Wife of the President, Mrs. Aisha Muhammadu Buhari has expressed her appreciation to Nigerian women for the support they have been giving her husband since the last presidential election and assured that she would not forget them in the scheme of things.
She said: “I am deeply appreciative of the support that you show to us at every turn and promise that I will never let you down.”
The President wife, who spoke during a session organized to distribute food items to women organizations in Yola, Adamawa state today, Wednesday, said that such support had been the force driving the President and herself.
Aisha Buhari also thanked the women also for the consistent prayers over her husband’s improved health, saying: “today’s event, which is the distribution of food items, is a symbolic gesture and a token of my appreciation. It is meant to confirm that I have not forgotten you, and never will.”
In her welcome remarks, Wife of the Governor, Mrs. Maryam Muhammad Bindow, thanked Aisha Buhari for all that she has been doing through Future Assured programme, adding that the event is consistent with the policy drive of the present administration at both the Federal and state levels.
“I urge the beneficiaries to reciprocate the gesture by supporting government in its policies and programmes aimed at improving the lives of Nigerians.”
Items distributed include rice, sugar, tomato puree and milk. The beneficiaries are widows, physically challenged, religious groups and cultural groups, women council and market women. [myad]
I was driving to Nasarwa in Nasarawa State to visit my son in the Federal Polytechnic there today, Tuesday, when Elizabeth Archibong posted in the State House Press Corps WhatApps group: “Guys, Chuks has passed…” either I didn’t quite understand the message or I was dodging the implication of the four words: Guys…Chuks…Has…Passed.
What followed immediately were a deluge of lamentations coming from over 100 members in the group. And I didn’t know when I wrote simply: “Whaaaat!”
As a matter of fact, because of the shock that seized my psyche, I parked the car by the road side for a while, reflected briefly on the Chuks that was said have, in diplomatic language, “passed” which simply means dead. Chukwuman Oneokwusi dead?
The Chukwuma that, not quite two months ago, was bubbling with life and was downed only by two deadly diseases: Liver and Kidney…the Chukwuma that was full of life; the man who always brought conviviality to even those who might not want to associate with him? In any case, would anyone in his right sense not want to associate with him?
Was it Chukwuman I personally visited in a private hospital at Garki Village a fortnight ago, who, as usual, hailed my name: “Ozi my men!!! Even when he was sick?…the Chukwuman who said Amen, Amen, Amen to prayers I offered for his quick recovery? Which Chukwuma?
Indeed, when I found that I could no longer drive, I handed over the steering to my son. And throughout the journey to Nasarawa and my return to Abuja, the feeling was noggin at my heart like a bad dream that refused to go away. And lo! The news came that Acting President Yemi Osinbajo and Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki sent condolence messages to Chuks family. Another news came that a five-minute silence in prayer was observed for him when the three Presidential spokesmen: Femi Adesina, Garba Shehu for President Muhammadu Buhari and Laolu Akande for Acting President Yemi Osinbajo met with the state House Correspondents for a different purpose.
So, true, Chukwuman is dead????
In the many years I had practiced Journalism and interacted with people across the country and the world, I found Chuks to be one of the few people, of the Igbo extraction who was proud of his birthplace without being malicious about it. He was an Igbo man who genuinely respected other peoples’ views, ethnic, religious and regional backgrounds.
Besides being a thoroughbred Journalist who took his job with all the seriousness it deserved, Chukwuma was a jolly good fellow who was easily attracted to lively people. So good he could mix with people that he and I became more of a family friend than colleagues on the same beat. He and his wife had cause to pay me and my family me visits on more than two occasions. When I broke the news to my wife that Chukwuman was dead, she virtually rolled on the ground, wailing. Chukwuman was a Christian and I and my family are Muslims, but our relationship transcended all such sentiments.
As a matter of fact, Chukwuma was so free-minded that at times, I would wonder whether he was brought up in Igbo land, because he was not behaving like typical Igbo men who choose friends on the basis of some kind of sentiments (apology).
Late Chukwuma introduced me to one of his friends and brothers to partner with me at the time I wanted to go fully into online publishing. He was always there encouraging me to move on, citing the example of Channels Television where he worked and made name up to his death.
He told me that when John Momoh, a veteran broadcaster, started the Channels TV, he and those who believed in him (including himself) would go for months without a single advert coming to the station. He said that they used news items, most of them irrelevant, to fill the airspace, just so as to remain floating.
Today, he encouraged me; Channels TV would even turn down some adverts because there would usually no airtime to allocate to such adverts. He would encourage me not to lose hope but to continue publishing and that someday, the business would pick up.
And so, how easy was it for such Chukwuma to die? How easy? [myad]
Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has said that Channels Television’s State House Correspondent, Mr. Chukwuma Onuekwusi, who died today, Tuesday in Abuja was a man who combined high professionalism with dedication and patriotism in his diligent reportage of activities in the Presidential Villa.
Professor Osinbajo, who said in a statement by his senior special assistant on media and publicity, Laolu Akande, that he received the news of the death of Chukwuma with great sadness.
The Acting President, who condolence with the family of the deceased, as well as the Channels TV family, also commiserated with the State House Press Corps over the passage of their professional colleague.
He prayed to God to comfort his family and all who mourn this exceptional gentleman.
Also today, the Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, expressed sadness over the death of Chukwuma Onuekwusi.
Saraki in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, described the late Chukwuma Onuekwusi as a hardworking, passionate and conscientious reporter who left nobody in doubt about his professional competence.
He commiserated with the immediate family of the deceased, the management and staff of Channels Television and the State House Correspondents over the loss of the broadcast journalist.
“The news of the demise of Chukwuma Onuekwusi came to me with great shock. He was a thoroughbred broadcast journalist whose reports always leave you wanting more,” Saraki said.
“I believe his death has left a vacuum in the broadcast industry that cannot easily be filled. We can only thank God for his eventful life, contributions to national development and service to humanity. He shall be sorely missed.”
While praying that God should grant the soul of the departed eternal rest, he called on other reporters in broadcast media covering sensitive beats to borrow a leaf from Onuekwusi’s humility, dynamism and dedication to his job. [myad]
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has injected the sum of $186.5 million into the invisible and the whole Wholesale Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS) segments of the forex market.
The sum is made up of $36.5 million in the invisibles, $50m for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) segments and $100 in the wholesale segment. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) also approved the sale of $100 million at the Wholesale Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS) auction announced on Monday, May 23, 2017.
The CBN Acting Director, Corporate Communications, Isaac Okorafor, who spoke to the journalists on the sideline of the MPC briefing, confirmed the sales at both the invisible and wholesale segments were settled today, Tuesday, May 23.
Okorafor reiterated that the CBN will continue to make every necessary intervention in the interbank market to sustain the supply of forex to meet legitimate foreign exchange demands by customers.
He said that the efforts of the CBN in sustaining the intervention in the forex market is beginning to post some positive effects, as the Naira is making steady gain against major currencies.
This goes to reaffirms the CBN Governor’s pledge at the Tuesday Monetary Policy Committee press briefing on the need to sustain the FOREX intervention to ensure the convergence of the forex rates.
There are strong indications, according to market analysts that the Naira is likely to maintain an average exchange rate below N375 to $1 in no distant time. [myad]
Gambian Justice Minister, Justice Abubacarr Tambadou, has revealed how the former President of the country, Yahya Jammeh, stole the country’s $50 million from the state before he left the country in January. Jammeh has been accused of withdrawing the money via a state telecoms company.
Justice Tambadou said that ex President Jammeh had withdrawn $50 million between 2006 and 2016, adding that the discoveries were “just a tip of the iceberg.”
He accused Jammeh of directing the “unlawful withdrawals” from accounts held at The Gambia’s central bank, linked to state-owned Gamtel either “personally or under his instructions.”
Justice Tambadou said a court order had frozen or temporarily held 88 accounts and 14 companies linked in some way to Mr Jammeh – amounting to all the politician’s “known assets” remaining in The Gambia, as the country’s new administration sought to prevent him “liquidating or dissipating” anything further.
A court had ordered all his remaining assets in The Gambia to be frozen.
Jammeh flew into Equatorial Guinea after 22 years in power. He lost an election in December and only agreed to step down after regional powers sent in troops threatening to force him out.
Luxury cars and other items were reportedly loaded on to a Chadian cargo plane as Jammeh left the country.
The amount was initially suggested to be more than $11 million by Interior Minister, Mai Ahmad Fatty then an aide to new President Adam Barrow.
It has also been reported livestock, cars and properties have been seized. Three of his cousins have been arrested after selling his cattle.
Jammeh has been out of contact since he left The Gambia and has not responded to the allegations.
Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State has set 50 prisoners free from Kurmawa Central Prison in Kano as part of activities marking the 50th anniversary of the creation of the state.
The governor, who ordered the release of the inmates during his visit to the prison in Kano today, Monday, said: “the gesture is part of the activities to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Kano as a state created on May 27, 1967.”
Governor Ganduje said that the decision to visit the prison was to show to the inmates that the state government is aware of their existence and that they were also regarded as citizens of the state.
The governor said the beneficiaries of the gesture were selected based on ill health, old age, the gravity of offence and sign of reformation while in prison.
He, however, advised the freed inmates to desist from acts that would warrant bringing them back to prison.
Ganduje said that the state government would assist them with some money to enable them travel back to their communities.
Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Professor Is’haq Oloyede has said that 90 percent of candidates that sat for the Universities Matriculation Examination (UTME) are not qualified.
Professor Oloyede said that majority of the students are still awaiting their O’ level result and that some of them used JAMB to test their abilities.
The Registrar, who spoke today, Monday, at the Education Summit 2017 of the Ogun state government holding in Abeokuta said that some SS two and SS three students also partook in the exams.
According to him, elimination of corruption in the country would make the demand for white collar jobs less attractive even as he lamented that corruption had made the civil servants to get more than their monthly salaries.
He said that the present economic situation cannot sustain the public service workforce, saying:”it is not sustainable, especially when the campaign against corruption is on.
“It is not the 100,000 the Permanent Secretary takes home that make him the Permanent Secretary but the corruption associated with the office.
“As corruption is being eliminated, the truth of the matter is that white collar job will become less attractive and what makes it attractive is because of the money. Therefore let us improve on skills. Skill acquisition should be considered as curriculum not as extra curriculum.”
On the summit, Professor Oloyede said that there is need for Ogun state to setup its own Education Trust Fund, which to him, “will focus on assisting indigent students to fund their education and make their education affordable accordingly.
“There is need for Establishment of Tertiary Admission Monitoring Committee and I know of state like Kwara and such a committee in the Ministry of Education and their duty is to go to where their catchment is and ensure that their catchment quota is filled and they pursue it with vigor and they will tell them it is our right.
“They should also Setup Ethics group to monitor computer based centres. I was ashamed the greatest criminal was caught in Abeokuta to break into DBN JAMB”
The State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun said that his administration is committed to matching its huge investment in the education sector with better learning outcomes.
Amosun disclosed said in the last six years of his administration, education has consistently gotten the lion share of the State budget but expected that stakeholders would partner with government to justify the investment with positive results.
The Governor who noted that the State was fast becoming the education capital of Nigeria with 1,495 Public Primary Schools, 2144 approved Private Nursery and Primary Schools with a combined population of 717,911 students in primary schools as well as 10 State owned tertiary institutions adding that his government have had to deal with huge financial responsibilities in the sector than any State of the federation.
Amosun said that over 52 billion naira has been disbursed as subventions and grants to its 10 tertiary institutions across the State, just as he said that the State was putting up structures and funding materials to make education conducive for students as Human Capital Development of education staff was being addressed.
He said that it is time teachers, parents and other stakeholders in the sector collaborated with government to ensure that school children and graduates of tertiary institutions become useful to themselves and the society. [myad]
David Moyes has resigned as manager of Sunderland, after failing to keep the club in the Premier League this season.
The former Manchester United and Everton coach took over last summer and the club finished bottom of the league, 16 points from safety.
“I pursued the services of David Moyes for a considerable period prior to his appointment last summer, which makes the announcement of his departure difficult for everyone concerned.
“Having worked tirelessly throughout the campaign to avoid relegation from the Premier League, David has chosen to leave the club without compensation, which is testament to his character.
“In the days ahead we will take some time for reflection, and then focus on recruitment and pre-season as we prepare for our Championship campaign. We wish David well in the future,” Sunderland’s chairman, Ellis Short said in a statement today, Monday.
Moyes added: “I would like to thank Ellis Short and the Board for giving me the opportunity to manage Sunderland and the fans for always being so passionately supportive of their club.
“I wish the players and my successor well in their efforts towards promotion back to the Premier League.” [myad]
Benue State has set a stage for sending herdsman who commits an offence that contravene the Anti-Open Grazing and Anti- Kidnapping, Abduction, Cultism and Terrorism to five years imprisonment as the state governor, Samuel Ortom signed the bill into law.
At the signing ceremony today, Monday, in Makurdi, the state capital, Governor Ortom said that the anti-grazing law would put to an end, the incessant clashes between herdsmen and farmers.
On kidnapping, Governor Ortom said: “kidnappers will, henceforth, be sentenced to death upon conviction, while volunteer hostages will be jailed 10 years,” he explained.
The governor lamented the killings and destruction of property in clashes involving farmers and herdsmen over the years, and promised to promote ranching since it had proved to be the best way of rearing livestock globally.
“Now that the bill has been signed into law, the law will take its course on anyone that goes against it,” he said.
He warned that violators would serve a jail term of five years or a fine option of N1 million, or both.
The governor particularly warned farmers and herdsmen against carrying arms, saying that security agents had been directed to arrest and prosecute anyone caught.
Ortom also warned owners of livestock against allowing them to roam the streets, saying that they would pay a heavy fine for each one caught.
“The fines for roaming animals will be heavy; such animal will be auctioned if the owner failed to pay the fine within seven days,” he said.
Ortom said that the law would descend heavily on cattle rustling and destruction of crops by cattle, and warned those concerned against daring the state government.
On the anti-kidnapping, abduction and cultism bill, the governor said that it would rid the state of criminality.
The governor disclosed that cultists would be jailed 10 years without any option of fine, on conviction.
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