Chief of Army Staff Yahaya Tasks Troops To Destroy All Terrorists’ Enclaves

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June 27, 2021

Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Major General, Faruk Yahaya, has urged troops of Sector 2 Joint Task Force North East Operation Hadin Kai to destroy all Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province terrorist enclaves in their various locations.

The Director, Army Public Relations, Brigadier General, Onyema Nwachukwu, in a statement, said that Yahaya gave the charge while addressing troops in Damaturu, Yobe State.

The COAS commended the troops for the successful conduct of various operations which include, Operation Ayiso Tamunoma, Katana Jimlan, Fire Ball and Operation Tura Takaibango among others.

He enjoined them to use their experiences from the series of operations to destroy the remnants of the marauding terrorists within their area of responsibility.

Yahaya assured them of improved welfare and a new reward system for troops who performed gallantly in any operation.

According to the statement, the Commander Sector 2 Operation Hadin Kai, Brigadier General Adamu Nura had earlier briefed the COAS on the operational engagements and challenges in the sector.

In a related development, the Army Chief also charged troops in the Theatre of Operation Hadin Kai (OPHK) to be decisive and alert in the fight against ISWAP and Boko Haram Terrorists in the North-East.

The COAS gave the charge while addressing troops of Sector 3 Operation Hadin Kai and Multinational Joint Task Force, Monguno in Borno State during his maiden operational tour of the Sector.

General Faruk Yahaya, who lauded the level of discipline and commitment exhibited by troops of the Sector to duty, admonished them to be apolitical, decisive and circumspect in all their operational engagements.

He charged them to sustain the aggressive tempo of the operations and keep the flag flying, in order to bring the insurgency to an end in the northeast.

Federal Government Says No Plans To Ban Gas Cylinder Imports

By

Precious Obazee

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June 27, 2021

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As part of the National Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) expansion and implementation plan, the Federal Government says it has no immediate plans to ban the importation of cylinders.

The Senior Special Assistant on Domestic Gas in the office of the Vice President, Dayo Adesina disclosed this in an interview with Journalists on Sunday in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital

He said that the government was working on first building local capacities before contemplating a ban.

According to Adesina, who is also the Programme Manager, National Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) expansion and implementation, Nigeria still had a lot of cylinder deficits to fill in meeting the LPG expansion plan.

He explained that the plan was to get LPG to the remotest of villages and discourage the use of firewood and other fuels inimical to the environment.

Adesina said that there were only about two million gas cylinders, in the country with a population of over two hundred million people which he said was very poor compared to other countries.

He pointed out that Brazil, with a population similar to Nigeria, has a cylinder population of 150 million and an additional five million injected annually.

For India, he said that the cylinder population was over 100 million while Mexico had a cylinder population of almost 100 million.

Adesina said that the government needs to move quickly to inject cylinders nationwide if it must keep its commitment to reducing emission.

He stressed that banning importation now would not be a solution, adding that the rather logical thing to do would be to gradually build local capacity until the nation can become self-sufficient in production.

Classified Ministry Of Defence Documents Found At Bus Stop

By

Precious Obazee

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June 27, 2021

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Classified Ministry of Defence documents containing details about HMS Defender and the British military have been found at a bus stop in Kent.

One set of documents discusses the likely Russian reaction to the ship’s passage through Ukrainian waters off the Crimea coast on Wednesday, while another details plans for a possible UK military presence in Afghanistan after the US-led Nato operation there ends.

The government said an investigation has been launched, however a Ministry of Defence spokesperson said an employee had reported the loss of sensitive defence papers, adding that It would be inappropriate to comment further.

The documents, almost 50 pages in all, were found in a soggy heap behind a bus stop in Kent early on Tuesday morning.

A member of the public, who wishes to remain anonymous, contacted the BBC when he realised the sensitive nature of the contents.

The BBC believes the documents, which include emails and PowerPoint presentations, originated in the office of a senior official at the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

The documents relating to the Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyer, HMS Defender, show that a mission described by the MoD as an innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters, with guns covered and the ship’s helicopter stowed in its hangar was conducted in the expectation that Russia might respond aggressively.

On Wednesday more than 20 Russian aircraft and two coastguard ships shadowed the warship as it sailed about 12 miles (19km) off Crimea’s coast.

Moscow’s defence ministry said a patrol ship fired warning shots and a jet dropped bombs in the destroyer’s path but the UK government rejected this account, denying any warning shots had been fired.

The mission, dubbed “Op Ditroite”, was the subject of high-level discussions as late as Monday, the documents show, with officials speculating about Russia’s reaction if HMS Defender sailed close to Crimea.

Sajid Javid Replaces Matt Hancock As Health Secretary

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Precious Obazee

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June 27, 2021

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Sajid Javid says he wants to see a return to normal as quickly as possible after replacing Matt Hancock as health secretary.

Speaking on Sunday, Javid said he would do all he could to deliver for the people of the United Kingdom.

His appointment comes after Hancock stood down on Saturday for breaching Covid rules with inappropriate act with a colleague.

Javid, who has had several key government roles, said his predecessor had worked incredibly hard.

Javid’s return to a senior cabinet role comes 16 months after his shock resignation as chancellor, in February last year, a month before he was due to deliver his first Budget.

At the time, the prime minister ordered him to fire his closest aides and replace them with advisers chosen by Number 10 if he wanted to remain in post – conditions he said he was “unable to accept”.

Javid, who had clashed with the prime minister’s former chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, chose to quit instead and was replaced by his former deputy at the Treasury, Rishi Sunak.

Meanwhile, his appointment has been criticized by Labour, saying he had been an architect of austerity that weakened the NHS.

Speaking on Sunday to reporters, Javid said Hancock had achieved a lot in the role, adding “I’m sure he will have more to offer in public life”.

Opioid Addiction Crisis: Johnson & Johnson To Pay $230m To Settle Claim

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Precious Obazee

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June 27, 2021

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United States drugs giant Johnson & Johnson is to pay $230m (£165m) to settle claims it fuelled an opioid addiction crisis in New York State.

The firm did not admit liability or wrongdoing in settling with the state.

The payments remove it from a trial due to begin on Tuesday in which several large opioid makers and distributors are defendants.

J&J said the settlements were consistent with a prior agreement to pay $5bn to settle US opioid claims.

The settlement with New York State also calls for J&J to stop selling the painkillers nationwide.

Opioids are a class of powerful drugs found in opium poppies that can be used to block pain signals between the brain and the body.

They can be found as legal prescription medications, but they can also be found as illegal street drugs, such as heroin.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, opioid addiction to both legal and illegal drugs has been a serious, ongoing problem in countries such as the US, which had nearly half a million deaths from overdoses between 1999 and 2019.

Johnson & Johnson and the largest US drug distributors – AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson – have proposed paying a combined $26bn to end thousands of opioid lawsuits.

J&J has also been appealing against an Oklahoma judge’s 2019 ruling that it pay the state $465m for deceptive marketing of opioids.

Tuesday’s opioids trial is one of several scheduled for this year, with others under way in California and West Virginia.

Drugmakers AbbVie and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and several distributors are among the defendants.

In October Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin painkillers, reached an $8.3bn settlement and agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges to resolve an investigation into its role in America’s opioid crisis.

2023 General Elections: INEC Raises Special Panel, Targets 200,000 Electronic Voting Machines

By

Precious Obazee

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June 27, 2021

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The Independent National Electoral Commission has proposed to buy about 200,000 electronic voting machines to cater for the 176,846 Polling Units in the country in preparation for the 2023 general elections.

The agency’s Electronic Voting Implementation Committee has been reconstituted and has commenced work.

INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, told journalists that a team of INEC’s in-house engineers were currently evaluating proposals submitted by 49 companies, both local and foreign, for the supply of the machines.

The commission said its engineering team would consider factors such as the machines’ ruggedness and design before short-listing any of the companies.

Okoye said there were about 176,846 Polling Units in the country, and each polling unit must be serviced by at least one electronic voting machine adding that the commission must also acquire redundancies or backups.

The commission stated that companies that came for the RFI demonstration were from Nigeria, the Netherlands, China, the United States, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and India.

speaking on the reason for the delay in short-listing the successful companies, the INEC commissioner cited factors such as the COVID-19 fiasco, expansion of voter access to Polling Units, and the constitutive legal instrument backing up the deployment of e-voting machines in the electoral process.

Okoye said the resumption of the Continuous Voter Registration exercise had taken a lot of the commission’s attention, adding that an Electronic Voting Implementation Committee had been reconstituted and had commenced work.

University of Abuja Management Cautions Students Against Drug Abuse

By

Precious Obazee

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June 27, 2021

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The Vice Chancellor, University of Abuja, Gwagwalada, Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah, has cautioned students of the institution to refrain from drug abuse and illicit trafficking, for a healthier future.

The Vice Chancellor gave the advice at a public lecture to commemorate the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, organised by the International Centre of the University.

The International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, is marked on June 26, every year, to strengthen action and cooperation in achieving a world free of drug abuse.

Speaking on the theme, “Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking: Consequences and Solutions,” Na’Allah said that the university was determined to invest in ensuring that students were developed into global citizens.

He said they cannot be global, if there is no locality but the locality cannot survive without the global, they have to work together.

He added that whatever the challenges are, if there is a global agenda to resolving them, they are often always resolved.

Na’Allah said the global world has enormous opportunities to work together to resolve human challenges, and the university of Abuja has determined strategically that it would be part of the globe.

He said public lecture was part of the goals of the world to stop drug abuse, with the knowledge that drug abuse is at the centre of a lot of crises that are adversely affecting the country.

On her part, the Director, International Centre and Associate Professor of International Law and also the convener, said the that the university decided to celebrate the day, to enlighten the new intakes not to be influenced into drugs.

She said that university institutions all over the world were the epicentres of different kinds of drug related activities and illicit trafficking, due to the combination of different characters.

According to her, the call against drug abuse to the new students was paramount, because the university environment has become a breeding ground for all manner of drug abuse and illicit trafficking.

Security Operatives Arrest Four for Vandalising JAMB CBT Centre In Bayelsa State

By

Precious Obazee

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June 27, 2021

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The Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) in Bayelsa State has arrested four candidates sitting for the ongoing Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations for vandalising a Computer Based Test (CBT) centre at Otuoke, Bayelsa State.

The state Commandant of the Corps, Christiana Abiakam-Omanu, disclosed this while speaking with newsmen in Yenagoa, adding that the suspects were arrested at a Computer-Based Test centre in Federal University, Otuoke.

She warned that NSCDC would not tolerate vandalism of government infrastructure, as the corps remains totally committed to its mandate and would spare no effort in prosecuting vandals.

She disclosed that the four male candidates who registered for the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) CBT examination in Otuoke centre in Ogbia Local Government Area of the state disrupted the smooth exercise that was going on at the centre and destroyed some facilities.

According to her, the suspects were allowed to participate in the examination having been registered by JAMB as candidates for the exams before they were arrested.

She warned any candidate who wants to follow the same line to stay clear from all CBT centres in the state as the NSCDC would bring offenders to face the law.

The commandant said that investigation is ongoing to unravel other suspects to make them face the full weight of the law.

The four suspects who admitted committing the offence however regretted their actions, appealing for leniency from the government over their actions.

They advised other candidates participating in the examination not to follow the part of protest, which can cause trouble for them as JAMB candidates in the centre.

Nigeria To Setup Communication Architecture for Unity Schools To Stop Students’ Abduction

By

Precious Obazee

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June 27, 2021

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The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, says the federal government is considering greater security measures to ensure that cases of abduction are no longer recorded in the nation’s 110 unity colleges across the country.

He described part of the security measures being considered as a complex and sophisticated communication architecture.”

The ministry’s Director of Press, Ben Goong, who disclosed this in a statement issue in Abuja on Saturday, quoted the minister as speaking at the Federal Government College Otobi, Benue State.

He was said to have spoken through the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Sonny Echono, at the inauguration of some projects at the college.

The statement quoted the minister as saying, “The safety of our children is a topmost priority to the government of President Muhammadu Buhari. The government would leave no stone unturned in her efforts to ensure the safe recovery of the remaining abducted children of Federal Government College, Birnin Yauri, in Kebbi State

The statement further read “The federal government is putting in place greater security measures, including a complex and sophisticated communication architecture that would make it almost impossible for bandits and other criminal elements to operate, so as to safeguard all unity colleges as well as prevent a reoccurrence of the Yauri ugly experience.”

The minister was also quoted as saying that the Federal Government has approved the full engagement of teachers from the Parent Teachers Associations across unity colleges. The ministry has already begun the process that would lead to the regularisation of the appointments of these teachers.

He added that the engagement of the PTA teachers would be restricted to qualified teachers who meet the new entry requirements into the teaching profession in Nigeria.

Uruemu Adejinmi Becomes First Black Female Elected Mayor In Ireland

By

Angel Gimalo

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June 26, 2021

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Nigerian, Uruemu Adejinmi has emerged as the first migrant, first African and the first black female to be elected as Mayor in the Republic of Ireland.

With Ms Adejimi’s new election as Cathaoirleach of the Longford Municipal District, she also becomes the first female African mayor in the country, Irish Times reports.

Reacting to her victory, Ms Adejinmi who is the current councillor of Fianna Fail, stated in a statement that she was “deeply honoured” to assume the new position.”

“This is a historic day for Longford and I am delighted to share this moment with my family and friends.

“I look forward to working with my council colleagues, council exec and all stakeholders to continue the growth and development of our municipal area and county,” she added.

After migrating from Nigeria to Longford in 2003, Ms Adejinmi in 2016 joined Fianna Fail before assuming the post of local councillor in 2020.

She attributes her involvement in politics to her neighbour who asked her to join Fianna Fail saying, “If it wasn’t for my neighbour asking me to join his party, I wouldn’t have considered politics.”

Speaking to the Irish Times on the challenges faced by migrants who try to get involved in politics, Ms Adejinmi admonished political parties to “engage more actively” with migrants, noting that, “there is no shortage of talent in the migrant community but there is a shortage of community leaders from migrant backgrounds.”

The Masters of Business Administration holder from Athlone Institute of Technology identified jobs and housing as her key priorities.

“I am hoping to lobby for an influx of industry. Hopefully businesses will take a look at starting in Longford and that would help a lot of people who are leaving or commuting because of the lack of jobs,” she said.