Video - Nigerian president cancels first Cabinet meeting

President Muhammadu Buhari has cancelled his first Cabinet meeting. No reason's been given. Buhari is currently working from home in Abuja. He'll be doing so for the next three months. Presidential spokesperson Malam Garba Shehu says Buhari's office has a rodent problem. The president returned home over the weekend after spending three months in London, being treated for an undisclosed illness. On Monday, Buhari gave his first address to the country, but made no reference to his health.

Star of HBO show Insecure Yvonne Orji celebrates virginity at 33

Yvonne Orji, the sex-drunk character Molly in HBO series Insecure, is proud to be a 33-year-old virgin, even though she is currently playing the sexy role.

The Port Harcourt-born star said she is keeping herself for her husband.

“She is keeping it locked. “I wasn’t going to hide it just because I’m on TV,” the Nigerian star told People. “I’m grounded in who I am.” And to show just how much she is dedicated to keeping her virginity, she created a clothing line to promote abstinence.

“I have a clothing company called Rock Your Stance, and we sell shirts that say ‘Keeping it locked till I get that rock’,” she said, adding, “Entertainment chose me. Before any of this happened, I sat down with myself and with God. I said, ‘I know why I’m here. It’s to make you proud.’” Yvonne Orji went further to speak about her career as an actress, adding that her parents, like most Nigerian parents, wanted her to be a doctor. 

“It sounded noble,” she said. “But then I took organic chemistry and I was like, ‘Well, maybe not.’ I ended up getting my master’s degree in public health and then working in war-torn Liberia to stall from crushing my parents’ hopes and dreams.” She continued, “’It would take me eight years to become a doctor, but give me eight years to make it in entertainment,’” she recalled telling her family. “And I’m happy to say, I did it in seven!” 

She did it, and is promoting abstinence until marriage. Her belief has invoked social media comments with spurious comments on twitters. Morqos‏ said: “ Why do people think Yvonne Orji is lying about her virginity? That’s such a stupid thing to lie about.” Morgan‏ said “Yvonn Orji has said she’s a virgin like 100 times and y’all are just now finding out today and making a big deal about it.” “Yvonne Orji is goals mate. 

Not because she’s a virgin but because she’s unashamed to speak about it & link it to her faith in this day & age,” says king woman, in her tweet. 

Orji emigrated to the U.S. from Nigeria at age 6. “It was the traditional immigrant story of my parents wanting the best for us and bringing us here,” she says. But life in Maryland wasn’t always easy. “I was bullied because I have this thick Nigerian accent,” she recalls. “My mom would say, ‘We didn’t come to America for you to be popular.’ 

Which is fair, but as a kid, you’re just like, it would be really nice to have this thing that everyone else has.” Later, after graduating with a master’s degree in public health from George Washington University, Orji says she shocked her family (who had always hoped she’d be a doctor), by announcing she wanted to move to New York to pursue stand-up comedy.

Vanguard

Africa's richest man Alike Dangote to build university in Abuja, Nigeria

The President and founder of Dangote Foundation, Aliko Dangote, has set aside N200 billion to establish a world-class university in Abuja.

PREMIUM TIMES learnt that the proposal has since been delivered to the National Universities Commission, NUC.

A former Executive Secretary of the NUC, Julius Okojie, who is the chairman of the technical team for the establishment of the university, said the foundation intends to drive technology and research in stimulating economic growth.

Mr Okojie, who led his team to the current Executive Secretary of the commission, Abubakar Rasheed, said the proposed university is meant to be technology-driven and asked for the cooperation and support of the NUC towards the realisation of the goal.

According to a National Open University of Nigeria, NOUN, publication, the team, accompanied by the Chief Executive Officer, CEO of the foundation, Zouera Yousouffou, disclosed that Mr. Dangote’s desire was to float a unique university of technology with all the necessary infrastructure and best faculty members from across the globe.

Mr. Rasheed, who applauded the bold step, promised to offer all the needed assistance for the success of the project.

He, however, advised the team to reconsider its plan of establishing a university of technology to ‘a conventional university running all programmes but with specialty in the area of technology.’

The executive secretary, who underscored the advantages of the conventional university over the special one, said with the countless impacts on society by the business mogul, the project would be a success.

He asked the team to consult widely and look at the universities in Nigeria and abroad with a view to creating a unique university that would be different in terms of quality in all its operations.

In her remarks, Mrs. Yousouffou said the foundation was ready to make the dream a reality with the sum of N200 billion already earmarked for the project.

She said the land was purchased and preliminary measures were in place for the headquarters of the university at the nation’s capital city of Abuja.

Mr. Dangote is a Nigerian mega-entrepreneur cum billionaire, who owns the Dangote Group, which has interests in diverse commodities.

The company with massive business tentacles operates principally in Nigeria but has corporate interests in other African countries.

Premium Times

Former Nigerian minister kidnapped

The police command in Nasarawa State has confirmed the abduction of a former Minister of Labour and Productivity, Hussaini Akwanga.

Mr. Akwanga served during the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo but was removed on December 4, 2003, following an alleged $214 million national identity card scam.

The spokesman for the Nasarawa State Police Command, Kennedy Idirisu, who confirmed the abduction in Lafia on Wednesday, said Mr. Akwanga was kidnapped by gunmen at his farm on Wamba Road on Tuesday.

Akwanga town is about 46km north of Lafia, the capital of Nasarawa State.

Mr. Idirisu said that on receiving information on the abduction, the state’s Commissioner of Police, Abubakar Sadiq-Bello, mobilised policemen, led by the deputy commissioner in charge of operations, to search for the abducted former minister.

“As we speak, the commissioner himself has gone to Akwanga to boost the rescue operation to ensure that the victim is released unhurt,” he said.

Mr. Idirisu reiterated the commitment of the command to ridding the state of kidnappers and other criminal elements.

Meanwhile, a family source told NAN that the kidnappers had contacted them, demanding an unspecified amount as ransom.

On May 6, the mother and sister of a member of the Nasarawa State House of Assembly, Kassim Mohammed, were similarly abducted in Akwanga.

Premium Times

Video - IMF urging Nigeria's gov't to do more to address job scarcity

The International Monetary Fund says not enough is being done to provide people of working age in Nigeria with jobs. The country's informal working sector is making a significant contribution to the GDP and the IMF says it's becoming a big problem for the country's tax revenues.