Revelations have emerged that top officials are suspected of pilfering the equivalent of almost the entire annual defense budget would cause shock waves in most countries. Not in Nigeria, where the public sees political power and graft as bedfellows. The novelty this time is that President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) immediately ordered the arrest of a former national security adviser, after a government commission found that he and other officials allegedly misappropriated as much as $5.5 billion that was supposed to buy equipment to fight Islamist militant group Boko Haram. “I don’t think Nigerians would be very surprised about somebody stealing…
Author: Admin
Tuesday’s bomb blast in Yola, Nigeria, killed at least 34 people and injured scores of others. The very next day, two suicide bombers hit the country’s northern city of Kano, killing at least 15 and injuring 53. Authorities are placing the blame for the attacks on Boko Haram, the Islamist insurgency that has wrought havoc on the country over the past few years. The attacks certainly bear the group’s hallmarks: According to CNN, one of the suicide bombers in Kano is believed to have been an 11-year-old girl. The new acts of violence in Nigeria coincided with the release of…
Boko Haram Islamic insurgents in Nigeria have become the world’s deadliest extremist group, edging out the Islamic State group to which it is affiliated, according to a new report. The Global Terrorism Index says deaths attributed to Boko Haram increased by 317% in 2014 to 6,644 compared with 6,073 blamed on IS. Boko Haram pledged allegiance to IS in March and calls itself that group’s West Africa Province. The two are responsible for 51% of deaths by terror worldwide, according to the report published by the New York City-based Institute for Economics and Peace. Amnesty International has blamed Nigeria’s military…
Nigeria’s government is coming under pressure from the Home Office to help pave the way for the deportation of an estimated 29,000 Nigerians believed to be living in Britain illegally, according to one of its most senior diplomats. Olukunle Akindele Bamgbose, acting high commissioner to the UK, said his embassy was being asked to help remove people who were sick, had immigration appeals outstanding, had no ties to Nigeria after living for many years in the UK and who in some cases were not even Nigerian. “It’s a big issue for us here at the embassy,” he said. “There are…
LAGOS, November 19, 2015: Newly appointed minister Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), already has a laundry list on his agenda to reform the Power, Works and Housing sectors. Many experts are eager to see his agenda focus on plans that will tackle the country’s perpetual erratic power supply. Suggestions from major electricity distribution companies have asserted that the former Lagos state governor should focus his efforts on privatising the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), while blaming the existing power grid for being weak. Internal scuffles within TCN have also been a major source for the stagnation in the development of the…
The way and manner Nigerians travel abroad on medical check up otherwise known as medical tourism is one that gives me great concern. It is no news that Nigerians are the highest patronizers of hospitals in United Kingdom, America, India and China. It is rather unfortunate that Nigerians get to spend huge amount of money on medical tourism due to the poor health-care facilities in the country. It is a known fact that Cross River State is a tourism destination and with the tourism drive in the State. It is only natural that the State keys into medical tourism. The…
Detailed accounts of how the former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Mr. Ibrahim Lamode manipulated the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and Tribunal (CCT) to instigate the trial of the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki on spurious charges of false assets declaration have been uncovered. Saraki’s sudden trial initiated more than 13 years he left office as governor of Kwara State was said to have been orchestrated by Lamode to hit back at Saraki over the insistence of the Senate to probe him on the alleged diversion of about one trillion naira recovered as loots from…
In the past two weeks, the governor of Cross River State, Senator Benedict Benyaushuye Ayade has globe-trotted the Asian continent countries of Japan, Thailand and China, with the sole aim of sourcing for collaborations with these countries and regions within the said countries in the areas of business/commerce and industrial/technology that will be of immense profit to the government and people of Cross River State in particular and Nigeria in general. So far so good, it is now lucid that Governor Ayade’s visit to the aforementioned Asian countries has achieved what it was originally billed to achieve from the information…
Ever since the news of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) Chairman, Danladi Umar broke, as being culpable in corruption and bribery scandal involving a former Deputy Comptroller of Customs, Rasheed Taiwo, not much has been heard of the trial afterwards, despite the overwhelming evidences alleging that Umar indeed demanded N10million bribe to quash criminal case. Evidences ranging from phone call logs, banks statements, account details and in fact, a letter instituting criminal charges against him by the then Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the federation, Bello Adoke have since surfaced. In a letter dated September 1, 2014 and…
As the Founder-President of the Wellbeing Foundation Africa (WBFA) Her Excellency, Mrs. Toyin Saraki attends the 2015 United Nations Every Woman, Every Child (EWEC) Stakeholder Consultation for Accountability for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health in Geneva, over the next 2 days, WBFA seeks to use this opportunity to further embolden our call-out for stronger, country-led accountability systems, in order to drive improvements in reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health (RMNCAH). In her speech, Her Excellency Mrs. Toyin Saraki highlighted lessons from Nigeria’s implementation of CoIA’s recommendations, including Importance of country leadership in translating the accountability framework into action at…
LAGOS, Nigeria; NEW YORK, United States, 17 November 2015: African Media Agency (AMA) the pan-African media relations specialist and MobileMoney Africa , the online platform for mobile financial media reporting, today announced an alliance to promote financial inclusion on the continent. As part of this agreement, AMA will be responsible for promoting the 6th Remittance & MobileMoney Expo event taking place on Feb 2-3 in Lagos, Nigeria. The expo is the leading continental event focused on mobile financial services. AMA will engage the main print, broadcast and online media of the continent, key stakeholders through the global aggregators and their…
British-based Quikfix Holdings Limited has announced the incorporation of Quikfix Road Nigeria Limited in readiness to secure contracts for the repair of roads throughout the country and end the misery potholes bring to drivers. If successful, this will lead to the setting up of at least one factory to manufacture Quikfix Instant Road Repair, the creation and training of hundreds of jobs together with the procurement of thousands of tonnes of locally-mined aggregates. Quikfix IRR is a permanent, “once-only” treatment which takes only minutes to apply and can be driven over immediately with no curing time or need for roads…
If you have just started collecting subscriber emails, just opened your business or own an online storefront, chances are that you’ve heard that you should collect emails – that the “money is in the list”. While collecting subscriber and prospect emails is the first step in the right direction, the truth is that you should know what to do and what not to do with those emails. There are thousands of blog posts and articles about email marketing best practices, but not as many regarding email marketing mistakes. It is partly because of this that you hear people throwing around…
Nigeria operates a form of government that portrays Federalism in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The Federation consists of 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory, which are constitutionally empowered with the Legislative, Executive and the Judiciary functions within the scope of their jurisdictions. However, the Judiciary faces certain problems, which show the weaknesses and defects of the system that require immediate reforms. These problems include corruption, backlog of pending cases, lack of transparency, hardship of under trials, pressure from unseen forces and lack of interaction with the society among others. Nigeria’s legal system has one of…
“A doubtful friend is worse than a certain enemy. Let a man be one thing or the other, and we then know how to meet him.” – Aesop Say what you want to say about Kabiru Marafa, the distinguished Senator representing Zamfara Central constituency in the 8th National Assembly, but never call him a shy one. Since the emergence of Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki as the President of the Senate, Senator Marafa has continually and consistently made himself an attempted visible thorn in the side of the Senate President. Just a few weeks ago, in the days leading up to the submission…
Dear CRS Federal Legislators, It is with heavy heart that i write this, I would love if my honorable legislators take out time to reflect on the message of my piece. My legislators, I write to draw your attention on the deplorable condition of the Calabar, Ikom, Ogoja road. It is no news that the over 40 years road is now a death trap for our people who ply the road. Sometime in September, over 45 of our country men and women died on that road due to the bad nature of the road. My leaders, I want you all…
The year was 2013. The principal actors were certain displeased governors. The act was a breakaway. The party was the “New PDP.” This was the picture of the political landscape at the time, as occasioned by a certain Goodluck Jonathan who would not look a certain Bukola Saraki in the face over what eventually turned out to be the end of a political party that prided itself as Africa’s largest. Bukola Saraki, Rotimi Amaechi and Rabiu Kwankwaso led the other embittered governors out of the PDP, to create a gulf that proved too difficult to fill. This act was…
Kaymu.com.ng is an online platform, but it is also a network of offline communities, from individual entrepreneurs, to local mom and pop stores to wholesale retailers. An important part of the unique Kaymu experience is the connection shoppers can have to the artisans and merchants who live and work in their neighborhoods. According to Md Sefik Bagdadioglu, “We constantly seek ways to bring our online world together with offline shopping experiences, making connections between those communities whenever we can, and now we’re taking the next step in our commitment to facilitate these connections, and make it even easier for shoppers…
Any careful observer of the interaction between Nigeria’s justice system and the political attacks on non-conformists will immediately surmise that Nigeria’s justice system is under attack. Similarly, as democracy is aimed at enshrining institutions and precedents for the common good, and not to serve vested interests, people have started to notice that the way and manner our investigative bodies and our courts are handling certain legal cases, does not bode well for the future of our great country in the long-run. During the 2015 general elections, the All Progressives Congress (APC) presented its manifesto to Nigerians with promises of fighting…
Corruption and poverty work hand in hand. And the root cause of poverty in Nigeria today, is corruption. Everywhere you go to in Nigeria you see poverty written everywhere on the faces of Nigerians. People keep complaining and are experiencing a life of sadness and frustration in a nation as blessed like Nigeria. What i keep asking myself is, how is Nigeria the giant of Africa when her citizens can not boast of a meal? Sometime we boasted to have the biggest economy in Africa, of what significance is the economy status of Nigeria when her people can not feed…