Raid on Edwin Clark’s home : We’re back to the creeks — Militants (Vanguard)
A coalition of Niger Delta militants said yesterday they were returning to the creeks to disrupt oil production in the Niger Delta, following last Tuesday’s raid on the Abuja house of elder statesman, Chief Edwin Clark, by policemen over alleged illegal possession of arms and ammunition. The group also raised an alarm over assassination plots against some Nigerians, especially those canvassing restructuring of the country. Read more
Approval plan: Lagos serves 145 notices on building owners (Punch)
The Lagos State Building Control Agency has embarked on public sensitisation to inform residents that all buildings in the state must have valid building approval plan. Mr Olalekan Shodehinde, the General Manager, LASBCA, made this known during sensitisation through the Lagos metropolis of Yaba, Tejuosho and Oyingbo area of the state. Shodehinde said that almost all the structures within the area which were initially for residential purposes had been converted to commercial purposes without requisite approval plan or due regularisation with the agency.
Is Nigeria’s exposure to Chinese loans healthy for the economy? (Punch)
It is healthy if well managed. The Chinese President said that the loan was not for frivolous projects. What the Chinese government is doing is to assist us develop our infrastructure. So, it is left for us and some other African countries not to waste the money on vanity projects. We should invest in projects that will give us lifetime development. If we could not achieve the Millennium Development Goals due to problems associated with funding and now we have funding, we should do something for this country. African leaders should begin to know that we hold ourselves responsible first for what we plan and for the future of our continent. Read more
Restructuring can’t guarantee unity, stability – Falana (Punch)
A human rights lawyer, Mr Femi Falana (SAN), has said Nigeria’s quest for unity and political stability will remain elusive until the resources of the country are equitably redistributed among the regions. He added that though Nigeria was ripe for restructuring, the people would remain polarised if the restructuring was not matched with the democratisation of powers. Read more
Six APC Govs, 27 N’Assembly Members to Defect Soon, PDP Claims (Thisday)
The ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) may experience another gale of defection as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Wednesday claimed it was concluding discussions with six governors and 27 members of the National Assembly elected on the platform of APC ahead of their defection to the party. The opposition party revealed that discussions on control of party structures in the affected states and senatorial zones had also reached advance stage and would be completed in a couple of weeks after which the governors and lawmakers would announce their defection to PDP. Read more
Akwa Ibom: Akpabio’s defection, Udom’s bounce (Vanguard)
It was a rumour that had been long in coming both in Akwa Ibom State and even at the national level where he relocated to play national politics in 2015 after eight eventful years as governor of Akwa Ibom State. Senator Godswill Akpabio’s touch in Akwa Ibom State had during his time in office been dubbed as the uncommon transformation. With an estimated N3 trillion that came the way of the administration between 2007 and 2015, Akpabio initiated what came to be dubbed the uncommon transformation of the state. He, however, built on the foundation laid by his predecessor, Obong Victor Attah who with the limited funds available to him laid the foundation of some infrastructure projects that Akpabio came to celebrate and build upon. Read more
Suicide bomber kills 20 in twin blasts (leadership)
A Suicide Bomber blew himself up at a wrestling club in a Shi’ite neighbourhood of the Afghan Capital, Kabul, on Wednesday, followed by a second blast apparently targeting the emergency services and journalists. At least 20 people were killed and 22 wounded in the first explosion, Interior Ministry spokesman, Nasrat Rahimi, said. It was unclear what had caused the second blast and there was no information on casualties. Read More
Lawyers divided over superiority of FOI to Official Secret Act (Vanguard)
On August 13, 2018,Samuel Ogundipe, Scurity Sector reporter with Premium Times, an online newspaper, was arrested by the pPolice in Abuja. Ogundipe’s arrest was sequel to a story he had written revealing a report by the Inspector-General of Police, Abubakar Idris to then acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo. The said report indicted the Director-General of the Department of State Services, DSS, Lawal Daura on the invasion of the National Assembly. Read more
APGA’s rebound, Obiano’s Southeast game plan (Guardian)
Indications have emerged that the All Progressives Grand Alliance’s (APGA) decision to field a presidential candidate in next year’s general election is upsetting calculations for the exercise, particularly the political dynamics in Southeast geopolitical zone. The APGA leadership had shortly after the November 2017 Anambra State gubernatorial poll was won and lost, ruled out the possibility of fielding a presidential candidate hinting that the National Executive Committee (NEC) would meet to decide which party’s candidate it would support. Read more
Ghana trade act: Time for government intervention (Guardian)
There does not appear the Federal Government has waded into what promises to be a very explosive development in Ghana before long, a country in the West African coast which from time immemorial can be regarded as the second home of a great many Nigerians. The signs are already there: Ghanaians are agitated and pressing that the law reserving small-scale businesses for only Ghanaians be activated and enforced. It is an old law enacted in 1994. Read more
Teenagers sell stolen laptop for N2,000 in Lagos (Guardian)
Operatives of the Lagos State Police Command have arrested two teenagers for allegedly breaking into a shop on Jakande Estate, in the Ejigbo area of Lagos State, and stealing a laptop. The police also arrested two others – 27-year-old Adejagun Babatunde and 20-year-old Lawal Wasiu – for allegedly receiving the stolen laptop from the teenage burglars. Read more
Leah Sharibu as albatross (Guardian)
The debate over payment or no payment of ransom to the abductors of the Dapchi girls will continue to pale into insignificance until Miss Leah Sharibu, the only Christian girl who has reportedly failed to deny her faith is released alive. She has become the core issue and indeed an albatross on the neck of the Federal Government that has been promising her release since February this year. Read more
Embracing technologies as panacea for youth involvement in farming (Guardian)
Nigeria is projected to be the world’s third most populous country by 2050, according to a report entitled, World Population Prospects: The 2017 version, released by UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Consequently, food demand of the country is expected to balloon along with the forecast and the implication is that the nation’s agricultural sector faces a huge challenge to produce not only the food crops but also sources of protein and micro-nutrients needs of the country. Read more
Signal Alliance, Microsoft to Deepen Cloud Adoption (Thisday)
Signal Alliance (SA) and Microsoft have launched the FastTrack Partner Programme in Nigeria. It is an exclusive group of partners across the globe approved by Microsoft to accelerate the migration of its platforms to the cloud. This is a customer success service designed to help them realise business value faster with the Microsoft Cloud. Signal Alliance is one of two partners from the West, East and Central Africa to join the other 200 partners from across all parts of the world. With the explosion of Microsoft Cloud business, these partners will help customers successfully move their workloads to the cloud. Read more
Union urges governement to ban importation of textile materials (Guardian)
The Textile Garments and Tailoring Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (TGTSSAN) has urged the Federal Government to reduce the exchange rate for the survival of the textile industry. The association argued that it was high time government repositioned the ailing industry for the development of the nation’s economy. Read more
Falconet’s coach blames poor performance on inadequate friendlies (Sun
Abdullahi Mansur, Assistant Coach of the national U-20 team, Falconets, on Wednesday blamed the poor performance of national football teams in international competitions on inadequate exposure to international friendlies. Mansur told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that inadequate preparations would always result in failure.) Read more