My Relationship With VP Osinbajo Perfect,Says PMB [LEADERSHIP]
President Muhammadu Buhari has put paid to speculations that his relationship with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has gone sour. In what appears to be his first formal reaction to the rumour, Buhari declared that he has a “perfect” relationship with the number two citizen.
Buhari gave the clarification when asked to rate his relationship with his deputy on a scale of one to 10 by The Interview in Abuja during the weekend.
In the exclusive interview, Buhari, in his response to the question, replied: “Perfect. Or has he complained to you?”
The president further said that he had never complained about the vice president to anybody.
Buhari also asserted that the opinion of former defence minister, Gen. Theophilus Danjuma, was not more important than that of millions of Nigerians who voted for his re-election last year.
Asked if he was concerned about the vote of low confidence expressed by Danjuma during a recent book launch in Ibadan, Oyo State, Buhari said: “And what is the vote of confidence of Nigerians in me, as expressed in the polls last year? That is what matters more, not the opinion of one man.”
Danjuma had said that” if he says what he knows about the goings on in the government, Nigerians would lose sleep.“
Kogi Records 1 Death, 3 Cases Of Lassa Fever [LEADERSHIP]
The Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Lokoja in Kogi yesterday, confirmed three cases of Lassa fever and one death at the hospital in the last one week.
Dr Bernard Ododo, the Head of Clinical Services (HCSs) FMC Lokoja, disclosed this in an interview with news hunters on Sunday in Lokoja.
Ododo said that five suspected cases of Lassa fever were reported in the hospital in the last one week, out of which three were positive, and one died.
”Five suspected cases were reported at the hospital in the last one week; three already tested positive, of which one died and two cases were already transferred to Lassa Fever Management Center at Irua Specialist Hospital in Edo State”.
”Two others (of which one has died) has their results awaited from NCDC Laboratory in Abuja,” Ododo said.
The doctor, therefore, advised residents to adopt all the necessary precautions to prevent the outbreak of epidemic-prone diseases in the state.
Revenue Leakages: Shippers’ Council Seeks Re-introduction Of CTN [LEADERSHIP]
The Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) has called for the reintroduction of Cargo Tracking Note (CTN) in the country to check the current revenue leakages.
In an exclusive interview with LEADERSHIP, the director, Consumer Affairs Department of NSC, Cajetan Agu, said that Nigeria has remained the only country in West and Central Africa (WECA) that is yet to implement the International Cargo Tracking Note (ICTN).
Already, some stakeholders in the maritime sector have said that the CTN being championed by NSC, if implemented would enhance the security functions of government, generate real time information and statistics, revenue collection and trade facilitation on the international scene.
At present, Nigeria’s competitors, Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire, Angola, Congo, Cameroon, Benin Republic, and Togo implement CTN to plug revenue leakages in port operations but Nigeria has lagged behind in implementing it.
While responding to stakeholders’ criticisms of the planned re-introduction of the automated system at the nation’s seaports, Agu reiterated that Nigeria still remains the only country in West and Central Africa to implement the single window project.
Fed.Govt, ASUU Row Over Payroll Grows [NATION]
- Lecturers accused of earning multiple salaries •’Why govt is forcing IPPIS on us’
ANOTHER round of strike in public universities is likely over the enrollment in the Integrated Payment Personnel Information System (IPPIS).
As the government is set to stop payment to varsity teachers who declined to enroll in the payment system, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has threatened to enforce its ‘no pay no work’ decision.
At the weekend, the federal government accused many of the lecturers of collecting multiple salaries.
Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Boss Mustapha said when he received the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Mohammed Nami said some members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities “are collecting three to four salaries per month.” But he did not elaborate.
But ASUU President, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, described the comment as an exaggeration and a distortion of facts.
He said the union would respond appropriately if the Federal Government went ahead to stop the salaries of its members..
Oyo To Sack Council Chief: We’ll Deal With Troublemakers [NATION]
The Oyo State chapter of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) has assured the people, including local government workers, that the police have pledged to make their resumption of office today peaceful.
Members of the association indicated that they were in high spirit to return to their seats after they were sacked by Governor Seyi Makinde on May 29 last year.
The Inspector-General of Police last Thursday directed the Commissioner of Police to effect their reinstatement based on the instruction of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami (SAN).
Following the directive, the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) directed its members in the state to withdraw their services at the weekend.
But ALGON, in a statement yesterday, assured that its members’ resumption would not be violent, as the police have vowed to curtail any act of violence from anyone.
The statement, signed by its Chairman, Mr. Ayodeji Abass-Aleshinloye, said: “ALGON wishes to allay the fears or any unnecessary anxiety of NULGE, Oyo State, all local government workers and the good people of Oyo State as the democratically-elected chairmen and councillors of local government and council areas return peacefully to their duty posts to perform our constitutional duties to the grassroots in obedience to the electoral mandate of the people of Oyo State.
Leah Sharibu’s Father: We’ve Surrendered Our Fate To God [NATION]
Mr. Nathan Sharibu, the father of Boko Haram-abductee Leah Sharibu, has said the family had surrendered the fate of their daughter to God.
Mr. Sharibu was reacting to reports on Saturday that his daughter had been delivered of a baby to a Boko Haram commander after staying in the terrorists’ captivity for more than two years.
An online newspaper reported that a close source to the insurgents broke the news of Leah’s motherhood to them.
A journalist, Ahmed Salkida, who claimed to have close professional confidential ties with the insurgents, also confirmed on his twitter handle yesterday that Leah had become a mother but he was not sure of the baby’s gender.
His tweet reads: Ahmad Salkida @A_Salkida:
“Why, I wonder, do we pretend that leaving Leah behind won’t result in pregnancy? Since the terror group announced condemning her to slavery, is there any step or collective focus on preventing similar occurrences? She’s a mother, but I don’t know about the gender of the baby.”
Mr. Sahribu, who confirmed reading the report online, said: “I don’t have to say anything again. We have left whatever is happening to Leah in the hands of the Almighty God. Before, they told us she was dead. Now, they are saying she has a baby. So, we don’t have anything to say. Let God do His will in her life.”
Banks Cut Lending Rate To Woo More Borrowers [NATION]
BANKS are cutting lending rates to woo more borrowers, The Nation has learnt.
The measure is to raise profitability and to meet the 65 per cent Loan to Deposit Ratio (LDR) target set by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
They are relying more on lending to grow their profits as yields from government securities – Treasury Bills and Bonds – drop.
Besides, the apex bank has slashed non-interest income (commission and fees) seen as major revenue channels for banks.
Analysts at Afrinvest West Africa, an investment and research firm, said the lending rates are trending downwards, with many Tier-1 banks competing for profitable borrowers and cutting down rates.
Afrinvest West Africa Limited Group Managing Director Ike Chioke who spoke at the launch of the “Economic and Financial Markets 2020 Outlook” in Lagos, said the banking sector has given out N1.5 trillion as loans following the implementation of the LDR policy.
He said the CBN is likely to further raise the LDR to 70 per cent to boost lending to the private sector.
IPOB, Police On Warpath Over Burial Kanu’s Parents [SUN]
. Stay clear in your own interest, Abia CP warns
Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has said its members would participate actively in the burial of parents of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, Eze and Ugoeze Isaac Okwu Kanu.
The group added that no amount of police threat or jingoistic display would stop them.
Abia Commissioner of Police, Ene Okon has, however, warned members of the pro-Biafra group not to come anywhere close to Umuahia or any part of the state on February 14, when Eze and Ugoeze Isaac Okwu Kanu would be buried in their own interest.
Media and Publicity Secretary of IPOB, Emma Powerful in interview said although arrangements for the burial was the responsibility of Afaraukwu Community since the father was their traditional ruler, IPOB would participate in the burial actively.
Easter Deadline: S’East Ministers To Inspect Enugu Airport [SUN]
Six ministers from the South East in President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet would next month inspect ongoing reconstruction work at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu.
This is as the Federal Government said that it had not abandoned the N-power scheme, its flagship Social Investment Programme (SIP).
Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, who disclosed this when he visited the airport during a his working tour of Enugu, Anambra and Delta states, weekend, expressed government’s satisfaction with the speed and quality of work done so far.
He disclosed that their visit to the facility would ensure that the contractor delivered by the last week of March.
Amotekun: Bakare, Babachir, Others Clash [SUN]
Senior Pastor of Citadel Global Community Church (Latter Rain Assembly), Pastor Tunde Bakare, has applauded the setting up of Amotekun but said the controversy over its legality is a reminder that Nigeria is yet to address its foundation issues.
In an address entitled: “No amount of ringworm medicine can cure leprosy” he delivered in his church on yesterday, Bakare said while it is good that the South-West governors and the Federal Government have ironed out their differences, the South-West states should give it legal backing by enacting the appropriate laws.
He said such laws should address recruitment, screening, training, deployment procedures and tactical operations between the outfit on the one hand, and the conventional federal police commissions in the South-West states on the other hand.
Corruption, Terrorism Killing Nigeria –Catholic Bishop [SUN]
The Catholic Bishop of Warri Diocese, Delta State, Most Rev. John Afereha, yesterday, lamented that the combination of corruption and Boko Haram were killing Nigeria.
Bishop Afareha stated this at St. Mathias’ Catholic Church, Uzere, Isoko South Local Government Area of Delta State, where he officiated the thanksgiving mass in honour of the Managing Director of Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC), Bashorun Askia Ogieh.
He claimed Nigeria had adopted corruption as a department in governance which had led to the vice being institutionalised. The cleric lamented that corruption had become so pervasive, saying it was fuelled by the inordinate love for materialism.
He charged the DESOPADEC Managing Director to discharge the responsibilities of his new position with the fear of God, by using the agency’s resources judiciously, especially in his mandate communities.
Amotekun Proposed Law: Personnel Will Have Power To Arrest Criminals, Says AG [PUNCH]
Lagos, Ogun and Ekiti states are leading the drafting of model bills on the South-West security outfit, Operation Amotekun.
The Ekiti State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Wale Fapohunda, who gave this indication in an interview with one of our correspondents on Sunday, also said operatives of Amotekun, would have the power to arrest suspected criminals.
Fapohunda said this just as indications emerged on Sunday that the South-West attorneys general would on February 6 meet to harmonise positions of different states on the proposed Operation Amotekun bills.
We Don’t Have Highest Number Of Single Ladies – MFM [PUNCH]
The Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries has faulted a report that it has the highest number of single ladies among churches in Nigeria.
The church stated that for the past 10 years, it had conducted over 150,000 weddings.
The MFM made the clarification in a statement on Sunday by Collins Edomaruse, spokesperson for its founder and General Overseer, Dr. Daniel Olukoya.
Edomaruse said, “We encourage and actively support all spinsters and bachelors, regardless of denomination, to build their relationships on biblical standards. We strongly advise all our single men and women to marry fellow believers within the Christian faith.
“We believe this is God’s will for marriage and is the best foundation for a successful and a Godly marriage. Dr Olukoya and MFM ministries have never stated that single men and women within this ministry should only marry within the ministry.”
Danjuma’s Criticism Of My Regime, One-Man Opinion — Buhari [PUNCH]
The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has dismissed the claim by a former Minister of Defence, Gen. T.Y. Danjuma (retd.), that Nigeria under his watch is in deep rot.
Danjuma had, at a recent event in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, scored Buhari low in governance and anti-corruption war, claiming that Nigeria under the retired general’s watch “is in a big hole.”
He had said that most Nigerians would be seriously disturbed if he declared what he knew about what was going on in Buhari’s government.
While speaking at the University of Ibadan, during a book launch, Danjuma was quoted by to have said, “In Yorubaland, everybody seems to have lost their voice, scared. And people appear not to care about what is happening. If I tell you what I know is happening in Nigeria today, you will no longer sleep.