Men Now Entitle To Pertanity Leave In Lagos, Women Go For 6 Months

July 17, 2014

All male civil servants in the Lagos state civil service are now to go for a 10-day paternity leave, while female workers will get an extended maternity leave of six months.
This was announced today at a press conference held by the state Head of Service,
Josephine Williams.
She said that the new leave regime is meant to reduce the negative implication of the extensive work life of parents, who are civil servants in the state.
“A female officer shall be entitled to twenty-four weeks maternity leave with full pay in case of her first two deliveries. The said leave shall commence, at least two weeks before the expected delivery date; a male officer, to who a new baby (or babies in case of multiple births) is born shall be entitled to 10 working days.” she said.
Williams also stated that the subsequent deliveries by any employees would attract only 12 weeks maternity leave for the female officer, while the male officer would not be entitled to the 10-day leave. [myad]

General Buhari Describes Spate Of Impeachments As Executive Criminality, Rascality

Greenbarge Reporters

July 17, 2014

Nigeria’s former military Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), has described the current spate of impeachment of governors of the opposition political party as executive criminality and rascality.
General Buhari who openly held the government of President Goodluck Jonathan responsible for the impeachments of the opposition governors across the country.
Buhari reacted to the impeachment of Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State and the impending impeachment of Governor Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa State (Both APC Governors). There are also strong rumours also that Edo Governor, Adams Oshiomhole and his Rivers State counterpart, Rotimi Amaechi, both of the APC, would be impeached.
The former Head of State and national leader of the APC described the action of the ruling party as impunity and political rascality. He warned that Nigerians had defeated impunity before and they would do so again.
“What we are witnessing today, impunity and political rascality as demonstrated by the selective targeting and persecution of opposition politicians, is an attempt to subdue the will of Nigerians who have made clear their commitment to free their country from the grip of an incompetent leadership that is bent on severing the ties of nationhood and ruining whatever progress we have made as a country.
“These actions portray a government that has run out of ideas, resorting to arbitrariness and executive criminality in order to silence dissent. Nigeria has been through this road before. This is a replay of the selective persecution using instruments of federal might in an attempt by previous regimes to perpetuate themselves in power.”
Buhari further stated that such regimes “are now history, subdued by the collective struggle of the Nigerian masses. It is only a matter of time before this administration joins its predecessors in the garbage bin of history.
“Nigerians have defeated impunity before, and they have not relented in their determination to stamp it out in the future. The primary role of government is to fulfill its constitutional obligations to the citizenry and not go on a witch-hunting spree against the opposition and whoever dares to expose its lies and deceptions.” [myad]

Unending War Against Malaria, Killer Of 700,000 Per Annum

Greenbarge Reporters

July 17, 2014

In every minute of every day of every year, nearly two children die of malaria—that equates to more than 700,000 souls per year. Malaria is endemic in more than 90 countries, with more than 45% of the world’s population, or 3.4 billion people, at risk for malaria with 10% of the world’s population, or nearly a billion people, getting sick each year with the disease.
Most of those 700,000+ fatalities are children below the age of five and most (90%) live in sub-Saharan Africa. Up to 23% of African infants are actually born with the malaria parasite.
Malaria was eliminated from the U.S. in the early 1950s. Less than 2,000 cases are still reported in the U.S. each year that result in about five deaths. Almost all of these cases occur in recent travelers to high susceptibility regions.
There has been no lack of effort or resources put against this disease. Hundreds of millions of dollars are invested each year for pesticide-coated mosquito netting, mosquito pesticide treatments, drugs, sanitation systems, medical care and training. The Plasmodium parasite responsible for the disease has been one of the most heavily researched parasites for more than 100 years. These efforts have had significant effects, reducing the global mortality rates by 42% since 2000—mortality rates among children have been reduced by 54% during that time. But the continuing large size of the problem puts a large strain on the economies of the affected countries and their ability to fund counter measures. Low-income families in Africa can spend a third of their limited incomes just on malaria treatments, which then also reduces the country’s overall economic growth—a vicious cycle.
Malarial patients also fall prey to the increasing drug resistance effects that are being seen in antibiotic treatments for other maladies around the world. Drug resistance is common against all classes of malarial drugs except for artemisinin at this time, and resistance to artemisinin is starting to be seen as well in some Asian countries. Researchers can see the effects of drug resistance in drug cocktails and chemoprevention treatments after just three months. No vaccine has yet been developed for malaria.
Adults can develop a partial immunity to malaria after years of exposure that, as a minimum, reduces the risk of getting a severe infection. This implies that there are some antibodies that develop in the human body and hence the possibility of developing a vaccine. There are numerous variables in these situations, but the potential is there waiting for someone to discover it.
A global eradication program for malaria was started in the 1950s but failed due to the increasing resistance of the anopheles mosquito (that transmits the Plasmodium parasite) to insecticides and increasing resistance of the parasites to drug treatments, along with numerous administrative issues.
Added to these concerns, global warming is expected to exacerbate the malarial problem by lengthening the growth period for mosquitoes in many countries and expanding the affected regional areas.
While researchers continue to make gains against malaria and its effects with new approaches, including genetically engineered bacteria (at the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute), these new challenges limit their overall effectiveness. HIV/AIDS continues to be one of the leading causes of death in the world (roughly twice that of malaria) because of its constantly mutating capabilities and the difficulty in developing a drug that addresses that rapid mutation. Malaria follows a similar path in that once a drug or preventative is created, a resistance to it evolves for either the mosquito host or the parasite.
The overall increasing drug resistance effects for all types of antibiotics has created large financial incentives for drug manufacturers to research and develop new antibiotic compounds. Perhaps work in these areas will also benefit the drug approaches for combating malaria. But as we all know, the overall development program for new drugs continues to average more than 10 years in length and the number of children that would die from malaria during that time would be measured in the billions, so reliance on that solution by itself cannot be relied upon too heavily. Multiple approaches, as are being done now, will likely be the continuing way to combat malaria for the foreseeable future. [myad]

APC Accuses Jonathan Of Having Bastardized Army, Police, Courts And Moved To Impeachment

Greenbarge Reporters

July 17, 2014

Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun has accused President Goodluck Jonathan of having bastardized the army, the police, the courts, aviation and the electoral commission and has now moved to the next level, which is impeachment.
He made it clear that every impeachment or threat of it on the opposition governors in recent times has the imprint of President Jonathan, saying that the impeachment of Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa state was one of it.
Oyegun addressed newsmen yesterday in Abuja along other chieftains of the party, including Chief Audu Ogbeh and former FCT Minister, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai.
The APC chairman said that the impeachment fever is now hovering over Nasarawa, Rivers, Edo and Borno states.
“What was Nyako impeached for? Offences he allegedly committed five years ago. Those offences were not impeachable when he was in the Peoples Democratic Party. But the moment he defected to the APC, they became impeachable.
“The entire process that led to the impeachment of Nyako was fraught with irregularities, bias, judicial contradictions and in violation of every procedural and constitutional provision. It is the worst manifestation of impunity.
“We intend to mount an immediate and rigorous challenge to this gross injustice to the party and people of Adamawa State.”
The APC Chairman also accused President Jonathan of being guilty of impeachable offences.
“In fact, only on the 10th of July 2014, the Senate passed a resolution asking President Goodluck Jonathan to prepare and submit to the National Assembly supplementary budget to cover the expenditure in the sum of N90.693 bn (US$585 bn) for petrol subsidy 2012 and the sum of N685.910 bn (US$4.430 bn) for Kerosene (DPK) subsidy expended without appropriation by the National Assembly in 2012 and 2013.
“Now, who is guiltier of gross misconduct than a President who is frittering away our commonwealth to induce perfidious legislators to impeach their state governors? Who is guiltier of gross misconduct than a President who deploys troops to harass, intimidate and arrest the opposition during an election? Who deserves to be impeached for gross misconduct more than a President who uses national institutions against the opposition and shuts airports arbitrarily?
“He (Jonathan) is subverting hitherto respected national institutions. The army has been so compromised that it can no longer be trusted by anyone to be neutral. The army has been so abused that it now carries out police duties.
“Soldiers were deployed to guard the residence of the Chief Judge of Adamawa while the impeachment proceedings were on. Soldiers were deployed to guard each member of the impeachment panel. Soldiers were also deployed to guard the venue where the panel sat.
“In Ekiti, soldiers were deployed to hunt down the opposition and prevent them from moving around freely, in contravention of the nation’s constitution. In Osun, soldiers are again to be deployed to shut down the state and go after the opposition.”
However, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati responded by reminding said Chief John Odigie-Oyegun of the law of defamation of character in Nigeria which his reference to the President represents.
Abati said that he expected the APC Chairman to be a mature man, adding: “he ought to know that in law, whoever alleges must provide proof. He should not assume that because he is playing politics, that gives him the right to make irresponsible allegations.
“People of his stature occupying such a sensitive position must make only allegations that they can prove. Just speaking politically and accusing the President of something untrue does not protect him in the eyes of the law. What he is saying is absolutely untrue.
“I think that members of the House of Assembly in Adamawa State should feel grossly insulted by the APC chairman, who is more or less making them look like persons who have no mind of their own.
“Our belief is that those lawmakers are not children that can be pushed around by anybody.
“What needs to be stressed is the fact that President Jonathan has no hand in anybody’s impeachment.” [myad]

More Rail-Lines Coming As Federal Govt Votes N1.3 Billion For Feasibility Studies

Greenbarge Reporters

July 16, 2014

Minister of transport, Senator Idris Umar

The Federal Government has taken another step to increase the number of rail-lines across the country with the approval, today, of contract for the feasibility study of standard rail gauge system along six rail corridors in the country, at the cost of N1.3 Billion.
The minister of transport, Senator Idris Umar told newsmen shortly after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the Presidential Villa, that the rail corridors were identified under the 25 years strategic railway development policy of the federal government.
The minister, who addressed Journalists along with his information counterpart, Labaran Maku and that of Trade and Industry, Olusegun Aganga, said that the contract include studies of the viability of the rail project and identification of business and economic activities along the selected corridors.
According to Senator Idris, the feasibility study will also involve identification of the rail stations along the route with a view to coming up with the environmental impact assessment.
He said that the total length of the six rail lines will be 4,430 kilometers and are expected to be completed within six months.
The corridors include Kano/ Dai/Jimbia an approximate distance of 354KM, Ilela/Sokoto/Jega / Kontagora, 408km, Aba/ Ikot Ekpene/ Itu/ Uyo / Uduopkani/Calabr, covering a total distance of 340km, Kano/ Nguru/ Geshua/ Damaturu/ Maiduguri/ gamburu Ngala, covering 707 Km, Calabar/ Ikom/ Obudu/ Ogoja/ Katsina Ala/ Wukari/ Jalingo/Yola/ Maiduguri 1669km.
The last of the corridor is the rail line from Port harcourt/ Aba/ Umuahia/ Enugu/ Lafia/ Jos/ Bauchi/ Biu/ Maidiguri, 550km.
Senator Umar said that
the seven corridors earlier awarded have been completed and contract will be awarded soon for the construction of standard rail line
He said that the rail corridors were carefully selected to cover areas with strong economic potentials, including mining, petrochemicals, Solid minerals deposits, agricultural zones, linkages to airports and state capitals across the country.
“We want to ensure that within the next 25 years, government will put in more effort to ensure the development of areas through government fundings and through public private partnership arrangements”
The scope of work to be carried out by the consultants will include detail studies for them to establish the viability of these projects, bring out the technical, economic and financial models to establish the viability of the project.
“They are also to provide proposal for the alignment and connections of the urban and commercial settlements along the proposed routes.
“They are equally to carry out detail surveys and design of the selected alignments to identify potential train stations and other rail base infrastructure to incorporate them in the design.”
Others include the environmental impact assessment and identification of the rail stations, workshops and other rail base infrastructure along the route, including engineering design and the bill of engineering measurement as well as the tender document for the award of the contract in due course.

[myad]

United Nations Endorses Nigeria’s Industrial Revolution Plan, Opens Office

Greenbarge Reporters

July 16, 2014

Minister of Trade and Investment Mr-Olusegun Aganga

The United Nation’s Industrial Development Organization, UNIDO has endorsed the Nigeria’s Industrial Revolution plan by oppening its regional office in the country.
Minister of Trade and Industry, Olusegun Aganga who announced this when he addressed newsmen shortly after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, today said the Organization also opened a regional office in Ethiopia.
He said the UNIDO has, by this move, placed the two countries under the accelerated intervention programe for industrial development.
“Through this action, UNIDO has not only associated itself with the unparalleled and rapid transformation taking place in Nigeria, but has clearly endorsed Nigeria’s industrial revolution plan.”
Aganga said that UNIDO also established an investment and technology promotion office called ITPO in Nigeria to fast track Nigeria’s ability to attract industrial investment as well as support for the sector.
According to him, UNIDO has only eoght of such offices through out the world, adding that this is in recognition of the potentials for industrial development in Africa.
“The two countries were identified by UNIDO as countries with the highest potentials for industrial development.”
He said that the project is in recognition of the potentials and the industrial development efforts of the two countries in Africa.
He said that these are the two countries in Arica that show the strongest and the highest potentials for industrialization in Africa.

[myad]

Tension Over Impeachment Builds Up In Nasarawa As Soldiers Occupy State Assembly

Greenbarge Reporters

July 16, 2014

Nasarawa State is now boiling over as people poured onto the streets this morning protesting the move by the state House of Assembly to impeach the state governor, Tanko Al Makura even as the Nigerian soldiers have virtually taken over the premises of the House of Assembly.

Report reaching us show that the tension has since morning, been spreading across the state as pro-Al Makura group blocked the major entrances into and out of Lafiya, the state capital.

The early morning protests by the group sympathetic to governor Al Makura had brought panic to the governing circles in the state who had believed the protests would grow into a riot. The soldiers moved in quickly to forestall full blown-out mayhem. The soldiers took over strategic points, including the major expressways and streets in and around the capital.

It was learnt that before the military moved in, the pro Al-Makura group had taken over Shendam road, Super Cineme, Makurdi road, Jos-Akwanga road.

It was gathered that governor Al-Makura has since left the state for Abuja immediately following the announcement of the start of his impeachment process.

The Nasawara State legislators are expected to serve the governor the impeachment notice through alternate service tomorrow.

[myad]

APC Wants Court To Stop Jonathan From Deploying Soldiers For Osun Governorship Election

Greenbarge Reporters

July 16, 2014

The Osun state branch of All Progressives Congress (APC) has challenged the power of President Goodluck Jonathan to deploy soldiers for the purpose of providing security during the August governorship election in the state in the Lagos state Federal High Court.

The an affidavit supporting the origination summons, a member of the party, Kufisile Olufemi Michael of 1, Acme Road, Ogba, Lagos State, included the Attorney-General Of the Federation and the Republic Of Nigeria as co-defendants.

The plaintiff sought court interpretation of the constitution as to whether, having regard to the supremacy of the Constitution and the clear provisions of section 217(2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), it is not ultra vires for the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to deploy members of the armed forces to Osun State for the purpose of supervision, monitoring or regulation the conduct of the gubernatorial election scheduled to hold on August 9, 2014 or for any other purpose whatsoever.

He however argued and contended that the President does not have the power to deploy soldiers for the purpose of conduct of elections and that the 1999 Constitution has clearly limited the exercise of the President’s power with regard to the armed forces; and that the President can only exercise his power within the context of the Constitution.

“We urge Your Lordship to so hold and grant our prayers.

[myad]

General T Y. Danjuma Challenges President Jonathan To Visit Sambisa Forest

Greenbarge Reporters

July 16, 2014

Chairman of the just inaugurated Presidential Victims Support Fund, Lt.-Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (rtd.) has challenged President Goodluck Jonathan to lead the way to Sambisa forest where the female students of the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok in Borno state were believed to be held by members of the deadly Boko Haram. He made it clear that members of the committee are ready to visit the forest only if the President is ready to take the lead.

Danjuma, a former Minister of Defence, spoke while responding to Jonathan’s inauguration speech in which he tasked members of the committee to be ready to visit all parts of the country including the dreaded forest.

“Mr. President, we won’t go to Sambisa Forest. As the Commander-in-Chief, you should take the lead and we will follow,” he said amidst laughter from those who attended the inauguration.

Danjuma also shocked those in attendance when he told the President that the insurgents, who were wreaking havoc in parts of the country, are having the upper hand even as he insisted that the war must be won quickly.

The National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki (rtd.), agreed with Danjuma that the war must be won quickly.

He said the government had realised that it was time to draw the line.

“We have realised that the time has come to draw the line. We will win the war and do so quickly,” he promised.

Jonathan, in his inauguration speech, said the days of the Boko Haram sect are numbered and that it is a matter of days for their violent campaign to come to an end.

He regretted that members of the sect had wasted unimaginable human and material resources since they started their campaign of violence.

He noted that the sect members had been brainwashed into believing that they were doing God a favour, describing them as enemies of humanity.

While saying that there would be no hiding place for the sect, Jonathan said his government would expose them.

The terms of reference of the committee are:

a. To identify sources and ways of raising sustainable funding to support victims of terror activities;

b. To develop appropriate strategies for the fund raising;

c. To ascertain the persons, communities, facilities and economic assets affected by terror activities;

d. To assess and determine the appropriate support required in each case;

e. To manage, disburse and/or administer support to the victims as appropriate;

f. To address related challenges as may be appropriate;

g. To advise Government on other matter(s) necessary or incidental to support victims of terror activities;

[myad]

Oando Swells, Acquires Medal Oil Company At N800 Million

Greenbarge Reporters

July 16, 2014

Oando Energy Resources Inc., a company focused on oil and gas exploration and production in Nigeria, has announced the completion of the acquisition of Medal Oil Company Limited for $5 million, (about N800 million).

According to a statement from the company, the purchase price of $5,000,000 was satisfied by the issuance of 3,491,082 units, each unit consisting of one common share of the company and one-half of one warrant to purchase an additional common share at a price of C$ 2.00 per common share for a period of 24 months from the date on which the company closes the acquisition of the Nigerian upstream oil and gas business of ConocoPhillips.

Medal Oil holds a 5 per cent interest in Oil Mining Licence (OML 131). Upon completion of the CoP Acquisition, Oando will own a 100 per cent interest in OML 131, according to the statement.

Oando had recently reached an agreement on complete acquisition of the upstream oil and gas business of ConocoPhillips in Nigeria, after scalling through the hurdle of getting ministerial consent.

The Head Corporate Communications, Oando, Ainoije Alex Irune, earlier said the parties have extended the completion date for the acquisition to July 31, 2014.

He stated: “Having received the consent of the Minister of Petroleum Resources, both parties have extended the outside closing date for completion of the acquisition to enable them finalise activities required to conclude the transaction.”

[myad]

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