Blog

NAN-136

Appointment

Kano, Oct. 20, 2016 (NAN)‎ Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State has approved the appointment of Muhammad Babangida as new Chairman for Kano Pillars.‎

A statement by ‎Director General, Media and Communications to the Governor, Salihu Yakasai‎, made this known in Kano  on Thursday.

The others members of the board were; Musa Yakasai, Faruk Haladu, Tijjani Minjibir, Sani Lawan, Murtala Zainawa and Yahaya Idris.‎

Ganduje appealed to new management team to ensure that the objective of the administration of restoring the glory of the club was achieved.

He also directed former members of the former board to immediately handover all public property, including finances under it, to the new management.‎

NAN reports that the state governor dissolved the management of the club on Wednesday due poor performance and internal squabble.‎
‎
Kano Pillars finished seventh last season which led Coach Babaganaru Muhammad to resign as head coach of the team after the last match‎ of the season. (NAN)

MNT/OFN

Edited by Felix Nwadioha

NAN-H-114
Witness
By Sandra Umeh
Lagos, Oct. 20, 2016 (NAN) The prosecution on Thursday opened the trial of the alleged N22.8 billion fraud against a former Chief of Air Staff, Adesola Amosu and 10 others in a Federal High Court, Lagos.

Amosun is charged alongside two other officers of the Air Force AVM Jacob Adigun and Air Commodore Gbadebo Olugbenga

Also charged were some companies; Delfina Oil and Gas Ltd, Mcallan Oil and Gas Ltd, Hebron Housing and Properties Company Ltd, Trapezites BDC, and Fonds and Pricey Ltd.

The accused are being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before Justice Mohammed Idris.

They were arraigned on June 26 and had pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The judge had granted them bail in the sum of N500 million each with two sureties each in like sum.

At the resumed proceedings, counsel to the EFCC, Mr Rotimi Oyedepo, called his first witness, Mr Mojeed Olatunji, a compliance officer with Skye bank.

Olatunji told the court that the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) had an account numbered 1750013097 with Skye Bank

He said the account had as its signatories as at Jan. 28, 2014, Air CommodoreJ.B. Adigun, Air Commodore O.O. Gbadebo and Group Capt. B.O.G. Ifeobu

He said that Adigun, Gbadebo and Ifeobu were those who had the mandate on the account and on whose instruction monies were withdrawn.

Armed with the statement of the said NAF’s account with Skye Bank, Olatunji took the court through a number of inflow and outflow of cash transactions carried out on the account.

For example, he told the court how N2.4 billion was credited into the account on Sept. 11, 2014 and how this was followed by a debit transactions of N959.7 million, N893.2 million and N556.3 million, respectively.

The witness said that the debit was in favour of the NAF Special Emergency Operation account.

Justice Idris further adjourned trial till Oct. 21.

The charges against the accused borders on conspiracy, stealing and money laundering.

In one of the counts, the accused were said to have indirectly converted N3.6 billion belonging to the Nigerian Air force, to their own use.

In another instance, the EFCC alleged that Amosun and the others stole over N323 million from the accounts of the Nigerian Air Force between March 21, 2014 and March 12, 2015.

He said the alleged theft was for the purpose of purchasing for themselves a property situated at No.1, River Street, Wuse II, Abuja.

The alleged offences contravened Section18(a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) (Amendment) Act, 2012. (NAN)
UNS/OFN
Edited by Felix Nwadioha

NAN-HE-27
Afreximbank
By Tajudeen Atitebi
Lagos, Oct.20,2016 (NAN) Afreximbank says it will forster the emergence of world class health centres in Africa through its Health and Medical Tourism Initiative.

The initiative is to build centres of medical excellence across Africa in the bid to improve life expectancy and stem foreign exchange outflow from the continent.

Afreximbank President, Dr. Benedict Oramah, disclosed this while addressing participants at a workshop for prospective host countries of the centre in Cairo on Thursday.

He said that the range of specialist healthcare services to be delivered through the Centre of Excellence Initiative would enable Africa to stem the outflow of billions in scarce foreign exchange.

The bank president said that currently more than 300,000 Africans travelled annually to India alone for medical services, spending more than two billion dollars each year.

He attributed the situation to “lack of well-equipped and advanced medical facilities as well as practitioners across the continent, leading to millions of untimely deaths every year”.

He said that many of the existing medical facilities on the continent were not equipped to deal with the new kinds of ailments that were now prevalent due to changing lifestyles.

Aferximbank boss said It was in response to this situation that the bank launched a Health and Medical Tourism Programme, working with partners like Kings College Hospital (KCH), London, to foster the emergence of world class medical facilities and research centres across Africa.

He said that the first area of healthcare specialisation that that strategic business alliance with KCH would focus on would the establishment of a Centre of Excellence for Cancer Patients.

He said that following a comprehensive review and macroeconomic analysis of the health sector and medical tourism in Africa carried out by KCH, Tanzania, Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana were identified as suitable to host the centre of excellence.

Also speaking, Prof. Ghulam Mufti, a non-executive director on the Board of Kings College Hospital, outlined the health challenges facing Africa and urged the participants to aim to leave the workshop energized to address them.

According to him, the participants should aim to come out with plans on how to deliver the centre of excellence in a timely manner.

Participating in the workshop were representatives of the ministries of health and key players in the healthcare sectors from Tanzania, Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana as well as officials from Afreximbank and KCH.

The workshop sought to clarify the thinking on the establishment of centre of excellence for cancer in Africa.

It also sought to identify the main issues to be resolved in developing a detailed proposal for the initiative and plan how to approach the scoping for the initiative.

Afreximbank is a foremost Pan-African multilateral financial institution devoted to financing and promoting intra- and extra-African trade.

The bank was established in October 1993 by African governments, African private and institutional investors and non-African investors.

Its two basic constitutive documents are the Establishment Agreement which gives it the status of an international organization and the Charter which governs its corporate structure and operations.

Since 1994, it has approved more than 41 billion dollars in credit facilities for African businesses. (NAN)
PR/TA

NAN-H-129
Council
By Angela Atabo
Abuja Oct. 20, 2016 (NAN) Mr Gbenga Daniel, former Governor of Ogun State was on Thursday elected as President of the Nigerian-Finnish Business Council.

The Otunba Gbenga Daniel (OGD) Media Team said in a statement in Abuja that Daniel, also the Chairman of Kresta Laurel Limited, succeeded Amb. Segun Olusola who died in 2012.

The Nigerian-Finnish Business Council was established to foster business relations between Nigerian companies and their counterparts in Finland with the goal of encouraging trade and investment.

Daniel’s Kresta Laurel firm has been acknowledged as one of the most successful business concerns with technical back-up from Finland and Germany, the statement added.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Daniel was born on April 6, 1956 in the old city of Ibadan of the then Western Region.

He attended Baptist Boys High School, Abeokuta, from 1969 to 1973 and underwent further studies at the Polytechnic, Ibadan, and the School of Engineering, University of Lagos.

Daniel, a politician, was governor of Ogun from May 29, 2003 to May 29, 2011 and founder
of the Nigerian Compass, a daily newspaper. (NAN)
ATAB/HAS/HA
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(Edited By Hajia Sani/Hadiza Mohammed-Aliyu)

NAN-H-113
Water
By Kabir Muhammad
Abuja, Oct. 20, 2016 (NAN) The FCT Administration (FCTA) says water supply to some parts of the city will be disrupted for three days.

The Chief Press Secretary to the FCT Minister, Hazat Sule, said the development was due to the repairs of a damaged water trunk main line around Gishiri, Mabushi District, Abuja.

Sule, in a statement in Abuja on Thursday, said ithat the FCTA technical crews were working round the clock to restore water to the affected areas.

He said residents of Wuse I, Wuse II, Garki I, Garki II, Maitama, Asokoro, Wuye, Gudu, Games Village, Karu and Nyanya, would experience water supply shortages from Thursday Oct. 20 to Saturday Oct. 22.

According to him, normal water supply will be restored on or before Sunday, Oct. 23, after the repairs.

“The FCTA regrets the inconveniences this disruption may cause,’’ he said.

He advised residents of the affected areas to store enough water that would last them through the period.(NAN)

KM/MO/OFN

Edited by Morayo Omolade//Felix Nwadioha

FG approves ecological fund projects for 11 states

NAN-H-123

Projects

By Monday Ijeh

Abuja, Oct. 20, 2016 (NAN) President Muhammadu Buhari has approved Ecological Fund Intervention Projects in 11 states across the six geo-political zones for the 4th quarter of 2016.

Mr Adebiyi Bolaji, the Director of Press in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), stated this in a statement issued on Thursday in Abuja.

Bolaji listed the projects as:  Erosion and flood control project of rice fields in Suru, Kebbi; remediation of sludge at Kaduna Refinery; flood and erosion control works in Abeokuta.

Also approved were the channelisation and de-silting of Okoko and Ogbagba Rivers in Osogbo; Adiabo Okutikang beach gully erosion control works in Cross Rivers.

Listed were the remediations of sludge pit and oil spillage at Warri Refinery; Mubi flood erosion control works and River Yadzaram Training Phase I in Adamawa.

In Bauchi, the president approved the erosion and flood control works in Bogoro Towa, and Gadon Toro/Market Road.

The president also approved erosion control works at Nnobi in Anambra, Agbor in Delta and Avuvu in Imo.

According to Bolaji, the president also approved the Amper flood hazards and erosion control works and the gully erosion control works at Federal Government College, Itobi in Benue.

He said that the execution of the projects would address the challenges posed by gully and soil erosion, incessant flooding and air pollution ravaging communities in the affected areas. (NAN)

IMC/DUA/OU
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Edited by Dada Ahmed/Obike Ukoh
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Varsity begins course on National Peace Policy

NAN-H-126
Course
Isaac Aregbesola
Abuja, Oct. 20, 2016 (NAN) Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), has commenced a course on National Peace Policy (NPP) initiated by the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR).

The Spokesperson of IPCR, Mr Michael Abu, in a statement on Thursday in Abuja, said ABUAD Head of Peace and Conflict Studies programme, Dr Demola Akinyoade dropped the hint in Abuja.

Abu quoted Akinyoade as saying this when he led some students of the school on expedition to IPCR office in Abuja recently.

Akinyoade said that the course would enable students of the university imbibe the culture of peace.

“The NPP is to boost the development of an effective National Peace Architecture (NPA) for entrenchment of durable peace and national unity,” he said.

Akinyoade commended the initiatives and various interventions of the institute aimed at peace-building, mediation and peaceful resolution of conflicts.

He said that ABUAD would toe the path of IPCR towards mitigating violent conflicts in Ado-Ekiti and the country at large.

According to him, ABUAD will build and continue to strengthen the partnership with IPCR for the benefit of the future of Ado-Ekiti and Nigeria.

He said the visit to IPCR would definitely inspire the students towards becoming worthy ambassadors of peace in the country.

A Senior Research Fellow, Mr Andy Nkemneme, who received the officials and students of ABUAD on behalf of IPCR, commended the university for giving the issue of peace a priority.

Nkemneme urged other universities to emulate ABUAD in its promotion of peace in Nigeria.

The researcher said that the institute was a research based and apex-agency of the Federal Government.

He said that IPCR was charged with the responsibility of conducting empirical researches to unearth the root causes of violence, advising government on how best to tackle it.

According to him, IPCR has the mandate of designing intervention activities and strategies of dealing with conflicts and insecurity matters.

“IPCR usually collaborates with corporate organisations, groups and individuals for the promotion of peace and resolution of conflicts,’’ he said. (NAN)

IAA/ADA/YAZ

Edited by Deji Abdulwahab/Yusuf Zango

NAN-H-125
Jubilation
Benin, Oct. 20, 2016 (NAN) Jubilant crowds thronged the palace of Oba Ewuare II of Benin to felicitate with the royal family after his coronation on Thursday.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that in spite of the very heavy security at the entrance to the palace, the people were not deterred.
Those who could gain access to the palace ground waited for the arrival of the new Oba to the palace.
Many sang and played music at various stands and points in the palace ground. They occupied all the available canopies provided.
NAN also reports that the Nigeria Police, NSCDC, the DSS and private outfits provided security at the occasion. (NAN)
DCO/IEA
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Edited by Idahosa Asowata

NAN-H-124

Airbus

By Sumaila Ogbaje

Abuja, Oct. 20, 2016 (NAN) The French Ambassador to Nigeria, Denys Gauer, says that Airbus Group, the largest aircraft manufacturers and leasers in the world will open an operational office in Nigeria.

In a statement on Thursday in Abuja, Gauer said that the decision on the office was a mark of confidence in the Federal Government’s agenda for the aviation industry.

The statement signed by Mr James Odaudu, Deputy Director, Press and Public Affairs, Ministry of Transportation, said that Gauer made disclosure when he visited the Minister of State for Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika, in Abuja.

The ambassador said that they were in the ministry to identify with the government’s vision and plans for aviation sector as presented by the minister to various industry stakeholders.

Vice President, Airbus Group for Africa, Vincent Larnicol, who was in company with Gauer, told Sirika that Airbus’ desire to get closer to its customers informed its decision to establish its presence in Nigeria.

Larnicol promised to collaborate, through its Cooperation Programme, with the Nigerian government in the establishment of an Aviation University to which the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) was largely committed.

He also informed the minister about the group’s interest in the plans of government to concession major airports across the country as well as the establishment of a national carrier.

Larnicol commended the government for its effort to establish an aircraft leasing company in view of the inherent difficulties in acquiring new aircrafts.

According to him, Airbus has expanded upon its strong European roots to move forward on an international scale.

Responding, Sirika informed the delegation that the vision of the Federal Government for the sector included the establishment of a private sector-driven national carrier.

He said that government was also determined to concession four major airports to make them more viable and up to global standards and re-position domestic airlines to make them competitive and profitable.

The minister told the delegation that government was committed to the establishment of Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facilities and development of human capital for the anticipated expansion of the sector.

According to him, the plan of the government is to gradually re-position the Nigerian aviation industry in such a way that will turn the nation into a regional hub for air transportation.

“This is in line with the ICAO forecast of a quadruple growth for the nation’s air travel in the next 10 years.’’

The minister expressed the country’s preparedness to collaborate with all genuine partners, adding that government’s decisions and actions would always be guided by the protection of national interests. (NAN)

OYS/MO/OPI
Edited by Morayo Omolade and Olisa Ifeajika

Disasters: AU wants Nigeria to adopt insurance policy

NAN-H-119
Insurance
By Lizzy Agbaji
Abuja, Oct. 20, 2016 (NAN) The African Union’s African Risk Capacity Agency (ARC) has urged the Nigerian Government to key into its comprehensive insurance policy to enhance better response plans and assistance in events of disaster.

Director General of ARC Mohammed Beavogui made the call on during a multi-stakeholders workshop on Thursday, in Abuja.

Beavogui was represented by ARCs Director on Policy and Technical Services, Ms Ekhosuehi Iyahen.

He said ARC is a special agency of the AU that was set up to assist Member States to better manage, prepare and respond to disasters on the continent.

According to him, ARC provides governments with access to immediate funds for early and planned responses to natural disasters taking into cognisance four critical elements; early warning, contingency, planning, insurance and adaptation finance.

He said ARC takes the burden of flood, drought and associated risk away from governments, enabling them to build resilience, better plan, prepare and respond to extreme disaster occurrence.

Beavogui said in order to participate in ARC, countries must undertake several processes including signing of a Memorandum of understanding for in-country capacity building.

He said the workshop aims at initiating the programme in Nigeria and sensitising stakeholders, and how the programme can be rolled out in the country.

Ms Lucy Nyirenda, Head of Government Service, ARC, explained that it takes 12 to 18 months for governments to go through the programme before being eligible to take access insurance.

She said that it is not just all about timing but engaging governments and stakeholders in capacity building programmes for a better understanding of what they are getting into before they can make a payment.

“It is not just an issue of timing but we need to work with the government to ensure that they understand properly and where exactly it can fit in their disaster risk management policy.

“It entails 18 months of working with governments, partners and stakeholders to ensure that we are providing support to government in the most effective manner.

“This is a starting point for ARC and we are hope that in the next 18 months government should be able to make a premium payment and get our support in time of any natural disaster,’’ Nyirenda said.

She disclosed that so far, Senegal, Mauritania and Niger have benefitted 26 million dollars from its insurance policy.

She said the seven countries presently on its insurance programme include Kenya, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Gambia, Mali and Malawi.

Mr Muhammad Sani-Sidi, Director-General, NEMA, said it was important for Nigeria to kick start its disaster risk financing, insurance policy and strategy for weather phenomenon such as drought and flood.

Represented by Mr kayoed Fagbemi, Director, Relief and Rehabilitation, NEMA, Sani-Sidi said the 2012 flood incident is a yardstick for measuring the magnitude of looses incurred by farmers and fishermen, among others.

He said insurance claims and payouts could not be carried out on most infrastructural damages due to inaccessibility of insurance policies.

The director-general urged insurance companies to rise up to the challenges of advocating for insurance covers on farmlands houses and critical infrastructures, as it is practically impossible for the government to compensate everyone.

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance, Dr Mamud Isah-Dutse, said Disaster risk financing is one of the key components of disaster preparedness and response.

Represented by Mr Dele Akinrolabu, Deputy Director, International Economic Relations, in the Ministry, he said Nigeria is increasingly becoming exposed to some of these natural disasters that ARC is designed to address.

He urged participants of the workshop to engage in productive discussions on how best Nigeria can under the ARC framework optimally minimise loses occasioned by these disasters.

Isah-Dutse said Nigeria is currently in an era where all its resources are expected to be mobilised to finance sustainable development.

NAN reports that the workshop was organised in collaboration with NEMA and the Federal Ministry of Finance. (NAN)
LIZ/MST/MST

Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola