PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has assured that his administration will take all necessary actions to maintain and improve the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) to promote national unity and integration.
He spoke yesterday after he was briefed by officials of the Federal Ministry of Youth Development led by the Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Rabi Jimeta.
He affirmed that the objective for which the scheme was established in 1973 was still very relevant for national development now.
“I firmly believe in NYSC and I think it should remain a national programme to promote integration. Whenever I go home to Daura, I look out for corps members from Lagos, Aba and other parts of the country.
“I am always thrilled to learn that except for the NYSC, some of them have never left their states of origin to visit other cities in the country,” he said.
Jimeta told the President that the increasing number of NYSC participants posed a challenge to the scheme due to the dwindling revenue, from the national budget, to cater for their needs.
She told the President that the annual enrolment of corps participants had increased from 2,364 at inception in 1974 to 229,016 in 2014 last year.
NYSC Director-General, Brigadier-General Johnson Olawumi, told the President that there were plans to make the scheme voluntary and reduce the population to make the programme more sustainable.
THE, recent appointment of the immediate past Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ms. Arunma Oteh, as Vice President and Treasurer of the World Bank is yet another glittering accomplishment by a Nigerian in a global financial institution. Oteh’s appointment, which was announced in a press release by the World Bank President, Jim Yong Kim, came barely three months after another Nigerian, former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akunwumi Adesina, was elected the 8th President of African Development Bank (AfDB).
Undoubtedly, the World Bank’s selection of Oteh for this job is a good choice. It is in recognition of her formidable intellectual prowess, exposure, experience, unwavering competitive spirit and in-depth knowledge of global financial markets and regulatory systems. The position is an utmost test of her capability and the strong credentials she is bringing into the office.
We congratulate Ms. Oteh on this well-deserved appointment, and look forward to the impact it will have on emerging nations like Nigeria which are in dire need of investment inflows to support and stimulate their declining economies.
A close look at Ms. Oteh’s credentials and antecedents shows that she is well equipped to discharge the functions of these high offices creditably. Prior to joining Nigeria’s apex regulatory agency, SEC, for a five-year tenure that began in 2010 and ended few months ago, she had played very important roles in some international organisations. She was Group Vice President, Corporate Services, at the African Development Bank which she joined in 1992. In that capacity, she was credited with carrying out reforms in departments such as Human Resources, Information and Communication Technology and Institutional Procurement. She holds a B.Sc (First Class) in Computer Science from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and an MBA from Harvard University.
One particular accomplishment was her role as AfDB Group Treasurer between 2001 and 2006, when she spearheaded the bank’s ground-breaking fundraising and capital market activities across the world. Her previous roles at the organisation included trading room management, investment portfolio coverage and public sector lending.
All these accomplishments put her in good stead for her appointment as head of Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission by former president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.
Although her tenure at SEC was marked by many controversies, there was no doubt that she transformed Nigeria’s capital market, which, before her appointment, was characterised by allegations of insider abuse and other manipulations. Her firm regulatory stance helped to sanitise the capital market, even though it pitched her against some politicians.
Her job schedule at the World Bank is heavy. As Vice President and Treasurer, her job description includes managing and leading a large and diverse team responsible for managing a pool of more than $150 billion in assets. Her other responsibilities include maintaining the bank’s global reputation as a prudent and innovative borrower, investor and risk management, as well as management of an extensive client advisory. She also has responsibility for transactions and asset management business for the bank.
Beyond these, she will, in her capacity as one the Bank’s key representatives, engage with outside stakeholders, including global private sector financial institutions, the financial media and the sovereign debt and reserve managers in client countries, including Nigeria. She will also collaborate extensively with Finance partners throughout the World Bank Group.
None of these tasks is easy. But as a top performer, nothing less than outstanding success is expected of her. We urge her to be focused on her duties, and to recognise that she will ultimately be judged by what she is able to achieve in the new office.
In that regard, expectations are high that Ms. Oteh will see her appointment as a sign of trust in her ability. Many women in Nigeria and around the world now see her as a role model. She should, therefore, live up to the expectations of the office, and do herself and Nigeria proud. The whole world now is her turf. We wish her a successful tenure.
Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has named a new chief of the state-run oil company Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) weeks after he sacked the whole board. As part of an anti-corruption campaign he undertook since he took office in May, the leader also banned 113 vessels from lifting crude oil from some 27 Nigerian ports amid suspicions the vessels had been implicated in illicit activities.
Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, a lawyer with 30-year-experience in energy, was appointed as NNPC group managing director for the next five years. The announcement was made by Buhari’s spokesman Femi Adesin, who also named other members of the new board. “I am excited to be taking up this challenge,” Kachikwu was quoted as saying in a NNPC statement. “Being in a position to manage the most important natural resource in Nigeria is a source of pride and responsibility for the NNPC and I am committed to taking this forward and helping the NNPC achieve its potential as a globally competitive national oil company,” the statement continued.
Kachikwu’s appointment came as Buhari announced his government is working to identify banks and countries where funds he alleged were stolen during previous administrations had been lodged. In a speech delivered in the capital Abuja as members of the US congress were visiting, he said the international community is providing Nigeria with valuable information in order to locate the funds. Information also includes names of ships that allegedly take crude oil from Nigeria and change direction, or pour their contents into other ships after they leave the nation.
Nigeria is Africa’s biggest oil producer, but its lack of refineries – at present there are four and of these only three resumed production in July after months of inactivity – mean the country has to export about 90% of its crude oil and import petroleum products.
The country then sells fuel to Nigerians at subsidised prices and reimburses the difference to importers. This practice has been condemned by many, with some arguing that it coud save the government billions of naira every year, that could be invested into public services. Others have pointed out that oil destined for Nigeria is sold to other countries at higher prices. NNPC has been marred by scandals linked to stolen revenues. In 2013, the head of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, was suspended after he claimed that $20bn (£13bn) of oil revenue “went missing” from NNPC.
In a letter to former president Goodluck Jonathan, Sanusi said: “I am constrained to formally write your excellency, documenting serious concerns of the CBN on the continued failure of the NNPC to repatriate significant proportions of the proceeds of crude oil shipments it made in gross violation of the law.” The allegations triggered an investigation into NNPC books. According to the audit, released in April, NNPC overpaid the state by almost $750m, but still had to pay an additional $1.5bn.
Media captionWill Turner, Medecins Sans Frontieres: "We don't know how many people might be trapped within the belly of the boat"
Officials initially feared hundreds had drowned but the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said 400 people were rescued.Search teams in the Mediterranean say they don't expect to find any more survivors from a boat carrying around 600 migrants which sank off Libya.
The Italian coast guard said 25 bodies have been recovered so far but it is unclear how many people are missing.
More than 2,000 migrants are said to have died in 2015 trying to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe.
Wednesday's incident occurred when the packed fishing boat ran into rough weather about 15 miles (25km) from Libya's coast.
A distress call was picked up in Sicily and one of the first ships on the scene was an Irish navy vessel, the LE Niamh. But as she launched her boats, the migrants apparently moved to one side of the fishing boat, causing it to capsize.
"Those that were on deck would have managed to jump, some of them drowned and some of them were saved," said Martin Xuereb of the Migrant Offshore Aid Station in Malta, one the groups involved in the rescue effort.
"I think it's unlikely that any additional survivors will be picked up."
Seven ships as well as helicopters have been involved in the search operation.
'Capsized very fast'
Cmdr Filippo Marini of the Italian coast guard said survivors had indicated that between 400 and 600 people were on board the boat when it capsized.
Melissa Fleming, a UN refugee agency (UNHCR) spokeswoman, said about 100 people are thought to have been travelling in the boat's hull at the time, adding: "The boat capsized very fast".
Seven ships and three helicopters were said to be involved in the rescueMedecins sans Frontieres said its Dignity I vessel was one of the first to arrive at the sceneA video released by the Irish navy showed rescued migrants on rafts
Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said its Dignity I vessel was one of the first to arrive at the scene. Two more of the medical charity's boats arrived later in the day.
"The team on the #Dignity1 can confirm that there have tragically been many deaths but does not have figures at this stage," MSF said in a tweet.
'Lack of resources'
"It was a horrific sight, people desperately clinging to lifebelts, boats and anything they could to fight for their lives," Juan Matias, an MSF project co-ordinator on the Dignity I, said in a statement.
MSF said the vessel was initially diverted from heading to the fishing boat in order to deal with a separate vessel that was in trouble. The group said it rescued nearly 100 migrants in that incident before answering the fishing boat's distress call.
"The fact that we were first called to assist this boat and then shortly afterwards sent to another one highlights the severe lack of resources available for rescue operations," Mr Matias said.
The Italian coast guard rescued about 300 migrants adrift in the Mediterranean on Monday
The Mediterranean Sea is the world's most deadly border area for migrants.
In April, a fishing boat carrying about 800 migrants sank off the coast of Libya in what the UN called the deadliest incident in the Mediterranean ever recorded.
EU leaders agreed to increase spending on its search and rescue operation in the region after that incident but smugglers continue to send desperate migrants on the dangerous journey.
Earlier this week, the IOM warned that the number of migrants attempting to make the crossing is much higher than in the same period last year.
"It is unacceptable that in the 21st Century people fleeing from conflict, persecutions, misery and land degradation must endure such terrible experiences [...] and then die on Europe's doorstep," IOM director general William Lacy Swing said in a statement.
A US plan to build a moderate fighting force to take on the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria has been criticised by a senior rebel trained in the programme.
At least five fighters were killed and more than 10 abducted in clashes with the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front.
Only 54 fighters had been trained so far under the programme.
US President Barack Obama announced the plan last summer, pledging to train up to 5,000 fighters a year to form a moderate Sunni opposition to help take on IS militants.
But Pentagon officials say they have struggled to find trainees who meet the vetting criteria.
Al-Nusra claimed it had captured fighters from what it called "the American project"
"The project is very slow," Capt Wawi told the BBC's Ian Pannell. "They are ready to train and form a national army of 15,000 fighters and we hear they are ready to back it with money, weapons and provide air cover.
"But in reality, in six months only 60 fighters were trained. If it takes this long to train 60, it will take decades to get everyone ready."
Division 30 and members of the Free Syrian Army came under attack from al-Nusra in northern Syria last Friday.
Al-Nusra, which is not affiliated to IS but has itself come under attack from the US in the past, said in a statement that it had captured some fighters and warned others against taking part in what it called "the American project".
The US said it provided "defensive support fire" at the time of Friday's attack, although Capt Wawi said it came after the fighting had finished.
"In reality, we have got no international guarantees to protect our fighters or to protect the 30th Division," Capt Wawi said.
The Syrian conflict began with an uprising against the government in Damascus, but that has since splintered, pitting rebel groups fighting President Bashar al-Assad's forces against one another.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak says the wreckage is from MH370
Part of the aircraft wing found on Reunion Island is from the missing MH370 plane, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has confirmed.
Mr Najib said international experts examining the debris in France had "conclusively confirmed" it was from the aircraft.
The Malaysia Airlines plane carrying 239 people veered off course from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March 2014.
The debris was found on the remote French Indian Ocean island a week ago.
The plane is believed to have crashed into the southern Indian Ocean - though no evidence had been found despite a massive search operation.
"It is with a very heavy heart that I must tell you that an international team of experts has conclusively confirmed that the aircraft debris [...] is indeed MH370," Mr Najib told reporters.
"We now have physical evidence that [...] flight MH370 tragically ended in the southern Indian Ocean," he added.
Mr Najib said he hoped the discovery "will at least bring certainty to the families" of the victims, saying the burden they had faced was "unspeakable".
'Very strong indications'
French prosecutor Serge Mackowiak later confirmed the wing fragment, known as a flaperon, was from a Boeing 777 - the same make and model as the missing Malaysian airliner.
He said initial tests showed there were "very strong indications" that it was from flight MH370. But he said confirmation would only come after further tests on the fragment, which would begin on Thursday.
"[Investigators] will try to do it as soon as possible in order to provide total and reliable information to the family of victims, who are on our minds at the moment," Mr Mackowiak added.
Analysis: Hugh Schofield, BBC News, Paris
The debris was found last week on the Indian Ocean island of Reunion
The Paris prosecutor failed to be as categorical as the Malaysian prime minister in asserting that the wing piece does come from MH370. All he said was that there are very strong reasons to presume that it is from the missing plane.
That does not mean that the prosecutor has any reason to doubt the prime minister's conclusion - simply that he is exercising supreme legal caution.
In the coming days there will be more tests on the flaperon and it's expected that these will prove the piece's origin. After that, it will probably be many months before deeper analysis allows any tentative deductions about how the plane may have come down.
The debris is being examined at an aeronautical test centre near Toulouse.
There is little doubt now that the flaperon will be declared the first evidence of MH370 in the coming days as no other Boeing 777s are thought to have crashed in the region.
'It's not over yet'
Relatives of the victims were told about the initial results shortly before Mr Najib's news conference on Wednesday.
Jacquita Gonzales, the wife of crew member Patrick Gomes, said: "Now that they have confirmed it as MH370, I know my husband is no longer of this world but they just can't leave it with this one flaperon."
"We urge them to continue searching until they find the plane and bring it back," she told reporters. "It's not over yet."
She said she still hoped to get her husband's body back so that the family can give him a proper burial and say goodbye.
Malaysia Airlines described confirmation of the flaperon as "a major breakthrough".
In a statement, it said it hoped further evidence would be found in the coming days that would "help resolve this mystery".
Simulation of where debris in search area could end up
Nigeria’s wartime leader, Gen Yakubu Gowon, says “Nigeria is better off with Igbos.”
He spoke while delivering an oration at the burial service for Chief (Mrs.) Chinyere Asika,
wife of the former Sole Administrator of East Central State; just as the governor of Anambra
State, Chief Willie Obiano, described the deceased as a woman who exemplified the virtue of
patience, charity and humility. The service took place at the All Saints Anglican Cathedral,
Onitsha, Anambra State.
(FILES)- A March 2, 2012 file photo shows an Ohafia cultural troupe entertaining bystanders during the burial of Nigeria’s secessionist leader Odumegwu Ojukwu at his native Nnewi country home, in Anambra State eastern Nigeria. Odumegwu Ojukwu, who championed the campaign for an independent Republic of Biafra in eastern Nigeria in the 1960s culminating in a 30-month civil war which left more than a million dead was buried at his Nnewi family home in Anambra State. Its name is synonomous with the declaration of independence and updates on the brutal conflict that followed, but nearly 50 years after Nigeria’s civil war, Radio Biafra is again making headlines. AFP PHOTO
Gowon’s declaration was borne out of a deep appreciation of the commitment and sacrifice of the deceased and her husband, Ajie Ukpabi Asika, to the survival of Nigeria as one entity. The former Head of State recalled that when he proposed the post of Sole Administrator of East Central State, Asika told me, “I prefer to do this for the good of Igbo people.”
He went on: “I was struggling to get an administrator for the newly created East Central State when the name of the late Ukpabi Asika came up. He was then a lecturer at Ibadan. When we met, I did not know which one of us was younger. But he exuded strength of character and understanding, and wanted to start work immediately. I cautioned him to think about it. I told him, `you must consult your brothers, and your wife to know if you would accept’. I came away convinced that this was the man I needed.
“I did not know how to place his wife, Chinyere, but when she arrived from Kenya, she plunged head-on into the idea. She was a courageous woman, caring and humble. I remember her efforts in “Otu Olu Obodo”- a public service initiative which she used as a tool of empowerment for her Igbo kinsmen and women.”
Obiano told the children and the Asika family to imbibe the virtues of patience, charity and humility from Mrs Asika, while urging the congregation and Ndi Anambra to remember “her good deeds and pray for the repose of her soul.”
The service was attended by many prominent personalities including a former Minister of Defence, Gen T.Y. Danjuma, who represented President Muhammadu Buhari.
- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/07/gowon-we-are-better-off-with-igbos/#sthash.0wKqqX40.dpuf
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