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  • IGP tasks Petroleum, Illegal Bunkering Taskforce on firmness

    The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr Mohammed Adamu has called on the Special Task Force on Petroleum and Illegal Bunkering to be firm in the discharge of their duties.

    Adamu made the call on Wednesday in Abuja at his maiden meeting with sector, intelligence and unit commanders of the task force.

    He said the meeting was convened to engage the commanders on new approaches to the security of critical assets in the oil sector.

    Adamu said the task force was established with mandate to work with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and other security agencies to protect oil pipelines and prevent illegal bunkering.

    “Your core duties in this regard include and not limited to the protection of NNPC pipelines/infrastructure throughout the federation, identify and destroy all illegal refineries and depots.

    “Surveillance and generation of intelligence that could be utilised to prevent any act of sabotage in the oil sector, arrest and prosecution of pipeline vandals and those engaged in illegal bunkering,” he said.

    According to him, in the performance of your duties, you are to be guided by the fact that oil pipelines are not ordinary assets and their security is of strategic importance to the country.

    He called on the commanders to imbibe the virtues of inter-agency collaboration, partnership with the host communities, NNPC and other stakeholders in the discharge of their duties.

    “You must constantly demonstrate the highest level of professionalism and eschew all forms of corruption.

    “You must be firm in your enforcement operations, ensure diligent investigation and speedy prosecution of arrested vandals, oil thieves and those involved in illegal bunkering.

    “You will be held liable for any action or inaction that engenders any security breach within your operational jurisdiction as regards pipeline security,” he added.

    He said plans were ongoing to engage community policing practice, intelligence-led operations and technology driven strategies to support the task force in the discharge of its duties.

    According to him, this will involve the deployment of our newly acquired long-range monitoring, vehicle-mounted CCTV system to support your pipeline surveillance operations.

  • Buhari arrives S/Africa for State Visit, Bi-National Commission meeting

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday arrived Pretoria, South Africa, for a state visit and 9th meeting of the Bi-National Commission.

    Malam Garba Shehu, the President’s spokesman, who confirmed this development in a statement in Abuja on Thursday morning, said the 9th meeting of the commission would for the first time witness participation of the two Heads of State after an elevation.

    The Bi-National Commission meeting was elevated to the level of Presidents’ participation, following the strategic position of the two economies in Africa and the need for stronger relations.

    Shehu disclosed that Buhari and his host, President Cyril Ramophosa, would co-chair the meeting on Thursday.

    The President’s plane arrived in the South African Air force Base, Waterkloof, at 9.10 p. m, and he was received by the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Dr Naledi Pandor and Minister of Social Development, Ms Lindiwe Zulu.

    Before the meeting which would be held at the Union Building, both Presidents would discuss issues of mutual interests relating to the welfare of citizens, and expanding economic and cultural ties.

    Shehu said the visit would enable more harmonious relations between the two largest economies in Africa, and open up more frontiers of opportunities for prosperity by encouraging more exchange and investments, especially for Nigerians.

    The presidential aide said 32 agreements and Memoranda Of Understanding (MoU) had been signed at the Bi-National Commission, which would be mutually beneficial to both nations.

    He added that the meeting would provide an opportunity to review progress.

    “President Buhari is on a state visit to South Africa. While in South Africa, the two leaders will review a number of issues in our Bi-National Commission, including issues that affect citizens,’’ he said.

    Buhari would also hold an interactive meeting with Nigerians in South Africa before returning to Abuja.

  • Liverpool Fined Or Fielding Ineligible Player

    Liverpool were fined 200,000 pounds for fielding an ineligible player in their League Cup third-round victory over MK Dons last week.

    The Reds, however, avoided expulsion from the competition, the Football League (EFL) said on Wednesday.

    Spaniard Pedro Chirivella, who was a second-half substitute in the 2-0 win, did not have international clearance, following the expiry of his loan agreement last season with Spanish club Extremadura, the EFL said.

    Half the fine will be suspended until the end of the 2020/21 season and the club will be liable for the suspended amount if they field an ineligible player in the competition again before the end of the next season.

  • Congo: 20 dead in collapsed gold mine

    At least 20 people were killed Thursday when an unlicensed gold mine collapsed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

    According to local media, the accident occurred in the town of Kampene in Maniema Province.

    Stephane Kamundala, an authority with a non-governmental organization in the region, said the dead included women and children and three people were seriously injured.

    Kamundala said scores of people are trapped under the rubble and search and rescue work is continuing.

    People have been trespassing into abandoned tunnels and working without security measures in gold, copper and cobalt-rich mines in the DRC.

    In June, 36 people were killed in the collapse of a copper mine in the southeastern Kolwezi region.

  • New orders fuel Kenya’s private sector activity in Sept–PMI

    Kenya’s private sector activity grew for the fifth straight month in September, boosted by an increase in new orders for businesses, a survey showed on Thursday.

    The Markit Stanbic Bank Kenya Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for manufacturing and services rose to 54.1 in September from 52.9 in the previous month. Any reading above 50 indicates growth.

    “Private sector activity is showing signs of momentum, although panelists continue to highlight cash flow issues that they face,” Jibran Qureishi, regional economist for East Africa at Stanbic Bank, said.

    “In addition to the current stock of arrears owed to the private sector, the interest-rate-capping law could also hold back firms from flourishing on a multi-month basis.”

    Last week, lawmakers rejected a finance ministry request to scrap commercial lending rate caps that critics say have led to a credit growth squeeze.

    The rate of new business orders was the strongest in 13 months in September, the survey found, although output among firms grew modestly due to the cash flow concerns.

  • Turkish inflation sees steep decline in September

    Turkey’s annualised inflation rate on Thursday fell sharply to 9.26 per cent in September from 15 per cent in August, official data revealed.

    According to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat), inflation went down to single digits for the first time in two years.

    TurkStat said that month-on-month inflation stood at just below one per cent in September as food prices weakened.

    Turkish inflation topped 25 per cent in Oct. 2018, due to a steep devaluation of the lira currency.

    According to Seyfettin Gursel, Director, Bahcesehir University Centre for Economic and Social Research (BETAM), the recovery will be short-lived.

    Gursel said that a decline in inflation was already expected for September since the effects of 2018 major spike had faded, estimating a year-end inflation rate at 12.5 per cent.

    The Minister of Finance, Berat Albayrak, also noted that government expected the inflation to reduce to 12 per cent by end of 2019.

    “The government’s aim is to bring inflation down to below 9 per cent in 2020.

    He also set a five per cent economic growth target for 2020.

    “Both goals are too ambitious to come true.

    “The Turkish Central Bank will come under increased pressure from President Recep Erdogan to cut interest rates further,“ Gursel said

    Since July, the central bank aggressively cut its benchmark interest rate by 7.5 per cent to 16.50 per cent.

    According to Erdogan, lower rates will bring lower inflation as opposed to traditional beliefs in how the market operates.

    “The main test for the government will be if they can rejuvenate investor confidence in 2020, citing low investments, high unemployment, political and security risks, mainly due to lingering civil war in Syria,“ Gursel said.

  • C-G National Park calls for reversal of ugly trend of climate change

    Abuja, Oct.3, 2019 Alhaji Ibrahim Goni, the Conservator General, National Park Service (NPK) has called for the reversal of the ugly trend of climate change and climate action to save the nation from impending danger.
    Goni made the call on Wednesday at the Park headquarters while receiving a donation of 112 seedlings from two youth corps members serving with the Department of Agric and Rural Development Secretariat of the FCTA.
    The donors are Abdullahi Suleiman Gbale and Izere Iyamide Martha.
    According to Goni, `the Service appreciates the gesture and the timing of the donation, it is clearly in line with the vision of the present Government on climate change mitigation.
    “Nigeria’s seven National Parks cover about three per cent of the country’s total land area and this to me, is grossly inadequate for a country of over 200 million people.
    “I want to therefore, urge all of us to support the vision of the President to keep and protect the environment for the sustainability of the present and yet unborn generations’’.
    The C-G said that awareness creation of the ugly trend of climate change cannot be overemphasized and that therefore, Nigerians must join the world in the race of mitigating the effects of climate change.
    “The negative impacts of climate change can be seen in the recent flooding across the various States of the Federation. “Even in the upsurge of diseases in plants and animals, degradation of land in and around the Parks, desertification in the north, siltation of Lake Chad, etc.
    “It is my belief that this effort of donation of these seedlings is an attempt in the right direction to reverse the ugly trend of climate change and climate action’’.
    He commended the corpers who have keyed into the vision of biodiversity preservation as part of their contribution towards community development in the service of their fatherland.
    He also assured them that the seedlings will be shared to both primary and secondary schools in Abuja environs as part of the service’s conservation education programme.
    Miss Martha Iyamide Izere, the leader of the team, in her remarks stated that their passion for a healthy environment began during their Industrial Training Attachment in Old Oyo National Park, Oyo in 2017.
    She said that having met her colleague again during their service year, they decided to push their passion a step further by making the environment a better place for all to live in.
    While recounting some of the debilitating effects of climate change, Izere noted that this donation is a service to humanity in an attempt to support the mitigation of effects of climate change and enhance development in our contemporary society.
    She also used the occasion to solicit assistance from the National Park Service to support them in this very noble course.
    The seedlings donated by the corps members include:
    Neem: Azadirachta indica (27)
    Gmelina: Gmelina arborea (27)
    Guava: Psidium guajava (27)
    Teak: Tectona grandis (27)
    Orange: Citrus aurantium (2)
    Mango: Mangifera indica (2)

  • Learn more about nation’s history by visiting museums-Curators

    The National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) in Lagos has called on students to visit the museums across the country to acquire adequate knowledge about her history and culture.

    The Curator of Lagos Museum, Mrs Omotayo Adeboye, gave the advice while speaking with the Flowerbud News on Thursday in Lagos.

    Adeboye said a visit to the museum would enable children to learn about their past and proffer solutions to both the current and the future problems.

    “I call on parents in company with their children to always visit the museums so that they can appreciate their cultural heritage.

    “We usually have art exhibitions that are related to happenings in the society and most of the exhibitions are contained in the children’s school curriculum.

    “Students’ visit to museums will enable them to see, touch and feel  the artifacts, antiquities and monoliths they had read about in schools.

    “Experiences garnered from such visits by the students will stick to their memories.

    “Adults and children learn more and better about their cultural heritage when they visit the museum which is a repository of their historical past,’’ she said.

    She advised that youths and adults were free to visit the museum.

    Adeboye said that the museum was currently running a programme tagged: “See, Touch and Feel”, which allows visitors to feel its artifacts.

    She said that the programme would encourage the visitors the opportunities to appreciate the importance of its collections for the period it would last.

    She said this was because visitors were not usually allowed to touch most of the materials to guide against being damaged and theft.

    She said that the commission had visited some schools with contemporary art works to complement what most of the students had been taught by their teachers.

  • President Buhari’s remarks at State Banquet in Pretoria

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday in Pretoria, South Africa, said authorities should be more pro-active in detecting early signals of violence between competitors, while migrants and companies should adhere to the local laws of host countries.

    Malam Garba Shehu, the President’s spokesman in a statement in Abuja on Thursday, said the Nigerian leader stated this when he responded to questions during a news conference at the Union Building, alongside his host, President Cyril Ramaphosa.

    He called for more tolerance, vigilance and heightened security to ensure safety of citizens, noting ”competition heralded by globalisation, especially with ease in migration, will only get more intense for businesses”.

    “Police must be on alert not to allow violence to escalate,’’ he said.

    President Buhari said the business world had turned out more dynamic over the years, with foreigners competing with locals in businesses that were initially considered low.

    He said the panacea would only be for security agencies to show more interest in market operations, players and likely areas of tensions.

    The President likened the situation of Nigerians in South Africa to Ghana where competition at low levels of the economy breeds intense competition, noting that it would keep growing with population explosion.

    He told Nigerians living in various parts of the world, especially in South Africa, to adhere to the laws of the country they reside, and ensure compliance with market laws.

    “Like it is said, ‘when you are in Rome behave like the Romans’. Always be law abiding,’’ he said.

    Earlier in his remark, the President condemned attacks on Nigerians and the burning of their properties in South Africa, describing it as “unacceptable’’.

    He also assured the South African government that their citizens and businesses in Nigeria would always be protected from harm.

    He also condemned the reprisal attacks in Nigeria.

    “In my discussions with President Ramaphosa and the Bi-National Commission meeting, we reviewed wide range of issues at national, regional, continental and global levels,’’ he added.

    He said some of the issues were on trade, investment, mining, security, police affairs and environment.

    “Our two countries have also agreed to unequivocally address the challenges in our relations including the recent people to people challenges that saw attacks against foreign nationals, including Nigerians, and their properties, which we strongly condemned,” he disclosed.

    In his remarks, President Ramaphosa said the attacks on foreigners in South Africa, including Nigerians, were regrettable, assuring that his government would work hard to see an end to such attacks.

    He equally condemned reprisal attacks in Nigeria.

    According to him, President Buhari is the first president to embark on a state visit in South Africa since they came into power.

    “We will work together to promote cohesion and best values. What happened did not reflect our values.

    “We both condemn the attacks and the reprisal in strongest terms. We will set up mechanisms for early signals,’’ he said.

    Ramaphosa said his country would also create a more enabling environment for Nigerian businesses to thrive in South Africa, acknowledging that more South African companies operate in Nigeria.

    He, however, observed that Nigerians were mostly in Small and Medium Scale sectors in his country.

    “We have large corporations operating in Nigeria while you have small and medium enterprises from Nigeria here in South Africa,” he said.

    He promised to deepen the reforms in his country to open the space for more Nigerian business to “address the imbalance”.

    “The rule of law must be obeyed by all citizens. Nigerians in South Africa must obey the rule of law, while South Africans in Nigeria must obey the rule of law,’’ he added.

    Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama and South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Dr Naledi Pandor, signed agreements on the minutes of the 9th session of Bi-National Commission.