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  • Why I Was Redeployed – Keyamo

    Former Minister of State for Niger-Delta Affairs, Festus Keyamo has given reasons why President Muhammadu Buhari redeployed him from the Ministry of Niger Delta to the Ministry of Labour and Employment.

    Keyamo, a senior advocate of Nigeria, while reacting to the development, wrote on Twitter, “On the move again: Two portfolios in two months!

    “Just been redeployed to the Ministry of Labour and Employment to work with my long-time big brother, H.E, Chris Ngige.”

    “Thank you, Mr President for finding me versatile enough to move around. Always ready to serve in any capacity.”

    Keyamo swapped positions with Minister of State, Labour Tayo Alasoadura who moves to the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs.

    This was disclosed in a statement from the Director of Information at the Office of Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Willie Bassey.

    Bassey said President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the swap.

    According to him: “President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the immediate redeployment of two Ministers of State as follows.

    “Mr Festus Keyamo, Minister of State for Niger Delta Affairs is to move to Ministry of Labour and Employment as Minister of State.

    “Senator Tayo Alasoadura is to move to Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs as Minister of State. This redeployment takes effect from Tuesday Sept. 24, 2019.”

  • UN science panel to report on climate change in oceans and glaciers

    Scientists from around the world were gathering in Monaco on Wednesday to release a major report on the impact of global warming on the Earth’s oceans and frozen regions.

    The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scoured almost 7,000 scientific publications to come up with an overview of the effects of greenhouse gases on oceans, glaciers and permafrost regions.

    Hours ahead of the release of the report, French President Emmanuel Macron said that it contained “naked and stubborn” facts.

    “We are losing the battle,” he told the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday.

    The report comes weeks after the UN panel warned of the impact of climate change on land, saying that the world faced a high risk of drought, wildfires, thawing permafrost and unstable food supplies.

    The IPCC warned last October that limiting global warming to an average temperature rise of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels is only possible with “rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes.”

    The IPCC is a UN institution with 195 member states.

    Its reports aim to summarize scientific knowledge on climate change and offer advice to policy makers.

  • Nuclear deal: Macron wants all parties to engage in talk

    French President Emmanuel Macron said that Iran, the United States, the remaining parties to the landmark 2015 Iran nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as well as Persian Gulf states should engage in talks.

    “Well more than ever, I very sincerely and profoundly believe that the time has come to resume negotiations between the United States of America, Iran, the signatories of the JCPOA, and the countries of the region which are first and foremost affected by the security and stability,” Macron said in a speech at the 74th session of the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, PressTV reported.

    The French leader then laid out four conditions for such talks.

    “So what should be the conditions, the terms, the goals and the targets of these negotiations? First of all, the certainty that Iran never acquired developed nuclear weapons. Secondly, a solution to a crisis in Yemen.”

    “Thirdly, a regional security plan, which also incorporates the other crises of the region and security of maritime navigation. And finally, a lifting of economic sanctions. I’m not naive at all and I don’t believe in miracles. I believe that it takes courage to build peace. And that is why it’s important for the United States, Iran and the signatories of this agreement to show this courage,” Macron noted.

    Macron also held another unscheduled meeting with Rouhani on Tuesday right before the arranged meeting between the Iranian President and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

    “What is important is that if he leaves the country without meeting with President Trump, this is a lost opportunity. Because he will not come back in a few months. And President Trump will not go to Tehran so they have to meet now,” Macron said during a meeting with Rouhani and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, according to a UK press pool report.

    In recent months, Macron has taken the lead in a European effort to save the JCPOA and ease tensions between Washington and Tehran.

    In May 2018, the US president withdrew his country from the multilateral deal, and re-imposed sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

    Iran waited for a year to see if Europe can compensate for the US withdrawal; however, in May 2019 it finally decided to start scaling back its commitments under the nuclear deal.

    France has offered a credit line of $15 billion, which will guarantee the sale of Iran’s crude oil, as an incentive to bring back Iran to the JCPOA. However, the offer has yet to be finalized.

  • Oil thieves set Agip pipeline ablaze in N/Delta

    (FLOWERBUDNEWS) Unscrupulous people, described as crude oil thieves have set fire on an oil pipeline, belonging to Italian oil giant Agip at Ubeta community in the Ahoada West Local Government Area of Rivers.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the field is operated by Nigeria Agip Oil Company, a subsidiary of Italy’s Eni.

    Ubeta is a border community between Bayelsa and Rivers States, separated by Orashi River, deep in the resource-rich Niger Delta.

    A community source, who participated in a Joint Investigative Visit (JIV) to the burnt facility, told NAN that the fire, which broke out on Sept. 20 had been contained.

    The source explained that the fire, which was ignited in the early hours of Sept. 20, was finally put off on Sept. 22 by a fire-fighting team.

    He said the JIV report concluded that the fire was caused by vandals.

    Vandalism of pipeline installations is rampant in the Niger Delta, the resource base of Nigeria.

    “A joint investigation at the scene of the incident by regulatory agencies, NOSDRA, DPR, Rivers State Ministry of Environment and community representatives to ascertain the cause of the inferno revealed that it was due to a third party interference.

    “An illegal bunkering point was found on the pipeline at the point of the fire and it was being repaired,” said the source.

    Ubeta residents informed NAN that the area is notorious for illegal crude refining activities, a development that has made the settlement a target for frequent raids by security agencies.

    When contacted on the development, Ms Marilia Cioni, Regional External Communications Advisor in charge of sub-Saharan Africa at Eni, said the company would soon speak on the incident. (NAN)

  • Video: Pastor Bakare Declares Self Nigeria’s Next President

    (FLOWERBUDNEWS) Senior Pastor and founder, Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare has declared himself as the 16th President of Nigeria and successor of President Muhammadu Buhari.Bakare, during his sermon on Sunday, said that nothing could change it because he was born for that purpose to be president.According to him, while Buhari is number 15, he would be the 16th president of Nigeria.

    The controversial pastor said God had prepared him for this job for more than 30 years.

    “I will succeed Buhari as President of Nigeria, nothing can change it. I am number 16, Buhari is number 15. I never said it to you before. I am saying it now and nothing can change it.

    “In the name of Jesus, he is number 15. I am number 16. To this end was I born and for this purpose came I into the world. I have prepared you for this for more than 30 years,” he said.

    Watch Pastor Bakare boast of taking over in 2023, in the video below:

  • Mugabe died of Cancer – report

    (FLOWERBUDNEWS) Zimbabwe’s founding president Robert Mugabe had “advanced cancer” when he died in hospital in Singapore on September 6, the state-owned newspaper reported on Monday.

    The former guerilla leader, who died aged 95, came to power at the end of white minority rule in 1980 and ruled Zimbabwe uninterrupted for 37 years and seven months.

    He was toppled on November 2017 in a military-backed coup, ending an increasingly iron-fisted rule marked by political oppression and economic ruin.

    Mugabe’s health deteriorated rapidly after the ousting and he made regular trips to Singapore to seek treatment.

    “Mugabe had advanced cancer, and had to be taken off chemotherapy treatment because it was no longer effective,” said The Herald on Monday.

    The information was revealed by Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa during an address to party supporters in New York on Saturday, according to the paper.

    “Doctors had stopped treatment… because of age and also because the cancer had spread and it was not helping anymore,” said Mnangagwa, cited by the Herald.

    Mugabe’s nephew Leo Mugabe told AFP he had “no comment on that”.

    The family had previously downplayed Mugabe’s frequent trips to Singapore as necessary for cataract treatment.

    In 2011, whistle-blower site Wikileaks published a diplomatic cable that said Mugabe had prostate cancer.

    The cable, written in 2008 by the US embassy in Harare, said the former president had five years left to live at the time.

    Mugabe is expected to be buried next month at a monument for national heroes in Zimbabwe’s capital Harare.

     

  • Ebola: Congo to introduce second vaccine in Oct.

    (FLOWERBUDNEWS) Congo will introduce a second vaccine against Ebola from mid-October, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Monday, as the central African country continues to battle what has become the second-worst outbreak of the disease in history.

    “The DRC authorities … have once again shown leadership and their determination to end this outbreak as soon as possible,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.

    The haemorrhagic fever has infected more than 3,000 people and killed at least 2,000 since an outbreak was declared 13 months ago in Congo’s volatile eastern region.

    The WHO declared it an international health emergency in July, after the disease spread to Goma, a major urban centre near the border with Rwanda.

    The second vaccine, manufactured by Johnson & Johnson, will be given to “at-risk populations in areas that do not have active Ebola transmission as an additional tool to extend protection against the virus,” the WHO said.

    Congolese authorities have said they want to target small-scale Congolese traders who cross into Rwanda.

    The current vaccine, produced by Merck, has been given to more than 223,000 people at high risk of Ebola, including those who had contact with an infected person.

    Congo’s former health minister, Oly Ilunga, had in July criticised what he said was pressure to use a new Ebola vaccine to try to stem the spread of the virus.

    He is now under investigation for allegedly embezzling Ebola funds.

    Curbing the spread of the virus in eastern Congo has proved difficult because of the numerous rebel groups operating in the area and a local population suspicious of health workers. (dpa/NAN)

  • Oil prices rise above $64

    (FLOWERBUDNEWS) Oil rose further above 64 dollars a barrel on Monday, supported by doubts about how quickly Saudi Arabia can restore output after a crippling attack this month and a resulting greater focus by investors on supply risks.

    Despite efforts by the top crude exporter to reassure the market it can resume full production by the end of September, state oil company Saudi Aramco has asked some customers to switch crude grades and delay shipments.

    “The geopolitical risk premium has returned with a vengeance and supply-side developments have been thrust back into the spotlight,” Stephen Brennock of oil broker PVM said.

    “While Saudi oil facilities smoulder, the potential for fresh outages in Nigeria, Libya and Venezuela continues to hang over the market.”

    Brent crude was up 31 cents at 64.59 dollars a barrel at 0911 GMT, having risen as high as 65.50 dollars. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 rose 28 cents to 58.37 dollars.

    Brent has gained 18 per cent this year, helped by a supply-limiting pact led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, although concern about slowing economic growth has limited the advance.

    A survey on Monday showed euro zone business growth stalled this month, and the latest U.S.-China talks have failed to produce signs of a breakthrough in the two countries’ prolonged trade dispute.

    “Investors remain unconvinced that a trade deal is about to see the light of day soon,” said Hussein Sayed, analyst at broker FXTM. “That’s likely to put a cap on any further gains in risk assets.”

    Tension in the Middle East has escalated since the Saudi attack, also lending oil some support.

    The Pentagon has ordered additional U.S. troops to be deployed in the Gulf region to strengthen Saudi Arabia’s air and missile defences.

    Britain believes Iran was responsible for the attack and will work with the United States and European allies on a joint response, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday.

    The United States and Saudi Arabia have already blamed Iran, which denies responsibility. (Reuters/NAN)

  • Video: Fire engulfs Unity Bank’s head office in Lagos

    (FLOWERBUDNEWS)The head office of Unity Bank on Victoria Island, Lagos State has been gutted by fire.

    The fire outbreak which started in the early hours of Monday was confirmed by the bank via its official Twitter handle.

    The bank said, “We regret to inform the public that there was a fire incident on one of the floors of our Head Office building early this morning.

    “The cause of the fire incident is yet to be ascertained but the fire service has intervened and has brought the situation under control.

    “While the extent of damage is being assessed, we are happy to note that there was no casualty or loss of life as a result of the incident.

    “From current observations, however, the banking hall and other strategic business areas were not affected.”

    See video of the burning building below;