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High Costs: Nigerian Bakers Suspend Bread Production

By
Elizabeth Williams
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Effective Thursday July 21, Bakers, under the aegis of the Premium Bread Makers Association of Nigeria  announced to halt production of their products,.

According to a statement signed by the President of the association, Emmanuel Onuorah, operating a bakery in Nigeria has become almost impossible as the incessant increases in the prices of baking materials and diesel have affected the industry negatively.

The Association President said bakeries were running in losses and the situation was no longer sustainable.

According to Onuorah , bread is a staple food and one of the cheapest ‘grab and go’ food that is available for both the poor and the rich.

“It, therefore, behooves the Federal Government to be mindful of this and ensure the survival and sustainability of the industry,” he said.

The statement read in part, “In a move to ensure the survival of the premium bread-making industry in Nigeria, we have decided to embark on a withdrawal of services beginning from Thursday 21st of July, 2022 for four days in the first instance and where there is no intervention from the government, we shall escalate the duration of the withdrawal.”

“The reasons for the withdrawal of services include an incessant increase in the price of baking materials, Federal Government’s 15 per cent wheat development levy on wheat import, NAFDAC’s N154,000 penalty charged for late renewal of certificates, the inability of its members to access grants and soft loans being given by the Central Bank of Nigeria to Micro, Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises and multi-agencies regulation of the bread-making industry.”

According to the statement, the association’s series of meetings with the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment in 2021 did not the desired result hence its decision to embark on the strike.

Last month, the Association of Master Bakers and Caterers of Nigeria via a communique issued, and signed by the association’s executives, led by Mansur Umar, had declared that it would embark on two-week strike action in response to skyrocketing prices of baking materials.

ASUP Slams Abia Govt. Over Withdrawal of Poly Accreditation

By
Rhoda Onuzulike
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The National President, Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP),  Anderson Ezeibe, has said that the withdrawal of Abia State Polytechnic’s accreditation is an indictment of the state government.

Ezeibe said this when he spoke with the News correspondents in Aba while reacting to the withdrawal of the polytechnic’s accreditation.

Recall that the institution’s accreditation was withdrawn by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) on Tuesday for alleged non-payment of workers’ salaries for over 30 months.

The ASUP president called on the state government to act quickly to save the future of students studying at the institution.

Ezeibe blamed the state government for failing to act after NBTE allegedly wrote letters to it on the matter.

He said that the NBTE also held meetings with ASUP and the government, after which a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the parties.

“Recall the intervention of our union two years ago, which resulted in a mini-summit to discuss the issues of lack of subvention, which made it difficult for salaries to be paid.

“It is as if we saw this day coming; what is going on now at Abia Polytechnic clearly vindicates the position of our union that acted to stop it.

“At that time, the salaries owed the Abia polytechnic staff was about 18 months, but today they are owed about 34 months.

“This means nothing improved in spite of the MOU signed at the end of the summit on the responsibilities of the state government to the institution.

“The government abandoned that agreement and continued on the path of starving the institution of funds,” he said.

According to Ezeibe, the step taken by NBTE on Abia Polytechnic is its way of saying that the action of the state government is offending their regulatory instruments.

The Secretary to the State Government, Chris Ezem, in a special announcement, said the governor, who described NBTE’s action as embarrassing, appealed to students of the institution and other well-meaning Abians to remain calm.

Copy Of Shakespeare’s First Folio Sells For $2.4m In New York

By
Koko Lawrence
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A copy of Shakespeare’s First Folio has sold in New York for $2.4m (32m).

Published in 1623, seven years after the Stratford-upon-Avon writer’s death, it features 36 manuscripts.

They include 18 plays that would have otherwise been lost, such as Macbeth and The Tempest.

About 750 copies of the First Folio were originally printed, but only 232 have survived, auctioneers Sothebys said, and only a handful of those are in private collections.

It includes an engraved portrait of the author and poetical tributes by Ben Johnson and others.

The copy auctioned on Thursday in New York is estimated to be one of just 20 remaining in private ownership with the rest currently displayed in museums and libraries across the world.

John Heminges and Henry Condell, Shakespeare’s partners in the acting company the King’s Men, compiled and edited the pieces as a means of preserving half of the Bard’s plays.

Of the 39 plays written by Shakespeare, 18 including Antony and Cleopatra, The Tempest, Twelfth Night, Julius Caesar, The Taming of the Shrew, and All’s Well that Ends Well, are known due to being a part of the folio, Sotheby’s said.

Govt. Implements Mobile Flood Solution in Lagos Community

By
Rhoda Onuzulike
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The Lagos State Government has started implementation of the innovative mobile flood barrier and management solution called “SLAMDAM”.

Director, Lagos State Drainage and Planning Services, Tayo Fagbeku said in a statement on Tuesday in Lagos that the implementation began at Omojuwa Estate in Kosofe Local Government Area.

SLAMDAM is an easily deployable water-filled flood barrier.

The innovative project is implemented as part of the Adaptation Benefit Mechanism programmed by the African Development Bank Group (AfDB).

Fagbeku said that the state decided to be part of the project because it is not averse to innovative ideas that would be of benefit to the people.

“This innovative project will also contribute to the various solutions we have in managing floods in Lagos.

“We express our delight at this development and the result of this pilot has been excellent and encouraging.

“The project aims to implement innovative solutions to mitigate flood risks and strengthen resilience to climate change-induced flooding at the community level.

”The project is designed to implement a small-scale high-impact highly replicable climate change adaptation demonstration technique with a focus on the water sector in Nigeria,” he said.

Chief Executive Officer, Natural Eco Capital, Dr Eugene Itua said that the pilot started in Kosofe and Iponri communities in the state.

Itua said that SLAMDAM and other associated types of equipment were being given free of charge through the AfDB supported project.

He noted that an interesting aspect of the entire solution was that water was being used to fight water.

Also, The Project Lead Consultant and Chief Executive Officer, Zephyr, Omar Saleh, said that the location was selected through interaction with relevant stakeholders, field visits and hydrodynamic modeline software.

According to Saleh, this is followed by determining the deployment strategy and locations for the flood barrier.

He said that the project also developed and tested the ABM methodology, with an innovative method to support rapid mobilisation of funding to further scale-up climate adaptive measures such as SLAMDAM.

In his contribution, Community leader in Omojuwa Estate, Charles Otabor said that the project team trained some members of the community as the initial  flood response team.

Otabor said that the first responders who had been trained with hands-on demonstration of the technology showed the people that the technology was simple for anyone to use without a degree from the university.

He promised that the people would utilise the equipment appropriately for the benefit of the community and the state.

SLAMDAM is the only manufacturer of a TUV-certified temporary dam in the world and was  awarded the most effective solution against floods in 2018 in a defense competition.

Reps move to make JAMB result valid for 4yrs

By
Henry Williams
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A Bill seeking to make Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) results valid for four years has passed second reading in the House of Representatives.

The amendment of the JAMB Act was sponsored by Tolulope Sadipe (APC-Oyo), at the plenary on Thursday.

Leading the debate, Sadipe said many students sit for the JAMB examination, come up with good grades, but for one reason or the other, they ended up not being offered admission, for no fault of theirs.

She said these students and their parents, were made to bear the financial burden to sit for the examination the next year.

According to her, the excuse that JAMB allegedly keeps bringing up, in that regard, was that it was revenue generation for them.

EFCC ‘Mistakenly’ Names Min Of Finance In 109b Fraud Charge Against Suspended AGF Ahmed Idris, Others

By
Henry Williams
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There was mild drama at the Federal Capital Territory High Court sitting in Abuja on Friday when the charge sheets were read before the Accountant-General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, and the name of the permanent secretary of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Aliyu Ahmed, was listed in Count 11.

The EFCC arraigned Idris, Godfrey Olusegun Akindele, Mohammed Kudu Usman and Gezawa Commodity Market and Exchange Limited before the court.

They were charged on 14 counts of unlawful gratification, stealing and criminal breach of trust to the tune of N109, 485,572,691.9

However, when count 11 was read , the Registrar of the court said that Mohammed Kudus Usman while being a director in the AGF and Aliyu Ahmed, Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Finance , knowingly acquired a consultancy interest for their personal motive.

But EFCC lawyer, Rotimi Jacob expressed shock and prayed the court to expunge the phrase capturing the Ministry of Finance.

Kidnapped university student rescued from Cross River creek: Police

By
Henry Williams
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The police command in Cross River says it has rescued a student of Arthur Jarvis University, kidnapped on July 19, from the campus in Akpabuyo local government area, near Calabar.

Police spokeswoman Irene Ugbo confirmed the rescue of the victim on Friday in Calabar.

“Our men have rescued the victim. A crack team of officers combed the creeks of Akpabuyo and rescued the victim at about 11:00 p.m., on Thursday night. The manhunt was based on the order of the Commissioner of Police, Mr Aminu Alhassan, and we thank God that the student was rescued alive,” said the police spokeswoman.

The police said the student, a female, “is recovering and also receiving treatment at the moment.”

“This is a serious note of warning that we will not tolerate any form of criminality in any part of the state. No matter where they hide, we shall always smoke them out, no matter how long it takes,” Ms Ugbo added. “We are not going to allow any person or group to carry out any nefarious activity in any part of Cross River.”

When contacted, the university’s chancellor and founder, Arthur-Jarvis Archibong, commended the police for rescuing the student alive.

Police Vows To Deal With Attackers Of PHED Staff

By
Henry Williams
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Rivers State Police Command has threatened to deal decisively with those assaulting Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution, PHED, Plc and vandalizing the electricity distribution company’s equipment.

The command also said all the cases involving PHED would be transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department, CID, of the police command with a view to ensuring speedy investigation and prosecution of such cases and bringing culprits to justice.

Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Friday Eboka, spoke when the new Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, MD/CEO, of PHED, Dr. Benson Uwheru, visited the commissioner in his office.

Uwheru, had during a courtesy visit to the CP at the state Police Headquarters in Port Harcourt, among others, requested the commissioner to empower officers of the command to assist the company in tackling vandalism, meter by-pass and staff assault by arresting persons found culpable of these offences generally classified as economic sabotage.

Responding, CP Eboka acknowledged the symbiotic relationship between PHED and the Police, noting that both agencies were public service organisations.

He granted the requests, assuring that ‘all the cases concerning PHED will now be transferred and centralised at the Criminal Investigation Department of the Command so they can be treated with dispatch.”

Bank of Industry posts N53.4 billion profit in big recovery from pandemic squeeze

By
Henry Williams
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Bank of Industry (BOI) shook off the cost pressures from pandemic lockdowns that depressed its bottom-line by 9.6 per cent in 2020 to record a post-tax profit, which jumped eight times over the previous year, according to the financials of the Abuja-based development bank seen by PREMIUM TIMES.

The comeback hung on its bumper revenue of N184.6 billion which, thanks to a much-improved net interest income that eclipsed that of the previous year by 40 per cent.

More than it did the year before, the government-controlled lender earned the bulk of its interest income from investment in debt instruments.

Standing at N107.5 billion this time, it surpassed the combined value of other contributors to that earnings category including loans & advances plus placements with financial institutions.

But for all that, the coronavirus crisis, although not widely devastating as it was in 2021, still had its reverberations across the balance sheet.

NDLEA Seizes 505.3kg Drugs, Arrests 105 Suspects In Kaduna

By
Koko Lawrence
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The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Kaduna State on Friday said its operatives seized 505.343Kg of drugs and arrested 105 suspects in June in the state.

The Commander, Kaduna state Command, Umar Adoro, disclosed this in an interview with newsmen in Kaduna.

Adoro said that the agency also dismantled 10 illicit drug joints within the period.

According to him, the joints, included Trailer Park Maraba Jos, Badarawa, Angwan Dosa, Barnawa and Standard Palace Hotel.

“Others are Sabon Tasha, Kudandan, Maraban Yakawada in Giwa, Makarfi and Hunkuyi all in Kaduna state.

He said that the drugs seized within the period included Cannabis Sativa 229.257kg; Cocaine 0.212kg; heroine 0.033kg; Tramadol 5.287kg; psychotropic substance 270.448kg and methamphetamine 0.106kg.

He said that out of 105 suspects, 99 were males while six were females.

Adoro, however, appealed to parents and guardians to be watchful of their children all the times.

He reassured Kaduna citizens of the commitment of NDLEA to rid the area of all forms of drug trafficking and drug abuse.

He therefore advised drug traffickers to engage in legitimate businesses or stand the risk of arrest and prosecution.

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