Nigerian athletes during trials

By Muhyideen Jimoh

The Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development is set to commence national camping for athletes and officials in preparation for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympic Games.

Mr John Joshua-Akanji, Special Adviser (Media) to the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr Sunday Dare disclosed this in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will now take place in the summer of 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said the camping is aimed at bringing back athletes to their individual sports having been on recess for so long due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Joshua-Akanji explained that the local camping which is coming at the resumption of sporting activities in the country is geared towards early preparations for athletes who have qualified for the Games.

He noted that the Ministry in collaboration with the Delta State Government had organised the COVID-19 OKOWA Athletics Resumption Meet in Asaba on Nov. 6, to test the application of the COVID-19 Sports Code in a competition environment.

According to him, the first phase of camping will commence in Abuja and Lagos with Taekwondo, Rowing/Para-Rowing, Canoeing/Para-Canoeing in Abuja while Para-Powerlifting opens in Lagos.

Other Sports Federations where athletes have qualified for both Games will commence camping shortly afterwards in batches, he added.

He said the Ministry in its effort to revamp the middle and long distance athletic culture is also opening a training camp in Pankshin, Plateau state specifically for road races within this period.

Joshua-Akanji stressed that all camps are to strictly observe the COVID-19 Sports Code and Resumption Protocol already developed by the Ministry in both training and accommodation venues. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Emmanuella Anokam

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr Adeniyi Adebayo, says the Federal Government has embarked on the development of a draft national policy on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

Adebayo, in a statement by his Special Adviser (Media) Ifedayo Sayo, on Thursday in Abuja, said the policy was among steps taken by the federal government to ensure growth of MSMEs in the country.

The minister delivered the keynote address at the 5th Lagos Small Business Summit 2020 which held virtually.

The minister said the actions were taken through the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN).

He said that the government would also outline key strategies and programmes for development of MSMEs.

According to him, the government was conducting 26 MSMEs clinic events at various locations across the country to boost the skills and capabilities of the segment in which about 400,000 MSMEs have benefitted

The government had launched an innovative portal to provide access to various resources required by SMEs operators.

Government had also established a matching fund programme targetted at labour-intensive, SMEs operating in the real sector with innovative value-added products, he said.

Adebayo said that at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government initiated a proactive approach by creating an Emergency Operations Centre (EDC), which facilitated availability and movement of food items, pharmaceutical and other essential products across the six Geo-Political Zones.

He said that the centre assisted over 100 companies to boost the production of Personal Protective Equipment, hand sanitisers, face mask and ventilators during the lockdown.

The government also launched various palliative measures such as the N100 billion MSMEs Investment Fund, N15 billion MSMEs Guranteed Off-take Stimulus Scheme, and the N60 billion MSMEs Survival Fund to help cushion COVID-19 pandemic impact and stimulate industrial activities and secure jobs.

Our palliative measures are part of a broader N2.3 trillion Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP) to limit expected decline in economic growth from the coronavirus outbreak.

It will also minimise the accompanying prospects of business failures, job losses and increased poverty, the minister said.

He pointed out that the recent approval of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement would create a single continental market for goods and services, free movement of business persons and investment, expand intra-African trade and enhance competitiveness for industries and MSMEs.

There is no doubt that a properly nurtured and well structured MSMEs sub-sector will contribute significantly to the attainment of President Muhammadu Buharis aspiration of lifting 100 million people out of poverty over the next ten years, he added.

The minister, however, stressed the federal governments commitment to support the expansion of the countrys leasing industry, saying it had maintained a growth of 13.5 per cent as at 2019.

He also said the equipment leasing industry had remained a major contributor to national economic development with outstanding lease volume of N1.9 trillion as at 2019 against N1.68 trillion in 2018. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

The Commissioner of internal security and home affairs ,Mr Samuel Aruwan , engaging community leaders of Akilubu village on Thursday in Kaduna

By Mohammed Tijjani

The Kaduna State Government on Thursday dismissed reports that motorists and travelers have stopped using the Kaduna-Abuja Road.

The states Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan made the denial during a visit to some communities along the highway.

He said troops have been deployed to conduct aggressive patrol, while government and security agencies have been meeting with communities along the road to solicit their support for timely information on the activities of bandits and other criminals.

Vehicular movement is active on the double lane road, as commercial activities are also visible in local markets in Akilubu, Rijana, Kateri, Jere, Doka, Sabon Gayan and other communities surrounding the main road.

Ground troops of the Operation Thunder Strike (OPTS) and Police Operatives of the Operation Puff Adder are presently carrying out aggressive fighting patrols on the route, that stretches through three local government areas.

Aruwan added that a state government team and Coordinator of OPTS, Col. Ibrahim Gambari have been touring the route soliciting support from communities for the security agencies.

In one of such engagement on Thursday with religious, traditional and community leaders at Akilubu village, the commissioner urged them to provide credible information and actionable intelligence, to enable security agencies deal decisively with bandits.

As you are all witnessing, troops have been taking the battle to the bandits and this is made possible because they got credible intelligence.

So, please cooperate with them and support them so that we will get it right and maintain security on the road.

Aruwan told journalists during the visit that, contrary to reports that motorists and travelers have abandoned the road, you can see for yourselves that motorists are plying both sides of the dual carriageway.

He assured that the state government would continue to work with the military, police and all agencies in the battle against bandits in the state. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

An illegal refinery

By Sumaila Ogbaje

The Defence Headquarters says the military has immobilised four illegal refineries and impounded stolen crude oil and petroleum products and 389 bags of smuggled rice in the South south zone.

Coordinator, Defence Media Operations, Maj.-Gen. John Enenche, said this while briefing newsmen on the operations of the Armed Forces between Nov. 12 and Nov. 18 on Thursday in Abuja.

Enenche said the troops of Operation Delta Safe destroyed two illegal refining sites and wooden boat loaded with crude oil at Tupsoi in Ogu-Bolo Local Government Area of Rivers State within the period.

He disclosed that the troops also immobilised an illegal refining sites containing six boilers, one 8-HP engine and seven storage tanks loaded with crude oil at Orutoru in Bonny Local Government Area.

According to him, troops of 3 Battalion intercepted a Toyota Sequoia loaded with unspecified quantities of refined AGO at Alele in Warri South Local Government Area of Delta during the period.

Similarly, troops of 146 Battalion discovered and immobilized two reactivated illegal refineries containing unspecified quantity of illegally refined AGO at Samkiri in Bonny Local Government Area of Rivers State.

Troops of 29 Battalion also intercepted two boats conveying substance suspected to be crude oil along Ibaa/Rumuji Waterways in Emohua Local Government Area, he said.

Enenche also disclosed that FOB Ibaka gunboats on patrol at Mbo River intercepted two medium size wooden boats laden with 68 bags of 50kg parboiled foreign rice on Nov. 16.

He said the smuggled bags of rice were suspected to have come from the Republic of Cameroon.

According to him, the items are currently in custody to be handed over to the Nigeria Customs Service for necessary action.

Also, within the period, about 321 bags of 50kg of foreign parboiled rice as well as two suspects were arrested and handed over to Nigeria Customs Service.

Other items intercepted were two wooden boats and a speedboat laden with 21,600 litres of petroleum products.

The Military High Command encourages the troops and personnel of other security agencies to remain determined and sustain the tempo in all the Joint Operations Areas. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

Ehanire and Zulum

By Cecilia Ologunagba

The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, on Thursday laid the foundation of the Teaching Hospital of Borno State School of Health Sciences at Njimtilo, near the universitys campus on Maiduguri-Damaturu road.

Ehanire, who was in Maiduguri for the inauguration of some landmark projects at University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH), was invited by Gov. Babagana Zulum of Borno to lay foundation of the building.

In his address, Zulum said in fulfillment of the criteria for the establishment of medical colleges, we are here to witness the foundation laying ceremony for the two important projects.

We want to start medical courses, especially medicine, in the State University so that we can produce healthcare providers and undertake research, as well as cater for the health needs of citizens.

We know that there is increasing population in Maiduguri and we have only one teaching hospital, and Maiduguri has a population of over three million people.

According to him, a new teaching hospital will serve the increasing population, which is in line with the states development plan.

Zulum added that just five days ago, we launched our 25-year development plan, and the State University Teaching Hospital and the College of Medical Sciences are part of the plan.

Prof. Othman Kyari, the Chairman of a high powered committee for the establishment of the Borno State University Teaching Hospital/Medical College, said that the launch of the projects was the first phase.

The requirements of all the regulatory bodies (medicine and surgery, dentistry, radiology pharmacy, etc) were put into consideration.

We believe that by the time this complex is completed, it will probably be one of the best in the country.

The project is being carried out through the Ministry for Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, whose commissioner, Dr Babagana Malumbe, received Gov. Zulum and the Health Minister on arrival at the groundbreaking ceremony.

The states Ministry of Health and relevant government establishments are expected to play vital roles as the project passes through developmental stages. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

Rotary Club logo

By Oluwaseyi Oduneye-Ogunwomoju

Rotary Club of Ibadan-Jericho Metro on Thursday donated baby cots worth more than N1 million to the Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) of the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the club donated 10 baby cots and 10 shoes for UCH health officials.

Mr Seyi Alaba, President of the club, told NAN at the presentation that UCH was one hospital that served the whole of South-West.

Alaba said that the donation would aid the hospital in discharging its responsibilities.

Today is a day we celebrate Family Health Day in Rotary Club and one of our areas of focus is Maternal and Child Health.

We discovered that UCH is a big hospital and handles a lot of cases. When things get out of hand at private and state hospitals they come to UCH for comprehensive test and treatment.

Most facilities here are always overwhelmed and even the members of staff. We are just playing our role as a club to humanity in view of saving new horns life, he said.

Dr Olukemi Tongo, the Consultant pediatrician at UCH, commended Rotary for the donation and expressed delight for the kind gesture.

These donations to our unit will go a very long way. We are happy that people are appreciating what we are doing here in our little way, she said.

Prof. Abiodun Otegbayo, Chief Medical Director of UCH, thanked Rotary Club for the philanthropic activity.

Otegbayo said that the token was much appreciated and looked forward to more gestures from the club.

We appreciate what Rotary is doing; our appreciation is not just to what has been donated today but to the statement that we would still get many other things from the club.

UCH is known for standard and we pride ourselves as the flagship Teaching Hospital in Nigeria. However we are hampered by resources that makes it impossible for us to discharge our duties as we ought to.

Our intention is to make UCH number one in Africa and be able to render clinical services effectively and the most important thing to the management is to improve clinical service of the hospital and todays donations are in in tandem with our vision.

We also need some other items such as baby warmers, cardiac monitors, incubators, oxygen concentrators, apnoea monitor, pulse oximetery, among others, he said. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

Senate President, Ahmad Lawan

By Kingsley Okoye

President of the Senate Ahmad Lawan has advised the Federal Government to explore relevant technology for revenue collection by Ministries, Departments and Agencies to prevent diversion of public funds into private pockets.

He also said the National Assembly would expeditiously consider the Chartered Institute of Forensic and Investigative Professionals of Nigeria (CIFIPN) Bill presently before the Ninth Assembly.

Lawan made the remarks on Wednesday in Abuja during his investiture and induction as Patron by CIFIPN.

Lawan, reiterating commitment of President Muhammadu Buharis administration toward the fight against corruption, said deployment of technology would prevent, detect, and assist in investigation of fraudulent practice.

The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari believes very strongly in fighting corruption, and we equally believe in same regardless of our political persuasion.

So, this group will definitely add tangible value to the fight against corruption.

The fight against corruption is worthy, considering the damage it is causing and has caused over the years.

The angle from which the CIFIPN is coming from, is surely a practical approach.

The quantum of monies and revenues that we have as a country, that can make us perform in the area of infrastructural development, is dependent on how efficiently and prudently we are able to deploy those resources.

We once had a lot of resources in this country and yet the bulk of it went into private pockets and, therefore, we could achieve very little.

Today, we get little and we can achieve much because genuine fear has gripped everyone that if you embezzle or steal the law will catch up with you.

In whatever way we want to fight corruption, we must ensure that we emphasise on prevention because corruption has been in existence for long; so people will always try to take advantage of the system.

Therefore, we must emphasise on how to prevent it, and make it difficult for those who are entrusted with public funds to have undue access and opportunity to divert public funds.

We must prevent it because some believe that if they try they can get away with it and of course the best way to deal with this is to make it difficult and impossible to access public funds, Lawan said.

He said the anti-corruption group could enhance the prosecution and sanctioning process of corrupt practices.

We have emphasised prevention as a good route to reducing corruption, given the tendency of individuals to exploit weaknesses in systems.

People are more likely to take advantage of loopholes than they can create it.

Technologies are additionally expected to reduce loopholes because of their sophistication, the skills required, and for the fact that they are structured.

Using technologies therefore limits, or prevents the chances of infractions, and eventually saves prosecutorial time and resources.

He said while many countries had reduced corruption through science and technology, the National Assembly recently unearthed discrepancies which showed that many revenue generating agencies of government failed to remit all revenues collected to the appropriate accounts of government.

We believe that we can do better if we deploy technology in the collection and transmission of revenues.

Thats why the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has received complete support from the National Assembly to go digital in the area of collecting revenues, so that we limit leakages, and of course embezzlement that some officers will try to engage in.

But it is not only in government agencies that we have this attitude, it is also in private organisations.

So, our anti-corruption agencies should go beyond what government agencies are doing, they should also look at what our banks are doing.

Some of these banks dont have figures or names, a lot of times play complicit roles in how monies are diverted, and open accounts that have no approval of the Accountant-General to be operated.

Before the introduction of Treasury Single Account (TSA), we had stories of hundreds of bank accounts operated by some agencies.

But of course we know the limit which the Account-General of the Federation has approved for agencies of government to operate.

It is a very reasonable route, as it is consistent with the new age of technology, where devices are replacing humans in social, economic, or business relations.

Earlier, Protem President of CIFIPN, Dr Victoria Enape, said that the forensic and investigative profession involved practitioners made up of people of diverse academic backgrounds cutting across law, criminology, cyber security, police detectives, economists, and finance specialists.

According to her, the procedures deployed by the professional body in investigations involve the skillful deployment of science and technological tools to prevent, detect, or resolve or expose possible criminal activity emanating from economic transactions.

She said the establishment of forensic and investigative profession on the global scene was based on the realisation that fraudsters had become sophisticated.

She said the fraudsters were taking advantage of the 21st digital revolution to perpetrate corrupt practices that were undetectable by conventional investigative approach. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

Dr Chris Ngige

By Joan Nwagwu

As members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) continue their 10-month old strike, the Federal Government has commenced the process of registering a rival union.

Sen. Chris Ngige, Minister of Labour and Employment, dropped this on Thursday in Abuja when the leadership of Congress of University Academics (CONUA), led by its National Coordinator, Dr Niyi Sunmonu, paid him a courtesy visit.

CONUAs membership is drawn from university lecturers opposed to ASUU.

Ngige regretted the long strike by ASUU, saying that it had negatively affected the educational development of the country.

We are receiving you in audience formally today in this ministry. We have the right to receive associations of persons that are workers, whether we have registered them or not, just as you have the right to apply for registration which is the lawful thing to do.

We have the right to receive and hold meetings with you. The journey to have you registered has just started.

You have done the right thing by applying and this ministry has also done the right thing by processing your registration.

The review of your application for registration is ongoing. I have put up a committee to look into that review. I will ask the committee to wind up its work.

We are giving them four weeks from today to turn in their report to the ministry.

Part of our job here is to register unions; it is also part of our job to make sure that unions that are not functional are helped, Ngige said.

He, however, commended the university lecturers for initiating the process to register the union.

Earlier, Sunmonu had said that CONUA was enjoying large followeship with many universities registering more members by the day since it came on board in February 2018.

He said that CONUA was established due to irreconcilable differences between its members and ASUU.

CONUA members are not members of ASUU and we are not ready to be part of ASUU due to irreconcilable differences and modes of operation.

ASUU no longer represent our interest and aspirations. CONUA fits to be described as a group of people who are independent academics and who have decided to come together to form a union committed to the advancement of education in Nigeria.

Sunmonu condemned the prolonged strike in the university system, and urged unions to choose to engage the government constructively rather than down tools every time, considering the negative effect of that on the educational system.

He said that CONUA, if finally registered, would always constructively engage the government.

The government cannot see what we see and we will not see what the government sees, but when we have our mind made up in a constructive manner, we will come to a reasonable agreement to further progress our universities and for the advancement of the nation.

We want to ensure a seamless and uninterrupted academic calendar in the university system.

This strike has done more damage than good. As academics and researchers, we are supposed to have evaluated the effect of the strike on our institutions, especially on our collective psychic.

From the preliminary report that we have, the strike has done more harm than good to our universities. Nigerian Universities should rank comfortably with any other university in any part of the world.

On Integrated Payroll Personnel Information System(IPPIS), he said that CONUA members were keen on registering in spite of series of threats.

He appealed to the minister to provide a conducive environment for its members to undergo the registration process without any encumbrances.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Federal Government will be meeting with ASUU on Friday over the protracted strike. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

Iraqi President Barham Salih

Iraqi President Barham Salih on Thursday called for continued international cooperation to combat terrorism and asserted the need to ease regional tensions to prevent terrorist groups

Salihs comments came during his meeting with British Defence Senior Advisor Sir John Lorimer and British Ambassador to Iraq Stephen Hickey in the presidential palace in Baghdad, a statement by the media office of the Presidency said.

The war against terrorism continues and there is a need for international cooperation to continue the war on terrorist organisations as a cross-border threat that threatening all countries, the statement quoted Salih as saying.

Barham said that some of the extremist Islamic State (IS) militants seek from time to time to threaten the security and stability of citizens in some Iraqi towns.

But the Iraqi security forces, in coordination with the anti-IS international coalition, continue to track the terrorists to prevent them from achieving their goals, according to the statement.

The president also stressed the importance of reducing the regional tension to prevent extremist terrorist organisations from exploiting crises to achieve their goals of threatening societal peace and security, the statement said.

For his part, Lorimer affirmed the importance of cooperation to combat terrorism, as well as his countrys commitment to supporting the Iraqi security forces in training and arming to achieve security and stability in Iraq, it added. (Xinhua/NAN)

Source: NAN News

Director Spike Lee, best known for making movies about the experience of being Black in America, is switching course with a musical on the subject of Viagra.

Lee will direct the as-yet-untitled film from a screenplay he has co-written about the discovery and launch of the erectile dysfunction drug. It is based on a 2018 article in Esquire magazine called All Rise, producers said on Tuesday.

The 63-year-old Brooklyn native said in a statement that he had grown up hating musicals in spite of the efforts of his mother. Finally Going Into My 4th Decade As A Filmmaker I Will Be Directing A DANCIN, ALL SINGIN MUSICAL, he added.

Lee also directed a movie musical in 1988 called School Daze.

Lee won his first Oscar in 2019 for the screenplay of Ku Klux Klan satire BlacKkKlansman.

His more than 50 movies and documentaries include classics such as Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X and this years Vietnam War survivor drama Da 5 Bloods. (Reuters/NAN)

Source: NAN News