nigeria news lead

West Africa leaders step up fight against Boko Haram A regional force put in place to counter the Boko Haram militants will start operations in November, West African leaders decided after a summit in Niger. Niger, Nigeria, Chad and Benin on Tuesday an­nounced plans to step up the fight against Boko Haram with an additional battalion and a command centre for an already agreed-upon multi­national force to tackle the militants whose insurgency has spread beyond Nigeria, a statement said. The leaders agreed to speed up the creation of the head­quarters for the force and have military battalions deployed “to our respective borders” by November 1, the heads of state said in a joint statement. The four heads of states and a representative of Cameroon’s president said after meeting in Niger’s capital Niamey that the multinational force which will be led by a chief of staff will be in place by Nov. 20. Benin, Nigeria’s western neighbour, whose border stretches from the Atlant...

Nigeria to raise 73.61 bln naira in bonds (LAGOS) Nigeria plans to auction 73.61 billion naira ($446.80 mln) in bonds with maturities ranging between 3 years and 20 years at an auction next Wednesday, the Debt Management Office (DMO) said on Thursday. The DMO said it will sell 18.61 billion naira in 3-year bonds, 30 billion in 10-year paper and 25 billion in 20-year debt. The securities are a reopening of previously issued bonds. ($1 = 164.75 naira) ( Reuters )

Jonathan splashes over N300m on athletes, officials Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Among the athletes were those who participated in the African Senior Athletics Championships in Marrakech, Morocco, and the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland. Others were participants in the African Youth Games in Gaborone, Botswana; the World Junior Athletics Championships in Oregon, USA, and the 2014 FIFA Female U-20 Football World Cup in Montreal, Canada. The list included athletes in the Partille World Handball Youth Championships, in Sweden; the World Powerlifting championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and the African Shooting Championship in Cairo, Egypt. Also in the list were participants in the African Senior Wrestling Championship and the African Junior Wrestling Championship. In a remark, Jonathan reassured Nigerians that his administration was determined to ensure that all sectors of national life were given the necessary motivation to achieve set g...

No diplomatic standoff between Nigeria and South Africa – Envoy Following the seizure of fund’s from Nigeria by the South African authorities,  the High Commissioner  that country to Nigeria, Ambassador Lulu Mgnuni, has said there is no impending diplomatic standoff between both countries. The envoy who spoke exclusively with Daily Sun in Abuja, said Nigeria and South Africa have come a long way to allow anything to come between them. South Africa, he noted, has long fundamental contradictions with Nigeria, saying the current differences were non basic. According to Mgnuni:  “I don’t think there is going to be any diplomatic standoff between South Africa and Nigeria. We have come a long way that we can have anything that can come between us. “South Africa has long fundamental contradictions with Nigeria. All these differences are not basic. So, I think anything can be solved amicably by our two countries. We are friends, we are time-tested friends.” Asked ...

…Sacked Ag gov vows to appeal judgemen Sacked acting Gov­ernor of Adamawa State, Umar Fin­tiri, has vowed to challenge the judgment of the Federal High Court, which ordered his removal from office. Speaking through his coun­sel, Chief Bayo Ojo (SAN), the sacked acting governor said he disagreed with the reasoning of Justice Adeniyi Ademola in his judgment, adding that the former deputy governor actually resigned through his two purported letters of resignation to the speaker of the state House of Assembly and the former governor, respectively. Ojo, a former attorney gen­eral of the federation said: “I can confirm that we have the instruction of our client, the acting governor of Ad­amawa State, to appeal the said judgement and we have immediately filed the appeal. We have in addition filed a motion for stay of the orders of the court pending the ap­peal

Onitsha agog as Onukwuba marks birthday, silver jubilee, unveils foundation For Rev. Fr. Martin Onukwuba, an Onitsha-born Catholic priest, eulogies do not need to come when one has passed on to the great world beyond. One’s foot prints while on earth should be celebrated, especially if the person has been touching lives positively. Therefore, between September 6 and 7, loud noise of cymbals and drums reverberated across the city of Onitsha as people appreciated the man largely described as a good priest. The popular Awka Road in Onitsha, which is the route to Onitsha Main Market and Ose Okwodu, the two major markets in the commercial city, bustled with unusual human and vehicular traffic. It was the 52 nd birthday and 25 years celebration of his priesthood, but that was not all, the occasion also marked the unveiling of his legacy project known as Father Martin Soteria Mission. Fr. Onukwuba was born on September 6, 1962 to the family of Barrister Achike and Osinigwe Onukw...

Day Chime’s group shut down Enugu for Jonathan On the eve of the rally, the heavens opened up in Enugu to release a downpour that made many in the state to panic. As the rains came down heavily that night, the major worry of the people was the rally slated for the next day being put together by the Enugu Movement for the Re-Election of Jonathan (EMJ). A few days to September 25, EMJ had promised a mother of all rallies, but not many took the EMJ Chairman, Mr Charles Egumgbe and the Secretary, Rita Mbah, seriously as nobody had seen them in the past mobilizing in any form for the state. So, when the rain started on the eve of the rally, many thought the rally would witness a low turnout, but this was wrong as the 22,000 capacity Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, Enugu, venue of the rally organised to woo President Goodluck Jonathan to run in the 2015 presidential election, was filled to the brim and overflowed with people. The day was one the whole state literarily stood still for one ...

APC’ll rule Imo for 20 years, Okorocha boasts    Imo State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha has said the All Progressives Congress (APC) will govern the state for the next 20 years and even beyond. According to Okorocha, the issue of governance in Imo had gone beyond making him governor. The governor spoke while inaugurating officers and members of the state’s Campaign Council yesterday, adding that the philosophies of the “Rescue Mission” had to be institutionalised for rapid development of the state. His words: “We are working. And with that, we have been able to silence the PDP, and we intend to sustain that for life. “We have no gun, but the people. Our work or the performance of the administration has destroyed the PDP in the state. “We only need to close ranks to achieve the goal. I am preparing the ground so that the younger ones will have opportunities tomorrow.” He added: “We have sent those who held the state on ground for decades packing. “The Res...

NCDMB sets up 10 committees on content devt The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has inaugurated 10 sectoral committees of the Nigerian Content Consultative Forum (NCCF), with responsibility to generate ideas for the development of Nigerian content in the oil and gas industry. The 10 committees set up by Section 57 of the Nigerian Content Act, NCCF sectorial committees include fabrication, finance, insurance and legal services, shipping and logistics, education and training, petroleum technology and multinationals.  Others are materials and manufacturing, information and communication technology, engineering and essential services, which covers medical services, health, safety and environment, cate ring and hospitality. In his speech at the event, the Executive Secretary of the board, Ernest Nwapa, explained that the objective for constituting the NCCF committees was to provide a platform for information sharing on upcoming projects and local ca...

MDGs: FG distributes 230,000 bags of fertilizer to farmers In a bid to improve the lives of farmers and reduce poverty in the country, the Federal Government has distributed about 230,000 bags of fertilizers directly to farmers where they are needed most. This was disclosed in Abuja last week at the official launch of Agricultural Empowerment Programme for Rural Farmers across the country by the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan. According to her, the event was the outcome of a strong collaborative effort between the Women for Change Initiative, the Cellulant Group and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Office aimed specifically at improving access to critical agricultural inputs. In her remarks, the Special Special Assistant to the President on MDGs, Dr. Precious Gbeneol, noted that the intervention was expected to improve farm yields, enhance food security and change the economic landscape of rural communities. Gbeneol enjoined all beneficiaries of the intervention...

Missing $10.8bn resurfaces in London as audit report gets ready soon The last is yet to be heard about the missing $10.8 billion as the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, yesterday assured that the report of the audit into the unaccounted $10.8 billion oil money would be ready soon. Speaking at the Financial Times Africa Summit 2014 in London, with the theme, “Consolidating the Continent’s Rise”, she said the figure was not new but had been a source of discussions between the Ministry of Finance and the Petroleum Ministry and that the huge attention it generated prompted the government to take steps leading to the appointment of PriceWater House Coopers to do a forensic audit. “Initially it was $48 billion, then $20 billion but the figure we have always had is $10.8 billion. I am the Minister of Finance; if money is missing, I want it to be used for good things for the country and that was why when we went to the Senate to d...

Private sector drives 80% of Nigeria’s economy The Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) has disclosed that Nigeria’s economy is driven by at least 80 percent from the private sector, while the public sector has a meagre 20 percent. This was revealed yesterday in Lagos by CIPE’s Country Director, Mrs. Gbadamosi Omowunmi during the first day of a three- day workshop organized by CIPE in conjunction with the International Republican Institute (IRI) and International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES). The workshop, according to the organisers is aimed at strengthening the capacity of private sector advocacy coalitions to raise awareness of the business community’s policy priorities through issues –based political dialogue in the lead up to the 2015 elections. Gbadamosi noted that the role of the private sector in the democratic process cannot be under estimated especially as it contributes substantially to the development of the country in terms of job creation. ...

Bakassi not Nigeria’s territory – Surveyor-General The Surveyor-General of the Federation, Prof. Peter Nwilo has Bakassi Peninsula, does not belong to Nigeria but to Cameroon. Nwilo made the clarification in Abuja on Monday, saying that based on available facts, the disputed territory actually belonged to Cameroon. Nigeria lost the territory to Cameroon based on a judgment of International Court of Justice in The Hague in October 2002. Nigeria ceded Bakassi to Cameroon on Aug. 14, 2008 following the Greentree Agreement and thus ended the dispute over the 1,000sq/ km territory Some 90 per cent of citizens in the Peninsula are of the Efik ethnic nationality in Bakassi Local Government Area of Cross River. “Bakassi was more or less part of what they called Southern Cameroon. “I know that the available facts did not weigh in favour of Nigeria…the facts they (Cameroon) had at their disposal did not favour Nigeria and that was why we lost it (Bakassi). “Even though at tim...