The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Yusuf Buratai, yesterday assured troops currently battling Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast of their welfare and provision of equipment. Speaking at the opening of the 2015 Regimental Sergeant Majors (RSM) Convention in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, Buratai said the Nigerian Army would continue to ensure adequate welfare for its personnel in order to enhance their operations. He reassured the troops that their welfare would continue to receive his utmost attention and steps would be taken to provide the best kits for them. “I wish to assure you of the federal…
Author: Wale Adebayo
A former member of the House of Representatives and All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain in Lagos State, Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has tasked President Muhammadu Buhari to assent to the bill for the establishment of a Diaspora Commission. Mrs. Dabiri-Erewa, who was Chairman of the Diaspora Committee in the House, said doing so would fast track the efforts to produce a workable database to ascertain the number of Nigerians abroad. She made the call at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, yesterday, while delivering a lecture titled: “The State of Nigerian Diaspora and Gender Relations in the 21st Century”,…
The Defence Headquarters has called for closer collaboration with the National Orientation Agency in the fight against Boko Haram. The Director of Defence Information, Col. Rabe Abubakar, made the call when he visited the agency’s headquarters, a statement in Abuja on Monday by Assistant Director, Press, at NOA, Mr. Paul Odenyi, said. Abubakar said he was visiting to solicit more cooperation with the agency in line with its mandate to communicate activities of government and inspire patriotic sentiments among the public. The DDI pointed out that the work of building confidence in the civilian populace was also critical in the…
Following the Senator representing Kaduna Central Senatorial District, Shehu Sani’s decision to publicly declare his assets, some Senators might have be encouraged to do same. Sen. Sani had last week publicly declared his assets, saying he was following in the footsteps of President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who had earlier declared theirs publicly. Although Sani, an activist turned politician, is now having problems with many of his colleagues for putting them on the spotlight, one Senator, Dino Melaye, thinks it was a commendable move and he is determined to follow suit too. Melaye, who is the spokesperson…
Last week, Nigerian midfielder, Mikel Obi reportedly called some officials of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to plead with them to allow him return to the Super Eagles following his refusal to honour the invitation extended to him by the new coach, Sunday Oliseh. Oliseh had called Mikel on his personal line to invite him to play in the 2017 AFCON qualifiers against Tanzania at the weekend, but Mikel refused to pick the call on several attempts to reach him. The call Mikel reportedly made last week was to plead with some NFF officials to help savage his declining career…
Leader of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, has declared that anyone that does not want the actualization of the group’s demand should leave Igbo land. He gave the directive after he reported at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Imo State police command on Monday. Uwazuruike was taken to the Zone 9 Headquarters in Umuahia, Abia State after a closed-door meeting with the Imo Police Commissioner, Taiwo Lakanu. The State police command’s spokesman Andrew Enwerem, said Uwazuruike was summoned over the group’s activities. “MASSOB and its activities are outlawed…
The Oyo State chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) Monday described as a misrepresentation, reports quoting the state governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi as having reached an agreement with labour leaders in the state to slash workers’ salaries as a way out of the cash crunch. The party, in a statement by its Director of Publicity and Strategy, Olawale Sadare, said the Chairman of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in the state, Comrade Waheed Olojede, must have either misconstrued the submission of the governor on the subject matter when he featured in an interview programme broadcast by an Ibadan-based radio station, Splash…
Ex-Presidential Adviser on Niger Delta Affairs and former coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Mr. Kingsley Kuku, has raised the alarm over plans to rope him in a financial deal he knows nothing about. He described as untrue and politically-motivated, reports that his account had been frozen. There were reports yesterday in a section of the media that an account belonging to the ex-presidential aide’s not-for-profit organization, Keketobou Foundation, had been frozen by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). According to the reports, the EFCC purportedly froze the account and others belonging to officials and associates of the immediate…
Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State said on Monday that he would not be distracted by criticisms from the opposition, vowing to remain focused on the greater good of the state. He stated this during a media tour of projects he organised for journalists in Port Harcourt, the state capital. The projects visited include Creek-Churchill-Borokiri road, Industry road, Nkpogu road, Peter Odili road -Woji road, East-West-Eleme-Onne Expressway and Eliopranwo road. Others are Wimpey-Rumuolumeni road, Evo road GRA II, Law Faculty Complex of the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, -Iloabuchi-Eagle Island and Silverbird Cinema -Abali Park. Wike spoke on…
President Muhammadu Buhari has said that Nigeria’s civil service has lost its steam to poverty of ideas and corruption, which have resulted in inefficiency and poor output. The President made the observation at the Old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa in Abuja, yesterday, while launching the Capacity Building Programmes for Public Servants—Structured Mandatory Assessment-based Training Programme (SMAT-P) and Leadership Enhancement And Development Programme (LEAD-P). “Many who mourn the decline of the civil service today from its days as ‘primus inter pares’ in the Commonwealth to one which has earned a reputation for inefficiency, low productivity, corruption and insensitivity to…
Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay, has said that no one will be spared in the anti-graft war. Speaking exclusively to Vanguard, weekend, at the annual meeting of Government College, Ughelli, Old Boys Association, Lagos branch, Sagay said that the present government not only has the political will to prosecute the war but that it is also “blind” regarding those who will be prosecuted. “The whole struggle is a blind one. It does not look to the left or right, but goes straight to the subject matter regardless of who is involved.” “No time frame…
The Senate Ad-hoc Committee on Power, headed by Senator Abubakar Kyari is set to begin probe of the sector today. The probe will cover huge resources, which was channelled into the sector since 1999, when former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was in office. In an invitation for public hearing, which was signed by the Committee’s Clerk, Mr. Cletus Ojabo, the meeting is slated to take place at Senate Committee hearing Room 231 at the white house of National Assembly by 11am. According to the paper, the Committee would investigate funds appropriated for Power Sector since 1999 as well as the…
South Africa’s Kevin Anderson stunned former champion Andy Murray in an epic four set match to reach his first Grand Slam quarter-final at the US Open on Monday. The 15th seed hit 81 winners – 32 better than the Briton – en route to a 7-6(7-5) 6-3 6-7(2-7) 7-6(6-0) victory in four hours and 19 minutes on Louis Armstrong Stadium. The win was the 29-year-old’s first over a top-10 player in majors and his first in a round-of-16 match, following seven unsuccessful previous attempts. Next up for Anderson is French Open winner, Stanislas Wawrinka, who earlier in the day saw…
The Nigerian Immigration Service has directed former Nigerian public office holders to immediately surrender official and diplomatic passports issued to them while they were in office. Officials say the action is based on the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari. The Federal Government had on August 24 directed the Immigration Service to retrieve all valid diplomatic and official passports from all persons not entitled to hold such documents. “The attention of the Federal Government has been drawn to the fact that some Nigerians who are not entitled to hold diplomatic and official passports are in possession of these documents,” a statement…
Presidents of Nigeria and Ghana, Muhammadu Buhari and John Mahama President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday in Aburi, Ghana, reiterated his promise of forming his cabinet by appointing Ministers before the end of September. Buhari gave the assurance at a joint press conference with his host, President John Dramani Mahama after bilateral talks at the Peduase Lodge, used by the President to host guests. “After I was sworn-in, I said I will have my cabinet in September. I expect that Nigerians should ask me questions after the 30th of September if I do not do so,” he said. Responding to questions…
Scores of highway sweepers under the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) on Monday stormed the Lagos State House of Assembly protesting non-payment of their salary arrears by the state government. According to The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the sweepers were protesting the non-payment of five months salary by the authority. They carried placards with various inscriptions such as “We deserve to be paid for our toiling”; “Life is now difficult, save us from poverty”, among others. They urged the state lawmakers to intervene in order to alleviate the economic hardship they were experiencing. One of the sweepers, identified…
The Senator representing Kaduna Central Senatorial District, Shehu Sani, says the relationship between him and Governor Nasir el-Rufai broke down as a result of ideological differences. In an exclusive interview with Vanguard, Sani blamed the governor for the breakdown in their long relationship, accusing him of pursuing policies to drive away the poor and the less privileged from the state as opposed to his welfarist and progressive disposition. “Well, it is my wish that we work together for the betterment of Kaduna State, our party and Nigeria. But it is the governor that is working against me. I was not…
The Rugged Records chairman spoke on his type of woman during an interview with City People. According to him, he is not in search of a girl but a woman. He said: “There are a lot of girls out there but I don’t need a girl, I need a woman. A woman who know what responsibility is all about, not just about Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Somebody who is real, who is responsible, and I really hope not to date anybody in entertainment, it won’t work. You go out, she goes out, and we all know we humans are jealous creatures,…
The Chairman/Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Ahmadu Giade has approved the redeployment of the commander at Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) Lagos, Commander of Narcotics (CN), Hamza Umar to Kano State Command. According to a press statement released by the Agency on Monday, Hamza takes over as Kano State commander from Commander of Narcotics (CN), Ahmadu Garba, who is now the commander at the Lagos airport. The redeployment, it stated, is consistent with the agency’s policy on command appointment and postings. Hamza, a fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), is…
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Monday expressed sadness at African youths’ desperation to get to Europe by all means, even at huge risk to their lives.Obasanjo also berated the European nations and their leaders for not doing anything to help the migrants that had reached the continent. The former president in a statement he issued in Abeokuta, Ogun State, urged the international community to rise up and find solution to the growing wave of African children leaving their continent for Europe to meet “uncertain future”. The statement reads in part: “it is a matter of considerable sadness for me when…