Thursday, 19 May 2016
EgyptAir flight from Paris to Cairo is reported missing
"An official source at EgyptAir said that Flight MS804, which departed Paris at 23:09 (CEST), heading to Cairo has disappeared from radar," the airline said on its official Twitter account. The aircraft was carrying 59 passengers and 10 crew.
Reuters reported in January that an EgyptAir mechanic, whose cousin joined Islamic State in Syria, is suspected of planting the bomb, according to sources familiar with the matter.
In March, an EgyptAir plane flying from Alexandria to Cairo was hijacked and forced to land in Cyprus by a man with what authorities said was a fake suicide belt. He was arrested after giving himself up.
Light up Lagos 600km network of roads, 366 locations lit up across state
The State's Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Mr. Olawale Oluwo, who disclosed this at the ongoing Ministerial Press Briefing at the Bagauda Kaltho Press Centre in Alausa, said the project has seen the lighting up of major areas of the State including the Third Mainland Bridge, Ikeja and environs, Berger to Iyana Oworo axis, Muritala Muhammed Airport Road, Oshodi axis amongst others.
Oluwo said that in a bid to ensure the sustainability of the project, the State Government has fine-tuned plans to engage 54 private firms, who would be saddled with the responsibility of managing the streetlights going forward.
He explained that most of the street lights are connected to the five Independent Power Plants (IPP) in Lagos State namely; Akute Power Limited, Alausa Power Limited, Mainland Power Limited, Island Power Limited and Lekki Peninsular Power Limited, which, he said, saves the State Government significant cost that would have been incurred on operating and maintaining generating sets.
"The saved resources are now being channeled to lighting up more locations within the State under the operation “Light up Lagos” initiative of the present administration,” he said.During the period under review, the Commissioner also said that the State Electricity Board rehabilitated Public Street Lighting in the 366 locations including the rehabilitation and connection of part of the Third- Mainland Bridge to the Island Power Plant all measuring close to 600km of Roads and Streets across the State.
He said that Governor Ambode has also given approval for the electrification of the 37 rural communities around Seme Border, adding that some streetlights hitherto managed by the federal agencies and local governments had been taken over by the State Government.
Oluwo however used the occasion to warn against destruction of streetlights pole and cables by the residents, saying whoever damages any street lights would bear the cost of re-fixing them.
Following the discovery of crude oil in the state by the Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum Company, the Commissioner said that the State has established Ibile Oil and Gas to manage oil related issues, assuring that Lagos will be a bigger business hub with the development as more employment would be created.
Oluwo said: "What this means is that we have own company that will not run like NNPC. Our own Ibile Oil and Gas will operate in upstream, midstream and downstream sector. It will not only be involved in exploration but is also going to probably build its own petrol station.
“We must be able to give Lagos Energy security such that if anything happens outside or NNPC shuts down operation, we must be able to power Lagos on energy basis. That is what Ibile Oil and Gas Company of Lagos is all about. We are interested in the future such that we can put Lagos in the position of having its own bloc. That is for the federal government to determine."Harping on the achievements in the power sector, the commissioner said that apart from aggressive installation of streetlights in all the nook and crannies of the state, the ministry has embarked on rural electrification and installation of solar power systems for Schools and Public Health Centers (PHCs) which have, in turn, improved the night economy, security, and tourism development.
On procurement of electricity transformers, Oluwo said that the ministry installed 49 transformers at various communities in Lagos, adding that a total of 19 500KVA, 11KV/33KV transformers were procured and installed in Palmgroove, Gbagada and Alimosho Estates.
"The second phase of our community electrification intervention plan is the reconnection of 32 communities in the Apa, Owode, Seme Border area of Badagry which had been cut off from the national grid for the past 16 years," Oluwo said.
HABIB ARUNA
CHIEF PRESS SECRETARY
Partakers of illegal strike are liable to N100k fine or six months jail term- Minister of Labor, Ngige says
Minister of Labor, Chris Ngige, says according to the laws of the land, anyone participating in an illegal strike is liable to a N100k fine or six months jail term. He said this while speaking with newsmen at the end of the Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja yesterday May 18th. He said:
"If you embark on a strike that is illegal, if you don't give 15 days notice especially if you are a member of essential service, you will be liable to a fine of N100, 000 or six months in jail. If we invoke it now they will say this is a ruthless government but they(labor) are going outside the law.
This is a change government and we want to bring everybody on board into a peace and orderly process".
George Zimmerman sells gun he killed Trayvon Martin with for $120,000 in private auction
The United Gun Group auction site put the gun back on sale after 2 failed attempts by their site to sell the gun but added a private email verification process to filter people trying to shut down the sale.
In a blog post, Zimmerman wrote:
"Fellow Patriots, First and foremost, I would like to thank and give the glory to God for a successful auction that has raised funds for several worthy causes.
'I would like to thank Todd Underwood and UnitedGunGroup.com for their moral fortitude in hosting my firearm auction. I would also like to thank all members of UnitedGunGroup for their support and words of encouragement.
'At this time, the auction with United Gun Group is closed. The process of notifying the winning bidder will begin immediately. The winning bidder will ultimately decide if they want their information to be maintained in confidentiality.'
NLC vows to ground flight operations at Lagos Airport tomorrow
This was made known by the Vice-president of the NLC, Solomon Adelegan, who is also the president of the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUCPTRE).
“Today, few planes have taken-off and landed on this airport but by tomorrow, no plane will land or take off. It is operation occupy Lagos State,” he said.
North West and cousin Penelope Disick attend BFF Ryan's birthday party
Wednesday, 18 May 2016
Okupe confirms Jonathan paid Metuh N400m..said amount came from ex-president’s N21bn campaign funds
He said the amount was to enable Metuh carry out the much desired image and pulbic perception enhancement for the former President before his public declaration ahead of the 2015 general election.
Okupe, who stated this while testifying in the trial of Metuh on allegations of receiving the sum of N400m from the office of former NSA Sambo Dasuki, told the court that Jonathan released the sum to Metuh following his (Metuh’s) presentation on ways to shore up the dwindled image of the former president preparatory for the official launch of his campaign.
He said Metuh and his team made a presentation alongside other consultants in a meeting attended by members of the Presidential Campaign Council including the president himself, his Vice, Namadi Sambo, the former National Chairman of the party, Adamu Mu'azu, former Senate President, David Mark, and former governors Liyel Imoke and Peter Obi among others.
Led in evidence by Onyechi Ikpeazu, the lead defence counsel, Okupe said “Yes, around that time (November 2014) there was very deep concern in the Presidency and the government about the perception of Mr President and his administration, negative perception by the Nigerian public. This also included some perceived ineffectiveness of the administration and also a wrong perception in some parts of the country about the role of government and its actions or activities concerning the very security situation in the country then.
“Therefore, in government, there was a general feeling that some actions needed to be taken urgently to address these issues, especially because of the coming elections.
“It was in the course of my discussion with Mr President when I also expressed my own personal concerns too that he informed me that Chief Olisah Metuh had some suggestions and that he (Jonathan) had instructed him to bring a proposition on what he considered needed to be done and that when this is done, he would inform me so that we can go through it together.
“Shortly after that, I was invited to a meeting in the State house where Chief Metuh in company of some consultants made presentations to the president. After the presentations, there were comments form those in attendance to add or improve in certain areas where they felt was important. The presentation was approved for action and the President said Mr. Metuh will be given part of the money that was in budget for the execution of the project.
On how he knew that the Jonathan gave Metuh the money, Okupe said:
“Yes, I know from two sources. First was the President himself who told me that he had instructed that Chief Metuh be mobilised. And that was during breakfast with Mr. President one morning. He told me that he had instructed that Chief Metuh be mobilised with N400 million. The following day, very early in the morning, I got a call from Chief Metuh who told me that he has received N400 million from the President.
Under cross-examination by EFCC counsel Sylvanus Tahir, the witness denied knowledge that the former NSA was the source of the money.
"I have seen the payment mandate from the office of the former NSA to Destra but this thing does not make any meaning to me. I want you to explain what is. I have already stated that the President confirmed to me that he gave the N400 million to Metuh.
He said as the leader of the party and its presidential candidate, the president enjoys tremendous goodwill, which was demonstrated at the fundraising ceremony organised at the Villa before the election where the sum of N21 billion, and sums from other private sources where raised.
“The president uses his tremendous goodwill, which he has, to assist his party or help to execute special programmes that are aimed at improving the fortunes the party and the government. It is natural that such payments (Metuh's) would have come from the various amounts of money he has received as donations towards his campaign”, he said.
Okupe further told the court that upon being mobilized, Metuh assembled a very large committee of various people, including media experts who he said did quite substantial amount of work, some of which were security related while others had to do with the image of the President and the government.
Justice Okon Abang adjourned the case to Thursday.
Nigeria made faster progress against Boko Haram after curbing corruption in military – Buhari
Buhari said this while speaking with Egypt’s Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmed El-Tayeb who paid him a visit at the state house Abuja today May 18th.
“When we curbed corruption and removed the injustice in the military, we began to make progress,’’ he said.President Buhari stressed it was against Islam to carry out terror in God's name. He noted that the war against terrorism was also a war against injustice, and must be supported by Islam and all the major religions.
“You can’t kill the innocent in churches or in mosques and shout Allahu Akbar,’’ he said.
Young woman who was born 3 months premature & diagnosed with cerebral palsy, graduates from college
"I wish a simple Facebook post could capture how strong this woman is for making it this far. She was born 3 months premature and diagnosed with cerebral palsy.
She had countless medical surgeries, therapy sessions, lost grants from the government, and had trouble with housing and assistance care. SHE NEVER LOST FOCUS & GRADUATED in 4 YEARS! WE LOVE YOU RAVEN!"
Anambra State FA introduces “Football Made in Anambra”, plans 50,000-family football fiesta, launches "1 family-1 footballer" project
This competition, which will involve participants from over 50,000 families in Anambra state and in Diaspora, will set out to discover young and budding talents whose talents will be harnessed by the best hands in the country in an academy to be set up by the association. "1 family-1 footballer" which is the theme of the programme aims to identify and develop one footballer from every family in a fiesta that will be hosted in every community for a period of two weeks with lots of giveaway prizes including over 50,000 branded footballs and jerseys for participants and their families. The programme is billed to attract legends from within and outside the shores of Nigeria as the association looks to completely change the face of football in Anambra state.
According to a communiqué released after the inaugural meeting of the Executive Committee on May 14; as part of its efforts to set the pace and ensure speedy growth of grassroots football in the state, the committee resolved to introduce series of programmes which includes ‘Football Made in Anambra’, 'Anambra State Unity Cup' as well as focus on the training and retraining of state football coaches, referees and administrators by renowned instructors from across the country.
The committee also agreed that in its bid to enhance administration as well as the credibility of the State FA, its secretariat has to be relocated to a more befitting edifice.
Chairman of the association, Dr. Ubah while addressing pressmen pointed out that the massive Games village coming up in Nnewi with over six football pitches will be a turning point towards attaining the glory that Anambra lost over the years. He further explained that the use of the pitches will be split into three categories, two pitches for children between the ages of 6 and 12, two other pitches for children/youths between the ages of 13 and 20 and the last two pitches will be used to harness amateur footballers. According to Dr. Ubah, all these programmes will be complemented by a Football Academy and School which would kick off soonest. On a lighter note, Dr. Ubah said that under his watch, Anambra state stands a great chance of producing atleast 5 Messis and 5 Ronaldos within the next five years. He further declared that his target is to ensure that football tourism grows to be the biggest contributor to Anambra State's Internally Generated Revenue. In a show of appreciation, Dr. Ubah thanked the Executive Governor of Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano for his promise and determination to support the association and its programmes aimed at revolutionising football in the state. “A journey of a million miles starts with one step and that visionary step we have taken", Dr. Ubah said.
According to the document, various committees will be constituted for the smooth running of the FA to ensure the realization of an all-inclusive administration and vision of the Dr. Ubah-led administration. The committees which will be headed by members of the executive committee include Technical, Media and Publicity, Match Appointment, Organising, Disciplinary, Security, Finance and Restructuring committees. Members of these committees will be announced at the joint meeting of the State Executive Committee and the local football councils on Sunday, May 22 in Awka. The association also decided that in line with its efforts and good intents, a Reconciliation Committee comprising of Rev'd Father Obinna Dike (Chairman), Chief Charles Onyeka (Vice Chairman), Rev'd Father Azudiugwu (Secretary), Chief Martin Nwosisi and Mrs Nkiru Igwenagu will be reconstituted, to unite the state’s football family, with specific mandate to reach out to all aggrieved members of the family in the state.
The communiqué also revealed that there would be a World Press Conference and Facility Tour of the Games Village in the next couple of weeks which would be used to unveil the detailed blueprint of the association. It also noted that the modalities for its flagship programme 'Football Made in Anambra' would also be unveiled during this press conference.
The executive committee also thanked the State Government and the entire football stakeholders for the confidence reposed on it to champion the course of repositioning football in the state.
