By Ismaila Chafe

President Buhari on Friday met behind closed doors with 36 state governors on the lingering disagreement between them and organised labour on the proposed N30,000 national minimum wage.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) observed that some of the governors were represented by their deputy governors at the meeting which lasted for about 30 minutes.

President Buhari, had on Nov.19, held similar meeting with representatives of Nigerian Governors Forum at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, where the same issue of national minimum wage was deliberated upon.

Representatives of the Governors forum, who met with the president over the issue then, included governors of Zamfara, Lagos, Kaduna and Enugu, while the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige was also in attendance.

The Amal Pepple Tripartite Committee on the Review of National Minimum Wage, had on Nov. 6, submitted its report to President Buhari where it recommended N30,000 as the new national minimum wage.

While receiving the report, the president expressed his commitment to ensuring the implementation of a new national minimum wage and pledged to transmit an Executive Bill (on National Minimum Wage) to the National Assembly for its passage within the shortest possible time.

However, the 36 state governors had since expressed reservation over the proposed N30,000 new minimum wage by the Amal Pepple committee, saying the state governments were not in a stable financial position to pay the new minimum wage.

The Chairman of the Governors forum and Governor of Zamfara, Alhaji Abdulaziz Yari, had on Nov. 15, told newsmen at the end of an emergency meeting of the governors in Abuja that payment of N30, 000 wage was not practicable.

Source: NAN

President Muhammadu Buhari has assured the Board of Trustees of the Host Communities of Nigeria producing Oil and Gas (HOSCON) that oil and gas producing communities would continue to receive the 13 per cent derivation fund.

President Buhari said he would do everything within the law to ensure that the communities received the fund.

The president made the pledge when he received the Board of Trustees of the Host Communities of Nigeria producing Oil and Gas (HOSCON) led by its Chairman, King Alfred Diete-Spiff, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Friday.

Buhari told the board led by the Chairman, King Alfred Diete-Spiff, that his administration would ensure that the 13 per cent derivation fund being enjoyed by the states in the Niger Delta Region was judiciously utilized.

According to him, the derivation fund is constitutionally enshrined and hence all affected oil communities must partake in it.

The relevant constitutional laws regarding the 13 per cent derivation fund must be duly observed by the affected state governments in the Niger Delta region, he said.

The president however, urged leaders in the region to continue to educate the youths in their respective domains on the need to shun any act capable of disrupting peace and stability in the area.

Earlier in his remarks, Diete-Spiff, who is also the Amayanabo of Twon-Brass, announced that HOSCON was negotiating with foreign investors/partners on mechanized agriculture, modular refineries, fertilizer plant and gas utility plant/electricity generating project.

Diete-Spiff, who was also the first military governor of old Rivers State, presented HOSCONs top priority demands to the federal government.

The demands included the release of accrued gas flare penalty money amounting to N98 billion to the host communities.

Agitation for the payment of gas flare penalty fund to HOSCON is ongoing and has secured the listening ears of the Vice President and hopefully that of Mr President himself.

We wish to state unequivocally with full assurance that if these requests of the host communities are granted, HOSCON will ensure that the funds are judiciously utilized, he said.

The HOSCON leader said the gesture would economically uplift and empower the Niger Delta people, stop crude theft, youth militancy, pipeline vandalism and illegal refineries. (NAN)

Source: NAN

My Food Bank, an initiative of young Nigerians to address the problem of food security in the country has been launched by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Buhari, at the launch, said that hunger and poverty were the major challenges the nation.

The initiative heralded the activation of the first one million food bank smart cards and Farm City Project.

Buhari who was represented by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Legal Matters, Prof. Adamu Usman, said there was urgent need to address the problem of hunger and poverty.

He said that everybody should be encouraged to go back to farm.

We are aware of this and the government is committed to supporting this programme because it is noble, he said.

The National Chairman, My Food Bank Programme, Dr Adamu Biu, said the idea behind the programme was to assist the government in its effort to fight corruption, insecurity and poverty.

Biu said the programme was aimed at creating avenue for millions of Nigerians to have access to affordable and free food in any part of the country.

He said the programme would also create employment for young Nigerians and local farmers through its Food City Project.

According to him, the first one million my food bank smart cards have been released for people to use for accessing cheap and affordable food.

We are getting support from both the national government and international donors who are funding the programme as well as well meaning Nigerians.

It is a response to the call by Mr President that we need to address the problem of poverty and hunger.

It is our desire that every Nigerian have access to food irrespective of their location and social standing in order to eliminate hunger because when you end hunger you have solved the problem, he said.

Also, the National Coordinator of the Food City Project, Mr Daniel Orogun, said the organisation has commenced serious mobilisation in the 774 local governments in the country to appoint Food city mayors who would manage the project.

Orogun said the idea behind the project was to have farms in all the locations to enable them reach to every part of the country.

He said the project would on the long run lead to elimination of hunger and creation of jobs.

We have been able to raise 500 mayors from many states of the country, especially the south west states down to the middle belt and north east, he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria, (NAN) reports that a number of Tricycle riders, youth corps members, market women and widows were present at the event. (NAN)

Source: NAN

The Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, has reacted to the outcome of the Vice Presidential debate.

Tambuwal said the debate indicated that Nigeria needed a Vice President like the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential running mate, Peter Obi.

DAILY POST had reported that on Friday night, five candidates contesting for the vice presidency, engaged in a debate.

Those who participated were, Yemi Osinbajo (APC) Peter Obi (PDP) Umma Getso (YPP) Alhaji Abdulganiyu Galadima (ACPN) Khadijah Abdullahi-Iya (ANN)

Reacting, the former PDP presidential aspirant said Obi was well articulate and understands how Nigerias economy works.

In a series of tweets, Nigeria needs a Vice President like Peter Obi. Well articulated, a sound economist who understands how Nigerias economy works.

Together with @atiku, Nigeria will be on the right track to greatness. #Letsgetnigeriaworkingagain

Watching the #VPDebate I can assure Nigerians that @officialPDPnig, we got the right man for the job as Vice President.

Peter Obi is backing all his points with facts and figures, proffering solutions too.What a man!

Source: NAN

Former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, has commended the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Vice Presidential candidate, Peter Obi for an outstanding performance during the Vice presidential debate held on Friday night in Abuja.

He said that Obi demonstrated a high level of understanding of issues relating to the economy compared to other candidates.

Fayose in his twitter handle said he was delighted with Obis performance and his level of intelligence.

He wrote on his official Twitter Page, Delighted that our VP candidate, Peter Obi demonstrated high level of understanding of issues relating to the economy of this country.

In PDP, we have brains in abundance, while in the other party, they have lies in abundance. We will surely get Nigeria working again.

Those who participated were, Yemi Osinbajo (APC) Peter Obi (PDP) Umma Getso (YPP) Alhaji Abdulganiyu Galadima (ACPN) Khadijah Abdullahi-Iya (ANN)

Their responses and opinions drew mixed reactions from Nigerians.

Source: NAN

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has said that the continent should unlock the power of its women and girls if it is to adapt to climate change, cope with disasters and build its green energy sector

Research shows that when women are involved in decision making, agreements on the environment are more likely to be ratified and projects around natural resources, such as water, are more likely to succeed.

That is the message from African delegates as the world prepares to implement the Paris Agreement on climate change in Katowice, Poland, this week.

If given access to education and finance, African women can contribute to finding technological solutions and driving the continents renewable energy industry too.

When you empower women in the context of climate change you empower a family, a community and a country, says Dana Elhassan, senior gender expert at the African Development Bank, which allocates international funds to development projects.

You cannot solve a problem with half the team. A lot of the unpaid work that women do, such as collecting firewood and water, and caring for the family, are massively affected by climate change so we have to make sure adaptation initiatives address their needs, vulnerabilities and potential.

Studies show that when women are part of decision making, ratification of multilateral agreements on the environment are more likely, adds Mafalda Duarte, head of the $8.3 billion Climate Investment Fund, one of the largest climate financing instruments in the world.

There is also strong evidence that women play a vital role in dealing with disasters by mobilising communities something that will become increasingly important as climate change advances, she says.

Discourse is quite tilted to considering women as victims of climate change but we are agents of change and if we are perceived as such this will make a big difference, says Ms Duarte.

Our empowerment represents greatly under-utilised opportunities to build our economies and tackle climate change.

When women are empowered given access to finance, assets and decision making there are big impacts across sectors, she adds.

Renewable energy is traditionally seen as a male sector but if you are deliberate in giving access to women, they become entrepreneurs and help us push forward that agenda, says Ms Duarte.

When women are empowered equally to men there is a massive leap forward in economic gains: a recent McKinsey study found that if women were participating economically as much as men, they would be adding 28 trillion dollars to global GDP by 2025.

In Africa, lack of access to finance has resulted in an estimated $42 billion financing gap for women entrepreneurs across business value chains.

Yet unlocking African womens ingenuity and giving them access to finance could generate technological advancements that help deal with climate change, believes the African Development Bank.

As mobile phone technology has proven, Africa is capable of leapfrogging into an era of digitisation, which minimises risks and cuts costs of doing business.

African women have shown potential to compete in this digital work-space Mfarm, AppsTech, JuaKali, Nandimobile, Hehe Ltd, Obami, DotNxt, are only a few of the women-led tech startups in Africa listed by Forbes.

If we women are given the right platforms, we will achieve the change we wish to see in the world, says Ms Duarte.

Unlocking investment in African women holds incredible return and transformational impact

potential. Women form the backbone of African economies, accounting for a majority of small- and medium-sized businesses and dominating the agriculture sector as primary producers and food processors,

COP24 is the 24th conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This year countries are preparing to implement the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit the worlds global warming to no more than 2C.

Source: NAN

Personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) attached to the Nasarawa State Pensions Bureau in Lafia have attacked journalists for taking pictures of a document pasted on the boards notice board.

The brutalised journalists are Mr Rabiu Omaku of Universal Reporters, an online medium; and Mr. Gambo Ahmed of Peoples Daily.

The reporters had gone to the bureau to take photographs of the list of de-listed pensioners pasted on the notice board on Friday, when they were attacked.

Omaku told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), that he went to the bureau after receiving information that some pensioners have been de-listed for allegedly dragging the state government to court over their entitlements.

When I arrived in the office, I went to the notice board to snap the names pasted on it, but the bureaus Information Officer, Mr Ibrahim Dawaya, directed personnel of the NSCDC to seize my phone.

I was surprised and refused to surrender the phone which infuriated them and they pounced on me.

One of them started hitting me on my face, while the other broke my head with the butt of his gun.

Not long after, other journalists were alerted and they rushed in to intervene, but the security personnel did not spare them. They started beating them, injuring Gambo Ahmed of Peoples Daily in the process, he said.

NAN reports that the victims received treatment at the Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital, Lafia.

Meanwhile, the Commandant of NSCDC in the state, Malam Mohammad Mahmoud-Fari, has condemned the assault on the journalists.

I have deployed our intelligence officers to ascertain what really happened; I will get to the root of this incident, sure.

I want to assure you that all those found to have been involved in the assault will be punished, Mahmoud-Fari said.

Mr Suleiman Abubakar, Chairman of the Correspondents Chapel in Nasarawa State, condemned the attack and called for more protection for journalists.

We cannot continue like this; journalists have become easy prey for security agents.

The action of the pension bureau officials clearly indicates that they have something to hide; otherwise, why will they batter a journalist obtaining information from a notice board?, Abubakar queried.

Source: NAN

By Lucy Nwachukwu

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has inaugurated a one billion dollars Nigeria-Africa Trade and Investment Promotion Programme (NATIPP) to promote and expand trade and investments between Nigeria and the rest of Africa.

Prof. Benedict Oramah, Afreximbanks President said this in a statement on Friday in Abuja.

Oramah inaugurated the programme as part of agreement made by the bank, the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) and the Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM).

Afreximbank also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Nigerian Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment to jointly develop industrial parks and special economic zones in Nigeria worth 1.235 billion dollars.

The signing which took place during the Nigeria Day at the ongoing inaugural Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF) in Cairo, was witnessed by Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

According to Oramah, Afreximbank will work with NEPC and NEXIM to identify, prepare and appraise trade transactions and projects in the country.

He said the organisations would explore co-financing and risk-sharing opportunities, as well as share knowledge with particular emphasis on intra-African trade matters, through technical cooperation, staff exchange, research and joint events.

According to Oramah, the programmes by the bank are being implemented in pursuance of Afreximbanks strategy, Impact 2021: Africa Transformed, which prioritises intra-African trade, industrialisation and export manufacturing.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the IATF, which opened on Tuesday, is organised by Afreximbank, in collaboration with the African Union, and hosted by the Government of Egypt.

It will end on Dec. 17 and is expected to attract about 70,000 visitors.

Transactions worth about 25 billion dollars are expected to be concluded at the IATF which has almost 1,100 registered exhibitors from 42 countries. (NAN)

Source: NAN

The Nigerian Army has said it is suspending the operations of the United Nations International Childrens Emergency Fund in the North-East theatre until further notice.

The Theatre Command, Operation Lafiya Dole, which coordinates the Boko Haram anti-insurgency war in the North-East, stated this in a release by its spokesperson, Col Onyema Nwachukwu.

It alleges that UNICEF had shifted from its duty of catering to the wellbeing of children and the vulnerable through humanitarian activities and now engages in training selected persons for clandestine activities.

The Operation Lafiya Dole Command claimed on Friday that UNICEF was sabotaging the counter-terrorism efforts of troops through spurious and unconfirmed allegations bordering on alleged violations of human rights by the military.

Nwachukwu said, It is baffling to note that some of these organisations have been playing the terrorists script with the aim to continue demoralising the troops who are doing so much to protect the lives of victims of Boko Haram terrorism and safeguard them from wanton destruction of property and means of livelihood.

Consequently, the Theatre Command is suspending the operations of UNICEF in the North-East theatre until further notice.

This has become inevitable since the organisation has abdicated its primary duty of catering for the wellbeing of children and the vulnerable through humanitarian activities and now engages in training selected persons for clandestine activities to continue sabotaging the counter-terrorism efforts.

The Theatre Command will not tolerate this kind of sabotage from any individual, group of persons or organisation.

We call on all Non-Governmental Organisations and members of humanitarian agencies to keep to their legitimate norms in the discharge of their acclaimed humanitarian duties.

The UNICEF had yet to officially react to the militarys release.

Source: NAN

Most of the time, a lot of people see sugar as a ‘harmful’ substance to consume especially if it is taken on a regular basis. And while we nurse the fear that sugar might cost us dearly [health-wise], we tend to sway towards sugar substitutes. Owing to this, beverages [and other consumables] bearing ‘sugar-free’ labels have often become appealing to us. But then do we really know what these sugar substitutes contain or even the effect(s) they could have on our health? Sugar we have known…but knowledge about its substitutes is seemingly vague even despite the number of researches that have been undertaken on them.

So, in this article, I have decided to discuss about some sugar substitutes that are usually used in beverages or taken in some other forms.

Aspartame
Aspartame which is also called ‘Nutrasweet’ is one of the most common artificial sweeteners used in foods and beverages. It is reported to be about 200 times sweeter than the common table sugar.
Ordinarily, on the basis of the major constituents – phenylalanine and aspartic acid, which are both naturally occurring amino acids – this sweetener (that is Aspartame) is not supposed to cause harm. But as it is broken down by the body’s digestive mechanism, methanol is released; this is where the problem lies. Having large amount of methanol in the body system could predispose one to cancer as the methanol is further broken down to formaldehyde which is a carcinogenic agent. Besides, methanol is regarded as a highly toxic substance to human and it has been found to adversely affect the functionality of the central nervous system (CNS), heart, liver and kidney. Although some have claimed that trace amount of methanol may not necessarily endanger one’s health but since it is often regarded as an ‘inconsumable’ alcohol, one has got to avoid it (methanol) or anything capable of exposing one to it like a plague. Therefore, drinks and/or beverages containing aspartame are probably not best to take.

Sucralose
Sucralose is a non-caloric artificial sweetener made from sucrose (that is, table sugar) using selective chlorination. It is otherwise known as ‘splenda’. A host of scientists have considered sucralose safe for consumption due to the fact that it is not absorbed and/or broken down by the body. Hence it can be extracted from the body along with urine. But a study has since found that sucralose can be broken down [into toxic compounds] when subjected to intense heat. Again, there have been reports that this sweetener is capable of disrupting the body’s metabolic processes and even hamper the effectiveness of certain drugs. The regular intake of sucralose may also serve as a risk factor for coronary heart diseases.

Acesulfame Potassium
Acesulfame K – ‘K’ being the chemical formula for potassium – is another calorie free sugar substitute that is not usually absorbed by the body. The major constituent of Acesulfame K is methylene chloride which is a known carcinogenic agent. Asides being a cancer causing compound, this can also affect the normal functioning of the liver, kidney and brain. Acesulfame K is also 200 times sweeter than table sugar.

Saccharin
Saccharin is the most common [and widely used] artificial sweetener, and it is 400 times sweeter than sucrose. It is sometimes used in combination with other artificial sweeteners in order to offset its bitter aftertaste. Though saccharin has not been found to cause cancer or any heart disorder, it does disrupt the growth and activities of gut bacteria. Owing to this, the excessive consumption of saccharin may bring about some dysfunction in the digestive tract and immune system.

Sugar substitutes may be very useful in a weight-loss dietary plan and maintaining a normal blood sugar level; the disadvantages that come with consuming them far outweigh the benefits one gets from using them hence it pays to avoid using them. By the way, sugar substitutes as used in the context of this article, refer to artificial sweeteners that may be detrimental to the well-being of humans. Nonetheless, there are other sugar substitutes that are safe to consume; most of these, are natural products, and examples include pure (natural), honey, stevia, applesauce, cane sugar, molasses, etc.