Former Super Eagles coach Stephen Keshi is dead

Stephen Keshi, a former coach of the Nigerian national football team, the Super Eagles, is dead
– The sudden demise of the football legend was confirmed by his relatives and the Nigeria Football Federation
– According to Keshi’s family member, Ricky Aburimen, the Super Eagle’s former coach complained of a leg ailment
– He was rushed to Faith Hospital in the Benin Government Reservation Area, where he died at about 3am
Stephen Okechukwu Keshi, a former coach of the Nigerian national football team, the Super Eagles, is dead.
The Cable reports that the football legend died in the early hours of Wednesday, June 8, in Benin City, Edo state.
The sudden demise of the former international was confirmed by his relatives and close associates.
“He was not ill at all, never showed any signs of illness, but we suspect he never got over the death of his wife,” one of his close friends said.

B’Haram kills 18 in Niger

Nigerien authorities said that Boko Haram militants killed 18 people, including a local religious leader, in an attack on a village in the nation’s southern border area of Diffa . Justice Minister, Marou Amadou, who disclosed this in a statement said “Boko Haram has once again sent us into mourning. “Eighteen villagers were killed, including the Chief Imam of the village whose throat was slit by his own nephew,” he said. Amadou said eleven people were injured and a three-year-old girl was abducted, adding that the army was pursuing the “terrorists in all nooks and crannies of Lake Chad.” According to him, the gunmen stormed the village of Gogone near the shores of Lake Chad on foot and fired indiscriminately on residents. The Diffa region had suffered dozens of cross-border strikes since January by the extremist group whose stronghold in North-East Nigeria lies a few kilometres away. A state of emergency has been declared there in a bid to boost security, but the attackers often managed to flee across the River Komadougou, marking the border with Nigeria.

NYSC urges banks to grant corps members loan

The National Youth Service Corps has urged banks and other corporate entities and individuals to emulate the Bank of Industry which provided N2bn loan to finance corps members with good business ideas.

The Osun State Coordinator of the NYSC,  Mrs. Regina Iluebbey, said this in an interview with journalists on Friday on the sidelines of the swearing-in ceremony of 2015 Batch B stream II at the NYSC Permanent Orientation Camp in Ede, Osun State.

The NYSC boss said providing soft loans for  corps members with business ideas would assist in making them job creators and would help in solving the problem of unemployment confronting the nation.

She said, ” The Graduate Entrepreneurship Fund of the BoI with the NYSC is a laudable idea. We in the NYSC wish the scheme could be bigger than what it is now. Making it bigger will accommodate more corps members who have good ideas.

“We want other corporate bodies, banks and even wealthy individuals to emulate the Bank of Industry in this area. Many of these corps members you see have wonderful business ideas and this type of soft loans will help them to transform their ideas into thriving business enterprises.”

Also, Osun State Governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, also said in his speech  that the nation must put in place various programmes which would assist the nation’s youths to be job captors rather than becoming job seekers.

The governor stated that the NYSC had been performing the functions its founding  fathers had in mind, saying the call for the scrapping of the scheme was wrong.

Aregbesola said, ” Nigeria is at present faced with economic challenges because of the dwindling oil revenue. Our over dependence on oil as a source of revenue has made us neglect other sectors of the economy. This period of economic recession in which we found ourselves has compelled us to realise the need for the development of other sectors of the economy.

“It is therefore important that Nigeria must strive to become a nation of producer rather than a nation of consumers of foreign goods. We must evolve our own industrial and agricultural technologies. Adequate programmes must be put in place to assist our youths to be job creators rather than job seekers.”

Happy Birthday Sir!! Pastor David Oyedepo Turns 61 Today

 Its Sunday September 27!! Its the birthday of one of Gods generals..A man anointed by God to spread the good news!!

The founder nd general overseer of Living Faith church aka Winners chapel -worldwide

Lets all pray nd wish him a happy birthday

Happy birthday sir.

Boko Haram attacks Kogi DSS office, frees 30 suspects

No fewer than 30 people detained at the Kogi State office of the Directorate of State Service were freed on Friday night when it was attacked by gunmen suspected to be members of the Boko Haram sect.

This was as four people, including an anti-riot policeman, were reportedly killed in the attack by the invading insurgents.

The attackers were said to have immediately made for the cell of the DSS office located along Hassan Katsina Road, Lokoja, and released all suspects kept there after gaining entrance.

Our correspondent gathered that around 9.45pm on Friday, the gunmen with sophisticated weapons invaded the DSS office.

A source who spoke on condition of anonymity said the heavily armed men that stormed the DSS office appeared to have overwhelmed the DSS officials present, prompting a Deputy Director of the agency, whose name is yet to be ascertained, to quickly put a distress call to the police at about 10:40pm.

It was gathered that combined patrol teams of soldiers and policemen were later drafted to the place and they engaged the invaders in a gun duel for over seven hours.

The source said the security operatives later overpowered the attackers and some of them (invaders) fled into the bush.

He added that at the end of the shootout, the bodies of a policeman and three of the attackers were discovered.

The source further said two of the attackers fled to Otokiti Housing Estate and forced themselves into one of the flats occupied by a woman.

It was gathered that the woman quickly invited soldiers who responded immediately, arrested and took them away.

The Kogi State Police Commissioner, Mr. Emmanuel Ojukwu, confirmed the attack to journalists in Lokoja.

He said at about 9:45pm on Friday, criminal elements invaded the DSS office in Lokoja.

According to him, the prompt response of the police command led to the death of three of the attackers, while at the end of the operation the command lost a policeman.

He said he could not confirm whether or not the invaders succeeded in entering the DSS office.

Ojukwu said, “We are still investigating and we cannot say much for now until we are able to lay our hands on the suspects.

“We are working assiduously with other security agents in the state to ensure that we get to the root cause of the attack.”

Meanwhile the DSS has deployed operatives from its Abuja headquarters to Lokoja, Kogi State to hunt down Boko Haram suspects that escaped from its detention facility in the state.

Sources told our correspondent that the DSS was yet to have a definite number of the escaped suspects, adding that the Kogi State directorate was in the process of submitting the full list of the suspects to the DSS headquarters in Abuja.

A DSS source said, “The service is yet to ascertain the exact number of terror suspects that escaped during the attack, but the headquarters is expecting a full briefing on the incident, including the number of escaped suspects, number of dead or wounded personnel, number of re-arrested suspects and a detailed explanation of how the facility was attacked.

“A probe into the security breach has been initiated by the service headquarters and a squad has been dispatched to the state to help in re-arresting the fleeing insurgents; we expect recapture of some of the suspects within 24 hours.”

Father Rapes 11 Year Old Daughter And Impregnates Neighbors Daughter

A 46-year-old man, Morris Ndidwe, has been arrested by the Delta State Police Command for allegedly raping his 11-year-old daughter and impregnating a neighbour’s daughter in Delta State.

According to his wife, Ndidwe had tried on several occasions to rape his is 11-year-old daughter in the past before the last attempt that landed got him arrested.

His wife claimed that her husband’s behaviour made her end the marriage one time but only returned after several appeals and an assurance that he had changed.

She said she had initially moved out of her matrimonal home after her husband impregnated their neighbour’s daughter.

She said: “My daughter told me what she went through in the hand of her father whenever I was not around and when confronted, my husband denied, saying, he had stopped the act .

“One afternoon, I returned from church and caught him with our daughter. Again after much pleading, I relented on my resolve to end the marriage.”

“Last week, around 9pm, my husband drove me to the church for a vigil. He was alone with our children.

The following day when I returned, my daughter told me what her father did to her. When I decided to check her private part my husband refused and almost beat me, but my neighbours intervened.”

The 11-year-old girl has asked the police to fully prosecute her father and have him sent to jail so he doesn’t subject her to worse things in future.

The state police commissioner, Alkali Baba Usma,, confirmed the arrest and incident.

‘Partner with Buhari’

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, has called for increased collaboration between the Muhammadu Buhari administration and the media to “build a new country”.

Adesina made the call at the formal presentation of ‘Nigerian Media Leaders: Voices Beyond the Newsroom,’ a book of conversations with media leaders authored by Richard Ikiebe of the School of Media and Communication, Pan Atlantic University.

He said, “Fortuitously, this book is being presented at a watershed time in the history of the country. The no-nonsense former military ruler, who had enacted Decree 4, meant to gag and shackle the press in the performance of its legitimate duties, is now a converted democrat, and champion of freedom of that same press, seeing the institution as a vital building block in national development.

“Instead of an adversary, President Muhammadu Buhari has turned full circle to see the media as allies, critical partners in the quest to build a worthy new Nigeria.”

The presidential aide therefore sought “a middle of the road policy, in which both institutions collaborate for the good and development of our country rather than an adversarial relationship.” He also decried a situation where the media pursues the government “as something to be harassed, hounded and hunted down.”

Adesina said the Nigerian media needed to collaborate and support the Buhari government because 30 years after he persecuted the press as a military head of state, Buhari had changed.

“The President is now in a democratic mode and has asked for the right hand of fellowship of the media,” he said.

Resign now, labour unions tell Saraki

Nigerian workers, under the umbrellas of the Nigerian Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress, have asked the President of the Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki, to vacate his office pending the determination of his case at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

The workers, who spoke across the country, said although Saraki is still on trial and has not been found guilty of the allegations against him, it is morally right for him to vacate his office as Senate President to defend himself.

The Office of the Attorney General of the Federation is prosecuting Saraki for alleged false declaration of his assets at the Code of Conduct Bureau.

Saraki had, last Tuesday, stepped into the dock at the CCT in Abuja, where he was arraigned for false assets declaration charges.

He pleaded not guilty to all the 13 charges slammed on him by the CCB and his trial has been scheduled to hold on October 21, 22 and 23.

Leaders of the NLC and the TUC, who spoke to SUNDAY PUNCH on Saturday, said it had become necessary for Saraki to step aside from Senate presidency to answer the charges preferred against him.

Organised labour had on, September 10, 2015, held nationwide protests against corruption, while seeking death penalty for public treasury looters.

Labour said it was only by killing looters that the anti-corruption crusade being championed by President Muhammadu Buhari could succeed.

President of the TUC, Mr. Bobboi Bala, in an interview with one of our correspondents, said Saraki has a moral burden to resign.

He said, “Resignation is a moral burden on people. But if somebody feels that he will carry his cross, go to the courts and try to exonerate himself, he should be given the opportunity. But it would be too bad if at the end of the day, he is found guilty. It does not speak well of public office holders.

“In other climes, as soon as such things happen, people tender their letters of resignation. Obviously, it is a moral burden on him. We hope all politicians will begin to know that no matter how highly placed they are, one day, they will definitely have to account for their stewardship.”

Several chapters of the NLC and the TUC across the states also asked for Saraki’s resignation on Saturday.

The Chairman, TUC, Ogun State, Mr. Olubunmi Fajobi, told one of our correspondents that if it were in a civilised clime, the Senate President would have stepped aside to allow for free and fair trial.

He said, “As it were, the Senate President is sitting on a delicate seat. If it were a civilised society, he would have stepped aside to allow for a fair trial, so that he won’t allow his official position to influence the decision of the tribunal.”

Also, the Ekiti State Chairman of the NLC, Mr. Raymond Adesanmi, advised Saraki to step down from office.

He said, “If it were in other climes, he would have resigned. My advice for him would be to step down as the Senate President to answer the charges against him. If at the end of the day he is not found guilty, he could return to his position.”

Adesanmi’s TUC counterpart in Ekiti, Mr. Adesoye Adedayo, corroborated him.

He said, “Although the case against him has political undertone, I would advise him to resign to prove his innocence.”

In Cross River State, the Chairman of the TUC, Mr. Clarkson Otu, who noted that labour unions had yet to meet to take a definite position on Saraki’s trial, said the Senate President should resign his position.

He said, “This whole thing is politics. The said irregularities allegedly discovered in Sariki’s assets declaration are issues before the CCT, but having got himself involved in this controversy, he should quit as senate president based on moral grounds.

“If he does not quit, he will keep battling to retain that position. This is my personal view and not that of the TUC.”

The factional Chairman of the NLC in Delta State, Mr. Williams Akporeha, the state chapter of the union was in support of Saraki’s resignation.

“We are saying that he should step aside because he is facing trial that borders on allegations of fraud and misinformation. He should resign on a clean slate instead of his continued stay in office in shameless aberration,” he said.

In the same vein, Chairman of the TUC in Delta, Mr. Myke Arinze, said, “Senator Saraki should resign and set the record straight because he cannot be facing trial and be dictating as Senate President.”

CNPP, CODER, SERAP, others ask Senate President to quit

Second Republic Governor of old Kaduna State and Chairman of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties, Mr. Balarabe Musa, in an interview with SUNDAY PUNCH on Saturday, also urged Saraki to step down as Senate President as a show of respect for his office.

Musa said, “First of all, it depends on his conscience. If he knows that the allegations against him have anything bordering on genuineness and if he knows that he has not done anything above board, he should succumb to his conscience.

“In honour of the institution he represents, it is therefore best for him to resign in order not to undermine the position of the judge.

“If he knows that there are elements of truth in the allegations against him, he should not cost the government so much in court and thereby undermine the integrity of the bench; he should just resign. He is still young; he still has a lot of opportunities.”

Also, the Coalition against Corrupt Leaders called for Saraki’s resignation.

The Executive Chairman, CACOL, Mr. Debo Adeniran, said, “He should resign for now. If he is found to be innocent, then Nigerians would have reason to apologise to him and his dignity will be restored. If he continues to hold on to power, he is likely to lose more dignity; nobody will respect him for doing so.”

Similarly, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project described Nigeria as a peculiar place, where issues of probity, integrity and adherence to the rule of law would be questioned and politicians would continue to remain in public office “as if those things don’t matter.”

According to the Executive Director of SERAP, Adetokunbo Mumuni, in saner climes, when public figures would have such burden on them, the first thing to do would be to get off the seat to clear their name by virtue of the rule of law and due process.

Mumuni said, “If people are saying he should resign, I also support that move because as the number three man in Nigeria, he has not set a very good example. It is not a question of ‘If I was not declared senate president, nobody will remember what I did 10 years ago.’ Why didn’t he declare his assets when he was governor?

“If we are talking about equity, then we must be able to come to equity with clean hands. That is the way I see it. I have never been a subscriber to the idea of witch-hunting. Why can’t they just follow the law? The question of witch-hunting, to me, is neither here nor there. Did they comply with the law? I don’t believe in the idea that they have enemies somewhere.

“Why shouldn’t we do what is needful and proper and we now start talking about witch-hunting? Matters of criminal infraction don’t have limitations. I have never seen a defence to an infraction of law where one would say, ‘Some people were not dealt with, so I cannot be dealt with.’”

Also, the Convener, Coalition of Northern Politicians, Academics, Professionals and Businessmen, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, faulted those who call Saraki’s trial a witch-hunt. He said the Senate President should resign.

He said, “I believe it will be good for the Senate and the country – for political responsibility – for Bukola Saraki to resign. Unless that is done, his political influence will interfere in the process.”

In the same vein, the Coalition of Democrats for Electoral Reform said even though Saraki remained innocent until the tribunal finds him guilty, it had become morally necessary for the Senate President to resign from office.

Convener of CODER, Chief Ayo Opadokun, who was the General Secretary of the National Democratic Coalition and an ex-Secretary-General of the Afenifere, said it was not possible for all lawbreakers in the country to be tried at once. He said, “They have to be picked one by one.”

He said although other lawmakers in the National Assembly might have committed similar offences on assets declaration, Saraki’s trial would serve as a good lesson to others.

Opadokun said, “Saraki’s trial has more fundamental dimension because of the fact that someone crookedly emerged as leader of the Nigerian legislature and he has been charged for false declaration (of assets), which is a criminal offence and which carries significant punishment fashioned by the Nigerian criminal law system.

“He should resign to face the charges against him. He should have resigned long ago.”

Roads, power to benefit from N4.9tn pension funds

The Contributory Pension Scheme operators are considering investing part of the growing pension funds in long-term projects because most of the contributors are young workers who may not need their money very soon, investigation has revealed.

The total pension funds being managed under the CPS stood at N4.9tn at the end of May this year.

Statistics on the Retirement Savings Account registration by age and sector obtained from the National Pension Commission revealed that most contributors to the CPS were less than 40 years old.

According to the Pension Reform Act, 2014, only workers who have retired and are up to the age of 50 years can access the retirement funds under the pension scheme.

“An age distributional analysis of the RSA holders revealed that the largest proportion of the RSA holders is very young as almost 80 per cent of the members are below 50 years, and 51 per cent of the members are below the age of 40 years,” PenCom stated.

The commission said the demography of the scheme favoured putting pension funds in long-term investible instruments like infrastructure products, which could be used to bridge the yawning gaps in the nation’s infrastructural development.

In its report on the CPS, PenCom disclosed that 761,436 workers, or 11. 69 per cent of the contributors were less than 30 years.

It also revealed that 39.41 per cent or 2.5 million contributors were within the age bracket of 30 and 39 years.

According to the PenCom data, 1.7 million contributors (26.4 per cent) are between the ages of 40 and 49, while 1.2 million contributors (17.2 per cent) are between the ages of 50 and 59.

The data also showed that about 264,839 contributors (four per cent) were between the age bracket of 60 and 65, while 72,937 contributors (1.2 per cent) fell into the category of 65 years and above.

Under the guideline on investment, PenCom stated that pension fund assets could be invested in infrastructure through infrastructure bonds or infrastructure funds. It added that both outlets must meet the conditions for the investment of pension funds in infrastructure before the Pension Fund Administators could channel pension fund assets into such investments.

The commission noted that section 5.2.3 of the draft regulation on investment of pension fund assets provided that pension assets could be invested in infrastructure projects through eligible bonds, subject to two major conditions.

“The infrastructure project shall be not less than N5bn in value and awarded to a concessionaire with good track record through an open and transparent bidding process in accordance with the due process requirements set out in the Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission Act and any regulation made pursuant thereto, and certified by the Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission and approved by the Federal Executive Council,” it stated.

Another condition for the investment of pension assets in infrastructure is that the projects must have business plans and financial projections that indicate they are viable as well as economically and financially rewarding for investment by pension funds.

According to the statement, the bonds or Sukuks issued to finance the infrastructure project shall have robust credit enhancements including guarantees by the Federal Government or eligible bank/development finance institution or MDFOs and a maturity date that precedes the expiration of the concession.

It said it should also have a feasible and enforceable redemption procedure in the event of project suspension, cancellation or, in the case of regulated sectors, when changes in regulatory or policy decisions make the project to differ significantly from its original financial projections.

“Where infrastructure projects are financed through infrastructure funds, the value of the infrastructure fund shall not be less than N5bn and the infrastructure fund must have a well defined and publicised investment objectives and strategy as well as disclosures of pricing of underlying assets, including any other necessary information,” it stated.

Jega’s brother, Taraba emir, others die in Mecca stampede

Scenes of the Mecca tragedy
| credits: AFP

A brother of the former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, Justice Abdulkadir Jega; another Justice of the Ilorin Division of the Court of Appeal, Justice Musa Hassan Alkali; the Emir of Zing and Ameerul-hajj of Taraba State to 2015’s hajj exercise, Abbas Ibrahim and two of his wives have been identified as being among those that died in Thursday’s stampede in Saudi Arabia, SUNDAY PUNCH has learnt

Abdulkadir Jega was a judge of the Court of Appeal and also a brother to the Editor-In-Chief of Daily Trust Newspaper, Mahmud Jega.

A family source told one of our correspondents that the body of the judge, who was a member of the Kebbi State Government delegation to the 2015 Hajj, was found in a mortuary in Mina, Saudi Arabia.

This is as the death toll from the stampede has risen to 769.

The Emir’s death was confirmed to journalists by the Chairman of the state Pilgrims Board, Hamman Tukur, who added that some pilgrims from the state were still missing.

It was reliably gathered on Saturday that about 100 Nigerians might have died in the stampede that occurred when pilgrims were going to perform the symbolic stoning of the devil in Mina, Saudi Arabia.

An official of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, who confided in Sunday PUNCH, said more Nigerian victims were discovered when the commission’s officials joined their colleagues from other countries’ in Mina morgue to identify their nationalities.

The Nigerian hajj officials are still compiling the list of Nigerians affected.

Other prominent Nigerians, who have been confirmed to have died in the stampede, included the Deputy Secretary General of the Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs Professor Tijjani Abubakar El-Miskin and a veteran female journalist, Bilkisu Yusuf.

Meanwhile, the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria has begun a census of the country’s pilgrims in Saudi Arabia.

SUNDAY PUNCH reliably learnt that the commission started the census on Saturday following reports that some Nigerians pilgrims were still missing.

The commission had on Thursday sent its medical team to hospitals in Saudi Arabia to ascertain the number of the dead and the injured.

It was gathered that the commission embarked on the head count when it could not account for some pilgrims.

Findings showed that the NHCN was conducting the census state by state and that the figure of the dead and the injured would be released officially on or before Monday.

An official of the commission, who confided in Sunday PUNCH, said, “You will recall that on Thursday, our medical team went round hospitals. We are still collating the figures, but some pilgrims are still missing.”

The News Agency of Nigeria reported on Saturday that five pilgrims from Gombe State had been declared missing.

This is as the Sokoto State Government announced that nine pilgrims from the state were among those who died in the stampede.

In a statement in Sokoto on Saturday, the government said that its officials, led by the Amirul Hajj and leader of its delegation, the Deputy Governor, Alhaji Ahmad Aliyu, who was still in Saudi Arabia, confirmed the tragedy.

The Executive Secretary, Gombe State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, Usman Gurama, in an interview with journalists   in Mina, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday said the board had not located the pilgrims since Thursday.

Gurama, however, said that seven pilgrims from the state were injured at the scene of the incident and were responding to treatment.

Meanwhile, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Saturday expressed sorrow over the incident.

Atiku said this in a statement by his Media Office in Abuja. The former Vice President described the incident as one of the saddest accidents to have befallen Muslims in recent times.

The state quoted him as saying “we are bound by our common humanity.” It also quoted Atiku as saying that “we learn lessons from these tragic incidents, and take precautionary measures to ward off future disasters.”

Also, the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar III, on Saturday in Sokoto, urged Saudi authorities to henceforth provide improved safety measures during the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.

The Sultan spoke on the sidelines of the presentation of the report of a technical committee set up by him to look into the state of the education sector in Sokoto State.

“The tragedy affected several countries of the world, Nigeria in general and Sokoto state in particular.

“Some local governments in Sokoto state like Illela, Binji, Gwadabawa and others were affected by the tragedy, although the actual casualty figures are still being ascertained by Saudi Arabian and Nigerian authorities,” he said.

FG plans special fund for roads, power

Vice-Presidential Prof. Yemi Osinbajo

The Federal Government is planning to set up an infrastructure fund in order to facilitate easy funding for critical areas of the economy.

The infrastructure fund, according to Vice President Yemi Osibajo, will be planned outside of the budget, to handle major segments of the economy such as road and power.

“Government is working out a document that would guide the administration within the four years of its life-span,” the Vice President told members of the National Economic Summit Group who paid him a visit on Tuesday in Abuja.

According to a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the Vice President, Laolu Akande, the FG is also planning to use a zero-based budgeting format for its 2016 budget planning.

“Zero-based budgeting is planning according to needs and costs, different from the existing envelope budgeting or traditionally incremental budgeting whereby the planning is based on existing income and expenditure as the deciding factor in national financial planning levels, which often incurs waste and assumes previous costs as constant,” the statement explained.

The Vice President said the zero-based budgeting would be carefully coordinated to ensure that it is policy-driven, especially regarding the proposed social intervention policy of the Buhari administration.

Osinbajo said with the zero-based budgeting, the FG would also focus on a ‘bottom-up’ approach to development.

The Vice President who also met with a delegation from the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers and the Association of Stockbroking Houses of Nigeria, told the NESG that the introduction of the new Treasury Single Account policy and its implementation by Ministries, Departments and Agencies was a creative way of blocking leakages in the system to make way for a workable budget.

During the meeting with the NESG, the delegation praised the government for the introduction of the TSA policy as a sound financial policy and offered to be part of the advocacy.

During his meeting with the CIS delegation and the ASHN, the Vice President disclosed that the government would explore the avenue of utilizing the capital market as another means of providing alternative funding options for the execution of capital projects.

He also observed that allowing retail investors to come into the nation’s capital market would deepen the market with potential for multiplier effects on other sectors of the economy.

The Vice President stated that some of the problems of the capital market were due to unethical practices by some market operators.

He added that those who caused the crash in the market in the past were not punished and called on the two bodies to engage in self-regulation as a means of protecting investors and the market.

In his remarks, the leader of the delegation and Acting President of CIS, Mr. Oluwaseyi Abe, commended the Buhari administration for what it had achieved within 100 days. He cited the feats to include security, power and the anti-corruption crusade.

Fire guts shopping mall, bank in Lagos

Fire guts shopping mall, bank in Lagos

Textile materials and fashion accessories estimated at millions of naira have been consumed after fire gutted a shopping plaza on Broad Street on the Lagos Island area of Lagos State.

Also, a section of the Skye Bank branch in Ikeja was gutted by fire, destroying some property.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the Lagos Island fire started around 8.55am after a power surge.

Workers at the plaza were said to have made frantic efforts to put out the fire before inviting officials of the Lagos State Fire Service and men of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency.

While some traders watched helplessly as their goods burnt, others were said to have struggled to salvage their wares.

A firefighter with the state fire service, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the fire started from the second floor of the three-storey building, adding that more than three fire trucks were deployed in the scene.

He said, “It is a three-storey shopping plaza where they sell female fashion items like bags, shoes and other accessories. The fire started from the second floor and was caused by an electrical surge. We were able to curtail the spread quickly.

“Firemen from the Onikan, Sari Iganmu and Alausa stations responded with 10,000 litres of water each.”

The General Manager of LASEMA, Michael Akindele, said there was no casualty in the incident, adding that some traders were able to save their wares.

“No life was lost and there were no injuries. Traders in areas not affected moved out their goods; everything is under control,” he added.

In the Ikeja incident, PUNCH Metro gathered that the server room of Skye Bank caught fire around 10.50am.

The prompt response of firemen from the Ikeja fire station was said to have prevented the fire from escalating.

Our correspondent was told by a firefighter that the fire was also caused by a power surge.

“They called the fire service on time and that was what saved the day. The fire started from their internet server room. There was a spark, which started a fire.

“But we were able to stand with them till the problem was fixed and banking operation resumed without much delay,” he added.

The Public Relations Officer of the Lagos State Fire Service, Amodu Shakiru, called for increased vigilance among residents.

He said, “Both fire were caused by electrical upsurge and that is why we always tell people to be cautious.

“You can use the back of your hand to feel the heat of your electrical gadget. When it is hot, you should know it is a potential hazard.”

Meanwhile, several people were injured and about five shops set ablaze on Monday after some hoodlums clashed at the Alaba International Market.

A source told PUNCH Metro that the clash was between some Yoruba and Igbo touts, who engaged in a supremacy battle over collection of fees.

A witness said the fight started around 9am, adding that business activities had been grounded as a result of the clash.

The Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Joe Offor, who confirmed the incident, explained that the clash was between the market’s transporters and traders unions.

“The transport employers association and the traders association were involved in the incident. The Alaba traders complained that the activities of the transport association were affecting their businesses. They said some of their customers were being harassed and intimidated to pay exorbitant fees, and they were losing them to their competitors.

“This morning, the traders challenged the transport association which led to a scuffle between the groups.”

He added that policemen from the Ojo division and some military officers had restored sanity to the area.

We are negotiating with B’Haram, says Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said that the Federal Government had begun negotiations with members of the Boko Haram sect to secure the release of the Chibok girls.

The President disclosed this while responding to questions from members of the Nigerian community in France under the aegis of the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation.

Buhari said that he was worried by the continued stay of the girls in the camps of Boko Haram since April 14, 2014 when they were abducted by Boko Haram fighters.

The President noted that the incident had attracted global attention and sympathy within Nigeria, adding that his government could not fold its arms.

“The issue of Chibok girls has occupied our minds and because of the international attention it drew and the sympathy throughout the the world. The government is negotiating with some of the Boko Haram leadership,” he stated.

According to him, government has to first establish genuine members of the sect so that it will not make the mistake of engaging the wrong persons.

Buhari said, “It is a very sensitive development in the sense that first we have to establish whether they genuine leaders of Boko Haram? That is number one. Number two, what are their terms, the first impression we had was not very encouraging.”

The President said one of the conditions given by Boko Haram sect was to release one of its members who was developing Improvised Explosives Devices.

He, however, said that his government rejected the demand.

Buhari stated, “They wanted us to release one of their leaders who is a strategic person in developing and making IEDs that is causing a lot of havoc in the country by blowing people in churches, mosques, market places, motor parks and other places. But it is very important that if we are going to talk to anybody, we have to know how much he is worth.

“Let them bring all the girls and then, we will be prepared to negotiate, I will allow them to come back to Nigeria or to be absorbed into the community. We have to be very careful, the concern we have for the Chibok girls, one can only imagine having a daughter who is between 14 and 18 years there for more than one and a half years. A lot of the parents who have died would have preferred to see the graves of their daughters to the condition they imagined they were in.”

According to him, the kidnap of the girls has drawn a lot of sympathy throughout the world. This, he said, was the reason government was negotiating for the release of the girls.

President Buhari assured Nigerians in the Diaspora that his administration was doing everything possible to improve the economy through provision of infrastructure in critical sectors.

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, had in July confirmed the willingness of the Federal Government to negotiate with the sect.

Adesina, who lamented that the insurgents, killed many people, said the Federal Government would not rule out negotiations with the sect, if it would lead to the end of terrorism.

The Nigerian Army spokesman Col. Sani Usman, a few days ago, said that members of the terror group were surrendering “en masse.”

FG borrows N882bn to finance 2015 budget

Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Mrs. Anastasia Daniel-Nwaobia

Nigeria’s economic crisis continues to become worse with the Federal Government borrowing N882.12bn so far to finance the 2015 budget deficit.

The amount, sourced internally, included what was budgeted for internal and external borrowing for the fiscal year.

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Mrs. Anastasia Daniel-Nwaobia, said this in her presentation to the House of Representatives Ad-Hoc Committee on Non-Implementation of Capital Projects in the 2015 appropriation in Abuja on Tuesday.

The national economic crisis and the attendant depreciation of the Naira, increase in interest rates and inflation, may not end soon with the figures from the National Bureau of Statistics indicating that the Gross Domestic Product earlier projected to grow at a rate of 5.5 per cent (as of January 2015) now stands at 2.63 per cent as of June 2015 .

This, the Permanent Secretary, who was represented by the Director General, Budget Office of the Federation, Alhaji Aliyu Yahaya Gusau, said, “is not unconnected with the global slowdown and its attendant impact.”

“The economy is not expected to outperform global growth rate of 3.3 per cent. Significant drop in oil price has led to exchange rate depreciation, pushing the dollar to N197 as of June 2015. This has led to the adoption of stringent measures in fiscal and monetary policies to ensure stability in the economy,” she explained.

On debt management, she said, “Public debt to GDP ratio as of 2013 was 10.82 per cent, and that the total amount of N882.12bn appropriated for both domestic and external borrowing has been fully raised to finance the 2015 budget accordingly.

“Debt service to revenue ratio however needs to be kept under close watch. Given that it was 19.63 per cent by the end of June 2015 against the cognate arbitrary threshold of 28 per cent.

“External debt as of June 30, 2015 stood at $7.74bn and $3.42bn for states and the FCT; bringing it to the total amount of $8.31bn.”

The Debt Management Office had put the Federal Government’s total domestic debt as of December 31, 2014 at N7.9tn.

With N882.12bn borrowed from domestic sources already in 2015, the Federal Government’s total domestic debt comes up to N8.79tn.

The PUNCH had exclusively reported on July 27 that the country’s total debt stock stood at N12.12tn as of June 30, 2015 with the domestic debt of the Federal Government accounting for N8.39tn.

Director General of DMO, Dr. Abraham Nwankwo, at a press conference in May 2013 to unfold the details of the nation’s Middle Term Debt Management Strategy approved by the Federal Executive Council, had said the domestic debt of the country was too high compared to the foreign debt component.

He said there was an urgent need to rebalance the structure of the nation’s debt because the interest rate payable on domestic debt was too high.

As of 2013, the ratio of the Federal Government’s domestic debt stood at 88 per cent while the ratio of the foreign debt stood at 12 per cent.

Nwankwo said the appropriate ratio should be 60 per cent for domestic debt and 40 per cent for foreign debt, adding that the newly-approved Medium Term Debt Management Strategy would seek to achieve this ratio.

The DMO boss said the time of high borrowing from the domestic market had served its purpose, which included developing a market structure and culture for long-term savings and investment.

“The delisting of Nigeria from the JP Morgan index watch has further heightened the fear of currency devaluation, import restriction and inflation,” Nwaobia also said.

Speaking specifically on the performance of the 2015 budget, the permanent secretary explained that N3.45tn was budgeted for 2015 out of which capital appropriation was N557bn.

She said of this amount, N194.49bn has been released as of September 15, representing 34.89 per cent of total releases.

Members of the House Committee expressed dissatisfaction with the ministry’s presentation, noting that it was “sketchy and lacked essential details.”

Chairman of the committee, Aliyu Patigi, said, “My own view of the presentation is that it is very sketchy and does not give a holistic view for full understanding of what the 2015 budget implementation is all about.

“We had expected you to provide vivid insights into the regime of import duty waiver, using explanatory notes to describe how and what was done and why.

“You have not done that and we can’t say for sure that the position you presented before us is the right one because each day companies keep declaring profits running into hundreds of billions and yet they are given incentives and waiver when sectors such as the textile industry has no such consideration for revival.”

He asked officials of the ministry to ensure that the details sought were provided during the next hearing slated for Tuesday, September 22.

He further said, “On domestic debt of N8.396tn, we are interested in knowing who the Federal Government is indebted to, what necessitated this huge amount of borrowing as well as how this money so borrowed was spent. We also want to know from when to when this debt accumulated and how this amount will be liquidated in both short and long terms,” Patigi said.

Don’t accept Fayose’s rams, Imams tell Muslims

The League of Imams and Alfas in Ekiti has ordered Muslims in the state not to collect rams and other food items for Sallah celebration, if presented to them in any form by the state government.

The League reached the decision at a meeting held on Tuesday at Ansar-u-Deen Society Central Mosque Odo-Otu, Ado Ekiti, where it reviewed the “deliberate marginalisation of Muslim members in Ekiti State Government’s political appointment.”

The Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs and National Council of Muslim Youth Organisation, Ekiti State, had respectively issued statements condemning Governor Ayodele Fayose for neglecting Muslims in appointments.

The All Progressives Congress in Ekiti State, in a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, had also described “Fayose’s treatment of Muslims in terms of appointment in the state” as “the worst since the state was created.”

The party claimed Ekiti Muslims were not given up to one per cent of the appointments made by Fayose’s administration.

In a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting, the League said, “Based on the above, the League, Ekiti State Council, hereby resolved that no Muslim in the state should collect rams and other food items, if presented to them in any form by the government.”

The communiqué was signed by the state’s Assistant Secretary, League of Imams and Alfas, Alhaji Quadri Oguntuase; a Representative of Ansar-u-Deen Missioner, Fatai Jimoh and Chief Imam, Ilogbo, Imam Abdul Rasak.

It added, “Any Muslim that collects such rams or food items under any guise has taken Haram (Unlawful) and the punishment of the Almighty Allah awaits the person. (Quran 71 verse 28).”

“This order stands until the government accedes to our demands as earlier published.”

Fayose had distributed chickens and rice to indigenes during the last Christmas celebration in the state as part of his stomach infrastructure policy.