Amidst the drought and heat waves that is devastating Morocco, the World Bank has approved a loan of $180 million dollars for the country. The loan is aimed at boosting the country’s agriculture. Official news agency MAP reported that the loan is as well aimed at enhancing the governance of water in agriculture, and improve the quality of irrigation services. The report said this came as climate change is putting increased pressure on water resources in the North African country. The severe drought and heat waves have so far affected the agricultural sector, representing 14 per cent of Morocco’s gross domestic product (GDP). The country’s central bank expects that Morocco’s economy will grow by 0.7 per cent in 2022, down from 2.9 per cent in the earlier forecast and the 7.3 per cent growth in 2021.
As family, friends, associates, admirers and fans from all over the world celebrate a living music legend, Evangelist Ebenezer Obey Fabiyi on his 80th birthday anniversary, the celebrant has given more insight into the circumstances of his rise to stardom in the entertainment world. According to him, his choice of music as a career was the will of God for him and it was God who made possible all of his acclaimed achievements in the music industry and did not allow him to fade out or die in the prime of his career like many music stars in history Looking back at his humble beginnings in the journey to stardom, he said the spirit led him from the time he was a baby and subsequently joined the church choir and the school band and then the local band in his town. As time went on he began to notice an inner inspiration or vision in him that always propelled him forward to see and take advantage of opportunities in his music adventure even without thinking of monetary or material gains. Going down memory lane, he said: ” I love music from the time when I used to crawl to where the drums and other musical instruments were placed in the church, then to becoming a member of the choir and then a member of the school band and then playing music as a hobby to entertain people when we formed a local band in my town.” Somehow, along the line, the young Ebenezer took interest in learning to play all the musical instruments available then and this was not a common practice. Soon he achieved proficiency in all of them including the “Agidigbo”, a local instrument that many did not want to touch because of the energy and stress it exerted on the player. Another uncommon attribute he gained was his ability to compose songs with ease and to compose different songs that fitted various individual occasions which left his audience excited during and after every show. Unknown to him, God was just preparing him for the big league. As God would have it, he had to leave his home town for Lagos to stay with his father. By the time he left Idogo, he had become a multi talented musician but it did not occur to him to take up music as a career. Explaining why this was so, he said: ” We were then playing music as a hobby where we entertained people for the fun of it and we would be given biscuit and cola soft drink at the end of every show. So despite my love for music, I never at the initial stage gave a thought to making a living out of it. I was working as a Pools Betting Agent on a salary of three Pounds per month.” The opportunity to go professional came unexpectedly in a curious manner that could only have been divine. Hear him: ” An incident occurred and it changed my entire orientation which eventually launched me into a professional musician and propelled me to take up music as a career. “One day, I was sitting in front of my father’s house in Mushin, Lagos when I saw two elderly people, whom I later knew their names as Akinbomi Savage and Jumoda Bamgbose alias Abengo Mayana. They were local musicians who were searching for a place where they could get a particular local musical instrument called Ajadudu to rent for their show. From their discussion, I knew that they had an outing that night of which the musical instrument was vital. “With my knowledge of matters of music, I knew where they could get it and I approached them that I could help. They were at first sceptical of a young man having a huge knowledge of music and, of course, such a scarce musical instrument. They agreed that I show them the place and they eventually got the instrument. “Eventually, they started to invite me to their night outings and I was making more money than I was being paid as a Pools clerk. There was a day I made One Pound, seven shillings after a show, which was more than half my salary of Three Pounds per month. There was no day I returned home with less than five shillings. So money was no longer a problem and I could give to those in need. “This was one of the key consideration that propelled me into full time music. My thought was that if I was making that much money from music shows with people every night then going professional and leaving the regular pay job would be a better option.” Another significant factor in the journey of Evangelist Obey Fabiyi to stardom occurred when he met and teamed up with the late Fatai Rolling Dollars. Many reports about his career in music had interpreted this to mean that Obey Fabiyi went through some training and tutelage under Fatai Rolling Dollars but he says this is not true. He describes his meeting Fatai Rolling Dollars as ” both accidental and providential or by design.” He said on the first day he met Fatai Rolling Dollars, he (Obey) composed three songs while they were walking along the street and Fatai was so impressed that he invited him to join his group for night shows. According to Obey Fabiyi, ” my meeting with Fatai coincided with when he was sacked from his regular job at the railway corporation. ” I used to ‘raise him’, that is, assist him financially because I was making money from outings with the groups I have been with. Later I teamed up with him as a musical partner though he was the owner of the band. In fact, I helped him name his band Fatai Rolling Dollars and his Rhythm Band. We blended well but six years later we separated without rancour when l decided to find a label to record.” Obey Fabiyi then formed the International Brothers Band and went on to approach Decca, the most popular recording label at the time to record him. The story has been told repeatedly of how the secretary to the Managing Director of the company tried to prevent Obey from seeing him and how the then budding star argued his way to the presence of the expatriate boss and convinced him that he was a future star while asking not to be paid until the sales from marketers had confirmed his boast that the record will be a sell out and shake the market. Indeed, the record sold very well and a star was born. With time, Obey Fabiyi became the most prominent and viable artiste on Decca Label. His fame grew boundless over the years and he later bought the company which is still operating till today under his management. His verdict: ” When I look back, I have no doubt that my journey in life to becoming a music star was planned by God Himself.”
Government of Kaduna State has confirmed that terrorists attacked Abuja-Kaduna train yesterday, March 28, but would not say how many people were killed and injured. In a statement today, March 29, the state commissioner of Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan Commissioner, that the State government is liaising with the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) to ascertain the list from the passengers’ manifest for efficient tracking. “This is to acquire an accurate inventory of all passengers and their actual status.” Samuel Aruwan said however, that passengers who sustained injuries have since been rushed to hospitals for urgent medical attention. He said that Governor Nasir El-Rufa’i has been in constant touch with the security forces and had commended them for their prompt response and thanked them for successfully securing the train and passengers on board. The commissioner said that security forces have continued to comb the general area in additional rescue efforts, adding that emerging developments will be communicated to the public. He said that security agencies had reported to the Kaduna State Government that the military has secured the Kaduna bound train from Abuja trapped by terrorists, adding that the state government had earlier received multiple reports of an attack on the Abuja-Kaduna train service at around Kateri-Rijana general areas. “Relevant action agencies were urgently contacted, and robust deployments of personnel were swiftly made to the area to secure the passengers on board.”
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), is currently investigating how a hospital worth N150 million was illegally converted for use by an Ebonyi State community. According to a statement today, March 28 by the ICPC spokesperson, Mrs. Azuka Ogugua, the hospital has already been handed over to the Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu Alike Ikwo (FUNAI), for which it was built. She said that the Constituency and Executive Project Tracking Group of ICPC had in the course of the phase two of its tracking exercise, traced the Constituency Project being a hospital located at Ebunwana community in AFIKPO SOUTH LGA of Ebonyi State. She said that hospital, which was fully equipped with state-of-the-art medical facilities was conceived as a Medical outpost of FUNAI and meant to serve as a teaching hospital for its medical students. “The project, which was appropriated in 2019 and completed in March 2020 at the cost of the above sum, was facilitated by the then Senator representing Ebonyi South Senatorial District, Senator Sonni Ogbuoji. “However, after the completion of the project, the local community unofficially took over the hospital even though it was not meant for it and went ahead to rename the facility and appoint a consultant to manage the hospital on a profit-sharing arrangement between the community and the consultant. “Following the illegality that enshrouded the constituency project, the Commission stepped in to ensure that the hospital was handed over to the institution for which it was appropriated and executed. “The project has been recovered by the CEPTG team and handed over to the University community on 25th March 2022.” Mrs. Ogugua stressed that investigations are ongoing to unravel how the local community got access and took control of the hospital without any official ceremony.
The media subcommittee of the All Progressives Congress Convention Planning Committee (APCCPC) has apologized to journalists who covered the Convention on Saturday, March 26 for any inconveniences some of them encountered. A message from the Co-Chairmen, Abdullahi Sule, the Governor of Nassarawa State and Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information and Culture, the Secretary of the Publicity Committee of the Subcommittee, Mallam Garba Shehu, expressed regrets for any difficulties encountered by journalists in their coverage of events. The committee also expressed the hope that none of such incidents, if any, will be allowed to happen in the future. It commended the media for the successful conduct of the National Convention which held in Abuja, adding that the role of the media in such an event cannot be ignored. According to the committee publicity is critical to creating public awareness of any issue, saying: “without the contributions of the mass media, the convention wouldn’t have attained the degree of success it had achieved. “We are particularly impressed with the maximum publicity accorded the convention by the press and their patience to withstand inconveniences in the course of covering the event.” “In a democracy, the press plays a significant role in creating public awareness of political events and issues,” explaining that “a majority of the citizens depends mainly on the media to gain information about the government or political activities. “The level of commitment that you dedicated to the coverage of the event went a long way to bring about the success of the APC national convention. Besides, members of the media were also able to provide analyses and insights on the convention, thereby helping members of the general public gain knowledge of the issues and candidates.” It would be recalled that a journalist lost his car while others lost phones to thieves at the venue of the convention.
Nigeria has offered to step in as an alternative gas supplier to Europe in the face of the war now raging between Russia and Ukraine and its negative consequence in gas supply to Europe. This is even as Nigeria also called on the European Union (EU), to step up investments in gas and hydrocarbon in Nigeria to be able to meet the bloc’s energy needs. The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, who spoke when the EU Ambassadors to Nigeria, Samuela Isopi, paid a visit in his office in Abuja, stressed that Nigeria is ready to step in as alternative gas supplier to Europe. A statement today, March 27, by his Senior Adviser on Media and Communications, Horatius Egua, quoted the minister as calling on EU to encourage its oil and gas companies, such as Shell, Eni, and Total Energies to scale up investments in the Nigerian gas sector. “One of the things we warned against earlier was the speed with which EU was taking away investments in fossil fuels. “We warned that the speed was faster than they were developing renewable energy. You can see now that what we were warning against is what is happening now,” the minister said. He told the delegation that what stunted growth in the development of gas in Nigeria is fresh investments, and called for a change of attitude on the part of EU if its request to increase supplies to Europe would be realised. According to the minister, one of the biggest challenges the sector is facing is lack of investments. “In the last 10 years, over 70 billion dollars worth of investments came to Africa, but sadly less than four billion dollars came to Nigeria. “Surprisingly, we are the biggest in Africa. If we cannot attract investments to Nigeria, you know where we are heading. “You have been our long time friend. As at today, our gas reserve is one of the biggest in the world. We have a proven gas reserve of 206 tcf and if we really focus on gas exploitation we can get up to 600 tcf. “We are already building gas infrastructure such as the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) pipeline project, expected to take gas to Algeria, and the West Africa Gas Pipeline project designed to take gas to Morroco.” Sylva said that after the Russia-Ukrainian war, EU must have a buffer or an alternative source of gas, and collaboration with Nigeria in that regard is paramount. He reiterated Nigeria’s commitment to working with the EU to bridge the gap in terms of gas, adding that from the Russian-Ukranian crisis, it is evident that gas has been weaponised and unless it created an alternative, it would only get worse. He reassured the EU diplomats of Nigeria’s readiness to be an alternative supplier of gas to the EU, but urged its companies operating in the country to investment more here. “We would like to be reliable partners to solve the energy problem in Europe and we can only achieve this by working together. It is only when investment in these areas is increased that Niger is can meet that obligation,” Sylva said. He emphased the need for transfer of technology in gas and renewable energy, adding that Africa must be allowed to continue to exploit its hydrocarbon deposits to develop the continent. In her response, Isopi urged Nigeria to take advantage of the opportunity offered by the present crisis in Europe to shore up gas supplies to Europe. She appealed to Nigeria to step into that gap supply chain as an alternative to Russia, adding that the country must not allow the opportunity to pass it by. On the security situation in the Niger Delta that drastically impacted on gas supply in the last few years, Isopi called on the Nigerian government to step up security in the region to guarantee gas supply to EU member states. She expressed concern over the spate of attacks on Shell, Eno and Total Energies’s gas infrastructure that led to the declaration of force majure by the companies and noted that the development was of great concern to Europe. The envoy said that the EU is however, reassured by the recent visit by Sylva and other top government officials to the site of the vandalised infrastructure in the region. The French Ambassador to Nigeria, Emmaunelle Blatmann, who went back memory lane on the diplomatic relations between Nigeria and France, said that in spite of the current challenges in the sector, French companies are ready to commence new investments in Nigeria. Other ambassadors who spoke in support of a strengthened economic and diplomatic relations between the EU and Nigeria, were the Spanish Ambassador to Nigeria Juan Sell, Portuguese Ambassador Luis Barros, and Italian Deputy Head of Mission, Tarek Chazli.
The Joint Union Action Committee (JUAC), the umbrella body of the various employees’ unions in the Federal Capital Territory Administration has commended the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, who it said surprised workers of the Territory with N2.9 billion promotion arrears payment in December, 2021.
According to the Chairman of JUAC, Comrade Korede Matilukuro during the first Quarterly meeting of the JUAC and the FCT Administration, today, March 27, the promotion salary arrears was paid to workers in December 2021. “Without telling us in December, the Minister went out of his way and he paid a whooping sum of N2.9 billion just for promotion arrears without telling anyone. “The next thing we saw after waking up was that our staff were attesting to the fact of the payment of these promotion arrears. “So, I’m sure that if you are in my shoes, you would do more than standing ovation. That shows the disposition of a good leader. Sincerely speaking, Malam Musa Muhammad Bello has not only been encouraging, he has actually added value to the system and to quite a number of staff. “Let me also say that the enjoyment of the promotion arrears even went as far as those that are retired. They called to say it has never happened before; that initially, some of them even thought that it was 419, saying, how can I retire and they will pay promotion arears into my account. “That’s how far the Minister has gone. So, we are not regretting taking that position.” On the highlights of the meeting, the Permanent Secretary, FCTA, Olusade Adesola said: “First quarter meeting reviewed the general situation of the workforce of the FCTA. The Hon. Minister commended JUAC for their cordial working relationship with the management. “The JUAC was also appreciated for their role in the resolution of the lingering industrial action by the NUT.” He said that JUAC has assured of its continuous support for the administration. Various issues that bother on staff welfare were discussed and resolutions were arrived. Amongst the resolutions, the Permanent Secretary said, was the commitment of the Minister to support JUAC in strengthening its cooperative society so that the Administration will be able to deliver further welfare to the staff beneficiaries. Olusade added: “JUAC also promised not only to continue to support the Administration, but to also point out to the Administration where necessary, areas for improvement. “The various initiatives in the Territory, were discussed and it was indeed a cordial relationship based on the honesty of purpose, frankness and dedication to the service of the citizens in the FCT,” the Permanent Secretary said. The meeting was attended by the Chief of Staff to the Minister, Malam Bashir Mai-Bornu, Mandate Secretaries, the Director of Human Resources Management, The Director of Treasury and other senior officials.
“As we conclude this very successful convention of our great party, I know that our opponents in PDP and other opposition parties are now sulking, wearing long faces of sadness, bewilderment and dismay.” The new national chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Abdullhi Adamu, who made point at the national convention group in Abuja yesterday, March 26, said that people in the PDP and other opposition parties had been hoping and praying to make a fortune out of the APC misfortune. ” “They had been hoping and praying to make a fortune out of our misfortunes. They were also hoping and praying to capitalize on assumed failures of our party to reap political benefits.” He said that as God had turned the convention into a huge success, “we need to renew our faith in our party and its leadership at all levels in order to herald a new dawn. “We need to commit to the resolution of our crisis within the confines of our party constitution. “We must resist the temptation to blow every minor personal disagreement into a major party crisis. It is time for us to do things differently. “When we quarrel, we open our flanks to our rival political parties that are only too eager to exploit them for their own benefit.
Abdullhi Adamu stressed that as politicians “we are not strangers to gains, losses and disappointments with the outcome of every political contest. “Let us show maturity and good sportsmanship and accept the outcome of this Convention with grace. “Our party needs all hands on the steering wheel so that together we can steer the ship of state through the inclement weather of our divisive national politics to the promised land.” The chairman, who thanked those who intended to lead the party but had to obey the leadership, for what he called: ” their spirit of sportsmanship,” saying: we will continue to count on their cooperation as loyal party members and patriots.” He promised the new leadership will heal any wounds in the party and would effect lasting reconciliation among members, as well as going into the next general elections as a strong and united party. “I offer my hands of friendship to all our members. I want to assure you that my colleagues and myself will run an open door policy to all members of the party.
A former Special Assistant to the Chairman of Giwa Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Hassan Dauda, has been sentenced to twelve years imprisonment for his involvement in a N6.3 million Hajj fraud.
Dauda, who was charged before the Kaduna State High Court by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), was accused of defrauding eight persons of N6,342,000.
ICPC had, in a 16-count charge of obtaining by false pretence, abuse of office and forgery filed before Justice M. T. Aliyu, accused Dauda of using his position as a Special Assistant to the Chairman of Giwa Local Government Area to defraud unsuspecting victims in the guise of securing Hajj seats for them in 2013, an offence punishable under Section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000.
In his ruling, Justice Aliyu found him guilty on the counts relating to obtaining by false pretence and sentenced him to seven years without an option of fine.
He was also convicted on the counts relating to abuse of office and sentenced to 5 years imprisonment without an option of fine.
He was discharged and acquitted on the counts relating to forgery.
Reading the sentence, the judge said that ICPC was able to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt. The sentence will run concurrently.
It will be recalled that the convict was arrested by operatives of ICPC in October 2013 following a petition of his alleged corrupt act and was arraigned in May 2015 after the conclusion of investigations.
The Super Eagles played a goalless draw with Ghana yesterday, March 25 in the first leg of their 2022 FIFA World playoffs at the Baba Yara Stadium, Kumasi Ghana.
The Black Stars dominated the opening exchanges, but were unable to break down the Super Eagles defence.
Francis Uzoho produced a stunning save to deny Afena Gyan in the 33rd minute.
Victor Osimhen had Nigeria’s first shot on target in the 38th minute but was saved by Joseph Wollacott.
Rangers midfielder wasted another chance five minutes later.
The pattern of play continued after the break with the Black Stars in total ascendacy.
It was the Super Eagles who carved out the best chance of the half.
Moses Simon was put through on goal by Kelechi Iheanacho but his effort was saved by Wollacott.
Both teams struggled to carve out meaningful chances afterwards.
The second leg will be played next week Tuesday at the Moshood Abiola Stadium, Abuja, Nigeria.
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