of the February 23, 2019 National Assembly election in Abia North Senatorial District.

Senator Orji Uzor Kalu was also joined by Senator Yahaya Abdullahi the majority Leader of the Senate.


https://www.ouk.com.ng/2019/11/nasscheck-out-senator-orji-kalus-look.html?m=1

Kenneth Udeh, Abuja

Governor Abubakar Sani Bello of Niger State has urged Muslims in the country to uphold the principles of unity, peace and tolerance practiced by Prophet Muhammad as the faithful mark Eid el Maulud.

The Governor, in a message to commemorate this year’s Eid-el Maulud, signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mrs Mary Noel Berje, says the spirit of unity, peace and tolerance are also necessary for the growth and development of society.

Governor Sani Bello tasked Nigerians, especially Muslims, to continue to pray for the country and promote national integration in the conduct of their daily activities.

Related: Katsina Shari’a commission to screen Muslim preachers
According to the message “Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings of Allah be upon him and indeed Islam preaches peace, unity and tolerance which are equally necessary for building a virile society.”



On the upcoming local government elections in the state, the Governor enjoined politicians to eschew the politics of bitterness and other acts that will encroach on the corporate existence of the state in particular and the country at large as they embark on political campaigns.

Governor Sani Bello pledged to remain steadfast in pursuance of peace, unity and progress of the state.

https://www.sunnewsonline.com/eid-el-maulud-imbibe-spirit-of-peace-unity-and-tolerance-sani-tells-muslims/

The governor of Niger State, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello has approved the appointment of Hajiya Fatima N. Madugu, former Commissioner for Education as the Special Adviser to the Governor of Niger State on Education.

In a statement, the Secretary to the Government of Niger State (SSG), Alhaji Ibrahim Matane disclosed that the governor also approved the appointment of Hon. Abdulhamid El-Wazir as the Special Adviser, State Assembly Liaison; Brig. Gen. Ndagulu A. Imam (rtd), Special Adviser, Security Matters; Mohammed Nma Kolo, Special Adviser, Political and Strategy; Hajiya Sa’adatu A. Bokane, Special Adviser, Tourism and Culture and Barr. Amina Musa Guar, Special Adviser, National Social Investment Programme.

Others include Hon. Tanko Gambo, Special Adviser, Local Government Affairs; Alhaji Abdullahi Nasiru Ndafogi, Special Adviser, Political Zone ’A’, and Hon. Aminu Yusuf, Special Adviser, Political Zone ‘C’.

The statement disclosed that the appointment of the special advisers to the challenging positions was based on their merit, proven credentials, personal integrity and outstanding record of performance in their previous assignments.



Alhaji Matane in the statement, reminded the special advisers of the policy direction of the present administration which is to improve the quality of life of the citizens of Niger State and urged them to work diligently towards achieving this noble objective.

The Secretary to the State Government stressed that the special advisers were expected to bring their knowledge, skills and wealth of experience to bear on the performance of their new assignment by working assiduously to justify the confidence reposed in them.

“The governor congratulates the special advisers on their appointments and wishes them success and Allah’s guidance in the performance of the arduous duties of their offices,” the statement stressed.
https://www.sunnewsonline.com/gov-bello-appoints-10-new-special-advisers/

Vice Chairman Senate Committee on Banking,Insurance and Other Financial Institutions and Chief Whip of the 9th Senate , Senator Orji Uzor Kalu has charged the nation's financial and insurance institutions on service delivery.


Kalu, who co-chaired the Senate committee's meetings led by Senator Uba Sani (Kaduna Central) , held intensive interactive sessions with the country's Monetary, Insurance and other related institutions which include: The Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company Limited (NSPMC), The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) , Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Bank of Agriculture (BOA), Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN).


A larger chunk of the interactions of the concerned institutions centred on briefing the Senate committee on their activities , challenges and responses on pertinent national issues bothering on economic growth , finance and insurance.


Kalu, in his remarks called for proper auditing of the institutions. He made the call as Abbas Umar Masanawa, Managing Director of the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting company (NSPMC) appeared before the Senate Committee.



The Abia North Senator also charged the NSPMC to see itself not as a Government parastatal but a company in order to align it's business orientation towards diversification and profit making.



Kalu said ;"You need to realise that you are a company not just a parastatal. You must therefore see yourself as a company with dual identity.The NSPMC must see itself as a full private company to inorder to make improved profits. From what you have told us, we would like to know if you made profit last year? We are also interested in knowing if you were audited by KPMG, PWC, DELOITTE or any other reputable firm or you just assumed with your internal accountants that the 14.6 Billion Naira you informed us about is all profit?" Kalu enquired.

In his response, Abbas Umar told the committee that the NSPMC made a profit of 14.6 Billion in 2018 while turnover grew from 17.8 Billion in 2014 to 61.4 Billion in 2018.


The state of the nation's Airline industry came into discuss as Senator Kalu lamented the high cost of Airline operation in the country, he expressed his concern over the long list of agencies and their financial demands from airline operators. He made this assertion during the briefing of the Managing Director of Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Ahmed Kuru before the Senate Committee.

He said ; " You can't cut corners, because airline operation is denominated in dollars. If an Aircraft for example is due for a 'B' check (Aircraft Maintenance) there is no other option than going for the check, whether the operator is making profit or not . When it comes to Airline operation it is difficult to maintain because various regulators come up with different requirements and all these requirements attract costs. The denomination of charges within the local airports is not commensurate with the pricing of the airline"


"The most important is the pricing, if you want to pay the right price the Airline industry will boom but because you are not paying the right price everything is denominated in dollars.

Years ago in this county, an airline had 14 aircraft on the ground there were 737/400 and someone woke up one morning and cancelled and withdrew their license of the Airline just because one aircraft is purported to have committed an offence, this is why people are afraid of going into airline transportation business"


"The major problem, Kalu continued; is the cost of operation and it is very high. There is NEMA, NCIA, FAAN, etc and all these agencies demand money from the operators. So how would they survive? it's not going to be possible and it's not going to be easy. We cannot operate that way. Every six weeks an airline operator is mandated to check the aircraft for maintenance and they must pay because they can't play with people's lives and the captain is a human being too. If the aircraft is in bad condition they will refuse to fly; including the co-pilot and attendants.

So the major problem of the industry is cost and not even the operators. An Airline like Air Peace is not finding it easy to manage their business. Another major issue is the transparency among the entire industry, there is no transparency.


Kuru in his response said the National Assembly must reform the aviation sector by reducing the different layers of charges by different agencies, which makes it extremely difficult for airlines to survive in the country.

He pointed out that Arik Airline had enough aircraft and facilities that can be used to set up a new airline.


The insurance sector was not left out as the Chief Whip questioned the efforts of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), at regulating and sanctioning insurance companies that renegade in paying it's holders involved in accidents and other unfortunate incidents.


Kalu said ; "people that engage in insurance of vehicles, houses and so on don't get compensation by some of these big insurance companies when they have damages. How are you as a regulatory body, protecting the concern of these people? I have seen people who after they had accidents the insurance companies were not able to do anything. They were totally jettisoned despite the fact that they paid premiums . When you have an insurance and you are involved in fire or water accidents or otherwise they are not interested in coming to your aid. People end up paying premium without getting anything during unfortunate incidents . How is your organization protecting the over 200 million Nigerians most of who after using their hard earned money in paying premiums get nothing when they have problems?


Acting Managing Director of NAICOM Mr Thomas Sunday who had appeared before the Senate Committee spoke of the challenges faced by the insurance regulator, saying that limited powers in existing laws were responsible for "arm twisting" the Commission from carrying out its enforcement and distress management duties of defaulting insurance companies.


He appealed to the 9th Assembly through the Committee to pass a pending insurance executive bill into law in order to support the performance of the industry.


Godwin Emiefile , Governor of the nation's Apex Monetary Institution was not left out of the report rendering session as Dr. Kalu commended the economic intervention efforts of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Boss. Senator Kalu urged the Godwin not to relent in fine tuning and introducing policies aimed at boosting the nation's economy.


Earlier in his opening remark Godwin, described the 9th Senate as partners in progress, in what he described as a shared and joined responsibility to work together towards the development of the banking and insurance system in Nigeria.


He said " we are very clear in saying that we are partners in progress. Partners in the sense that we have the shared and joint responsibility to work together towards the development of the banking and insurance system in Nigeria and indeed the financial system in Nigeria.


Other Directors who presented themselves before the Senate committee include:

Kabiru Mohammed, Managing Director Bank of Agriculture (BOA), Umaru Ibrahim; Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Abba Bello Managing Director Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM),Adekunle AbdulRazaq Oyinloye Managing Director The Infrastructure Bank PLC and Tony Okpanachi Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN).


Also present at the meeting were other members of the committee; which include: Senators ; Betty Apiafi (Rivers West), Muhammad Adamu Alie


https://www.ouk.com.ng/2019/10/orji-kalu-at-senate-co-chairs-committee_31.html?m=1

Kenneth Udeh, Abuja

The Senate has expressed its displeasure over the poor regulation of insurance companies in the country, concerned about the low enlightenment of Nigerians on insurance policies.

This comes on the heels of comments by Senator Uba Sani, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions, that lower class Nigerians are being shortchanged by insurance companies due to non-moniroring of their activities by NAICOM.

Acting Managing Director of NAICOM Mr Thomas Sunday had appeared before the Senate Committee led by Senator Sani and Senator Orji Uzor Kalu.

Mr Sunday spoke of the challenges faced by the insurance regulator, saying that limited powers in existing laws were responsible for “arm twisting” the Commission from carrying out its enforcement and distress management duties of defaulting insurance companies.



He appeared to the 9th Assembly through the Committee to pass a pending insurance executive bill into law in order to support the performance of the industry.

“It is a common statement of fact that we are performing below our potential. One of the major challenge that we have has to do with trust and confidence; without trust and confidence it would be difficult for us as a Commission,” the NAICOM Director told the Committee.

On the issue of enforcement, Mr Sunday stated that separate government organs had the responsibility for enforcing different aspects of insurance, for example, Motor Insurance.

“The Commission engaged with the Federal Road Safety Corps and was able to develop what is now known as the NID, in which if you take an insurance cover today you will receive a text message, and if you don’t get that message then you should know that you have gotten your cover from a wrong source. That is part of the measures to tackle the non compliance [of] motor vehicles [insurers],” he explained.

“We have realized that at the federal level it would be difficult for proper enforcements to be carried out. We need to work with the state governments, and that is why sometime two years ago we attempted to reach out to the Governors’ Forum, but it was not quite successful.

“In 2020, we are going to work very hard with the states to ensure that they accommodate us as the regulator in their programme. As a result of the Annuity Pension Reform Act of 2004, which was amended in 2014, there has been massive growth in Annuity.

“In the 2018 data, Annuity is about 30% of the volume of transactions within the insurance sector; but it is increasing by the day. We are talking of over 10 trillion contributions that have come into the Annuity space,” he said.

“It is expected that with time, most of these funds will find their way into that sector. So we need to get prepared for it by the recapitalisation exercise that was announced. We believe that the capital of the insurance company, as it is, is grossly inadequate to take the insurance sector to the next level.”

Speaking further that it has increased the recapitalisation of insurance companies, the NAICOM Director stated that “on May 20th, we released a circular to all the operators and we increased the capital for life companies from 2 billion to 8 billion and general business from 8 billion to 10 billion.

“Currently, the dead line for the recapitalisation exercise has been put at June 2020. The insurance consolidated bill set up in 2008 to consolidate all the laws that relates to insurance, unfortunately as we speak, that is yet to see the light of the day. Managing distress in the insurance companies has become a bit difficult because of the limited powers in our existing laws . It is, therefore, our plea to this Committee to assist us.”

Committe Chairman Sani decried the lack of monitoring of insurance companies, saying that “the Senate is not happy that a lot of Nigerians pay for insurance, particularly at the lower level, but they are loosing everything. A lot of insurance companies are engaged in activities that are not been monitored by your Commission. We need you to do the needed to come up with strict form of regulation and act quickly. We are the National Assembly will give you all the necessary support.

Senator Onyewuchi Ezenwa (IMO East), on his part, expressed concern over perceived fraud by insurance companies who renege on paying claims, especially on third party insurance schemes.

“The major problem of the sector is confidence and you need to instill confidence, and your duty is to protect policy holders; and I want to say to you that the policy holders are not protected as we speak today. As the Nigerian parliament, I would tell you how Nigerians feel about the insurance sector in this country, especially the 3rd party insurance, which is the popular one. They think everything is fraud, they think you people are perpetuating fraud, they don’t have confidence in the sector because the insurance companies always have a way of wriggling out when it comes to paying claims,” Senator Ezenwa said.

“I never seen one obligation being fulfilled to the 3rd party. Nigerians are only interested in it to avoid police and road safety officer’s issues on the road, so that when they ask you for your particulars you bring out your particulars; you show them and then you move on. I’m sure that Nigerians don’t realise that they have an obligation to the 3rd party. In the case of any accident the insurance company is supposed to fix the 3rd party’s vehicle, but Nigerians don’t know about that. You have enlightenment and confidence building to do, so have to go back and restrategise.”

Responding to the Committee, Mr Sunday admitted that lack of public orientation on insurance rights were responsible for the defaulting nature of insurance companies.

“As far as the issue of mushroom companies operating in the country, if a company takes premium and refuses to pay claims, by the NAICOM Act of 1997 passed by this House, we were mandated to set up what is called the Complaints Bureau. What has happened over time is lack of not publicising that information to the public of their rights under an insurance transaction. Anyone that is not satisfied with an insurance transaction can report to our complaints bureau,” he explained.

“I must say also that for those who collect premium and fail to pay claims, there is a whole directorate that deals with that in the Commission when they complain. We have been able to resolve a lot of claims in this respect. Part of what some of the operators are taking advantage of is the low reading rate of Nigerians.

“Because some of these are clearly stated in those policies that they were given. Though there are reports of non-response to claims payment, there are also some beneficiaries, those whose claims have been adequately settled. I will say that the Commission has to stepped up its publicity of the rights of the public as far the insurance contracts are concerned. We have made adequate provisions in our budget for publicity. So that we shall engage the public from time to time.”

The Committee directed the Commission to make available its budget within 3 weeks.

https://www.sunnewsonline.com/senate-decries-poor-enlightenment-weak-insurance-regulation/

Following the bandit invasion of about 18 villages in Birni Yero, in the Igabi local government area of Kaduna State, and nd subsequent displacement of about 2,000 locals a few weeks ago, the Senator representing Kaduna Central, Uba Sani, visited has the refugees with relief materials.

The lawmaker told reporters that his visit to the locals who are currently camping at LEA primary school, Birni Yero, was out of concern of a potential humanitarian crisis that may occur as a result of lack of food.

Items distributed include cash, rice, sphaghetti, sugar, rice, oil, satchet water, bread and milk worth N2 million, according to the relief needs of the displaced persons.

 Financial support was also extended to members of the civilian Joint Task Force that assist the security agencies in curbing the activities of bandits in Kaduna State.

The displaced communities included Dallatu, Digani, Unguwan Audu, Bakin kasuwa, Jura, Un/Tofa, Sauran Giwa, Kosau, Kajinjiri and Gidan Makeri.

Assessing the condition of the camp during the visit, Senator observed that, in addition to the previous aid, the displaced persons may need health and/or medical assistance, especially the most vulnerable groups of children, women and the elderly, as well as awareness on disease and epidemic prevention.

He called civil society and professional bodies to assist in providing services, social activities and protection services to IDPs across the country in partnership with other operating international organisations and in cooperation with the authorities in the communities where IDPs are located.

He pointed out the need for authorities and the public to contribute to support the stability of displaced families affected by security incidents

“Such services should include vocational and professional training service aimed to build the capacity of displaced family members and the host community and to empower them vocationally and professionally to help them secure income for their families,” the Senator said
https://www.sunnewsonline.com/senator-uba-visits-donates-relief-materials-worth-n2-million-to-idps/

Niger State government has cleared the air on the controversy surrendering the $181 million Islamic Development Bank (IDB), saying that all formalities towards securing the loan had been concluded, but the government is yet to access the money.

Former governor, Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu claimed that he sought for and got approval for the loan while in office but the money did not hit the state government account before he left office.

But in a statement in Minna on Monday by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mary Noel Berge the government said it was actually Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello who sought for the loan from the Islamic Development Bank after securing the nod of the National Assembly.

According to the statement, the request for the loan was only transmitted on 26th July 2017, but the request was not granted until May this year, stressing that “the process of securing the loan has been completed at the National Assembly but the money has not hit the state’s account.”



The former Niger State governor had during a PDP rally in Minna on Saturday told the large crowd of party supporters that, he secured the approval for the said loan but the physical money was given to his successor after he left office.

But the chief press secretary insisted that “the IDB loan was approved by the National Assembly in May this year but the money has not been accessed by the state government.”

She stated further that the 8th Senate on 28th May 2019 received and considered the report tagged “Report of the committee on local and foreign debt, Niger State’s development policy operation credit from world bank and Islamic Development Bank,” and approval for the loan was granted.

“Based on the report of the committee headed by Senator Shehu Sani then the Senate looked into it and considered it, and thereby gave the state government the backing to access the loan for its viability but the government has not received the money.”

She also maintained that records were there to show that the 8th House of Representatives at its 147th sitting, highlighted borrowing request for Niger State under 2016-2018 external borrowing (roiling ) plan, the request was considered and approval was given on 23th May 2019 by the House of Representative and wondered where the former governor secured his own approval from.

Mrs Berje, however, assured that the state government was in the process of securing the loan to dualise Minna-Bida road, adding that work on the road will start immediately the money hits the state account.

According to her, the state government has been open on the issue of the IDB loan because the concept of the loan was made public and had been in public domain

She explained that “the initial concept of the loan and the project to be carried out was passed to the National Assembly by the Federal Executive Council for inclusion in the national borrowing plan; thereafter a consultant was engaged to assess what was required,so there is no way that money will be ready and work will not start on the Minna-Bida road.

“The consultant provided us with the following components, the dualisation of Bida-Minna road of about 82 kilometers, making it 164 kilometres with other facilities, because the road was constructed in the early eighties and needs total reconstruction,” Berje added.

https://www.sunnewsonline.com/bida-minna-road-dualisation-niger-govt-clears-air-on-181-million-idb-loan/

The Senate has began debate on the general principles of the 2020 Appropriation Bill of N10.33 trillion.

The lawmakers took turns debating the Bill at plenary on Wednesday.

Out of the N10.33 trillion in the 2020 Budget, N556.7 billion is for Statutory Transfer, while N2. 7 trillion is for Debt Service.

Contributing, Sen. Gabriel Suswam (PDP-Benue) said that the budget was very ambitious as it was intended to address infrastructural deficit.

He said that the economy had contracted to a level that the senate needed to critically address some very “germane and pregnant issues.”



“Along with the appropriation submitted by the President, is a financial bill that has five thematic areas.

“I am worried about the area that talks about revenue. I am worried with that because Value Added Tax (VAT) that had been moved from 5 per cent to 7.5 per cent is one of the sources that we intend to raise revenue to finance critical areas of education and the health.

“In the same budget that we proposed 2.93 Gross Domestic Product Growth, we have also taken these policies, policies that will further contract the economy.

“This is because if we say that VAT will be moved from 5 per cent to 7.5 percent, the exemptions from the VAT are small because most of the aggregate economic activities are small business enterprises.”

He explained that most of the small business enterprises would be unable to address the issue of 7.5 per cent VAT.

“The 7.5 per cent VAT is on the high side and has exemption only on food items.”

On sectoral allocations, Suswam said that the money for the education and health was insufficient.

He said that to address infrastructure from holistic point of view, “outside of roads and power; education and health allocation should have also been enhanced.”

Chairman Senate Committee on Appropriation Sen. Jibril Barau (APC-Kano) said that the sectoral allocation of N262 billion to Works and Housing, showed that government was serious about providing the necessary infrastructure to drive and sustain the economy.

He said that government was serious to actualise its long term objective of diversifying the economy.

Sen. Ike Ekweremadu (PDP-Enugu) said that he was pleased with the emphasis on road sector development and the marginal increase in Human Rights Commission’s allocation.

“These are indeed very commendable steps.

“The President has done his best in the presentation of the Appropriation Bill pursuant to Section 81 of the Constitution.

“Now the job is left for us to consider and make appropriate adjustments.

“We cannot blame the President or anybody else to fail in this responsibility of adjusting the proposal where necessary.

“Once the budget is passed, the rest is implementation.”

He said that in order to ensure full implementation of the budget, revenue generation must be emphasised and certainly not at the expense of ordinary Nigerians.

Ekweremadu said that there was the need to block all leakages.

“I am happy that the Federal Government is now clear on its position on IPPIS that government agencies must be captured under IPPIS.”

He further said that there was the need to show more interest in mineral sector development.

“We need to remove so much emphasis on oil and gas and see what we can do to take advantage of all the deposits of solid minerals in the country.”

Senate Minority Leader Eyinnaya Abaribe said the budget was a budget of taxation going by the proposed increase in VAT from 5 to 7. 5 per cent.

In his remarks, President of the Senate Ahmad Lawan, mentioned that the debate on the budget would continue on Thursday.(NAN)


https://www.sunnewsonline.com/senate-begins-debate-on-2020-appropriation-bill/

Kenneth Udeh, Abuja

Nigeria’s Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr Chris Ngige, has said that the N30,000 new Minimum Wage is “a reality”, asserting that the Federal Government has commenced payment of the new wage to workers at the lower cadres of the public service.

He argued that the current quagmire between the Federal Government and organised labour arose from adjusting the wages of government workers from grade level 7 to 14, with the two parties yet to agree on final figures. Collective bargaining, the Minister said, was the only way to end the tussle, and that once agreed other grade levels would start earning their new wages.

In an interview with Daily Sun‘s KENNETH UDEH in Abuja, Minister Ngige spoke on topical national issues, including Nigeria’s 59th Independence anniversary, social investment programmes and the impact of Nigeria’s border closure on domestic industries.

What is the Federal Government’s stance on the N30,000 new Minimum Wage?

I understand that the N30,000 Minimum Wage is a reality, that is why we have started the implementation. The N30,000 Minimum Wage is for the man at the lowest position in the job ladder, so we are already paying that. The public servants of those offices are already earning the new Minimum Wage. With the consequential adjustment, we have a problem with adjusting the wages of level 7 to level 14 workers. The problem is with negotiations, because the two parties [government and labour] are yet to agree on the figures. It is expected to happen because it is a negotiation. And anything that concerns wages and negotiations, you should be ready for hard negotiations, especially when the economy is not too good. The good thing happening now is collective bargaining, because it is a consequential adjustment. So, I do not see it as a problem that cannot be solved. We have to solve it. And once we solve it, other grade levels will start earning their new scales of wages.

Read More: https://www.sunnewsonline.com/we-have-commenced-payment-of-new-minimum-wage-chris-ngige/

Kenneth Udeh, Abuja

Senator representing Imo West, Senator Rochas Okorocha has advocated the reduction in the number of senators representing various states at the National Assembly, especially at the Senate.

Okorocha a former governor of Imo State elected on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) , made this known during Thursday’s plenary session.

He made the comments during his contribution to the Medium Term Expenditure Framework And Fiscal Strategy Paper submitted by the joint committee on finance and national planning.

He stressed that if the plan was implemented, it would help to reduce the cost of governance in the country, stating that it would further help the country maintain fiscal discipline.



He said: “This country must begin to make sacrifices; our country provides that we have three Senators, but what are the three Senators per state doing that one single senator from that state cannot do? With over 300 representatives from the states, each of them creates increased demands from the economic system.

“What we need to have under the present ugly economic situation is have a statutory representative one per state to reduce the cost of governance.

“Secondly, we need to fund the productive sector of our economy. Government is business. Our Senate must not operate our budget from an accountant’s perspective but an economic perspective

The Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, in his reaction, advised Sen. Okorocha to formulate a constitution-amendment bill to back up his contribution.

He said: “Your contribution can be translated into a bill; if you want a state to have only one senator, your contribution requires a constitutional amendment.

“You have the opportunity to present a bill to seek for the amendment of the relevant sections of the constitution that provides for three senators per state.
https://www.sunnewsonline.com/to-cut-cost-of-governance-okorocha-advocates-one-senator-per-state/

Chairman Senate Committee on Power; Senator Gabriel Suswam called on Nigerians rally in unity irrespective of religion, ethnic and political affiliation.

The former Governor urged the electorates to use the celebration to demand for more accountability from their elected officials.

Suswam gave the advice in a statement in Abuja on Monday, saying “ Independence day celebration will provide a wonderful opportunity for us to come together once more irrespective of our religion, ethnic and political affiliation.

"In spite of all, our challenges as a nation we have drawn strength in our diversity. Considering our multi-ethnic diversity, culture, religious beliefs we remain one nation bound in freedom as we face these challenges.

"I must commend the contributions of these citizens who are now more enlightened and demand more from their representatives, and accordingly more from their politicians, Governors and Government.

I urge our nation's leaders to make sacrifices in the interest of the nation. Nation building is not limited to government alone; but to every citizen has a role to play by complementing government's efforts and keeping vigilant at all times against dangers posed by those who have continued to undermine our democracy and peaceful coexistence.

http://igberetvnews.com/1035703/suswan-calls-unity-urges-nigerians-demand-accountability/

Congratulations to him, but he's not the first artist to land such endorsement, Adekunle gold is the first artist to do that

alexhl:
Congratulations Rema Mr Dumebi on your first huge endorsement deal...

I don't think any Nigerian celeb has endorsed for hp before....
Keep breaking records young bro.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B24lA_cJ4HN/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading

https://www.acurees.com/news/rema-becomes-brand-ambassador-for-hp/


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cusLMxP5LPc

Authorities of the Bayelsa State Police Command have arraigned 15 persons before the State High Court sitting in Yenagoa over alleged plot to kill the former First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan and rob her of her valuables worth over N.3billion.

A 17-count charge of conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to commit felony with armed robbery, malicious injury to property, conspiracy to commit felony, stealing and burglary were filed against the suspects.

Those arraigned included Golden Vivian (40 years, Erama Deborah (45yrs),Precious Kingsley (20yrs), Vincent Olabiyi (28yrs),Ebuka Cosmos (25yrs), Williams Alamo (29yrs),Tamunokuro Abaku (32yrs) and Boma Oba (42yrs).

Others include Emmanuel Aginwa(42yrs), Emeka Benson (33yrs), Tamunosiki Achese Frisberesima (30yrs), Wariboko Salome (28yrs), Sahabi Lima (35yrs),Reginald Sunday(20yrs) and John Dashe(39yrs).

The charge sheet was signed by S. A. Ofoegbu Esq. O.C. Legal State Criminal Investigation Department, Yenagoa Bayelsa State.

Defending the accused persons are Stanley Damabide, Padiowei P.P. Tamuno, E. Samuel, Chuks Momoh.

They all pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

In the charge sheet, the count 1 accused the arraigned persons of conspiring to commit murder which is an offence punishable under section 252 of the Criminal code law cap. C14 laws of Bayelsa State.

According to the charge, ”All the accused and some at large, sometime in the month of June, 2019 at Otuoke community in Ogbia local government within the Ogbia Judicial Division of the state high court did conspire to kill Her excellency, Dame Patience Jonathan,former first lady ,there committed an offence.’

”That you and some other persons at large,on the same date and place aforementioned Judicial division of Bayelsa did steal seven gold bangles and jewelries, five Samsung Air Conditioner,Two sets of upholstery chairs,six Samsung flat screen television stands at two hundred Million naira (N200,000,000).These are property of Dame Patience Jonathan and there by committed an offence.”

It would be recalled that operatives of the Operation Puff Adder of the State Police Command had in June arrested some persons over alleged involvement in the illegal entry into his home in Otuoke community in Ogbia local Government area, carting away jewelries, custom made walking stick and other valuables worth over N.3billion.

DAILY POST, gathered that one of the arrested suspects, who is a management staff of the Aridolf Resort, Hotel and Spa owned by the former First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan had mysteriously duplicated the keys to the rooms where the valuables were kept and led the forceful entry and gradual looting of the valuables.

It was also gathered that after some domestic staff to the former President discovered he was informed and he quickly called in men of the Bayelsa Police Command to effect their arrest and recover the looted valuables.

https://dailypost.ng/2019/09/20/police-arraign-15-alleged-attempt-kill-patience-jonathan/

Russia has increased its crackdown against Jehovah’s Witnsses, jailing six adherents for extremism in what has been described as unjust by a move rights activists.

According to a court spokesperson, a regional court in Saratov jailed six Jehovah’s Witnesses on Thursday for up to three-and-a-half years.

“Yes they were convicted,” the spokeswoman, Olga Pirueva, said. “Punishments ranged from three years and six months down to two years (in jail).”

The court found the six men guilty of continuing the activities of an extremist organization, a reference to a 2017 ruling from Russia’s Supreme Court which found the group to be an “extremist” organisation and ordered it to disband, Reuters reported.

Read Also: Serena Williams won’t celebrate daughter’s first birthday due to Jehovah’s Witness beliefs

The latest jailings follow the conviction in February of a Danish builder in Russia for his association with Jehovah’s Witnesses. Dennis Christensen was found guilty of organizing an extremist group and jailed for six years.

Over 250 Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia are facing criminal charges, according to the group, with 41 in detention and 23 under house arrest, according to reports.

Under Thursday’s ruling, Konstantin Bazhenov and Alexei Budenchuk were sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail, Felix Makhammadiev to three years, and Roman Gridasov, Gennady German, and Alexei Miretsky to two years in prison each.

The court also banned them from holding leadership positions in public organizations for five years.

Jehovah’s Witnesses say Russia’s constitution guarantees their adherents’ right to exercise freedom of religion and deny wrongdoing.

“The whole logic of the accusation was based on the speculative thesis that faith in God is ‘a continuation of the activities of an extremist organization’,” Jarrod Lopes, a U.S.-based spokesman for the Jehovah’s Witness, said in a statement.

“Instead of searching and proving the guilt of the defendants, the aim of the investigation was to prove their religious affiliation, despite the fact that no religion is prohibited in Russia.”

Lawyers for the men plan to appeal what they regard as absurd convictions, said Lopes, according to Reuters report.

https://www.informationng.com/2019/09/russia-increases-crackdown-on-jehova-witnesses-reuters.html

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