Category: General News

 

“I am not afraid of you.” Kogi central Seantor, Natasha Akpoti dares Senate President Godswill Akpabio after ordering her out of the Senate Chamber

Says Akpabio is the worst Senate President we’ve seen in recent years.

Flowerbudnews

Senator representing Kogi Central Senatorial District, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan Thursday grounded the plenary over her seat that was changed without her consent.

Recall that the plenary which was being presided by the Senate President, Godswill Obot Akpabio, was midway into proceedings when the Chief Whip, Senator Mohammed Ali Monguno raised a point of order.

Monguno drew the attention of the Senate President to “Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan’s improper seating position

Monguno, had hardly concluded a point of order before Natasha engaged in a shouting melee before she was surrounded by the Sergeant-AtArms in a bid to excuse her from the plenary.

Amid the confusion, the Senate President’s attempt to calm nerves was bluffed as the female lawmaker insisted to know, “reasons why her seat was changed without her consent.”

The chaos was controlled after the public address systems were shut and normalcy was restored afterwards.

 

FG to Obi;  When Have You Turned Into A Private Investigator?

Says guilty traders in the market should be in jail for crimes against humanity,

(NAFDAC Director General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye,   Punching Drug Counterfeiters unprecedentedly)

By Biola Lawal
Abuja (Flowerbudnews):  The Presidency has thrown its weight behind the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) in its ongoing  unprecedented enforcement operations designed to crush counterfeiters and fake drug peddlers across the country.

Flowerbudnews recall that the NAFDAC operations had resulted in the closure of some markets in the South East and South West of Nigeria, including the Onitsha Bridge Head Market suspected of being another hub for the manufacturing and peddling of adulterated medicines and beverages.

In a statement by the Special Assistant to President Bola Tinubu on Social Media, Dada Olusegun, the Presidency
questioned the particular interest of Mr. Peter Obi in the market closure, and berated him for his insistence on the reopening of the Onitsha Bridge Head market.

Olusegun said that, Obi, who was the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 Presidential Election, should ”be more interested in protecting the lives and health of millions of Nigerians,” charging him to allow the professionals  do their work.

Following the closure of the Onitsha Bridge Head Market by NAFDAC,  Obi had urged that it should be reopened to allow concerned traders and shop owners make a living and survive.

According to Obi, the decision by the  regulatory body and security agencies to close the market totally was affecting innocent traders who make a living from the market. He demanded

He insinuated that the closure was able to happen ”because those in government and at the helm of affairs taking such decisions don’t own or manage businesses and don’t understand how micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) operate.”

However, Olusegun stressed the need to allow the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to do its work without unnecessary interference.

He emphasized the need to protect Nigerians from consuming fake and harmful food, drugs and other items.

The aide asked Peter Obi to explain to Nigerians why he rushed to the market to obstruct NAFDAC from combating the activities of some traders involved in selling illicit, substandard and unhealthy items to unsuspecting members of the public.

Olusegun wrote: “I have resisted the urge to dabble into the ongoing populistic patronage of Mr Peter Obi over the past few months but in cases where lives and properties of millions of Nigerians are concerned, every sane Nigerian must speak up else we are one step away from being exterminated due to consumption of fake foods, drugs and other items.

“You of all person must understand what the jurisdictions of @nafdacnigeria are and that beyond drugs, they are in charge of ensuring everything we consume directly including foods items, beverages, water etc are vetted and deemed safe for consumption.

“When have you turned into a private investigator or an intelligence officer to conclude which sections of the Onitsha Bridge Head market are involved in unwholesome practices?

”Or are you more interested in protecting the livelihood of some traders some of who should be in jail for crimes against humanity than protecting the lives and health of millions of Nigerians you aspire to become their president one day?

“Nigerians will like to know why you rushed to Onitsha to obstruct NAFDAC from carrying out their legitimate work of combating illicit drugs and substandard and unhealthy foods.

”Someone or some people might think you are trying to shield fake drug dealers who have put the lives of millions of Nigerians at risk as a result of their nefarious and conscienceless criminal activities.

“Dear Mr Peter Obi, kindly search your Conscience,” the Presidential aide concluded. (FLOWERBUDNEWS)

The All Progressives Congress in Osun State has withdrawn from the local government election scheduled for Saturday, February 22.

 

This was contained in a letter dated February 17, signed by the APC State Publicity Secretary, Alao Kamorudeen, and addressed to the Secretary of the State Independent Electoral Commission.

 

A copy of the letter obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria on Thursday in Osogbo stated that the APC would not participate due to the February 10 Court of Appeal judgment, which reinstated its chairmen and councillors.

 

The letter read: “Recall that the judgment of the Federal High Court in suit No. FHF/OS/CS/94/2022 was meritoriously nullified on February 10 by the Court of Appeal in Akure, in appeal No. CA/AK/270/2022 between APC and three others v. Peoples Democratic Party and others.

By the judgment, the elected officers have resumed office as allowed by the Appeal Court.

 

“The implication of the Court of Appeal judgment, as cited above, is that the seats are no longer vacant.

 

“In view of the foregoing, we hereby state that the APC and all its candidates have, by this letter, informed the commission of our withdrawal from the local government election scheduled for February 22.

same has become unnecessary, superfluous, and unlawful due to this development.”

 

There was a crisis between the APC and PDP over the Court of Appeal judgment regarding the sacked APC council chairmen and councillors.

 

While the PDP claimed that the February 10 judgment of the Court of Appeal, Akure, did not reinstate the sacked APC chairmen and councillors elected in 2022, the APC insisted on their return to local government secretariats.

 

Crisis, however, erupted on Monday when both parties laid claim to local government secretariats across the state.

 

The police confirmed that six people lost their lives, and scores were injured during the crisis

 

*Says US govt declared Boko Haram terrorist group since 2013

*List four point agenda to boost US, Nigeria relations

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

United States Ambassador in Nigeria, Richard M. Mills, Jr., has refuted allegations that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was used to fund the Boko Haram terrorist group, stating that the US government was the first country to declare Boko Haram a terrorist group.

US Congressman Scott Perry, a Republican representing Pennsylvania, during the inaugural hearing of the Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency last week, claimed in a paper titled, ‘The War on Waste: Stamping Out the Scourge of Improper Payments and Fraud,’ misappropriation of taxpayer funds, alleging USAID is used to fund Boko Haram.

But Ambassador Mills, Jr., after a meeting with Nigerian Governors in the early hours of Thursday, refuted the allegations of using USAID to fund Boko Haram.

He said, “Can I answer the question about the Boko Haram? Let me be clear, there’s no friend of Nigeria that has been stronger and its condemnation of the violence of Boko Haram and Boko Haram contempt for human life than the United States.

”We have labeled Boko Haram Since 2013 a foreign terrorist organization, a designation that was designed to block Boko Haram, Boko Haram from carrying out any asset transfers to United States, allows us to arrest and seize members of Boko Haram and allows us to cooperate in investigations with the Nigerian government.

”We, I can assure you, we have policies and procedures in place to ensure that USAID funding, any of our assistance funding, whether it comes from USAID, the Department of Defense, the State Department, is not diverted to a terrorist group like Boko Haram.

”There is absolutely no evidence that I have seen that has occurred, and certainly if we ever had evidence presented to us that a program, funding was being diverted to Boko Haram, we would immediately, investigate along with Nigerian partners.

”And so I just want to be clear that when it comes to Boko Haram, the United States stands with Nigeria and wanting to rid this country of the scourge that the organization represents”, he said

On his priorities as the United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Richard Mills, said, ”We’re going to be focusing on four key priorities over the coming years. The first is how to improve the business environment so there’s more trade between the United States and Nigeria, more investment on both sides.

”Second, a new renewed focus on improving transparency accountability in this country, how to fight corruption and power Nigerian voices that are fighting for more transparency here.

“Third, we want to be more engaged at the sub national level, at the state level and with the local governing authorities. That’s, I think, an area where the embassy needs to do a bit more engagement as we develop our programs and our assistance.

”And lastly, we talked about our health care programs, because our health care programs are a large part of us, assistance to Nigeria, and as those programs are succeeding, as less people have HIV, as polio vaccinations have helped eradicate polio, we want to start transitioning those programs, keep them sustainable and turn them over to the Nigerian government at the federal level, at the state level.

”So how do we keep our health programs sustainable and transfer it over to the Nigerian government so they can run them and make them more effective in a new healthcare future? So that’s what we talked about, that vision.

”We’d like to see is, I think, more direct engagement at the state level, our programs more focused on the states. We’d like to help develop capacity of the states and the local governing authorities. I think this is partly driven by the Supreme Court decision last summer that is going to give, I think, the LGAs (autonomy)

”if this unfolds the way we think it will, perhaps some more authority, more fiscal responsibility. So we want to help the LGAs transition, take on this new responsibility and make sure they can work well with the states, based on our experience in the United States, where we have a federal system too, and where one of our governing principles is the most effective government is the government that’s closest to the people. So that’s what we’re looking for in Nigeria.”

On the stoppage of funds by United States, Ambassador Mills Jr. said, ”Well, first, let me clarify one thing. Right now, the new administration has put in a 90 day pause on our assistance. No assistance has been cut yet, no decisions have been made about the future of our assistance.

”In fact, Secretary of State Marcus Rubio, has said this is not about ending foreign assistance to our partners and friends like Nigeria. It’s about how to make the assistance more effective and how to make sure that it aligns with US government policies and interests.

”So that’s what this 90 day pause is for on our assistance. But I think many of you have seen, I hope that there are waivers, waivers for our assistance that’s life saving, that provides humanitarian life saving assistance, whether that’s to HIV patients or to mother and child nutrition needs or to internally displaced people. So that that continues. Where we’ll be in 90 days, we will know,” stated.

 

 

 

The United States (US) President, Donald Trump, on Tuesday said large-scale fraud was perpetrated in multiple donations made by the previous US government to countries worldwide.

President Trump made this remark during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago after signing three presidential memoranda, in addition to dozens of executive orders already in effect.

Trump expressed vexation about how hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayers’ money were spent on questionable programs and contracts across Africa, Asia, and Europe.

The beneficiary nations identified include Cambodia, Czechia, India, Kosovo, Liberia, Mali, Moldova, Mozambique, Nepal, Serbia, South Africa, and Uganda, among others.

The new orders relate to “radical transparency about wasteful spending,” “ensuring accountability for all agencies,” and “expanding access to in vitro fertilization (IVF)” to improve the availability and affordability of treatments.

Trump decried the “waste” uncovered by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk, saying, “They are finding levels of fraud and waste and abuse I think nobody ever thought possible.”

“Incredible things are happening in our country,” the president stressed. “We’ve made more progress in three weeks than they made in four years, especially with respect to the reputation of our country. People are respecting us again.”

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Asked to clarify Musk’s role in his administration after the White House, in a court filing, stated that the senior advisor has no authority to make decisions, Trump called the Tesla CEO “a patriot” for his efforts.

The president, while reading from a paper, said the information DOGE submitted to him revealed that millions of people between the ages of 100 and 249—even some as old as 360—were receiving Social Security payments.

Providing specific figures on expenditures outside America, Trump said: “$520 million for a consultant on the environment. It’s called environmental, social, and governance investments in Africa. Somebody got $520 million for environmental studies.

“$25 million to promote biodiversity conservation and licit livelihoods by developing socially responsible behavior in Colombia. Wow, that’s nice—$25 million for something that nobody ever heard of.

“$40 million to improve the social and economic inclusion of sedentary migrants; $42 million for Johns Hopkins to research and drive social and behavioral change in Uganda. What about us?

“$70 million for a center at Purdue to research university-sourced, evidence-based solutions to develop mental challenges. These are massive numbers for things that nobody ever heard about.

“$10 million for voluntary medical male circumcisions in Mozambique… $10 million for circumcision in another country; $9.7 million for UC Berkeley to develop a cohort of Cambodian youths with enterprise-driven skills.

“$2.3 million for strengthening independent voices in Cambodia; $32 million to the Prague Civil Society Centre… wonder how much of that money came back to the people who approved it.

“$14 million for public procurement in Serbia; $486 million to the consortium for elections and political process strengthening, including $22 million for an inclusive and participatory political process in Moldova.

“$21 million for voter turnout in India; $20 million for fiscal federalism in Nepal. Listen to these numbers—this is all fraud. $19 million for biodiversity conservation in Nepal.

“$1.5 million for voter confidence in Liberia; $14 million for social cohesion in Mali; $2.5 million for inclusive democracy in South Africa; $47 million for improving learning outcomes in Asia.

“$2 million to develop sustainable recycling models to increase socio-economic cohesion among marginalized communities in Kosovo, Ashkali, and Egypt.

“We’re talking about hundreds of billions of dollars. I could read this all day long. We have a very corrupt country. And it’s a sad thing to say, but we’re figuring it out,” said Trump.

 

By Flowerbudnews
The Enugu State Government has moved to actualise its initiative of the state being net exporter of cocoa and its value-chain derivatives as it developed a pilot plantation of 20 hectares.

The move is meant to push Gov Peter Mbah’s Cocoa Initiative meant to make Enugu State a net exporter of cocoa and other international cash crops within a few years in order to grow the state’s GDP from $4 billion to $30 billion.

The state’s Commissioner for Agriculture and Agro-Industrialisation, Mr Patrick Nwabueze Ubru, told newsmen on Tuesday in Enugu that the pilot plantation of 20 hectares is currently located in Nkanu East Local Government Area of the state.

“In line with Gov Peter Mbah’s vision, the Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-Industrialisation is in partnership with a private investor, WhiteRabbit Agro Limited, to develop the Gov. Peter Mbah’s Cocoa Initiative and make the state a mass cocoa producer and processor.

“The state ministry would also push to spread the initiative to five other Local Government Areas surrounding Nkanu East LGA due to their similarities in topography and soil type.

“We are reaching out to local government areas within that topography and soil type zone such as Nkanu West, Isi-Uzo, Oji-River, Aninri and Agwu to at least do a pilot of 100 hectares cocoa plantation each.

“We are pursuing it with the vigor it deserves and we want to ensure that we encourage our farmers to take to cocoa farming and have large cocoa plantations of their own,” he said.

The commissioner said that its project partners, WhiteRabbit Agro Limited, are already developing 100,000 High yielding and early producing Cocoa variety obtained from Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN, Ibadan).

Ubru said that the cocoa nursery is located at Amaechi Idodo community in Nkanu East Local Government Area.

“One tonne of cocoa today in the international market goes for USD$10,500, in naira value is about N16.3 million.

“His Excellency, Dr Peter Mbah, gave a mandate to the ministry, when we came on board; to develop cocoa farming and we are head-on doing it and collaborating with all stakeholders to do that,” he said.

The commissioner said that personally, he does cocoa and palm nurseries in his farm presently, adding that it would soon transform to large hectares of cocoa and palm plantations.

“This is a welcomed development and an opportunity to open up a great agro-business opportunity to Enugu State residents. Our people should take to agriculture, make their money and grow the economy of the state.

“So, it is clear that the $30 billion His Excellency has earmarked as a GDP growth target for the state is very close to us.

“With all these developments in agriculture and agro-industrialisation, I sincerely believe we will surpass the target and even do more for the development of the state,” he said.

The commissioner said that his “ministry is open to collaboration” with any individual, corporate organisation, cooperative society, multinationals and government that want to participate in the cocoa initiative and any other agricultural practice in the state.

“The ministry is open to provide guidance, assistance, agricultural extension services as well as high-yield seedling of cocoa, palm, cashew and others.

“This is to ensure that our farmers get it right, contribute to the economy of the state and make their profit as well,” he said.

Ubru noted that there was ongoing work at the cargo section of the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu and when completed, it would get the state ready for export of quality, organic and fresh farm produce to any international destination.