Ten years into the huge humanitarian crisis created by the rampaging terrorist group, Boko Haram, in the North-East axis of Nigeria, a United Nations agency, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) says 7.1 million citizens in the volatile region are still in need. Already, the UN agency is carrying out some essential activities to build hope for the surviving victims of the Boko Haram menace. By integrating psychosocial support into livelihood activities, IOM seems to be promoting positive coping mechanisms and resilience among the displaced population. These activities tend to be helping people manage stress and increase self-esteem as well…
Author: Akanimo Sampson
“Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belongs to Christ Jesus.” The above are the exact wordings of the Holy Bible in 1st Thessalonians 5:18, advising all children of God to show gratitude at all times for every good gesture done to them. In furtherance and fulfillment of the above Biblical injunction, Imo State Deputy Governor, Rt. Hon. Gerald Irona, recently led a mixed delegation of his kinsmen, traditional chiefs, opinion moulders, leaders of thought, politicians, clergy, priests, titled men and elders from his native Ohaji/Egbema/Oguta/Oru West Federal Constituency, numbering over one hundred, on…
The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) is calling for a commission of inquiry into the worrisome pipeline vandalism and illegal oil refining in the Ogoni axis of the troubled Rivers State in a bid to unravel an alleged deep connivance between security operatives and criminals gangs. A factional General Secretary of the Ogoni mass movement, Monday Neeka Ziinu, a church deacon, said in a statement, ‘’we are convinced that an investigation will unravel and justify the reasons why illegal oil refining have flourished in the Niger Delta despite efforts to halt the illicit business.’’ While urging the…
Going by the emerging strong indicators, the United States of America under President Donald Trump’s watch is set for a military response to the growing security risk of Iran to Washington’s imperial dominance. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is already pressing on with the Trump administration’s belligerent threats against Iran, declaring in an interview on CBS Face the Nation that the US was “considering a full range of options.” And when asked if that included a military response, he declared “of course.” Dismissing any suggestion that the US had no evidence to prove that Iran had attacked two oil tankers in…
Interest groups and lobbyists across Nigeria are presently not leaving any stone unturned in their intense push to ensure that their anointed political sons and daughters get juicy slots in the NextLevel cabinet of President Muhammadu Buhari. While President Buhari, his wife, Aisha, some prominent traditional rulers, religious leaders, business tycoons, and top politicians close to the first family are being pressured to convince the ex-Army General to accommodate those begging them in his cabinet, the hot scramble for a ministerial position has sparked off a worrisome in-fighting and bickering in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). By the doctrine of the…
A Rael-Science post says a new research has suggested that a synthetic chemical that mimics the odor of sandalwood could be the key to reversing hair loss. According to the post, in a paper published in Nature on September 18, scientists describe how they were able to stimulate hair follicle growth and slow cell death by essentially getting scalp tissue to “smell” a sandalwood odorant called Sandalore. The unusual finding is explained by the existence of a particular olfactory receptor in the scalp, OR2AT4, to which Sandalore binds and promotes hair growth. “This is actually a rather amazing finding,” senior researcher and dermatologist…
The largely unknown oil barons that have been sabotaging Nigeria’s oil economy appears to have staged a major comeback, and are busy making mincemeat of the country’s oil industry in spite of the heavy security presence all over the oil and gas region. In Bayelsa State, the Aiteo Group, operator of the Nembe Creek Trunk Line to Shell’s Bonny export terminal, has been one of the hardest hit this year, halting flows through the link at least three times since January. Aiteo is however, one of Africa’s fastest-growing energy leaders. The company is an integrated energy group with a clear vision for the future…
With the menace of the Apapa traffic gridlock still unyielding to intense pressure, activities at the largely abandoned Calabar, Delta and Rivers’ ports will soon come alive as the Management of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) is bent on breaking the backbone of the embarrassing traffic gridlock. NPA management has approved a 10 per cent discount on harbour dues at ports in Calabar, the Cross River State capital, Delta State (Warri and Koko), and at those in Onne and Port Harcourt in Rivers State. The latest move by the NPA is coming as the Federal Government extended by two weeks,…
There is a worrisome mass internal displacement throughout Ethiopia due to consecutive years of drought and conflict which have currently left nine million people in need of humanitarian assistance and protection. A United Nations agency, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) is already appealing to the international community for $50 million to continue offering lifesaving assistance to 1.5 million people in need. The request by IOM is part of the comprehensive inter-agency 2019 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for Ethiopia, which aims to raise $1.3 billion to support around nine million people. Half-way through the year, less than one-third of the HRP has been…
Over 3000 fleeing herdsmen from Taraba State are currently taking refuge in Obanliku Local Government Area of Cross River State. The local government area was however, created by the Ibrahim Babangida military regime on August 27, 1991. Its headquarters is located at Sankwala. Obanliku is located in the Northern Senatorial District of Cross River. It is both an inter-state and international boundary area. It is bounded in the North by Kwanda Local Government Area of Benue State, in the East by the Republic of Cameroon, the West by Obudu Local Government Area and in the South by Boki Local Government…
A Malagasy woman in the capital of the island nation of Madagascar, off south-eastern Africa recalls: “All I wanted was to go home.” She is one of the many victims of trafficking assisted by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), a United Nations agency, during the recent months’ upsurge in repatriation cases. Trafficking in Persons (TIP) remains a significant challenge there. According to research by IOM and its partners, women are particularly vulnerable and subjected to sex trafficking and forced labour in the domestic sector. Thousands of Malagasy women are employed as domestic workers in Lebanon, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia and often face exploitation. They sent under false promises of legitimate work to…
The Akwa Ibom State Government under the watch of Governor Udom Emmanuel of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has made a dramatic u-turn on their earlier stout opposition to the move by President Muhammadu Buhari’s All Progressives Congress (APC) administration to grant financial autonomy to local government councils in the country. The state’s immediate past Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Uwemedimoh Nwoko, says the Udom administration is not challenging the proposed local government autonomy or opposed to it. According to him, the power to superintend over the affairs of local government areas lie solely with the Legislature, and not…
Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, one of the big oil and gas states in Nigeria, has started to press for the need of President Muhammadu Buhari to reconsider his stance on the amended Electoral Act. The outspoken Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governor again wrestled former Transportation Minister, Chibuike Amaechi, of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the ground in the 2019 elections as he did in 2015, is of the view that the major challenges that characterised this year’s polls would have been averted if President Buhari had assented to the amended Act. Wike who was speaking during a…
Following the seeming shockwaves of the 2019 polls, and the Tuesday recruitment of presiding officers of the National Assembly, a pro-restructuring group, Lower Niger Congress (LNC) has alleged that there is no future for the Igbo people of Eastern Nigeria in Nigeria. For the LNC, it was high time the Igbo people awakened to what it described as ‘’the obdurate One-Nigeria’’. The Executive arm of the Nigerian government is being held by the North, (President Muhammadu Buhari), and Vice-President from the West (Prof. Yemi Osinbajo). The Legislature has a Northerner as Senate President, Senator Ahmed Lawan and Speaker of the…
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has sealed a deal with the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) to enhance reporting of the private sector’s contribution to global goals.’ This is largely because Target 12.6 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires companies to adopt sustainable practices and to integrate sustainability information into their reporting cycle. Many businesses are starting to integrate their performance against the global goals in their mainstream annual reports. UNCTAD and the IIRC are therefore joining forces to make this practice the norm by working with key stakeholders to fully integrate SDGs in their reporting cycle.…
In a bid to rally the Red Chamber of Nigeria’s bicameral Legislature behind Senator Ahmed Lawan, the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) seems to be ignoring President Muhammadu Buhari’s signature anti-corruption war with its alleged unrestrained cash inducement. Insiders say the ruling party and Senator Lawan are allegedly sharing money to senators in order to secure their votes for this Tuesday’s election of the principal officers of the 9th Senate. The seeming snub of the Buhari anti-graft war in the Senate is playing out as Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State is busy boasting that there is no vacancy for the…
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) says African businesses and consumers can save billions if delays at borders are reduced. Why? This is most likely because in trade, time is money. To help make this possible, one of the continent’s free trade areas, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), has enlisted UNCTAD to help make it easier and faster to move goods in the region. Heads of the two organisations met May 24, at COMESA’s headquarters in Lusaka, Zambia, to seal the €3 million ($3.34 million) deal, which builds on UNCTAD’s experience in helping…
The crisis rocking the All Progressives Congress (APC), President Muhammadu Buhari’s party, appears to be taking a turn for the worse. The party’s Deputy National Chairman North, Senator Lawan Shuaibu, who is at dagger-drawn with his principal, Adams Oshiomhole, has said that the newly inaugurated five-man disciplinary committee by the Oshiomhole’s faction lacks the Constitutional power to probe him. He brought this to the knowledge of the probe panel in a letter to the committee’s chairman, Otunba Niyi Adebayo. The worsening crisis in the party is playing out as Senator Ali Ndume is busy unsettling the Senator Ahmad Lawan camp…
The Gambia, a West African nation is hoping to attract more tourists from the African continent to boost her economy. To this end, she has enlisted the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the UN Economic Commission for Africa in the endeavour. Blessed with sweeping stretches of sand and an enchanting river ecosystem that some 560 bird species call home, The Gambia is a bourgeoning tourist destination on Africa’s west coast. Tourism accounts for more than 20% of GDP and is a growing source of employment for a nation with some of the world’s highest emigration rates.…
A new data analysis by Minority Rights Group International (MRG) and the Ceasefire Centre for Civilian Rights (CCCR) says the use of social media by repressive states and extremist groups is adding directly to the threats faced by some of the world’s most vulnerable populations and can exacerbate violence where atrocities have occurred or risk transpiring. While MRG is a leading international human rights organisation working to secure the rights of ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities and indigenous peoples, with more than 150 partners in over 50 countries, CCCR is an international initiative to develop civilian-led monitoring of violations of international humanitarian law or…
Apparently worried by the controversy the issue of financial autonomy to local government has generated in Nigeria, a constitutional lawyer and human rights activist wants President Muhammadu Buhari to provide the matter with a constitutional backup. The Federal Government under Buhari’s watch has granted the third-tier of government financial autonomy. But, it is being opposed by the state governors. The issue came to light via a financial guidelines issued by the Central Bank’s NFIU Committee on direct remittances of local government allocations to the 774 local government councils beginning this June. Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State (All Progressives Congress,…
The Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (IHRHL), has charged the Nigerian government not to allow the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) to become a mighty fabric of human bondage in Rivers State and the country as a whole. The Acting Director of the group, Nwennenda C. King, said in a statement on Wednesday, ‘’it is our prayer in this darkest hour of law enforcement disposition, that our responsible political leaders must not look on with icy coldness, and remain unmoved on the face of the perils and calamities which the bad eggs of SARS is visiting upon unsuspecting citizens of the…
A seeming un-presidential outburst by President Muhammadu Buhari on the residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, has sparked off a hot reaction from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). President Buhari described residents of the federal capital territory as ‘’necessary evil’’ for not voting for him during the February 23 presidential election. He spoke while assuring the FCT residents that his administration will do everything possible to protect them. Buhari spoke when he received the FCT residents who paid him Sallah homage at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. He said, ‘’I want to appreciate the number two man of the country (Prof. Yemi Osinbajo)…
Three months after the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, cautioned politicians in the state against acts capable of plunging the state into political crisis, the Abdullahi Ganduje administration appears to be bent on dethroning the outspoken monarch. The state Public Complaints and Anti-corruption Commission has already recommended the suspension of the controversial former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) over an alleged misappropriation of N3.4 billion. The monarch had in the second week of February this year warned against plunging the state into a crisis following the resurgence of thuggery in Kano metropolis. He said the warning…
The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has advised the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), President Muhammadu Buhari’s party, to seek restitution for the misery it has caused Nigeria instead of always looking for scapegoats where none exists. Nigerians, according to the PDP, are saddened that ‘’the incompetent, divisive, vindictive and deceitful APC’’ has allegedly reversed all the gains achieved by the PDP in a space of four years, arguing that if anything, ‘’the APC has only succeeded in bringing economic misery, escalated insecurity, piling foreign debts, dilapidated infrastructure and despondency in our country.’’ PDP took on the APC as a report from…
The Zamfara State wing of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) says they have expelled their immediate past state governor, Abdulaziz Yari, and the Deputy National Chairman of the party, Senator Lawali Shuaibu, who is locked in a supremacy battle with the National Chair, Adams Oshiomhole. The development came as the Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial Petition Tribunal in Uyo, the state capital, has fixed June 10 to commence trial on petitions filed by Senator Godswill Akpabio seeking to invalidate Christopher Ekpenyong as legitimate winner of the February 23 senatorial elections. The tribunal concluded its pre-hearing session last Friday. The session…
Schlumberger, one of the leading oil services companies, has introduced the GAIA, a digital exploration platform at the 81st EAGE Conference & Exhibition. The GAIA platform enables exploration teams to rapidly discover and access basin-scale data and manage their exploration opportunities. The GAIA platform uses the power of the DELFI Exploration & Production cognitive environment to access data available from Schlumberger and other E&P industry data providers. The GAIA platform provides a personalised user experience, enabling the explorationist to discover, visualise and interact with all the available data in a region or basin without compromising resolution and scale. It also…
A response by the Nasarawa State Universal Basic Education Board to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) on how the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration under the watch of Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, spent Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) funds on primary school education between 2015 and 2019, has exposed the rot within the system. The board has however, explained how they blew up N45 million in one week to train 1,000 primary school teachers. The fact is contained in a statement by SERAP Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare. SERAP sent a request last month to…
Pioneer National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and former Edo State Governor during the Ibrahim Babangida inconclusive transition programme, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, has taken on his successor, Adams Oshiomhole, claiming that the ex-labour leaderdoes not have the capacity to run a political party. The Odigie-Oyegun bomb was dropping as the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was busy exposing President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration on the Judicial arm of government. PDP said for the administration to allow the Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof Itse Sagay to continue casting aspersions on the integrity of the Justices…
The battle for the juicy Speakership seat of the House of Representatives is currently taking a new twist as the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is showing a strong interest in the office. The outgoing Speaker, Yakubu Dogara of the PDP, is said to be in a fierce battle to retain the position he dominated for four years.. This is coming as Governor Muhammad Yahaya of Gombe State has approved the appointment of the immediate past Vice Chancellor of the University of Maiduguri (UniMaid), Prof. Ibrahim Njodi, as the Secretary to the State Government (SSG). Director of Administration and Finance,…
