The Emir of Zazzau Suleja, Malam Muhammad Awwal Ibrahim has, in a letter dated April 20, 2018, confirmed the nomination of the Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, Aminu Aliyu Bisalla, as the new Dallatun Zazzau Suleja. The appointment letter was signed by Aliyu N. Saidu on behalf of the Suleja Emirate Council. Until his recent appointment, Aminu Aliyu Bisalla, a prince of the Zazzau Suleja emirate, was the Sarkin Bai Zazzau. Born on July 23, 1959, in Suleja, Suleja Local Government of Niger State, Aminu Aliyu Bisalla, attended Anguwar Gayan Primary School in Suleja from 1965 to 1971, Government Secondary School Zungeru from 1972 to 1976, Zungeru College of Advanced Studies from 1977 to 1978, University of Sokoto from 1979 to 1983 and Bayero University, Kano, from 1996 to 1998. After his National Youth Service Corps in 1984, he was retained and employed by the Niger State College of Education as a lecturer/head of Business Education Department from where he left in 1988 to join the banking sector. He served with Savannah Bank, Commerce and United Bank for Africa. The professionalization of the Civil Service in 1999 brought in Aminu Aliyu Bisalla along with others as Chief Accountant in the pool of the Accountant-General of the Federation in the year 2000. He was appointed Executive Director of Finance and Account with Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (NEMA) between 2006 and 2009, and also served as Director of Administration and Finance at the National Bio-technology Development Agency and the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria. He was appointed Permanent Secretary in September 2014 and deployed to the Police Service Commission. At the inception of the current administration, Aminu Aliyu Bisalla was among the Permanent Secretaries retained and was redeployed to the Federal Ministry of Industry Trade and Investment and later Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs. [myad]
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has concluded that the world has come to the end time with the devil becoming more desperate and devious.
He said: “We are in the end times. Indeed the time of his return is closer than when we first believed. As we work and recognise that we must work to meet with this commission, we must accept that there will be resistance, the devil is even more desperate and devious as the end comes nearer.”
Professor Osinbajo who spoke today, Tuesday at the inauguration of the Deeper Life Bible Church Headquarters building in Bagada, Lagos State, noted that the immediate implication of the end time is that there must be urgency in the fulfillment of the great commission.
“We must work harder to obey the command and commission in Matthew 28:19-20 – “to go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded.”
The Vice President asked: “what are some of the resistance we see?
“First, there is a resistance to the building of churches, there are specific cases of places where specific allegations have been made of valid applications to build churches have been refused.
“The President has mandated that I take up those cases with the specific State and local authorities, the right to freedom of worship is also the right to build places of worship.
“Second is the physical persecution of Christians; a phenomenon we have seen for years. Just this morning on my way here, I was notified the violation of a catholic church in Benue State by armed killers who went in while a burial mass was taking place and they killed a priest and some worshippers.
“It is not only a heinous sacrilege, but high wickedness to kill persons in a place of worship. As I discussed these issues with the President and other ministers in the Security Council, it is evident to me and to many, that the devil’s bigger agenda is to stoke up a religious conflict in Nigeria, one that will make it impossible for anyone to preach the gospel or even for Muslims to worship in their mosques. A few days ago in Bama, a mosque was bombed and many died. Many such examples abound.
“While the security agencies continue to work relentlessly to hunt down the perpetrators of these evil acts and to bring a permanent end to all of the killings going on in the name of herdsmen, Boko Haram, or in any other name, we as a body of Christ must not lose focus.
“The enemy wants us to stand on our pulpits and preach hate, we will not. We will obey the Lord Jesus Christ who said that we must love our enemies and pray even for those who persecute us. No person born or yet to be born, can stop the march of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Indeed as the Word of God says, this Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
“In any event, we are assured by the Lord Himself that He is building His church and gates of hell shall never prevail against it.
“In this we are supremely confident. For those of us Christians in government are sometimes referred to as Esthers. We are told that we are in office for a time such as this. What is often forgotten, is that when Mordecai told Esther that she was in the palace for such a time, she said to him in Esther 4:16 “Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!” This I say to the church as well. It is the duty of the church, as we ask that the church prays for those in government, that the church upholds the hands of those in government, not by complaining but by supporting us in the place of prayer. I ask that you pray for every one of us in the place of authority in this land.” [myad]
The Nigerian police has given a graphic description of how Senator Dino Melaye, representing Kogi State West Senatorial Area, tried to escape from the lawful custody with the help of some hoodlums riding in two Toyota Hilux vehicles.
An official statement by the Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Jimoh Moshood today, Tuesday, said that Melaye was being taken for arraignment in Federal High Court, Lokoja from Abuja,when hoodlums and miscreants in two Toyota Hilux vehicles blocked the Police vehicle conveying him around Area 1 round about in Abuja.
The statement said that in the process, the Senator jumped out of the Police vehicle through the window and was rescued from the Police men by hoodlums and miscreants to an unknown destination.
“The Police team re-enforced and trailed Senator Dino Melaye to Zankli Hospital, Abuja where he was re-arrested. The Senator would be arraigned in court without further delay.
“Meanwhile, one of the Toyota Hilux vehicles used by the hoodlums and miscreants in aiding the escape of the Senator has been recovered by the Police investigation team.”
The statement said that the Inspector General of Police (IGP) has already directed a thorough investigation into the circumstances leading to the rescue and escape of Senator Dino Melaye from lawful custody. [myad]
Former Governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole is believed to have to be battling the incumbent national chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), John Odigie-Oyegun for thr position at the national convention of the party scheduled for May 14 in the nation’s Federal Capital Territory.
Information reaching us indicates that already, South South zonal chapter of APC where the two combatants come from has been divided.
It was learn that Oyegun is still the stronger contender in the zone, with four out of the six state chairmen of the party from the zone having thrown their support behind him. They are chairmen of the Rivers Stat, Bayelsa State, Cross River State and Akwa Ibom State as well as the APC Deputy National Secretary.
It was gathered that move by the present governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki and the zonal Vice Chairman of the party to rally support for Oshiomhole as the South South zone’s candidate for the party’s national chairmanship was resisted by members of the zonal caucus at a meeting held at the Edo State Government House.
They insisted that the APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun should be given a right of first refusal to seek re-election for the position.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has stepped into the inter-bank sector of the Foreign Exchange market, intervening in the wholesale segment and other sectors of the market to the tune of $210 million.
Figures by the apex bank showed that the Wholesale sector of the market got another injection of $100 million, even as the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and invisibles sectors each received $55 million.
The Acting Director of the Corporate Communications Department of the CBN, Isaac Okorafor, confirmed the figures and said that today, Tuesday’s interventions, were in line with the Bank’s commitment to sustain the high level of stability in the Forex market and continually ease access to the currency by those requiring it for genuine activities.
Okorafor, who commended the role of every player in the market, said that the CBN is ready to inject funds into the market, whenever and wherever necessary, in order to maintain market stability as well as sustain the financial system.
He said that the financial regulator is further buoyed by recent gains in the foreign exchange sector, which had seen the country’s reserves soar closer to the $50 billion mark.
Okorafor said that the country’s reserves continued to enjoy accretion, adding that the present reserves status at the Bank meant that the CBN is capable of sustaining foreign exchange liquidity in the system.
Tuesday’s intervention came as one US Dollar exchanged for N361 in the Bureau De Change (BDC) segment of the market.
It will be recalled that the CBN in its last Friday’s interventions, injected the sum of $396.18 million into the Retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS).
Dangote Group has not only brought to a successful end, importation of cement into Nigeria but has also exported a total of 211 kilotons of cement to three African countries: Ghana, Togo and Niger in the first quarter of this year. to Ghana, Togo and Niger.
The company’s volume in the Nigeria also increased significantly by 5.3 per cent to nearly four million tons for the period under review.
These were contained in the Dangote Cement’s first quarter audited results for the three months ended 31st March 2018 which was presented on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
It showed that Dangote cement’s gross revenue increased by 16 percent, from N208.12 billion in the corresponding period of 2017 to N242.1 billion.
The company’s gross profit for the period rose from N120.36 billion to N144.76 billion indicating an increase of 20.30 percent. While Profit before tax rose by 40.2 percent, from N77.32 billion to N108.04 billion, Profit after tax for the period went up by 29 percent, from N55.8 billion to N72.12 billion.
A breakdown of the results indicated that the total volume of cement sales by the Group went up by 2.8 percent to 6.2 million tonnes with Nigerian volumes up by 5.3 percent to nearly 4.0 million tonnes.
In the reviewed period, Engineer Joe Makoju was appointed Group Chief Executive Officer While Cherie Blair and Mick Davis also joined the Board as Independent Non-Executive Directors.
Group Chief Executive Officer, Joe Makoju speaking on the results said: “The first quarter of 2018 has started strongly with substantial increases in revenues and profitability that drove excellent cash generation across the Group. Despite a slightly slower start to the quarter, Nigerian volumes increased significantly in March and underpin our confidence that 2018 will be a good year for the Group. Across our Pan-African operations, higher revenue per tons boosted revenues and increased EBITDA margins, with great potential to improve further when Tanzania switches to gas.”
Chairman, Dangote Cement, Aliko Dangote said: “I am delighted to welcome Cherie and Mick to the Board of Dangote Cement. They bring diverse and valuable experience of emerging-market business, sustainability and governance to our Board.
Expatiating further on the capacity of the company, Makoju said “Dangote Cement is Africa’s leading cement producer with nearly 46Mta capacity across Africa. A fully integrated quarry-to-customer producer. The company has a production capacity of 29.25Mta in its home market, Nigeria. Our Obajana plant in Kogi state, Nigeria, is the largest in Africa with 13.25Mta of capacity across four lines; our Ibese plant in Ogun State has four cement lines with a combined installed capacity of 12Mta and our Gboko plant in Benue state has 4Mta. Through our recent investments, Dangote Cement has eliminated Nigeria’s dependence on imported cement and has transformed the nation into an exporter of cement serving neighbouring countries.
In addition, we have operations in Cameroon (1.5Mta clinker grinding), Congo (1.5Mta), Ghana (1.5Mta import), Ethiopia (2.5Mta), Senegal (1.5Mta), Sierra Leone (0.5Mta import), South Africa (2.8Mta), Tanzania (3.0Mta), Zambia (1.5Mta).“
Facebook has announced that it has found and removed 1.9 million social-media posts by the Islamic State and al Qaeda terrorists during the first three months of 2018, using new anti-terror algorithms.
“In first quarter, we took action on 1.9 million pieces of ISIS (Islamic State terror group, outlawed in Russia) and al-Qaeda content, about twice as much from the previous quarter,” facebook said.
“Taking action means that we removed the vast majority of this content, and added a warning to a small portion that was shared for informational or counter speech purposes.
”Detection technology has been critical to progress detecting terrorist posts, with the Facebook counterterrorism team growing from 150 last June to 200 at present, with plans to continue expanding the team, the release explained.
“In Q1 2018, 99 percent of the ISIS and al-Qaeda content we took action on was not user reported,” facebook said.
“We found this material due to advances in our technology, but this also includes detection by our internal reviewers.”The median time for newly uploaded terrorist content to be flagged was less than one minute, Facebook noted.
However, because content receives less attention the longer it remains on line, the Facebook team also went back and reviewed older posts, accounting for 600,000 removals in the January-March quarter.
President Muhammadu Buhari has described as vile, evil and satanic the killing of worshippers and two priests at a Catholic church in Ukpor-Mbalom community in Gwer East Local Government Area of Benue State.
“This latest assault on innocent persons is particularly despicable. Violating a place of worship, killing priests and worshippers is not only vile, evil and satanic, it is clearly calculated to stoke up religious conflict and plunge our communities into endless bloodletting.”
The President, in a statement by his spokesman, Femi Adesina made it clear that the country will not bow to the machinations of evildoers.
He extended his condolences to the government and people of Benue State, the Mbalom community, and the Bishop, priests and members of the St Ignatius’ Catholic Church, whose premises was the unfortunate venue of the heinous killings by gunmen.
President Buhari vowed that the assailants would be hunted down and made to pay for the sacrilege committed.
Pupils of the Local Education Authority (LEA) of the Government Primary School, Life Camp, in Abuja, today, Tuesday, took Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to task, asking him questions on many issues, some of which are personal.
Professor Osinbajo was in the school to witness an event marking the 2018 International Book and Copyright day on Monday.
After the Vice President had finished reading excerpts from a short biography of Nigeria’s first President, the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe to the pupils, they began to fire the questions thus:
Q: Sir, you are a very busy man. How do you create time for your wife and children?
Vice President: Let me say first that my children are quite grown up. I have two children who are already out of the university and are working. One of them just got married about a month ago, the other is already working; so they are very busy themselves. My last son is still in school. So as much as possible, whenever they are home, I try and find time about two hours just to talk to them and when they are home, we pray in the morning. After prayer we get a chance also to talk to each other. Also, my wife is around, so I spend quite a bit of time with her anyway because we both live in Abuja. We live in Aguda House, where we see each other practically all the time.
But I must say that it’s very difficult because I travel a lot to different parts of the country, and so I’m not usually home, I’m not usually in Abuja. That’s one of the reasons why there are tenures for the President or Vice President; four years, eight years maximum. So you can’t do this kind of work for the rest of your life because it’s very difficult.
Q: How did you become Vice President?
Vice President: Let me quickly take you through the process. My party, which is the All Progressives Congress, the APC, nominated the president, President Muhammadu Buhari, as the presidential candidate in 2014, and the President, in consultation with the party, then decided to appoint me as running mate. So I was appointed as the running mate. Now the running mate means if the party wins, I become the vice president. Before then I was teaching law at the University of Lagos and practicing law in the courts all over Nigeria. So I was a lawyer and a law teacher before I was appointed as the running mate to President Buhari. On March 28th, the election was held and on the 31st, the result of the election was announced. We won the election. That’s how I became the Vice President.
Q: What is the role of government?
Vice President: Government’s role, and in some cases also, the private sector, is to provide the necessary amenities. Let me give you another example of that. A school such as this is a government school, so it means the government has provided an amenity in this locality. Also, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), which is the arm of government, provides schools, hospitals from taxpayers’ money. So your parents, other people who are working or who are in business, pay taxes. Aside from taxes, Government also get revenue from natural resources that we sell. So from taxes, from proceeds of oil, other things that are sold from exports and for the business that is done, government provides some money and that money is used to build hospital, roads and so on.
But we also get the private sector, private people, and individuals, to provide amenities. So you have some private schools and private hospitals. We encourage private people also to provide amenities because government can’t provide everything. Government simply doesn’t have enough money to provide all the amenities that we need.
Q: What are your duties as the Vice President of Nigeria?
Vice President: As the Vice President of Nigeria, I assist the President of Nigeria in carrying out his responsibilities, and those responsibilities are very big indeed. The President has responsibility to about 200 million Nigerians and all Nigerians expect him to provide leadership, in some cases amenities. They expect him to be a firm leader, and because we are so many and we are in different places, it’s a very major responsibility. So I assist him in carrying out those responsibilities. I’m here, for example, talking to you, children in LEA School, as part of my responsibilities of encouraging and working with young people to make that young people aspire to achieve great things, so that they also get the chance to be good Nigerians, to be as active and contribute to the country. So that is what I do as Vice President.
Q: Sir, tell us a bit about your childhood days.
Vice President: When I was small, sometimes I was naughty when I was in school and my mom will spank me. And sometimes when I’m very, very good, she will buy me biscuits and sweets and tell me how very, very good I’ve been. So if you are naughty in school you might get spanked.
When I was very little and I was in school, we reported bullies to the teachers. We made sure that we reported them t and the teachers would punish them for bullying. We also ensured that we told our parents too because bullying is a very bad thing; it is unfair, it is unjust and no should be treated unjustly.
Q: What does Government do to help the poor?
Vice President: There are things we do to help the poor. One of the ways by which we help the poor, is that we give them one million of the poorest people in Nigeria N5,000 a month. So far we’ve done about 300,000 of such. Along with the World Bank, which is our partner in this project; we identify the poorest households and we give them N5,000 a month. Now there are many poor people, so we can’t do enough because even with one million, and we want to increase that number.
The other thing we do we also is to give micro credit loans, which is a small loan to small traders so that they can expand their businesses, pay their children school fees and do more for themselves and for their children. So we try to work hard and provide for the poor. But government alone cannot do it because government does not have all of the money. So we also encourage the private sector to contribute; the big companies also contribute to what we are doing; they also give some money towards helping the poor. Government try to put all that money and help as many as it can so that people are empowered and can fend for themselves to take care of their families.
Professor Osinbajo then advised them to shun corruption which has killed the economy of the country.
He said, “Corruption is stealing the money that belongs to all of us; that belong to young children and adults. This is the money that was supposed to use to build roads, to build school, to build hospital, to build airports and if some people steal that money, we should arrest them and put on trial, send them to jail so that everybody else will learn a lesson.
“Nigerian glory, first of all, is that we are very, very brilliant people, so we have brilliant doctors, brilliant engineers, pilots and also very brilliant sports men and entertainers, and so many very brilliant people. So one of the way that our country get one of her lost story how have you work, so if you make sure that you as a Nigerian child do your best in school and become something great then we will truly gain our lost story. So every one of us have a duty to make sure that we work hard, do the best we can, honesty and forthrightly and our country will be truly great.”
National chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun has said that the date for the national convention of the party was fixed to May 14 because of the Muslim Fasting that is likely to begin within that week.
The chairman, who spoke while inaugurating the 68-member Convention Committee in Abuja yesterday, reminded members of the committee that they were undertaking what he called a “tough and heavy task,” even as he advised them to produce a free, fair and credible convention.
“I have no doubt that this one, given the controversies that have preceded it will also be a most watched convention. So, you have the task of producing a convention that is free, fair and provide a level playing field for anybody who wants to aspire to any position.
“At the end of this exercise, I want to see a reunited APC under whatever leadership your exercise brings up. We have a tough election ahead of us and we must prime ourselves for that election.”
The Chairman of the National Convention Committee, Governor Mohammed Badaru Abubakar of Jigawa State, reiterated the resolution of the last National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting that the current zoning arrangements for party positions be retained.
He said that the details on the list of delegates for the National Convention would be provided after the congresses scheduled to commence on May 2, 2018.
On whether the committee would give any room for consensus and affirmation apart from casting of ballots, Governor Badaru said, “It depends on the situation. Our constitution allows consensus. You are all aware. If there is consensus, we will do it. But we will still cast votes to affirm the consensus that we have done.”
Governor Badaru said that the committee would not fail the party. “We will do all it takes to come out stronger and united out of that convention” he said.
“God is with us and God will continue to support us because of our clear vision, our good heart and our love for the people of Nigeria. We all know that our leader has no business in running this government except for the care of our people.
“Most of us you see in APC are in the party today to serve our people. Our mission in APC is to rescue the country from near collapse we saw around 2014 and 2015.
“With that heart and with mind, we believe that God will support us, help us to come out stronger and re-dedicate ourselves to the service of humanity and our people. Mr Chairman, be rest assured that with the people you see here you can go and sleep. I am very sure that we will come out stronger, united and there will be transparency and accountability.
The inauguration was attended by key stakeholders in the APC, including governors Jibrilla Bindow (Adamawa), Ibrahim Gaidam (Yobe), Simon Lalong (Plateau), Rochas Okorocha (Imo), former governors Danjuma Goje (Gombe), Sani Yerima (Zamfara), Sen. Ken Nnamani, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje; Mrs. Paulin Tallen, and Sen. Ovie Omo-Agege among others.
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Dangote Group has not only brought to a successful end, importation of cement into Nigeria but has also exported a total of 211 kilotons of cement to three African countries: Ghana, Togo and Niger in the first quarter of this year. to Ghana, Togo and Niger.
Facebook has announced that it has found and removed 1.9 million social-media posts by the Islamic State and al Qaeda terrorists during the first three months of 2018, using new anti-terror algorithms.
National chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun has said that the date for the national convention of the party was fixed to 