Federal Government Okays Skyline University In Kano

May 9, 2018

The Federal Government has finally approved the establishment of a private university, Skyline University in Kano. It would be recalled that application for the establishment of the university by Skyline University has been on for the last year years.

Speaking to news men today, Wednesday shortly after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, the minister of State for Education, Professor Anthony Anwuka said that FEC approved the issuance of provisional license for the university.

According to him, the National University Commission (NUC), had gone through the rigorous verification of the claims as to the application for the establishment of the institution and that the NUC then sent a recommendation to the ministry of education, which in turn presented in the request to FEC for its approval.

Professor Anwuka said that while making the approval, FEC directed the NUC through the ministry of education to provide a status report to FEC on all the nation’s universities in terms of their performance, be they private, state or federal.

“We stressed on quality of staff on the various universities.

“And then FEC discussed the issue of school fees in the various universities and noted that as of law, no federal university should charge tuition fees. And, we understand some universities now charge fees per course unit and we are going to make sure that we investigate that properly and make it stops.

“But students can pay other auxiliary fees but not in excess. Various university councils and management should be able to fix what fees students should pay that is affordable and acceptable to the students. That is the position.

“The federal government does not determine fees for private and state universities; it only takes responsibility for fees paid in the federal universities.” [myad]

Outbreak Of Ebola In Congo: Nigerian Govt Starts Emergency Surveillance Activities

Greenbarge Reporters

May 9, 2018

Following the recent outbreak of the deadly Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Nigerian government has embarked on emergency Surveillance activities at all land and airport borders to keep the country safe from the epidemic.

The nation’s minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewale told news men today, Wednesday, shortly after the weekly meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, that FEC directed the federal ministry of health which he heads, to sart emergency surveillance activities at all land and airport borders, “so that we can actually keep Nigerians safe.”

He said that the government is greatly concern about the outbreak of the disease in DR Congo, recalling that over the last one month, DRC had recorded 19 suspected cases of viral hemorrhagic fever and lost 16 of the cases.

“But, what is also particularly important was that on Monday, blood samples from five patients in the DRC, particularly in a particular district in DRC, two of the five cases, Ebola was actually confirmed.”

Professor Adewale said that following the directive by the FEC, his ministry will hasten action to set up an emergency operation center which will be chaired by Dr. Babasanya, who actually led Nigeria’s efforts in Liberia and Sierra Leone and Guinea during the outbreak in 2014.

“Not only that, we will be screening incoming passengers, particularly passengers from DRC and neigbouring countries and will also ensure we step up all activities of screening people coming in so that we will not be caught unawares.

“Nigerian Center for Disease Control (NCDC) will also consider sending some team to DRC as part of building capacity for managing the outbreak. We want to assure Nigerians that the federal government is concerned about the outbreak and will do everything possible to keep the country safe.”

The minister said that at the FEC, he updated members on the state of public health in Nigeria and that that he reported on the situation with Lassa fever.

“We are declaring the emergency phase of Lassa fever outbreak over. Essentially, that implies that the emergency operating center would be stood down but that instead of meeting everyday throughout the country, they will now meet once a week.

“They will still continue surveillance so that if there are cases anywhere in the country we can quickly dictate it and then treat it appropriately.”

On the strike by medical personnel in the health sector, Professor Adewale said that negotiations are still on with Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU) and that the minister of labour is leading the negotiation.

“We expect that we will conclude on all issues very soon.” [myad]

Dreaded Ebola Is Back, Kills 17 In Congo; WHO Rises To Check It

Greenbarge Reporters

May 9, 2018

The health ministry of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has reported the outbreak of what it called New Ebola, resulting in the death of no fewer than 17 people so far.

The ministry which gace this report yesterday Tuesday, described the fresh outbreak as a “public health emergency with international impact.”

It said: “twenty-one cases of fever with haemorrhagic indications and 17 deaths” have been recorded in Equateur province, it said, citing a notification to the ministry as of May 3.

“It is the DRC’s ninth known outbreak of Ebola since 1976, when the deadly viral disease was first identified in then-Zaire by a Belgian-led team.

“In Geneva, the World Health Organization (WHO) said lab tests in the DRC confirmed the presence of Ebola virus in two out of five samples collected from patients.

“WHO is working closely with the government of the DRC to rapidly scale up its operations and mobilize health partners, using the model of a successful response to a similar… outbreak in 2017,” it said in a statement.

It said it had released $1 million (840,000 euros) from an emergency contingency fund, set up a coordination group and deployed more than 50 experts to work with the DRC government and health agencies.

“The action plan prepared by the health ministry has been approved,” an official statement released after a cabinet meeting said.
“Since the notification of the cases on May 3, no deaths have been reported,” it said, without specifying when the first case came to light. The outbreak occurred in Bikoro, on the shores of Lake Tumba.

All the cases were reported from a clinic at Ilkoko Iponge, located about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from Bikoro, where treatment capacities are limited, the WHO said.

A team of experts from the WHO, Doctors without Borders (DRC) and Equateur province travelled to Bikoro on Tuesday to beef up coordination and carry out investigations, it said.

Ebola is one of the world’s most notorious diseases, being both highly infectious and extremely lethal.

It is caused by a virus that has a natural reservoir in the bat, which does not itself fall ill, but can pass the microbe on to humans who hunt it for “bushmeat”.

The virus is handed on by contact with bodily fluids — touching a sick or dead person is a well-known source of infection.

Following an incubation period of between two and 21 days, Ebola develops into a high fever, weakness, intense muscle and joint pain, headaches and a sore throat.

That is often followed by vomiting and diarrhoea, skin eruptions, kidney and liver failure, and internal and external bleeding.

The worst-ever Ebola outbreak started in December 2013 in southern Guinea before spreading to two neighbouring west African countries, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

That outbreak killed more than 11,300 people out of nearly 29,000 registered cases, according to WHO estimates, although the real figure is thought to be significantly higher.

More than 99 percent of victims were in the three West African countries, although cases occurred in other parts of the world, often stirring panic.

There is no current vaccine to prevent Ebola or licensed treatment for it, although a range of experimental drugs are in development. Early care with rehydration may boost the chance of survival.

Given the lack of a pharmaceutical weapon against Ebola, health experts have responded with time-honoured measures of control, prevention and containment.

They use rigorous protocols to protect medical personnel with disposable full-body suits, masks, goggles and gloves and disinfecting sprays.

Source: AFP. [myad]

Ekiti State APC Stakeholders Insist On Direct Primaries

Greenbarge Reporters

May 9, 2018

Stakeholders in the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State have insisted that the only way to ensure transparency in the rescheduled primaries of the party in the State is through direct voting.

The stakeholders, who were drawn from all the Senatorial zones of the state, in a news briefing today, Wednesday, said that direct primaries should be the preferred method for democratic leaning institutions like the APC.

They gave the following reasons for the position they have taken:

The members of the party should have equal rights to express their will as to who should be the flag bearers of their party in the Ekiti Gubernatorial race. Direct primaries achieve this.
Delegate primary has been highly compromised as witnessed last Saturday and doing it again exposes the party to repeating the same mistake only at a grander level.
The NWC itself has shown bias and given that delegate primary is more susceptible to its manipulation especially since it is secret ballot of selected delegates and in selection of officials to administer the same. Direct primaries provide a counter balance to NWC biased influence.
Direct primaries provides an easier and cheaper option since it will be on decentralized basis and it will be Option A4 with no ballot papers printed, just result sheets and minimal security.
Candidates will be able to canvass more widely and less likely to have opportunities for circumventing the democratic process either with bribes.
The demand of Ekiti is direct primary as evidenced by the way the Aspirants voted at the SW Leader Caucus Meeting. Any other plan implemented will be unsafe and dangerous even for our party officials. We must be cautious. The situation is tense in Ekiti today and no security guarantees can be provided to any position that counters the position of our elders and the candidates that met them.

The stakeholders therefore appealed to the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) to do the right thing and tow the path of honour and respect Ekiti for the collective benefit of our party, saying that they cannot love Ekiti better than Ekitians and their regional leaders.

“We plead for the voice of reason. We enjoin that our President and voices of our National Leader must be respected and not embarrassed. Let us make Ekiti State APC stronger not weaker.”

They made it clear that Ekiti Progressives in the APC are one, and are united in ensuring the basic tenets of Democracy are upheld in the party despite the embarrassing and terrible situation that was witnessed at the attempted delegate primary held last Saturday in Ado Ekiti.

“We note with dismay the irregularities that preceded that exercise including shoddy arrangements by the organizing committee, lack of clear guidelines by the primary committee, the conflict of interest of its members, use of levers of violence and security agencies at the primary grounds and violation of secret ballot rules including evidence of primary delegates compromised by bribes, threats and intimidation.

“We also note with dismay the incoherent response of the NWC of the party, which seem to be acting at cross purposes with the state executives who had their offices invaded by thugs as well as statements issued seemingly in coordination with one particular candidate to the detriment of others. We also note that one or two NWC members have since claimed no meetings to discuss Ekiti Post Primary has been held which further puts to test the claim of NWC’s impartiality and ability to constitute an even handed primary committee now and in the Future.

“It is for this reason we commend the intervention of the Southwest Nigeria leaders on the instruction of Mr. President on the brewing crisis in Ekiti.

“We note the democratic fashion of SW Leaders’ intervention and the vote of Aspirants taken which allowed all in attendance to weigh in on the three options available: direct primaries, indirect primaries and consensus. Indeed, it was not surprising that direct primaries were selected as the preferred method by 17 of 24 Aspirants in attendance.”

Those who signed the statement are Chief Segun Ajibulu from Ekiti North Senatorial District, Chief Odetola (Odelodu) from Ekiti North Senatorial, Chief Olu Oyewole Akewi from Ekiti North Senatorial, Ambassador M. Onipede from Ekiti South Senatorial District, Hon Femi Adeleye from Ekiti North Senatorial District, Engineer Bode Adetunji from Ekiti Central District, Chief Tope Omoshilade from Ekiti Central Senatorial District, Pastor Egbeyemi from Ekiti Central Senatorial District, Hon Funmilola Adeyemo from Ekiti Central Senatorial District and Chief (Mrs) Kehinde Olokeshusi from South Senatorial District. [myad]

Femi Adesina Says Those Promoting Hatred Against Buhari Have Swallowed Poison

Greenbarge Reporters

May 9, 2018

Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on media and publicity, Femi Adesina, has cursed those who have been spreading hatred against the President, saying that they have swallowed poison, and expecting another person to die.

Reacting to what he called a new dimension in the orchestrated plot to diminish the stature of President Buhari before millions of Nigerians who love and adore him; Femi Adesina said that those haters will soon realize the folly of their actions, to their own grief.

According to him, bitter emotions stunt the soul and defile the mind, recalling what he described as a pernicious twisting and misinterpretation of the words of the President by mischievous elements aimed at earning him opprobrium and infamy.

“When they see that the gambit is not achieving the desired results, they have now gone into utter fabrication of apocryphal statements, which they purvey through the social media.

“An example is a fictive portion of the February 2015 lecture by the then Candidate Buhari at Chatham House, London. This is what is circulating now on social media:

“What is the difference between me and those who elected us to represent them, absolutely nothing. Why should Nigerian President not fly with other Nigerian public? Why do I need to embark on a foreign trip as a President with a huge crowd with public funds? Why do I need to go for a medical trip abroad if we cannot make our hospital (sic) functional? Why do we need to send our children to school abroad if we cannot developed (sic) our university (sic) to compete with the foreign ones?”

Femi Adesina said that the good thing is that the Chatham House lecture of 2015 is in the public domain with the full text published by many Nigerian newspapers, and is still available in their libraries and various websites.

He said that the concoction by haters and agents of disunity is not part of the text of the lecture at all, saying that the morbid minds that created the falsehood simply want to de-market and demean the President, having seen that defeating him in a free and fair electoral contest is a tall order.

“Therefore, they desire to instigate the electorate against him by creating statements that never existed, and attributing such to him.

“We are, however, glad that millions of Nigerians, young and old, are smart enough to see through the machinations. The dubious people will not succeed, as President Buhari’s reputation has been built over time, and sustained for decades. That is why he is widely acclaimed for integrity, transparency, honour, and accountability, both home and abroad. Negative minds can never erode or corrode this.

“Decent Nigerians are urged to be wary of the fare they consume hook, line and sinker, particularly on social media. President Buhari is actuated by nothing else than love for motherland. He is poised to build a country which all Nigerians can proudly call their own. Noxious minds can still have a change of heart.” [myad]

PDP Will No Longer ‘Give’ Tickets To Aspirants From Offices – Secondus Warns

Greenbarge Reporters

May 9, 2018

The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Uche Secondus has made it clear to aspirants to elective positions at all levels on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that the party will no longer give tickets to aspirants from its offices across the country.

“I advise aspirants in the party who desire to fly the flag of the party at any level to return to the grassroots and market themselves because in a rebranded PDP, ticket is not given in party offices but by the people at the field.”

Secondus, who commented on the successful conduct of hitch free and transparent gubernatorial primaries in Ekiti state on Tuesday, in a statement today, Wednesday by his spokesman, Ike Abonyi said that the success was due tof the party rebranding and repositioning project.

According to him, the real winner from the exercise is democracy and not any individual as the PDP family in Ekiti would be healthier from the primary even as he congratulated Governor Ayodele Fayose and other leaders and members of PDP in Ekiti state for conducting themselves well.

He charged them to note the pre- primary understanding that there will be no winner or loser but contestants all.

The National Chairman also commended all those whose made huge sacrifice that helped to make the primary a success particularly Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State and his team who conducted the primary

Prince Secondus assured members and supporters of the party that his campaign promises that the era of impunity and imposition of candidates in the party is gone remains and Ekiti is the first test case for us.

Secondus asked PDP members in Ekiti state to remain vigilant and not relent until the final success is achieved in July. [myad]

South West APC Leaders Intervene In Botched Ekiti Primary Election

Greenbarge Reporters

May 9, 2018

Leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the South West, including Chief Bisi Akande, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Aremo Olusegun Osoba, Otunba Niyi Adebayo and Chief Pius Akinyelure have risen to save the party from embarrassing arising from the botched primary election in Ekiti last week Saturday.

The leaders, who held a crucial meeting in Abuja today, Wednesday, with all the 33 governorship aspirants that participated in the primary resolved to appeal to all the delegates in Ekiti State to ensure full and active participation at the primary election scheduled for Friday, May 11.

They encouraged delegates to vote according to their conscience and ensure that the process is not monetized in the overall interest of the party, the growth of democracy and consistent with the progressive tradition which the people of the State are noted for.

They also appealed to the aspirants to shun all manners of sharp practices and avoid any resort to violence during the rescheduled primaries.

“Among other issues, the question of how to conduct a free, credible and transparent primary election was discussed at the meeting. All the Aspirants were agreeable to the intervention and admonition of the leaders that they maintain the peace throughout the process. The Aspirants encouraged the leaders to further discuss with the National Chairman of the party, His Excellency, Chief John Odigie Oyegun, on the way forward.

“Specifically, the leaders were mandated to discuss with the National Chairman of the party on the possibility of an option of Direct Primaries for the conduct of the rescheduled primaries, as provided for in Article 20 of our party’s constitution to enable every card-carrying member of the party vote for an aspirant of his or her choice.

“As opposed to the Delegates System, the Aspirants believe Direct Primary election is more transparent, less monetised and energises the democratic system through the participation and involvement of the generality of the party members.

“After a subsequent meeting of the leaders with the National Chairman of the party, with the Ekiti State Chairman of the party, Chief Jide Awe, and two representatives of the Aspirants, Engr. Segun Oni and Hon. Opeyemi Bamidele, in attendance, it was decided that given the extent of planning and logistics involved and the closeness of the deadline for the conduct of primaries by all political parties in Ekiti State as well as submission of names of candidates to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), it would be better to go by the decision of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party to conduct a fresh Indirect Primary Election in Ekiti State on Friday, 11^th May, 2018, the leaders having been assured by both the National Chairman of the party as well as His Excellency, Governor Tanko Al-Makura that the rejuvenated Primary Election Committee would put new and extra measures in place to ensure a restoration of the integrity of the electoral process aimed at producing a credible Candidate with the highest number of votes.

In view of this, the entire leadership of the party from the South West geo-political region hereby Thank you.” [myad]

Khalifa Isyaku Rabiu Was A Honest Investor, Rare Islamic Scholar – Buhari

Greenbarge Reporters

May 9, 2018

President Muhammadu Buhari has described a Kano Islamic scholar and billionaire businessman, Alhaji Isyaku Rabiu, who died in London yesterday, Tuesday, after a brief illness as a honest investor and rear scholar in Islam.

“No tribute can do justice to the amazing virtues of Isyaku Rabiu in view of his vast contributions to scholarship, industrial investments and development in the country.”

In a condolence message issued by his senior special assistant on media and publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, President Buhari noted that the late Isyaku Rabiu possessed remarkable qualities of combining scholarship and vast business investments that created job opportunities for hundreds of people.

According to him, late Isyaku Rabiu attained success through honest labour and resourcefulness which helped him to achieve fame in life, saying: “such virtues are not common in the context of today’s realities where many resort to some other means to gain success.”

President Buhari advised the children of the deceased to build on the remarkable legacy of their father, reminding them that the best honour they could do to him is to live by his good examples.

In his tribute too, the former Nigeria Vice President, Atiku Abubakar said that the death of Khalifa Isyaku Rabiu has robbed Northern Nigeria and the nation of one of its greatest and most enterprising investors who rose to prominence by sheer dint of hard work.

According to Atiku: “Isyaku Rabiu’s successes and entrepreneurial spirit had motivated many younger Northern investors like myself who feel that, once you are resourceful, you can achieve success in every endeavour of life.

“Isyaku Rabiu didn’t attain success by mere luck, but used personal initiative to achieve his life’s goals.”

Atiku, who holds traditional title of Waziri Adamawa, noted that success is not for the timid or those who are afraid to take risks to achieve prosperity, even as he explained that Isyaku Rabiu was not only remarkable as a successful industrialist, but was also a great Islamic scholar who was widely respected. [myad]

Oil Prices Jump After Trump Pulled US From Iran Deal

Greenbarge Reporters

May 9, 2018

Oil prices rose more than two per cent today, Wednesday, with Brent hitting a 3-1/2-year high, about 24 hours after the President of the United States of America, Donald Trump announced that he was pulling his country out of a nuclear deal with Iran. Trump had also announced the “highest level” of sanctions against the OPEC member.

Ignoring pleas by allies, Trump on Tuesday pulled the U. S. out of an international nuclear deal with Iran that was agreed in late 2015, raising the risk of conflict in the Middle East and casting uncertainty over global oil supplies amid an already tight market.

Brent crude oil futures at one point touched their highest since November 2014 at 76.75 dollars per barrel. They were still at 76.52 dollars per barrel at 0628 GMT, up 1.67 dollar or 2.2 per cent, from their last close.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 1.43 dollars per barrel, or 2.1 per cent, at 70.49 dollars a barrel, near highs also last seen in late 2014.

In China, the biggest single buyer of Iranian oil, Shanghai crude futures hit their strongest in dollar terms since they were launched in late May, above 73.20 dollars per barrel.

Analysts said the soaring prices were the result of an expected fall in Iranian oil exports.

“Iran’s exports of oil to Asia and Europe will almost certainly decline later this year and into 2019 as some nations seek alternatives in order to avoid trouble with Washington and as sanctions start to bite,” said Sukrit Vijayakar, director of energy consultancy Trifecta.

Iran re-emerged as a major oil exporter in 2016 after international sanctions against it were lifted in return for curbs on its nuclear program, with its April exports standing above 2.6 million barrels per day (bpd).

That made Iran the third biggest exporter of crude within the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), behind Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

Walking away from the deal means that the United States will likely re-impose sanctions against Iran after 180 days, unless some other agreement is reached before then.

ANZ bank said Trump’s decision “puts into place a scenario that could see the crude oil market tighten significantly in H2 2018 and into next year”.

Several refiners in Asia told Reuters they were already seeking alternatives to supplies from Iran.

“There are worries that Iran’s oil exports could fall by about one million barrels per day (bpd) from current levels,” said Tomomichi Akuta, senior economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting in Tokyo.

“The oil supply/demand balance is roughly in balance now, but it could turn to a complete supply shortage (in case of new supply curbs).

“Oil prices could rise at least 10 dollars (a barrel), with Brent approaching near $90,” Akuta said.

All key crude oil futures contracts saw traded volumes jump as speculators took on new positions in the hope of profiting from rising prices, and as refiners hedged to protect themselves from higher feedstock oil prices.

Stephen Innes, head of trading for Asia-Pacific at futures brokerage Oanda in Singapore, said the climb in traded crude futures volumes was so high it was “causing clearing delays”.

Trying to ease market concerns, Saudi Arabia today, Wednesday said that it would work with other producers to lessen the impact of any shortage in oil supplies.

The country has been leading efforts since 2017 to withhold production to prop up prices.

Source: Reuters/NAN. [myad]

Sultan Of Sokoto Worries Over Hateful Political Development In Kaduna

Greenbarge Reporters

May 8, 2018

The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar has expressed worry over what he called hateful development amongst politicians in Kaduna State and called for immediate stop to it. He called on such politicians to focus on promoting democracy in preparation for the 2019 general elections.

The Sultan, who spoke today, Tuesday, in an address to mark the Annual Pre-Ramadan lectures, organized by the Jama’atul Nasirul Islam (JNI) in Kaduna lamented the attitude portrayed by politicians in the State, describing it as worrisome and disturbing.

“The attitude of politicians is becoming worrisome and disturbing; especially what is happening in Kaduna should stop. Kaduna politicians should close their ranks and stop the hate speech because Kaduna is key to the survival of the region.”

Sultan Sa’ad also called for caution on the use of social media among the people, as politicians would do everything to promote religious, tribal, ethnic sentiments. [myad]

1...1,3031,3041,305...2,488 Page 1,304 of 2,488