President Muhammadu Buhari had dinner with Africas richest man, Alhaji Aliko Dangote and other members of the business community on Thursday night.

The dinner held at the State House in Abuja to break the Ramadan fast.

President Buhari thanked Nigerians for their continuous support to his administration.

He said he was particularly happy with the performance of the agriculture sector in the past two years.

Dangote Foundation had on Wednesday donated 150 patrol cars to the Nigerian police.

The Vice President Yemi Osinbajo who received the cars said the gesture would boost security infrastructure.

I want to congratulate the Inspector General of Police on this latest donation of 150 cars. I think this is going to be a great boost to our efforts at keeping security all over the country.

I would also like to call on others, especially major corporate organisations that whatever cooperation and collaboration we can get from them will be greatly appreciated.

We wish they could follow the very great example that has been set today by Dangote Group and Alhaji Aliko Dangote.

According to the vice president, besides the positive donation, the government and the people of Nigeria have benefitted greatly from the corporate social responsibility of Dangote Group.

Osinbajo recalled that the group was responsible for the building of 54km Obajana-Kabba Road, several health centres in Benue, Ogun and other parts of the country, as well as schools.

He said government was aware of the micro credit scheme the foundation gave to no fewer than 40,000 citizens, noting that the patrol vehicles were directed at security of the country.

Osinbajo thanks Aliko Dangote for the huge donation to help the

Source: NAN

A senior North Korean official will on Friday hand over a letter from the countrys leader Kim Jong Un to U.S. President Donald Trump.

This is in a rare visit to the White House as the two sides try to put a derailed summit meeting back on track

Trump hopes to meet Kim in Singapore on June 12 and pressure him to give up his nuclear weapons, although he conceded on Thursday that might require more rounds of direct negotiations.

Id like to see it done in one meeting, Trump told Reuters. But often times thats not the way deals work.

Theres a very good chance that it wont be done in one meeting or two meetings or three meetings. But itll get done at some point. he added

Leading the delegation to the White House on Friday is Kim Yong Chol, a close aide of Kim Jong Un.

Source:

Source: NAN

It paves the way for compensation to be paid to people who were sexually abused as children by church figures and puts pressure on other institutions to follow suit.

The countrys Catholic bishops and leaders of its religious orders committed to signing on to the 3.8 billion Australian dollar (2.2 billion) national plan on Wednesday.

The church is the first non-government institution to opt into the plan and estimates it will itself be liable for about one billion dollars (568 million) in compensation.

Federal Social Services Minister Dan Tehan expects more institutions to follow, saying there could be further announcements as early as Thursday.

Archbishop of Adelaide Philip Wilson last week became the most senior Catholic cleric in the world to be convicted of covering up child sex abuse.

He faces a potential two-year prison term when he appears in court in June to be sentenced for protecting a paedophile priest in the 1970s.

Source: NAN

Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, has commended President Muhammadu Buhari for assenting to the Not-Too-Young-To-Run.

The bill is for an act to alter the provisions of the constitution to reduce the age for some political offices.

He also noted that noted that the National Assembly has delivered on its promise.

Ekweremadu, who is also the Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution, on Thursday said the new amendment to the Constitution would open up the political space for the Nigerian youth.

He urged them to capitalise on it to take their proper place in the scheme of things.

He also urged President Buhari to also attend to other Constitution Amendment Bills awaiting his assent, describing them as critical to the good governance of the nation.

I am happy for the Nigerian youth and congratulate them on this new vista of political relevance and attainments.

We have delivered on our promise and it is my hope that the youth will capitalise on it to take their rightful place in the governance of the country. As I have always maintained, today, not tomorrow, belongs to the youth. It is theirs to organise and mobilise to take it.

I commend President Muhammadu Buhari for assenting to the Bill to motivate our youth to start preparations for the 2019 elections.

However, I equally urge him to assent to the remaining Bills already transmitted to him, including the Bill seeking financial autonomy for State Houses of Assembly

He assured that the National Assembly would continue to make laws that would deepen the nations democracy and promote good governance.

Meanwhile, his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has claimed credit for the bill.

The party said the bill was pursued and sponsored by members of the PDP at the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly.

According to Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, spokesman of the party, this development is indeed a democratic victory for the Nigerian youths over forces.

The party commands the sponsor of the bill, Hon. Tony Nwulu (PDP, Lagos) and the resilience of the Nigerians youths in getting the initiative through, in line with the vision of the PDP to allow younger Nigerians to actively participate in elective positions in governance at all levels.

Source: NAN

Delta Governor Ifeanyi Okowa has kicked off a 3,000-hectare oil palm plantation owned by Norsworthy Farms and Allied Industries, as a major investment that would boost the states economy.

At the ground-breaking for the plantation and processing plant at Akwukwu-Igbo, Oshimili North Local Government Area, Okowa said the project would change the face of oil palm industry in the state when operational.

Norsworthy Farms and Allied Industries is also setting up a palm oil refinery, palm kernel crushing plant and 10-tonne per hour palm oil mill.

He observed that with the oil palm investment, his administrations drive for investors to come to the state was yielding results.

I see this exercise as a good example of private sector participation in the economy.

It is really ennobling when private sector organisations partner with government in the pursuit of sustainable development.

There are many avenues through which the private sector and non-governmental organisations can partner to bring sustainable development to the doorsteps of the people.

I am convinced that this is a major step forward in the development of viable business in the agriculture sector, which is a part of the key element of private sector participation in the development of our dear state.

The governor promised the people of Akwukwu-Igbo that the road from the community to Ugbolu would be captured in the 2019 budget.

He appealed to the traditional rulers across the state to make land available to investors.

The Managing Director, Norsworthy Farms and Allied Industries Limited, Mr Gabriel Ugbechie, said that over N6 billion had been budgeted for the project.

Earlier, the Council Chairman, Mr Louis Ndukwe, in his address, noted that oil palm played important roles in the development of Nigerias economy in the past.

He added that it could do more to turn the economies of both the state and country around.

He said the sectors value chain would bring about speedy development of the rural community and boost jobs and wealth creation for the people.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the governor later unveiled the ground breaking plaque.

He also planted a palm seedling and took a tour of the site in company of some government functionaries, traditional rulers, industrialists and farmers, among others. (NAN)

Source: NAN

No fewer than 17 million Africans left the continent in 2017 in search of greener pastures, a new report by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has said.

The Economic Development in Africa report also said 5.5 million people moved to Africa from other continents while some 19 million international migrants moved within Africa.

Overall, some 19 million international migrants moved within Africa, and 17 million Africans left the continent during last year. The continent was also the destination for about 5.5 million people from outside, the report found.

It said the large-scale migration of people within Africa tended to boost growth and lifted the continents whole economy, urging the world to dispel misconceptions and harmful narratives targeting migration.

The report also said cross-border movement offered a chance for a better life, with the social and economic benefits extending to both source and destination countries, as well as future generations.

Mukhisa Kituyi, the Secretary-General of (UNCTAD), said at the launching the report: Our analysis shows this to be true for millions of African migrants and their families.

Kituyi added that public perception, particularly as it relates to international African migration, is rife with misconceptions that have become part of a divisive, misleading and harmful narrative.

The report said remittances travelling back home from migrant workers both outside and inside Africa rose on average from 38.4 billion dollars between 2005 to 2007, to 64.9 billion dollars, during the two-year period up to the end of 2016.

According to the report, therefore, remittances accounted for over half of the capital flows within the continent.

Likewise, migrants contributed nearly 20 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Cte dIvoire according to figures from 2008, and 13 per cent in Rwanda (2012 figures).

Junior Davis, the lead author of the report, said it provided evidence of the intimate correlation between migration and trade two sides of the same coin.

Africa is on the cusp of tremendous change, he said, noting the recently agreed African Continental Free Trade Area and the Protocol on the Free Movement of Persons.

In this context the report contributes to a better understanding of the implications of intra-African migration for the continents socio-economic transformation, Davis added.

However, alongside the numbers of migrants moving and working within Africa, the continent also has some of the highest number of people forced from their homes due to conflict or natural disasters.

On top of the development gains lost at home, there is a significant economic and social burden faced by host countries, leaving many migrants dependent on international humanitarian aid, the report stated. (NAN)

Source: NAN

A 39-year-old woman, Sholade Adegoke, who allegedly set her uncle ablaze over refusal to move out of her apartment, was on Thursday brought before a Surulere Chief Magistrates’ Court, Lagos.

Adegoke, who resides at No. 23, Oyenuga St., Ijeshatedo, Surulere, Lagos, is standing trial on a two-count charge bordering on assault.

The Prosecutor, Insp. Ikechukwu Edumodior, told the court that the accused committed the offences on May 12, at the same address.

Edumodior said that the accused had told her uncle, Mr Ibikunle Akinpelu, who was looking for accommodation, to occupy a two bedroom at Onyenuga Street for a period of time.

He stated that the accused explained to her uncle early in 2017 that she needed to rent out the apartment and insisted that he should move out before the end of the year.

The prosecutor said that the accused, who was tired of waiting for her uncle to move out, had confidently walked into her uncle’s room, poured a keg of petrol on him and immediately lit a match that set him on fire.

He added that neighbours who saw her with a match and the keg reported the incident at the police station.

The prosecutor noted that the offences contravened Sections 173 and 245 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2011.

The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The Chief Magistrate, Mrs O.I Adelaja, granted the accused bail in the sum of N500, 000 with two sureties in like sum.

She ordered that the sureties must be gainfully employed and show evidence of tax payment to Lagos State Government.

Adelaja adjourned the case until June 11, for trial.

Source: NAN

The Ugandan parliament on Thursday passed a law imposing a tax on people using mobile social media networks in an attempt to increase revenue, but rights groups say the levy is actually aimed at silencing dissent.

The tax for users of WhatsApp, Twitter and Facebook is minimal, at 200 Ugandan shillings (five cents) a day, but adds up to about 18 dollars a year – not a small amount of money in the impoverished East African country.

“As a government, we thought it would be good to impose taxes on some aspects of the social media,” deputy government spokesman Shaban Bantariza told dpa Thursday, the day after parliament passed the law.

He added that “government is installing infrastructure like WiFi in areas around the country and it will not do this without our contribution through taxes.”

It was not quite clear how the tax would be implemented, but 24 millions Ugandans – about half the population – have access to the internet, according to the Uganda Communications Commission, mostly through mobile phones.

However, human rights groups expressed concern over the move, which reportedly came about after long-time leader Yoweri Museveni said social media helped spread gossip.

“This tax is detrimental to the enjoyment of freedom of expression,” said Livingstone Sewannyana, director of Uganda’s Foundation for Human Rights Initiative.

“Its prohibitive. It shows the repressive nature of the state which is amassing as much revenue as it can to its advantage,” he added.

During the 2016 elections, social media networks were shut down because people were using them to communicate and mobilize anti-government demonstrations.

Source: NAN

President Muhammadu Buhari has fulfilled his administration’s third anniversary promise by signing into law, the `Not Too Young To Run Bill’.

While signing the bill on Thursday, the president, in a jocular mood, ‘appealed’ to young people to defer their presidential ambitions till after the 2019 general elections.

President Buhari in a tweet on Thursday shared the video of the event.

https://twitter.com/MBuhari/status/1002192959998226432

President Buhari had on Tuesday in his Democracy Day broadcast, pledged to sign the bill.

The bill was passed by the National Assembly in July 2017 to alter Sections 65, 106, 131, 177 of the Constitution to reduce the age qualification for president, from 40 to 30; House of Representatives membership, from 30 to 25 and State House of Assembly membership, from 30 to 25.
President Buhari, however, noted that the new bill did not tamper with the age qualifications for governor and the senate, which remained at 35.

He congratulated the young people over the signing of the bill, and urged them to be more enterprising and self-sustaining.

Source: NAN