Blog

NAN-H-57
Commitment
By Isaac Aregbesola,
Abuja, Oct. 25, 2016 (NAN) Nigeria will make every effort to accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs) target of poverty eradication by 2030, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, has said.

Onyeama made the statement on Tuesday in Abuja in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sideline of the celebration of 71^st anniversary of the United Nations.

He said that Nigeria was determined to achieve the internationally agreed development goal.

He said that the Federal Government was committed to promoting sustainable, inclusive and equitable growth.

He added that government was also committed to creating greater opportunities for all, reducing inequalities, raising basic standard of living, fostering equitable social development and social inclusion.

Onyeama said that the Federal Government had put in place measures to promote integrated and sustainable management of the country’s natural resources.

“Government is committed to ensuring that Nigeria remains a stable, transparent and prosperous nation anchored on enduring principles of democracy, good governance, rule of law and respect for fundamental human rights.

“We are calling on the international community to make necessary efforts to ensure that no country is left behind in the achievement of these over reaching targets.

“We request that similar efforts be made to ensure that the targets are applicable and achievable in every country,” he said.

The minister called on the international community to take effective measure to ensure that obstacles and constraints to the achievement of the goals were removed.

He also called for the strengthening of support to meet the special needs of people living in area affected by adverse humanitarian emergencies, including areas affected by terrorism and war. (NAN)

IAA/MO/AEA
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Edited by Morayo Omolade/Archibong Asuquo

Court orders FBN to open its Defence on Nov. 21

NAN-H-59
Defence
By Doris Esa
Abuja, Oct. 25, 2016 (NAN) The National Industrial Court has fixed two days, Nov. 21 and Nov. 22, for First Bank of Nigeria Plc. to open its defence in the case of alleged dismissal of a former employee, Mr Othman Sulyman.

Sulyman was the Head of Assets Creation Unit, Consumer Banking Deport, in the Lagos head office of First Bank.

The judge, Justice Isele Esele, fixed the date after Ademola Oyedokun, Counsel to the claimant, informed the court of a letter seeking adjournment from the defence Counsel, Fred Itulah.

The court adjourned hearing in the suit and ordered that notices be served on the respondents.

The claimant, who is challenging his dismissal from the financial institution through a letter dated 2013, is  alleging that he had already resigned from the bank on April 8, 2011 before the dismissal letter was issued.

The claimant is praying the court to compel First Bank Plc. to amend his record of employment for reference purposes.

The claimant is also praying that that his terminal benefits as well as damages for rendering him unemployed be paid.

The court had on Oct. 24 adjourned hearing in the suit till Oct. 25 for the defence to call its witness. (NAN)
ORD/HAS/OFN
Edited By Hajia Sani//Felix Nwadioha

NAN-H-32
Sentence
Lagos, Oct.25, 2016 (NAN) A Federal High Court in Lagos on Tuesday sentenced a 31-year-old tea vendor, Adamu Dungus, to nine months imprisonment for trafficking in 300 grammes of Tramadol.

Tramadol, a psychotropic substance, is on the government’s prohition list of drugs.

The convict, who was arraigned by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for a charge of drug trafficking, had pleaded guilty.

Following his guilty plea, the prosecutor, Mr Jeremiah Aernan, asked for the review of the facts of the case.

He tendered before the court the statement of the accused to NDLEA, a request for scientific aid form, as well as the bulk of exhibit.

Earlier, the prosecutor, urged the court to sentence the accused based on the evidence and exhibits presented by the prosecution.

Delivering his judgment, Justice Muslim Hassan, said “the accused is guilty as charged”.

He sentenced him to nine months in jail which, he said, would start running from the date of his arrest.

The court also ordered the NDLEA to destroy the exhibits.

While reviewing the facts, Aernan told the court that the accused committed the offence on April 10 and that he was arrested at Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals Company at Ibeju-Lekki in Lagos.

According to him, about 300 grammes of Tramadol was seized from the tea vendor, who was selling the drug.

The offence contravened the provisions of Sections 11 (c) of the NDLEA Act, Laws of the Federation 2004. (NAN)
UNS/DEB/DA
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Edited by Debo Oshundun/Dele Akinsola

NAN-AE-6
Equipment
By Chukwuemeka Opara
Abakaliki, Oct.25, 2016 (NAN) The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), under its Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP), is to procure scaling equipment for Ebonyi rice millers, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

Mr Sunday Ituma, the State Programme Coordinator (SPC), disclosed this on Tuesday in Abakaliki, during a Quality Control and Standardisation of Measurement programme organised for millers at the Abakaliki Rice Mill Ltd.

According to him, the measure is to increase the capacity of the millers and make them attuned to standardised ways of measuring rice.

“The procurement would be made under our matching grant component at the ratio 70–30 per cent procurement rate per equipment.

“This implies that IFAD-VCDP would contribute 70 per cent of the ‘weight and measure equipment’ while the rice millers would contribute 30 per cent.

“We intend to make them embrace the paradigm shift from the usage of bushel measuring method to standardise rice measurement.

“A bushel is supposed to contain 100 cups of rice but the ones in use at the mill does not measure to such number of cups and this makes the customers feel short-changed,” he said.

He commended the millers for embracing the new methods and urged them to submit their procurement plans to IFAD-VCDP.

Mr Uchenna Orji, State Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources said that the practice would enhance the millers’ marketing capabilities and enable them secure customers confidence.

Orji represented by Mr Emmanuel Uche, Director of Engineering Department in the ministry, noted that the milers’ produce would thus attain the same measurement standard obtained in other places.

“The measure would also eliminate the ambiguity of constructing bushels, as the ones used at the mill measures 22.4kg of rice instead of the standardised 25kg.

“The same applies to rice packaging because some bags measures 80 or 90 kg but in most cases, its contents are sold to farmers as 100kg.

He advised the farmers to procure their own weighing scale, noting that modern processing rice mills deals on tonnes for effective standardisation.

Mr Kennedy Esinulo, IFAD-VCDP Marketing Development Adviser, urged the millers to embrace the practice to make their produce compete favourably to others around the world.

“The foreign rice purchased by Nigerians was all produced in the country because the producers have over 300 and 500 hectares of rice farms in Nasarawa and Benue.

“They polish, package the rice in the country and call them foreign rice as Abakaliki Rice for instance, has a high demand rate in South Carolina, U.S.,’’ he said.

Mr Joseph Ununu, Chairman of Abakaliki Rice Limited, remarked that the members have embraced the measuring method despite currently using the manual measurement forms.

“The method will assist in standardising our produce, especially with our procurement of a state-of-art rice processing mill by the Ebonyi government,’’ he said.

Mrs Chinwe Ekwe, a rice miller, called for proper investigation before making the conclusion that the millers use adulterated measuring equipment.

NAN reports that the millers used the occasion to ask questions about the new equipment while the IFAD-VCDP team demonstrated the efficiency of the equipment. (NAN)
RCO/ENN/AFA
Edited by Edwin Nwachukwu/Felix Ajide
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NAN-S-11
Rugby
By Vezi Isike
Lagos, Oct. 25, 2016 (NAN) For Nigeria to improve on its current rankings in sports generally, it has to deepen its search and grooming of skilled athletes with grassroots tournaments, a sports administrator has said.

Olatunji Fasimoye, Vice-President and Technical Director, Nigerian Rugby Football Federation (NRFF), made the assertion on Tuesday in Lagos while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

Fasimoye urged federations to deepen their search for skilled athletes by creating discovery tournaments and programmes that would unearth the talents at the grassroots.

He said that development of sports in the country was dependent on the creation of such programmes to discover skilled athletes.

According to him, the grassroots had a rich goldmine of talents yet to be discovered and who are skilled enough to rewrite the nation’s international rankings in various sports.

“We are gradually getting to see the end of the present generation of athletes and the need for a new generation who will replace and surpass the heights we have reached.

“Unfortunately, most sports authorities do not have plans ahead of time to ensure that a new guys take over so we don’t drop the standard of the game when the old ones retire,’’ Faimoye said.

Fasimoye said that the Ministry of Youth and Sports should focus on supporting already existing programmes and creating avenues to search for new breed of talents.

“We have always been a great nation to reckon with in having quality athletes who represent us in various competitions.

“I am becoming optimistic that we may be on our way to living in lost glory if we do not create platforms to not only support and train upcoming athletes, but to retain them,’’ he said.

Fasimoye hailed the developmental programmes of the NRFF in partnership with organisations for the grooming of players and pleaded with the authorities to replicate the same ideas in their federations.

“In recent time, we have had great reduction in the number of foreign-based players we use for competitions in rugby because we built the capacity of the home-based.

“This did not just come into existence by fate but a decision to pick talents back home and train them instead of losing the athletes to naturalise and play for foreign countries.

“If each federation draws a new programme to achieve this same goal, I bet you, our smiles as the best top 10 countries with great athletes won’t be a farfetched reality,’’ he said. (NAN)
VOI/ENN/PDE
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(Edited by Edwin Nwachukwu/Peter Ejiofor)

NAN-H-54
Robbery
By Sylvester Thompson
Abuja, Oct.25, 2016 (NAN) A Gudu Upper Area Court on Tuesday sentenced a 35-year-old plumber, Solomon Etop, to one year imprisonment for attempted robbery.

Etop pleaded guilty on a one-count charge of robbery and begged for leniency.

The Upper Area court judge, Umar Kagarko, gave the convict an option to pay N50,000 as fine.

Kagarko warned the convict to desist from crime and focus on his work.

The Prosecutor, Mr Babatunde Adeniyi, told the court that the convict was arrested on Oct.10.

“He was arrested along Life Camp District while trying to rob his victim of his Nissan car with Reg. No. ABJ 193 AA, valued at about N1.3 million,’’ he said.

Adeniyi said that it was in the process of struggling the steering with the owner that other motorists came in and he was arrested on the scene of the crime.

The prosecutor said that the offence was contrary to Section 298 of the Penal Code. (NAN)
SET/MO/OFN
Edited by Morayo Omolade//Felix Nwadioha

NAN-H-53
Committee
By Emmanuel Mogbede
Abuja, Oct. 25, 2016 (NAN) Mr Mohammad Ayadi, Secretary-General, Trans-Sahara Road Committee, on Tuesday lauded the Federal Government’s contributions to the Trans-Saharan Road project.

Ayadi, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, said that besides building roads, the project was fostering bilateral relationship among member-countries.

These countries are Nigeria, Mali, Niger, Algeria, Chad, and Tunisia.

“We are satisfied with the performance of the Nigerian Government because it has built 1,100km roads and has expanded more than half of it. This is good and should be encouraged.

“The achievement of the committee is not only in road construction but in the exchange of ideas, technology and information, amongst member-countries.’’

Ayadi said the project offered a perfect opportunity for the private sector to benefit from it.

He, however, said that it was difficult to say in monetary terms how much had been invested in the project because of the continuous increase in foreign exchange rate.

The official attributed the development to the fact that the project had lingered for years.

He said although the primary objective of the project was to link member-countries via a good road network, it had created a family, which was working with one goal.

NAN recalls that Mr Babatunde Fashola, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, said recently that Nigeria was committed to making its section of the Trans-Sahara route dual carriage.

Fashola said that connecting Africa with an efficient road network remained the most effective way to improve socio-economic development among countries.

He said Nigeria attached great importance to the development of the  road and was making progress to ensure the success of the project.

Fashola said the section of the road between Lagos and Ibadan dual carriageway with a length of 127.70km was currently under reconstruction.

The minister said the other sections of the route from Jebba to Mokwa up to the border town of Kontagora were also being considered for reconstruction and expansion.

According to Fashola, out of a total length of 9,500km of the route, more than 8, 000km have been surfaced with bituminous materials.

Algeria has already completed its section of the route (Algiers-extreme south) which is over 3,000km.

The project is expected to ensure integrated development and achieve economic prosperity by facilitating the movement of goods and services among member-countries. (NAN)

EEM/FLP/JCE
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Edited by Folorunso Poroye/Chukwudi Ekezie

NAN-DS-4
Security
By Aminu Ahmed Garko
Minna, Oct.25, 2016 ( NAN) Brig.-Gen. Moshood Jimoh, Commander 31 Artillery Brigade, Minna, has appealed to stakeholders to compliment the efforts of security agencies in sensitising Nigerians to be security conscious.

Jimoh told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Minna that mobilising Nigerians to offer intelligence reports could aid the security agencies to deal with any form of security threats.

He said the task ahead was for Nigerians to imbibe the culture of offering useful information about dubious characters to the security officers around them.

“When Nigerians develop the spirit of security consciousness, then the present security threats could be tackled holistically,” he said.

He said the brigade had mapped out various security strategies to check cattle rustling, kidnapping and other criminal activities.

“We have put in place various forms of security measures along with other security agencies in providing peaceful atmosphere for our residents, ” he said.( NAN)
AAG/JPE/AMY
Edited by Joseph Edeh and Abdullahi Yusuf

Murder suspect gets bail

NAN-H-28
Murder
By Teniola Ibitola
Lagos, Oct. 25, 2016 (NAN) A 20-year-old, Busari Sodiq, alleged to have shot dead a 13-year-old boy was on Tuesday granted bail in the sum of N250,000 by an Ebute Meta Chief Magistrates’ Court, Lagos.

Sodiq is facing a two-count charge of murder and stealing.

The Magistrate, Mrs Bola Folarin-Williams granted the accused bail in the sum of N250, 000 with two sureties in like sum.

Folarin-Williams ordered that the case file be duplicated and sent to the office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) for advice.

She adjourned the matter to Nov. 22 pending receipt of advice from the DPP.

Earlier, the Investigating Police Officer (IPO), Insp. Chris Akpanomo had told the court that after going through the case file, it was discovered that murder case could not be directly linked to the accused.

According to him, however, the accused was among the hoodlums present at an event organised by one Babatunde Kazeem, where they had demanded for money.

“Things got out of hand and the hoodlums along with the accused brought guns and other dangerous weapons and in the midst of a chaos, one Onyebuchi Agbo, 13 was shot dead’’.

The prosecutor, Sgt. Kehinde Olatunde while presenting the case told the court that the offences were committed on Sept. 23 at about 11.20 a.m., at Awe St., Orile, Lagos.

He said the accused had shot dead Agbo, with a locally made pistol.

The prosecutor noted that the offences contravened Sections 221 and 231 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

The section 221 prescribes a life sentence for offenders. (NAN)
OAT/DEB/TON
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Edited by Debo Oshundun/Tony Nezianya

NAN-AE-7
Support
By Maureen Okon
Abuja, Oct. 25, 2016 (NAN) Michel Arrion, EU Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, on Tuesday, sought the support of ECOWAS member states in an effort to combat the scourge of climate change in the region.

Arrion made the call at the Public Policy Forum with the theme: ‘Desertification and Deforestation’ in Abuja.

The envoy, who spoke with particular reference to Nigerian, said that the country’s climate change was that of desertification and deforestation mostly in the Northern and Southern part.

“Nigeria’s climate change is desertification in the north and deforestation in the south; I see people talking about an annual forest lost in the south may be of three per cent in Nigeria.

“It is a call for us to reduce the activities of gas emission, create innovation, bring more investment and I think a call for us to ending the subsidy on fuel.

“By using the money more wisely, and also a call for renewable and greater energy efficiency,’’ he said.

He expressed EU’s commitment to support the country in combating the scourge of climate change through programmes in the energy sector, looking at the policy issues and energy efficiency.

He also stressed the need to look at the global electrification in some states and across the country.

“We have something known as the African investment facility, where we try to blend resources in order to mobilise investment in difficult environments.

“ We are also working with the Ministry of Environment on the monitoring, reporting and verification of CO2 emission to enable us tract what is happening in emission,’’ Arrion said. (NAN)
ETIM/EAL/AFA
Edited by Ekemini Ladejobi/Felix Ajide
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