Blog

NAN-HE-2
Recovery
By Usman Aliyu
Ilorin, Oct. 26, 2016 (NAN) A Professor of Economics, Halidu Abubakar, says the only way to national economic recovery is for the Federal Government to inject foreign exchange into the economy.

Abubakar, who is also the Emir of Ilesha-Baruba in Kwara, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ilorin on Wednesday.

According to him, the problem with the national economy is in its monetary and financial policies rather than the much focused fiscal policy.

The retired university lecturer said that the government had not really come up with a policy that would address the economic issue.

He criticised the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) approach to addressing the current challenges, describing as a “trial and error approach”.

According to him, government will need to inject foreign exchange to stimulate the economy, if Nigeria must come out of the crisis.

“The problem is more on monetary policy; monetary policy in the sense that we have a fluctuating naira to the dollar and other currencies.

“I don’t think the government itself really knows what monetary policy it needs to put in place; we shouldn’t tell ourselves lies.

“Everybody is trying; the CBN is doing a trial and error approach. So, there is a fundamental problem in each monetary and financial policy.

“Fiscal policy; government spending, tariff taxation and so forth, I think in these areas, government is on top of the situation.

“But the problem is not fiscal problem, it is rather monetary and financial problem.’’

The monarch urged the Federal Government to source for foreign exchange by all means and put it into the economy.

“Unfortunately, this solution would not sound or make economy logic.

“The fiscal policy of throwing money into the economy doesn’t really make economic logic because it has to be accomplished by productivity.

“The channel for getting foreign exchange has been through crude oil sales. But the price is falling; so, we have problem in getting foreign exchange.

“Government has to look for foreign exchange from any source and put it into the economy.

“Government should be ready to put more dollars into the economy. I don’t know how they are going to do it.

“But once they begin to do that, the action will stimulate the economy.’’

The retired Ahmadu Bello University lecturer also expressed support for the idea to sell of national assets.

He, however, said that only assets he described as ”toxic” should be put up for sale.

The economist further advised Nigerians to adjust their lifestyle, saying that there was indication that the country would get out of the recession soon. (NAN)
AUO/MO/NKO

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Edited by Morayo Omolade/Nkechi Okoronkwo

NAN-H-12

Divorce

By Oluwatope Lawanson

Lagos, Oct. 26, 2016 (NAN) Accusing her husband of being violent and irresponsible, a 34-year-old trader, Adebisi Abiodun, on Wednesday pleaded with an Agege Customary Court to dissolve her eight-year-old marriage.

Adebisi, an indigene of Ogun and a mother of two, resides at Orile Road, Agege in Lagos.

“My husband is destructive and he no longer cares for me and the children.

“He destroys household items whenever he is angry and constantly beats me when I try to find out why he comes home late or why he sleeps outside the matrimonial home.

“He would lock the doors so that I won’t escape and to prevent intervention by neighbours.

“He has no interest in my welfare and has not been responsible for the children’s upkeep,’’ she told the court.

The petitioner, who described her husband as an irresponsible and violent man, pleaded with the court to separate them, saying “I am no longer interested in the union; the love I have for him has faded.

“I also want my husband to take full responsibility for the children’s education as my finances cannot care for all the expenses’’.

The respondent, Olatunji Abiodun, 37, a resident of Osanyinpeju Street, Agbotikuyo, Agege, did not deny the petitioner’s claims.

Abiodun, who is a fashion designer, attributed his behaviour to the dwindling fortunes in business which, he said, was due to “economic recession”.

“I have been living on the goodwill of friends. I agree totally to the dissolution of marriage.”

Mr Philip Williams, the court’s President, adjourned the case to Dec. 13 for judgment. (NAN)

LAW/AIB/DA
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Edited by Abdulfatah Babatunde/Dele Akinsola

EU Commission “hopeful” of Canada trade talks breakthrough

NAN-F-6
Breakthrough
Brussels, Oct. 26, 2016 (dpa/NAN) European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, has expressed confidence that there could be a breakthrough on Wednesday in crisis talks to save an EU-Canada trade deal.

Belgium’s government has failed to sway the country’s French-speaking Wallonia region to support the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), which aims to ease the flow of goods between Canada and the EU.

The deal, which took seven years to negotiate, is supposed to be signed by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and EU officials in Brussels on Thursday.

However that requires all 28 EU member states to be on board, only Belgium has not given its approval.

“As we speak, the summit tomorrow is still possible,” European Council President Donald Tusk told EU lawmakers in the French city of Strasbourg, while Juncker said he was “hopeful” of reaching agreement later in the day.

Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders, who is also responsible for trade issues, held a new round of talks with representatives of the country’s regional governments.

“No more” than one or two points remained open, he said ahead of the meeting.

Among other things, new proposals relating to agriculture were on the table.

Fears are rife in economically embattled Wallonia that CETA would weaken labour and environmental standards and threaten its farming industry.

Political rivalries between the region’s Socialist leaders and the federal centre-right coalition are also thought to be at play.

Proponents of CETA – and a bigger trade agreement being pursued with the U.S. argue that they would boost growth and create jobs.

“I am hopeful that during the course of today there will be an agreement between the Belgian government and the Walloon government and the governments of other parts of the country.

“Whether this will allow us to sign the agreement with Canada tomorrow is not yet clear to me,” Juncker told the European Parliament.

He said that “when this happens is less important than that it happens.”

Tusk said that he hope that Belgium will prove that it is a consensus-building champion and that we will be able to finalise this agreement soon.

“If we cannot make the case for free trade with a country like Canada the most European country outside Europe and a close friend and ally there are obvious consequences for Europe’s global position,” he said. dpa/NAN)

Edited by Damilola Oyewole/Julius Enehikhuere

NAN-H-15

By Monday Ajogun
Phone
Benin, Oct. 26, 2016 (NAN) An Oredo Magistrates’ Court in Benin, Edo, on Wednesday sentenced a teenager, Shegun Olamide to 12 months imprisonment with hard labour for stealing a  N5,000 cell phone.

The Magistrate, Mrs P.E Foy-Yamah, sentenced Olamide, 18, after he pleaded guilty to a charge of theft and begged the court for mercy.

The Prosecutor, Insp. Ada Johnbull told the court that the accused committed the offence on Oct. 21 at about 4:00pm in Benin City.

Johnbull said the accused stole the N5,000 handset from one Amen Kingsley.

He said the offence contravened Section 390 of the Criminal Code. (NAN)

AJOM/IKU/BOS

Edited by Tayo Ikujuni/dele bodunde

Edo governorship: Tribunal grants PDP leave to serve APC by substituted means
NAN-H-38
Service
By Kevin Okunzuwa
Benin, Oct. 26, 2016(NAN)The Edo Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, sitting in Benin has granted the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) and Young Democratic Party(YDP), leave to serve their petitions by substituted service on the All Progressives Congress(APC).

The court processes are also to be served on Mr Godwin Obaseki, the governor-elect by substituted service.    .

PDP and its governorship candidate, Pastor Osagie and YDP and its governorship candidate, Nurudeen Inwanfero, are challenging the outcome of the Sept. 28 Edo governorship election.
The petitioners in their separate petitions, named the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), APC and Obaseki as first, second and third respondents respectively.
Justice A. Badamasi is chairman of the three- member tribunal, with Justices E.A. Ade Sodun, and Khadi Adamu Usman  as members.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the tribunal had on Oct. 11, ordered INEC to allow PDP have unhindered access to all electoral materials used for the Sept. 28 governorship election.
The order followed an ex-parte motion filed by PDP counsel, Mr Kingsley Obamogie.
But on Wednesday, both Obamogie and Mr Ugo Nwofor, counsel to YDP, in separate exparte motions, alleged that APC and Obaseki were evading service of court’s processes from the balliff.
They requested the tribunal to grant them leave to serve the respondents by substituted service, by pasting all the court processes on the wall or doors of the last known addresses of the respondents.
The tribunal chairman who granted the prayer, said it was in compliance with Section 47 of the Electoral Act 2010( as Amended).
INEC had declared Obaseki winner of the Sept. 28 governorship election having scored 319, 483 votes against Ize-Iyamu’s 253,173 votes.NAN)

KOO/OU

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Edited by Obike Ukoh

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Woman who posed as Germanwings crash relative gets year on probation

NAN-F-6
Probation
Berlin, Oct. 26, 2016 (dpa/NAN) A 35-year-old woman who posed as a relative of one of the victims of the Germanwings plane crash in 2014 was on Wednesday convicted on two counts of fraud and handed one year on probation.

Prosecutors said she pretended to be the cousin of one of the 150 Germanwings crash victims in order to get flights for herself, her two children and an acquaintance to the crash site in France.

The woman was pretending to be related to be a teacher escorting a group of 16 school children.

The flight later crashed in an Alpine mountainside in 2014 after being deliberately brought down by co-pilot Andreas Lubitz.

“Lufthansa, Germanwings’ parent company, organised and paid for special flights so that relatives could visit the crash site.

“The flights and hotel costs claimed by the defendant amounted to 17,500 dollars,’’ prosecutors said.

In another development, a couple was on trial in Hoexter, Southern Germany for torturing women to death.

The couple was accused of luring women into their home and torturing them so badly that two of them died faced trial on charges of negligent homicide and bodily harm.

Prosecutors said Wilfred W, and his former wife Angelika W both in their mid-40s – lured eight women into their home by posting classified ads in the newspaper only to hold them captive and systematically abuse them.

The case became public in April, when prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for the couple after it emerged that one of their alleged victims had died in hospital from blunt trauma to the head.

The victim had endured several weeks of torture.

Prosecutors learned about a second victim from extensive testimony given by the 47-year-old female suspect, who revealed that she and her ex-husband had killed a woman in 2014.

She confessed that they frozen the body of the woman that was killed and subsequently burnt it bit by bit in their house.

Chief prosecutor Ralf Meyer said that the police investigation showed that the man and his former wife were driven not by a sexual motive, but by the desire to “exert power.” dpa/NAN)

Edited by Damilola Oyewole/ Julius Enehikhuere

NAN-H-16
Roadmap
By Chiazo Ogbolu
Lagos, Oct. 26, 2016 (NAN) An ICT entrepreneur, Mr Rogba Adeoye, has charged the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) to develop a roadmap on ICT to hasten Nigeria’s development.

Adeoye, who was a former President of the Information Technology Systems Security Professionals, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Lagos.

“There is need to move the country and its economy forward using ICT.

“ICT stakeholders should come together, sit down, set a roadmap so as to have an achievable target; this will go a long way in helping the country.

The ICT expert also harped on the need for Nigeria to have a national identity data base to tackle its rising security challenges.

“If we can identify ourselves, it will go a long way in solving the country’s recurrent security issues.

“NITDA should partner with the National Identity Management Commission to set up a technical conference to solve this identity problem,’’ he said.

On the need to regulate ICT practice and other related issues in Nigeria, Adeoye advised NITDA to focus on making sure that government organisations utilised ICT to the fullest.

He said that NITDA should help government agencies in tackling their technology challenges.

“The bank verification number is a case in point of how utilising IT has assisted the banks with their uniform accounting code for customers’ account security.

“NITDA can also assist other organisations like the National Population Commission.

“They can help resolve some technical challenges they may have in ensuring that people’s data are obtained properly during census.

“NITDA should find ways to work with other organisations to resolve their challenges because these challenges are not entirely money issues, some are technical data harmonisation.’’

NITDA is a parastatal agency in the Federal Ministry of Communications.

It has the task of creating frameworks for planning, research, evaluation and regulating of IT practice and activities. (NAN)
CAN/COF/SN
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Edited by Oluyinka Fadare/Silas Nwoha

NAN-H-36
Corruption
Abuja, Oct. 26, 2016 (NAN) Pastor Toyin Araromi, State Overseer, Deeper Life Bible Church in Niger, says the church is cardinal to the fight against corruption by preaching against graft.

He told newsmen in Minna that Nigerians should not lose hope of solutions to its challenges because God had good plans for the country.

“The church is at the forefront on the fight against corruption by preaching righteousness; and if everybody does the right thing, corruption will definitely go away,’’ he said.

According to him, the General Superintend of the church, Pastor Williams Kumuyi will visit Minna on Thursday for a crusade.

“The title of the crusade is Supernatural Rain for all, signifying all round blessings for all.

“Pastor Kumuyi was expected to be in Minna in September but the crusade was postponed; this time around he is going to be around at Trade Fair Complex in Minna,’’ he said.

He said people from all local government areas of the state were expected to participate in the programme.

He also said security operatives had made efforts at ensuring safe atmosphere throughout and after the programme.(NAN)
BJO/KAY
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83 broadcasters get permanent appointment after 20 years service in Taraba

NAN-H-6
Radio
Jalingo, Oct. 26, 2016 (NAN ) A total of 83 workers of Taraba State Broadcasting Service have been offered permanent appointment, 20 years after some of them started work at the station.

The News Agency of Nigeria ( NAN ) reports that those affected had served the station, owned by the Taraba Government, for between five to 20 years as adhoc staff.

They included presenters, artists, reporters, engineers among others.

The state Commissioner for Information, Mr Anthony Danburam, said in Jalingo on Wednesday that the affected workers would soon be given appointment letters.

Danburam, who was inspecting digitisation equipment of Taraba Television, said over 20 more would be recruited for the station.

The commissioner said that the gesture was to reposition media outlets in the state, to make them result oriented.

Danburam advised the workers to render effective service to the state, to justify their appointment.(NAN )

NB/MZA

Edited by Maharazu Ahmed

Stress leading causes of infertility – Expert

NAN-HG-10
Infertility
By Blessing Odega
Jos, Oct. 26, 2016 (NAN) Mr Emmanuel Akpe, a medical laboratory scientist and a stress coach, says stress is one of leading causes of infertility in both males and females.

Akpe made this assertion in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Jos.

According to him, stress destroys the body without the individual knowing it, due to their fast pace lifestyle, their bodies pump out cortisol almost constantly.

He added that it was also responsible for some ailments like cancers, cardiovascular diseases and infertility.

“Elevated cortisol relating to prolonged stress many a times results in the disruption of the normal ovulation and menstrual cycle of a woman, which brings about infertility.

“If eggs are not produced then the semen has nothing to fertilise.

“Similarly in the male folks, elevated cortisol due to stress, can cause erectile dysfunction,” he explained.

The coach further disclosed that androgenic sex hormones are produced in the same glands that produces the cortisol, so excess cortisol production may hamper optimal production of the these sex hormones.

Akpe, explained that cortisol is a steroid hormone, which is normally released in response to events and circumstances and in acute stress; it is best known for its involvement in the “Fight and Flight “response.

He, however, said that over production of this steroid hormone, which is not used for the immediate purpose of responding to danger, results in biochemical and hormonal imbalances.

He advised that people should ensure that they reduce the stress in their lives.

“Reducing the stress in your life is as important at all levels as it will not only help your fertility and health but also the quality of your life.

He cautioned people to embrace positive ways of reacting to stressful situations, saying “When going through a stressful situation there is only one thing you have control over which is how you react.”

The coach further urged Nigerians to inculcate healthy habits or practices that would help them in reducing stress. (NAN)
UBO/HS/AFA
Edited by Halima Sheji/Felix Ajide
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