“We are happy our daddy is back hale, hearty”

President Mohammadu Buhari yesterday returned to Abuja, saying he was completely healed, stronger, more energetic and now fit to resume presidential duties. Recall that the president penultimate week proceeded on a 10 day leave and later jetted out to London, United Kingdom where he had gone to treat a persistent ear infection. He was due to come back to the country on Thursday but failed to do so.

The Vice President as the Acting President then told Journalists that the president would be returning to the country on Sunday (Yesterday) as he needed to rest after the medicals. The president whose aircraft touched down at exactly 5:35 pm at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport on Sunday said he was now fit. In a sure-footed manner, the president spoke to the State House Correspondents after inspecting a guard of honour by the Nigeria Armed Forces. 

“You have seen me. You saw me when I was going. You can do the assessment yourself. “I am okay. You can see me inspecting the guard of honour. You can see I am taller than you. Do you want to wrestle with me, you can do so”, he said. 

Also, his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina said he would resume duty today. “Mr President is fit and will resume work on Monday”, he said. 

On his part, the Chairman of Governors Forum and Zamfara State Governor, Abdulaziz Yari expressed gratitude to God for bringing the president home safely. “We thank God for bringing him (Buhari) back to his country. 

It is a good thing he went on break and returned to his people hale and hearty.” “Our daddy is back. He has gone to take a rest we are happy that he is back”, he said.

 Meanwhile, among government officials who were on hand to welcome the President were members of the cabinet including the Minister of the Environment Amina Mohammed, Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi; Minister of the Niger Delta affairs, Usani Usani. Others included Minister of Water Resources, Minister of State for Education, Minister of State for Budget and National Planning; Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbe; Minister of Budget and National planning, Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami; Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Minister of Health, Minister of Interior, Gen. Dambazzua; Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari; Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibrahim Magu.

 Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello and Chief of Army Staff, Bruntia were also on hand.
SOURCE: Vanguardngr

Air Force To Commence Deployment Of Troops For Northeast Clean Up

Nigeria’s Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, says he will commence a heavy deployment of air troops from Friday, June 17, to Maiduguri for mop up operations on Boko Haram insurgents.

Speaking to reporters in Kano State, North West Nigeria, the Air Force boss disclosed that already, a significant number were deployed in Niger Delta to counter the Avengers’ destruction of Nigeria’s oil pipelines.

The Air Staff boss believes that the most important machinery to air theater in the contemporary security threat to Nigeria is the ability of the defence to employ air power that will make the ground hold-able for the land Army to move into action.

The Operation Lafiya Dole jointly carried out by all security agencies across the country has yielded much needed results as air officers are only being deployed to clear the ground for mop up operations by sister security agencies.

He further assured officers that henceforth, their welfare packages would include the provision of a conducive atmosphere to settle their families at the barracks. He added that making them comfortable at the war front will always come first.

The Air chief also commissioned staff quarters and pilot students hostels at the Air Force Base in the state.

Commissioning the projects, a former Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Mukhtar Muhammad, said that with the commitment shown so far by Nigeria’s defence mechanism, he was optimistic that the activities of Boko Haram insurgents would soon be a thing of the past.

In order to ensure continuity and sustainable security development in Nigeria, the former Chief of Air Staff advised officers and men of the Nigeria Air Force to put all hands on deck, to ensure the actualization of the NAF vision of protecting Nigeria’s Air Defence system.

FG saving N1.4trn annually from subsidy removal – Kachikwu

The recent removal of subsidy from the pump price of premium motor spirit is saving the federal government over N1.4 trillion that would have been expended on subsidy claims per annum, the minister of state for petroleum resources, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, has said.

Speaking when he visited the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, the minister explained that the deregulation policy has also re-awakened the downstream sector and would help the nation become a net exporter of petroleum products in a few years.

“We now have a lot of people who are interested in investing in our refineries and building more refineries and we will remain committed to the goal which is to reduce importation of petroleum products by 60 per cent by the end of 2018 and become a net exporter of petroleum products by 2019,” he said.

Kachikwu in a statement yesterday by the board noted that with the fall in crude oil prices and reduced investment in the sector, the NCDMB must re-strategise and transit from its role of just propagating local content and local participation to one of finding commonality with industry stakeholders to encourage investment.

Kachikwu also stated that the corporate restructuring initiated in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has reduced the average monthly loss recorded by the corporation from N40 billion in the recent past to N3 billion, while efforts remained on target to achieve profitability before the end of 2016, a feat that had not been recorded in 20years.

He also announced plans to carry out infrastructural re-graphing of Nigeria’s petroleum sector, adding that plans were afoot to review Nigeria’s ageing pipelines, depots and gas infrastructure and begin the process of replacing them.

On gas flaring, the minister stated that the new thinking was to move away from a penalty-based gas regulation which had largely failed over the years to a zero tolerance gas flaring regulation with year 2020 as the new target deadline.

Admitting that the entire spectrum of petroleum industry required strategic intervention, Kachikwu harped on the need to see the challenges as opportunities to transform the sub sectors into income earners for the populace.
SOURCE: TodayNG

IMF welcomes Nigeria's decision to end currency peg

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund said on Thursday it welcomed the decision by Nigeria's central bank to abandon its currency peg and adopt a flexible exchange rate policy, saying this was important to reduce fiscal and external imbalances.

IMF spokesman Gerry Rice told a weekly news briefing the Fund wanted to see how effectively the naira exchange market functions once the new float system is put into effect next Monday.

Nigeria's central bank governor said in a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari the bank expects the naira to settle at around 250 to the dollar after it abandons the peg of 197 to the dollar it has supported for 16 months.

"I think the announcement yesterday to revise the guidelines for the operation of the Nigerian interbank foreign exchange market is an important and welcome step," Rice told reporters. "It will provide greater flexibility in that market, the foreign exchange market."

Senior IMF officials, including Managing Director Christine Lagarde, have urged Nigerian officials to allow the naira to fall to absorb some of the shock to the economy from a plunge in oil prices and revenues. OPEC member Nigeria is a major oil producer. IMF officials have said that Nigeria has not requested IMF financial assistance, but has been in consultation with the Fund on dealing with budget shortfalls.

"As we have said before, a significant macroeconomic adjustment that Nigeria urgently needs to eliminate existing imbalances and support the competitiveness of the economy is best achieved through a credible package of policies involving fiscal discipline, monetary tightening, a flexible exchange rate regime and structural reform," Rice said. "Allowing the exchange rate to better reflect market forces is an integral part of that."

Ex-gov Goje approved N1bn for dictionaries – EFCC

Former governor of Gombe State, Danjuma Goje, illegally awarded a N1bn contract for the supply of dictionaries to secondary schools while he was governor of the state, according to the EFCC.

A prosecution witness, Salisu Abaji, said this before a Federal High Court in Jos where Goje is being tried for alleged fraud, the spokesman for the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, said in a statement.

According to the witness, the ex-governor awarded a contract for the supply of dictionaries for over N1bn to Gombe State Universal Basic Education Board without following procurement process.

Furthermore, he was alleged to have paid 85 per cent of the contract sum upfront to the supplier, Real and Integrated Hospitality Company, as against the prescribed 15 per cent as contained in the UBEB guideline when he was the governor.

The prosecution witness, who is a former Secretary to UBEB, gave this testimony against his former boss.

He further submitted that one Aliyu el-Naffty, a former UBEB chairman, also an accused person standing trial along with Goje, awarded the contract the same day and ordered the advance payment based on the directive of the ex-governor.

Another prosecution witness and a former storekeeper at the Gombe State Government House, Mr. Mohammed Aliyu, concluded his testimony by tendering receipts of all payments made to the food contractor to the government during the eight-year administration of Goje from 2003 and 2011.

Abaji, however, admitted that he played a role in the award and payment of the said amount as upfront to the contractor. This, he did, under cross-examination by the defence counsel, Mr. Adeniyi Akintola.

The trial has been adjourned till October 4 and 5, 2016 by Justice Quadri.

SOURCE: Todayng

Osun School Uniform Crisis: Religious battle enters physical, spiritual realm Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/06/osun-school-uniform-sagaa-religious-battle-enters-physical-spiritual-realm/

Osogbo—The face-off  between Christian and Muslim leaders degenerated, yesterday, but the timely intervention of Oluwo of Iwoland, Oba Adewale Akanbi, saved what could have snowballed into major religious crisis as some Christian students of Baptist High School, Adeeke, Iwo for the second day appeared in church robes to attend classes for the day.


In defiance to Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s warning on Tuesday that any student found disobeying school rules and regulations risk expulsion, some students who arrived the school for the day’s lessons in church robes were turned back by security men manning the gate who however allowed female Muslim students who wore hijab as a complement to their uniforms into the school premises. 

However, some Christian leaders who initially kept a safe distance watching the unfolding event at this point moved to the gate to ensure that their children also gained access to the school premises. 

The Christians eventually gained access into the premises. Muslim leaders who were around the school premises also moved to the gate and a face-off ensued between the two groups. It was gathered that the paramount ruler of the town, Oba Akanbi, stepped in by personally visiting the school to douse the tension by inviting both the Christian and Muslim leaders to his palace for a meeting. 

The battle after a while, turned spiritual as Christians in the state, yesterday, organised an interdenominational prayer where they offered prayers to God to intervene on the issue of hijab and the court ruling. The prayer rally which was attended by over 200 pastors and thousands of Christian faithful across all denominations in the 30 Local Government Areas of the State including Ife East Area Office was held at Dominion Hall of Osun Baptist Conference, Gbodofon, Osogbo . 

The prayer called by the State CAN Chairman, Reverend Dr. Elisha Ogundiya and led by his Vice, Pastor Moses Adedeji Ogundeji, was meant to reject the court ruling on hijab and other alleged islamisation plot by the state government. Dr Ogundiya told Vanguard that the prayer was also meant to seek for peace from God and to “nullify anti-Kingdom laws and dealings with satanic forces that are tormenting the state for the past few weeks”. 

Meanwhile, Baptist High School, Iwo where students went to school, yesterday, with various choir and church apparels as well as hijab was condoned-off by the police after it was shut by the state government, as the Christian and Muslim leaders held meetings with the Iwo monarch, Oba Abdulrasheed Adewale Akanbi to find solution to the impasse. 

CAN condemns hijab ruling in Osun state Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, yesterday, expressed disappointment over recent High Court judgment in Osun State on the use of hijab in all schools including missionary schools, describing the development as unfortunate which may send a wrong signal that Osun State Government is clearly favouring one religion over the other. 

The meeting which was well attended, had in attendance the National Officers of the Association, all the five Heads of blocs, the zonal chairmen, the states chairmen and delegates representing the five blocs of the association; Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN), Christian Council of Nigeria (CCN) Christian Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria/ Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (CPFN/PFN), TEKAN/ECWA, and Organisation of African Instituted Churches

SOURCE: vanguardngr

Nigeria, 33 Others Depend On Family, Paid Donors for Blood Supply

As part of activities to mark the World Blood Donor Day today, the World Health Organisation (WHO) is encouraging all countries to establish blood services based on full voluntary non-remunerated blood donations.

It decried a situation whereby 34 countries including Nigeria, are still dependent on family donors and even paid donors for more than 75 per cent of their blood supply.

The WHO's goal is for all countries to obtain all their blood supplies from voluntary, unpaid donors by 2020.

The United Nations apex health body, in a statement, yesterday, said: "Today, only 62 countries get close to 100 per cent of their national blood supplies from voluntary unpaid blood donations, with 34 countries still dependent on family donors and even paid donors for more than 75 per cent of their blood supply."

The Guardian's investigation reveals that most hospitals in Nigeria still insist on family donors and encourage paid donors.

It was found that there are known, paid blood donors parading the corridors of most teaching and general hospitals. Relatives are asked to donate blood for patients before they are transfused and when they cannot, they are referred to patronise paid donors.

The WHO said voluntary unpaid blood donations must be increased rapidly in more than half the world's countries in order to ensure a reliable supply of safe blood for patients whose lives depend on it.

This year, the theme of World Blood Donor Day is "Blood connects us all", highlighting the common bond that all people share in their blood. The slogan, "Share life, give blood", draws attention to the role that voluntary donation systems play in encouraging people to care for one another and promoting community cohesion.

WHO Director-General, Dr. Margaret Chan, said: "Although we have many external differences, the same vital blood pumps through all our veins. Voluntary, unpaid blood donation is the act of giving life - the greatest gift any person can give or receive."

SOURCE: GuardianNg