kalpeters

Lagos – The Director- General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr Dakuku Peterside, said the Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, has initiated plans to create a national policy on Blue Economy. Peterside said this in Lagos on Thursday during an enlightenment workshop organised for directors of Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC). According to him, the national policy on Blue Economy would address issues bordering on aquatics, marine space and all aspects of the nation’s economy as it affects the seas and oceans. Peterside said that Africa remained underdeveloped in spite of the numerous geographical advantages as well as other natural resources in the region. He said that the continent’s inability to unlock the inherent potential in the seas and oceans stifled its economic growth over the years. Peterside said: “There is a relationship between the seas and oceans and wealth creation. “The problem with Africa is that it still relies on natural resou...

Nigeria will take $1 billion from a special account for oil-revenue savings to boost its war against Boko Haram Islamist militants in the country’s northeast. Governors of the country’s 36 states met with the federal government as the National Economic Council to deliberate on the expenditure, according to Godwin Obaseki, governor of southern Edo state. “The governors have given permission to the federal government to spend the sum of $1 billion in the fight against the insurgency,” he told reporters in Abuja after the meeting on Thursday. That will leave $1.32 billion remaining in the excess crude account, where oil income above budgeted estimates are saved, according to figures provided by the government. Boko Haram militants, who are opposed to Western education and seek to impose their version of Islamic law in Nigeria, are in the eighth year of their insurgency that has left at least 20,000 people dead, according to the government. President Muhammadu Buhari won elect...

Muslims nations grouped under Organisation of Islamic Cooperation(OIC) have declared East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine, while at the same time stripping America’s leader Donald Trump the role of a peacemaker in the region.  In a draft declaration prepared for the summit of the Muslim leaders in Istanbul, Turkey on Wednesday, the leaders said they considered Washington’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel as a sign of U.S. withdrawal from its role as a sponsor of Middle East peace. The draft statement said leaders, ministers and officials from more than 50 Muslim countries “declare East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine, and invite all countries to recognize the State of Palestine and East Jerusalem as its occupied capital.” A copy of the draft declaration, tweeted by Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, said the meeting rejected and condemned the U.S. move “in the strongest terms”. It described the U.S. decision ...

LAGOS — The Federal Government, yesterday, paid N421 million to the Ikoyi whistle blower, who provided information leading to the discovery of $43.5 million, £27,800 and N23.2 million at No. 16 Osborne Road, Ikoyi, Lagos. Vanguard exclusively gathered that the money was paid to the beneficiary by officials of the Ministry of Finance after which he left Nigeria for an undisclosed country It was further learned that the eventual recipient of the reward money was the person who had earlier been taken to Yaba Psychiatric Hospital, Lagos, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on the suspicion that he could be mad. However, what government paid in line with the Whistle-blower Policy which recommended 2-5 per cent of any amount recovered for a whistle blower, was not the total amount due the Ikoyi whistle-blower. When the next tranche would be paid could not be confirmed by Vanguard. My client’s been paid — Lawyer The whistle-blower’s lawyer, Mr. Yakubu Galadima, had in Nov...

PRESIDENT-General of apex Igbo Socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief John Nnia, has vowed to sabotage any attempt to levy war on Igboland in the name of agitation for Biafra. Chief Nwodo made the vow, yesterday, while addressing Ndigbo in Lagos at the practice pitch of the National Stadium. Nnia Nwodo, President-General of Ohanaeze Recalling how he lost his best friend at the war front during the Nigeria-Biafra war, how more than two million Igbo lost their lives and how many dreams were aborted, Nwodo said as a leader he would not fold his arms and watch his people suffer such destruction again. Nwodo said he is not against the agitation for Biafra self determination and cries of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB because the Igbo are truly marginalised and oppressed in Nigeria.  Recalling how he lost his best friend at the war front during the Nigeria-Biafra war, how more than two million Igbo lost their lives and how many dreams were aborted, Nwodo said as a le...

Reasons why Wizkid's music video 'Manya' was removed by YouTube has been revealed following controversies it generated. Wizkid   Ayo Balogun, aka Wizkid’s latest song, Manya, which was recently uploaded to YouTube, has been removed.   There have been rumours trying to explain the reason the video was pulled down, however, reports say 'Manya' was removed because of Wizkid’s agreement with Sony music.   The contract allegedly places a limitation on the amount of local content he can release. Perhaps this is why he didn’t do a video for all his songs this year. The video can now be found on one Mutay of Legendary Beatz’s YouTube account.   Manya video was number one trending song on YouTube before it was taken down. Now, the video is neither on Wizkid’s VEVO nor on Starboy’s YouTube.   Before it was pulled down, the video amassed over 1.5 million views within a week.  

Kenyatta is currently promoting integration and coexistence by the mass allocation of visas to foreigners on the condition of marriage.   President Uhuru Kenyatta   President Uhuru Kenyatta said on Tuesday that any African can get a visa on arrival in Kenya, and will be free to settle in the country if they marry a Kenyan, removing restrictions on some nations.   “If you wish and find a willing partner, you can marry and settle in Kenya,”  he said during his inauguration address after being sworn-in for a second term in office, saying the move was designed to cement African ties

Prominent Nigerian influential politicians including Donald Duke, Pat Utomi and activist lawyer, Olisa Agabakoba, have formed a new political group ahead of 2019 elections. As political actors commence preliminary activities geared towards capturing power in 2019, some eminent Nigerians yesterday floated a new political movement which will serve as an intervention force to rescue the citizenry from those they described as political predators.   The movement known as the National Intervention Movement, has in its fold, a former Governor of Cross River State, Mr Donald Duke; renowned political economist, Prof. Pat Utomi; former President, Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Dr Olisa Agbakoba, as well as Dr. Abdul-Jhalil Tafawa Balewa, son of Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Nigeria’s first Prime Minister.   Others are a former Vice President, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and General Secretary of the National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria, Comrade...

Nigeria’s sale of Liquefied Natural Gas to Japan plunged last month, as the Asian country’s total LNG imports slipped by 2.3 per cent year on year to 6.1 million metric tonnes, data released by the Ministry of Finance showed on Wednesday. Nigeria sent only one cargo in October, down 49 per cent year on year, at a price of $292.98/MT, or $5.634/MMBtu, according to Platts. The Maran Gas Amphipolis delivered a Nigeria cargo into Futtsu LNG terminal on October 9, cFlow showed. Australia continued to be the largest supplier, shipping 1.75 million metric tonnes in October, down by 6.3 per cent. Malaysia’s volume rose by 20 per cent from a year earlier to around 1.1 million metric tonnes, making it the second largest supplier, while imports from Qatar fell by 34 per cent year on year to 778,489 metric tonnes. Japan received a 66,311-mt cargo from Peru last month. The Maran Gas Efessos delivered a Peruvian cargo to Joetsu LNG receiving terminal on October 24, according to S&P Gl...

Churchill Okonkwo reacts to the dramatic silence of the Indigenous People of Biafra after Nnamdi Kanu's disappearance following a military action. Churchill Okonkwo writes on IPOB   This is the confessions of a dangerous mind that lied, to tell the truth. Even though it is very dark where I am held against my wish, I saw IPOB shake and tremble, and then fall to pieces like a house of cards. By using IPOB to promote the divisive rhetoric of seductive but destructive whisper that is pushing Ndigbo to the false comfort zone of isolationism, I erred.   I scratched the itching eye with the piece of wood meant for scratching an itching ear. In my arrogance, I never imagined that should the Nigerian security operatives make a determined effort to extinguish me, the human rocks I had piled as a barrier around my father’s house would come tumbling down. The invasion of my father’s house by murderous Nigerian security operatives and the subsequent killing of many of my un...