The Nigerian Ambassador to the United States, Adebowale Adefuye, is dead.
According to Sahara Reporters, Mr. Adefuye, a former History professor died on Thursday at an undisclosed hospital in Washington DC.
Mr. Adefuye was appointed the head of the Nigerian mission to the U.S. in 2010 by former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Mr Adefuye will be remembered for his dogged lobbying for declassification of Nigeria as “a country of interest” in the American terrorism watch list.
He also tackled the U.S. government over its refusal to sell arms to Nigeria to aid the country in the war against the extremist Boko Haram sect.
He was born in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State in 1947. He was a graduate of the University of Ibadan where he bagged his first degree in 1969.
He was also a Fulbright Scholar and did further studies and research work at the Columbia University in New York, the University of North Florida, and the University of Florida in Gainesville.
Prior to his being named Nigeria’s ambassador to the US, he served as ambassador to Jamaica, and deputy high commissioner in the U.K.
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Friday, August 28, 2015
Thursday, August 27, 2015
Video - Population explosion in Lagos, Nigeria puts pressure on housing sector
Africa's most populous city is facing a housing crisis. The population of Nigeria's commercial capital Lagos has exploded in recent years. The immense pressure this has put on its housing sector has resulted in some Lagos residents finding risky and unusual sources of shelter.
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Video - Nigeria's housing scarcity issue
Nigeria loses $22.53 million in a month due to falling oil prices
The declining trend in crude oil prices at the international oil market continued to negatively affect Nigeria’s earnings from crude oil exports, as the country lost $22.53 million (about N4.48 billion) in June, 2015.
The Accountant General of the Federation, AGF, Ahmed Idris, who disclosed this at the end of the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee, FAAC, meeting in Abuja on Wednesday, attributed the loss to the drop in average crude oil price from $65.76 per barrel in May to $61.27 in June 2015.
The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, secretariat calculation showed that daily basket price of 12 crudes dropped to $40.47 per barrel on Tuesday, from $40.67 on Monday.
The disclosure came just as the Federal and the 36 states of the federation as well as the 774 Local Governments and the authorities of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja shared N511.799 billion allocation for the month.
The amount included a value added tax, VAT, of N74.945 billion.
Apart from the deduction for cost of collection by the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, of N6.621 billion, or 4%, similar deductions of N3.199billion, or 7%, went to the Nigerian Customs Service, NCS, and N2.389 billion or 4% for the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR.
Another N240 million was for the refund to the NCS.
Details of the distributable revenue available showed that statutory allocation was about N424.115billion, while gross revenue of N433.584 billion received was lower by N52.368 billion than the N485.952 billion earned in the previous month.
The AGF attributed the drop in revenue for the month to the crude oil production facility shut downs as well as shut-ins of production operations to allow for adequate maintenance and emergency repairs.
The disruptions in the normal operations, which resulted in the declaration of Force Majeure by the Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC during the period, the AGF said, were reported as the major incidents that negatively impacted crude oil revenue for the month.
While about N6.33 billion was refunded by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC to the Federal Government, the Federation Account also recorded Naira exchange gain of N6.409 billion, which was proposed for distribution.
Other details contained in the communique presented at the end of the meeting to reporters showed that the Federal Government took N202.111 billion, or 52.68 percent; States N102.513 billion, or 26.72 percent and Local Governments N79.033 billion, or 20.6 percent. Derivation payment of N28.209 billion, or 13 percent, went to the oil producing states.
Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance, Anastasia Daniel-Nwaobia, disclosed that Excess Revenue balance for the month stood at $2.257 billion.
On late payment of salaries to civil servants, Mrs. Daniel-Nwaobia blamed it on declining revenue earnings in the Federation Account, which has affected the normal schedule for the FAAC meetings and the distribution of the allocations to the various members by the Committee by the office of the AGF.
“Prior to the current revenue, challenges of government is facing, FAAC used to hold in the second week of the month. This used to give states enough time to prepare and pay salaries of their workers.
With the FAAC meeting now holding in the third week of the month, states are not having enough time after the money from the office of the AGF hits the accounts of members, and it shared through the Integrated Personal Payment Information System, IPPIS, system, resulting in the delays.”
She urged the civil servants to understand the difficulties the government was facing in discharging its obligations regularly, assuring that the current delays in the payment of salaries was a passing phase that would soon go away.
On speculations that government was considering granting exemption to some government agencies from the directive on the Treasury Single Account, TSA, the AGF said he was not aware of any such exemption to the policy.
“TSA is a government policy. For now, there is no exception. All agencies that are funded either 100 percent or partially through the national budget, as well as those agencies funded through other means are expected to key in to the policy,” the AGF said.
“I am not aware of any exception. We are here to debunk the rumour that all agencies are supposed to comply as directed. We are coming up with adequate guidelines for the entire process and for the enlightenment of the general public.”
Premium Times
The Accountant General of the Federation, AGF, Ahmed Idris, who disclosed this at the end of the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee, FAAC, meeting in Abuja on Wednesday, attributed the loss to the drop in average crude oil price from $65.76 per barrel in May to $61.27 in June 2015.
The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, secretariat calculation showed that daily basket price of 12 crudes dropped to $40.47 per barrel on Tuesday, from $40.67 on Monday.
The disclosure came just as the Federal and the 36 states of the federation as well as the 774 Local Governments and the authorities of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja shared N511.799 billion allocation for the month.
The amount included a value added tax, VAT, of N74.945 billion.
Apart from the deduction for cost of collection by the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, of N6.621 billion, or 4%, similar deductions of N3.199billion, or 7%, went to the Nigerian Customs Service, NCS, and N2.389 billion or 4% for the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR.
Another N240 million was for the refund to the NCS.
Details of the distributable revenue available showed that statutory allocation was about N424.115billion, while gross revenue of N433.584 billion received was lower by N52.368 billion than the N485.952 billion earned in the previous month.
The AGF attributed the drop in revenue for the month to the crude oil production facility shut downs as well as shut-ins of production operations to allow for adequate maintenance and emergency repairs.
The disruptions in the normal operations, which resulted in the declaration of Force Majeure by the Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC during the period, the AGF said, were reported as the major incidents that negatively impacted crude oil revenue for the month.
While about N6.33 billion was refunded by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC to the Federal Government, the Federation Account also recorded Naira exchange gain of N6.409 billion, which was proposed for distribution.
Other details contained in the communique presented at the end of the meeting to reporters showed that the Federal Government took N202.111 billion, or 52.68 percent; States N102.513 billion, or 26.72 percent and Local Governments N79.033 billion, or 20.6 percent. Derivation payment of N28.209 billion, or 13 percent, went to the oil producing states.
Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance, Anastasia Daniel-Nwaobia, disclosed that Excess Revenue balance for the month stood at $2.257 billion.
On late payment of salaries to civil servants, Mrs. Daniel-Nwaobia blamed it on declining revenue earnings in the Federation Account, which has affected the normal schedule for the FAAC meetings and the distribution of the allocations to the various members by the Committee by the office of the AGF.
“Prior to the current revenue, challenges of government is facing, FAAC used to hold in the second week of the month. This used to give states enough time to prepare and pay salaries of their workers.
With the FAAC meeting now holding in the third week of the month, states are not having enough time after the money from the office of the AGF hits the accounts of members, and it shared through the Integrated Personal Payment Information System, IPPIS, system, resulting in the delays.”
She urged the civil servants to understand the difficulties the government was facing in discharging its obligations regularly, assuring that the current delays in the payment of salaries was a passing phase that would soon go away.
On speculations that government was considering granting exemption to some government agencies from the directive on the Treasury Single Account, TSA, the AGF said he was not aware of any such exemption to the policy.
“TSA is a government policy. For now, there is no exception. All agencies that are funded either 100 percent or partially through the national budget, as well as those agencies funded through other means are expected to key in to the policy,” the AGF said.
“I am not aware of any exception. We are here to debunk the rumour that all agencies are supposed to comply as directed. We are coming up with adequate guidelines for the entire process and for the enlightenment of the general public.”
Premium Times
Nigeria marks 500 days since Boko Haram kidnapped 200 schoolgirls that are still missing
Relatives of over 200 Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram militants marked 500 days on Thursday since the abductions, with hope dwindling for their rescue despite a renewed push to end the insurgency.
The landmark comes amid a worsening security crisis in northeastern Nigeria, where Islamists have stepped up deadly attacks since the inauguration of President Muhammadu Buhari, killing more than 1,000 people in three months.
Boko Haram fighters stormed the Government Secondary School in the remote town of Chibok in Borno state on the evening of April 14 last year, seizing 276 girls who were preparing for end-of-year exams.
Fifty-seven escaped but nothing has been heard of the 219 others since May last year, when about 100 of them appeared in a Boko Haram video, dressed in Muslim attire and reciting the Koran.
Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau has since said they have all converted to Islam and been "married off".
The Bring Back Our Girls social media and protest campaign staged a youth march in Abuja to mark the grim anniversary and have announced plans for an evening candle-lit vigil.
Dozens of young campaigners known as the "Chibok Girls Ambassadors" processed through the streets of the capital dressed in their signature red t-shirts, many with red ribbons tied to their hair and around their heads.
- 'Terribly ashamed' -
Joined by prominent clerics and other well-wishers, they carried placards bearing the names of the missing girls and banners displaying their pictures and campaign slogans.
"My heart bleeds for the children. I feel terribly ashamed," said Abuja's Catholic archbishop John Onaiyekan, dressed in his red cardinal's robes.
"I feel ashamed that about 300 girls should disappear just like that, even after we have been told that the military are doing very well, that they are making progress, routing the terrorists, scattering their camps."
Sheikh Nura Khalid, chief imam of the capital's Apo Mosque said he would be challenging all fellow Muslim clerics to "use our pulpits to be preaching for the freedom of the Chibok girls".
The mass abduction brought the brutality of the Islamist insurgency unprecedented worldwide attention and prompted a viral social media campaign demanding their release backed by personalities from US First Lady Michelle Obama to the actress Angelina Jolie.
Nigeria's government was criticised for its initial response to the crisis and Western powers, including the US, have offered logistical and military support to Nigeria's rescue effort, but there have been few signs of progress so far.
The military has said it knows where the girls are but has ruled out a rescue effort because of the dangers to their lives.
- Global sex trade -
Boko Haram, blamed for killing more than 15,000 people and forcing some 1.5 million to flee their homes in a six-year insurgency, has rampaged across Borno since Buhari came to power on May 29, vowing to crush the insurgency.
The fresh wave of violence has dealt a setback to a four-country offensive launched in February that had chalked up a number of victories against the jihadists.
An 8,700-strong Multi-National Joint Task Force, drawing in Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Benin, is expected to go into action soon.
In a report published in April, Amnesty International quoted a senior military officer as saying the girls were being held at various Boko Haram camps, including in Cameroon and possibly Chad.
The Chibok abduction was one of 38 the rights group has documented since the beginning of last year, with women and girls who escaped saying they were subject to forced labour and marriage, as well as rape.
Fulan Nasrullah, a respected Nigerian security analyst and blogger who claims specialist knowledge of the inner workings of Boko Haram, told AFP there was "no hope" of ever recovering most of the Chibok girls.
"Most have had kids by now and are married to their captors. Many have been sold into the global sex trade and are probably prostituting in Sudan, Dubai, Cairo and other far flung places," he said.
"Some have been killed probably in attempts to escape, air strikes on camps where they were being held, et cetera."
AFP
The landmark comes amid a worsening security crisis in northeastern Nigeria, where Islamists have stepped up deadly attacks since the inauguration of President Muhammadu Buhari, killing more than 1,000 people in three months.
Boko Haram fighters stormed the Government Secondary School in the remote town of Chibok in Borno state on the evening of April 14 last year, seizing 276 girls who were preparing for end-of-year exams.
Fifty-seven escaped but nothing has been heard of the 219 others since May last year, when about 100 of them appeared in a Boko Haram video, dressed in Muslim attire and reciting the Koran.
Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau has since said they have all converted to Islam and been "married off".
The Bring Back Our Girls social media and protest campaign staged a youth march in Abuja to mark the grim anniversary and have announced plans for an evening candle-lit vigil.
Dozens of young campaigners known as the "Chibok Girls Ambassadors" processed through the streets of the capital dressed in their signature red t-shirts, many with red ribbons tied to their hair and around their heads.
- 'Terribly ashamed' -
Joined by prominent clerics and other well-wishers, they carried placards bearing the names of the missing girls and banners displaying their pictures and campaign slogans.
"My heart bleeds for the children. I feel terribly ashamed," said Abuja's Catholic archbishop John Onaiyekan, dressed in his red cardinal's robes.
"I feel ashamed that about 300 girls should disappear just like that, even after we have been told that the military are doing very well, that they are making progress, routing the terrorists, scattering their camps."
Sheikh Nura Khalid, chief imam of the capital's Apo Mosque said he would be challenging all fellow Muslim clerics to "use our pulpits to be preaching for the freedom of the Chibok girls".
The mass abduction brought the brutality of the Islamist insurgency unprecedented worldwide attention and prompted a viral social media campaign demanding their release backed by personalities from US First Lady Michelle Obama to the actress Angelina Jolie.
Nigeria's government was criticised for its initial response to the crisis and Western powers, including the US, have offered logistical and military support to Nigeria's rescue effort, but there have been few signs of progress so far.
The military has said it knows where the girls are but has ruled out a rescue effort because of the dangers to their lives.
- Global sex trade -
Boko Haram, blamed for killing more than 15,000 people and forcing some 1.5 million to flee their homes in a six-year insurgency, has rampaged across Borno since Buhari came to power on May 29, vowing to crush the insurgency.
The fresh wave of violence has dealt a setback to a four-country offensive launched in February that had chalked up a number of victories against the jihadists.
An 8,700-strong Multi-National Joint Task Force, drawing in Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Benin, is expected to go into action soon.
In a report published in April, Amnesty International quoted a senior military officer as saying the girls were being held at various Boko Haram camps, including in Cameroon and possibly Chad.
The Chibok abduction was one of 38 the rights group has documented since the beginning of last year, with women and girls who escaped saying they were subject to forced labour and marriage, as well as rape.
Fulan Nasrullah, a respected Nigerian security analyst and blogger who claims specialist knowledge of the inner workings of Boko Haram, told AFP there was "no hope" of ever recovering most of the Chibok girls.
"Most have had kids by now and are married to their captors. Many have been sold into the global sex trade and are probably prostituting in Sudan, Dubai, Cairo and other far flung places," he said.
"Some have been killed probably in attempts to escape, air strikes on camps where they were being held, et cetera."
AFP
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Nigeria plans to set-up new national airline
Nigeria is setting up a committee to consult with local and international partners on establishing a national airline, the ministry of aviation said on Monday.
The committee will be chaired by a former pilot and will review reports on Nigeria's failed national carrier, Nigerian Airways, and other private airlines. It has four weeks to submit its findings.
The committee will also consult with Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) to determine the debt profile of domestic airlines. Three years ago, AMCON, a state-backed "bad bank" established in 2009, took on more than 132 billion naira ($663 million) of debts from 12 Nigerian airlines, including the biggest carrier, Arik, and Aero.
In a report seen by Reuters, the country's ruling party, the All Progressives Congress, proposed last month merging those dozen debt-laden airlines into a single carrier. The report said the airline should operate in partnership with a global airline.
British billionaire Richard Branson set up a domestic and international carrier called Virgin Nigeria in 2000, but he pulled out in 2010 in frustration at what he said was interference by politicians and regulators.
The airline he created, which was later rebranded Air Nigeria, closed in 2012 after collapsing under about 35 billion naira of debt, leaving it unable to pay staff, a former finance director of the company told Reuters at the time.
Reuters
The committee will be chaired by a former pilot and will review reports on Nigeria's failed national carrier, Nigerian Airways, and other private airlines. It has four weeks to submit its findings.
The committee will also consult with Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) to determine the debt profile of domestic airlines. Three years ago, AMCON, a state-backed "bad bank" established in 2009, took on more than 132 billion naira ($663 million) of debts from 12 Nigerian airlines, including the biggest carrier, Arik, and Aero.
In a report seen by Reuters, the country's ruling party, the All Progressives Congress, proposed last month merging those dozen debt-laden airlines into a single carrier. The report said the airline should operate in partnership with a global airline.
British billionaire Richard Branson set up a domestic and international carrier called Virgin Nigeria in 2000, but he pulled out in 2010 in frustration at what he said was interference by politicians and regulators.
The airline he created, which was later rebranded Air Nigeria, closed in 2012 after collapsing under about 35 billion naira of debt, leaving it unable to pay staff, a former finance director of the company told Reuters at the time.
Reuters
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