Olympian, Brown Ebewele, over the weekend in Abuja posited that Nigeria would not make any meaningful progress in the development of her sports if the country continues to use insincere, greedy and manipulative sports administrators especially at the level of the sports federations. Brown Ebewele Ebewele, a highly reputed athletics coach who rose to become a director and ultimately a commissioner of sports in Edo State, further said in a presentation he made at the Sports Reform Committee’s retreat that “ the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports should raise the level of monitoring and regulation of the sports federations as most of the chairmen have turned them into “personal gardens.” “Nigeria is the only country in the world that does not use her best in nearly all fields of public endeavor especially sports. The country will go to the Olympics and come back empty handed and the federation presidents will turn around and blackmail and blame the ministry for their failure. “For instance, the so-called ‘high performance centre’ in Port Harcourt is a fraud and if the ministry does not step in and the athletics body that provided the grant goes to see that contraption, the country may loose further support.” Adding, “Nigeria will not make any significant progress as long as the civil servants drive the sports development process.” In his presentation, Akinloye Oyebanji, former director NTA Sports said that the future of Nigeria’s youth should be the main focus of any sports development strategy and the nation should provide the enabling environment for our youth to create wealth with their sports talent. “There are models and standards all over the world that we can learn from. Early scouting and scientific programming should be key,” Oyebanji who worked for 30 years as a sports journalist said.
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Sunday, May 8, 2016
SUNDAY, MAY 8, 2016
NNPC remits N1.118 trillion into Federation Account in one year
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, said it paid N1.118 trillion into the Federation Account between April 2015 and March 2016.
In its monthly financial report for March, the agency said as part of the total, it paid N69.544 billion into the Federation Account in March. The money was from domestic crude oil and gas sold as well as other income.
It added that NNPC also recorded N107.826 billion revenue in March against N104.804 in February.
It said that the revenue rose marginally by 2.88 per cent, adding that the expenses of the corporation dipped by 12.92 per cent to N112.368 billion from N129, 034 billion recorded in previous month.
According to the report, the corporation also made a loss of N18.89 billion in the month under review.
It said the loss was an improvement from a deficit of N24.23 billion recorded in February.
A breakdown of the financial performance of its subsidiaries showed that the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, NPDC, Integrated Data Services Limited, IDSL, and National Engineering and Technical Company Limited posted losses of N9.874 billion, N469 million and N69 million, respectively.
It reported that the Nigerian Gas Company recorded a profit of N5.155 billion.
“Kaduna, Port Harcourt and Warri refining companies recorded losses of N1.824 billion, N1.971 billion and N845 million, respectively, while the PPMC recorded a deficit of N923 million,” it added.
The report said that the deficit recorded by NPDC in February and March 2016 were due to production shut–in occasioned by vandalism of Forcados Export Line.
This, it said resulted in the loss of its entire revenue from crude oil sales of about ₦20 billion.
The report also put the combined value of output by the three refineries at import parity price in March 2016 at N22.93 billion, while the associated crude plus freight cost was N20.02 billion.
It said that this gave negative margin of N3.95 billion after considering overhead of N6.87 billion.
The report also said that a total of N85.66 billion was collected as sales revenue from white products sold by PPMC in the month of March 2016 compared with N85.23 billion collected in the previous month.
“Total revenues generated from the sales of white products for the period April 2015 to March 2016 stands at N775.90 billion where PMS contributed about 88.85 per cent of the revenues collected with a value of N689.41 billion.”
The NNPC recorded total export proceeds of $170.12 million in the month under review with crude oil export accounting for $98.31 million, while gas export accounted for $71.81 million.
On dollar payments to Joint Venture Cash Call, it said total export proceeds of $141.87 million were recorded in March, 2016 consisting of crude oil receipt of 88.36 million dollars.
It added that Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG, and Escravos Gas to Liquid, EGTL, recorded proceed of 1.52 million dollars and Miscellaneous receipts amounting to 51.99 million dollars.
“The drastic slump in total export receipt is largely due to shut in of about 300,000 barrel of oil per day (bopd) at Forcados Terminal following the force majeure declared by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) on 15th February, 2016.
“Hence, all un-lifted February and March cargoes were deferred until the repair is completed.”
(NAN)
Unauthorised use of drones bans in Nigeria
SUNDAY, MAY 8, 2016
Nigeria bans unauthorised use of drones
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, has banned the launching of Remotely Piloted Aircraft, RPA, in the Nigerian airspace without its permit and that of the Office of National Security Adviser, ONSA.
This is contained in a statement issued by the General Manager, Public Relations, NCAA, Sam Adurogboye, which was made available to the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, on Sunday in Lagos.
The statement said the move was part of the safety guidelines issued by the regulatory agency to drone operators following the proliferation of the technology in the country.
“In recent times, RPA/UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) are being deployed for commercial and recreational purposes in the country without adequate security clearance.
“Therefore with the preponderance of these operations, particularly in a non-segregated airspace, there has to be proactive safety guidelines.
“The development of the use of RPA nationwide has emerged with somewhat predictable safety concerns and security threats.”
According to the statement, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) is yet to publish Standards and Recommended Practices, SARPs, as far as certification and operation of civil use of RPA is concerned.
The statement said the NCAA had therefore put in place Regulations/Advisory Circular to guide the certification and operations of civil RPA in the Nigerian airspace.
It said this was contained in the Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations (Nig. CARs 2015 Part 8.8.1.33) and the Implementing Standards (Nig.CARs 2015 Part IS.8.8.1.33).
“Therefore, no government agency, organisation or an individual will launch an RPA/UAV in the Nigerian airspace for any purpose whatsoever without obtaining requisite permit from the NCAA and ONSA.
“The NCAA wishes to reiterate that all applicants and holders of permits to operate RPA/Drones must strictly be guided by safety guidelines.
“In addition, operators must ensure strict compliance with the conditions stipulated in their permits and the requirements of the Nig. CARs,” the statement said.
It added that violators would be sanctioned according to the dictates of the new rules.
(NAN)
Hidden Face of Fake Naval Officer Declared Wanted for Duping Nigerians
SATURDAY, MAY 7, 2016
See Face of Fake Naval Officer Declared Wanted for Duping Nigerians
Olugboyega was reported to have collected N100,000 mobilisation fee from Olugbemiga Ayeni to investigate an alleged fraudulent deal involving another naval personnel identified as Prince Ayeni.
But the Navy in a statement issued on Monday by Director of Naval Information, Commodore Chris Ezekobe, described Olugboyega as an impostor, adding that the said Prince Ayeni was also not a naval personnel.
The statement said, “In view of the report and a formal complaint forwarded to the Naval Headquarters by Olugbemiga Ayeni on the behavior of the said “Captain Olugboyega Olubiyi Ayokunle,” the Nigerian Navy carried out a thorough investigation on the identity of the names mentioned and discovered that the men who are parading as officers of the Nigerian Navy are Imposters.
“To this end, the Nigerian Navy wishes to state categorically that the said Prince Aderemi is not a naval rating as alleged. “Also the Olugboyega Olubiyi Ayokunle is not a Nigerian Navy officer. The naval uniform insignia worn by the suspect is fake as such not that of the Nigerian Navy.
“Therefore he cannot be serving in the Western Naval Command of the Niigerian Navy as alleged in the news report.
“Consequently, the said “Captain O.A Olugboyega is a wanted person by the Nigerian Navy for offences ranging from impersonation and illegal possession of fire arms as shown in the attached pictures.
“The general public is advised to henceforth desist from dealing with the imposters who claim to be in the Service of the Nigerian Navy, as the Service will not be responsible for their fraudulent activities. “When and wherever sighted, they should be apprehended and handed over to the nearest Naval or military formation for prompt action.”
SUNDAY, MAY 8, 2016
Father watches as Leopard attacks and drags his 6 year old son away
His father said he watched in horror as his son was dragged for 30 metres by the Leopard after having sunk its razor sharp jaws into his son's shoulder. He said he ran after the Leopard shouting and yelling for it to put his son down. Fortunately and by God's grace, the leopard dropped the boy allowing his father to pick him up and carry him to safety.
Justin Denny, the boy's father told the local Cape Argus newspaper that his sons were running laps along a low wall unbeknownst to them, the leopard was nearby hunting.
He said:
"He wanted to go back and do another lap. "When he went back to the wall, that is when the leopard attacked." "I ran after the leopard shouting: “No, no, no this can’t be happening.”He added:
"By the grace of God, it dropped him." "I picked him up and rushed him back to the rondavel. A neighbour arrived with his wife who is a nurse." The reserve's management called for a doctor who raced to the boy to give him treatment.
The boy is said to be "quite traumatised" but recovering well at home with his family
The manager of the camp, who asked not to be named confirmed that the leopard was male, he made the determination from the bitemarks on the boy's arm.
Kellan was then taken to a hospital where he received stitches, was given a tetanus injection and administered antibiotics.
Source: Cape Argus newspaper
Saturday, May 7, 2016
Access bank MD released by EFCC
SUNDAY, MAY 8, 2016
Access bank MD released by EFCC
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is leaving no stone unturned in its quest to investigate the activities of the last administration.
On Friday May 6th, officials of EFCC visited the headquarters of Access Bank Plc seeking clarification from the bank's officials. The Commission invited Herbert Wigwe - Managing Director of the bank for questioning and released him after a couple of hours.
It is back to business as usual in the bank and activities have continued without any disruptions.
The EFCC had taken its investigation into the arms procurement scandal further to the 2015 presidential campaign funds of former President Goodluck Jonathan, with the fresh move a result of alleged discoveries that more party members received funds from the office of the National Security Adviser, specifically for the party's presidential campaign.
EFCC must stop acting irresponsibly' - Fayose
Saturday, May 7, 2016
'EFCC must stop acting irresponsibly' - Fayose
In a statement released today by his media aide Lere Olayinka, Governor Fayose said it was the height of executive rascality for the EFCC to have held occupants of Fani-Kayode’s residence hostage for eight hours despite that he was only invited to come to the EFCC office on Monday and there was no evidence that Fani-Kayode refused to honour the EFCC invitation.
“EFCC under President Mohammadu Buhari is acting as if it is above the law and Nigerians and the international community must remind the commission that we are in a democracy where rule of law is sacrosanct.” The governor said actions of the EFCC have shown clearly that it is an instrument of victimisation against oppositions in the country, adding the anti-graft agency should go and study how other anti-corruption agencies in other countries behave.
He said; “the EFCC must be reminded of the judgement delivered in March, this year by Justice Yusuf Haliru of the Federal High Court in Nicholas Arinse Vs EFCC & Nigerian Army where the judge held that the EFCC did not behave as if we were in a civilised society and that the anti-graft commission was behaving as if we were in a military dictatorship, where they arrest and release person at will. In the case of the former Special Assistant on Domestic Affairs to ex-President Jonathan, no one is saying those suspected of corrupt practices should not be investigated and tried, but it is wrong for Warimopei Dudafa to have been kept in EFCC custody for over two weeks without trial.
Also, it is a demonstration of barbarism for the same EFCC that invited Fani-Kayode to its office on Monday to have invaded his house yesterday, holding the occupants hostage for eight hours when there is no evidence that Fani-Kayode refused to honour EFCC invitation. Why the show of barbarism by the EFCC as if Nigeria is now back to 1984 when Buhari was a military dictator?” While calling on the international community to pay attention to the abuse of rights of Nigerians and threat to democracy under President Buhari, Fayose said; “It is obvious that democracy in Nigeria is becoming unsafe in the hands of Buhari’s government.”
He said Nigerians must begin to ask the EFCC what happened to the several petitions written against APC leaders and financiers of President Buhari’s election, including former governors, adding that it was worrisome that the EFCC and the Department of State Services (DSS) have become President Buhari’s instrument of political victimisation.
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