10/02/17

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Latest Reality Blog is a legal blog where you are updated on online latest news, gist, entertainment, events, motivational text, and genue articles.

Stakeholders in the fertiliser industry have pleaded with President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure that the current Presidential Fertiliser Initiative (PFI) is sustained to ensure food sufficiency in the country.
The stakeholders made the call in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) during a tour of fertiliser blending plants in the country by the Fertiliser Producers and Suppliers Association of Nigeria (FEPSAN).
Barrister Ibrahim Shehu Birma, Chairman Superphosphate Fertiliser and Chemicals (SFC) Limited Kakuri, Kaduna who pleaded with the federal government to fashion out ways of sustaining the current fertiliser programme said the PFI had achieved so much in eight months of its inauguration.
“The problem of programmes like this is sustainability; there is no doubt about that. At least we are able to have fertiliser in good time even though supplies are being distorted here and there which is as a result of challenges and teething problem of every new project.
“To sustain it, I will want government to leave it squarely in the hands of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) which funds the programme; they have taken a bold step.
“I will encourage the government, the presidency, the ministry of finance and the CBN to look at it as their baby to give room for sustainability.
“There are outstanding payments from 2004 till date but in the case of this initiative, issue of outstanding does not even arise because the NSIA has taken the bold initiative of paying for every component of the blending material.
“Money is also given to blenders at an agreed blending fee. So, literally government is not owing, it is now a product of NSIA which will now sell the product and keep their money at a bare single digit rate.
“If they can sustain the initiative having seen NSIA’s work as a corporate social responsibility to the society, then, the programme can outlive any government,” Birma said.
Moses Akanet, Production Manager, Morris Fertiliser Blending Plant, Kaduna, commended the PFI noting that the programme created about 300 direct and indirect jobs in the company.
Akanet called for sustainability of the initiative saying that farmers and petty traders have benefitted from the programme through various cooperatives.
“In the past we run shift in the company but since the coming of this programme, we now work round-the-clock and this led to hiring of more workers.
“In 2011, we produce just 1/10 of what we are producing today and the constant flow and availability of raw materials has given us a wider market compared to what it used to be.
“We load between 25 and 30 trucks as at present, compared to 10 we load before in a day,” Akanet said.
He applauded the efforts of the security agencies especially the DSS for their routine check and monitoring of raw materials.
Akanet explained that the constant monitoring of the blending plant by the DSS was to ensure that materials like the urea which can be used in the making of Improvised Explosive Device (IED), do not enter into wrong hands.
Also speaking, Haruna Ibrahim, an agro dealer based in Kaduna, rated the PFI as the best fertiliser programme initiated by any government in Nigeria.
He said: “there is price control; there is also quality and availability of the product. Before now, we import fertiliser, but now, we source material locally. Indorama Limited, a company based in Port Harcourt, produces some of the materials.
“The initiative has given job to our youths. Around this time last year a bag of fertiliser was sold around N10,000 and a bag of urea about N12,000, but now we buy at N5,000 and sell N5,250 to retailers who in turn sell to the farmers at N5,500.
He pleaded with the government to encourage the establishment of more blending plants in Nigeria.
Eneffiong Victor, a staff of Fertiliser and Chemicals Limited (F and C), Kaduna, said the fertiliser initiative restored hope in his family after many years of idleness.
Victor, who hails from Akwa Ibom State said as a staff of the company he had a small portion where he cultivated some crops. “The company gives us the waste swept from the floor after production. We apply it to the crops.
“Before now, we don’t collect salary because there is no work. But, this Buhari government came and empowered us. I can’t remember us working 24 hours before now; we work for 8 hours and go, but now, we are begging to rest,” he said.
NAN recalls that President Buhari in his Independence Day broadcast highlighted the Federal Government’s pro-activeness in its diversification policy on agricultural especially rice and fertiliser revolutions.
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Latest Reality Blog is a legal blog where you are updated on online latest news, gist, entertainment, events, motivational text, and genue articles.
DG. Gabriel Negatu,

Africa Development Bank (AfDB) would promote remittances into Africa from its Diaspora community to boost the region’s economic growth, Gabriel Negatu, the bank’s Director General for East Africa Regional Centre, said.
Negatu said this in Nairobi on Monday during the AfDB Business Opportunity Seminar.
He added that the bank was working with national governments to reform financial systems to attract more remittances into Africa.
He said “we want Africa to fully exploit the potential of its remittances to mobilise funds for development.”
Report says the three-day seminar aims to highlight procurement opportunities that exist in the pan-African bank’s projects.
Negatu noted that remittances played bigger role in Africa’s development than in the past.
He stressed that “in fact, remittances from Africans living abroad have exceeded value of Overseas Development Aid from donors.”
The AfDB official said remittances could also help the continent to shield itself from externals shocks such as lower commodity prices.
The pan-African bank is currently providing technical assistance to a number of African governments to put in place appropriate policies and regulations that will attract Africans living overseas to invest at home, he says.
Negatu noted that returns of investments in Africa were typically higher than in developed countries.
According to him, one of the key challenges facing Diaspora remittance is the high cost of sending money.
“We are encouraging governments and private sector to come with innovative solutions to lower the cost of remittances,’’ he stressed.
The AfDB official said most of the Diaspora remittances were used for household needs such as food and rent.
He, however, explained that the funds needed to be directed toward national infrastructure projects in order for it to have maximum impact.
The pan-African bank suggested special purpose vehicles such as infrastructure bonds to attract remittances. (Xinhua/NAN)
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Latest Reality Blog is a legal blog where you are updated on online latest news, gist, entertainment, events, motivational text, and genue articles.
The Suspected Cultists

No fewer than 75 members of Omeiji cult, including their leader, have been arrested by the Lagos State PoliceTask Force.
The cultists are alleged to be terrorising people in Ipaja and Oshodi areas of the state.
The alleged cult leader, Franklin, has been on the wanted list of the police for crimes ranging from robbery to bag snatching and dealing on Indian hemp.
The Chairman of the task force, SP Olayinka Egbeyemi, said the Commissioner of Police (CP), Mr. Edgal Imohimi, directed him and Divisional Police Officers (DPOs) to raid all criminal hideouts/black-spots across the state.
“We have arrested the most wanted Indian hemp dealer, who coincidentally is the leader of Omeiji boys cult group, Franklin.
“He has been on the wanted list of the police. The Saturday raid of the criminal hideouts paid off as Franklin and his second in command were picked up with bags of Indian hemp.
“Franklin has confessed that he was the owner of the weed and that he used to supply the evil weed to his customers at Mushin, Ojuelegba, Fadeyi and Idi-Oro among other places,’’ he said.
He said that following the directive of the CP, the task force raided some criminal hideouts where Franklin and 75 others were arrested.
He said the raid was to make sure that criminal elements were not allowed the opportunity to plan and execute their nefarious activities, especially in the ember months.
He said the raid was a continuous exercise and listed other areas to be raided to include Egbe-Idimu, Iyana-Ipaja (Abule-Oki & Car-wash), Ikotun, Mushin, Bariga, Apapa, Orile-Agege, Ajegunle, Ikorodu, Lagos-Island, Oshodi, Pen-cinema, Berger, Oyingbo, Mile 2, Fadeyi and Ojuelegba.
Egbeyemi said aside robbery and gangsterism, the hoodlums also destroyed government property.
He added that government would not fold its arm and watch criminals destroy huge investment and infrastructural development across the state.
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The City has put in place a new framework to avoid nepotism.

A large group of 23 000 unemployed youths will have the opportunity to join the Expanded Public Works Programme, but those who hoped their political affiliation would get them jobs will be disappointed.

The Tshwane council voted on Thursday in favour of the new policy framework for the current financial year after the programme had become tarnished over the years for being synonymous with “nepotism and patronage”, mayoral spokesperson Sam Mgobozi said yesterday.

The City has put strict plans in place to avoid abuse, such as the re-employment of former recruits, and city officials and councillors would be excluded from influencing the recruitment process, Mgobozi said.

“Registration of eligible EPWP beneficiaries [will be] on a central database.

“Applicants may only register in the wards where they live [and] recruitment will be done through a random lottery system carried out by designated officials in full view of the public.”

Tshwane MMC for corporate and shared services Cilliers Brink earlier this year vowed to stop the abuse of the policy for political party benefits, saying the misuse was openly caused by ANC councillors and their “cronies to give jobs to family, friends and party members”.

On taking office, the current DA-led government discovered a number of beneficiaries of the EPWP programme “Vat Alles” did not have updated contracts.

This prompted the city to ensure beneficiaries signed updated contracts to eliminate so-called “ghost workers” from the city’s payroll.

The reformed policy framework will also distinguish the programme from the city’s internship policy, and ensure there is no conflict in the way the city applies grant and Sector and Education Training Authority funding, Mgobozi said.
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Nigeria’s Falconets

Nigeria’s Falconets on Sunday gave their compatriots a memorable Independence Anniversary celebration by crushing Tanzania 6-0 in Dar-es-Salaam in the 2018 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup qualifiers.
A brace each by Rasheedat Ajibade and Folashade Ijamilusi and a goal each by Imo Anam and Cynthia Aku steered the Nigerian under-20 women team to a memorable victory.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the victory gave them a 9-0 aggregate win, after having won the first leg match 3-0 two weeks earlier in Benin.
First half of this second leg match had ended 4-0 in favour of the Falconets at the Azam Stadium.
The win took the Falconets to a place in the second round of the African qualifying series.
Ajibade had also netted a brace in the first leg at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, with the other goal by defender Lilian Tule.
The two –time World Cup silver medallists will now square up against winners of the fixture between Morocco and Senegal in the second round, set for November 2017.
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Soldiers shot dead at least eight people and wounded others in Cameroon’s restless Anglophone region on Sunday during protests by activists calling for its independence from the majority Francophone nation, an official and witnesses said.
The demonstrations – timed to take place on the anniversary of Anglophone Cameroon’s independence from Britain – came as a months-old movement against perceived marginalization by the Francophone-dominated government gathered pace.
The protests, which began late last year, have become a lightning rod for opposition to President Paul Biya’s 35-year rule.
Donatus Njong Fonyuy, mayor of the town of Kumbo, said five prisoners were killed at around 6 a.m. (0500 GMT) after the jail where they were being held caught fire.
“We don’t know what caused the fire in the prison … But five prisoners were killed by soldiers. Two were wounded by bullets and are at the hospital,” he told Reuters, adding that another two civilians were also injured.
In other incidents in Kumbo, soldiers shot and killed a demonstrator and wounded two others who had raised the blue and white flag of the Ambazonia separatist movement in the town. Another woman was killed inside her home, Fonyuy said, without giving further details.

Police and army officials were not immediately available to comment on the shootings.
“We won’t use violence unless there is major cause. There are numerous risks, even terrorist risks. We’re keeping calm,” a security source, who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to journalists, said earlier in the day.
Writing on his official Facebook account, President Biya condemned the violence.
“Let me make this very clear: it is not forbidden to voice any concerns in the Republic. However, nothing great can be achieved by using verbal excesses, street violence, and defying authority,” he said.
Cameroon’s divide has its roots in the end of World War One, when the League of Nations divided the former German colony of Kamerun between the allied French and British victors.
Authorities had banned all gatherings of more than four people, ordered bus stations, eateries and shops to shut and forbade movement between different parts of the English-speaking regions ahead of the protests. The government also ordered Cameroon’s border with Nigeria closed for the weekend.
Access to popular social media and messaging apps, including Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp, was disrupted from Friday.
Communications Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary on Sunday threatened to shut any media outlets giving a voice to separatists, saying they “must not encourage those who advocate division, who want to destroy and destabilize our country”.
Businesses were shuttered in the regions’ main cities, Buea and Bamenda, where military helicopters circled overhead. The security deployment included troops from the Cameroonian army’s Rapid Intervention Brigade, a unit that typically fights Islamist Boko Haram militants in the country’s north.
One protester was killed on the edge of Buea as security forces attempted to block pro-independence marchers from entering the city, three witnesses said.

Hundreds nevertheless slipped through the countryside to get around the blockade and into the city, where security forces used teargas to try to stop them from marching on the regional governor’s office.
A Reuters witness also heard gunfire, though it was not clear whether the shots were targeting protesters or being fired in the air.
“The military, which is supposed to protect lives and property, has turned into our greatest nightmare,” said one Buea resident, who asked not to be identified out of fear of reprisal.
In Bamenda, where a bomb attack blamed on separatists wounded three policemen last week, young men brandishing improvised secessionist flags clashed with security forces who attempted to disperse them with teargas.
Thousands of government supporters meanwhile marched in Douala, Cameroon’s main port city and its commercial hub, voicing their opposition to calls for independence or more autonomy for the Anglophone regions.
“We are here … to reject sectarianism, to condemn all kinds of hate, all forms of violence carried out under any pretext whatsoever,” Justice Minister Laurent Esso told the pro-government crowd.
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Unplugging the internet was neither enough, nor was the rash of rules banning Assembly in Anglophone Cameroon.
The authorities deployed heavily armed police and soldiers across the English-speaking regions on Sunday to block protests called by activists including groups demanding independence, witnesses said.
The demonstrations – timed to take place on the anniversary of Anglophone Cameroon’s independence from Britain – came as a months-old movement against perceived marginalisation by the Francophone-dominated government gathered pace.
The protests, which began late last year, have become a lightning rod for opposition to President Paul Biya’s 35-year rule.
Businesses were shuttered in the regions’ main cities, Buea and Bamenda, where military helicopters circled overhead. The security deployment included troops from the Cameroonian army’s Rapid Intervention Brigade (BIR), a unit that typically fights Islamist Boko Haram militants in the country’s north.
In Buea, police and soldiers rushed to the edge of the city early on Sunday and deployed water cannons to block a group of marchers arriving from a nearby town who chanted and waved the blue and white flag of the Ambazonia separatist movement.
“I now know that the Biya regime has been raising an army all these years to fight its own people,” said one Buea resident, who asked not to be named out of fear of reprisal.
“We are simply fighting for our rights but the military, which is supposed to protect lives and property, has turned into our greatest nightmare,” she said.
Authorities banned all gatherings of more than four people, ordered bus stations, eateries and shops to shut and forbade movement between different parts of the English-speaking regions. The government also ordered Cameroon’s border with Nigeria closed for the weekend.
Communications Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary on Sunday threatened to shut any media organisations that gave a voice to separatist groups.
“The media must not encourage those who advocate division, who want to destroy and destabilise our country,” he told Reuters.
Police were positioned on rooftops and at key crossroads in Bamenda. Few residents emerged from their homes.
Major protests appeared to have been prevented there, but dozens of young men gathered in one street, whistling, brandishing improvised secessionist flags, and waving tree branches.
A military helicopter twice flew over the crowd, attempting to disperse them.
“We won’t use violence unless there is major cause. There are numerous risks, even terrorist risks. We’re keeping calm,” a security source, who declined to be named because he was not authorised to speak to journalists, told Reuters.
An improvised bomb wounded three policemen in Bamenda last week in what the regional governor called “a terrorist attack” and which a senior security source blamed on separatists.
Cameroon’s divide has its roots in the end of World War One, when the League of Nations divided the former German colony of Kamerun between the allied French and British victors.
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CACOL Chairman, Debo Adeniran

The Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership on Sunday described President Muhammadu Buhari’s Independence Day speech as one that inspires hope for a better Nigeria.

The Chairman of the anti-corruption group, Debo Adeniran, while reacting to the broadcast, told the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos that the speech was particularly good for the anti-corruption fight.

He said the President reflected commitment and sincerity of purpose to the fight in the broadcast.

Adeniran pointed out that the way the president sought the support of all stakeholders in the speech showed his resolve to tame the monster of corruption.

He said with the renewed commitment to fight as shown in the speech, the anti-corruption campaign had bright prospects of succeeding.

He said: “The speech by the president to mark the 57th anniversary of Nigeria inspired great hope for a better country.

“With respect to the anti-corruption fight, the president reflected great sincerity of purpose and commitment in the broadcast.

“And the way he called on the National Assembly and the Judiciary for support, the president was humble and factual enough to show that corruption could not be fought by the executive alone.

“The president also outlined some of the ways in which he intend to make the fight more effective.

“This is what is expected of a leader and I think all Nigerians should support the president in the campaign.”

Adeniran described the appointment of Justice Ayo Salami as the Chairman of the Judiciary’s anti-corruption committee as a step in the right direction.

He said the retired Appeal Court judge had the pedigree to add bite to the anti-graft war.

Adeniran said there could be mixed feelings about the credibility of other members of the committee but that Salami would provide the right leadership for the committee to succeed.

He described corruption as the greatest obstacle to national development and urged the government to tackle it head-on.
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An Air France flight from Paris to Los Angeles was forced to make a sudden diversion when it lost part of an engine over the Atlantic.

One of the four engines on the Airbus A380 flight AF66 failed west of Greenland on Saturday.

No-one was injured in the incident, but passengers remained on board hours after the landing at 15:42 GMT.

The plane was carrying 496 passengers and 24 crew at the time, an Air France spokesperson told AFP news agency.

David Rehmar, a former aircraft mechanic who was a passenger on the flight, told the BBC that based on his observations, the incident was a fan failure.

He said there was a sudden movement followed by a loud noise, which caused panic among the passengers.

“You heard a loud ‘boom’, and it was the vibration alone that made me think the engine had failed,” he said.
Rehmar said that for a few moments, he thought “we were going to go down”.

His worry that the aircraft’s wing could have been compromised disappeared when the flight stabilised within 30 seconds.

And he added that the pilots had quickly shut down the affected engine.
The wing suffered no serious damage and the plane landed safely.

The plane flew for about an hour on three engines before it reached Goose Bay Airport, in Labrador in eastern Canada.

Photos taken by passengers showed the cowling, or engine covering, completely destroyed, and some cosmetic damage to the wing’s surface.

Passengers remain stranded on the plane in Canada, as the airport is not equipped to handle an Airbus A380.
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