Otive Igbuzor

By Edith Ike-Eboh

Dr Otive Igbuzor, a developmental activist says various developmental challenges associated with oil production had affected the development of oil host communities in the country.

Igbuzor made this known at a Host Community Colloquium on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) in Owerri, on Tuesday.

He presented a paper on: The Host Communities Development Challenge: whats broken that needs to be fixed.

He identified some of the challenged to include political economy of oil resources, end result is underdevelopment, poverty, neglect of industry and agriculture, conflict and crisis.

Igbuzor also, the Chief of Staff to the Deputy President of the Senate Ovie Omo-Ageg said that with the passage of PIB as a regulation, some of the challenges could be managed for better development.

He said that some of the impact of the challenges led to destruction of the environment, forest, aquatic life and pollution.

He said this affected the liveliness of the oil host communities and thereby triger all forms of crisis.

Igbuzor said the various forms of crises to include governance crisis, elections, transactional politics, Fiscal federalism, transparency and accountability.

He said that to respond to the crises, there must be laws to control ownership, petroleum decree, among others. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Wase

By EricJames Ochigbo

The House of Representatives ad hoc Committee perusing activities surrounding the #EndSARS protest has started hearing to find lasting solutions and to halt further breakdown of law and order.

The committee, chaired by the Deputy Speaker, Rep. Ahmed Wase (APC-Plateau), met with heads of security agencies in the country behind closed-doors on Monday in Abuja.

Earlier, Wase recalled that the house had on Oct. 20, passed a motion and resolved to address the breach of national security during the protest.

The house resolved to set up this committee to be chaired by me and we have the Majority and Minority Leaders as members.

The chairmen and deputies of all the relevant committees on the house on security and three members each are also members.

The essence is to address a peaceful protest and ensure that we have a harmonious nation.

This is our first meeting and we are going to take inpute from the various service chiefs, he said.

The deputy speaker, however, said that security issues are not addressed in the media and asked the press corps to leave the hall to enable members to interface with the security agents.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports agencies represented at the meeting include: the Nigeria Police Force (NPF); Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) and Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).

Others are the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Air Force (NAF), Nigerian Navy, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corp (NSCDC) and the Nigerian Correctional Service.

NAN reports that the meeting began at about 3.30 p.m and lasted for about two hours.(NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Emmanuel Antswen

The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN) says over 30,000 persons will benefit from the ongoing National Survival Fund Program(NSFP) in Benue.

The NSFP Manager in the state, Mr Oryima Alu, who is also the Point of Contact, National MSME Survival Fund in the state, disclosed this in Makurdi during a town hall meeting with leaders of artisans and transport scheme operators.

Alu said that over 30,000 people would benefit from the various components of the Survival Fund Program.

Giving the breakdown, he said a total of 13,000 would benefit from the payroll support for MSMEs, 5,000 from general MSME grants, 6,606 from formalization support while 9,000 from artisans/transport grants.

Alu said the allocations for the state across the various components wereinadequate following the large number of people in each category but he said there was a possibility of expanding the program

He said the town hall meeting was meant to educate the people on the benefits of the program, explaining that the entire program was free.

Alu also said the component dealt directly with grants that would go to artisans and transport cadres, most of whom were members of associations that were not aware of the benefits of the program.

He said each of the artisans and transport support beneficiaries would earn N30,000 for three months.

The essence of this meeting is to sensitize relevant stakeholders that have roles to play in creating awareness about Federal Government programs for MSMEs

The concern of government is to provide critical and timely support that can improve conditions of living for every Nigerian, mostespecially, following the lockdown necessitated by COVID-19, Alu said.

Earlier, the Principal Special Senior Assistant to the governor on MSMES, Mr Emmanuel Donghdongh assured that the Survival Fund Program would not be hijacked in the state.

Donghdongh explained that the program was aimed at supporting small scale businesses to improve their lot.

He said though the support was small, it must get across all the target groups adding that all registration and processing of the entire program were free.

Speaking to NAN, a participant, Mr Ahmed Musa, State Secretary, Nigeria Automobile Technician Association said over 1,000 of his members would apply for the scheme.

Musa said the funds would help them to procure tools and he commended the Federal Government for remembering the poor in the country. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

Court symbol

By Imelda Osayande

A Benin High Court on Monday jailed a mother and her two children for trafficking a 19-year-old girl to Russia for sexual exploitation.

The woman, Helen Ehioze , bagged 10 years in jail while her son, Endurance Ehiozee, 37, and daughter, Vivian Ehiozee, 31, were sentenced to 14 years each, without an option of fine.

The case against the trio was instituted in 2017.

The presiding Judge, Justice Geraldine Imadegbelo, found the convicts guilty of contravening Sections 15 and 16 of the 2003 law on trafficking in persons.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the victim (name withheld), now 27 years old, was trafficked to Russia in 2012 by the trio when she was just 19 years old.

The Prosecutor, Mrs Rosemary Emodogo, accused the convicts of contravening the sections of the 2003 law, as amended in 2005, which prohibit the trafficking of persons for prostitution.

Shortly before they were sentenced, Counsel to the convicts, Mr. J. Omigie, pleaded for a lenient sentence, pointing out that they were first offenders and had no prior criminal records. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Ruona Isikeh

The Edo State Ministry of Health has advised couples to imbibe family planning in order to give their children a better life.

Mrs Patricia Osazuwa, Edo State Reproductive/Family Planning Coordinator, Edo Ministry of Health, gave the advice during a 3-Day training programme on Family Planning (FP) which began on Monday in Benin.

The News Agency of Nigerian NAN reports that the event is being organised by the ministry in collaboration with Development Community Networks, a non-governmental organisation.

Osazuwa said that family planning would help them space their children and limit their number.

She defined family planning as a process where individuals or couples decide and attain the number of children they want to have, the time and spacing between each birth.

She said the objective of the family planning training was to build capacity of media practitioners on family planning, adolescents and youths sexual reproductive health.

Establishing platforms for creating more learning innovations for the adaptation and replication of media fora is very important.

Family planning in the home is very important.

It enables couples to give their children the basic needs such as food, shelter, education, and a better future, She said.

According to her, family planning gives times and attention to the family and improves financial status.

She said that the most effective methods to prevent unintended pregnancy include withdrawal methods, intrauterine devices (IUDs) and contraceptive implants.

She encouraged couples to imbibe family planning in order to give enough time and opportunity to love and provide attention for their children. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

Deputy Senate President Ovie Omo-Agege

By Edith Ike-Eboh

Sen. Ovie Omo-Agege, the Deputy President of Senate, says the new Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB)will help drive the nations economy through added value and wealth from the oil and gas sector.

Omo-Agege said this at the Host Community Colloquium on the PIB in Owerri on Tuesday.

Represented by his Chief of Staff, Mr Otive Igbuzor, he said that it was unfortunate that the sector had been denied of the necessary regulations needed to activate huge potential to create value and wealth associated with the industry.

But behind such dark cloud, is a silver lining. The good news is that the proposed Petroleum Industry Bill (2020) is coming to change all that.

The two major planks of the Bill is to run the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) as a business enterprise by the name NNPC Limited

This is just as we have Saudi Aramco in Saudi Arabia; Petrleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras) in Brazil; Equinor in Norway and Petronas in Malaysia and Establish regulatory agencies to serve as the regulatory agency of the industry, he said.

According to him, the objectives of the bill are to promote economic growth through increased oil and gas production, promote economic growth through strong investments in midstream gas infrastructure to increase gas-based power generation and industries.

He said others included the promotion of the frontier for exploration, establishment of an effective acreage management system and creation of transparency and non-confidentiality mechanism.

Also, transformed NNPC in a viable commercially-based and self-sustaining national oil company, create a strong regulatory framework with increased emphasis on midstream development and create an effective midstream and downstream licencing system.

The deputy president of the senate said that promoting improved environmental measures and assisting host communities in petroleum operation to achieve their aspirations were part of the desired objectives of the PIB.

He said that the second aspect of the PIB that would help the growth of the industry was the creation of different regulatory bodies for the upstream midstream and downstream oil sector.

Omo-Agege said that the establishment of the infrastructure fund would also help in the development of the sector, the region and country at large.

Specifically, the PIB will make a number of provisions for the creation of such gas infrastructure network.

With the lofty objectives of the PIB and the intervention mechanisms for host communities; both existing ones and the ones expected to come with the bill, a lot of things are expected to happen that will beneficially affect host communities, he said.

He called on all stakeholders and youths in the Niger Delta region to support ongoing efforts to ensure that the PIB was passed.

Hon. Henry Nwawuba, the Deputy Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Niger Delta expressed regret that the PIB was yet to be passed in the country.

He said that in 2018, the house did all the technical work that ensured it passage but lamented that the presidency did not assent to the bill.

He however said the 9th assembly was determined to ensure its passage before expiration of its tenure.

After this ninth assembly was constituted, I was among those that went to senate president to let him know the importance of the bill and the need for its speedy passage.

It is embarrassing that some countries that came behind long after we commenced debate on our PIB, have signed into law their PIB, now growing their oil and gas sector, he said.

He said that most of the issues of host communities underscored the need for the speedy passage of the bill.

He said that it was more urgent to pass the PIB than the electoral bill because of its importance to the nations development plans.

He urged participants to make valuable inputs at the colloquium as the committee looked forward to working with the outcome to ensure a good PIB for the industry.

Ealier, Mr Oke Epia, the Executive Director, OrderPaper, an advocacy initiative, said that the aim of the colloquium was to bring stakeholders together to brainstorm on the PIB that was before the national assembly.

In 2018, we convened a similar HostCom Colloquium when it was the Petroleum Host and Impacted Communities Bill component of the disaggregated PIB as it then was.

This colloquium has been designed as you may notice on the agenda to give us deep insights into the bill, offer comparative perspectives on beneficiate practices and allow us ample opportunity to deploy the understanding gained to place certain demands on the policy actors given with responsibility of reforms of the petroleum sector.

In order to engage a robust conversation, efforts were made to invite representations from a diverse stream of actors and stakeholders some of whom we are glad and grateful have obliged us with their presence.

I urge all of us to make the best use of this meeting as we intend to convey an adopted resolution here from to the National Assembly, he said. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

Minister of Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika

By Yunus Yusuf

The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika has announced the decision of the Federal Government to resume international operations from Kano, Port-Harcourt and Enugu Airports before Christmas celebrations.

Sirika confirmed the development in a statement issued by Mr James Odaudu, the ministrys Director, Public Affairs, in Lagos on Tuesday.

All international airports in the country may resume international flights before the end of the year, as the ministry is working with the Federal Ministry of Health.

The ministry is also working with the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 and other relevant bodies to ensure that the airports meet all the safety and health requirements and protocols.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the international airports that are yet to be cleared to resume operations are the Port Harcourt airport, the Malam Aminu Kano International Airport and the Akanu Ibiam International Airport Enugu.

Sirika said that all hands are on deck to ensure that all logistic and policy necessities would be put in place to address the difficulties encountered by international travellers, especially with the impending yuletide season.

The minister expressed satisfaction over the understanding and cooperation of aviation stakeholders in ensuring the smooth reopening of the nations airspace.

In a related development, Sirika said the federal government had lifted the flight ban on Lufthansa, KLM and Air France.

He said this development had paved the way for them to resume their operations in and out of the country.

The minister added that Qatar Airways had also been granted approval to start operations at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja.

This follows the approval of their respective flight plans and schedules submitted to the Ministry.

In granting the approvals, the ministry has emphasised the need for airlines operating in the country to employ international best practices in handling Nigerian passengers.

This is because the government will not tolerate any form of maltreatment of its citizens by any airline, he said. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

Ghanas flag

Ghanas anti-graft chief, Mr Martin Amidu, on Monday announced his resignation with immediate effect, citing the lack of cooperation from the government and state agencies.

Amidu also listed frustrations and interference in his work from the presidency as other reasons for his resignation.

This is to inform the public that I resigned from my position as the Special Prosecutor of the Office of the Special Prosecutor with immediate effect upon the submission of my letter of resignation , Mr Amidu said in a press statement.

His resignation is the culmination of a series of events since his appointment in 2018 when he persistently complained about lack of office accommodation, staff, independent investigators, and money to run the office.

The events came to a head following his damning report when he undertook a risk of corruption and anti-corruption assessment on the governments controversial gold royalties deal, called Agyapa Royalties Limited that was heavily condemned by the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and more than a dozen civil society organisations.

The reaction I received for daring to produce the Agyapa Royalties Limited Transactions anti-corruption report convinces me beyond any reasonable doubt that I was not intended to exercise any independence as the Special Prosecutor in the prevention, investigation, prosecution, and recovery of assets of corruption.

My position as the Special Prosecutor has consequently become clearly untenable, Mr Amidu said.

Mr Amidu said the death of former President Jerry John Rawlings last Thursday removed the only protection I had from the threats and plans directed at me for undertaking the Agyapa Royalties Limited Transactions anti-corruption assessment report and dictates that I resign as the Special Prosecutor immediately.

Many people think the resignation of the Special Prosecutor is an indictment on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addos fight against corruption. (PANA/NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Ijeoma Okigbo

Joseph Imeh, champion of the just concluded 42nd Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Open Tennis tournament says the organisers should increase the events prize money, especially for female players.

An improved prize money will affect the quality of the female game, Imeh said.

Imeh, who won his first CBN title after coming runners-up in three attempts, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)on Monday in Abuja thatan improved prizemoney would impact on the quality of play all round.

The competition is good. We need to applaud the organisers who have been consistent for over 40 years.

But for me, in terms of prize money, the competition is not worth it. The winner gets N700,000 and the runners up N350,000. This is not fair enough, especially considering the logistics, accommodation and all.

NAN learnt that the CBN had earmarked N12.9 million for the 10-day event which climaxed on Saturday at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium.

Imeh was crowned champion after opponent Nonso Madueke retired after two sets, (6-3, 3-1). (NAN)

Source: NAN News

Obodo: Freedom at last

By Edeki Igafe

A former Super Eagles midfielder, Christian Obodo who was allegedly abducted on Sunday by unknown gunmen in Refinery Road, Effurun, Delta, has been released.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Delta Command, DSP Onome Onovwakpoyeya confirmed this to newsmen in a cell phone conversation on Monday in Warri.

It was more of a case of robbery than kidnapping.

They took him to somewhere to withdraw money from an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) and let him go on Sunday,Onovwakpoyeya said.

Obodo, 36, was allegedly abducted alongside a female friendat about 5:00 p.m.

The ex-international was said to have stopped to buy Banana near Ishaka Hotelwhen the incident occurred.

Also confirming the development to newsmen in Warri was a longtime friend to Obodo who simply identified himself as Big Sam.

He said that theformer Udinese and Inter Milan star was freed by the captors on Sunday night

He was released last night, Big Sam said. (NAN)

Source: NAN News