CBN Deputy Gov, Aisha Ahmad Now Heads Nigerian Commodity Exchange Board

January 6, 2022

The Nigerian Commodity Exchange (NCE) has appointed the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mrs. Aisha N. Ahmad as chairman of its Board of Directors.

A statement by the Acting Head, Corporate Communication, Abiodun Sanusi said that Mrs. Ahmad’s appointment came at an extraordinary meeting held on January 4, 2022, in line with the provisions of the Company & Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 2020.

The statement said that after the said meeting retired former Directors, it re-constituted new Board with Mrs. Aisha N. Ahmad, Dr. Angela Sere-Ejembi and Mr. Phillip Yila Yusuf as new core directors.

It said that additional board appointments would be made in due course, even as it said that the newly constituted Board, along with a Transition Management Team, “headed by Mr. Elenwor Ihua as Acting interim Coordinator, will temporarily oversee the operations of the Exchange, supervise an independent and transparent process to appoint a new Executive Management Team.

“The core shareholders of the NCE thank the outgoing Board and the Executive Management for their patriotic service to the company and wish them all the best in their future endeavors.”

The statement said that this development marked a critical milestone in the journey to transform NCE into a world class commodity Trading Company within the African and global commodity markets.

Fulani To IPOB: We’ll Stop Taking Cows To Your Southeast

Editorial staff

January 5, 2022

Fulani herdsmen, under the canopy of amalgamated union of foodstuff and cattle dealers of Nigeria (AUFCDN) have resolved to stop transporting cows and foodstuffs to the Southeast in compliance with the directive of the members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

The IPOB head of directorate, Chika Edoziem had said in a statement on Monday that the ban would take effect from April 22, 2022.

Responding, the AUFCDN President, Muhammad Tahir said that the union is ready to stop all food transport from the north to the southern part of the country.

“We want Nigeria to be one country and one people so that every part of the country would enjoy what the other produces but since this is what they (IPOB) have decided so be it.”

Muhammad Tahir told BBC Pidgin that food is what is being carried to the south, not poison.

“So, how do you take food to someone who says he does not want your food yet the person is killing you? It is not possible.”

Muhammad Tahir said that he does not know why IPOB uses food as a propaganda tool when it knows that the south cannot endure for a day without food from the north.

AUFCDN had embarked on nationwide strike in March 2021, complaining that some of their members died from the violence that followed the #EndSARS protests.

At the time, Tahir said they decided to call off the strike after the government promised to pay N4.75 billion which they demanded as compensation, ensure protection of their members and stop all forms of multiple taxation on the highways.

Nigerian Govt Declares Bandits As Terrorists, In Official Gazette

Editorial staff

January 5, 2022

The Nigerian Federal Government has finally proscribed banditry in the country, declaring those who are involved in it as terrorists.

In an Official Gazette released today, January 5 , the government stressed that banditry will be dealt with more ruthlessly henceforth.

The gazette is titled: “Terrorism (Prevention) Proscription Order Notice, 2021” on Page A507 -510. It is dated November 29th, 2021 with No. 212 Vol.108.

The Federal Government said that security reports have confirmed that the bandit groups have been responsible for the killings, abductions, rapes, kidnappings and related acts of criminality in the North-East, North-Central and other parts of the country.

The Government said that the group is also responsible for the growing cases of “banditry, incessant kidnappings for ransom, kidnapping for marriage, mass abductions of school children and other citizens, cattle rustling and enslavement.”

The government said that the group is responsible for imprisonment, severe deprivation of physical liberty, torture, rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, other forms of sexual violence, attacks and killings in communities and commuters and wanton destruction of lives and properties in Nigeria, particularly in the North-West and North-Central states in Nigeria.

“The activities of Yan Bindiga and Yan Ta’adda groups and other similar groups constitute acts of terrorism that can lead to a breakdown of public order and safety and is a threat to national security and the corporate existence of Nigeria.”

The government’s Gazette followed the order of the Federal High Court in Abuja which, on November 25, 2021, declared the activities of bandits as acts of terrorism.

Justice Taiwo Taiwo had held that the activities of Yan Bindiga and Yan Ta’adda bandit groups constitute acts of terrorism and illegality.

The Judge also proscribed the activities of the bandits’ groups in any part of Nigeria, “either in groups or as individuals by whatever names they are called.”

Delivering ruling, the court specifically declared the activities of the “Yan Bindiga group” and the “Yan Ta’adda group” and other similar groups in any part of the country, especially in the North-West and the North-Central as “acts of terrorism and illegality.”

The court proscribed the activities of the group as well as other similar groups in any part of Nigeria, “either in groups or as individuals by whatever names they are called.”

The judge also made an order restraining “any person or group of persons from participating in any manner whatsoever, in any form of activities involving or concerning the prosecution of the collective intention or otherwise of the Yan Bindiga group and the Yan Ta’adda group under any other name or platform however called or described”.

Justice Taiwo then directed the Federal Government to publish the proscription order in the official gazette and two national dailies

Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) of the Federation, Mohammed Abubakar, had filed an ex-parte application seeking to proscribe the activities of bandits waging war against Nigerians.

Source: The Star.

Ex Lagos Assembly Deputy Speaker “Resurrects From Death “

Greenbarge Reporters

January 5, 2022

Former first female Deputy Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Adetoun Adediran narrowly escaped being buried today, January 5, after being declared dead.
Earlier in the day, the 51-year old former deputy speaker was declared dead by the family, who were preparing for burial amidst wailing.
According to the burial arrangements announced by the family, Hon. Adediran was to be buried by 2 pm at Ebony Vaults on James George Street, off Alagbon Close, Ikoyi.
Information had it that shortly before 2 pm, as undertakers commenced work on her body, they reportedly noticed that she was moving her limbs.
She was said to have been quickly rushed to a hospital, where treatment was commenced on her.
As at the time of filing this report, the condition of Hon. Adediran, who had also served the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in as the State, including as Lagos Central Women Leader, could not be confirmed.

I Planned To Sell The Baby I Stole In Lagos Church, 14-Year Housemaid Confesses

Greenbarge Reporters

January 5, 2022

A 14-year-old girl, Favour Iwuozor, who allegedly stole her mistress two-year-old- child during Church service in Lagos has confessed to police that she was taking the boy to Imo State to sell.
Favour Iwuozor, who allegedly stole the child in Lagos, but was arrested in Ogun State while trying to traffic the victim to Imo State said that she planned to sell the child.
Accordung to the Ogun state police Command: “during interrogation, the suspect confessed that she was a maid to the mother of the little boy, and that she left with the boy since on the 19th of December 2021, with the intention of taking the boy to Amraku Umorsu in Isiala/Mberna local government area of Imo state.
“She stated further that, she took the baby from the Church during Sunday school period, and since the Sunday school teacher knew her with the baby’s mother, she had no problem releasing the baby to her. She explained further that she decided to beg for alms in order to raise transport fare to Imo state.”
The State Police Public Relations Officer(PPRO), DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi said: ”the suspect was arrested following a complaint lodged at Sagamu Divisional Headquarters, by one Victoria Nwafor, who reported that she saw a 14-years-old girl on the 22nd of December 2021, with a very sick two- year -old boy in Yaba Lagos.
“She stated further that the little girl was begging for alms under the pretence that the small boy was her younger brother and that their parents died in a ghastly motor accident in December 2020. Out of compassion, the woman took both of them to her house in Sagamu, in order to take care of the little boy deteriorating health condition.
“But immediately the boy fully recovered, the suspect wanted to single-handedly take the boy to Imo State. This aroused the woman’s suspicion, hence her report to the Police Station.
“Upon the report, DPO Sagamu division, CSP Okiki Agunbiade, detailed his detectives to go and bring the girl and the little boy.”
Meanwhile, the State commissioner of Police, CP Lanre Bankole, has ordered that the baby’s parents be contacted urgently, while the case should be forwarded to Lagos State command in which jurisdiction the crime was committed.
Source: Cornerstone News

Senator Lekan Balogun, Otun Of Ibadan, Emerges Olubadan

Greenbarge Reporters

January 5, 2022

The Otun of Ibadanland, Senator Lekan Balogun, has been picked by members of the Olubadan-in-Council as the next Olubadan of Ibadanland.
The Osi Balogun of Ibadanland, Tajudeen Ajibola, at a news briefing by the kingmakers today, January 5, said that 10 out of the 11 members of Olubadan-in-Council endorsed the Balogun’s nomination.
Senator Lekan Balogun, as Otun, is the most senior chief from the two ruling chieftaincy lines, Egbe Agba (civil) and Balogun (military) that produce successors to the throne in the state.
Balogun, who represented the state at the red chamber, senate, and celebrated his 79th birthday last October, is statutorily the next person to occupy the Olubadan stool.
He reconciled with the late Oba Adetunji, less than three years ago following his installation by former Oyo State governor, late Abiola Ajimobi, as king in Oyo.
Balogun, a renowned technocrat, politician, and author, started his primary education at CAC Modern School, Anlugbua, and lived with one of his brothers, late Hamzat Balogun, who was a civil servant but was studying privately for the General Certificate of Education, Ordinary Level ( GCE O’L).
While he was also subscribing to Rapid Result College in the UK to enhance his performance in the examination, Lekan was secretly reading his brother’s correspondence tutorials which became very helpful to him when he wrote his qualifying tests which was like ‘G4’ at the time.
While in the second year of the three-year modern school programme, Lekan sat for the qualifying examination and passed. Therefore, he left school without completing the programme.
Armed with this certificate, he travelled to the United Kingdom where he studied for his O and A levels certificates while doing a part-time job to sustain himself- all under 18 years of age.
He left the university in 1973 with a Masters degree in Administration and Economics and had a brief stint with the Lamberth Local Government Social Services Department where he worked for one and a half years after which his academic inclination took the better of him and he enrolled for his PhD.
In 1973, he resumed as a research fellow at ABU Centre for Social and Economic Research and also had the option of working as a lecturer at the University of Ife now Obafemi Awolowo University but he chose ABU instead because of the desire to relate with other people away from his birthplace and to know their cultures and traditions.
It was during his sojourn in the UK that Lekan developed the white-black consciousness which crystallised into activism and the struggle for human rights. To give vent to his passion, he joined the leftist Marxist movement.
He plunged into the murky waters of politics in 1978 when he joined the PRP of Late Aminu Kano. His charisma, honesty and gallantry soon saw him climbing the political ladder with ease and grace that eventually accorded him the respect and recognition of the political overlords of Oyo State.
Within a short period of time, he had made his mark as an astute politician, activist and champion of downtrodden masses. He later became the gubernatorial candidate of one of the major political parties in the country, the Nigerian People’s Party (NPP) of Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe.
The military coup of December 1983 kept him and other political giants in the cooler for 16 years.
He later re-emerged on the political scene with his election as a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 1999.
Source of the profile: Vanguard.

Margaret Chuba Okadigbo Heads Newly Constituted NNPC Board

Greenbarge Reporters

January 5, 2022

Senator Margret Chuba Okadigbo (South East) has been made the Chairman of the Board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited just put together by President Muhammadu Buhari in accordance with the power vested in him under Section 59(2) of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021.

According to a statement today, January 5 by the Special Adviser to the President on media and publicity, Femi Adesina,

Mele Kolo Kyari is the Chief Executive Officer while Umar I. Ajiya is Chief Financial Officer.

Other Board Members are Dr. Tajudeen Umar (North East), Mrs. Lami O. Ahmed (North Central), Mallam Mohammed Lawal (North West), Engr. Henry Obih (South East), Barrister Constance Harry Marshal (South South) and Chief Pius Akinyelure(South West).

The statement said that the appointments of the Board members take effect from the date of the incorporation of the NNPC Limited.

The statement said that also appointed are Executive Commissioners of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission.

They are Dr. Nuhu Habib (Kano), Executive Commissioner, Development and Production; Dr. Kelechi Onyekachi Ofoegbu (Imo), Executive Commissioner, Economic Regulations and Strategic Planning; Captain Tonlagha Roland John (Delta), Executive Commissioner, Health, Safety, Environment and Community and Jide Adeola (Kogi), Executive Commissioner, Corporate Services and Administration.

“Earlier appointed are the Board Chairman, CEO, Executive Commissioner, Exploration and Acreage Management, and Executive Commissioner, Finance and Accounts.

“New appointees at the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority are Francis Alabo Ogaree (Rivers), Executive Director, Hydrocarbon Processing, Mustapha Lamorde (Adamawa), Executive Director, Health, Safety, Environment and Community, Mansur Kuliya (Kano), Executive Director, Midstream and Downstream Gas Infrastructure Fund, Bashir Sadiq (Sokoto), Executive Director, Corporate Services and Administration, and Dr Zainab Gobir (Kwara), Executive Director, Economic Regulations and Strategic Planning.

“They join the Board Chairman, Executive Director, Downstream Systems, Storage and Retailing Infrastructure, the CEO, and Executive Director, Finance and Accounts, who had earlier been appointed.

“For Midstream and Downstream Infrastructure Fund, new Council Members are; Mr Effiong Abia (Akwa Ibom), Bobboi Ahmed (Adamawa), and Engr. Abdullahi Bukar (Katsina).

“It will be recalled that President Buhari had last September written the Senate on the administrative structure amendments to the Petroleum Industry Act, which included appointment of Non-Executive Board Members, removal of the Ministries of Petroleum and Finance from the Board of the two new institutions, and appointment of Executive Directors.”

Group Honours GOCOP President, Maureen, Others January 8

Greenbarge Reporters

January 5, 2022

A group known as Okaa Omee Youth Club of Nigeria from Anambra State has planned an award of merit to the President of the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP), Maureen Chigbo, who publishes Realnews Magazine Online and others, including Ike Oligbo, a lawyer and politician.

A statement from the organisers today, January 5, said that the award ceremony will be held on January 8 at the Okaa Omee Youth Center in Umuoji in Anambra state.

Others who will be conferred with the honour include Nonye Osakwe, Adeze Moghalu, Victor Ide-Okoye, Okey Osefo, and V. O. Anyaegbuna.

Okaa Omee, the first social club in Umuoji, has continued to promote social activities and fostering of spirit of co-operation amongst her members.

The club is also critical in protecting the image, culture and social welfare of Umuoji.

The statement said that the conferment of award of excellence on well deserving Umuoji citizens for their contributions to the development of the town and service to humanity is in keeping with Okaa Omee Youth Club’s role of promoting the image, culture and social welfare of Umuoji.

It said that the club will also induct some of her members as patrons while Juderingo Okeke will be inducted as a member of the Board of Trustee of the club.

Aliko Dangote Foundation Flags Off Nutrition Program In Kano

Editorial staff

January 4, 2022

The Aliko Dangote Foundation has commenced the implementation of its nutrition flagship program, tagged: Aliko Dangote Foundation Integrated Nutrition (ADFIN) program in Kano State.

According to the ADF’s Director of Health and Nutrition, Dr. Francis Aminu, the program is in line with the plan to use the newly refurbished Primary Healthcare Centers (PHCs) across 5 pilot LGAs as Outpatient Care (OPC) and Inpatient Care (IPC) component of the Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition (IMAM) services for the Programme.

Dr. Aminu said that no fewer than 30 health workers have been trained in Kano, adding that the 5- day training program was held between 17th and 22nd December 2021.

“The purpose of the training was to equip the health workers with the requisite skills on how to assess, treat and care for malnourished children under the age of five. The 5-day training enabled participants to gain in-depth knowledge in line with the training requirements as stated in the National Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition Guidelines.”

He said that the participants were drawn from the State Ministry of Health and the five ADFIN supported sites from Bebeji, Dala, Kura, Tudun Wada, and Rimin-Gado LGAs comprising Officers-in-Charge (OICs), Community Health Extension Workers (CHEWs), Nutrition focal persons, Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Coordinators, and Primary Health Care (PHC) Coordinators.

At the opening of the training, key development partners in Kano state participated and expressed their goodwill messages to ADF on the IMAM training.

Participants include the representatives of Nutrition International (NI), Partners for Development (PfD), Civil Society for Scaling up Nutrition (CSSUN) Kano, and Nutrition Society of Nigeria (NSN), among others.

The training was declared open by the Commissioner of Health, Kano State, Dr. Aminu Ibrahim Tsanyawa, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Kano State Ministry of Health, Hajiya Amina A Musa.

In his closing remarks, the Commissioner commended the dynamic leadership of the PHC Coordinators in staying with their health workers throughout the training.

He commended the Foundation for its contribution to human capital development in Nigeria, and Africa at large, while expressing his profound appreciation for the numerous contributions made by Alhaji Aliko Dangote to Kano State.

Buhari, Next President Can’t Defeat Bandits Unless…, Sheikh Gumi Swears

Editorial staff

January 4, 2022

“I can tell you without any fear of contradiction (that President Muhammadu) Buhari would spend the next one year seven months without addressing this issue.

“And if the next president comes and he will follow the same process, he cannot succeed.

“You have to address so many economic issues and so many issues of injustice.

“And then for you to pursue the path of dialogue. It is not a sign of weakness. That’s what Yar’Adua initiated in Niger Delta.”

These were the postulations of a Kaduna Islamic cleric, Sheikh, Dr. Ahmad Gumi, when he spoke to newsmen today, January 4 in Kaduna, through his media consultant, Tukur Mamu.

He said that if America could go to Afghanistan, spent 20 years, spent 3 trillion dollars and wasted 3,600 personnel, over 20,000 citizens killed after 20 years; they still came to dialogue with the Taliban, what do you expect in Nigeria?

“These (Americans) are people that have so much transparency, even in their military spending. You will not hear even the cases of corruption like the one we hear in Nigeria. So if they would do that after all these 20 years, what do you expect from Nigeria?”

Gumi advised Nigerians, in particular, the military to stop jubilating each time they kill bandit leader, saying that as they kill leader, another one would rise.

“There is a particular forest we visited in Niger State. The whole of the settlement had been bombarded. This settlement has nothing to do with bandits. In fact, they showed us two wells full of innocent people, dead, casualties of these bombardments.

“That’s exactly what these bandits were telling us. They said whenever we hear the sound of an aircraft, we run to our caves and then run. If they will succeed in killing anybody, it is the small children, the wives or the cows.

“That’s their own testimony. So you can imagine a country where, for example, bandits would gather in a forest and be celebrating. You don’t even have the intelligence to track them and eliminate them. Then you to say you will succeed in killing them.

“I hear them yesterday celebrating the reported death of bandit leader. So, for example, if you kill one bandit leader and another one emerges, what benefit did you derive?

“For example, you killed Dogo Gide, a person more dreaded than him emerged. When they killed Buharin Daji, Turji emerged. So what’s the success there? And for us to even be celebrating. There is nothing to celebrate, the only thing we can celebrate is that if our military succeeds in crushing them all and they cannot.”

He said the issue of security has no religious connotation as it affected everybody.

“It is something that is really consuming the society. Our major problem as a nation is how to go about solving this crisis that has defied all solutions so far.

“A lot of people are giving their own perspectives, a lot of people are giving their own thoughts about the way they think it is the appropriate way to manage the whole crisis.

“But for Sheikh Gumi, we believe people are making comments out of either naivety or out of ignorance about the quantum of the problems that we have and how to go about it.

“I think, by now, we are authorities especially on issues that have to do with banditry. The genesis of the crisis, how to go about it, and then what we’ve actually seen on the ground. This is because nobody in Nigeria has seen what we saw.”

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