Sabinews Daily Morning News Update for September 10, 2014
National News
Jonathan Under fire for Taking Modu Sheriff on Chad Security Visit
The All Progressives Congress, APC yesterday issued a statement condemning President Goodluck Jonathan for taking Modu Sheriff, former Borno Governor and alleged boko haram sponsor on a security trip to Chad.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Lai Mohammmed, APC Publicity wondered what message President Jonathan was sending to his compatriots and indeed to the international community when he took Mr. Sheriff along during his visit to Chad Monday to confer with President Idriss Deby on cooperation against terrorism. Read more
Afenifere rejects additional 30,000 polling units
The Pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, on Tuesday, rejected the distribution of the additional 30, 000 polling units proposed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), demanding that the action be reserved immediately.
Besides, Afenifere also said it would pass a vote of no confidence on the chairman of the commission, Professor Attahiru Jega, if the distribution pattern is not corrected. Read more
Washington Post blasts Jonathan for campaign slogan
The Washington Post has criticised President Goodluck Jonathan over a campaign slogan in support of his re-election in 2015.
In an editorial in the United States-based newspaper on Tuesday, titled, ‘This may be the most inappropriate political hostage of the year,’ it questioned the slogan’s similarity with that of the pressure group, Bring Back Our Girls, seeking the rescue of the over 200 schoolgirls abducted in April. Read more
Oshiomhole Seeks Realistic Policies to Tackle Challenges in Education Sector
Gov. Adams Oshiomhole of Edo on Tuesday said that there was need for a “realistic conversation and policies on education’’ that would help deal with educational challenges.
Oshiomhole gave the advice when he received the chairman and members of the House of Representatives Committee on Education in his office in Benin. Read more
Lagos Schools May Not Resume On Sept 22 – Commissioner
Following the recent directive by the federal government that schools across the country should resume on Sept. 22, the Lagos State Government on Tuesday said it was yet to take a position on the directive.
Dr Jide Idris, the state Commissioner for Health, made the statement in Ikeja while addressing newsmen on the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in the state. Read more
Life After Ebola: Nigerian Survivors Petition Lagos State Government
Lagos State Government has revealed that two survivors of the deadly Ebola Virus disease have complained about the stigmatization meted on them by the public despite being given a clean bill of health. The state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, who disclosed this while addressing journalists on Tuesday in Alausa, said the government has directed the Ministry of Justice to take up the case on behalf of the affected victims as such act, constitutes a violation of their fundamental human rights. Read more
NEMA Provides Relief Materials for 12,000 IDPs in Borno Camps
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) yesterday presented eight truckloads of relief materials to over 12,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) who had to flee their homes in Bama, Kawuri and Damboa in Borno State owing to Boko Haram attacks.
A statement by the Senior Information Officer of the agency, Sani Datti, said the Director General of the NEMA, Muhammad Sani Sidi, had assured the victims that the federal government was concerned about their condition and was committed to doing everything possible to ease their plight. Read more
Nigeria’s Defence Budget Gulps $32.88bn
As concerns mount over the excesses of the Boko Haram sect, the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday put the total amount spent by the country’s security apparatus at $32.88 billion.
In a paper delivered on behalf of the party at Porticullis House in the British House of Commons by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the APC blamed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for politicising the heinous activities of the insurgents. Read more
INEC presents Certificate-of- Return to Niger East senator-elect
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on Tuesday, presented certificate-of-return to the Niger-East Senatorial District’s senator-elect Dr. Shem Nuhu Zagbayi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The state’s Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr Emmanuel Onuchenyo while presenting the certificate, said “we are giving you all these documents now so that you can start preparing for 2015.” Read more
Gombe APC warns PDP not to use thugs to rig elections
The All Progressive Congress (APC) in Gombe has warned the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to put its house in order and ensure that political thugs are not used for violence in 2015 general elections even as the party has urged the PDP to prepare to pack its belongings from the Government House, stressing that there will be no hiding place for the ruling party.
All Progressive Congress (APC) Zonal Vice Chairman, Gombe South, Julius Ishaya said this in reaction to recent activities of restive youths in the state. Read more
Rivers PDP Abandons Zoning in Gubernatorial Elections
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State has said it would not apply zoning in choosing its candidates for elective positions in the 2015 elections.
The position of the party was made known to journalists yesterday by the state Chairman of the PDP, Chief Felix Obuah, while presenting a six-point communique issued at the end of a meeting of the state executive council meeting of the party. Read more
Businessman docked for alleged N14.82m theft
A 57-year-old businessman, Ganiu Babatunde was, on Tuesday, arraigned before an Igbosere Magistrate’s Court, for allegedly forging and stealing the sum of N14,82,000 million from the account of a Skye Bank Plc customer.
The defendant who resides at 17 Moore road Yaba, is facing a seven-count charge bordering on conspiracy, forgery and stealing, using false documents, receiving of stolen properties and unlawful release from custody, preferred against him by the police. Read more
Sabinews News Update on Economy
AMCON shortlists seven potential buyers for Mainstreet Bank
The advisers of the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria have reduced the 23 investors lining up to buy Mainstreet Bank to just seven, with the bad assets manager hoping to name the successful buyer on October 31.
The successful buyer of Enterprise Bank, one of the three nationalised banks created after the 2009 banking crisis from the defunct Afribank, Bank PHB and Spring Bank, will also emerge next week after a year-long rigorous sale process. Read more
Stable democracy requires strong economy, says NIMASA DG
The director general of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Ziakede Patrick Akpobolokemi, has said that a stable democracy engendered by a credible election would require a strong economy to enable the citizens fulfil their individual and collective aspirations.
Giving a goodwill message at the just concluded 10th All Nigerian Editors Conference which held in Katsina State, Akpobolokemi said the Nigerian economy was growing in leaps and bounds as demonstrated by increasing volume of trade and foreign direct investment, expressing optimism that it would experience further growth given the consciousness to further strengthen the country’s democracy. Read more
CMSA Advises Firms to List on Nigerian Stock Exchange
More capital market operators have urged companies to list on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) so as to enjoy the numerous benefits. Various stakeholders have been calling on companies, especially those operating in the telecommunications and oil industry to list on the NSE.
Operators under the aegis of the Capital Market Solicitors Association (CMSA), have added their voices to the calls for more patronage of the nation’s capital market. Read more
Globacom’s new direction for mobile money development in Nigeria
When the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) launched mobile money service in 2010, many industry observers believed the country held all the aces to become a dominant player in the African market.
With only 25 million bank accounts out of a population of 167 million people, and about 129 million active mobile phone subscriptions, it is understandably rational for them to have such weighty expectations. But four years after the introduction of service in Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy by Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the service is yet to catch on with the masses. Read more
CBN may not be able to bail out banks —Report
With the 190.5 per cent rise in other liabilities, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) may not have the capacity to bail out the banks without “avoiding the option of printing money which will have consequences on price stability.”
From N2.1 trillion in December 2009 to N6.1 trillion in November 2013, CBN’s other liabilities rose 190.5 per cent traceable to the acquisition of the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON’s) debt. Read more
MATS partners licensed providers to deepen the financial inclusion
As part of its drive to deepen financial inclusion of the Central bank of Nigeria, CBN, Merchant and Agent Transactions services Ltd, MATS says it has signed ten landmark agreements and is actively integrating them for agency transactions in Nigeria.
The firm is deploying own proprietary software, point of transaction kiosks and staffed agency network to serve licensed providers in Nigeria. Read more
Consumer Confidence in Nigeria to Soar by Year-end
Economist at Renaissance Capital, Yvonne Mhango, has predicted that for the first time since 1H11, Nigerian consumer sentiment will be turning positive in 4Q14.
In a report made available to THISDAY, Mhango noted that lower interest rates, stronger economic growth, moderately looser spending as the 2015 elections draw nearer, and moderately higher oil output are positive for consumer sentiment. Read more
Sabinews News Update on Oil and Gas
Will Zero Gas Flare be achieved even by 2020?
Africa’s biggest crude exporter, Nigeria has been making frenetic efforts, setting and shifting deadlines to end gas flaring over the years. The country’s unsuccessful attempts to end the hazard, despite deadlines, dates back to 1969, when General Yakubu Gowon ordered oil companies to end gas flaring by 1974. After four decades, records from the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) indicate that the country is still flaring about 24 per cent of its 7.8 billion cubic feet gas wells production per day, worth an estimated $2.5 billion annually, due to lack of infrastructure to harness the gas. Read more
Isoko’s Oily Mess
The residents of Isoko in Isoko South Local Government Area of Delta State are at loggerheads with the federal government over what they consider injustice in the award of an oil surveillance contract and oil drilling in their community.
Few years ago, Nigeria was a hotbed of violence militancy. Campaigning for an equal share in the resources of their homeland, organized youths from the Niger-Delta region fanned out and inflicted diverse atrocities: breaking pipelines, stealing crude oil, kidnapping oil workers and even launching attacks on oil companies’ facilities. Their reasons were simple: ‘this is our land, and if anyone is taking oil from it, it has to be on our own terms’. Read more
NGC, NIPCo to expand CNG retail outlets with N17bn
The Nigerian Gas Company (NGC) and NIPCo Plc have concluded plans to invest N17 billion in Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) retail outlets expansion in the country.
The drive will result in building of 35 filling stations for the CNG across the country before the end of 2015.
Under a Joint Venture (JV) company called Green Gas, NIPCo said it had established seven stations while 10 additional stations had reached advanced stages of construction. Read more
Sunbird lands $23m for gas field project
A CONSORTIUM of Nigerian and South African investors has agreed to put A$25m ($23m) into Australian-listed Sunbird Energy to help it advance its plans to develop the Ibhubesi offshore gas field, 380km northwest of Cape Town, it said on Tuesday.
Eskom’s use of costly diesel-fired power stations is contributing to its financial crisis. Sunbird is in talks with Eskom on a contract to supply its 1,350MW Ankerlig power station with cheaper natural gas from Ibhubesi. Read more
World News
Syria rebel leader killed in bomb attack
The leader of one of Syria’s most powerful rebel groups has been killed along with dozens of other commanders in a bomb attack on a high-level meeting in Idlib province.
Hassan Abboud, the head of the Ahrar al-Sham brigade, was among up to 45 people killed on Tuesday at the meeting in an underground bunker near an ammunition dump outside Ram Hamdan. Read more
Air marshal being monitored after syringe attack
A US air marshal was being monitored after being attacked with a syringe containing an unknown substance at a Nigerian airport, officials said on Tuesday.
Preliminary tests showed the syringe did not contain any deadly pathogens, according to FBI spokesperson Christos Sinos. Read more
Egypt to host Gaza reconstruction conference Oct 12
Egypt will host a donors conference on the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip on October 12 in Cairo following the recent conflict between Israel and the Palestinian movement Hamas, the Egyptian foreign minister said on Tuesday. Read more
Ebola threatening Liberia’s existence, minister warns
Ebola is threatening the very existence of Liberia as the killer virus spreads like “wild fire”, the defence minister warned Tuesday, following a grim World Health Organization assessment that the worst is yet to come.
After predicting an “exponential increase” in infections across West Africa, the WHO warned that Liberia, which has accounted for half of all fatalities, could initially only hope to slow the contagion, not stop it. Read more
SA ready to fight EU ban on citrus fruit
The government was ready to take the European Union (EU) to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to challenge its objections to imports of SA’s citrus fruit due to black spot, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said on Thursday.
SA, which earns about R3bn a year from citrus exports, has informally appealed to Argentina and the US to make a combined application to the WTO as their exports have also suffered under EU sanitary and phyto sanitary rules. Read more
Sabinews News Update on Energy
We take responsibility for regulating NESIS, says NERC
The Chairman, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, Dr. Sam Amadi, has said that although the commission considered the inputs of stakeholders for the draft Nigerian Electricity Supply and Installation Standards, NESIS, for the draft regulations, the commission would take responsibility for the outcomes of the regulations.
In his opening remarks at the public hearing on the draft NESIS at Abuja, he said: “As always we take responsibility for the final outcome. But we depend on your contributions to make sure that the regulation is such that will achieve its purpose.” Read more
Sabinews News Update on Sports
Fifa warns NFF ahead of elections
Despite confirming that the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) will not be suspended, Fifa warned that the country’s football federation could face “immediate suspension” if its electoral process is interfered with again.
In a letter dated September 9 and directed to the NFF president, Aminu Maigari, the world football governing body, Fifa, wants the football federation to begin the process to convene an extraordinary general congress leading up to the elections. Read more
Olayinka seals 2-year deal with Albanian champions
Nigerian youngster Peter Olayinka has sealed a two-year deal with Albanian champions Skenderbeu Korce, AfricanFootball.com can report.
Olayinka, who was on the radar of Porto and Turkish team Akhisar Belediyespor, told AfricanFootball.com he is looking forward to win the league championship with his new club and take his career to the next level. Read more
England and Spain win Euro qualifiers
A double by Danny Welbeck and Sergio Busquets’ first goal in 70 appearances helped England and Spain begin their respective Euro 2016 qualifying campaigns on a winning note and start putting behind them a forgettable World Cup finals.
The brace by Welbeck saw England to a 2-0 win over Switzerland in Zurich while Busquets’s effort came in a 5-1 humbling of Macedonia. Read more
Eagles seek to regain fans respect
Nigeria’s Super Eagles touched down in South Africa sounding out the battle cry and telling anyone who cares to listen that they are here to battle and regain their respect after the unexpected 3-2 reversal against Congo in Calabar last weekend.
The Super Eagles know that they have to up the ante and get their campaign back on track with a good showing against the Bafana Bafana. Midfielder Ogenyi Onazi and defender Azubuike Egwuekwe echoed same as they agreed the Eagles will have to spread their wings and fly over South Africa. Read more
