Cross River Governor, Ben Ayade Suspends Commissioner For Coming Late To Work

The governor of Cross Rivers state, Ben Ayade, today suspended the Commissioner of Water Resources in the state, Ntufam Ojie indefinitely for coming late to work.

Ojie, alongside the Managing Director of the state’s Water Board Limited, Oju Igile, were missing when the Governor, at about 9am, paid an unscheduled visit to the ministry. He was told that the two bosses had not resumed for the day.

Ayade while speaking to newsmen, said such acts of indiscipline will not be tolerated.

“This is about 9 o’clock in the morning and the Commissioner for Water Resources is not at his duty post. The managing director of state Water Board is not in the office. I cannot understand why he is not in the office.

“I, therefore, with immediate effect, announce his suspension. We will appoint somebody to take over this office with immediate effect. Any commissioner I find in this circumstance will leave”, he said

[REVEALED] Elderly Woman Caught With Dead Baby In Lagos Was Taking Her Grandchild To The Hospital

The Police has now released an elderly woman who was arrested around Oshodi area of Lagos state after she was found with a dead baby strapped to her back.

It has now been confirmed that the woman, identified as Kuburat Ayinde, is the grandmother of the dead baby.

She was intercepted on Monday afternoon at Oshodi under bridge by road users and accused her of kidnapping a-month-old baby strapped on her back.

Upon discovering that the child was dead, the mob descended on the woman who was eventually rescued by some of the policemen at Oshodi.

It was gathered that the detectives interrogated the woman and she claimed that the dead baby was her grandchild.

A police source said that the woman disclosed that she was rushing the child to the hospital passing on, adding that the child’s mother was mentally unstable.

It was gathered that the woman was detained by the police to carryout investigation to ascertain her claims.

According to the command’s spokesperson, Dolapo Badmos, a Superintendent of Police (SP) the woman was eventually released after the child’s mother and other family members came to the station and corroborated her story.

TRAGIC FOOTBALLER TRIBUTES Dalian Atkinson remembered as Premier League legends pay tribute after Taser death

FORMER footballers have flooded social media with tributes to ex-Premier League star Dalian Atkinson, who died after being tasered by police this morning.

The ex Aston Villa and Man City star is said to have gone into cardiac arrest after cops were called to a residential road.

Atkinson, who scored 38 goals in 114 appearances for Villa, scored in the League Cup final win over Manchester United in 1994.

The striker had spells with Ipswich, Sheffield Wednesday and Manchester City and joined Villa for £1.6million in July 1991.

He had the greatest years of his career with the club, who he played for between 1991 and 1995.

Aston Villa tweeted: “RIP Dalian Atkinson. You’ll never be forgotten! 

Woman and Her Neighbour Arrested for Assaulting her 16-year-old Housemaid with Hot Iron

PASTOR IN POLICE NET OVER CAR THEFT IN OHAFIA

Abia state Police command on Wednesday, paraded an alleged pastor of a mega church and one other, over the theft of a Toyota Camry car in Ohafia, Abia state.

Olusola Oyebade said the suspects are part of a syndicate of car jackers who specialise on stealing Toyota Camry cars with master keys in Ohafia area.

He named the suspects as Onyenweaku Chibunnam and Princewill Nnabugwu and stated that under interrogation, they both confessed to the crime.

According to the CP, the suspects have also confirmed that they had so far stolen six Camry cars from Aba area, and had sold some to  the state that he will make life unbearable to them by fishing them out from their hideouts.

In his account before newsmen, the alleged pastor, Onyenweaku Chibunnam claimed he was a pastor of a popular church (name withheld) in Ohafia and residing in the area for over three years.

He also confirmed to newsmen that he actually had been in the business for a long time.

The police said investigation is in progress to fish out the rest of the members.

Arepo: Fish out sponsors of militants

For many days last week, the mangrove creeks around Arepo in Ogun State bordering Lagos was thrown into an orgy of killings and other heinous crimes by oil pipeline vandals who had made the place their operational base for stealing oil. They had started their reign of terror by abducting the Oniba of Iba, Oba Yushau Goriola Osen, and later proceeded on a shooting spree at Ewedogbon, located about five minutes away from Iba town.
In response to the outrage of militants’ siege on the area, a combined team of security forces engaged them in a protracted five day battle with heavy assault on the suspects’ camps. The operation led to the death of scores of militants as well as several arrests of their members. The security forces also suffered some casualties, with some soldiers losing their lives and others sustaining injuries.

Even as the militants have been chased out of the area the final word on resumption of hostilities or otherwise is yet to be heard as by the admission of the military, the area is still not fully cleared of the miscreants. Last week, the Acting Inspector General of Police Ibrahim Kpotun Idris could not visit the area for the same reason.
The Arepo violence is another painful reminder of the rather tardy state of security around the nation’s critical infrastructure, especially with respect to the oil and gas assets. As evidence shows, the Arepo violence was just one of the unattended flashpoints in the country just waiting to manifest into full blown crisis. The area has been a known location for the organised vandalization of pipelines and the theft of oil, to which the security forces turned a blind eye. Its eruption at a time the nation is contending with a similar problem in the Niger Delta had led some observers to associate it in error with
the Niger Delta militants. From their mode of operation, it is clear that the Arepo assailants are ordinary oil thieves, with no ideological attachment to their nefarious mission.
Yet the security forces deserve commendation for rising up to the occasion and suppressing the outbreak of violence by these vagrants, even as there are various reports of the unwarranted death of innocent civilians who were caught in the crossfire between them and the militants. But for their decisive intervention the likely spill over of panic from the crisis into neighbouring Lagos would have been problematic, to say the least.
A major lesson from the Arepo crisis is the need for intensified efforts by the authorities towards intelligence-led security strategies and proactive responses aimed at nipping in the bud potential flashpoints to save the nation from the problem of adopting fire brigade measures when trouble may have started. The lesson is not lost that virtually every location hosting oil facilities offers attraction to would be vandals to exploit.
That is why the nation’s approach to the security of these facilities needs to be based on a robust framework that ensures early warning and decisive response that minimises both direct and collateral damages to the country. In that respect the Arepo crisis should be thoroughly investigated with the full involvement of the communities who should be encouraged to assist the security forces in ensuring the overall safety of critical public infrastructure in their vicinity. It is feared that corrupt military personnel and prominent community leaders may have armed and provided cover for the vandals over the years as they may be the beneficiaries of the criminal activities of the militants. A thorough investigation could provide a lead on the sponsors of the vandals. Whether in the military, political or business sectors, they should be fished out and punished.
The perennial vandalisation of oil pipelines and other critical public facilities that are spread over a wide expanse of Nigeria has made it imperative for government to expand its surveillance threshold by engaging cutting edge security options, including hi-tech electronic monitoring systems.

FG launches Green Alternative to revive agricultural sector

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has announced a plan by the Federal Government to employ 100,000 youths as extension workers, in a bid to provide support services to farmers.

Osinbajo, who disclosed this in his address during the official launch and public presentation of the agriculture promotion policy tagged: ‘Green Alternative’, in Abuja, yesterday, said the number of persons to be trained would be picked from 500,000 teachers currently undergoing recruitment by the Federal Government.

“The launch of the `Green Alternative’ is an attestation that the change the overwhelming majority of Nigerians canvassed for and openly welcomed by giving Muhammadu Buhari a resounding victory in the last presidential election is here,” said Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh.

The Minister explained that Green Alternative is built on five major strategic thrusts which include achievement of self-sufficiency in food production, reduction in import dependence, stimulation of agro-export for foreign exchange earnings, enhancement of wealth and job creation, and achievement of economic diversification.

He said: “Some of the key targets that we are seeking to achieve within the planned period and beyond, as quick wins under the three pillars, include growing the agriculture sector annually between six per cent to 12 per cent, doubling agricultural household income in six to 12 years, integrating agricultural commodity value chains into the broader supply chain, driving job growth and wealth growth, as well as ensuring enhanced capacity for foreign exchange earnings.”

Osinbajo, who also disclosed plan by the government to recapitalise the Bank of Agriculture, noted that the major hindrance to the development of the agricultural sector is finance, where double digit interest rate charged on loans is nearly impossible for farmers to meet.

Kachikwu: Nigeria Will Need Extra 900,000b/d to Recover Oil Lost to Militancy

Chineme Okafor in Abuja with agency report

The Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, has said that Nigeria will have to increase oil output by an average of 900,000 barrels per day (b/d) in order to recover crude oil that has been shut in to a series of militant attacks on oil and gas assets in the Niger Delta in recent months.

Kachikwu, who spoke to CNN’s Richard Quest last night, however said he was not particularly optimistic about the possible talks on a production freeze by other oil producing countries to bolster prices, saying similar efforts a few months ago had failed.
Despite his lack of confidence, the price of crude oil rose yesterday following reports that Russia and the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) may resume dialogue on a production freeze.

The petroleum minister said the federal government was in continuing dialogue with militants and their representatives in the Niger Delta and expressed confidence that in the next one or two months, a resolution will be reached to end the attacks on oil assets.

“There’s a lot of dialogue, a lot of security meetings and we expect that in the next one or two months, we will arrive at a lasting resolution on the problem in the Niger Delta,” he said.
He added that Nigeria would need to produce on average 900,000b/d extra to recover oil and the attendant revenue lost to the militancy in recent months.

“We are producing some 1.5 million barrels per day and would need on average 900,000 barrels per day to catch up on what we have lost. If we can achieve peace, this will be feasible,” he said.
However, when he was reminded by Quest that an extra 900,000b/d would run contrary to possible talks next month on a production freeze in order to shore up oil prices, Kachikwu said he was not optimistic that a consensus could be reached on an output cap, as efforts in the past had failed.
“I’m not too optimistic about an output freeze, because we tried this in the past and it failed.
“Also, OPEC accounts for 30 per cent of total global output, so we will need to be aggressive in our engagements with producers that account for 70 per cent of output, so it is only if a consensus is reached, then me have some hope,” he explained.

On yesterday’s criticism by parents of the Chibok girls that the military and its resources were being diverted to secure oil facilities instead of recovering the schoolgirls who were kidnapped from their school by Boko Haram two years ago, he said it was not true that the girls were less important than oil facilities in the Niger Delta.

“It is not true that oil facilities are more of a priority than the Chibok girls. As you know President Muhammadu Buhari from the outset of his administration built a coalition with neighbouring countries to defeat the terrorism in the North-east.

“He also had to set up a panel to probe the diversion of funds meant for the procurement of arms to fight the insurgency. All these suggest that the insurgency in the North-east is a major priority of this government.

“I am a father and I can imagine what it means to have my children kept in captivity in a forest and the president feels the same way. So he has not given up the girls,” the minister said.
Meanwhile, the price of crude oil rose yesterday following reports that Russia and OPEC may resume dialogue on a production cap.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that the global oil benchmark Brent crude rose 0.9 per cent to $47.38 a barrel on London’s Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) futures exchange. It however traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate futures at $44.86 a barrel, up 0.8 per cent.

Both the WSJ and UK’s Telegraph reported that the price movements were triggered by comments made by Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister, Khalid al-Falih and Russian Energy Minister, Alexander Novak that market action was likely if discussions at an upcoming meeting in Algeria between OPEC and its other ally producers go well.

According to WSJ, prices have gained since Saudi’s al-Falih signalled last week that his country was open to measures to stabilise the market which has been struggling with oversupply for the past two years.

Saudi is the biggest producer among members of OPEC and historically seen as the de facto leader of the oil cartel. The OPEC meeting in Algeria is scheduled as an informal gathering in September.
The Telegraph also reported that the price movement was in reaction to the OPEC Algeria meeting where the focus is expected to return to a possible supply cap deal after similar talks in Doha failed earlier this year.

Novak confirmed Russia’s participation at the Algeria meeting to Saudi newspaper, Asharq al-Awsat. Novak stated that his country – the world’s third largest supplier of oil – was also involved in early discussions.

He said: “We are co-operating in the framework of consultations regarding the oil market with OPEC countries and producers from outside the organisation, and are determined to continue dialogue to achieve market stability.”

At the weekend, al-Falih told the Saudi Press Agency that “we are going to have a ministerial meeting of IEF in Algeria next month, and there is an opportunity for OPEC and major exporting non-OPEC ministers to meet and discuss the market situation, including any possible action that may be required to stabilise the market”.

He added: “We’ve said before that market rebalancing is already taking place but the process of clearing crude and product inventories will take time. We are on the right track and prices should reflect that.”

Oil price recovery from a 12-year low of $28 a barrel in January had floundered last month when global economic fears reignited concern that there was a glut in the market, causing prices to slump back to $41.66 a barrel.