Sabinews Daily Morning News Update for September 16, 2014

12 NIGERIAN SOLDIERS SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MUTINY

Sabinews Daily Morning News Update for September 16, 2014

National News

12 Nigerian soldiers sentenced to death for mutiny

Twelve Nigerian soldiers were on Tuesday sentenced to death for mutiny after shots were fired at their commanding officer in the restive northeast city of Maiduguri earlier this year.

A nine-member military tribunal, sitting in Abuja, convicted the soldiers following the incident on May 14 when shots were fired at the commanding officer of the Nigerian Army’s 7th Division, which is tasked with fighting Boko Haram insurgents. Read more

Five Killed in Fresh Attack in Plateau

A 40-year-old woman and her three-year and five-year-old children were on Sunday night killed by people suspected to be Fulani herdsmen in Bokkos Local Government Area of Plateau State.

The suspected attackers were said to have stormed the community and set over 20 houses ablaze and destroyed their farmlands. Read mor

WAEC Results For Chibok Girls Ready – Education Minister

Nigeria’s education minister, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, yesterday told the House of Representatives Committee on Education that the results of the Chibok schoolgirls who wrote the April 2014 West African Examinations Council (WAEC) exams were ready.

Shekarau made the disclosure at a stakeholders meeting organised by the House Committee on Education, over the federal government’s directive to schools to resume on September 22, against the October 12 date given in consideration of the Ebola Virus Disease in the country. Read more

We’ve contained Ebola virus —FG

The Federal Government, on Monday, said it has “contained” the spread of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in the country.

This is even as the government has described as ill-conceived, the recent strike embarked upon by the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), especially when the nation’s health sector was under threat. Read more

Some schools set for Sept 22 resumption-Education Commissioners

Following the insistence by the Federal Government, that the September 22 resumption date for primary and secondary schools in the country would not be extended, several State Ministries of Education have expressed readiness for schools to resume, stressing that adequate measures have been put in place to contain any possible outbreak of the deadly Ebola Virus Diseases, EVD, in schools.

Those that gave assurances of their preparedness were the commissioners for education of Anambra, Edo, Ogun, Rivers, as well as the special adviser to Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State on Information and Strategy. Read more

Auditor General’s Report Indicts Oronsaye for N123bn Fraud

A damning report by the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation has indicted a former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mr. Stephen Oronsaye, over an alleged N123billion fraud perpetrated during his tenure, between 2009 and 2010.

The 169-page report, entitled “Special Audit of the Accounts of the Civil Pensions,” according to an online news medium, Premium Times, found Oronsaye guilty of allegedly presiding over the looting of the nation’s resources during his tenure. Read more

Ministers hire consultants to do civil servants’ jobs – Kifasi

The Head of Civil Service of the Federation (HoS), Danladi Kifasi, has lamented that ministers and government officials now resort to hiring of consultants to do the tasks federal civil servants are employed to do because of poor service delivery.

He had accordingly, directed that officers must henceforth, treat files on their tables within 72 hours, failure, which would attract sanction. Read more

SERAP Asks CBN to Provide Information on Money Laundering to Boko Haram

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, (SERAP) has issued a Freedom of Information request to Godwin Emefiele, governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) asking him to “urgently provide information about the persons involved in alleged money laundering through the Central Bank of Nigeria to fund the activities of the Boko Haram, which have contributed to the unlawful killings of innocent Nigerians and destruction of property.”

SERAP in a statement signed by Signed Adetokunbo Mumuni, executive director, also asked Emefiele to provide “within 14 days of the receipt and/or publication of this letter information on the exact nature and duration of any such transactions.” Read more

FG Pledges Five-fold Increase In Broadband Infrastructure

The minister of communication technology, Dr Omobola Johnson, has said the federal government is committed to a five-fold increase in ubiquitous broadband infrastructure that would facilitate innovation and entrepreneurship in Nigeria.

She stated this during a panel discussion on ‘Policies Enabling Access, Growth and Development on the Internet’ at the 9th Internet Governance Forum (IGF) held in Istanbul, Turkey, last week. Read more

Sabinews News Update on Economy

Nigerian Economy Ranked Far above its African Peers

Nigeria has been ranked far ahead of its peers on the continent based on the strength of the country’s macroeconomic indicators.

A Lagos-based research and financial advisory firm, Renaissance Capital (RenCap), revealed this in its latest report on sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) titled, ‘Who’s Hot and Who’s Not’. Read more

Nigeria Now Holds 50% of Unilever’s Africa Business Says Polman

The Global Chief Executive Officer, Unilever, Mr. Paul Polman, weekend disclosed that with the fresh investment, which the multinational company has recently injected in to the country, Nigeria now holds around 50 per cent of all of Unilever’s investments in Africa.. Read more

Agric attracts $5.6bn private sector investment in 4 years

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, has said that the Nigerian agriculture attracted about $5.6 billion private sector investment between 2011 and 2014.

The Minister, who disclosed this yesterday at the inaugural ceremony of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda Policy Working Group in Abuja, said the private sector has woken up to see agriculture as the new wealth sector, between 2011 and 2014, to the extent that the sector attracted over $5.6 billion of private sector investments – a record anywhere in Africa. This, according to him, included the recent decision by Dangote to invest $1 billion in commercial rice production in Nigeria, which was the largest ever single investment on food production in Africa. Read more

10 Banks Execute Payment Solution of National Electronic ID Card

The NIMC has said 10 out of the 13 banks that have signed agreements with it to implement the payment solution of the National electronic ID (National e-ID) card have executed the agreement.

The commission, however, explained that apart from Access Bank, which is implementing the pilot payment solution of the scheme, the rest have to wait for the next phases. Access Bank is implementing the pilot with a view to ensuring the success of the payment solution applet of the card, after which the others will follow in tow. Read more

Jonathan Charges ICAN, Nigerians to Embrace Professionalism

President Goodluck Jonathan has urged the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and other fields of endeavour to embrace professionalism in the course of their operations.

He also said some good government policies created to benefit the generality of Nigerians have recently been attacked by few individuals who felt their immediate selfish interests were not met. Read more

FG to diversify economy with ICT development

The federal government in a bid to free the economy from further dependence on oil and gas has said it will diversify into the ICT sector.
With over 121 million active subscribers and being the largest internet market in Africa by volume, the government says it will ensure that ICTs continue to facilitate and support the much needed growth and diversification of the economy. Read more

NESG, UNGC in move to promote sustainable business environment

The Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) and the United Nation Global Compact (UNGC) are poised to launch the Business for Peace (B4P) initiative in Nigeria to expand and deepen private sector action in support of peace in the workplace, marketplace and local communities.

B4P, which is a business leadership platform launched by UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, will assist companies implement responsible business practices aligned with the UN Global Compact Ten Principles in conflict-affected and high-risk areas and catalyse action to advance peace. Read more

Investors take over Festac Phase 11 devt, seal 30-yr concession pact with FG

After over eight years of processes leading to the concessioning of Festac Town Phase 2 Estate, a consortium of investors led by Messrs Fung Tai Engineering Company Limited (FTECL) have taken over the development of the 1,126-hectare estate in Lagos following a 30-year concession agreement they signed with the Federal Government.

Since April 2013, the investors have been preoccupied with extensive preliminary project development activities on the estate including surveys, field studies, site investigation, environmental impact assessment, town planning, funding and third party appraisals and agreements. Read more

The NSE, SEC and the Capital Market

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) was established in 1960 as the Lagos Stock Exchange, changing to its current name in 1977. The NSE is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) the apex regulator which administers the Investments and Securities Act of 1999 (2007) and has the mandate of surveillance over the Exchange to forestall breaches of market rules and to deter and detect unfair manipulation and trading practices, while transactions on the Exchange are regulated by the NSE itself as a self-regulatory organisation (SRO). Read more

Sabinews News Update on Oil and Gas

Agip, GE, Others Summoned for Breach of Nigerian Content Law

The federal government, through the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), has summoned the Managing Director of Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC), Mr. Massimo Insulla, officials of General Electric (GE) and others, to a meeting over a business dispute that has arisen with respect to a multimillion dollar contract for the maintenance of Obob/Ebocha/Kwale gas plants in Delta State. Read more

World News

Soldiers Killed in Suicide Attack at U.S. Base in Kabul

Three soldiers with the American-led coalition were killed and five wounded Tuesday after their convoy was targeted in a car bomb attack at the gates of a United States military base in Kabul, according to Afghan government and American military officials.

The attack took place just outside an American Special Operations base, but there was no confirmation from the International Security Assistance Force, as the coalition is called, about the nationalities of the victims. Read more

Police hunt for killer of tourists

Police on the resort island of Koh Tao in southern Thailand stepped up their hunt for the killer of two British tourists whose bodies were found on a beach.

More than 70 police officers were deployed to the popular diving destination in the Gulf of Thailand, as the country’s leaders called for a swift investigation into the brutal murders that marked a new blow to Thailand’s tourism industry. Read more

US Steps Up Anti-Isis Campaign and Launches First Airstrikes after Paris Talks

The US is stepping up its anti-Isis military campaign in Iraq shortly after the Paris talks.

The latest airstrikes have pounded targets near the capital Baghdad.

The US Central Command said American warplanes launched airstrikes in the south of Baghdad at the request of Iraqi ground forces. Read more

Obama sends troops to fight Ebola

The Obama administration is preparing to send 3,000 US troops to West Africa to combat the Ebola crisis that has overwhelmed local health care systems.

The military personnel will supply medical and logistical support and boost the number of beds needed to isolate and treat victims of the epidemic. Read more

Sabinews News Update on Energy

Energy Firms Owe Nigerian Banks N2.6trn

Energy firms are owing banks in Nigeria about N2.644 trillion as at end-December 2013, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has stated.

The amount, according to the CBN in its recently released Financial Stability Report for December 2014, represents 24.21 percent of the total private sector credit in the period under review. Read more

Government Targets 2,483MW from Renewable Energy in 2015

The federal government has said it plans to add about 2,483 megawatts (MW) of electricity from renewable sources to Nigeria’s electricity grid by 2015.
It however, explained that such growth plan was hinged on successful implementation of its renewable energy and efficiency policy, which draft was presented to stakeholders for review by the Ministry of Power. Read more

FG Considers Sale of $20bn Electricity Transmission Assets

The federal government is considering the sale of the assets of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) put at $20 billion, which are being managed by Manitoba Hydroelectric of Canada under a three-year management contract that will end by next year.

The Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, told Bloomberg Television Africa that the sale of TCN might start “in a few years”. Read more

NERC approves 12-member electricity dispute resolution panel

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has approved the establishment of a 12-member Dispute Resolution Panel (DRP) to resolve emerging disputes in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) even as the market would soon transcend to contracts and rules-based trading system.

The Head, Public Affairs, Dr. Usman Abba Arabi, recently disclosed that the panel was part of NERC’s commitment to fostering the development of a robust mechanism for the settlement of disputes in the NESI. Read more

KEDCO trains 200 former PHCN on skills

The Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO) on Monday said it would re-engage some former staff of defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) disengaged during the privatization of the company.

Managing Director of the company, Alhaji Jamilu Gwamna, made this known in Kano during a training workshop on skills acquisition for 200 of the former electricity workers. Read more