Mother Teresa of Calcutta, known in the Catholic church as the “saint of the gutters” during her life, has been declared a saint of the Roman Catholic Church by Pope Francis, Sunday 4th September, 2016

Mother Teresa was an Albanian-Indian Roman Catholic nun and missionary. She was born Agnese Gonxha Bojaxhiu in August 1910 in Skopje, Macedonia.

The proclamation  took place 19 years after her death. She died on September 5, 1997 in India.

Tens of thousands of pilgrims packed St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican for a service to honour the nun, who worked among the world’s neediest in the slums of the Indian city now called Kolkata.

A Nobel peace laureate, her legacy complements Pope Francis’s vision of a humble church that strives to serve the poor. Her canonization is a centerpiece of his Jubilee Year of Mercy.

Standing under a canvas hung from St. Peter’s Basilica showing the late nun in her blue-hemmed white robes, Francis said Mother Teresa was a “dispenser of divine mercy”. That St Teresa had defended the  unborn, sick and abandoned, and had shamed world leaders for the "crimes of poverty they themselves created".

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Yeah, that's right. Our very own, DJ Obi Ajuonuma, on Friday 1st July 2016 at exactly 7:30 am succeeded in breaking the Guinness World Record for the longest DJ set.  
The champion started playing from Wednesday June 22, 2016 at 11:30pm. 
The former record held was 8 days (200 hours). Obi set a new record by playing  for 10 days (240 hours). 
Congratulations Obi !!!! Be sure that your value has certainly gone up.

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British Prime Minister, David Cameron has resigned after Britain by a hotly-contested referendum on Thursday, voted to leave the European Union.

The results of the voting put pressure on the prime minster, who was among the most vocal voices for Britain to remain in the EU, to step down from office.

The minister says Britain needs fresh leadership to negotiate the country's exist from EU.

According to Cameron, he will remain as PM for the next three months to "steady the ship" 

By October, Britain will get a new Prime Minister when Cameron leaves office.

Political analysts say the result would see the UK adopts stringent immigration policies & perhaps trigger a gradual exit of the EU by other countries.

National Carrier Egypt Air said a plane carrying 66 passengers and crew on a flight(Ms804) from Paris to Cairo went missing Thursday at 2:45am, 20minutes before it was due to land at 03:05am after it entered Egyptian airspace.
It disappeared from the radar over the Mediterranean sea.
#GodBeWithThem!

Hello Lovelies, how are your plans for the weekend? I hope there are interesting?  I know by now Y'all are aware of the fuse that have been going on  about President Buhari's numerous tours, and recently his week long trip to China and how it will benefit the nation's dwindling economy. Well, below is a press release from the presidency on the matter. Was it a necessary trip or not? 

President Buhari has expressed satisfaction with the outcome of his working visit to China, which has yielded additional investments in Nigeria exceeding $6 billion USD. President Buhari believes that the several agreements concluded with the Chinese during the visit will have a huge and positive impact on key sectors of the Nigerian economy including power, solid minerals, agriculture, housing and rail transportation.

In the power sector, North South Power Company Limited and Sinohydro Corporation Limited signed an agreement valued at $478,657,941.28 for the construction of 300 Mega Watts solar power in Shiriro, Niger State. In the solid minerals sector, Granite and Marble Nigeria Limited and Shanghai Shibang signed an agreement valued at $55 million for the construction and equipping of granite mining plant in Nigeria.

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Three mothers of schoolgirls abducted from Chibok in northeast Nigeria two years ago said they had identified their daughters in a video released by Islamist group Boko Haram, the first possible sighting of the girls since a video in May 2014.

About 15 girls featured in the video released to local officials on Tuesday, saying they were from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok and pleading with the Nigerian government to cooperate with Boko Haram on their release.

The girls were filmed saying they were being treated well but wanted to go home and be with their families.

Boko Haram militants abducted 276 schoolgirls from Chibok on April 14, 2014, with 57 students managing to escape but 219 still missing despite a global campaign #bringbackourgirls involving celebrities and U.S. first lady, Michelle Obama.

Various false leads have raised hopes of finding the girls but their whereabouts remains unknown.

Mothers Rifkatu Ayuba and Mary Ishaya said they recognised their daughters, Saratu and Hauwa, in the video, while a third mother, Yana Galang, identified five of the missing girls. 

 “The girls were looking very, very well,” Mrs. Galang said in a telephone interview with the Thomson Reuters Foundation after viewing the video at a screening organised by local officials in Maiduguri, capital of Borno State in northeast Nigeria.

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President Buhari arrived China yesterday. He is in China to sign a deal worth about $2 billion. Due to the slump in oil prices which has hit Nigeria hard, the FGN has been in talks with China's State export import bank for a loan.

According to Femi Adeshina, SA to president on media n publicity, both countries will also be signing some bilateral agreements to strengthen their relationship.

The president will be in China until Friday on the invitation of Xi Jin Ping, Chinese president.

Until Friday? I wonder how this will sit with Nigerians who seem to have a problem with Buhari's many tours. They want him to sit back home n fix the country's crumbling economy n sundry issues.
what do you think?

The Federal Government on Sunday denied media reports that the militant group, Boko Haram, is demanding $50 million from it as ransom before releasing the abducted Chibok school girls.

In an interview with the Voice of America, Information Minister, Lai Mohammed, said ransom reports were not new.

The minister said: “It appears we have several versions of this report.

“The one that we heard was from a source that (Boko Haram) wants to release 10 of these girls for one million Euros.

" But the most important thing is that we’ve gone through this route before, and until and when we establish the credibility of this source and the truth behind it, the government will not be in a hurry to make a statement.

“However, government is using its own channels to authenticate the credibility of this source,” he said.

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Samson Siasia has been re-appointed coach of the Super Eagles. He was appointed on Friday, 26th after Sunday Oliseh resigned earlier.

 

It could be recalled that Siasia was Super Eagles’ Head Coach between December 2010 and October 2011. His contract was terminated after the Super Eagles’s failure to qualify for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.

 

Siasia is just in time to work with the team for the upcoming 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Egypt.

 

All d best Siasia. Yes! you can only do your best. If d team does not qualifies or wins, Just pack your bags cos there seems to be a pattern of coaches being sacked wherever the team fails.  Which way NFF?

 

By Mohammed Lere

 

The day of reckoning is here. After walking free for about two years, former Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, and four others are now set to face trial for their roles in the shoddy March 15, 2014 immigration recruitment exercise that killed no fewer than 20 job seekers across the country.

 

After investigating the matter for five months, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has now slammed an 11- count charge bordering on obtaining by false pretence, procurement fraud and money laundering on Mr Moro; permanent secretary of the ministry at the time, Anastasia Daniel-Nwobia; a deputy director in the ministry, F. O Alayebami; one Mahmood Ahmadu(at large), and the contracting firm given the recruitment job, Drexel Tech Nigeria Ltd.

The defendants are accused of defrauding 676, 675,000 (Six Hundred and Seventy Six Thousand, Six Hundred and Seventy Five) Nigerian applicants of N676,675,000 (Six Hundred and Seventy Six Million, Six Hundred and Seventy Five Thousand Naira).

The applicants paid N1000 each through an e-payment platform for their online recruitment exercise into the Nigerian Immigration Service.

The accused are also alleged to have contravened the Public Procurement Act, No. 65 of 2007 in the contract awards by not following the necessary procedure laid down by the government.

 

The award of the contract to Drexel Tech Nig Ltd, the EFCC said. had no prior advertisement, no needs assessment and a procurement plan was not carried out before the contract was awarded.

The contract was awarded through selective tendering procedure by invitation of 4 (Four) firms without seeking the approval of the Bureau for Public Procurement, contrary to sections 40, 42 and 43 of the Public Procurement Act, No. 65 of 2007 and punishable under section 58 of the same act, the anti-graft agency said.

 

Drexel Tech Global Nigeria Limited, the company that provided the online enlistment and recruitment services is said to be unregistered and had no legal capacity to enter into the said contract.

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The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, said it compelled Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) to refund N6.2 billion to customers they over charged as cost of transactions in 2015.

This is contained in a statement made available by the Director, Corporate Communications, of the CBN, Ibrahim Mu’azu, in Abuja on Saturday.

 

According to the statement, the apex bank is always ready to checkmate banks and protect customers from illegal, excessive charges.

 

“The Revised Guide to Bank Charges clearly specifies allowable charges for all banking services; the CBN does not in any way condone the fleecing of banking customers under any guise.

 

It was in the quest to provide a strong voice to banks’ customers and moderate the arbitrary charges that the CBN in 2012 established a Consumer Protection Department.

 

“The CBN has investigated over 6,000 complaints relating to unauthorised bank charges brought to its notice, following which banks have been compelled to refund N6.2 billion to affected customers in 2015 alone.

 

“The CBN wishes to reiterate its resolve to continuously enforce the provision of the Revised Guide to Bank Charges and urges members of the public to report cases of infringement to enable it investigate and apply sanctions on any erring DMB”, it stated.

 

The statement urged bank customers to forward complaints of excessive bank charges to the Director, Consumer Protection Department of the Central Bank.

 

 

 

 

source: premiumtimes

Following President Muhammadu Buhari’s comments in an interview granted to the UK’s Telegraph newspaper on February 5, many Nigerian have expressed dissatisfaction. The presidency has described the various interpretations of the President's comments as being misconstrued.

 

In a statement today by Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, noted that the wave of negative reactions to the President’s remarks about the reputation of Nigerians abroad was a result of incomplete understanding of President Buhari’s point.

“President Buhari was asked about the flood of migrants from Nigeria and the fraudulent applications for asylum put in by people desperate to leave their motherland at any cost, and it was this question that elicited his response,” he said.

 

Mr Shehu added that it was preposterous for anyone to imagine that the president of Nigeria would describe all the citizens of the country he leads as criminals, when he himself is a Nigerian–obviously not a criminal–and when there are many Nigerians of honest living making their country proud all over the world.

“Unfortunately, there are also Nigerians giving their country a bad image abroad, and it is to those Nigerians that the President referred in his comments,” he said, adding that people may play politics and online games with the President’s comments, but the fact of the matter remains that Nigeria’s reputation abroad has been severely damaged by her own citizens. To that, I agree 

 

Excerpts from the interview;

 

A number of Nigerians use the migrant routes to come to the UK to claim asylum, saying their lives are at risk from Boko Haram. Is is legitimate for them to do so?

"Some Nigerians claim is that life is too difficult back home, but then again some Nigerians have also made it difficult for Europeans and Americans to accept them because of the number of Nigerians in different prisons all over the world accused of drug trafficking or human trafficking. I don't think Nigerians have anybody to blame. They can remain at home. Their services are required to rebuild the country. If their countrymen misbehaved, the best thing for them is to stay at home and encourage the credibility of the nation."

Do you think that Nigerians have an image problem abroad?

"Certainly. But we are on our way to salvage that. We will encourage our countrymen to stay at home, work hard and make a respectable living at home."

 

For full text of President Muhammadu Buhari's Interview to the Telegraph Newspaper, Uk, CLICK HERE

Thirty years after emerging victorious in the FIFA U-17 tournament in China, the Golden Eaglets team was on today rewarded by President Muhammadu Buhari with a cash gift of N2 million to each player, while their coaches were given N1.5 million each.

The team won the trophy in 1985 when Mr. Buhari was military Head of State. He promised to honour the team for its victor but his  tenure was cut short by a military coup, making it impossible for him to fulfill his promise.

President Buhari, today at a reception to honour the team and other victorious Nigerian athletes in recent competitions, said the reward given to them was not payment for their services to the country but a “token of appreciation". He thanked God for keeping him alive to fulfill his promise to the team.

 

Better late than never.


photo: www.completesportsnigeria.com

So after all the fuse, drama and accusations surrounding the submission of the 2016 budget document by the presidency to the Nat' Assembly,  President Muhammadu Buhari has written the National Assembly, notifying the lawmakers of the corrected version of the 2016 appropriation bill. He insisted that the draft bill remains the same and there are no changes in figures. A copy of the document containing the corrections was attached to the letter.

.
The letter reads: ‪

"It will be recalled that on Tuesday, 22 December, 2015, I presented my 2016 budget proposals to the joint sitting of the national assembly. I submitted a draft bill accompanied by a schedule of details.

At the time of submission, we indicated that because the details had just been produced, we would have had to check to ensure that there were no errors in the detailed breakdown contained in the schedule.

That has since been completed and I understand that the corrections have been submitted

The national assembly would therefore have the details as submitted on the 22nd and a copy containing the corrections submitted last week. It appears that this has led to some confusion.

In this regard, please find attached the corrected version. This is the version the national assembly should work with as my 2016 budget estimates. The draft bill remains the same and there are no changes in any of the figures."

Mr. Saraki who read the letter at the Senate plenary today, asked the Senate Leader, Ali Ndume, to ensure the copies of the corrected document were circulated later Tuesday (today) so that the Senate could commence debate on the budget Wednesday

 

The naira continued its slide against the dollar at the parallel market on Wednesday trading at N295 to the dollar.

The Nigerian currency traded N290 to the dollar at the same segment in Lagos on Tuesday.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the naira exchange rate was, however, stable at N197 to the dollar at the official market on Wednesday.

The naira has depreciated steadily since Monday when the apex bank stopped the weekly sale of foreign exchange to bureau de change operators in a bid to sanitise the market.

Traders at the market said that they were concerned about the depreciating naira exchange rate in the black market.

They, however, expressed optimism that the policy might impact positively on the market in the long run.

The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, announced the new foreign exchange policy at a media briefing in Abuja on Monday. He said the new policy was to stop “rent seeking activities” in the market.

 

source: NAN

What really is the fate of the 2016 budget document? Did it suddenly develop wings and fly into thin air? These and more are the questions on the lips of Nigerians.

 

The Senate held an urgent session over the alleged “disappearance” of the hard copies of the budget proposal submitted to a joint session of the National Assembly on December 22, last year.

 

The missing Budget had become an urgent issue of public importance. The senators who were said to have been troubled mandated a committe to investigate the controversy surrounding the “missing” 2016 budget  and to submit its report on Thursday(tomorrow)

 

The committee was set up at an closed-door session of the Senate on Tuesday when the matter was discussed.

 

The Senate President, Bukola Saraki (APC-Kwara State), said the Senate would wait for the ad hoc committee to look into the matter and submit its report on Thursday.

 

The Senate also announced it would debate the 2016 budget from Tuesday, and that lawmakers would receive copies of the document by Thursday.

 

The upper lawmaking body is expected to produce new copies of the budget, after senators told the media on Tuesday that copies handed over by President Muhammadu Buhari had surprisingly disappeared.

 

Senators said they suspected the presidency secretly withdrew the documents for some modification, a claim the presidency denied. However, officials well briefed on the matter told Newsmen that both the leadership of the National Assembly and the presidency, as well as Ministry of Finance and the Budget Office, were working to discreetly change certain parameters of the budget proposal following the slide in the global oil price.

 

Meanwhile, while the senate awaits the conclusion of its investigation, Yakubu Dogara, the speaker of the House of Representatives on Wednesday(today) displayed a copy of the budget during the house’s sitting, saying the budget was not missing.

Mr. Dogara said the report of the missing budget was an “April fool”.  April Fool indeed. We sha dey January and there is no smoke without fire. We hope the senate committee's report would have someone account to Nigerian what truly happened.

 

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has said the new electricity tariff (MYTO 2015) will take effect from February 1, 2016.

This is contained in a statement issued in Abuja and signed by Usman Abba-Arabi, the Head, Public Affairs, NERC.

According to the statement, NERC has directed all the distribution companies to abide by this directive and should not connect new customers without first providing them with meters.

It noted that the acting Head of NERC, Anthony Akah, stated that the removal of fixed charge under the new tariff regime was in response to electricity consumers’ complaints. Good and necessary response, I have to say.

It added that this was to ensure that electricity distribution companies improve on service delivery as their income was dependent on the quantity of electricity used by their customers.

The statement said the commission would continue to engage stakeholders and members of the National Assembly to address their concerns on the new tariff regime.

“NERC holds NASS in high esteem and assures that both institutions are working to ensure that national and consumer interests are protected.”

 

According to the statement, the DISCOs have inbuilt consumer protection mechanisms and incentives for improved service delivery as well as fair return on investment in the new tariff order.

The statement said the commission, in implementing what it termed cost reflective tariff, would effectively monitor and enforce all service delivery agreements in the new tariff order.

 

“The new tariff, besides eliminating fixed charge, has a robust mechanism to ensure that DISCOs fully meter their consumers and eliminate ‘crazy’ billing within one year.’’  This sounds like a good plan to the extent that it won't be hijacked or sabotaged.

 

The Federal Government of Nigeria has announced that Petrol will sell for N86/litre beginning frm January 2016. Well, NNPC is to sell at N86/litre while other makerters will sell at N86.50/litre. Meanwhile, the Nigeria Labour Congress(NLC) is strongly against the removal of subsidy b the FG ans has said that it will not agree to it under any circumstance.

We hope this will help to alleviate the sufferings of Nigerian at petrol stations  because of scarcity and high price of petrol.

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has nullified the Akwa Ibom State governorship election of April 11, removing the declared winner, Udom Emmanuel, from office.

Mr. Emmanuel’s election was challenged by the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Umana Umana.

At the election tribunal, Mr. Emmanuel of the Peoples Democratic Party, had secured partial victory, when the tribunal cancelled election only in 18 out of the State’s 31 local government areas and ordered a rerun. Mr. Emmanuel had challenged the ruling, insisting he won in all 31 LGAs.

The APC candidate, Mr. Umana, also appealed against the ruling, seeking a total nullification of the election setting aside the judgement of the tribunal in the 13 LGAs.

A five-man panel at the Court of Appeal  yesterday  dismissed Emmanuel’s argument, and cancelled the entire election.

The appeal court said the tribunal was wrong in its refusal to comply with section 179 (2) of the Constitution.

The court said having agreed with the evidence of principal witnesses, video evidence, and evidence from state collation agents, the tribunal should have concluded that there was no collation and that votes were merely allotted. indeed where there was no collation, ther cannot be said to be an election.

 

The court of appeal held that the tribunal was wrong in failing to nullify the entire election. It  ruled “The entire election is hereby nullified. The election that brought Mr. Udom is hereby nullified,”

The appeal court ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to conduct fresh election within 90 days.

 

Just days ago i brought to you a Statement by the AG of Akwa Ibom State stating unequivocally that the shall be no rerun in the State. What informed his Statement? was it positivity or facts as canvass before the courts?

I did also say that i believe the APC-UMANA camp were also positive that the scale will tilt in thier favour. and it did. there was loud jubilation all over Uyo after the court ruling.  Umana's determination and perseverance paid off. or did it?  Lets watch what will unfold on or before the 90days.

                                              Nwoko

A renowned legal practitioner, Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Akwa Ibom State, Barr. Uwemedimo Nwoko, has maintained for the umpteenth time that there will be no governorship rerun in Akwa Ibom State.

Speaking with Central Times Newspaper  in the wake of the Appeal Court sitting on Tuesday 8 Dec., Nwoko said he is very optimistic and positive that final ruling in the ongoing governorship battle will be given in favour of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Governor Udom Emmanuel.

“I want to be quoted anywhere. I am saying without any equivocation that there will be no rerun in Akwa Ibom State. I’m saying this because our appeal against the judgenent of the tribunal will succeed. I’m very positive about this,” Nwoko said.

 

So much positivity. One could believe that the APC and Umana's camp are also positive that their appeal will succeed too. Anyways, Judgement in all the appeals has been reserved to a date that will be communicated to parties.