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  • Pro wrestlers arrive in Pakistan to promote international event in August

    By News Desk
    The event is being organised by “Ring of Pakistan” in collaboration with ISPR. PHOTO: ISPR

    Professional wrestlers have arrived in Pakistan to promote and coordinate for “Season 2018” international wrestling event being hosted by the country next month.

    The wrestlers have show bouts scheduled at Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi, a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) on Tuesday.

    The wrestlers include Raymond Thomas Latimer and Andrew Harrison from the United Kingdom, Nicole Tanea Brooks of the United States and Haris Fiaz of France.

    Pro Wrestling Entertainment makes history in Karachi

    The event is being organised by “Ring of Pakistan” in collaboration with the military’s media wing to promote sports in Pakistan and encourage international players to visit peaceful and progressive Pakistan.

    The wrestlers visited the ISPR for coordination of the forthcoming event.

    Culled from The Express Tribune

  • (Video) NAN News Highlights for July 3, 2018

     

    1.President Muhammadu Buhari and visiting French President Emmanuel Macron have held bilateral talks bordering on security and terrorism as well as strengthening of relations between both countries.

    President Buhari in a handshake with Macron at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Tuesday.

    The French leader and members of his entourage arrived at the presidential villa by 4.35p.m. and were received by President Buhari, Gov. Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State, cabinet ministers and some presidential aides.

    Both Presidents agreed to work together to ensure a more cordial relationship to fast-track development in their countries.

    The French leader will, after his engagement with Buhari, visit the Afrika Shrine, a nightclub in Lagos founded by Nigerian music legend Fela Anikulapo Kuti.

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    2.The Ministry of Health has launched three key reproductive health documents to aid choices in birth control and combat high rate of maternal mortality in Nigeria.

    The documents launched are the National DMPA Introduction and Scale up Strategy Plan 2018, the National Guidelines on Safe Termination of Pregnancy for Legal Indications and Global Family Planning Visibility and Analytics Network and the (3) National Logistics Management Information Systems.

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    3.Evago Global, an investment company, has concluded plans to hold a three-day conference tagged ‘Arise Africa’ in Abuja with no fewer than 300 international investors participating.

    Mr Evans Osemwegie, Chief Executive Officer of the company, said the conference will focus on providing impact investments, increased industrial machinery and knowledge transfer to help create skilled local jobs, businesses and strong institutional capital structure for Africa.

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    4.A 15-year-old former Boko Haram bomb-maker has confessed to making over 500 underwear Improvised Explosive Devices used by insurgents for suicide missions on soft targets in the last five years.

    Ali Goni, who made the chilling confession to the Army, was only 10-years-old and in primary six when he was kidnapped in Bama and has been described by army intelligence sources as the most innovative bomb maker to emerge in recent years.

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    5.The police on Tuesday arrested a British female healthcare worker on suspicion of murdering eight babies and trying to murder six others.

    The arrest followed an inquiry into the deaths of 17 babies and 15 “non-fatal collapses’’ between March 2015 and July 2016 at The Countess of Chester Hospital’s neonatal unit in northern England.

  • 11-year-old Kareem draws President Macron on the spot

    11-year-old Kareem draws President Macron on the spot

    Master Kareem Olamilekan, 11, artistically drew a portrait of President Emmanuel Macron of France during his visit to the New Afrikan Shrine in Lagos. 

    The event held to showcase and celebrate African culture was hosted by Nigerian Artist and performer Banky W and Kenturah King.

    President Macron praised and congratulated the talented boy on his official Presidential twitter account

    @EmmanuelMacron “Very touched, congratulations to this young boy.

    Despite the pressure of drawing the President of France on the spot, Kareem completed the hyperrealist drawing In 2 hours, reports suggest. 

    The visiting President emphasised on the importance of the shrine to the African culture.

    He wrote on his twitter account @EmmanuelMacron

    “The Shrine is an iconic cultural hub. And I say with a lot of humility that I recognize the importance of African culture.

    Also present at the event were Nigerian Senator Ben Murray-Bruce, Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka and Veteran Nollywood actor and actress Olu Jacobs and Joke Silva. 

    The New Afrika Shrine is the venue of the annual Felebration Music Festival which is currently managed by Femi Kuti and Yeni animal all. (NAN)

  • Mexico president-elect shuns guards, asks ‘people’ for protection

    Mexico president-elect shuns guards, asks ‘people’ for protection

    Mexican President-elect Andres Obrador left the country’s national palace in the front passenger seat of a white Volkswagen Jetta, swarmed by hundreds of jubilant supporters
    including one waving a live rooster.

    There was not a bodyguard in sight.

    Since claiming victory on Sunday, the leftist politician has promised transformative change for Mexico.

    That includes ambitious plans to stem the corruption and violence that have become the status quo, though
    Obrador has yet to provide details.

    Lopez Obrador’s approach to security is one of the first signs of how he is breaking from the mold of the
    typical Mexican presidency.

    His plan to travel without armed guards has sparked worry in some quarters about his safety on the heels of
    Mexico’s deadliest year since modern records began.

    “The people will protect me. … He who fights for justice has nothing to fear,” Obrador said after meeting
    with President Enrique Pena Nieto, who he said offered federal protection.

    “You’ll all be watching out for me,” he told a large hall packed with press during a lively, 35-minute back-and-forth
    that sharply contrasted with Pena Nieto’s brief, tightly controlled appearances.

    Some audience members were skeptical.

    “This is the institution of the presidency of the republic, this isn’t just one person,” a journalist said,
    asking Obrador if he would change his strategy.

    “We’re just reporters,” another called out.

    Since Sunday, Lopez Obrador’s every move has been broadcast live, with journalists and supporters forming a
    slow-moving convoy around the 64-year-old, who has pledged to shed various trappings of power including
    the presidential residence and plane, while earning half of Pena Nieto’s salary.

    At one point, Obrador’s Jetta, which often snaked through Mexico City with the windows down, knocked a member
    of the posse off his motorcycle while making a right turn.

    The man appeared unhurt.

    Close-to-the-people campaigning has been the style of the former Mexico City mayor for 13 years during two
    prior presidential bids, taking him to the most remote and dangerous pockets of Mexico.

    Even in recent months, in spite of a surge of politician killings, Lopez Obrador has ventured into drug-cartel
    strongholds rarely visited by Pena Nieto, such as Chilapa and Reynosa.

    Mexico is on track to register even more murders this year than in 2017, according to government data,
    and Obrador’s vows to curb violence appealed to many voters frustrated with the ruling Institutional
    Revolutionary Party’s inability to stem the bloodshed.

    But Obrador’s new status may compel him to make some compromises, said Vicente Sanchez, a professor of public
    administration at the Colegio de la Frontera Norte in Tijuana.

    “He should understand the risk, and that once he’s elected, he doesn’t owe it to himself, but to the country,”
    Sanchez said.

    “He has too much desire to go down in history as an austere figure, close to the people.”

  • China-Africa ties positively impacted on people’s livelihood in Africa – Envoy

    The China-Africa cooperation has contributed positively to the promotion
    and protection of people’s rights to subsistence and development in Africa, a Chinese envoy has said.

    Xu Jinghu, the Chinese Government’s Special Representative for African Affairs, made the remarks while
    addressing a side-event of the 38th session of the UN Human Rights Council.

    Xu said the China-Africa cooperation has provided a powerful boost to the improvement of people’s livelihood and
    sustainable development in African countries, thus helped improve the overall development of the
    human rights cause in Africa.

    The event, titled “The Contribution of Development and Poverty Reduction to the Promotion and Protection of
    Human Rights,” was jointly sponsored by the African Group and the Permanent Mission of China to the UN
    office in Geneva.

    According to the Chinese envoy, Chinese-funded enterprises have helped to create a large number of jobs in Africa.

    For example, she said, some 46,000 jobs had been created just by the Chinese-built Mombasa-Nairobi railway.

    She said China built more than 200 schools in Africa and trained 120,000 local talents.

    Since 1963, she said, China has sent about 20,000 medical team members to Africa and treated nearly 300 million
    patients.

    Xu said by the end of 2017, China had helped to build 5,600 km of highways, more than 6,200 km of railways,
    and a number of ports, bridges, power stations, stadiums and office buildings in Africa.

    “The contribution of China-Africa cooperation to African economic growth has exceeded 20 per cent,” she said.

  • 2019: Dogara urges State legislators to ensure level-playing field

    2019: Dogara urges State legislators to ensure level-playing field

    Speaker of House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu Dogara, has urged state legislators to make concerted efforts to ensure level-playing field existed for all to participate in 2019 general elections.

    Dogara, who said this when he received Speakers of the 36 States’ Houses of Assembly on Tuesday in Abuja, charged them to defend the electoral process in order to surpass the standard set in 2015.

    He said, “I want to charge you on the added responsibility of defending our democracy at the grassroots.

    “You have to stand firm, especially now that the elections are approaching, to ensure that we create an enabling environment where there will be free, fair and credible elections.

    “When we talk about free and fair elections, we mean that the elections will be conducted, there will be no grounds for violence and there will be no grounds for intimidation.

    “Some of us will attest to the fact that, maybe, when we contested for elections, we weren’t that strong, but others struggled to ensure that the elections were free and fair and on account of that, we won our elections.

    “So, we owe that moral duty to replicate that same environment to others who are contesting and even to our opponents, so that at the end of the day, let there be credible elections in this country.

    “We have the standard in 2015 elections and we shouldn’t go back. We should improve, not only sustain, we should improve.”

    Dogara also spoke on the autonomy granted to state legislatures in the last constitution amendment which President Muhammadu Buhari had signed into law.

    He explained to the visiting state legislators that “the essence of the law is for good governance and not to better the lives of the legislators”.

    He therefore, urged the legislators to use it as a tool of vigilance for upholding democracy in the states.

    “Now that you have financial autonomy, hopefully, some of the critical areas that we felt will better deepen democratic process will be dealt with,” he said.

    Responding to a request by the delegation, Dogara disclosed that the National Institute of Democratic Studies would train the lawmakers when needed, on application of the new law.

    Earlier, Chairman of Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures, Mr Abdulmumin Kamba, had commended Dogara for his visionary leadership.

    He also commended the House of Representatives and entire National Assembly for conceiving and granting autonomy to state assemblies, saying it would make them more efficient in the discharge of their duties.

    Kamba, who is Speaker of Kebbi House of Assembly, urged Dogara to assist in the training of state legislators to improve their capacities. (NAN)

  • Macron in Lagos, urges youths to involve in politics

    Macron in Lagos, urges youths to involve in politics

    French President, Emmanuel Macron, has urged Nigerian youths to get involved with politics to change the narrative of the nation.

    Macron, while describing politics as important, said only Nigerians could change their image before the comity of nations.

    The French President, who was accompanied by Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State, gave the challenge during a visit to the Afrika Shrine in Ikeja, on Tuesday night at an event tagged “Celebrate African Culture.”

    He noted that the future of Africa and the task of making it great rested with Africans, saying that the youths have a crucial role to play.

    “Africa needs a new generation of Africans to share the new narrative about Africa all over the world,” he said.

    According to him, politics is important because it is a tool to change the society.

    Macron described the Afrika Shrine as an iconic place of strength, music, culture and the late Fela as a politician who wanted a change for the society.

    “I am very happy to be here. Let me remind you that this place — shrine is a music place as well as politics which is needed to change the society.

    “So, I will say to the youths, politics is important, be involved,” he said.

    Macron also announced the launch of the 2020 African cultures season in France.

    He said the event would help create a unique face for African culture in Europe.

    Earlier, Gov. Ambode said the President’s visit was expected to signal the dawn of a new collaboration between France and Lagos State in the quest to make the state the culture and entertainment capital of Africa.

    Ambode said the event was also about celebrating African culture which was a positive step for France as it sought to rebuild its relationship with Africa.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event had in attendance personalities including, Dr Peter Obi, former governor of Anambra, Chief Olusegun Osoba, former governor of Ogun, Prof. Wole Soyinka,, Sen. Ben Bruce among others.

    NAN reports that the event presented an opportunity for Macron and Ambode to interact with musicians, artists, fashion designers and film makers. (NAN)

  • Protest:Senate dismisses calls to jettison constituency projects, vows to continue projects

    Protest:Senate dismisses calls to jettison constituency projects, vows to continue projects

    The Senate at the resumption of plenary session after its Sallah break on Tuesday, vowed to resist attempts to scrap constituency projects.

    The decision, which was taken after a voice vote by the lawmakers, followed a motion by Sen. Barnabas Gemade (APC-Benue).

    While presenting the motion, Gemade said that the move followed a protest by some people
    at the National Assembly (NASS) entrance.

    He said “some Nigerians are capitalising on the ignorance of others to pitch them against the National Assembly.

    “This morning as I drove into the National Assembly for resumption, I saw a number of luxury buses with so many people carrying placards at the gate, condemning the National Assembly over constituency projects.

    “The people were equally demanding that constituency projects be stopped.

    “I feel that whoever is behind this demonstration is poorly informed about what constituency project represents to a Nigerian legislator.

    “This project was introduced to give a sense of belonging to all Nigerians. The N100 million captured in the 2018 budget for constituency projects is to cover over 469 constituencies and this money translates into a paltry 0.4 per cent of the capital budget of the nation.

    “I cannot see how such insignificant percentage of the total budget will affect the implementation of the budget.’’

    The lawmaker said that prior to the introduction of constituency projects, many constituencies were not covered by projects being executed by the Executive.

    He added that “ministers and other officials of government, including permanent secretaries and director-generals of some agencies have the privilege of implementing projects in their areas of jurisdiction and we who represent the people have nothing to show for it.

    “Therefore, the introduction of constituency projects has helped our constituents to feel government’s presence.”

    Many lawmakers also emphasised the need to continue to support the existence of constituency projects in view of its impact on the lives of the people.

    The Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, said protests had been merchandised, owing to unemployment and poverty.

    He said “unemployment and poverty has forced some people to find a means of survival by organising protest.

    “They are protest contractors. They go to government officials whom they believe are opposed to the National Assembly and collect money and pay a paltry sum of N500 to youths to protest.’’

    Sen. Atai Aidoko (PDP-Kogi) said that rather than call for the scrapping of the project, Nigerians should call for more funding, given the importance of the projects to the people.

    He said “this is another attempt to pitch the people against the national assembly ignorantly.

    “Late President Musa Yar’adua saw the need for constituency projects and graciously captured it in the budget.”

    The President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, said it was important to continue to educate the public on the importance of constituency projects and to correct misconceptions about it.

    He said lawmakers only attract projects to their constituencies to ensure federal presence and equitable representation of projects in the country.

    He added that “such projects ensure equity and justice because for as long as you cannot find Federal Government presence in the constituencies, it is corruption.

    “How can you justify certain constituencies not having federal projects when we spend N2 trillion every year on capital projects and there are parts that do not have any project at all.

    “Some Nigerians are being used because of poverty in the country and what is worrisome is that those
    who are using the others are part of government.”

    He said that the current development where some people were causing misunderstanding between the Legislature and Executive would not promote harmony between the two arms of government.

    He called on President Muhammadu Buhari to investigate the development and call those responsible to order.

    He added that “there is no secret in this. If you go out there, these protesting boys will tell you who is sponsoring them.

    “I really do not understand how we will promote unity with this sort of activities. It is not about us as individuals but about the institutions. If we continue to weaken the institution, it will hunt us when we need it to stand for democracy.’’

    Sakari urged those with scores to settle to find other means of doing so instead of causing confusion. (NAN)

  • Cote d’Ivoire eyes biomass power generation from cocoa waste

    The world’s top cocoa producer, Cote d’Ivoire plans to build a 60 to 70 MegaWatts (MW) capacity biomass power generation plant running on waste from cocoa pods.

    It also plans to extend its grid to Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone this year, according to media reports on Tuesday. This is part of its aim to develop 424 MW of biomass power generation capacity by 2030.

    The plant, which will enable Cote d’Ivoire to diversify its electricity generation sources, was among five projects to receive grants from the United States agency for trade and development (USTDA), the U.S. Embassy in Abidjan said in a statement on Monday.

    Others included a hydropower project in Kokumbo and two smart grid power projects.

    The statement said the biomass power station, the first in  Cote d’Ivoire would be based in the southern cocoa region of Divo. The USTDA has earmarked 996,238 million dollars for feasibility studies.

    Although  Cote d’Ivoire produces about two million tonnes of cocoa annually, thousands of tonnes of pods are discarded after the beans are removed. They are left to rot or burned after the harvest.

    Unlike many countries in sub-Saharan Africa,  Cote d’Ivoire has a reliable power supply.

    It exports electricity to neighbouring Ghana, Burkina Faso, Benin, Togo and Mali,.

    But with domestic consumption rising by about 10 per cent a year, the government is under pressure to boost supply at home and aims to increase installed capacity to 4,000 MW by 2020, from the current 2,275 MW.