Nana Akufo Begs Buhari To Reopen Borders, Says It Affects Ghanaian Economy

January 20, 2020

President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana has appealed to his Nigerian counterpart, Muhammadu Buhari to reopen the country’s borders because it is negatively affecting his country’s economy.

In a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the UK-Africa Investment Summit 2020 in London today, January 20, President Akufo-Addo said that his appeal for the reopening of the borders became necessary “because the Nigerian market is significant for certain categories of business people in Ghana.”

The Ghanaian leader acknowledged the need for Nigeria to protect is citizens but still pleaded for “an expedited process” towards the reopening of the border.

This was after President Buhari had said that the partial closure of Nigeria’s borders was not just because of food products, particularly rice, which were being smuggled into Nigeria, but also because of arms and ammunition, as well as hard drugs, which were also being smuggled into Nigeria.

Buhari said that he cannot keep his eyes open and watch the lives of youths being destroyed by cheap hard drugs, while the security of the country is compromised by the influx of arms.

“When most of the vehicles carrying rice and other food products through our land borders are intercepted, you find cheap hard drugs, and small arms, under the food products. This has terrible consequences for any country.”

PresidentvBuhari regretted that the partial border closure is having “negative economic impact on our neighbours.

“we cannot leave our country, particularly the youths, endangered.”

He said that the opening of the borders would not happen till the final report of a committee set up on the matter is submitted and considered.

“Once the committee comes up with its recommendations, we will sit and consider them.”

PDP’s Protests Over Imo Aimed At Bringing Buhari Govt Down, Gov Uzodinma Alleges

Editorial staff

January 20, 2020

Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State has called on security agencies to investigate the current protests being staged in different parts of the country purportely over the Supreme Court judgment on the election in the State.

Governor Uzodinma, who addressed members of the APC who staged a solidarity march for him today, January 20 in Owerri,the state capital, said that members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who protested against his mandate might have done so in futility.
He asked: “Why are they organizing rally in Bayelsa, organizing rally in Cross River, organizing rally in Abuja, organizing rally in Katsina? Its because they want to bring down the government of President Mohammadu Buhari.
“We are not going to fold our hands and watch it. I am therefore calling on the Federal Government through this medium to go into full investigation to unravel the idea and those behind this organized near-synchronized crisis.”
Governor Uzodinma recalled his ordeal and travails during the events that led to the March 9, 2019 election and advised the people in the state not to entertain fear but to go about their normal businesses without fear.
He said that the unity of Nigeria supercedes any other interest.

PDP Takes To Street Protest In Abuja, Wants Supreme Court To Reverse Imo Judgment

Editorial staff

January 20, 2020

Leadership of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) took to street protest today, January 20 in Abuja, the nation’s federal capital to drive home it’s call for the reversal of the Supreme Court judgment on Imo State governorship election.

The protest, which started at the PDP’s Legacy House and passed through the Three Arms Zone was led by the PDP National Chairman, Uche Secondus with the PDP Presidential running mate in the 2019 election, Peter Obi as well as other top party leaders in attendance.
Addressing party leaders at the Eagle Square, the National Chairman said that Supreme Court had misfired as the figures that gave Governor Hope Uzodinma victory were “not adding up.”
Secondus said all the protesters were demanding for was for the Supreme Court to reverse its judgment which removed Ihedioha as the governor of Imo.
According to him, the PDP leaders and supporters are out for a peaceful, non-violent protest to show they are all Nigerians.
He described PDP as “the most peaceful party, the largest party and well organised party in Africa.
“I want to congratulate you all for coming from all the nooks and crannies of this country, peacefully, to register our protest.
“We are here, under one God, under one nation; our nation is under the rule of law.
“We are a nation governed by law; therefore, all we are seeking today is for our very highly respected jurists at the highest court of the land to be just.
“We are not against you, we are against the error. And by the special grace of God, I know you will revisit the error. All we are saying is for you to review this error because the figures are not adding up. We, therefore, call on the leadership of the judiciary to please note that we are all human beings. God is the highest”.
“We know that they worship God, all of us worship God, to revisit and reverse the Imo State judgment because we believe that the figures are not adding up.”
Secondus said that the party believed that the Supreme Court judges would hear their cry, revisit, review, and if possible reverse the judgment.
“That is justice that will be done, not only to the people of Imo but for Nigerians who are crying. This is time to show courage,” Secondus said.
Also speaking, Peter Obi, who was once the governor of Anambra State said that he was not just speaking as member of PDP, but also as a beneficiary of the right thing done by the party during its 16 years administration.
Obi recalled how he was a member of a minority party (then APGA) and he won election, went to court and PDP did not intervene.
He added that Adams Oshiomhole, former Edo governor and National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC)couldn’t have been governor, or beneficiary of judiciary, if PDP had intervened.
“So as a beneficiary, I am appealing to the judiciary to save this country. What happened in Imo State is enough to kill our democracy. Let us ensure that the judiciary is the last hope of the common man.”
The Senate Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe also said that the only message of PDP is that the judgment should be reviewed as figures were not adding up.
Source: NAN.

It’ll Have Been A Major Political Blow If APC Had Lost Kano, Plateau – Buhari

Editorial staff

January 20, 2020

President Muhammadu Buhari has the cause to jubilate over the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the Supreme Court today, January 20, which upheld the elections of Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State and Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State.

The President, who commended the APC National Executive Council (NEC), National Working Committee (NWC) and all members for the loyalty and consistency said: “it would have been a major blow if strategically important states like Kano and Plateau are lost.”

He said that after what he called “tough legal challenges,” the party is able to secure many victories, “particularly the politically strategic states: Kano and Plateau.

“I am glad this tortuous journey has ended in favour of the party and our governors. APC won the states and has proved it in court.”

The President congratulated all the APC governors whose elections have been affirmed by the Supreme Court and called on the electorates and politicians to strengthen the country’s judicial processes by always seeking redress in court.

“It has now become standard procedure for the opposition to challenge any poll or judgement that does not return its candidates.

“Election is good when they win. The opposite is the case if someone else emerges. But that is not the way it works. “Democracy is not only about who wins or who loses, but also about the process.

“In disparaging every unfavourable result or judgement, they disparage the entire system.”

Nigeria’ll Be World Power In No Distant Future – British PM

Editorial staff

January 20, 2020

The British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has predicted that Nigeria will become world power in no distant future with the way the government of President Muhammadu Buhari is carrying on with the development of the country.
Boris Johnson, who met with President Buhari on the sidelines of the UK-Africa Investment Summit 2020 today, January 20 in London, said: “In the future, Nigeria will not just be a continental but international power.”
The Prime Minister applauded the idea of the Commonwealth Free Trade, as being proposed by President Buhari and pledged a careful consideration.
He advised the Nigerian Leader to keep the national autonomy of his country intact.
This was even as President Buhari narrated the strides which his government has made in agriculture, leading almost to self-sufficiency in rice and other grains, saving the country billions in foreign exchange.
He also spoke about the war against insurgency, which he said is being won, even as he disabused of the minds of the people on the true philosophy of Boko Haram.
He acknowledged that the the main challenge in the insurgency war is in the area of resettling displaced people, which is being tackled frontally.
“We have a long history with the British military, and we are collaborating.”
President Buhari also spoke on the anti-corruption war, saying that though it has been slow but painstaking.
He said that the cooperation of the National Crime Agency of UK is still needed, particularly in the investigation of fugitives from Nigeria finding accommodation in the United Kingdom.
Climate change, President Buhari said, was a challenge to Nigeria and neighbouring African countries, especially with the shrinkage of the Lake Chad to a minuscule of its original size.
The Nigerian Leader also said the country is focused and making progress on education, particularly that of the girl child.

Ganduje Laughs Last As Supreme Court Retains Him Kano Gov

Greenbarge Reporters

January 20, 2020

Kano State Governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has the cause to roll out drums to celebrate as Supreme Court has affirmed his election under the umbrella of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Abba Kabir Yusuf, filed an appeal at the apex court to dispute the March 24 supplementary election held in some electoral wards in Kano State.
In a unanimous judgment today, January 20, delivered by Justice Sylvester Ngwuta, the apex court dismissed the appeal filed by Abba Yusuf challenging the election of Governor Ganduje for lacking in merit.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared the March 9 election in Kano State inconclusive, which led to the supplementary election held on March 23.

Source: CHANNELS TV.

Huthi Rebels Kill More than 83 Yemeni Soldiers

Editorial staff

January 19, 2020

Huthi rebels have killed no fewer than 83 Yemeni Soldiers with scores sustaining various degrees of injuries in a missile and drone attack.

According to medical and military sources today, January 20, the Huthi rebels in central Yemen, launched the attack after months of relative calm in the war between the Iran-backed Huthis and Yemen’s internationally recognised government, which is backed by a Saudi-led military coalition.
The Huthis attacked a mosque in a military camp in the central province of Marib — about 170 kilometres (105 miles) east of the capital Sanaa — during evening prayers, military sources told AFP.
A medical source at a Marib city hospital, where the casualties were transported, said that 83 soldiers were killed and 148 injured in the strike.
Death tolls in Yemen’s grinding conflict are often disputed, but the huge toll in Marib represents one of the bloodiest single attacks since the war erupted in 2014 when the rebels seized Sanaa.
The drone and missile strike came a day after coalition-backed government forces launched a large-scale operation against the Huthis in the Nihm region, north of Sanaa.
Fighting in Nihm was ongoing on Sunday, a military source said according to the official Saba news agency.
“Dozens from the (Huthi) militia were killed and injured,” the source added.
Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi condemned the “cowardly and terrorist” attack on the mosque, Saba reported.
“The disgraceful actions of the Huthi militia without a doubt confirm its unwillingness to (achieve) peace, because it knows nothing but death and destruction and is a cheap Iranian tool in the region,” it quoted Hadi as saying.
The president also stressed the importance of increasing military vigilance “to foil hostile and destructive plans and maintain security and stability”.
The Huthis did not make any immediate claim of responsibility and the Saba report did not give a death toll.
The uptick in violence comes shortly after United Nations envoy, Martin Griffiths welcomed a sharp reduction in air strikes and the movement of ground forces.
“We are surely, and I hope this is true and I hope it will remain so, witnessing one of the quietest periods of this conflict,” he said in a briefing to the UN Security Council on Thursday.
“Experience however tells us that military de-escalation cannot be sustained without political progress between the parties, and this has become the next challenge.” A year after Yemen’s warring sides agreed to a UN-brokered truce for the key Red Sea port city of Hodeida and its surroundings, fighting in the province has subsided but the slow implementation of the deal has quashed hopes for an end to the conflict.
The landmark agreement signed in Sweden in December 2018 had been hailed as Yemen’s best chance so far to end the fighting that has pushed the country to the brink of famine.
Tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, have been killed and millions displaced in the war that has ravaged the country, triggering what the UN describes as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Saudi Arabia and its allies intervened in the conflict to back the government against the Huthis in March 2015, shortly after the rebels seized control of Sanaa.
A senior UN official warned Thursday that certain key factors that threatened to trigger a famine in Yemen last year were once again looming large, including a plunge in the value of the national currency.
“With a rapidly depreciating rial and disrupted salary payments, we are again seeing some of the key conditions that brought Yemen to the brink of famine a year ago,” Ramesh Rajasingham, who coordinates humanitarian aid in Yemen, told the UN Security Council.
“We must not let that happen again,” he said.

Federal Government Exempts 20 More Basic Food, Others From 7.5 Percent VAT Regime

Editorial staff

January 19, 2020

The President said that the 2020 Appropriation Bill is based on this new VAT rate.

Nigeria’s federal government has announced the exemption of no fewer than 20 more food, sanitary and other items from the Finance Act which increased the Value Added Tax (VAT) from 5 percent to 7.5 percent.

In a statement today, January 20, the senior special assistant to the President on media and publicity, office of the Vice President, Laolu Akande said that in a bid to ensure that the cost of living does not rise for Nigerians because of the changes in the Value-Added Tax, several basic food items, locally manufactured sanitary towels, pads and tuition relating to nursery, primary, secondary and tertiary education have been added to the exemption list of goods and services on the VAT under the Finance Bill 2019.
“To allay fears that low-income persons and companies will be marginalized by the new law, reduce the burden of taxation on vulnerable segments, and promote equitable taxation, the Finance Act 2019 has extended the list of goods and services exempted from VAT. The additional exemptions include the following:
“Basic food items – Additives (honey), bread, cereals, cooking oils, culinary herbs, fish, flour and starch, fruits (fresh or dried), live or raw meat and poultry, milk, nuts, pulses, roots, salt, vegetables, water (natural water and table water), Locally manufactured sanitary towels, pads or tampons.
“Services rendered by microfinance banks, Tuition relating to nursery, primary, secondary and tertiary education.”
Laolu Akande said that Nigeria’s increased new VAT rate of 7.5 percent is still the lowest in Africa, and one of the lowest anywhere in the world.
According to him, South Africa VAT is 15 percent; Ghana is 12.5 percent; Kenya is 16 percent; Egypt is 14 percent; Rwanda is 18 percent and Senegal is 18 percent.
The Presidential spokesman listed the benefit of the new law to include consolidating the efforts already made in creating the enabling environment for improved private sector participation and contribution to the economy as well as boost states’ revenues.
He quoted President Buhari as saying that the Finance Bill will support the funding and implementation of the 2020 Budget, adding: “We shall sustain this tradition by ensuring that subsequent budgets are also accompanied by a Finance Bill.”

Nigeria Seeks Better Trade Relations With Emerging New Britain

Editorial staff

January 19, 2020

Nigeria is seeking for better trade and diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom as it is set to exit the European Union.

President Muhammadu Buhari, who made the request today, January 20 in London on behalf of Nigeria, said that only the passage of time will reveal what the UK’s new relationship shall be.

“But with this new arrangement, I, like many other Commonwealth leaders, also seek a new settlement not only of closer relations between the UK and my own nation, but of unleashing trade within the club in which we together shall remain.”

Buhari, who acknowledged that the relationship between Nigeria and the UK had been close and longstanding, recalled that in recent years, “our relationship, particularly economically, has become increasingly defined by Britain’s membership of the European Union.”

The Nigerian leader noted that a new free trade agreement would reconfigure the emerging new Britain, “presenting new opportunities for both.

“As the largest economy in Africa, my country of nearly 200 million people has a great deal to offer: Nigeria’s vast natural energy and mineral resources, unbarred through the ending of customs barriers, could help supply growth for companies in all corners of the UK. “Greater access would also be forthcoming to one of the world’s fastest expanding groups of consumers – the Nigerian middle classes.

“For my country, greater UK engagement in its economy would bring jobs to under-tapped sectors, such as agriculture and manufacturing. Millions of highly skilled, English-speaking but underemployed young people, are eager to work but without the opportunities that foreign investment can bring to create jobs and build businesses.

“Yet there is also a case to be made that our two Commonwealth countries should try, with other members, to deliver more, collectively.

“In 2015, I became the first head of a new Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council tasked with boosting trade and investment within the wider organisation.

“Now with the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth’s largest economy, no longer obliged to ringfence its economy with tariffs, this mission will be given a jolt of vitality.

“However, we must be realistic: the commonwealth will not suddenly become a multilateral-free trade zone. “Today, many members reside within regional free trade and customs zones of their own. Yet without any of us needing to relinquish these ties, we can work together to minimise, consistent with respective memberships, as far as possible many of the tariffs and barriers on commodities, products and services. “Because member countries’ national laws are built on the principles of English jurisprudence, we might work together from this common platform to better align regulations on investment, certification and trade.

“A renewed sense of Commonwealth solidarity would also be of enormous benefit to the large and vital diasporas, particularly from Africa and the Indian subcontinent, that live in Western Commonwealth countries such as Britain, Canada and Australia.

“These communities still maintain the strongest of cultural and family links with the countries from which they and their forebears emigrated.

“Yet visa restrictions and customs barriers must be reduced to fulfill the potential these connections could bring to the nations where they today reside. “As an African leader, I have an obligation to speak of the fact that while many in the African Diaspora enjoy considerable benefits from life in the West, they do not always feel at the heart of the community.

“A renewed sense that there are ties that bind us through the Commonwealth, and a concerted effort to grow those links through trade, could act as a spur to encourage togetherness and the certainty of belonging.

“This year provides two critical summits in which this new determination could take seed. In January, London shall play host to the UK-Africa Investment Summit. (The continent is the Commonwealth’s largest constituent, providing over a third of its membership) “And then back to Africa, where Rwanda will welcome countries to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

“It is at this biennial summit that many of the organisation’s milestones have been achieved, particularly in democracy and human rights. The 2020 summit could be the wrench that begins to tighten our economic structures, drawing strength from our shared bonds of history, friendship and language.

“Time will tell if Britain’s new ability to strike free trade deals directly with other countries once it departs the EU can be built into more than bilateral economic cooperation. But there is no reason why, collectively, we should not try.

“Nor should we dismiss the potential for making the Commonwealth of Nations more than a voluntary organization of equals based on a shared history that it is today. Instead it is in all our people’s interests to labour, dispassionately, to increase our focus on lowering barriers to achieving what truly brings freedom, friendship and equality: prosperity through trade.”

Lassa Fever: Expert Warns Against Soaking Garri In Water To Drink

Editorial staff

January 19, 2020

The Director of Public Health, Enugu State, Dr. Boniface Okolo, has cautioned Nigerians against the consumption of cassava flakes, otherwise known as garri to avoid contacting Lassa fever.

Dr. Okolo, who gave the warning in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu today, January 18, said that the rats that cause the disease are mostly in contact with Nigerian most popular staple food ‘garri,’ product from cassava, saying that it becomes mode dangerous as soaked garri does not require boiled water.
The health expert said that boiled water can kill bacteria caused by pest or rodents in garri, adding: “it is better that the cassava flakes called garri is used for ‘eba’, because of the use of hot water.
“We in the state health ministry are waging total war against rodents through sensitisation, that is what we are doing to ensure we do not have victim of Lassa fever in the state.
“We are also sensitising the public to ensure that their fruits and raw vegetables are properly washed if they must be consumed them raw and cook to the appropriate temperature.
“The best practices for food storage should be encouraged to prevent epidemic.
”We should always make sure that we use air-tight clean plastic containers to preserve our foodstuff to avoid lassa fever and other diseases.”

1...899900901...2,501 Page 900 of 2,501