Economy: Nigeria in volatile situation, says Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday said the sharp drop in the price of oil globally had put Nigeria in a volatile situation.

He said the country made what he called a terrible mistake by relying solely on oil.

He reaffirmed that his administration was fully committed and determined to do all within its power to achieve the rapid diversification of Nigeria’s economy in the shortest possible time.According to a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, the President spoke while receiving the outgoing Iranian Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Saeed Koozechi, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Herdsmen recorded video of Enugu massacre – Police

Arrested herdsmen

The Nigeria Police Force says it has arrested five suspects for their role in the Enugu attack by suspected herdsmen which led to the death of about 20 persons in the Ukpabi Nimbo area of the state on April 25, 2016.

The Force Public Relations Officer, Olabisi Kolawole, said this in a statement on Wednesday.

She said, “The Nigeria Police Force in its renewed determination to rid the society of crimes and all forms of criminality, has arrested five of the suspects involved in the midnight raid on Nimbo community in the Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State on April 25, 2016 as operatives of the IGP’s Intelligence Response Team based on credible technical intelligence swooped on them.Kolawole revealed that the police also recovered a phone from the herdsmen which had a video recording of the massacre.

One year after, lecturers score Buhari, minister low

Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu

With barely five days to the first anniversary of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, stakeholders, no doubt, will like to assess  his leadership approach in the various sectors of the nation’s economy. And education is not going to be an exception.

According to the Chairman of the  Academic Staff Union of Universities at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Dr. Caleb Aborisade, the Federal Government has not done anything significant in the sector in the past one year.Issues bearing on funding, policies, stable academic calendar, among others, will be in the front burner of the discourse. But how well has the Buhari leadership fared in the last one year? While a few have given his tenure a pass mark, especially with regard to stable academic calendar and fighting corruption, many others say that more needs to be done to properly accomplish the ‘change mantra’ in the education sector.

Buhari cancels two-day state visit to Lagos

President Muhammadu Buhari

Source: President Muhammadu Buhari has called off his much publicised two-day state visit to Lagos.

The visit which would have seen the President inaugurating a number of projects would have started on Monday and ended on Tuesday.

Adesina said Buhari would be represented by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo.The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, confirmed the development to our correspondent on the telephone on Sunday.

Fuel hike is consequence of corruption, says Osinbajo

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo says the fuel hike from N86.5 per litre to N145 can be traced to the scarcity of dollars occasioned by the depletion of the foreign reserve.

The Vice-President said this at a book presentation of a book titled, ‘Anatomy of Corruption in Nigeria’ which was authored by legal luminary, Yusuf Ali (SAN), in Abuja on Tuesday.

He said, “If you have no foreign currency, you have to import fuel. All of our refined petrol today is imported. A lot of problems that with the refineries are corruption related issues. If we repair our refineries today, we will still only be able to refine 40 per cent of our petroleum so we still need to importOsinbajo added that it was corruption that made it impossible for Nigeria to build or maintain refineries over the years which has forced the nation to be import-dependent.

Court stops planned NLC strike

The National Industrial Court on Tuesday stopped ‎the Nigerian Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress from embarking on their planned strike over the increase in fuel price by the federal Government.

The labour unions had threatened to commence a nationwide strike on Wednesday.

Justice Adejumo ruled, “The defendants are hereby restrained from carrying out the threat contained in their communique issued on May 14, 2016 pending the hearing and determination of the ‎motion on notice filed on May 16.Justice Babatunde Adejumo gave the restraining order after the Attorney General of the Federation, and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, argued an ‎ex parte application in which the prayer for the order was contained.

FIFA President to visit Nigeria

The Nigeria Football Federation on Sunday announced that President of Federation of International Football Associations, Gianni Infantino, will visit Nigeria in June.

A statement issued in Abuja on Sunday by NFF’s Assistant Director of Communications, Ademola Olajire, said that the visit was a fall-out of NFF President, Amaju Pinnick’s recent meeting with Infantino in Mexico.

Nigerians begin to stockpile food ahead of labour strike

Nigerians have started stockpiling food ahead of the ultimatum issued by the Nigeria Labour Congress and the coalition of the civil society organisations that petrol price be reverted to N86.50 or all workers would embark on a strike.

On Saturday, the organised labour again repeated that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government had till Tuesday night to reverse the increase in the price of fuel from N145 to N86.50 or face a total shutdown of the country.

Following this warning, a cross section of Nigerians in different parts of the country report that they were getting prepared for the strike by buying enough food in their homes.The three-day ultimatum was first announced on Friday.

Fuel price: NLC to go on strike Wednesday

President of the NLC, Mr. Ayuba Wabba

The emergency meeting of the National Executive Committee of the Nigeria Labour Congress on Friday took a decision to embark on “total strike” on Wednesday to protest the increase in the fuel pump price from N86 and N86.50k to N145 per litre by the Federal Government.

The meeting, which was also attended by all the major civil society organisations based in Abuja, was chaired by the President of the NLC, Mr. Ayuba Wabba.

The meeting, which was held at the Olaitan Oyerinde Hall of the Labour House, Abuja, started at about 4pm and ended by 5:25 pm.

Naira falls to 360 as dollar demand rises

The naira weakened further on Friday, trading at 360 to the United States dollar at the parallel market, amid a rise in demand for dollars by fuel importers.

The local currency stood at 341 at the unofficial market on Thursday, a day after the Federal Government announced the removal of fuel subsidy and a new petrol price band of N135 to N145 per litre.

Meanwhile, it was being rumoured in some quarters that the Central Bank of Nigeria had secretly devalued the naira.The government said fuel importers were allowed from now on to get dollars from the parallel market to help ease acute shortages – likely to result in increased demand for dollars, and more pressure on the naira, as importers increased their orders.

ISIS thugs 'execute 7-year-old boy for insulting the Caliphate after he swore while playing football with pals'

ISIS execute 7-year-old boy playing football 'for insulting the Caliphate'

Islamic State thugs have executed a seven-year-old boy for swearing while playing football with his friends, it has been claimed.

The chilling murder is reported to have taken place on Thursday - just days after he was arrested by ISIS police in the Jihadi's stronghold of Raqqa.

It is alleged the boy, named locally as Muaz Hassan, was playing with friends on Monday when a terrorist walked past and accused him of swearing.

Buhari takes anti-corruption campaign to London

President Muhammadu Buhari

Punch: President Muhammadu Buhari will on Tuesday travel to London, United Kingdom to participate in the international Anti-Corruption Summit, which will be held in the British capital on Thursday.

According to a statement on Saturday by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, the President, as an internationally recognised leader in the global fight against corruption, will play a prominent part in the summit which will be hosted by Prime Minister David Cameron with many other Heads of State and Government in attendance.

May Day: FG ignores N56, 000 minimum wage proposal

Members of the Nigeria Labour Congress at the 2016 International Workers’ Day celebration in Lagos...on Sunday. Photos: Saheed Olugbon

The Federal Government on Sunday kept mum over the recent demand by the organised labour for a new minimum wage of N56,000.

The issue of the minimum wage was not mentioned by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, who represented President Muhammadu Buhari, at the May Day rally in Abuja.

Man, 40, arraigned for raping handicapped pupil

The Osun State Police Command has arraigned a 40-year-old man, Kamoru Shittu, for allegedly raping a physically-challenged pupil.

According to a charge sheet obtained by our correspondent, Shittu was accused of raping the pupil, who is deaf and dumb, on the premises of the Osun State Secondary School for Persons with Special Needs, Osogbo, at about 10pm on March 7, 2016.

Buhari’s reaction to herdsmen killings shocking – Soyinka

Prof. Wole Soyinka

Punch: Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has criticized President Muhammadu Buhari for his reaction to increasing attacks and killings by herdsmen in several states in the country.

Soyinka in an address to the National Conference on Culture and Tourism on Wednesday said he was shocked by the President’s claim that the attacks would soon be over.

He added that comments made by the President and the government fell short of expectation and did not provide any reassurance for Nigerians.“He had the solution, he said. Cattle ranches were being set up, and in another 18 months, rustlings, destruction of livelihood and killings from herdsmen would be ‘a thing of the past’. Eighteen months, he assured the nation. I believe his Minister of Agriculture echoed that later, but with a less dispiriting time schema.He said, “When I read a short while ago, the Presidential assurance to this nation that the current homicidal escalation between the cattle prowlers and farming communities would soon be over, I felt mortified.

Buhari seeks World Bank’s help to revive economy

President Muhammadu Buhari

The Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of the World Bank, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, held talks with President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja on Wednesday on how the bank could help Nigeria overcome an economic crisis caused mainly by a sharp fall in crude prices that has eaten deep into its oil revenues.

The Federal Government is planning to borrow N1.8tn from abroad and at home to help fund the over N6tn budget for this year, which has been delayed by several months due to wrangling between the Presidency and the National Assembly.

“We would like to know how we can help Nigeria to make the very important decisions, whether on micro economic policy or other sectoral policy, that will make this economy move forward to become a strong middle income country,” she said.Although Nigeria has held talks with the World Bank over a possible loan or credit facility in recent months, Indrawati did not address this when speaking to reporters after the meeting.

150 females raped, 31 babies abandoned in Lagos

No fewer than 150 females were raped, while 31 babies were abandoned on the streets of Lagos in the last one year.

The Commissioner for Youth and Social Development, Mrs. Uzamat Akinbile-Yussuf, said this at a press briefing in Ikeja on Tuesday.

“Also, a total of 57,350 schoolchildren benefitted from individual and group counselling sessions to curb truancy, gangsterism and other social vices. About 150 reported cases of sexual abuse and physical abuse were treated. Five pregnant schoolchildren were assisted to access adequate antenatal and delivery services. They were also integrated back into school,” she added.Akinbile-Yussuf explained that 150 reported cases of sexual and physical abuse were officially recorded, while five pregnant schoolchildren were assisted to access adequate ante-natal and delivery services and were also integrated back into school.

Change doesn’t happen overnight, Buhari tells Nigerians

President Muhammadu Buhari has commenced moves to address food scarcity and increase in food prices currently being witnessed across the country.

He has therefore ordered that 10,000 tonnes of grains should be released from the national strategic grains reserves for distribution nationwide.

Shehu added that the President had directed the Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh, to assist able-bodied men and women currently holed up in Internally Displaced Persons camps across the country to return to farming.The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, who stated this  in a statement in Abuja on Sunday, also quoted Buhari as telling Nigerians that his promised change would not happen overnight.

President Muhammadu Buhari (source Punch)

He said the steps were aimed at easing the hardship being experienced by Nigerians.

Shehu said the Buhari administration should not be blamed for the current bad shape of the economy.

Soldiers arrest 92 armed herdsmen in Abuja

A herdsman with his cattle in Enugu

The soldiers of the Guards Brigade of the Nigeria Army have arrested 92 Fulani herdsmen in Abuja.

The Assistant Director, Army Public Relations of the Guards Brigade, Capt. Bashir Jajira, said that 36 of the suspects were arrested by the troops at a military checkpoint between the Federal Capital Territory and Nasarawa State.

He said that 56 others who were also armed were arrested by the soldiers at a military checkpoint at Dantata, along the Abuja Airport Road.The suspected herdsmen were said to have told the soldiers that they were on a mission to recover their stolen cows.

705,352 apply for 10,000 police jobs ..........WAHALA

Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase

The Police Service Commission has received 705,352 applications from candidates seeking employment into the Nigeria Police Force.

A breakdown of the applications showed that 202, 427 applicants have successfully applied for the position of Cadet Assistant Superintendent of Police, 169,446 for the position of Cadet Inspector and 333,479 for the position of Constables.

It said that the PSC Chairman, Dr. Mike Okiro, confirmed that the application process had been smooth and transparent, adding that the commission was committed to making the recruitment a huge success.A statement by the Head, Press and Public Relations, PSC, Ikechukwu Ani, on Tuesday in Abuja, explained that the commission planned to recruit 500 Cadet ASPs, 500 Cadet Inspectors, 1,500 Specialist Officers and 7, 500 Constables to meet President Muhammadu Buhari’s approved 10,000 new entrants into the Force.