Transportation Minister, Chibuike Amaechi, is on the spot again in Rivers State, a state he dominated for eight years as governor before President Muhammadu Buhari tapped him as his minister. The Wike administration is claiming that through intelligence, it has discovered one of the state-owned Legacy 600 aircraft that was allegedly flown to, and abandoned in Germany since 2012 by Amaechi. According to Governor Nyesom Wike, it was unconscionable for the immediate past administration to have surreptitiously taken a state owned asset to Germany and abandon same there, without any documentation. Wike led a delegation of Rivers leaders to General…
Author: Akanimo Sampson
Ten years after the devastating impact of an oil spill that occurred at a facility of the Anglo-Dutch oil and gas major, Shell, fisher folks say they are yet to get justice. Artisan Fishermen Association of Nigeria (ARFAN) is currently decrying the delay in getting justice on the impact of the December 20, 2011 spill from the facility of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Exploration Company (SNE0CO). ARFAN is, therefore, appealing to President Muhamadu Buhari to prevail on SNEPCO to comply with the verdict of the regulators and courts to rekindle the hope of the fishermen and the society. A Joint…
Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) says Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has been empowered to administer the taxation of non-resident companies with a significant economic presence in Nigeria. The companies are those engaged in digital services and provision of technical, management, consultancy or professional services to Nigerian customers. According to PLAC on its website, ‘’the Finance Act amends the Companies Income Tax Act (CITA), Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (LFN) 2004 by empowering FIRS to administer the taxation. While the income tax payable by such entities will be based on a fair and reasonable percentage of the turnover…
The ArbNet Arboretum Accreditation Programme and The Morton Arboretum have been awarded the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Tree Heritage Park (THP) located within its campus in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, and managed by the Forest Centre, a Level II accreditation. The award recognizes THP for meeting identified standards of professional practices deemed essential for arboreta and botanic gardens. The ArbNet Arboretum Accreditation Programme is the only global initiative to officially recognize botanical gardens at various development, capacity, and professional levels. THP is also recognized as an accredited arboretum in the Morton Register of Arboreta, a database of…
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) scientists and their collaborative partners have identified molecular markers associated with resistance to banana weevil—one of the most destructive pests of the crop that can lead up to 100% yield loss. Identifying the markers on a crop’s genome in a population derived from a cross from two banana accessions, “Monyet” and “Kokopo”, will aid the development of resistant varieties—the most effective way to control the pest for resource-poor smallholder farmers. The banana weevil borer, Cosmopolites sordidus (Germar), is one of the major banana pests that constrains banana and plantain production, both important staple foods and sources of…
One person was allegedly killed and two others injured by gunmen suspected to be militants in Unyenge community of Mbo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State during an early morning attack of Universal Energy Resources Limited. Spokesman for the Police in the state, Odiko Macdon, a Superintendent of Police, says militants attacked Universal Energy Resources Ltd killing one, while two persons were injured. This is coming as Policy Alert, a civic group that promotes economic and ecological justice in the Niger Delta is calling on Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), to be transparent in the bidding processes of…
Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, says the ministry under his watch will continue to support career progression and development training in Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC). Aregbesola spoke through the Director, Joint Security Services in the ministry, Peter Egbodo, at the Inauguration of the Ministerial Committee on Development of the standard curriculum for NSCDC Training Colleges across the country. Spokesman of the Corps, Olusola Odumosu, in a statement said the minister described the training as life wire of any organisation, appreciating the foresightedness and determination of the NSCDC Commandant General, Ahmed Audi, for his bold step in making…
A civic group, Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) says Nigerians worry that any further delays to the enactment of an electoral law for Nigeria will pose a serious threat to the conduct of the forthcoming 2023 Nigerian general elections. The Electoral Bill, according to the group, contains several provisions that address issues in the electoral system such as improved voting procedures for persons with Disabilities (PWDs), legal backing for the use of voting devices and electronic transmission of election results, among others. The National Assembly resumed last week after its nearly one month end of year vacation. It resumes…
In 2021, global foreign direct investment (FDI) flows showed a strong rebound, according to United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) Investment Trends Monitor. Developed economies saw the biggest rise by far, with FDI reaching three times the exceptionally low level in 2020, the report shows. But recovery in development sectors remains fragile. UNCTAD Secretary-General, Rebeca Grynspan, says “recovery of investment flows to developing countries is encouraging, but stagnation of new investment in least developed countries in industries important for productive capacities, and key SDG sectors – such as electricity, food, or health – is a major cause for…
ExxonMobil and SABIC have announced the successful startup of Gulf Coast Growth Ventures world-scale manufacturing facility in San Patricio County, Texas. The new facility will produce materials used in packaging, agricultural film, construction materials, clothing, and automotive coolants. The operation includes a 1.8 million metric ton per year ethane steam cracker, two polyethylene units capable of producing up to 1.3 million metric tons per year, and a monoethylene glycol unit with a capacity of 1.1 million metric tons per year. ExxonMobil is one of the largest publicly traded international energy companies, uses technology and innovation to help meet the world’s…
Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State says his administration will not hesitate to expose any security personnel involved in illegal refinery activities. According to him, it is embarrassing how officers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) have continued to be complicit in the act and shamelessly be involved in sabotaging the national economy. “I don’t know how I can be a security officer sent to a place to protect people, to protect whatsoever belongs to the Federal Government, at the same time, I’m involved in sabotaging the national economy. I don’t understand how I can wear uniform and…
United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, has laid out his priorities for 2022. He has told the General Assembly that at a time when “the only certainty is more uncertainty”, countries must unite to forge a new, more hopeful and equal path. “We face a five-alarm global fire that requires the full mobilization of all countries,” he said, referring to the raging COVID-19 pandemic, a morally bankrupt global financial system, the climate crisis, lawlessness in cyberspace, and diminished peace and security. He stressed that countries “must go into emergency mode”, and now is the time to act as the response will determine global outcomes for…
United Nations says it will do everything it can to help rebuild the lives of vulnerable families in Nigeria who have been impacted by violence and extremism. Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths said so at the end of a four-day visit to the country, pledging support also. The UN humanitarian affairs chief travelled to the country to see firsthand the humanitarian situation and response in the northeast and to raise international awareness about the deteriorating humanitarian situation and bring attention to the ongoing regional conflict affecting the Lake Chad Basin. The UN relief chief met Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, and…
Comptroller General of Nigerian Customs Service, Hameed Ali, a retired Nigerian Army Colonel, is currently turning the heat on smugglers in the Rivers State axis of Nigeria. To boost his anti-smuggling war, he has inaugurated 18 gunboats and scanners in the state. The 18 gunboats will be used by the Eastern Marine Command of the Customs to eradicate the menace of smuggling on Nigeria waterways, while the scanners are deployed for smooth and seamless cargo documentation and clearance at Onne Seaport. Ali said the addition of these 18 creeks patrol boats to the marine arsenal at a time when more…
Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, will be visiting Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital at the instance of Senator Bassey Akpan, representing Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District. Lawan, who is also a top leader of All Progressives Congress (APC) will be coming to commission a multi-million naira sports complex in the state capital. The facility is facilitated by Senator Akpan, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain who is also interested in the 2023 governorship race of the state. Equally billed for inauguration in the community is a 1.3km road project also facilitated by Senator Akpan. The multipurpose composite sports facility located…
Head of Department, Rural Employment Promotion of National Directorate of Employment (NDE), Mrs Maths Wokoro, has urged loan beneficiaries to utilise the fund in investing in what they have learnt, not to divert it. NDE on Thursday revealed that it granted N100,000 each as a loan to 108 unemployed persons in Bayelsa State, in December 2021. NDE Coordinator in the state, Aham Osuchukwu, disclosed this at the orientation of the beneficiaries and the commencement of the training of 50 participants of Agricultural Extension Training (AET) in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa capital. The coordinator said additional 50 youths are currently undergoing training…
Governor-elect of Anambra State, Charles Chukwuma Soludo, says his manifesto for the Eastern Nigeria state is not just a tool to lure the electorate into voting him into power, but a social contract with the people. He has also rejected the title ‘His Excellency’, opting to be addressed as Prof Chukwuma Soludo, and directed that those who find it inappropriate to call him by his name can feel free to address him as Mr Governor. Soludo who was speaking during the inauguration of the transition committee said some of such little mistakes were things that would be addressed during the…
A bill seeking to prescribe 10 years imprisonment for Ponzi schemers has passed the second reading in the House of Representatives just as the National Economic Council (NEC) says it is yet to take a decision on the issue of fuel subsidy removal as deliberations are still ongoing. Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State who made this public after the NEC meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Thursday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja said, ‘’there was an ad hoc committee set up by NEC and headed by Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State that included members of…
Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State is emerging as a dogged fighter as far as the issue of open grazing is concerned. He has been under intense pressure to water down the state’s Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law of the State 2017. Instead of playing ball, the unyielding Ortom on Thursday, January 20, gave assent to an amended version of the legislation that provides stiffer penalties to offenders. By the amendment, the owner of an impounded cow, pig, sheep or goat, as well as bird or poultry, will now pay fines ranging from N50,000, N10,000, N5,000 and N1,000…
United Nations weather agency, World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), says 2021 joined the list of the seven warmest years on record and was also the seventh consecutive year when the global temperature has been more than 1°C above pre-industrial levels; edging closer to the limit laid out under the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Although average global temperatures were temporarily cooled by the 2020-2022 La Niña events, 2021 was still one of the seven warmest years on record, according to six leading international datasets consolidated by WMO. Global warming and other long-term climate change trends are expected to continue as…
Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has directed the state Commissioner of Police, Eboka Friday to provide adequate security for Local Government Chairmen as they are embarking on the mass destruction of illegal refinery sites across the state. This is coming as the governor ordered all the 23 local government chairmen to hire bulldozers and destroy every identified illegal crude oil bunkering and artisanal refinery site in Rivers. Wike gave the order on Wednesday during a meeting with the 23 council chairmen, the police chief, and the Commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps ( NSCDC) at the Government House, Port Harcourt. The governor on Friday, January…
Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) welcomed Physics Nobel Laureate Giorgio Parisi to join its Nobel Laureates Alliance for Food Security and Peace, an advocacy group that aims to amplify FAO’s work in tackling global hunger. This is coming as the climate crisis is posing a growing threat to food security. Parisi is, however, an expert on complex systems that are difficult to model, such as flocking starlings, the stock market and the weather. A native of Rome, Italy, Parisi was awarded the Nobel prize in 2021 for “the discovery of the interplay of disorder and fluctuations in physical systems from…
Senate President, Ahmad Lawan has expressed confidence that the National Assembly will this Wednesday re-jig and re-present the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill to President Muhammadu Buhari for his assent this week. According to him, Nigerians should not fret over the delay having the amended electoral legislation assented to by President Buhari. Also dousing tensions over the claim that petroleum subsidy has been removal, Lawan assured that there is no Presidential directive to implement such regime as being claimed in some quarters. He was speaking in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, after a closed-door meeting with President Buhari at the Aso Rock Villa,…
American oil giant, ExxonMobil, has publicly declared its ambition to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions for operated assets by 2050, backed by a comprehensive approach to developing detailed emission-reduction roadmaps for major facilities and assets. The net-zero ambition is contained in the company’s Advancing Climate Solutions – 2022 Progress Report, formerly known as the Energy & Carbon Summary. The net-zero aspiration applies to Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions and builds on ExxonMobil’s 2030 emission-reduction plans, which include net-zero emissions for Permian Basin operations and ongoing investments in lower-emission solutions in which it has extensive experience, including carbon…
House of Representatives Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, says the Green Chamber of the National Assembly will, this Wednesday, reintroduce the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill and quickly work to pass it and send same to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent. President Muhammadu Buhari had in December last year declined assent to the amendment made to the Electoral Act by the National Assembly after raising some concerns. Welcoming his colleagues back from the Christmas and New Year break on Tuesday, Gbajabiamila said the House will not lose sight of the benefits of the amendment, hence it would introduce it and lawmakers will ensure…
Ahead of the uncertain 2023 elections, some concerned Nigerians have started to attack President Muhammadu Buhari, accusing his All Progressives Congress (APC) administration of so far failing to address the fears and aspirations of the suffering citizens. Already, a rainbow of Yoruba groups met in Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria, with a vow to ensure that the ordinary people of the Western Nigeria determine the future of elections in the region. They have now adopted the name, Alliance of Yoruba Democratic Movement (AYDM), stressing that ethnic conflict, violence and the national question are critical issues that must be resolved,…
Prospects of President Muhammadu Buhari clearing Nigeria’s skyrocketing debt stock before leaving office on May 29, 2023, are currently not appearing very positive. It is likely that he will be leaving a huge debt burden behind. This is because the country’s total debt rose from N32.9trillion as of December 2020 to N39.6trillion last November. In her presentation of the 2022 approved budget, President Buhari’s Finance, Budget and National Planning Minister, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, pointed out that the Buhari administration borrowed N6.7trillion between January and November 2021. Within the period under review, the new borrowing consists of N5.1trillion domestic debt and…
In the Horn of Africa rural communities, 1.5 million people are currently vulnerable because their fields and pastures are hard hit by an extended drought. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) which on Monday released a comprehensive response plan calling for a range of support for agriculture in the region also pointed out that over $138 million in urgent funding is needed to assist the vulnerable people. In a region already prone to food insecurity associated with weather extremes, natural resource limitations and conflict, the COVID-19 pandemic and 2020-21 locust invasion have stretched the coping capacities of rural communities to the…
Nigeria’s main opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has started to draw the battle line for the 2023 presidential war. An indication to this effect emerged at a summit of PDP Governors’ Forum in Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State. Before the summit, PDP National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, urged Nigerians to keep faith with the party that is poised to produce the next president of the country, maintaining that the current inept rule of the All Progressive Congress (APC) led Federal Government, which has pulled the country backwards economically has to be changed. Ayu gave the assurance at the…
Despite the EndSARS protest that rocked the country in 2020, some concerned rights groups are still unrelenting in their quest to see the Nigeria Police thoroughly reformed. To this end, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) is pushing for the unbundling and professionalization of the law enforcement agency. HURIWA is arguing that unless the Nigeria Police as currently constituted is unbundled and professionalized to legally enforce federal character principles in its top hierarchy rather than the alleged skewed status which favours only the Muslim North, youngsters from some Southern part of Nigeria will not want to be enlisted into the…
