No fewer than 427 Nigerians based in the troubled Ukraine arrived Nnamdi Azikwe International airport, Abuja Friday morning.
They arrived en route Romania on Maxi air.
It was gathered that the Federal Government will give each of them $100.
Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari Wednesday approved over $5m to effect the immediate evacuation of stranded Nigerians in Ukraine which has been over week invaded by Russia.…
The delegation left the country in order to “witness” the evacuation of Nigerians fleeing Ukraine in the wake of Russia’s attack. This comes a day after the National Assembly approved the request of President Muhammadu Buhari for the release of $8.5 million for the evacuation. The delegation is due to witness the evacuation to be carried out by Air Peace and Max Air in Poland, Romania and Ukraine border. They, however, did not wait for any of the airlines for the trip.
The delegation boarded a Turkish Airlines flight.
The trip followed a resolution passed by the House of Representatives over the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.…
The governor made the call when he addressed State House correspondents after a closed door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Wednesday.
Obaseki said that the people of Edo had resolved that ranching was a private business and should be treated as such.
He said: “Our people say that as far as they are concerned, ranching is a private business just like every other agricultural venture, therefore, those involved should provide the land. “As you already know, it is expensive to run and manage ranches.
“So I came to discuss with the President that since the people of Edo would rather invest privately.
“Then, the National Livestock Transformation Programme, which is now being implemented by the Federal Government, should acknowledge our model.
“It should also be able to help Edo people benefit from the funding that is now being made available for people who want to go into the livestock business and have made investments in ranches and other similar livestock programmes,”.
According to Obaseki, the state government is yet to promulgate a law banning open grazing because it sees the venture as private business.
“As you know, most Southern States have passed laws relating to open grazing but Edo State has not. Because we want to ensure that whatever laws we pass are laws that we can enforce.
“We have had extensive consultations with our people to deal with the issue that yes, we do not want open grazing because it is out modelled and out dated; however, what are the options?
“If we are asking that we should now have ranches and these cows should be constrained to specific areas such as ranches, then who provides the land?,” he queried.
On politics, Obaseki commended the Senate for joining their House of Representatives counterparts in approving the transmission of election results electronically.
He said: “Definitely if not for God and the technology utilized by INEC, I may not be governor today.
“So, I am one of those people who believe that we should not …
A member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Adedayo Omolafe, is dead.
According to available information, the member of the House of Representatives was not ill before he suddenly became unconscious on Sunday night.
Omolafe was said to have been rushed to the Federal Medical Centre, Owo, where he died at about 2am on Monday.
The Rep, popularly known as Expensive, represented Akure South/North Federal Constituency. Before then, he had served as the Chairman of Akure South Local Government Area. Before then, he had served as the Chairman of Akure South Local Government Area.…
The Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Army, Abdulrazak Namdas, on Thursday said if bandits could shoot down a fighter jet, there is more to their activities than being tagged banditry.
Namdas spoke against the backdrop of the downing of an Alpha Jet of the Nigerian Air Force on Sunday.
Gunmen brought down Jet in Zamfara State.
Namdas stated this in Abuja at the opening of a two-day Capacity Building Workshop on Conflict Reporting for Journalists organized by the Konrad-Adenaeur Stiftung, a German foundation, in conjunction with the Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism. He noted that journalists play critical roles in the fight against insecurity through ethical reportage and pace setting, as agenda setters.
He said: “It is important that the right terms and terminologies are used when reporting or describing any act of terror, attacks or conflict to better inform the people.
“If a bandit can graduate to bringing down a fighter jet and you still call him a bandit, then there is a problem.
“It is the responsibility of the media to report with the correct names because there is no religion, tribalism or party lines in any form of conflict.”
According to the lawmaker: “When you get kidnapped, nobody knows if you are APC (All Progressives Congress) or PDP (Peoples Democratic Party), so we need to be together.
“The politicians should not be setting the pace, the media is supposed to set the pace.
“As chairman, House Committee on Army, the challenges before us are very enormous in terms of security and all stakeholders must be on board because we cannot resolve insurgency, banditry with kids gloves.
“We felt the need for a capacity building with the media because today if you look at some of the terminologies and cliché on who is a bandit, terrorist, cattle rustler, armed robber, you begin to wonder who is giving such names.”
Namdas said the Nigerian media has been very vibrant from time immemorial as it played a key role in ending the days of military dictatorship for the …
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has said social media must be regulated to prevent its “evil’ from taking root in the country.
He said the National Assembly had been considering regulating social media for a long time, but that it was reluctant due to outcries by Nigerians.
While acknowledging the good of the platforms, he noted that social media is “the most potent weapon for good and evil.”
Mr Gbajabimaila disclosed this on Sunday at the “Mr Speaker Chat with young Nigerians,” a program on Channels TV.
Mr Gbajabiamila’s position puts a question mark on the investigation by the House into the Twitter ban.
On the 4th of June, the federal government announced the suspension of the operation of Twitter in Nigeria. The move by the government came some few days after the microblogging site pulled down a tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Consequently, the lower legislative chamber had set up a joint committee to look into the ban.
The joint committee of the House, last Tuesday, held a public hearing into the matter.
PREMIUM TIMES reported how some members of the committee openly endorsed the ban.
Fatuhu Mahammad, the lawmaker representing Daura Federal Constituency of Katsina State where Mr Buhari hails from, openly canvassed the regulation of social media at the hearing.
The Minister of information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, appeared before the joint committee, during which he gave the laws backing the action of the government to suspend Twitter.
The joint committee is expected to present its report on Tuesday.
“Social media is the most potent weapon for good and for evil. While we welcome the good, we must prepare over the evil. You cannot use the idea of free speech to destroy me,” Mr Gbajabiamila said.
“Most democracies in the world today are making efforts to regulate social media and the National Assembly has been considering regulating social media for a long time. But each time the issue comes up, Nigerians kick against it.
“It is something we …
