I’ll Recruit More Security Personnel, Evolve State Police To Eliminate Terrorists, Others – Atiku

November 27, 2022

Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar has promised to recruit more Nigerians into the security system of Nigeria as one of the first measures he will take to eliminate Boko Horom insurgents, terrorists, bandits and other criminals if he is elected in the next year’s election.

“The first approach will be to expand the numbers of security personnel, train and equip them to restore law and order.

“In the medium range, we intend to involve state governments that are willing and can afford to have state police to do so.

“This will require constitutional reviews and we must also secure safeguards that will ensure that those state police institutions are not abused.”

The PDP Presidential candidate, at an interactive session with leaders of corporate Nigeria, said: “there are facts about the current state of our economy that should dictate to us whether we should continue with the present reality or move far away from it.

“The first is the National Bureau of Statistics data which continuously shows that we are declining in critical sectors of the productive areas of the economy.

“The second is the report that 133 million Nigerians are multi-dimensionally poor which means that more than 60 percent of our people are not just poor, but equally lack access to education and good healthcare.”

Atiku said that his engagement with the private sector is to forge partnership with corporate leaders and seek their intervention in reversing the trend.

“These facts are the reasons why we are engaging with the private sector today, and it is an engagement that seeks a partnership with the private sector to create more jobs and their intervention.”

Responding to the issue of security around oil and gas installations, Atiku referred the question to his running mate, Okowa, who he acknowledges has done very well in security installations in his state and making Delta State, the highest oil producing state in the country.

The PDP Vice Presidential candidate noted that it is important to carry the communities along in any security apparatus that is being considered.

“On the issue of security around oil installations, it is important that we understand what the issues are and those issues have to be situated properly.

“The engagement with the local communities is very important and while doing that, we don’t leave those communities behind in terms of infrastructure and development, which creates hope and partnership with them,” Okowa said.

On the fiscal and monetary regulation, Atiku promises a convergence of the foreign exchange market, ensure price stability and promote trade deals that will inject more foreign exchange to the economy, as well as ensuring the independence of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

On power, he noted that his administration will pursue short, medium and long term projections in the power sector.

Never Allow PDP To Go Near, Plunder The Nation’s Commonwealth Again

Greenbarge Reporters

November 27, 2022

Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has called on Nigerians not to allow the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) go anywhere near the Nigeria’s commonwealth again because of the plundering of the resources which its leadership did to the country.

Tinubu, who spoke at APC Presidential Campaign’s mega rally in Lagos yesterday, recalled how Lagos gave him a chance to deploy his talents for national progress and preservation of progressive politics.

“I thank the Almighty Allah and the good people of Lagos State for a place to stand, from which I could deploy my talents to mobilize like-minded Progressives to defend this great city.”

The APC Presidential candidate said that his party’s campaign is a broom revolution, and invoking the spirit of his late mother, Alhaja Abibatu Mogaji, the Iyaloja-General, he followed up with a folksong, singing in Yoruba, “Dagunro o se je, Tinubu o se pa,” meaning literally that he can not be killed.

Tinubu said he would continue with progressive government where Nigerians will not be forgotten in education, healthcare and employment generation.

The former Lagos State governor who spoke partly in Yoruba took a swipe at the Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Candidate, Atiku Abubakar, describing him a veteran aspirant who should go home and rest.

“Atiku contested in SDP, he contested in PDP; he contested in ACN when we rescued him from Obasanjo. Now he is contesting again in PDP. He should go home and rest,” adding that Nigerians should never allow him and his party near the country’s commonwealth.

“Atiku has been running. Use your PVC to vote him and his party out. Use your votes to retire him permanently this time. We must never again allow the rapacious and visionless gang of Peoples Destroying People to come near our commonwealth again. They were in government for 16 years, they didn’t remember Badagry Expressway, they didn’t remember East-West Road, they didnt remember 2nd Niger Bridge.”

Tinubu noted that Governors of Kano, Kastina, Kaduna, Kwara, Kebbi and other APC Governors were with him, unlike his opponent who could not hold his party together.

He used the opportunity of the rally to thank President Muhammadu Buhari for his commitment to the development of Nigeria and Lagos State.

“I specially thank President Muhammadu Buhari for the unprecedented Federal support and commitment to Lagos State. We have come a long way from Presidents whose sole obsession was to capture or conquer Lagos in do-or-die fashion, to a President who loves the state greatly and is keen to see it do very well.

“Lagos has benefited tremendously in terms of infrastructure development, whether it is the Lagos-Ibadan Railway line, or the Apapa-Oshodi-Oworonsoki Expressway, the revamped National Theatre, the new International Airport Terminal or the support that has made the Lekki Deep Sea Port possible and the Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical Plant, as well as the Red Line of the Lagos Metro, which is sharing part of the Federal corridor.”

Addressing the rally on the importance of sustaining the progressive governance in Lagos State, Tinubu urged Lagosians to vote for Governor Babajide Sanwo-olu and his deputy, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, for second term.

“Dear Lagosians, my appeal to you today, is to ask you to renew the mandate of Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Kadiri Obafemi Hamzat for another 4 years. Do not let the execution and implementation of the bold vision of more than two decades be aborted or suspended.”

For the stability of Lagos State, Asiwaju Tinubu called on the youths and students to vote for Sanwo-Olu and Hamzat.

“The lives of over 22 million people are too important to be subjected to tragic experiments in the hands of kindergarten politicians. Babajide Sanwo-olu and Obafemi Hamzat have been schooled in the finest tradition of people-management and development planning.”

Present at the rally were the party’s National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, Vice Presidential Candidate, Senator Kashim Shettima, and Chairman, Nigeria Governors’ Forum and Governor of Kebbi, Atiku Bagudu.

Others included the Director-General of the Tinubu/Shettima Campaigns and Governor of Plateau State, Hon. Simon Bako Lalong, as well as Governors Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano), Aminu Bello Masari (Katsina), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), Adegboyega Oyetola (Osun), Abubakar Badaru (Jigawa), Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq and Abiodun Oyebanji (Ekiti). Also present were Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, Minister of Sports and Youth Development, Sunday Dare, former Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi

There were also members of the APC National Working Committee, National Assembly members and Ministers.

Mukhtasim, 11 Others Graduate In Qur’anic Recitation, Memorisation In Kuje

Greenbarge Reporters

November 26, 2022

Mukhtasim B. Nene, step son of Yusuf Ozi Usman, our Editor-In-Chief/CEO, graduated in the recitation/memorisation of the Holy Qur’an at Madarasatu Tilawatul Qur’an wa Tahfiz Chibiri in Kuje Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja today, November 26, 2022.

Some of those who graduated

Head teacher of the school, Abdulmaleek Yusuf

Proprietor of the school, Yusuf Ozi Usman.

Some graduands and their siblings.

Sheikh Saidu Ishaq, FCT chairman of the Jam’atu Izalatul Bid’a Waikamatul Sunnah (JIBWIS) delivering a lecture at the occasion.

22 Institutions Enjoy N16.7 Billion Broadband Access Projects

Editorial staff

November 25, 2022

More than 22 institutions in the country, comprising 18 universities and six polytechnics, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), drawn from the six geopolitical zones in the country, have benefited from a Federal Government’s broadband infrastructure projects designed to accelerate the Nigeria Digital Economy efforts.

At the unveiling of the projects being driven by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), which held at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, said the projects underscores the importance of broadband connectivity and access as central to the accomplishment of the targets of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) 2020-2030 for a digital Nigeria, and that the project is in line with the mandates of President Muhammadu Buhari on job creation and economic diversification.

Pantami, who was joined by the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mallam Mohammed Bello at the event, said that the key infrastructure being provided for the project, comprise of broadband infrastructure for tertiary institutions of learning; broadband infrastructure for MSME; distribution of 6,000 e-pad tablets, in addition to provision of broadband connectivity to 20 markets as a pilot.

He said that the interest in supporting the MSMEs is justified by their current contribution of more than half of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) prior to COVID-19 outbreak, and now constitute 96.7 per cent of entire businesses in the country, and therefore, “any effort to develop our economy without bringing such important sector into the equation will amount to efforts in futility.”

At the event, which had in attendance the Chairman of the Board of the NCC, Professor Adeolu Akande; the Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission, Professor Umar Danbatta; the Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), Professor Abubakar Rasheed and the Executive Secretary, National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), Professor Idris Bugaje, a book, authored by Pantami and titled: “Skills Rather Than Just Degrees” with foreword written by Brad Smith, President of Microsoft Corporation, was unveiled for the industry.

Pantami said the book is his intellectual contribution to bridging skills gap to enable Nigerians to tap into the opportunities that exist in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and other sectors of the economy.

The book was reviewed by three different Vice Chancellors – Prof. Muhammad Abdulazeez of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi; Prof Owuanari Georgewill of University of Port Harcourt; and Prof. Sagir Adamu Abbas of Bayero University Kano, who commended the efforts of the Minister in putting his thoughts and experience to paper. They recommended the book, which they commended highly.

In their comments, NCC’s Akande and Danbatta, said that the project will fast-track and enhance the ongoing efforts of the NCC’s to deepen connectivity towards achieving the targeted broadband penetration of 70 per cent by 2025.

NCC’s Chairman, Profes Akande, assured of the commitment of the Commission in completing the projects, which will add the necessary fillip to achieving the major objectives spelt out in the NDEPS, 2020-2030.

The EVC of NCC, Professor Danbatta, highlighted the Commission’s drive towards deepening broadband penetration in the country and the promotion of digital skills acquisition to improve service delivery in other sectors of the economy, including education, commerce, healthcare, agriculture, finance, transportation, governance, among others.

The event attracted many stakeholders, especially from the academia, as well as technology enthusiasts, including prospective start-up companies, fintech organisations and other interested sectors whose activities are billed to be energized through diligent implementation of the NDEPS and other extant policies guiding the digital economy agenda of the Nigerian government.

Cristiano Ronaldo, In Qatar, Becomes Top Scorer In History Of International Football

Editorial staff

November 25, 2022

Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo has become the first player in World Cup history to score at five different editions of the global tournament.

The 37-year-old put Portugal ahead against Ghana last night, November 24, in the ongoing world cup tournament in Qatar, as he powered home a penalty which he won himself, extending his lead as the top scorer in the history of men’s international football.

Portugal won the match by 3-2.

Ronaldo was part of a group of five players to have scored at four, alongside Pele, Uwe Seeler, Miroslav Klose, and long-time professional rival, Lionel Messi, who joined the group earlier this week as he scored for Argentina against Saudi Arabia.

Source: Per Second News

Tinubu Bags Traditional Title Of ‘Iyelawei’ of Gbaramotu In Niger Delta

Editorial staff

November 25, 2022

The Pere of Gbaramotu Kingdom, His Royal Highness, Oboro Gbaraun II, in the Niger Delta, has conferred a traditional title of ‘Iyelawei’ of Gbaramotu on the Presidential Candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Asíwájú Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The title makes Tinubu “the torch bearer of the kingdom.”

Receiving Asíwájú Tinubu in his palace, the Pere of Gbaramotu showered praises on the APC candidate, while praying for his success in the presidential election.

The traditional ruler called on Tinubu, if elected, to ensure the establishment of a deep sea port in Gbaramotu, industrial park in Ogidigben and good roads and bridges leading into the kingdom.

The Presidential candidate who addressed leaders in the Niger-Delta leaders, promised to work to speed up the development of the region.

He pledged to engage in regular consultations with the leaders to emplace initiatives and projects that would help the region.

“I’m one of you. My wife is a daughter of the Niger Delta. Your in-law is also your son. No be so? Tinubu asked the leaders in pidgin English to which the mammoth crowd yelled “Na so.”

He said that he is aware that the Warri- Escravos/Gbaramotu road had been awarded, pledging to ensure the completion of the road by getting the contractor involved to deliver on the project.

He said that if elected, the Ministry of Niger Delta and the Niger Delta Development Commission will serve the full purpose for which they were established.

“The man standing before you will implement whatever he promised. You need honesty, you need commitment to perform. I embody both.

“I know the road and I will carry the Niger Delta people along. We will consult your leaders for the development of Gbaramotu Kingdom and other associated communities.”

Tinubu was accompanied to the kingdom by the Deputy Senate President and APC governorship candidate in Delta State, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, Governors Abdullahi Ganduje and Mai Mala Buni of Kano and Yobe states, Minister of State, Petroleum Resources Timiprey Sylva, Minister of State, Labour Festus Keyamo and former Speaker of the House of Representatives Hon. Dimeji Bankole.

Others on the entourage included former Governor-elect of Bayelsa State, David Lyon, former Minister of State, Niger Delta, Elder Orubebe, APC Chairman in Delta State, Elder Sobotie and a party chieftain in the state, Ayiri Emami.

The APC candidate and his team were presented with kolanuts as a demonstration of love and hospitality of the people.

Buhari Votes For Educational System Towards African Industrialization By 2030

Editorial staff

November 25, 2022

President Muhammadu Buhari has called on African leaders to tailor their educational system and academic curricular towards Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), for a drive to full industrialization by the year 2030.

In his National Statement today, November 25, in Niamey, the capital of Niger Republic, at the AU Summit on Industrialisation and Economic Diversification in Africa, the President emphasised that STEM is the ”short way” to produce the next generation of managers of an industrialised Africa not dependent on expatriates.

He advised leaders in the continent to solve the problem of generating cheap and clean energy, saying: ”it is no secret that we cannot industrialize the continent, if we do not solve the problem of generating cheap and clean energy.

”Your Excellencies, energy generation and distribution is an enabler for industrialization. Africa is richly endowed with multiple sources of energy generation. We are richly endowed with Hydro-Carbons, Coal, Natural Gas, Solar Energy, and Hydro- Energy.

”Yet we are lacking in the capacity to produce clean and cheap electricity to power our production, manufacturing sectors.

”I hope this Summit will afford us the opportunity to explore the possibilities of collaboration in pooling resources on a continental level to address the vexing problem of Energy generation and distribution on the continent.

”I say this because, it is no secret that we cannot industrialize the continent, if we do not solve the problem of generating cheap and clean energy.

”Your Excellencies, the African Continent is blessed with a large Youth population that can address our labour shortages. Therefore, we should tap this human resource potential that abound in the continent by providing our youths with qualitative and fit for purpose education that recognizes the labour market demands.

”In this regard, we must rejig our educational system and academic curricula to gravitate towards Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. This is the short way we can produce the next generation of managers for the industrial complex we envisage, one that will not be dependent on expatriates.”

President Buhari also told the AU summit that the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement will give impetus to the continent’s quest for an industrial revolution.

He expressed the belief that the outcome of the Summit would launch the African continent on the path to poverty eradication, food security and technological advancement, issues not far from the goals set out in the AU Agenda 2063 and the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

He commended the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), for the mileage they have achieved through inclusive and sustainable industrial development plans for developing countries, providing the framework for implementing decisions of the UN and supporting the AU in several initiatives for growth and sustainable development.

He noted that these collaborative efforts have the capacity to ensure an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa.

The Nigerian leader told African leaders that industrialization and diversification of economies remain the keys and engine to unlock economic growth and build a prosperous continent.

”They are the solution to the socio- economic challenges that have bedevilled Africa, particularly those worsened by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Russia- Ukraine war, as well as the effects of Climate Change, Terrorism and Banditry.

”Chairperson, let me call on all African leaders, our Development Partners and the Organized Private Sector to team up and fashion a collaboration that will ultimately lead Africa to achieve full industrialization by the year 2030.

”We can do this by simply taking advantage of our rich endowments in natural resources. Nigeria is committed to advancing the accelerated implementation of the African Union Programme for Infrastructure Development, as a vehicle to deliver industrialization.”

According to President Buhari, Nigeria has continued to diversify its economy, shifting from the traditional oil-based economy to a multi-sectoral economy.

He said the country is investing heavily in Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises supporting small business and start-ups in innovation and Hi-Tech as well as IT.

On health issues, the President acknowledged that one of the lessons learnt from the outbreak of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Africa as well as Nigeria was the lack of preparedness to respond to such outbreaks and shocks.

He, however, expressed delight that in the wake of the Covid-19 Pandemic, Nigeria along with five other African Countries were selected as vaccine hubs for the local production of mRNA Vaccines by the World Health Organisation, and to receive the technology needed to produce Vaccines.

He said Nigeria is exploring bilateral, multilateral and other opportunities to acquire the necessary technology needed to create a centre of excellence for Vaccine manufacturing and distribution in the country.

“As the mRNA technology permits science to shift attention to yet unknown disease threats, we see this as an opportunity to address diseases that have plagued our continent, especially sub-Saharan Africa and the third world countries.

“We see this as an opportunity to find lasting solutions to diseases such as Ebola, Malaria, Lassa Fever and other endemic tropical diseases through the manufacture of affordable Vaccines and therapeutics.”

President Buhari restated his call on partners to consider working with Nigeria on the entire value chain of vaccine technology development in the continent.

The Nigerian leader used the occasion to welcome the G20 Debt Treatment and the Implementation of IMF Special Drawing Rights in favour of African Countries, calling for the effective implementation of all agreed measures and proposed initiatives to address Africa’s financial needs.

“Africa needs more Foreign Direct Investments in Science, Technology and Innovation to drive Industrialization on the Continent not forgetting our long-standing need for better Tenors of Trade with developing countries.”

Nigerian Farmers Cry Out Over Illegal Importation of 500 Metric Tons Of Rice Seeds

Editorial staff

November 25, 2022

The apex body of Nigerian farmers, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), has raised alarm over alleged illegal importation of 500 metric tons of rice seed into Nigeria by some Chinese, contravening the Seed Act 2019.

A statement by the Assistant Public Relations Office (PRO) of AFAN, Salisu Mukhtar, said that the Act spells out that anyone who contravenes the Act is liable to be punished commensurately to the offense stipulated in the Act.

The statement reads in part: “The Seed Act 2019 became effective in 2019 after its assent by Mr. President having been duly passed by the National Assembly.

“As it has been passed into law anyone who contravenes it shall be liable to punishment commensurate to the offense stipulated in the Act.

“We hear that some Chinese people have brought about 500 MT of Rice seed through the back door as far back as 2020 and some highly placed person in the Agriculture space then in cahoot with some proven fraudsters was putting undue pressure on the management of NASC to approve it for purchase by the federal government under the guise of distributing it to our rice farmers.

“The viability of the seed after two years is not certain and as it was illegally brought into the country no scrupulous Nigerian should facilitate its approval for use by our farmers as such any government official contemplating putting undue pressure on National Agricultural Seed Council, NASC, is well advised to stop or their job will be in jeopardy even at this time quite close to the exit of the Buhari administration.
“The Chinese people are already spilling the beans on the various amounts being extorted from them to facilitate the purported approval.”

According to AFAN, “The pressure is again mounting on National Agricultural Seed Council, NASC, to grant approval so that the federal government could buy it to support the farmers who suffered losses in the 2022 flood.”
The Association threatened that if those government officials fingered in the illicit deal fail to hands off, it will expose them based on the information they have about their movements.

“As at last week, it is said that a large sum of money has been collected from them (Chinese) by a fraudster hobnobbing with some highly placed officials who will soon be named if they persist in their nefarious activities.”

You Can’t Railroad Me Into Your Own Townhall Meeting, Tinubu Tells Arise TV

Editorial staff

November 25, 2022

Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has described as “professionally wrong and reckless” for Arise News to announce his invitation to attend its presidential town hall meeting without prior consultation with him.

In a statement today, November 25, on behalf of Tinubu, the Director, Media and Publicity, APC Presidential Campaign Council, Bayo Onanuga, expressed concern over an advertisement by Arise News in connection with a Town Hall meeting scheduled for 4 December.

The statement reads: “We are surprised that the TV station listed our candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as a participant, when there was no prior consultation with him and his aides and no consent of the candidate obtained for the advertisement.

“We deem this as professionally wrong and reckless. No media organization should arrogate to itself the right to railroad any candidate to fit into its own agenda.

“As we said in an earlier statement, the busy and hectic campaign schedules of Asiwaju Tinubu will not permit him to honour all invitations from different radio and TV stations for debate and or Town Hall meetings hence our decision for him not to start with one media organization and later ignore the others.

“In the absence of a unified and mutually acceptable all parties and all candidates platform, our candidate has been speaking directly to Nigerians, since President Muhammadu Buhari launched Tinubu’s Action Plan for a Better Nigeria.

“Till date, over seven town hall meetings with strategic sectors have been held across the geopolitical zones, where the candidate and his running mate have spoken about their programmes.

“These direct engagements will continue before the election on 25 February 2023. We therefore urge Arise News to stop using our candidate’s name or portrait in its advertisement, forthwith.”

2023: INEC Restricts Amount A Candidate Can Receive As Donation To N50 Million

Editorial staff

November 25, 2022

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has released guidelines for the conduct of political rallies, processions and campaigns as well as finances and election expenses of political parties, candidates and aspirants as the nation marches to 2023 elections.

The electoral body, in the guidelines, restricts the amount an individual candidate can receive as donation to N50 million.

“The maximum amount of money or other assets that an individual, a group of individuals or an entity can donate to a political party or aspirant for an election shall be N50 million.

“A political party shall not accept any monetary or other contribution which is more than N50,000,000 except it identifies and discloses the source of the contribution to the Commission.

“Contribution to candidates by an individual or entity shall be from 150 days allowed for campaigns to election day. Contribution to aspirants by an individual or entity shall be from the date notice of the election is published to the conclusion of party primaries.

“Election expenses of political party mean all expenses in cash or otherwise incurred by a political party or candidates as well as party primary expenses of aspirants from the date notice of election is published to the day of election only.

“They exclude expenses incurred before the publication of notice of election. Election expenses of off cycle or other elections shall relate to period between publication of notice for particular election by the Commission and date of election. The election expenses of a candidate shall not exceed the limits prescribed in the Electoral Act, 2022.”

INEC said that the election expenses of a political party shall be in three parts; the management of aspirants and party primaries, management of candidates and conduct of elections and miscellaneous election expenses.

“The election expenses of a Political Party for management of Party Primaries shall not exceed two-third (2/3) of the limits prescribed for candidates expenses in the Electoral Act, 2022 for respective elective positionsv

“The election expenses of a political party for conduct of elections shall not exceed two-third the limit of election expenses of each Candidate multiplied by the number of Candidates the Political Party shall sponsor in a particular election for elective
positions.”

INEC said that the miscellaneous election expenses of a political party shall include but not limited to; re-election cases against the party, post-election or election petitions and re-mobilisation of party members after elections.

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