Ebonyi Gov. Dave Umahi

By Chukwuemeka Opara

Gov. David Umahi of Ebonyi has reiterated that he did not defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC) to contest for presidency in 2023.

Umahi made the declaration on Sunday during the first APC stakeholders meeting he was superintending over since his defection to the party.

According to him, who dash monkey Banana; I did not negotiate with the presidency or anyone to contest the position under the APC.

My next line of action after my governorship is in Gods hands and there is nothing God cannot do.

Anyone wishing to contest for the presidency or governorship of the state should meditate and pray that God should not send him if Gods spirit is not with such person.

This is because it is going to be very tough and we are really in the end time, he said.

He remarked that the leadership of the state would never come from outside its shores, stating that his meekness should not be mistaken for weakness.

We will not allow the PDP to die in the state but still assist its executives to survive.

I am still the father of the state and those fighting me for joining the APC should not cross the line.

I will never confront a sitting governor but try being his friend because the powers of government are enormous, he said.

Umahi announced the nomination of the immediate past APC state Chairman, Mr Nwachukwu Eze as a commissioner in conformity with the agreement reached before the dissolution of the partys erstwhile state executive committee.

We should set up committees at the wards and Local Government Areas to aggressively pursue our membership registration process and the disbursement of palliatives to our people in December, he said.

Chief Mike Okoro, an industrialist and APC Stalwart in the state commended the governor for implementing an all-inclusive policy since joining the party and urged him not to derail in that regard.

Prof. Mike Awoke, another party Chieftain, read the communiqu after the meeting, highlighting that stakeholders had resolved to work towards strengthening the party in the state.

The communiqu condemned the maligning of the governor by some persons over the defection, insisting that it was in the interest of the state and South East zone.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that political tension has heightened in Ebonyi since Umahis defection to the APC from the PDP with resentment and bickering pervading the environment. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila

By Femi OgunsholaAbuja

Femi Gbajabiamila, Speaker, House of Representatives has condemned the killing of about 50 rice farmers in Zabarmari, Borno by Boko Haram insurgents.

Gbajabiamila expressed sadness over the killings of the innocent rice farmers ina statement by his spokesman, Lanre Lasision Sunday in Abuja.

The speaker said the incident had once again brought to the fore the need for more military action against the terrorists.

He said it was unfortunate that at a time the country was focusing on self-sufficiency in rice farming, about 50 of the farmers were killed in a most gruesome manner.

The Speaker commiserated with the families of the slain farmers, the people and government of Borno over the sad incident.

He said the house was determined to provide necessary support, including the ongoing budgeting process to ensure that funds were allocated for security agencies to carry out their mandate of wiping out the terrorists.

Its unfortunate that about 50 of our countrymen lost their lives to the barbaric and inhuman action of the insurgents at this time.

This incident is one too many for us as a country, here were innocent citizens going about their lives of looking for their daily bread to cater for their families, he said.

According to him, their lives should not go in vain, this should call for more action from our military.

He said that the House of Reps was ready to give them all the necessary support, especially through budgetary allocation to deal decisively with the insurgents. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

Solar Panels

By Chijioke Okoronkwo

The Presidency said it would deliver 5 million solar systems to 25 million Nigerians previously not connected to the national grid through Solar Home Systems, under the Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP).

Laolu Akande, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Office of the Vice President, disclosed this on Sunday in Abuja.

He said that the solar system would be provided at N4,000 monthly over a 3-year period.

Akande was responding to inquiries about the cost of the ESP Solar programme tagged SOLAR POWER NAIJA for which installations will start in December.

Akande said that the ESP Solar programme was being implemented by the Rural Electrification Agency(REA).

The media aide said the programme was designed to boost ongoing efforts to fix Nigerias energy supply challenge, the Solar Home System scheduled for inauguration by the Federal Government this week.

The presidential aide said that priority would be given to Nigerians residing in rural areas and urban settlements either under-served or totally cut off the national grid.

According to him, an important aspect of the scheme is the option of outright ownership by beneficiaries at a cost ranging from N1, 500 per week to N4, 000 monthly depending on the capacities, for a period of 3 years.

He said that that the arrangement allowed as many as 25 million Nigerians to own personal solar systems in their respective homes.

Akande said that as indicated in the ESP, the 5 million connections initiative was a private sector-led electricity access acceleration scheme to be facilitated by a low cost loan facility from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and implemented by the REA.

He listed the objectives of the programme as, Expand energy access to 25 million individuals (5 million new connections) through the provision of solar home systems (SHS) or connection to a mini grid;

Increase local content in the off-grid solar value chain and facilitating the growth of the local manufacturing and assembly industry

Incentivise the creation of 250,000 new jobs in the energy sector.

On benefits derivable from the programme aside the creation of access to cheap and clean energy, he said that the local solar assembly industry would be impacted.

According to him, the programme will include the assembly or manufacturing of components of off-grid solutions to facilitate growth of the local manufacturing industry.

In view of the scale of materials required, solar equipment manufacturers/assemblers will be incentivized to set up facilities in Nigeria, thereby offering additional job opportunities to Nigerians.

In addition, installation, servicing and payment collections are expected to provide thousands of other jobs. In all, at least 250, 000 jobs will be created, he said.

Explaining the role of the World Bank in the project, the presidency said that the institutions endorsement of the scheme was evident in its approval of a grant from which 20 per cent of the cost of the solar system would be undertaken by the bank.

He said that by the connection of 25 million new Nigerians to clean energy and the ongoing implementation of the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP), the Federal Government was on course to address the nations energy crisis.

REA, one of the implementing agencies of the Solar Home System, had through its off-grid solar programme connected the people of Olooji community (Ijebu east) in Ogun State to electricity, for the first time in 200 years.

Olooji solar hybrid has a total capacity of 100kw completed with 304 solar panels, 72 batteries and over 30KM of distribution network cables, serving over 4000 people.

The off-grid solar project was implemented under the Rural Electrification Fund (REF); it is one of 12 solar mini grids across the country in addition to 19,000 solar home systems implemented under the programme through a Public Private Partnership (PPP). (NAN)

Source: NAN News

Dr Boboye Oyeyemi, FRSC Boss

By Funmilayo Adeyemi/Naomi Sharang

Dr Boboye Oyeyemi, Corps Marshal, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), has said that the corps would require the executive approval of President Muhammadu Buhari to bear arms.

Oyeyemi, at the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja, said in the light of the recent attack, kidnap and killing of personnel of the corps across the country, the corps need to bear arms.

What does the law says? What does the act of the corps says. The act of the corps as far back as 1992 empowers the corps to bear arms that was about 28 years ago.

But again the corps management then and the council believes more on civil approach.

But of recent, our staff were attacked, kidnapped, killed in the course of patrol. That is why the public has been advocating for the corps to bear arms.

Some sections of the public says look, it is high time the corps is protected, some are saying no. But again the final decision lies with Mr President to activate what the law says.

It is not for me, I have said it in my report but I think the government will take the best decision but the law of the corps empowers us to bear arms.

But Mr president as the commander in chief has the final say on when the corps can bear arms. Even though the law authorised you but you still need executive approval to do that so on that we stand.

On corrupt practice of personnel, Oyeyemi said that the organisation had partnered with the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Independent Corrupt Practice Commission and other related matters (ICPC) to checkmate corrupt practices by its personnel.

We cannot run away from it, we cannot say our boys are fully perfect. When I came in and I saw what was happening, we have monitoring teams.

When it was overwhelming, I met the Chairman of the ICPC and said I need a helping hand with the DSS to partner and three of us collaborated. We go on surveillance, both on the highways and drivers licensing yard.

This checkmate the bad behaviour of the boys. I think it must be on record that we got partners with ICPC and DSS to ensure the quality of the organisation to the public.

Even though we still have some bad elements, but by and large, the partnership has enable us to checkmate corrupt practices within the system.

We must say it in this kind of forum that on corruption, we are one of the agencies that are well respected tackling corrupt practices.

I am not saying we are corrupt free but it is the ability of the organisation to tackle it that gives that recognition, he said.

Source: NAN News

Lagos Bye-Elections: Were hopeful of victory, says PDP

By Yemi Adeleye

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State on Sunday said that its candidates in the forthcoming bye-elections in the state had made the party to be hopeful of electoral victory.

The partys Publicity Secretary, Taofik Gani, said in Lagos that candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) would be defeated in the Lagos East Senatorial and Kosofe Constituency II elections.

According to him, the party will win four out of the five Local Government Areas (LGAs) that make up the Lagos East Senatorial District Somolu, Kosofe, Ikorodu, Epe and Ibeju-Lekki.

The PDP can now proudly claim its hopeful of electoral victories in the coming Lagos East Senatorial District and the Kosofe Constituency II bye-elections slated for Dec. 5, Gani said in a statement.

The APC candidates will come distant runners-up in four of the five Local Government Areas (that make up Lagos East Senatorial District) and clearly lose in Kosofe Constituency II.

According to him, the party shall deploy all its strength legally and politically to resist any manipulation of the election results from the polling units to the final collation centre.

He added that the PDP was confident of the victory arising from reports of unverified polls conducted by two independent vote speculator organisations.

Gani said that the polls put the PDP candidates in the front lead with better chances to win the bye-elections than the APC candidates.

He said the poll organisations used such cretaria as eligibility, voters trust, ability to deliver representation, internal party democracy, loyalty to electorates, age, individualism and 2023 projection among others.

The PDP spokesman said that only manifestly fair and true results would be accepted by PDP agents.

He urged all agencies of governments charged with the conduct of the elections to be fair and just.

We are already celebrating our projected victories and we hope to celebrate the actual results when announced.

By polls now reported, our candidates have 65 percent to 30 percent lead scores.

To our surprise, we are informed that the manner of emergence of the APC candidates will be the reasons for the party to lose.

What we expect is free, fair and credible bye elections. We shall resist any rigging. We will not sleep over our mandate this time, Gani said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr Babatunde Gbadamosi and Mr Shikiru Alebiosu are carrying PDP tickets in Lagos East Senatorial and Kosofe Constituency II House of Assembly bye-elections respectively.

Meanwhile, Mr Tokunbo Abiru and Obafemi Saheed are candidates of APC in Lagos East Senatorial and Kosofe Constituency II House of Assembly bye-elections respectively.

Source: NAN News

NCDC Coronavirus ( COVID-19 ) update

By Abujah Racheal

The Nigeria Centre For Disease Control (NCDC) has confirmed 110 new cases of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country.

The NCDC made this known via its verified website on Saturday.

The public health agency said that the new cases brought the total number of COVID-19infections in Nigeria to 67,330.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)reports that Nigeria has so far tested756,237 people since the first confirmed case of COVID-19 was announced on Feb. 27 this year.

The NCDC said that the new infections were recorded in 10 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

According to the centre, the 110 new cases are reported from 11 states with Lagos having 26; the FCT, 23; Kaduna, 20 and Katsina, 11.

Ogun recorded nine; Ekiti, six; Plateau, five; Rivers, four; Kano and Nasarawa, three each and Niger had two.

The NCDC said that till date, 67,330 COVID-19 cases had been confirmed out of which 62,819 patients had been discharged from the various isolation centres across the country.

The centre said the nation had so far recorded 1,171 COVID-19-related deaths.

The public health agency said that a multi-sectoral national Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) has been activated at Level 3 to coordinate response activities. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic has begun a 10-day self-quarantine after his wife tested positive for the Coronavirus (COVID-19), the government announced on Saturday evening.

After having a mild fever, Mrs Ana Maslac Plenkovic tested positive on Saturday, the government said in a statement.

The prime minister tested negative afterward, the government said, adding that he would work from home during the 10-day quarantine.

Croatia registered 3,987 new COVID-19 cases and 55 related deaths in the last 24 hours, the Croatian Institute of Public Health announced on Saturday morning.

Since Feb. 25 when the first case was confirmed in the southeastern European country with a population of four million, over 120,000 people have been infected, while 1,655 have died.

As the world is struggling to control the pandemic, countries across the globe among them Germany, China, Russia, the UK and the U.S. are racing to find a vaccine. (Xinhua/NAN)

Source: NAN News

Ghanas flag

West African gold producer Ghana is preparing to elect a president on Dec. 7, in a race dubbed the battle of two giants.

Incumbent Nana Addo Akufo-Addo of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) will face former president John Dramani Mahama, leader of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

It is the third time Akufo-Addo and Mahama will compete against each other for the highest office, with each previously having won one poll Akufo-Addo in 2016 and Mahama in 2012.

Although 12 candidates are vying for the presidency, including two women, only Akufo-Addo and Mahama are said to have a chance of coming out victorious.

The electoral campaign has been dominated by Ghanas economy, infrastructure development, education, corruption, and debt relief.

Akufo-Addo, 76, has been touting economic growth during his current four-year term in office as well asthe streamlining of government services and implementation of free schooling for senior high school pupils.

Mahama, 62, has meanwhile stressed the manyinfrastructure projects, including roads, bridges, schools and hospitals, he realised during his presidency, promising do invest more in this area if re-elected.

Political analysts of the University of Ghana in the capital, Accra,predict a slim win for Akufo-Addo in the December elections.

Polls have indicated voters prefer Akufo-Addos policy-driven approach to running the nation of 30 million people, the universitys head of the political science department, Kaakyire Frempong, told dpa.

A candidate needs to gain at least 50 per cent of votes to be elected in the first round.

Ghanas roughly 17 million registered voters will also elect 275 legislators from 914 candidates on Dec. 7.

Akufo-Addos NPP is expected to once again gain the majority of seats in parliament.

Voting will take place at more than 33,000 polling stations between 7 am and 5 pm (0700 and 1700 GMT).

The electoral commission will announce results within 72 hours after the election. (dpa/NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Ifeanyi Nwoko

Strength Africa, an indigenous company, says it is set to hold a Start Up Summit that would seek to refocus the entrepreneurship drive of Nigerians and for policy makers to provide an enabling environment for entrepreneurs to thrive.

The summit, which brings together over 40 renowned entrepreneurs with demonstrable track record spanning 20 to 30 years as panelists, would seek to educate, expose, share experiences and proffer solutions to creating the right environment for entrepreneurship in the country.

Addressing newsmen in Abuja on Sunday, Taiwo Adepoju, Managing Partner and CEO of Strength Africa, organisers of the summit, said that Nigeria currently lacked the right environment for startups to flourish.

According to him, the environment does not encourage people to start up due to fear of failure, pointing out that in other climes, where the environment were more friendly, startups sprang up faster.

Adepoju said that the summit will be virtual and free, as attendees from Nigeria and across Africa seek to address all impediments to economic development via entrepreneurship.

This is a free event as our own contribution from Strengths Africa towards kick starting or accelerating development of the entrepreneurial system in Nigeria.

The theme of this maiden summit is to build an entrepreneurial ecosystem. A system that is built to sustain any venture or any individual.

Man is in an ecosystem and being in that system there is green vegetation, there is sunlight, there is the enabling environment and that is the kind of thing we want to create for the entrepreneurial space, he said.

Adepoju added: We realised that entrepreneurship is the key driver for any sustainable growth within any economy and in other climes, the startup per capita is densely populated.

Over the last two months, we have had series of pre-launches to drive home the need for people to come to the realization that entrepreneurship is key.

The Strength Africa CEO said that the summit will focus on providing education, exposure and experience, which he identified as key drivers to attaining success at any level.

He encouraged Nigerian entrepreneurs not to be discouraged from venturing for fear of failing, stressing that failure is actually a step forward, even though there was no comfortable environment in Nigeria to encourage such venturing, adding that those are some of the issues the summit hopes to address.

Environment also dictates how organisations thrive and we believe that in Africa, particularly Nigeria, we do not have that enabling environment, we talk about infrastructure but there are other components that help a start up to succeed.

The focus for us is primarily driven around three components: Small and Medium enterprises, which is the first cluster, Innovation Driven Enterprises (IDEs) like Uber and Paystack, and also social enterprises, he said.

The convener pointed out that finance was not the main solution to entrepreneurship problems, stressing that without the right information and data, startups will continue to fail.

On that note, he added, the academia has a crucial role to play in the area of research and practical-based training for young Nigerians.

Money does not really solve problems but knowhow does. Beyond finance, it will surprise you that the academia plays a critical role in the economic development of our nation.

Imagine we had schools that beyond theory, were getting them schooled in practical entrepreneurship and doing research and capturing success and failure rates.

We do not have the data that supports you or have information as to what can work in Nigeria, so if somebody has an idea, and doesnt have any additional information on people that have ventured, he is likely going to do the same thing, he said.

He added: I can tell you that many entrepreneurs start off without interfacing with the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), where there is an immense record of available data.

If only they could tap into it, this would have improved their businesses and maybe averted failure.

Adepoju also said that Strength Africa also planned to provide office solutions where people can actually incubate their businesses. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

Bible Society logo

By Yusuf Yunus

The Bible Society of Nigeria (BSN) on has announced the appointment of Pastor Samuel Sanusi as its new General Secretary/ Chief Executive Officer-Designate.

BSN Manager, Media and Public Relations, Mr Benjamin Mordi, disclosed in a statement on Saturday in Lagos.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Bible Society of Nigeria is a not-for-profit interdenominational Christian organisation.

It translates the Bible into local languages, publishes, distributes, raises funds for the Bible work and organises life-transforming programmes.

So far, it has translated the full Bible into 26 Nigerian Languages, while translation revision is on-going in 10 Nigerian Languages.

According to him, Sanusi will be taking over from the incumbent General Secretary/CEO, Dr Dare Ajiboye, who will be retiring in June 2021.

He said that Sanusi, currently the Societys Senior Manager, Church and Public Relations, would resume officially on July 1, 2021.

He joined the BSN on Dec. 6, 2010, as Church/Public Relations Manager. He has also served as Senior Manager Operations and Programmes.

Before joining the Society, he had worked with Permanentmark Enterprise Limited as Chief Operating Officer between July and November 2010.

Pastor Sanusi was also a former Senior Partner with Mutual Hope CashAccess Limited, Mordi also.

He has a Master of Business Administration (MBA) obtained from the Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Enugu State in 2004 and Post Graduate Diploma in Management from University of Calabar, Cross Rivers State in 2001.

He graduated from Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State with Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Mass Communication.

Sanusi is a member of various professional organisations among which are Nigerian Institute of Management, Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria, Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers and Nigerian Institute of Public Relations. (NAN)

Source: NAN News