Nedu Echianu's Blog

Welcome to a new Legislative Day in the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria! Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, led the Principal Officers into the chambers; took the official prayers; and began the day’s proceedings at 10:50am. Senator Barnabas Gemade moved for the approval of votes and proceedings of Tuesday, 27th February, 2018. Senator Fatimat Raji-Rasaki seconded. EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATION Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki read a letter from Mr. President on the declination of assent on the Peace Corp establishment Bill recently passed by National Assembly. Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki read a letter from Ghana Parliament, inviting the Nigerian Senate to Ghana Parliament on the 5th of March, 2018. ANNOUNCEMENT Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki asked Deputy Chairman Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Sonni Ogbuoji where we are on the budget? Senator Sonni Ogbuoji said: "we do not have any comprehensi

The President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has assured of the quick passage of the Disability Rights Bill which is currently before the National Assembly. He further assured that the bill already passed by the two chambers of National Assembly would be sent to President Muhammadu Buhari for his assent before the end of March this year. Saraki spoke on Wednesday when the Chairman of the Kpakpando Foundation, Senator Osita Izunaso, led members of the foundation to pay him a courtesy visit at the National Assembly in Abuja. According to a statement by the Senate President's Special Assistant on Print Media, Chuks Okocha, Saraki told the foundation that the two chambers of the National Assembly have since passed the Disability Rights Bill, but wondered why there was no conference committee to harmonise the differences between the Senate and House of Representatives. According to the President of the Senate, "To the best of my knowledge,  I know we have passe

In a world of fancy apps that let you deposit cheques from your mobile phone, it might seem archaic to use text messages to check your bank account balance. But there are some very good reasons to rely on that old - fashioned technology to help you manage your bank account, according to www.thebalance.com. The main benefits of text banking are that you can stay up - to-date on your account (without manually checking in on things) and you can accomplish simple tasks quickly. This is similar to what most banks in Nigeria called USSD Banking or Quick Banking. Why text ? You can always login to your bank ’s website or use an app – and you can probably get more done that way – so what do you gain by using text messages? Texts are fast and simple: No need to log in with a username and password – just send (or get) a quick message No need to click past promos pitching bank products that you don’t need The data transmission is minimal, which helps when connections are slow You don

Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has been spotted by security agents in Ghana, according to TheCable. There has been controversy over the whereabouts of the IPOB leader who was last seen in public in September 2017 before the military launched Operation Python Dance ll apparently to quell the agitation for the breakaway of south-eastern Nigeria. Since the military raided his home in Umuahia, Abia state, there has been speculation that he was arrested and might have been killed. At some point, Orji Uzor Kalu, former governor of Abia state, said Kanu was in London. His court trial for treason has stalled and Enyinnaya Abaribe, the senator who served as Kanu’s surety when he was granted bail after spending 18 months in detention, has sought to be discharged from the obligation after his disappearance. However, security sources have informed TheCable that Kanu was ferried to the Niger Delta creeks by militants at the height of Python Dance II, from where

Imo state Governor, Rochas Okorocha, has finally joined the list of governors who have declared their interests in running for elective positions in the forthcoming 2019 general elections. Okorocha had earlier declared that he would neither run for Senate nor for President in 2019, but would be keen in who succeeds him. But the governor while speaking at an event on Monday, said he had decided to run for Imo West Senatorial District in 2019 general election. Okorocha said it would be a disservice to the nation if he failed to contest considering his “wealth of experience” as a governor for eight years. Okorocha, who has stirred controversies with many of his decisions as governor, said his participation will also increase the chances of President Muhammadu Buhari and other candidates of the All Progressives Congress, APC. South East leaders of the ruling APC had earlier endorsed him to lead the Southeast Zonal Campaign Council of President Muhammadu Buhari’s 2019 re-election bid.

True to political permutations, the National Executive Committee NEC of the ruling All Progressives Congress APC has approved a one-year tenure extension for the Chief John Odigie-Oyegun led National Working Committee of the party as well as all other structures of the party at the state and local government levels. At the meeting Tuesday which was attended by President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo national assembly leaders and state governors, NEC said the proximity of the end of tenure of the NWC to the elections made the extension imperative. When the issue was put to a vote, 104 NEC members voted in support while four voted against the extension. This was as President Muhammadu Buhari blamed the seeming face-off between the executive and the National Assembly as being responsible for the slow pace of governance. “I must acknowledge that the face of government has not met the expectations of many within our party. But few of us know or appreciated the depth o

President Muhammadu Buhari has rejected the proposed Peace Corps of Nigeria establishment bill. The president conveyed his rejection of the bill in a letter which Yakubu Dogara, speaker of the house of representatives, read during plenary on Tuesday. The national assembly passed the bill in 2017, after a prolonged battle involving the organisation and the nation’s security agencies. Buhari cited security concerns and financial burden of funding the organisation by the government as his reasons for rejecting the bill. He said given “scarce government resources”, funding the organisation will be a financial burden on the federal government. The Peace Corps of Nigeria has been involved in various controversies since the bill came to limelight at the national assembly. There are litigations currently pending before the court between Dickson Akoh, the organisation’s commandant, and the Nigeria police force. The organisation’s premises has also been cordoned off since last year by po

The Nigerian Army through the Theatre Command of Operation Lafiya Dole, the military ’s anti- insurgency command in the North - East, on Monday, admitted that troops were redeployed from the Dapchi area before the abduction of the schoolgirls. It added that the army “handed over the security of the area to the Nigeria Police Division.” The Deputy Director, Army Public Relations and the Theatre Command's spokesperson, Col. Onyema Nwachukwu, said the military should not be blamed for the abduction of the schoolgirls as the troops handed over a “peaceful and calm situation” to the police. Nwachukwu said the troops were redeployed in Kanama, on the Nigeria - Niger Republic border, to combat Boko Haram terrorists who were attacking a military location in the area. The army spokesman said the military would not engage in a blame game with the Yobe State Government as it was making “efforts to rescue the abducted schoolgirls.” Nwachukwu said , “Although this headquarters will not at

The Independent National Electoral Commission says it is standing by its decision to hold the 2019 presidential and National Assembly elections on the same day while the governorship and state legislative elections will come next. The Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said this at the quarterly consultative meeting with the media in Abuja on Monday. INEC had announced last year that the presidential and National Assembly elections would hold on February 16, 2019 while the governorship, state assembly and area council elections in the Federal Capital Territory would take place on March 2, 2019. The National Assembly, however, opposed the sequence of the election and amended the Electoral Act such that the National Assembly election would hold first while the presidential election would come last. The bill has since been transmitted to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent. However, the INEC boss said the commission would continue to prepare for elections based on its own sc

The picture above is that of Hassana Mohammed, 13, who scaled a fence to escape an alleged Boko Haram attack on her Government Girls Science and Technical College, She stands outside her home in Dapchi, Nigeria, on February 22, 2018. The Federal Government has confirmed that 110 students of the Government Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State, are so far unaccounted for, after insurgents believed to be from a faction of Boko Haram invaded their school last Monday. The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, announced the figure after a meeting between a Federal Government delegation and representatives of key stakeholders, including the state government, the college, the parents, security agencies and Bursari Local Government, where Dapchi is situated, in Damaturu on Sunday. He said, based on the briefings from the Principal of the College, Hajia Adama Abdulkarim; and the State Commissioner for Education, Mr. Mohammed Lamin, 906 students — out of which

A mathematics teacher in a secondary school in the Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State, Chiadikobi Ezeibekwe, has married his 17 - year -old sister, claiming that God told him to do so. Speaking with Punch newspaper on Saturday, Ezeibekwe said he had a revelation where God told him to marry his sibling. The teacher quoted Bible passages in Deuteronomy to illustrate that siblings could marry each other. He said , “One advantage of doing this is that it discourages divorce. It also retains family values and norms.” Reports say the wedding was conducted by Chiadikobi ’s elder brother, Chijioke Ezeibekwe, who is the priest of Dwelling Fullness of God Church, Agba. The youth of the village had set ablaze the church, Dwelling Fullness of God Church, where the wedding was conducted. Ezeibekwe said he did not pay any bride price to anybody in respect of the marriage. “I don ’t feel guilty. I don ’t feel ashamed. I don’t feel intimidated in any way. Only God can stop us,” he

The Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, has assured that the mistake of 2015 and the attendant hardship would be remedied in 2019 to make Nigeria work again. He gave the assurance in his acceptance speech at the weekend during the 2017 Silverbird Awards where he received the Silverbird Legislative Award in Lagos. Reacting to an earlier speech by the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, in which he acknowledged that Nigerians were passing through hard times, Ekweremadu, however observed that the House Leader failed to tell Nigerians how things got so bad and how the All Progressives Congress, APC, government intended to pull Nigerians out of the hardship. He said: “My friend, Hon. Gbajabiamila, admitted that we are passing through difficult times, but he did not go to the extent of telling us that on account of what they call troubled times, we have over a hundred students in Yobe who are now in the forests. We are not sure whether they had food th

Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, MACBAN, on Saturday appealed to Nigerians to be fair to them and the entire herdsmen across the country. MACBAN’s South East zonal chairman, Alhaji Gidado Sadiqu, made the appeal while urging the public to disregard rumours that their members were plotting to coordinate attacks on Enugu and Anambra States. The group, which said it was scared of criminals masquerading as herdsmen to unleash terror on their host communities, noted that herdsmen were only looking for greener pastures in the southern and middle belt regions. Speaking during the group’s zonal meeting in Enugu, Sadiqu expressed displeasure at the fact that the sight of a Fulani sends shivers down the spines of community members. He warned some of it’s members, who were in the habit of destroying farm crops to desist. Sadiqu said, “We also advise our members to participate actively during the coming election by obtaining PVC. This will bring them close to their host

The names of the school girls abducted from Government School in Dapchi by Boko Haram has been released. The girls were declared missing after an attack by terrorists on the school in Dapchi, Yobe State, earlier this week. Only 104 names out of 111 girls reportedly missing were listed. 1. Fatima Bashir 2. Aisha Kachalla 3. Zainab Abubakar 4. Falmata Wakil 5. Fatima Isa 6. Fatima Musa 7. Aisha Usman 8. Aisha Adamu 9. Fatima Isa 10. Hauwa A. Mohammed Idriss 11. Maryam Mohammed 12. Fatima Mohammed II 13. Hauwa Salisu 14. Hassana Gambo 15. Aisha Adamu 16. Adama Garba 17. Zara Grema 18. Maryam Daamkontoma 19. Zainab Bama 20. Fatsuma Abdullahi 21. Fatima Yahaya Tarbutu 22. Amina Yahaya Tarbutu 23. Amina Adamu 24. Hajara Ali 25. Fatima Abdullahi 26. Fatsuma Ali 27. Zara’U Mohammed 28. Salamatu Garba 29. Falmata Alh. Inuwa 30. Falmata Alh. Ali 31. Aisha B. Danjuma 32. Maryam Bashir 33. Maryam Aliyu Mabu 34. Fatima Modu Bamba 35. Aisha Modu Bamba 36. Hafsa

Former minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, has attacked President Muhammadu Buhari for linking Kaduna state governor, Nasir el- Rufai with ‘bulldozer’. The former minister said Nigeria is currently in trouble under the leadership of President Buhari. President Buhari had on Thursday joked with some governors before the commencement of the Council of State meeting. As is the tradition, the president observed protocol by personally greeting everyone that is in attendance. However, when he got to the Kaduna governor, Nasir El-Rufai, Buhari quipped “Ya tuka bulldozer”, meaning “Did you drive a bulldozer?” Reacting, Fani-Kayode, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, on his Facebook page, said that only God will deliver Nigerians from the government. He wrote, “When you pay millions of dollars in ransom to Boko Haram in 3 years, when you lie to the world that you have defeated them and when you get the media to suppress the truth about the gains they have made why shou

Governor Nasir El Rufai has slammed N2billion naira suit at the Kaduna state high court against Senator Shehu Sani representing Kaduna Central over alleged defamation of character. The suit filed by the governor represents deterioration in the worsening crisis between key gladiators in the All Progressive Congress in the state. Governor El-Rufai in the suit seeks compensation for the injury he allegedly suffered as a result of “the malicious statements” made by Senator Sani through the mass media to humiliate him and defame his integrity by calling him a drunk, loose cannon and an embarrassment to President Muhammadu Buhari. Among other reliefs, Governor El-Rufai is seeking a declaration that the derogatory remarks made against him by Senator Sani are totally false and injurious to his person in the eyes of the public. Counsel to Governor El-Rufai, AbdulHakeem Mustapha, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, told journalists at the court premises that each of the four actions attract the s

More than 100 girls are missing after a Boko Haram attack on a school in Dapchi, Yobe State, earlier this week, parents told AFP on Friday. Parents in Dapchi, in Yobe State, said they had set up a support group after Monday's raid, which has revived memories of the 2014 abduction of more than 200 girls in Chibok. “Our first step was to compile a comprehensive list of all the missing girls. So far, we have compiled the names of 105 ,” said Bashir Manzo, the chairman of the newly created group. Heavily armed jihadists stormed the boarding school in the remote town, forcing terrified students to flee into the surrounding bush. But with many girls failing to return home, fears are growing that dozens of the girls have been kidnapped. Hopes were raised on Wednesday evening, when the spokesman for Yobe state governor Ibrahim Gaidam confirmed the abduction and said “some” of the girls had been rescued. But Gaidam on Thursday questioned whether there had been an abduction, while

President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday said he was sorry that the attack which led to the abduction of pupils from the Government Girls Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State, happened. He described the incident as “national disaster.” Buhari stated this in a release made available to journalists by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu. The President said he shared the pains of the parents whose children and wards were abducted and would spare no efforts in ensuring that the pupils were rescued. He said the Federal Government would be sending more troops and surveillance aircraft for a 24-hour surveillance of the area. He said, “When I received the devastating news of the attack on the school and the fact that the local authorities could not account for all the students, I immediately dispatched a high-level delegation on a fact-finding visit to the town. “I also instructed the security agencies to deploy in full and not spare any effort to ensure

A national leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu , has accused the national chairman of the party , John Odigie -Oyegun, of sabotage. According to online newspaper, The Cable, Tinubu made the allegation in a letter written to the president, vice -president, senate president and speaker of the house of representatives and dated February 21, 2018. President Muhammadu Buhari had appointed Tinubu to reconcile aggrieved members of the APC, but the former governor accused Odigie -Oyegun of contravening the spirit of the discussions both of them had at the party secretariat when Buhari gave him the assignment . Tinubu’s letter read in part, “Disappointment greeted me when I discovered that you had swiftly acted in contravention of the spirit of our discussions. Instead of being a bulwark of support as promised, you positioned yourself in active opposition to the goal of resuscitating the progressive and democratic nature of APC”. Tinubu also accused Odig

Android phones and tablets can fill up quickly as you download apps, add media files like music and movies, and cache data for use offline. Many lower-end devices may only include a few gigabytes of storage, making this even more of a problem. According to How To Geek, the less space you have, the more time you’ll have to spend micro-managing the internal storage. If you find yourself regularly running out of space and needing to manage it, consider getting a phone or tablet with more storage next time around. Use Android’s built-in storage tool Modern versions of Android have a storage pane that will show you exactly what is taking up storage on your device. To find this, open the Settings screen and tap Storage. You can see how much space is used up by apps and their data, by pictures and videos, audio files, downloads, cached data, and other miscellaneous files. However, it works a little bit differently depending on which version of Android you are using. Identify fold

President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, on Wednesday, condemned in strong terms the attack on Government Girls Secondary School, Dapchi, in Yobe State by suspected Boko Haram insurgents. Saraki in statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, in Abuja, described the attack as one too many even as he urged the security agencies to get to the root of the matter, bring the perpetrators to book and ensure that all students of the school are properly accounted for. He called on security agencies to reinforce security around academic institutions in the country in order to prevent criminal elements from taking advantage of such soft targets to disrupt academic activities and wreck havoc at a time the Federal Government is working assiduously to end the incidents of terror in the Northeast and other flash points in the country. He also urged the security agencies to be proactive in protecting lives and property in the country and also ensuring

The crisis rocking the Kaduna State chapter of the All Progressives Congress has taken a new dimension as the office of the faction led by Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi was demolished on Tuesday. Though the Kaduna State Property Development Agency claimed responsibility for the demolition, the senator representing Kaduna Northern Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Hunkuyi, claimed that Governor Nasir el - Rufai personally led a bulldozer to demolish the building. Hunkuyi, who donated the property to the APC faction as its headquarters, said on his Twitter handle , “In the early hours of today (Tuesday), the Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir el - Rufai, personally drove a bulldozer, accompanied by armoured tanks to destroy my house at 11B Sambo Road.” The ‘APC Akida ’ and the ‘Restoration APC ’ had, while unveiling the headquarters on Thursday, said they had to relocate to the new office “to avoid the activities of thugs.” However, less than 24 hours after, the office w

Following its December Roundtable, which was aimed at addressing the Drug Use Epidemic across the nation, the Senate, yesterday, passed a Motion calling on the Federal Government, through the Ministry of Health to establish rehabilitation centers in each of the 36 States of the Nation. In a Motion sponsored by Senator Jeremiah Useni and nine other Senators, the Senate noted that with more rehabilitation centers in the country, addicts would be able to receive professional treatment in the short and long term, thereby, bringing down the rate of addiction and crime in the country. “Drug addicts are seen everywhere on the streets,” said Senator Philip Gyunka, “I have the strong belief that if the rehabilitation centers are established there will be less crime in the society.” Speaking on the Motion, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, emphasized that drug abuse negatively affects the productivity of our youth, stating that there was a need to stop the distribution of drugs a

Nigeria’s former Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has been appointed into a High Level Group on Governance of the Commonwealth Secretariat. Prof. Ben Maloney, Communications Officer, Commonwealth Secretariat, said in a statement that  the High Level Group would make recommendations on governance of the Commonwealth Secretariat. The Commonwealth, however, denied that the group was constituted to secretly begin considering who might succeed the Queen as its head. “At their last Summit in Malta, Commonwealth heads of government directed the Secretary-General to form the Group. “Today members are discussing the scope of the group’s work and the areas of governance it will examine over the coming months. “The process is open and the High Level Group reports to the heads. “The issue of succession of the Head of the Commonwealth is not part of the Group’s mandate,” the statement said. The group is chaired by Anote Tong, former President of Kiribati from 2003 to 20

Forty-nine passengers on Tuesday escaped death after a Dana Air plane overshot the runway of the Port Harcourt Airport. Mrs Henrietta Yakubu, General Manager, Corporate Affairs, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) confirmed the incident in a statement issued in Lagos. Yakubu said: “A Dana aircraft flight 9J0363, flying from Abuja to Port Harcourt airport, has overshot the Port Harcourt runway. “The incident was suspected to have been caused by a heavy rain, which was accompanied by strong wind and storm in Port Harcourt. “No casualty was recorded, as all passengers on board were safely evacuated.” Mr Sam Adurogboye, General Manager, Public Relations, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), also confirmed the incident to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN). He said the aircraft was partially damaged after it overshot the runway. “I learnt the runway has been closed but it will be reopened before the next 30 minutes after inspection has been carried out on it.

As the national leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, begins to reconcile warring sides in the ruling party, his wife, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has decried that her husband was “trashed” after the party won the 2015 elections. President Muhammadu Buhari had mandated Tinubu to reconcile aggrieved party members ahead of the 2019 general elections, an assignment the former governor of Lagos State has since begun. But his wife, who is representing Lagos Central Senatorial District at the Senate, on Monday featured on Your View, a breakfast show of Television Continental, where she alleged that Tinubu was sidelined despite his efforts towards ensuring that APC won the polls. Mrs. Tinubu, who disclosed that she was forced to discourage her husband from his continued loyalty to the Presidency and the APC, said the party leader was always harping on the development of the country. She said, “He was campaigning, I did too. We were running three campaigns in my house

The two-week long 2018 Ikeoha Youth Sports Championship came to a colourful end at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, Enugu, on Sunday with four footballers landing overseas career opportunities. Speaking with newsmen at the end of the finals witnessed by former captain of the Super Eagles, Kanu Nwankwo, and the Governor of Enugu State, Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, among other dignitaries and sportsmen and women, the sponsor and Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, explained that the sports fiesta was in furtherance of his human capital development agenda for the youth and efforts to help them to “be happy and find recreation at a very frustrating period in our political history”. “This is one way of giving them an opportunity to express themselves in sports, then encourage them to be whatever they want to be and to be the best of it. “Today, I feel so fulfilled that we have discovered a lot of talents. We brought in one of the most accomplished footballers in the coun

People who are fond of wearing heavy make- up on their faces and skins to enhance their beauty have been warned to reduce such to its barest minimum. Some dermatologists who gave the warning on Monday said that this could cause the applicants high blood pressure, low fertility, skin cancer, irritation and other diseases. A Lagos - based dermatologist, Mr. Alex Adeniyi, told the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos that excessive use of make- up could cause skin irritation, allergies and skin cancer on the users. He attributed this to the chemical contents of most make-up. Adeniyi also said that excessive make-up could expose the skins and the eyes of users to germs and harmful toxins. “Chemicals found in lipsticks, eye pencils, mascara and kajal among others, can cause serious health problems. “Women who apply make-up on their skins must always clean their faces before going to bed, to remove all traces of chemicals from their skins,’’ he said. Adeniyi said that it was imperative t