By Suleiman Shehu

A tanker laden with petrol on Thursday fell and caught fire claiming two lives and burning four vehicles at Iwo road area of Ibadan around 3:00 p.m.

An eye witness, AbdulAzeez Hammed, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the tanker which fell and spilled its content, razed no fewer than four vehicles.

Hammed said he saw a man in one of the affected vehicles removing his child from the back of his wife when they saw the fire approaching their vehicle.

The witness said the husband and the child escaped while the fire caught the wife in the car and burnt her to death.

Confirming the incident, SP Olugbenga Fadeyi, Oyo State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), told NAN that two people lost their lives in the incident.

Fadeyi said four vehicles and two motorcycles were also burnt.

Source: NAN

Russian Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev, on Thursday said Russia has banned exports of oil and petroleum products to Ukraine, as well as certain Ukrainian imports.

Relations between the former Soviet neighbours have been at an all-time low since Russias 2014 annexation of Ukraines Crimea region in retaliation for Kiev ousting its Kremlin-backed president.

Medvedev cast the new sanctions, which include bans on importing certain metals, consumer goods and equipment from Ukraine, as counter-measures for Ukrainian sanctions against Russia.

We are forced to protect our interests and strike back, Medvedev said at a meeting of the cabinet of ministers, Russian state news agency, TASS reported.

Those Ukrainian imports that are now banned had amounted to about $250 million in 2018, Medvedev added.

Source: NAN

President Muhammadu Buhari has signed the new 30,000 minimum wage bill into law.

Buhari signed the new bill into law at the State House in Abuja, saying it was a testimony that his administration is committed to the welfare of Nigerians.

He said: I would like to express gratitude to everyone who contributed to this very important task, and reiterate our commitment to the welfare of all Nigerians.

He challenged Nigerian workers to justify the signing into law of the new minimum wage by showing more commitments to their work.

He also enjoined the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to show more understanding of the current socio-economic situations in country.

He said: I expect them (workers) to be more committed to their work at whichever level.

I will like the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to look at the economic situation of the country, the population, the poor infrastructure that we are trying to fix in terms of roads, rail and power.

So, I wish Nigerian workers the best of luck.

The National Assembly passed the National Minimum Wage Bill, approving N30,000 minimum monthly wage for Federal and State workers.

The proposed new National Minimum Wage was presented to the National Council of State on Jan. 22 after which it was sent to the National Assembly.

The Federal Executive Council meeting also deliberated and approved the minimum wage after which it was transmitted to the National Assembly and subsequently passed by both chambers of the legislative arm.

Senator Ita Enang, Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters(Senate) told State House correspondents that the Senate had on March 19, approved N30, 000 as the new national minimum wage with an appeal to the Federal Government to expedite action on assent and implementation.

This makes it compulsory for all employers of labour in Nigeria to pay their workers the sum of N30,000 and this excludes persons who are employing less than 25 workers; persons who work in a ship which sail out of jurisdiction; persons who are in other kinds of regulated employments are excepted by the Act.

It also gives the workers the right if you are compelled by any circumstance to accept salary that is less than 30,000 for you to sue your employers to recover the balance.

It authorises the minister of labour and any person nominated by the minister of labour or any person designated by the minister of labour in any ministry, department or agency to on your behalf take action in your name against such employer to recover the balance of wages.

It also ensures and mandates the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission and the minister of labour to be the chief and principal enforcers of the provisions of this law; and this law applies to all agencies and persons and bodies throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The effective date is April 18, 2019 as Mr President has assented to; it has been assented to and it takes effect today except such other provision as are contained in the Act.

Enang said that the enforcement and the right to start the implementation of the provisions commenced immediately including such steps that would to be taken gradually under the provisions of the Act.

He urged Nigerian workers to celebrate President Buhari and support his administration and policies.

The senior special assistant said that the administration would come out and march together with Nigerian workers and Workers Day.

Mr President will celebrate Workers Day and this government will celebrate.This is Mr President action showing the love he has for Nigerian workers, he said.

Source: NAN

Eight Nigerians, all men, have been sentenced to death in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates(UAE) for a string of robberies at money exchanges and cash machines(ATMs) across the emirate in December 2016.

The ninth Nigerian, found guilty for possession of stolen money was sentenced to six months imprisonment.

He will be deported after serving his prison term.

The Gulf News reported that the Nigerian denied the charge against him and said that one of the accuseds brothers asked him to transfer Dh60,000 to an account in Nigeria.

All the convicted Nigerians were not identified by both the Gulf News and Khaleej Times, all local newspapers, which reported the trial.

A total of 20 suspects were initially held for attacking security guards in four violent attacks at ATMs and money exchanges across Sharjah in late 2016. Out of 20 suspects, nine were convicted.

Some of the accused confessed to their crimes while others denied the charges levelled against them.

The verdict was handed down by Judge Majid Al Muhairi of Sharjah Criminal Court on Wednesday.

The eight-member gang attacked security trucks and entered establishments by force and threatened and assaulted staff and members of the public with bladed weapons in a spate of robberies, three of which were carried out on the same day on December 18, 2016.

The gang who were all in the UAE on visit visas were said to be highly organised and plotted a string of orchestrated attacks to ambush security trucks that were transporting money boxes to and from ATMs, and at least one money exchange in Sharjah.

The first robbery took place at a Dubai Commercial Bank ATM on King Abdul Aziz Street where Dh340,000 was stolen, then two days later they attacked an ATM in Al Safeer Mall in Al Nahda fleeing with Dh700,000, and an ATM in Muweilah where they stole Dh710,000. A fourth attack at a money exchange office near National Paints was foiled by police.

The gang of 20 was arrested in record time but police confirmed that only a portion of the stolen money almost Dh1.8 million had been recovered, as the gang members had divided the money among themselves and transferred it to their home country.

Suspects were taken into custody in cooperation with police in Dubai, Ajman and Fujairah.

The gang committed the heists at the busiest times of day when streets were crowded, which added to the confusion and enabled them to escape, said police.

In each robbery the assailants struck quickly before police could arrive, the attackers however could not evade security cameras and police were able to recognise the suspects through surveillance footage captured at the exchange house in the mall.

Video footage showed the suspects attacking security guards, making off with cash, and in one of the robberies slashing the hands of a security guard with a knife before running away with money boxes.

Police believe the suspects had monitored and tracked the security trucks used to transport money for a period of time before launching the attacks took place.

A prosecutor told Gulf News on Thursday that as per the law, a group of people who threaten the life of others while committing robbery are subject to the death sentence, however an appeal is expected to be launched and the sentences could get downgraded to life imprisonment.

The trial appeared unconnected with the arrest of five Nigerians in March this year, who robbed a Bureau de Change operator of Dh2.3 million (N225.4 million) in Sharjai, Dubai.

The suspects were identified as Chimuanya Emmanuel Ozoh, Benjamin Nwachukwu Ajah, Kingsley Ikenna Ngoka, Tochukwu Leonard Alisi and Chile Micah Ndunagu.

The five Nigerians reportedly barged into the BDC on March 20 and smashed the glass barrier between the customers and the staff, stole the money in multiple currencies and fled.

Two employees at the exchange were injured as they resisted the robbers. One of them managed to notify the police. The Sharjah Police coordinated with forces from Abu Dhabi, Ras Al Khaimah and Ajman to nab the suspects from four emirates within 48 hours after the robbery was committed.

A top police official said the suspects came to the UAE on visit visas on March 18.

*Reported by Gulf News

Source: NAN

Thousands of protesters massed outside Sudans army complex in Khartoum on Friday, piling pressure on the countrys new military rulers to swiftly transfer power to a civilian administration, witnesses said.

The army on April 11 ousted Sudans longtime leader Omar al-Bashir after months-long protest movement.

A military council which took power has so far resisted calls from protesters to quickly bring in a civilian administration.

On Thursday, exactly four months since protests started, roads leading to the sit-in area were packed with crowds flocking to the army headquarters.

Activists mobilised demonstrators through social media to keep up the pressure for replacing the military council, now led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

Power to civilians, power to civilians, protesters chanted through Thursday night.

I wont leave until Burhan transfers power to a civilian government, said Wali Aldeen, who has camped outside the complex since the day Bashir was ousted.

Activists have called for large crowds to gather after the weekly Muslim prayers, as on previous Fridays.

Protests first broke out on December 19 in response to the tripling of bread prices, swiftly turning into nationwide rallies against Bashirs three-decade rule.

After his ouster, protesters demonstrated against General Awad Ibn Ouf who took over as the first head of the military council, insisting he was a close aide of Bashir and a top regime figure.

Ibn Ouf stepped down in less than 24 hours and was replaced by Burhan, who so far has appeased protesters by lifting a night-time curfew and vowing to uproot the Bashir regime.

Source: NAN

A female journalist, Lyra McKee was shot dead during riots in Northern Ireland in what police Friday were treating as a terrorist incident following the latest upsurge in violence to shake the troubled region.

Lyra McKee was murdered during orchestrated violence in Creggan last night, Assistant Chief Constable Mark Hamilton said in a statement.

McKee, 29 years old, had earlier posted an image that appeared to be from the riots in the Creggan housing estate in the city of Londonderry, also known as Derry, accompanied by the words Derry tonight. Absolute madness.

Images of the unrest posted on social media showed a car and van ablaze and hooded individuals throwing petrol bombs and fireworks at police vehicles.

A single gunman fired shots in a residential area of the city and as a result wounded Ms McKee, said Hamilton, adding that police believed the gunman was a violent dissident republican.

We are treating this as a terrorist incident and we have launched a murder enquiry, he added.

Journalist Matthew Hughes earlier identified the dead woman as one of his friends.

I just received the heartbreaking news that my friend @LyraMcKee was murdered tonight in a terrorist incident in Derry, he wrote on Twitter.

McKee had written for The Atlantic magazine and Buzzfeed News and was named by Forbes Magazine in 2016 as one of their 30 under 30 oustanding figures in media, according to her literary agent Janklow

Some butchers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have called on the FCT Minister Mohammed Bello to intervene over lack of basic amenities in abattoirs across the territory.

The butchers, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kuje, Deidei and Dutse on Thursday decried the poor attention given to abattoirs in the territory.

NAN visits to some of the abattoirs indicates that the butchers operate without water, electricity and good roads as they were seen washing roasted meats in streams.

Alhaji Bala Ismaila, the Head of Butchers of Kuje Abattoir, told NAN that lack of water and the deplorable state of the road to the abattoir had been of serious concern to the butchers.

He said the dilapidated state of the slaughterhouse and the difficulties of conveying meat to the market had been a threat to meat business in the area.

Ismaila said that butchers had resorted to slaughtering of cows in open spaces because of lack of water and the deplorable state of the slaughterhouse.

We have been trying to discourage meat consumers from coming to the abattoir because most of them will be discouraged from patronising us after seeing our operating environment.

Presently, we are slaughtering cows in an open environment instead of using the slaughterhouse because there is no water in the abattoir for over four years.

The most unhygienic part of it is that we have been using stream water to wash roasted meat as you can see the environment, people defecate and throw it inside the stream but we have no option.

We are appealing to the relevant authorities, especially the FCT Minister and the Chairman of Kuje Area Council to come to the aid of the butchers in the interest of meat consumers, he said.

Mr Salisu Ahmed, a butcher in Kuje Abattoir, said that the slaughterhouse was built over 25 years ago by Alhaji Jibrin Wowo-led administration of the council.

Ahmed said that Mr Danladi Zhin-led administration sunk borehole and connected water to the slaughter house over six years ago.

The borehole was vandalised shortly after its inauguration and since then, we have been operating without good source of water despite efforts to get the attention of the Area Council.

Successive administrations of the council since 2012 have not shown interest in providing basic amenities in the abattoir and yet we pay N500 as revenue to the Area Council for each cow slaughtered.

So there is no reason why the Area Council should not provide the needed amenities in the abattoir, he said.

At the Deidei abattoir, butchers lamented the deplorable state of market and the road linking the abattoir.

Malam Sada Muhammad, Head of Butcher of the Deidei Abattoir, said that members and traders in the market suffered losses due to lack of water, electricity and bad road.

Muhammad said that traders and butchers suffer more during the raining season because of the difficulties in gaining entrance into the market.

He said except urgent steps are taken to rehabilitate the road and provide basic amenities in the abattoir, the suffering of the butchers and meat consumers would continue.

He, therefore, appealed to the authorities of FCT and Abuja Municipal Area Council to come to the aid of butchers and meat consumers in the area.

Malam Shehu Abubakar, the Chairman of Deidei Market Association, said that the challenge of providing basic amenities in markets and abattoirs was not peculiar to Deidei market.

He said that most markets and abattoirs in the FCT were facing similar problems but appealed to relevant authorities to find lasting solution to them.

This is my 42 years in meat business. I have been to some markets and abattoirs and I can tell you that they all have similar problems.

The problem all over is the problem of water to clean slabs after slaughtering and this has been a major challenge to butchers because of smell and difficulty in managing the slaughterhouses without water.

Since there is no water in the abattoir, we sometimes go to the river behind to slaughter the cow and use the flowing water to wash the meat.

We know that the water we are using is not very clean but we are using it because there is no option, he said.

Abubakar said an average of 300 cows and 3,000 goats were slaughtered daily and for the pay revenue of N2,000 and N200 per cow and goat.

He said that part of the N2,000 revenue was given to AMAC, another part to police for security while the remaining part was used to take care of members.

We are appealing to the FCT Administration to come to our aid in the interest of the butchers and meat consumers.

Our major challenge now is the state of the road linking the abattoir because the culvert on the road is in a deplorable state and can cut off anytime.

Our appeal is for the relevant authorities to fix the road to ensure easy movement of goods and services, he said.

Malam Yisa Hassan, a butcher in Duste Cattle Market, said the market currently being used by the butchers was not legally allocated to them.

He called on the Bwari Area Council to provide a permanent market for the butchers.

Earlier, Mr Sani Mohammed, Head of Environment, Health and Sanitation Department, Kuje Area Council, said a committee had been set up to look into the challenges of butchers in the council.

Source: NAN

U.S. Special Counsel Robert Muellers 448-page report released on Thursday detailed more than just Oval Office arguments and Trump Tower meetings.

It also revealed that Trumps staff and associates frequently ignored the president disregarding his orders and hoping he just wouldnt ask again.

Trump called White House Chief Counsel Don McGahn twice and told him to tell Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein that Mueller should be removed.

Call Rod, tell Rod that Mueller has conflicts and cant be the Special Counsel, McGahn recalled Trump telling him.

But McGahn didnt do it.

To end the conversation with the President, McGahn left the President with the impression that McGahn would call Rosenstein, Mueller wrote in his report. McGahn recalled that he had already said no to the Presidents request and he was worn down, so he just wanted to get off the phone.

Trump frequently attempted to use staff and associates to deliver messages. But frequently, his attempts to send messages via a third party were ignored.

On June 19, 2017, Trump met in the Oval Office with his former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. Trump told Lewandowski to deliver a message to then Attorney General Jeff Sessions that he wanted the Mueller investigation limited to just potential interference in future elections.

Lewandowski told Trump he would handle it, but instead he asked White House official Rick Dearborn to deliver the message.

(Dearborn) recalled later telling Lewandowski that he had handled the situation, but he did not actually follow through with delivering the message to Sessions, Mueller wrote.

On Feb. 14, 2017, Trump had lunch with then-New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. During the lunch, the president asked Christie if he could deliver a message to then-FBI Director James Comey.

Trump wanted Christie to tell Comey that the president really like(s) him. Tell him hes part of the team, the governor later told Mueller.

A month later, Trump fired Comey.

Christie had no intention of complying with the presidents request that he contact Comey, Mueller wrote. He thought the presidents request was nonsensical and Christie did not want to put Comey in the position of having to receive such a phone call. Christie thought it would have been uncomfortable to pass on that message.

Long before Sessions resigned, Trump began searching for a new attorney general.

In July 2017, Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand came to Trumps attention and he asked his then White House Staff Secretary Rob Porter to contact Brand to see if she was interested in becoming attorney general.

Later, the president asked Porter a few times in passing whether he had spoken to Brand, but Porter did not reach out to her because he was uncomfortable with the task, Mueller wrote.

Porter ignored the president because he was concerned the inquiry was an attempt by Trump to fire Mueller, the special counsels office surmised.

Porter did not contact Brand because he was sensitive to the implications of that action and did not want to be involved in a chain of events associated with an effort to end the investigation or fire the Special Counsel, the report said.

Source: NAN

By Lizzy Okoji

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has expanded its Africa Bureau by adding three Regional offices to handle issues across the region for effective response.

Mrs Liz Ahua, UNHCRs Regional Representative to West Africa, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abuja.

Ahua explained that previously, the UNHCR had just one Africa Bureau based in Geneva but with the enormous issues facing the region, just a Bureau was not sufficient to respond swiftly.

She said that African Bureau coverered 38 countries but decision had been taken to split it to three Bureaus with three Bureau Directors and the regional offices remained.

Presently, UNHCR is going through a reform process to make us more agile, more responsive, especially when we have emergency situations.

This is because in the past, UNHCR was known as an organisation that was extremely rapid, extremely flexible but overtime that rapidity has slowed down so we have engaged in a process of our decentralisation and regionalisation.

With the expectations that it will yield more nimble and compact structure that responds more quickly to emergencies and will also be closer to the people than Geneva is.

The African Bureau is one bureau in addition to other regions.

One will be based in Dakar covering West Africa and Central Africa which comprises of 18 countries.

Another one will be in Pretoria covering the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and all the southern African countries.

The third Bureau will be based in Nairobi and that will be covering East Africa and the horn of Africa, Ahua said.

Ahua said also explained the peculiarities of issues that were faced in the different sub regions.

She said that the West Africa and East Africa sub-regions were faced with more issues of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) Refugees and Statelessness situations.

The regional representative said that the southern Africa region on the other hand had more of asylum seekers and people in migration like situations and less of refugees and IDPs.

Ahua said that the South Africa region was dealing more with migration issues.

She said that regardless of the migration status, UNHCR remained committed to ensuring the protection of Persons of Concerns and providing durable solutions.

Ahua said that the UNHCR was working closely with other partners like the International Organistaion for Migration (IOM) to address the migration challenges as it fell under their respective purviews.

She said that finding solutions for forcefully displaced persons remained the main priority of UNHCR.

She said that between 2018 and this year, the UNHCR evacuated and transferred about 3,000 Persons of Concern and settled 1,306 persons.

Recently there were refugees and migrants caught in the Libyan situation, some of whom have been trafficked, smuggled, gone through the desert and found out they cannot cross over to Europe.

They come into the UNHCR center and they have been evacuated to Niger.

There, we have settled 1,306 last year and this year, but the number of people who have been transferred are in the region of 3,000.

We are not saying that once you move out of Libya to Niger, you will be evacuated or resettled, there are still criteria that we look out for, Ahua said.

Source: NAN

The Honourable Minister of Youths and Sports Development, Barr. Solomon Dalung and the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), have intervened in the leadership crisis rocking the youth body.

Recall the the council had been submerged in a leadership crisis which snowballed into the

Consequently, Barr. Dalung, on Thursday, summoned the BoT with a view to finding lasting solutions to the lingering crisis.

The meeting which was attended by top management officials of the Ministry and the BoT, also arrived at far-reaching decisions concerning NYCN.

Addressing newsmen shortly after the meeting held behind closed doors, Chairman of the BoT, Amb. (Dr.) Dickson Akoh, said the Board and the Ministry had decided to wade into the leadership crisis rocking the Council, with a resolve to addressing issues surrounding the crisis.

Akoh agreed with the Honourable Minister that, there was a need to reposition the Council for the benefit of young people.

To this end, a National Management Meeting involving all stakeholders is to be convened to address the challenges facing the Council.

Akoh said the Minister had also mandated that the Board of Trustees will now oversee truly, as prescribed by the constitution, the affairs of the Council, to avoid people that are not qualified or outsiders coming to hijack the affairs of the Council.

The BoT Chairman frowned at divisive nature of the Council at the moment, which was caused by the partisanship of some of the executive members.

He stressed that the Council remained apolitical and emphasised that it should not be aligned to any political party.

On the infiltration by outsiders, the BoT Chairman advised youths interested in the Council to go through due process and avoid impersonation.

We have the powers to file criminal complaint against anybody impersonating the youth Council in any capacity.

If you want to be a member of the Youth Council, go and join any of the affiliate members, follow the constitutional process to get to whatever leadership position you want to get to, if you meet the age requirement and other conditions specified in the Constitution, Akoh said.

The National Management Meeting, involving the Ministry, BoT, Advisory Council, NEC and other stakeholders of NYCN, according to Akoh, would take place soonest, to look into the suspension of Mr. Shagari and other salient matters.

Source: NAN