French cement giant Lafarge was charged Thursday with complicity in crimes against humanity and financing a terrorist organisation for paying millions to jihadist groups, including the Islamic State, to keep a factory in Syria open during the war.

A legal source said the company, which paid the armed groups through middlemen, has also been charged with endangering the lives of former employees at the cement plant in Jalabiya, northern Syria.

French rights group Sherpa, one of the plaintiffs in the case, said it was the first time that a company anywhere in the world had been charged with complicity in crimes against humanity.

The allegations against Lafarge, which merged with Swiss firm Holcim in 2015, are the most serious against a French company in years.

Lafarge was ordered to hand over 30 million euros ($35 million) to authorities as a security deposit ahead of the trial.

Eight Lafarge executives, including former CEO Bruno Laffont, have already been charged with financing a terrorist group and/or endangering the lives of others over Lafarge’s activities in Syria between 2011 and 2015.

Lafarge is suspected of paying nearly 13 million euros ($16 million) to IS and other militant groups to keep the Jalabiya plant running long after other French companies had pulled out of Syria.

Sherpa hailed the decision to charge the company, saying it was “a decisive step in the fight against the impunity of multinationals operating in armed conflict zones”.

The INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, on Thursday met with heads of security agencies, logistics experts, transport unions and other stakeholders to ensure seamless deployment of elections materials and personnel in 2019.

The News Agency of Nigerian (NAN) reports that INEC organised the Conference on Logistics for the 2019 General Elections in collaboration with the European Centre for Electoral Support (ECES).

The event was equally supported by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES).

It was aimed at enhancing timely delivery of materials and personnel to polling units during the 2019 General Elections.

Declaring the conference open, Yakubu said that Nigerians would expect polling units to be opened at 8.00a.m. on election days Feb. 16, 2019, and March 2, 2019.

If we dont open the polling units at 8.00a.m., it means we have not started well, but how do we open polling units at 8.00a.m.?

It requires biggest and big time logistics operations.

We have been required to deliver personnel and electoral materials at 119, 973 locations nationwide, and they must all open simultaneously.

Electoral logistics is key to the successful opening of polling units at the time we have promised Nigerians we are going to do so.

If we open all the polling units or a substantial majority by 8.00a.m., we have achieved a considerable part of our responsibility in election management; other things will fall in place, he said.

According to him, if there are hiccups, people from different sections will complain.

Yakubu said that some polling units were hard to reach and would require use of boats.

He noted that the 2019 Elections remained 232 days, saying that the exercise would be a huge undertaking with several obstacles, some preventable and others unexpected.

The chairman said that the exercise would require careful planning, adding that deployment and retrieval of personnel and materials for elections would call for huge logistics.

According to him, any flop in logistics will be termed as an attempt to disenfranchise the citizens, hence, the need to plan adequately with logistics operators and security agencies.

Logistics is basically public service. Some citizens may understand if we dont open polling units at 8.00a.m., others will see it as incompetence of the electoral commission.

The work is sensitive; so, we are determined as the election management body to ensure that polling units open at 8.00a.m. as promised.

To be able to do so, we need contributions, support, suggestions and inputs of those who have been handling these as a matter of their respective constitutional duties, Yakubu said.

He said that the conference was marking the last stage of planning for the elections before moving to the implementation.

The INEC boss said: The management of the electoral process is not left for the commission; it is a Nigerian project, it is not an INEC project.

We thought we should mobilise all our national assets from the security agencies, officials of the commission, private sector, transport unions to put our heads together so that we can better deliver this service to the nation in 2019.

In his keynote address, Mr David Le Notre, Project Director, ECES said: Election is a time-bound event, which requires precision and exactitude in the deployment of sensitive and non-sensitive materials.

For a vast geographical country like Nigeria with pockets of difficult terrains, the importance of putting in place efficient and effective logistics for deployment of personnel and election materials to service about 1,558 constituencies cannot be over- emphasised.

Le Notre said that the conference sought to examine challenges related to the deployment of electoral personnel and materials countrywide.

Mr Seeray Jay, the representative of IFES, said that the body was committed to advancing good governance and democratic rights by providing technical assistance to ensure electoral integrity.

Jay said: A national election is one of the countrys biggest logistics events.
Personnel and materials must get to the polling units at the right time, quantity and in good shape for elections to take place as scheduled.

To do this, INEC has to rely on capable and professional transport providers public or private, ones that know, think and act like INEC.

He called on all stakeholders to support INEC in ensuring that deployment and retrieval of materials and personnel would be timely during the elections.

NAN reports that key players in the logistics industry such as the military, police, private logistics companies and bulk transporters, among others, were at the conference.

The Inspector-General of Police, Mr Ibrahim Idris, attended the event while the army, air force, navy, Federal Road Safety and Department of State Security were represented. (NAN)

Source: NAN

No fewer than 10,000 children were killed or maimed in conflict last year while more than 8,000 youngsters were recruited or used as combatants, the United Nations reveals.

These violations contributed to the overall rise in the number of children globally affected by fighting in 2017, as documented in the annual report of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC).

UN chief Antnio Guterres has expressed outrage over the numbers, according to a statement issued by his spokesperson.

Boys and girls have once again been overly impacted by protracted and new violent crisis. Despite some progress, the level of violations remains unacceptable, the statement said.

The Secretary-General reiterates that the best way to address this horrific situation is to promote peaceful solutions to conflicts. He calls on all parties to exert maximum efforts in this regard.

The report covers 20 countries, including hotspots such as Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan, but also situations in countries such as India, the Philippines and Nigeria.

Virginia Gamba, the UNs expert on Children and Armed Conflict, said 66 parties to conflict are listed this year three more than in the 2016 report with nine government forces and 57 armed groups named.

Among the most significant violations registered in 2017 were killing and maiming, recruitment and use and attacks on schools and hospitals, all of which registered a rise in comparison to the previous year, she told journalists at UN Headquarters.

Overall, the UN verified more than 21,000 grave violations of childrens rights between January and December 2017, compared with 15,500 the previous year.

Government forces committed at least 6,000 of these crimes while the majority involved various non-state armed groups.

Ms. Gamba said crises in the Central African Republic (CAR), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Myanmar, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen were the main reason for the serious increases reported.

She provided examples, including what she described as the despicable trend of turning children in Nigeria into human bombs, where nearly half of the 881 verified child casualties resulted from suicide attacks.

Also worrying is the number of children detained for their alleged association with armed groups. For example, more than 1,000 children in Iraq were held due their suspected affiliation with the terrorist group ISIL, also known as Daesh.

Ms. Gamba also reported positive developments, such as the formal release of more than 10,000 child soldiers from armed groups and forces, while four armed groups in Myanmar have agreed to work with her Office.

Source: NAN

The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP), Nasarawa State Polytechnic, Lafia Chapter, has given the state government 14 days notice of strike.

Mr Paul Usaini, ASUP Chairman of the Polytechnic stated this on Thursday in an interview with Newsmen in Lafia.

According to him, the 14 days ultimatum followed the expiration of the 21 days ultimatum earlier given to the government in line with labour laws.

He said that the grievances of the union include; lack of accreditation of all courses at the polytechnic, implementation of four years promotion and annual increments.

He listed lack of payment of pension and gratuity to retired staff and lack of office accommodation to academic staff among others as other grievances of the union.

He said that all these issues were tabled before the investigative panel set up by the government for redress.

He, however lamented the delay in the release of the White Paper report of the committee for implementation.

The union believed that the reports will help in addressing issues of lack of accreditation, outstanding promotion arrears and corruption in the system among others, he added.

He said that the reports should be released urgently in order to save the institution from total collapse because things were currently in bad shape.

The union also condemned the appointment of unqualified persons outside the system into the management of the three institutions.

The union, therefore, advised the state government to follow due process in any subsequent appointments of management staff.

Gov. Umaru Al-Makura had on November 2, 2017 set up three panels to investigate state owned tertiary institutions.

The panels submitted their reports to the government on Jan. 19.

Source: NAN

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has inspected the Second Niger Bridge in continuation of hisongoing tour of federal government projects across the country.

He expressed satisfaction at the pace of work on the bridge.

I am very excited because the thing about this project is thatbecause of the alignment, people travelling on the old bridge will saynothing is going on because they cannot see it, but you have come hereand you can see the amount of work that is going on, so Im very veryexcited, the Minister told the journalists who accompanied him on thetour.

Alhaji Mohammed, who inspected construction work at the Asaba andOnitsha ends of the bridge, said when completed, the bridge will easetraffic congestion on the road as well as change the socio-economiclandscape of the South-east and South-South geo-political zones in particular.

He commended the enthusiasm with which the contractor, Julius Berger,is handling the project and gave the assurance that henceforth,funding will no longer be a challenge for the construction of suchprojects.

I think one thing that this government has assured is that fundingwont be a problem because we have many sources of funding and I thinkthe latest is the Presidential Infrastructural Development Fund, whichis actuallyaimed at ensuring that no project like this suffers for lack offunding, the Minister said.

He said having achieved tremendous success with the sub-structuralwork, the project will now witness rapid progress.

While briefing journalists on the level of work on the bridge, theFederal Controller of Works for Anambra State, Mr. Innocent Alumona,said so far phases 1, 2 and 3, which have to do with the foundation,have been completed, and that the contractor is currently on phase 4,
which will end in July this year.

A lot of people are saying no work is going on on the Second NigerBridge because they have not been opportune to visit the site. TheFederal Government actually is not sleeping. A lot of money has beenspent in the process of realising the Second Niger Bridge, and as wego further, we will show you a lot that has been done to prove to someof us who are still doubting that nothing is happening at the SecondNiger Bridge that a lot is ongoing, he said.

Mr. Alumona said some 310 of the 615 piles designed for the bridgehave been sunk, while massive sand-filling of the approach road hasbeen carried out to the height of five metres.

At least 400 Nigerians are currently employed by the contractorhandling the project, which is expected to be completed within thenext two years.

Source: NAN

A Traditional Ruler, Oba Kamila Isiba, has urged the Federal Government to declare Aug. 20 annually traditional festival day to give a sense of belonging to traditional worshippers.

Isiba, the Olu of Agege in Lagos State, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lagos that traditional worshippers deserved holiday in their honour since Muslims and Christians enjoyed same.

The monarch noted that Osun had started observing the day, but said that there was the need for nationwide recognition.

According to him, the festival will showcase indigenous tradition and culture and preserve.

We will continue calling on the government to declare Aug. 20 traditional day.

The idea behind the festival is for us to showcase our tradition and culture. If there is no traditional day, how will our children know about our culture and preserve our heritage? he asked.

Isiba also expressed dissatisfaction at the alleged denial of some traditional rulers the opportunities to perform their statutory roles.

The royal father alleged that the denial was being made by some politicians.

If traditional rulers are allowed to play their roles well, you wont see miscreants in our communities because we have a way of dealing with them, but when a traditional ruler does such in Nigeria of today, they will say you have committed an offence.

That is why we are careful.

The Presidency has hit back at the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for playing cheap and opportunistic politics with the latest killings in Plateau State.

These are dolorous times that call for deep introspection on how cheap human lives have become, and the proffering of actionable ideas on how to get out of the bind. But the PDP would rather dance on the graves of the dead, playing cheap, infantile politics, said Femi Adesina, Presidential media adviser, in a statement today.

The PDP had following the sad and unfortunate killings in Plateau State over the weekend declared seven days of mourning.

The party also said flags would be flown at half staff during the period.

But Adesina reminded the PDP that under its 16-year rulership of Nigeria, worst tragedies happened and the party did not consider it fit to shed the crocodile tears it is shedding now.

The comatose and prostrate party is declaring seven days of mourning, during which flags in its offices would be flown at half staff nationwide. But unknown to the party, those flags had been forcefully lowered since its 2015 loss at the polls, and may remain so for a long time to come, because Nigerians are politically discerning, and cannot be hoodwinked by cheap antics.

In providing a check list of the killings recorded in the PDP era, the Presidency clarified that it is not justifying the present killings as it believes that every single soul is important to be preserved in the country.

Those who take pleasure in twisting statements from the Presidency may claim we are saying that many more people were killed under PDP than under President Muhammadu Buhari. It would be unconscionable to do so. The intendment of this statement is to show that wanton killings had been with us for awhile; this government is working towards enduring solutions; and should be given the opportunity to do so.

Even a single soul is precious, and no man should take a life, which he cannot create. But when tragic situations as had happened in Plateau State occur, such should never be used to play crude politics. Those who are wont to do so should have change of hearts, or lose their very humanity, Adesina stated.

• November 20, 1999. Odi, in Bayelsa State, was invaded on orders of a PDP President. About 2,500 people killed.

*Between February and May, 2000, about 5,000 people were killed during riots over Sharia law in different parts of the North. No national mourning.

*In 2001, hundreds of people, including the old, infirm, women and children were killed in Zaki Biam. No crocodile tears.

*Between September 7-12, 2001, Jos, Plateau State, erupted in internecine killings. Between 500 and 1,000 people were killed.

*In February, 2004, at least 975 people were killed in Yelwa-Shendam, Plateau State.

• Between November 28 and 29, 2008, Jos was in flames again, with 381 deaths.

*In 2010, 992 people killed in Jos.

*In 2014 alone, according to Global Terrorism Index, at least 1,229 people were killed in the Middle Belt.

*Boko Haram killings in PDP years were over 10,000.

Source: NAN

Football fans in Kafanchan, Kaduna State, have deserted viewing centres following Nigerias ouster from World Cup in Russia, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

Checks by NAN on Thursday in Kafanchan revealed that most of the viewing centres within the metropolis witnessed poor turnout, while the operators lamented low patronage.

Mr Amos Sidi, who operates a viewing centre around Roundabout junction, said the premises had experienced a dramatic low patronage since after the defeat of the Super Eagles on Tuesday.

A lot of people had lost enthusiasm after Nigeria lost and crashed out of the competition and as such, patronage has also drastically reduced.

Before now, we used to make an average of N2, 000 to N3,000 daily, but now, one can hardly boast of N1, 000 a day, he said.

Also, Malam Mohammed Saleh, who operates a viewing centre on Bauchi Road, told NAN that football fans in the area had deserted the centre.

Saleh said the fans felt that there was no need spending their money watching other Countries play, while Nigeria was already back home.

I have heard some of my customers tell me they would rather stay at home and listen to news commentary, or follow updates on their android phones.

Only a few football enthusiasts and sports betting addicts still patronise the premises and even plead to watch for free, he said.

Other viewing centres, including those around Yakowa Market road, Garaje and Katsit areas witnessed low patronage with their operators sharing similar experiences.

Meanwhile, football analysts in Kafanchan have lamented the exit of the Super Eagles from the ongoing World Cup in Russia, describing the development as a clear case of marginalisation.

Mr Solomon Ambukson of Jos Street told NAN that the Super Eagles deserved more than they got at the competition and described their last match against Argentina as cheating.

The officials should have called the referee to order which they failed suggesting a clear picture of conspiracy, he said.

Ms Asabe Musa of Lowcost area said if the situation as witnessed in the Super Eagles last match persisted, African teams might be left with no choice, but stop attending subsequent tournaments.

The Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) on Wednesday night met in Abuja to discuss issues of minimum wage, insecurity and other matters of interests for the development of the country.

While the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) is proposing a minimum wage of N65,000 for workers, the governors have been insisting on the staggering of the implementation of the new wage, if approved.

Also on the meeting agenda was discussion on the issue of insecurity, especially the killings in Jos.

The governors were also expected to meet with the Postmaster-General of the Nigerian Postal Service and the Attorneys General from 36 states of the federation on the contentious issue of Stamp duty.

Part of the agenda was to discuss the face up between the executive and legislative arms of government.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) expected to make representation on the actual oil revenue generation and remittance from the corporation, did not come.

The Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) was also expected to make presentation to the governors. (NAN)

Source: NAN

The Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) has advised stakeholders to work together in order to restore peace in embattled Plateau state.

The organisation which aligned itself with the advice of President Muhammadu Buhari on the need for collective order to end carnage in Nigeria praised efforts already put in place to curtail insecurity in all restive areas.

A statement in Abuja by the Coordinator of the organisation, Mr. Austin Braimoh and the Secretary, Mr. Cassidy Madueke, said it is confident that with the renewed commitment of the administration insecurity will be nipped in the bud.

The group noted the federal governments proactive measures in containing the violence, including the deployment of Special Forces and equipment to Plateau State.

It also noted with satisfaction, the deployment of a Deputy Inspector General of Police, Operations at the helm of affairs.

As a show of concern, the vice president and president had personally visited the State to condole with the State and families of the victims, after he had earlier directed the Minister of Interior, General Abdulrahaman Dambazzau to visit the state to assess the situation.

We commiserate with the families of the victims of the unfortunate incident, and use this medium to appeal for peaceful coexistence among the various ethnic groups in Plateau state.

We also solicit the support of the media in advancing peace in the state and call on affected people not to take the laws into their hands as the federal government is already taking necessary measures to bring the perpetrators to book. We believe that at the end of the day a lasting solution will be found to the problem.

The group urged the security agencies to do all that is necessary to stop further attacks in the state.

In another development, the group commended the inauguration of a seedling factory in Calabar which is said to be the first of its kind in Africa and which is expected to raise Nigerias rice production from 4 tonnes to 9 tonnes per hectare.

It noted that the Cross River states project was in furtherance of President Buharis economic diversification agenda, which would impact positively on economic growth as well as employment generation.

Source: NAN