All Posts in "Day: May 14, 2022"

Abeleje Clears Air On Ogbomoso Rep Seat

An aspirant on the platform of All Progressives  Congress, Mrs.Toyin Abeleje, has faulted  report that she obtained her nomination form to represent Ogbomoso North,South and Orire Federal constituency to malign the leadership of her constituency.

She described the report as a ruse,injurious and deliberate falsehood calculated to tarnish her long years reputation in private and public life

She said  in a statement that as a loyal,committed  and responsible member of the constituency, she  has  affirmed her decision that she would abide by the decision of the elders of the party.

Toyin Abeleje  confirmed had obtained her House of Representative form and submitted same  recently  in the statement made available to PremiumNews.

She added:” Yes, it is true that I had obtained the House of Representative form and submitted same in Abuja, but that should not construe to mean that i have jettison the decision of the elders as i had gotten the form just to satisfy all righteousness.

“Whatever the party decide at the end of the day is what i will do.My obtaining the form is not to despise the leaders but to serve as a guide to protect my image so that i would not be called a mere “flyer” candidate.

“I repeat, whatever decision the leaders of the party arrived at is what i take. And as a responsible member of the party like i said earlier ,i would not do anything that will jeopardize step being taken by the leaders of the party to position the part in good stead for the incoming election”

Mrs Toyin Abeleje had obtained Ogbomoso North, South and Oriire Federal constituency on the 12th May 2022 and submitted same day.

Abeleje Toyin ,the only female aspirant jostling for the house of Representative seat in the constituency on the platform of the All Progressive Congress ,recently affirmed that her decision to contest in the forthcoming election was borne out of the need to attract laudable federal projects to the constituency.

She also said that  the overall desire to provide transparent and accountable leadership but that her decision to contest for the House of Representative seat is not a do or die affair

Ogunniran Thomas Aderemi, her media aide added: ” To further buttress that Toyin Abeleje is a loyal and committed member of the party and who is  ready to align herself with whatever is the decision  of the leaders of the party, had at a meeting with organised  by the party leaders at Gen Brimoh Yusuf residence on Tuesday 3rd of May 2022, had given her words that she would comply with the party’s directive .

“My contest for power is not a do or die affair.I’m ready to support and work for whoever the party decide to play up as a consensus candidate to fly the flag of the party at the incoming election”.

admin by — May 14, 2022 in Politics 0
Desertification: Global GDP Could Fetch $140tr Annually

The global economy could increase by more than $140 trillion a year or 1.5 times the annual global GDP, if the objectives of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD),experts have said.

They spoke during a side-event at the 15th summit of the UNCCD.

Camilla Nordheim-Larsen, Senior Partnerships and Resource Mobilization Coordinator at the UN Convention, noted that action in the land sector has the potential to generate up to $140 trillion a year and create 400 million new jobs, while failure to act can result in losses in the range of $44 trillion.

The Sustainable Development Goal for Life on Land is least funded, but can contribute most to resilience, she said, speaking at an event on innovative finance mechanisms for sustainable landscapes, hosted by the African Development Bank and partners.

The cost of taking action may seem vast but governments could pay an even higher price if they do nothing.

“The benefits of taking action against land degradation largely outweigh the costs of sustainable landscape management. In Sub-Saharan Africa, it is by at least seven times[2]! Inaction costs Sub-Saharan countries $490 billion per year, while according to the Economics of Land Degradation Initiative, action to reverse land degradation could generate benefits worth up to $1.4 trillion,” said Luc Gnacadja, former Executive Secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification and former Minister of Environment of Benin, currently acting as a Co-Chair of the Adaptation Benefits Mechanism Executive Committee.

Rishabh Khanna, Chief Impact Officer at Earthbanc and a steering committee member of the Initiative of Land, Lives and Peace, presented a new initiative launched together with the UN Convention at the summit — digital sustainable land bonds, which allow carbon buyers to purchase at an earlier stage of development.

“Finance for land and ecosystem restoration makes up less than 1% of all climate finance due to a lack of universal capital market products for these activities. Part of the reason is that monitoring, reporting and verification of sustainable land management has been labor-intensive, sometimes inaccurate and uses fragmented measurement and accounting methodologies.”,Khanna said

Dr. Peter Minang, Director for Africa of the International Agroforestry Center and Global Coordinator of the ASB Partnership for Tropical Forest Margins, visualized the groundbreaking role that sustainable agroforestry measures and better enabling environments can have for empowering local communities through a case study video on financing sustainable community forest enterprises in Cameroon.

“We are the first organization to pilot the Adaptation Benefits Mechanism through a project in the cocoa sector in Côte d’Ivoire. In Cameroon, we are using a similar approach and more concrete steps have already happened to enable certification in the near future that can deliver new finance for developing sustainable and resilient agroforestry systems for the local communities. One of our best practices is the use of hand-held machines to monitor all indicators, which we could verify once a year, for instance with the Earthbanc’s satellite and remote-sensing technology,” he said.

admin by — May 14, 2022 in Environment 0
AfDB Seeks US Assistance For $1.5bn Emergency Food Plan For Africa

The president of the African Development Bank Group, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, has advocated the need  for the United States to back the institution’s $1.5 billion emergency food production plan.

The plan seeks to avert a looming food crisis in Africa caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine,according to the bank.

Speaking  through  videoconference from Accra, Ghana, Adesina said the proposed Africa Emergency Food Production Plan would result in the rapid production of 38 million tons of food across Africa over the next two years.

He said:“The African Development Bank, with your support, is prepared to meet this new challenge and others head-on”

The plan is anchored on the provision of certified seeds of climate-adapted varieties to 20 million African farmers. With the disruption of food supplies arising from the Russia-Ukraine war, Africa faces a shortage of at least 30 million metric tons of food, especially wheat, maize, and soybeans imported from the two countries.

He  said the African Development Bank would invest $1.3 billion in the plan’s implementation. He called on the US to make up the funding balance. “With US support to reduce the $200 million financing gap – we can ensure the Africa Emergency Food Production Plan’s success,” he said.

Also providing testimony were David Beasley, Executive Director of the World Food Programme and Ms. Tjada D’Oyen McKenna, Chief Executive Officer of non-governmental organization Mercy Corps.

McKenna said: “A perfect storm is leading to heightened global food insecurity, worse, much worse than the previous food crises over the past decade.”

She cited the Covid-19 pandemic and climate change as factors sharpening the current food insecurity.

Beasley said food insecurity had already begun to rise sharply before the war. He said 135 million people were acutely food-insecure before the onset of the pandemic. “Covid comes along and that number went from 135 million to 276 million people marching toward starvation.”

He emphasized that the African Development Bank’s food production plan would foster the production of nutritious food rather than simply calories.

He added: “One of the things we will be supporting through this emergency food production plan is bio-fortified foods. Sorghum fortified with iron. Nutritional supplementation is important”

He said the bank was setting up meetings with international fertilizer companies to discuss ways to ensure that African farmers continued to have access to such inputs. “If we don’t solve the fertilizer problem, we cannot solve the food problem.

According to Adesina, the Africa Emergency Food Production Plan would have a long-term impact on Africa’s food productivity. The initiative will “drive the structural changes in agriculture, to unleash the full potential of Africa to become a breadbasket to the world,” he said.

admin by — May 14, 2022 in Agriculture 0
FG To Deploy 10,000 Mini-grids To Rural Farmers

The Federal Government has commenced a scheme that would see the deployment of 10,000 mini-grid solutions to power rural farmers in the country by the year 2030.

The scheme, Energizing Agriculture Programme which would be anchored by the Rural Electrification Agency, REA, with the support of Rocky Mountain Institute and the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet, will. accelerate the deployment of energy-agriculture solutions to farmers in Nigeria.

The Managing Director of the REA, Engr. Ahmad Salihijo Ahmad, who spoke recently at the launch of the programme in Abuja,explained that the scheme would unlock various opportunities in the sector by developing projects that will accelerate the productive use of electricity in rural communities.

He added that in the past one year the agency has developed a unique relationship with the Rocky Mountain Institute to develop the concept for the EAP.

He said:“We ventured into the Energy-Agriculture space to create a nexus that allows us to utilize the key activity in rural communities to improve the productive use of electricity, which includes agricultural activities.The key priority for the REA is to ensure that the solutions we deploy in rural communities have both social and economic impacts on the lives of the people in those communities. Therefore, ensuring that electricity is used productively is a major priority for the REA”, he added.

In his remarks,the Special Assistant to the President on Agriculture, Dr. Andrew Kwasari ,said  that power supply is relevant  to boosting agricultural production in rural communities.

He said:”Data has shown that power is important to rural economies not just because it lights up the homes, but also it solves the problem that is driving the contributions of rural smallholders’ agriculture to climate change, deforestation as source of power to either process local produce”

admin by — May 14, 2022 in Power 0
Afreximbank Names  New FEDA Boss

African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has named  Ms. Marlene Ngoyi as the Chief Executive Officer of the Fund for Export-Development in Africa (FEDA), the bank’s development-oriented subsidiary.

Mr. Emmanuel Assiak has been appointed Chief Investment Officer,the bank said in a statement.

The statement quoted that Ms. Ngoyi,  hails from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and  has over 17 years of experience. She has worked with social enterprises, private companies, public-private partnerships, and governments across Africa to raise multi-billion-dollar debt, bonds, equity, quasi-equity, and foreign direct investment via bank syndication, capital markets, or private equity transactions to finance strategic investments.

According to the statement,Ms. Ngoyi,has also served as the CEO of BGFI Investment Banking where she led the company in raising more than US$4 billion of capital and foreign direct investment for private and sovereign clients.

Besides,she was CEO of a commercial bank in the DRC, for two years, leading a financial turnaround by restoring its financial profitability. Under her leadership, the bank also became one of a select few banks in sub-Saharan Africa to complete and obtain an anti-money laundering 30000 certification for combating money laundering and terrorist financing.

She  graduated magna cum laude from Bentley University with a B.Sc. in Economics and Finance and holds a Master in Business Administration from Harvard Business School.

Mr. Emmanuel Assiak, who has been appointed FEDA’s Chief Investment Officer, joined FEDA in 2019 as a director,the statement said,adding that  he played a key role in setting up and operationalising the organization.

This includes putting in place the required service infrastructure (people, processes and systems) and leading the execution of FEDA’s first four equity deals and commitments in other strategic investments and partnerships amounting to about US$300 million.

Mr. Assiak has played active roles in raising and deploying over US$1.5 billion in funds and equity transactions in his over 15years of private equity.

Mr. Assiak holds a First-Class Bachelor’s degree and a Masters in Economics from the University of Cross River State and University of Lagos, Nigeria respectively.

He also holds an MBA with Distinction from Manchester Business School, United Kingdom.

He is a Certified Accountant and an alumnus of the Coller Institute of Private Equity, London Business School.

admin by — May 14, 2022 in Next Level 0
Why High Crude Oil Prices Is Not Adding Value To Nigeria’s Economy -World Bank

Nigeria was yet to benefit from increasing oil prices as a result of declining oil production and fuel subsidy,the World Bank has said.

It also said the country’s oil production declined in 2021 due to a lack of maintenance and the loss of infrastructure efficiency.

The  bank disclosed these  in a new report titled ‘Migration and Development Brief titled ‘A War in a Pandemic: Implications of the Ukraine crisis and COVID-19 on the global governance of migration and remittance flows.

It added:“Nigeria has not been able to benefit from higher oil prices to date as: oil production declined in 2021 due to lack of maintenance and loss of infrastructure efficiency; and domestic petrol prices remain fixed—increasing the cost of the ‘Premium Motor Spirit’ subsidy, a large and growing fiscal burden.”

The bank also disclosed in another report that within almost a decade, oil production declined by 40 per cent in Nigeria.

It added:“Nigeria’s oil production fell by nearly 40 per cent from 2012 to 2021. During this period, the flaring intensity barely changed. The volume of gas flared declined broadly in proportion to oil production, falling 25 per cent, from 9.6 bcm to 6.6 bcm. There were 166 individual flare sites in the last flare count, conducted in 2019″

admin by — May 14, 2022 in Oil&Gas 0
Buhari Commissions 76 Housing Units For Super Eagles In Gombe

President Muhammadu Buhari has commissioned 76 housing units in Gombe town, Gombe State

The Housing Estate which is located at  Western Bye – Pass, Gombe, Gombe State, was built under the National Housing Programme (NHP)  and it  comprises  of 48 units of 2 bedroom, 24units of 3  bedroom and 4 units of 1bedroom bungalows.

Represented by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr.  Isa Ali Ibrahim,the President  said the completion and commissioning of the Housing Estate was in line with his promises during his presidential campaigns.

Mr. Stephen Kilebi, Deputy Director Press and Public Relations Unit in a statement,said the infrastructure in the Housing Estate include “well laid out internal roads and drainages, a central borehole with overhead tanks to guarantee constant supply of water for the residents and provision of electricity.”

President Buhari also revealed that his administration has been able to  redeem the unfulfilled promises made  by  past administrations 28 years ago  to provide  houses for each member of the Super Eagles who  performed gallantly at the African Cup of Nations in 1994, adding that the fulfilment was  better late than never.

He  added that Super Eagles were given the privilege to indicate where each would want the house to be built, while some wanted it in  their villages, the others wanted it where they lived and   he has approved that the allocation should be made based on their choices of location, noting that even the deceased among them were not left out in the allocation.

He lauded  Gombe State Government for allocating the land to the Federal Government without collecting fee to enable his administration provide affordable housing units for Nigerians.

Governor of Gombe State, Muhammed Inuwa Yahaya,who was represented by his deputy,  Dr. Manasseh Jato, commended the Federal Government for providing houses to the residents of Gombe State to cushion the effect of its overstretched houses.

He  assured the Federal Government that Gombe State would be willing to support the Federal Government in actualising the laudable policy in the state and the country.

Speaking, Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola,SAN, who was represented by the Zonal  Director, National Housing Programme, North East Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, Arc. Usman Bashir, said  that said a similar project was replicated in 34 states of the federation in line with the administration’s pledge to ensure adequate housing for Nigerians.

Explaining how the citizens can access the houses, the Minister said: ” We have offered all these housing units to members of the general public in a non-discriminatory way by opening the National Housing Portal at Https://nhp.worksandhousing.gov.ng to ensure that those interested are not inhibited by any artificial obstacles and allocations will be made on the basis of those who apply and pay on first come , first served basis.”

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, Mr.  Bashir Nura Alkali, who was represented by the Deputy Director, Planning ,Research and Statistics, Dr. Dunoma Ahmed, said that it was a programme rolled out by the government of President Buhari to provide acceptable   and affordable housing  for Nigerians as well as   address the housing deficit bedeviling the nation.

Alkali said: “The National Housing Programme is promoting local content in line with the Executive Orders 3 and 5. The use of available local building materials in the National Housing Programme (NHP) has stimulated the economy through the production and use of the materials.”

His Royal Highness, the Emir of Gombe, Alhaji Abubakar Shehu Abubakar, represented by Alhaji Hakeem Jaro Mohammed, commended the Federal Government for proving houses for the people of  Gombe State through the National Housing Programme.

admin by — May 14, 2022 in Property 0
Disobedience: Ogun Judge Orders Arrest, Detention Of Police Chiefs

Justice Olugbenga Ogunfowora of Ogun State High Court,has ordered the arrest and detention of the Assistant Inspector General of Police in Zone II and one Superintendent Tijani Taofiq for disobeying the order of the court.

He delivered the verdict  in a suit involving a Chinese national, Chen Zheng, who is the interpreter and Sales Manager of Hand in Hand Industry Nigeria Limited.

The police chiefs  had allegedly disobeyed the court order to pay N500,000 as damages and also pay N50,000 in favour of the Chinese national who was arrested and detained for alleged criminal offence and later held his international passport.

He  ordered the release of the applicant’s international passport with No.EB4555829 since June 9th, 2020.

He also ordered that the top officers be detained at the Ibara Correctional Centre, Abeokuta until the property of the Chinese is returned  to him.

According to him,the refusal to release the passport and also pay the fine as ordered by the court was a contempt which is punishable under the nation’s  constitution.

The Force Police Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi said he was not aware of the case and advised that the  Zonal Police Public Relations Officer, Hauwa Idris Adamu, should be contacted for reaction.

Adamu  also said she will find out about the case and liaise with Ogun State Commissioner of Police on same.She kept silent on the ordered arrest of the AIG .

The Police Public Relations Officer in Ogun State, Abimbola Oyeyemi said the police officer was no more in Ogun State and had been redeployed back to Lagos.

“He was once in Lagos before he was transferred to Ogun State, but as I speak with you, Supo Tijani has been redeployed back to Lagos, he’s no more in Ogun State, you can contact the zonal PPRO,” he said.

Counsel to the applicant, Seun Akinbiyi, SAN, commended the court for its landmark judgement,adding  that the development   verdict will make Nigerians believe in the country’s  judicial system .

“The summary of the antecedent is that, the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Zone 2 as well as on Superintendent of Police, Tijani Taofiq, who is now in Eleweran, Abeokuta have been convicted to prison by virtue of the order of the court because they did not carry out the order of the court.

“It is very significant that this is being done for the courage of the court, his lordship, and it is good for the sanctity of the court. We are very happy for that.It is also important for the sake of our client whose international passport has been detained for almost 3 years. At least, I believe that with that alone, the court has decided that they are imprisoned until the international passport is released.”

He  added that his chamber will ensure the execution of the verdict.

He said:”By the grace of God, we are going to see it that the order is carried out. That is, the imprisonment of the AIG and the Superintendent. We will see it to the end.”

admin by — May 14, 2022 in Law/Human Rights 0
I Won’t Quit Struggle For Yoruba Self-Determination -Prof Akintoye

The founder of Ilana Omo Oodua Worldwide, Prof Banji Akintoye, said he was not considering quitting the struggle for self a determination of Yoruba group in Nigeria.

His position came on the heels of recent publication that he was allegedly  bribed by President Muhammadu Buhari to abandon his mission for Yorubaland.

In a statement,Professor Akintoye,described the allegation as blatant lie and figment of imagination.

He said there was no reason for him to abandon the struggle after putting so much efforts in same and hoping that it materializes soon.

He added:”I have no reason whatsoever to consider abandoning the organization which I founded for the service of the Yoruba nation, towards achieving Yoruba self-determination. Ilana Omo Oduduwa has, by the grace of God,  grown in a short time to become the mightiest powerhouse in the Yoruba struggle to liberate itself from the poor governance, awful insecurity, disastrously mismanaged economy of Nigeria.

“I have no information whatsoever that any official of Buhari’s government has been sent to bring any money to me, but I doubt it. I doubt it because the people in the Fulani cabal managing the Federal Government know me very well, and know that I absolutely cannot be bought or bullied by them.

“They know that in my much younger years as a prominent youth in the political family of our father, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, they could not buy or bully me. I am sure that they are afraid to send their money to me in this my grand old age because they know I regard their money as filthy money. I am still the brave patriot and uncompromising fighter for truth and integrity that my God made me to be.

“We, Yoruba will soon free ourselves from the death and decay that Nigeria has become. We will soon take our people out of the mud-pit of Nigeria into our own sovereign Yoruba county, into our land of great progress, of abundant and equal opportunities, of law, order,  of security and justice, where our youths will surprise the world with their industry and their inventions.

“Through Ilana and our other self-determination organizations, our Yoruba nation has gone a long way in it’s self-determination struggle, by operating with peaceful and law abiding means. For us of Ilana and other true Yoruba patriots, there is no going back or looking back in this struggle.Because our enemies of all kinds are already smelling defeat, they are resorting to spreading false stories in the press concerning us. But that will not help them or deter us”.

admin by — May 14, 2022 in Oduduwa 0
JAMB Releases 2022 UTME Results

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB,has  released the 2022 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination UTME results.

It also gave  the guidelines required by candidates who sat for the examination to access the results in a statement signed by
Dr Fabian Benjamin, Head, Public Affairs and Protocol of the examination body.

He advised   candidate to  send UTMERESULT to 55019 using the same phone number that he/she had used for registration and the result would be returned as a text message.

He  added that it is the only process of checking the 2022 UTME results for now as the Board has not uploaded it on its  website for obvious reasons.

He warned candidates not to fall prey to fraudsters in accessing their results through the process outlined.

He said:”Candidates are forewarned that they would, as usual, receive all kinds of messages from desperate fraudsters on how to check their results different from the aforementioned one.Hence, the Board urge all candidates to ignore all such messages on how to check their 2022 UTME results as they are all products of deceit aimed at misleading them.

“The Board, in line with its desire to adhere to the ease of doing business protocol of the government, has emplaced this user-friendly and simplified process of checking UTME results.This simplified process would also serve to preclude the unconscionable exploitation of candidates by shylock business centres and cybercafes which often take advantage of hapless candidates”.

admin by — May 14, 2022 in News 0