Jonathan to broadcast his speech conceding defeat

 

President Goodluck Jonathan will this evening(Tuesday) make a broadcast to Nigerians to formally concede defeat in the Saturday’s presidential election and further call for peace.

Although, the message will be recorded, our correspondent learnt that no specific time would be given to broadcast stations to air it.

#NigeriaDecides- Nigerians still awaits the final result

 

Buhari: Agriculture to Replace Oil as Major Revenue Earner

 

• 
  

The All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), has said his administration will strive to revive agriculture by taking practical and concrete steps to restore it to its glorious position as the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy.

He said his party would in addition give priority to tackling insecurity, corruption and implementing a comprehensive economic development plan geared towards promoting power supply, infrastructural development, industrialisation and job creation.

Buhari, who spoke at a dinner organised by the Abuja Private Sector Forum at the weekend on  the eve of the presidential debate from  where he opted out,  promised to run an efficient and transparent government and take practical and concrete steps to restore agriculture to its glorious position as the mainstay of our economy.

“We must stop paying lip service to agriculture by taking practical and concrete steps to restore it to its glorious position as the mainstay of our economy providing employment, food for our teeming population as well as leading foreign exchange earning,” he said.

On agricultural policy, Buhari said he will provide farmers with a dignified living through improved inputs, extension services, access to credits and price support mechanisms.

“We would re-vitalise the agricultural sector and make it the engine of growth, and source of job and wealth creation. Some of our policy thrust would include agricultural enterprises value chain and cluster development for commodities, and institutional framework and support for agribusiness investment.  In this regard, the Abuja Commodity Exchange shall be reinvigorated and supported.”

The former Head of State said he would work to maintain integrity and accountability in the affairs of governance if elected into office, adding that the main goal of his aspiration to lead the country is to help arrest economic drift and to promote the unity and development of our country.

“We shall also embark on a national infrastructural development programme that will promote road, air and water transportation in the country to make Nigeria a hub of the West African sub-region.

“We shall decisively bring the Boko Haram insurgency to an end and promote lasting peace and stability in all the nooks and crannies of our nation. We would ensure that the victims of the insurgency are adequately rehabilitated and supported to restore their means of livelihood.

“We shall make accountability and transparency the hallmarks of our administration by ensuring that resources are well utilised through plugging all loopholes and eliminating wastages and corruption in governance. Anti corruption agencies shall be strengthened and given free hand to operate in discharging their statutory mandate,” he said.

“We shall promote sound macro-economic policy environment, run an efficient and transparent government, restore and strengthen financial confidence by putting in place a more robust monitoring, supervision and regulation of all financial institutions,” he said

The candidate also assured that the APC government will work to see that everyone is free to live and work in every part of the country.

He also said the APC government would decisively bring the Boko Haram insurgency to an end and promote lasting peace and stability in all the nooks and crannies of the nation.

Speaking on the current dwindling oil prices that have brought about economic and social predicament, Buhari said his government would embark on multiple reform in the oil and gas sector and also refocus attention on agriculture as an alternative source of revenue.

“We would embark on multiple track reform in the oil and gas sector especially the government institutions like the NNPC, to block revenue transmission leakages and make them more efficient and accountable.”

Goodluck Jonathan: 600km Electrified Lagos-Ibadan Rail Track Project will Soon Take Off

 
President Goodluck Jonathan Says 3,500km of railway restored

President Goodluck Jonathan at the weekend assured Nigerians that the contract for the speed train to connect Ibadan and Lagos had been awarded and the project would soon take off.

The president, who was represented by Vice-President Namadi Sambo, gave the assurance at the ground-finale of the Press Play Empowerment seminar for university students  held at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa.

Jonathan, who spoke against the position of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Organisation (APCPCO), that the 600km electrified rail track was a hoax, noted that the federal government was sincere about the project.

“I believe we are all aware that in the last 30 to 40 years, railway was not working in Nigeria, as I speak to you, Mr President has brought back 3500km of railway in Nigeria.

“You can travel today by rail from Lagos to Kano; Enugu to Porth-Harcourt to Makurdi, to Jos, to Bauchi and Gombe.

“In addition to that, we are adding new standard gauge railway lines and I am pleased to inform you that the new rail lines connecting Abuja to Kaduna has been 100 per cent completed.

“The memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the construction of coastal rail lines that will go from Lagos to Benin to Delta to Onitsha, to Bayelsa, to River State, to Akwa-Ibom up to Calabar has been signed.

“When we came in 2010, the total kilometers of roads in Nigeria was 35,000 kilometres owned by the federal government and only 5000 kilometres can be considered motor-able and that was why at that period, everywhere, Nigerians were crying for good roads.” Jonathan said.

He added that is administration had constructed 20,000 kilometres of roads across the country.

The president stressed that Nigeria was on irreversible lane of progress with foreign investments commitments,  which according to him had risen to $5billion, while agriculture is on the track of taken its rightful place as the major source of economic growth and revenue.

Jonathan noted that with the transformation agenda of his administration, the country now export cement, and 2.1 million tons of parboiled rice are being produced in the country annually.

He commended the initiator of the Press Play Youth Empowerment Programme, Mrs. Angela Jide Jones and assured her of government support and encouragement in creating the most conducive environment for prosperity.

On her part, Jones explained that the Press Play Initiative was a series of Youth-centric programmes with the objectives of giving young men and women the opportunity to activate their entrepreneurial potential through training and mentoring.

She explained that the press play worked with the existing government agencies to bridge the knowledge gap and introduce the youths to immense possibilities available for them.

The coordinator said they were, at the moment, engaging university students across the country to challenge and educate them regarding the available opportunities.

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investments, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, said  government was supporting the initiative in line with the agenda of the Jonathan’s administration to ensure that youths are given the opportunity to achieve their potential and to address the challenge of unemployment.

He said skill acquisition and entrepreneurship are parts of the initiatives of government in addressing youth unemployment.

Aganga disclosed that the federal government created 2.5 million jobs between June 2012 and July 2014 and will not rest in it oars in tackling the challenge.

Danagog_hkn Celebrates his birthday

   
Happy birthday to  Danagog_hkn....Wishing you Longlife and prosperity

Insurgency: Japan Offers $3.4m Grants for IDPs in North East

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Friday received a grant of US $ 3.4 million or N750 million) for Integrated Provision of Life-Saving Emergency Interventions for Vulnerable Populations in the north east of Nigeria, from the Government of Japan.

The grant, according to UNICEF,  would be used for interventions focused on the Internally Displaced Persons and conflict affected populations in the north east of Nigeria in the sectors of Water Sanitation and Hygiene, Health, Nutrition, Child Protection and Education.

The conflict in the north east of Nigeria especially in the states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa has caused large scale human suffering for the populations in the areas especially children and women.

The conflict has triggered major population movements and the number of IDPs in the north east has almost doubled in less than a year, from an estimated 647,000 in May 2014 to what International Office of Migration reports is now around 1.2 million.

UNICEF estimated that children "make up about 56 per cent of those who have been internally displaced, with over half of them being five-years or younger."
UNICEF Country Director representative, Samuel Momanyi said:  “This grant is timely and will further boost the work UNICEF is doing in the northeast. It will make a significant lifesaving contribution to alleviate the suffering of the affected populations in the northeast especially children and women.

"Since 2000, the Government of Japan has been a major donor to UNICEF supporting interventions in child survival, prevention of infectious diseases in children and emergency interventions in Nigeria, through the UNICEF/Federal Government of Nigeria Programme of Cooperation," Momanyi observed.

Chargés d' Affaires of Embassy of Japan, Masaya Otsuka stated  that the "grant aid will bring humanitarian assistance to the affected populations, especially children in the northeast of Nigeria”.

Otsuka observed that “the Government of Japan will continue to cooperate with the people and Government of Nigeria and the international community to mitigate the conflict through non-military assistance, and to support Nigerian people affected by the conflict."

Court to Rule on Tinubu’s Suit against AIT on April 1st

 
Justice Iyabo Akinkugbe of an Ikeja High Court has fixed April 1 to rule on the interlocutory application filed by the National Leader of All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu against Africa Independent Television (AIT).

Tinubu, former Lagos State Governor had instituted a N150 billion suit against AIT, owned by Chief Raymond Dopkesi for peddling false accusations about his personality.

In the ex-parte motion filed by his lawyer, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), Tinubu sought an order of interim injunction restraining AIT whether by itself, agents, privies and or other persons from producing or continuing to broadcast, airing, or continuing to reproduce a documentary.

The motion also sought to restrain the TV station from continuing the broadcast of the documentary, which it started airing on March 1 and had been repeating daily, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice dated March 5, 2015.

The motion further noted that damages would not adequately compensate applicant/claimant if the ex-parte order was not granted and prayed that the rest of the suit may be extinguished if the ex-parte order was not granted.

It also noted that there was real, imminent and urgent threat and danger of continuing to decimate the person and integrity of Tinubu by AIT by continuing to air the “offensive” broadcast if the ex-parte motion was not granted.

Akinkugbe had last week granted an interim injunction restraining AIT from airing the said documentary pending the determination of the interlocutory application.

Moving the application yesterday, Chief Olanipeku urged the court to grant the motion as the defendants; AIT stands to lose nothing by temporary stopping the broadcast of the contentious documentary pending the determination of the substantive suit.

Olanipekun further stated that AIT's contention that most of the contents in the said documentary were already on various online publications was not an excuse to continue to broadcast the document.

He further noted that AIT's contention that the said documentary was a sponsored advertorial was also not an excuse to further continue the broadcast which had become a subject of litigation.

Olanipekun noted that AIT could not continue to make money at the expense of Tinubu who he claimed had never been convicted by any court of law either in Nigeria or abroad.

Responding, counsel to AIT, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN) insisted that Tinubu's applicant would not in any way be prejudiced if the court chooses to make an order stopping the broadcast.

Ozekhome informed the court that AIT had since stopped the broadcast of the documentary immediately after Tinubu instituted the suit.

He also contended that the issues contained in the documentary were already public knowledge as several website had already published similar facts.

He said since Tinubu had already demanded for N150 billion as compensation which is the worth of his purported damaged integrity, it would not be wise to grant his prayer for interlocutory injunction restraining AIT from further broadcasting the documentary.

Justice Akinkugbe adjourned the matter till April 1 for ruling, after listening to the arguments of both parties.

UNICEF: 2.5m Nigeria Gained Access to Safe Water in Rural Areas

   

A new report released by UNICEF indicates that about 2.3 billion people have gained access to improved sources of drinking water since 1990, showing a tremendous increase in the number of Nigerians with safe water.

According to UNICEF,  with the result, "the Millennium Development Goal target of halving the percentage of the global population without access was met in 2010."

Speaking on the report,  Chief of UNICEF,  Water and Sanitation, Kannan Nadar said in the case of sanitation, "nearly 2.5 billion people worldwide still do not have adequate toilets and among them 1 billion defecate in the open.

"With some 70 million people without access to safe water and over 110 million people without access to improved sanitation, Nigeria is currently not on-track with regard to its attainment of Water and sanitation targets."

He explained that "the poor bear the greatest brunt of this lack of access to water and sanitation. For women and girls, collecting water cuts into time they can spend caring for families and studying. In insecure areas, it also puts them at risk of violence and attack. UNICEF estimates that in Africa alone, people spend 40 billion hours every year just walking to collect water.

"For children, lack of access to safe water can be tragic. On average, nearly 1,000 of them die globally every day from diarrhoeal diseases linked to unsafe drinking water, poor sanitation, or poor hygiene."

This year’s theme on World Water Day, which falls on 22nd March, is “Water and Sustainable Development”.

UNICEF observed that "the theme aptly encapsulates the overarching role of water in our lives, be it for human consumption, food production, for health, for power generation, for industry and for the sustenance of nature as a whole, without which life would not exist."

Nadar stressed that "this year’s theme highlights the importance of water to our existence and emphasizes the need to look at the holistic development of the water sector, reduce water wastage and prevent contamination of this increasingly scarce resources.

“Everyone, be it the government, the civil society, international development partners and the citizens including children have a critical role to play in ensuring that water is sustainably used and is available for generations to come” Nadar said.

The project is spearheaded by UNICEF in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Water Resources as well as the state governments to promote use of sustainable approaches and technologies for water abstraction and use.

In the last two years nearly 2.5 million people gained access to safe water in rural areas through UNICEF support that also included funding from EU and UKAid. UNICEF-supported ‘WASH in Schools’ programming has also brought safe water, sanitation and hygiene facilities to thousands of school children in Nigeria.