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Petrol smuggling: Nigerian government using device to track trucks, smugglers
The Federal Government says it has facilitated the use of a tracking device to track every truck loading petroleum product from any of its depots as part of efforts to nip smuggling in the bud and arrest culprits. Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, said this at a forum organised by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) to gauge the achievements recorded in the oil and gas sector in the last two years. Sylva noted that a lot had been achieved in the industry but that the activities of smugglers had continued to overshadow the successes especially as it concerned fuel subsidy and the quantity of petroleum products consumed in the country. “This is one big question that we try to answer ourselves because when we look at the number of load-outs from our depots every day...
Nigerian government says no immediate plan to ban cylinder imports
The Federal Government says it had no immediate plan to ban the importation of gas cylinders as part of its LPG expansion and implementation plan. Mr Dayo Adesina, Senior Special Assistant on Domestic Gas in the office of the Vice-President, made the disclosure in an interview with newsmen on Sunday in Abuja. He said that the government was working on first building local capacities before contemplating a ban. According to Adesina, who is also the Programme Manager of the National LPG Expansion and Implementation, Nigeria still has a lot of cylinder deficits to fill in meeting the LPG expansion plan. He explained that the plan was to get LPG to the remotest of villages and discourage use of firewood and other fuels that are inimical to the environment. Adesina said that of the nation’s ove...
Kwara to establish multi-billion naira cancer treatment centre
Kwara State Government has announced plans to establish a multi-billion naira Cancer treatment Centre to be situated at the Ilorin General Hospital. This is contained in a statement signed by Alhaji Bashir Adigun, the Special Adviser, Political Communication to Kwara Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq. According to him, the N2.5 billion recently donated to the state by the Abdul Samad Rabiu Initiative (ASR Africa) will form a huge chunk of funding for the modern facility. The governor said the centre along with the 12-bed intensive care unit, the modern dental and eye care facilities recently added to the general hospital was part of the huge investments. He said that these facilities would convert the General Hospital to a research facility (teaching hospital) for the take-off of the medica...
Canada, Germany, EU, others funding farming in northeast Nigeria
The People and Government of Canada, the European Union Trust Fund for Africa, the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Kingdom of Norway and the Kingdom of Sweden are funding the 2021 rainy season farming in troubled North-east of Nigeria. The funding, which is implemented through the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), is providing farming inputs to 65,800 farmers in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States adversely affected by over a decade Boko Haram insurgency. A statement on Friday by FAO recognized that the rainy season farm cultivation is critical to food production in Nigeria, as it ensures food availability and income generation, especially for smallholder and low-income households. The statement read: “...
Akwa Ibom governor, former Kaduna senator urges leaders to learn vision from communist party of China
Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, has commended the Communist Party of China (CPC) for a laudable administration that transformed China into the global second largest economy. Emmanuel made the commendation as Special Guest of Honour at a symposium to mark the centenary of China’s governing party, the Communist Party of China, CPC, with the theme: “Communist Party of China at 100: Trajectories, Achievements and Prospects,” held at the Chinese Cultural Centre, Abuja recently. Emmanuel who was represented by his Chief of Staff, Mr. Ephraim Inyangeyen, said, China emerged over the years as a leading country in industrialisation, science and technology and information communication revolution, even adding that she is a major player in world trade, finance, commerce, aviation and int...
Amnesty: Nigerian government highly sensitive to criticism
The country director of Amnesty International (AI) Nigeria, Osai Ojigho, says the federal government is “highly sensitive to criticism” and only focuses on appearances. Ojigho stated this on Thursday while addressing the topic “Is Freedom of Speech in Danger in Nigeria?” during a virtual conversation, tagged ‘Thursday Talks’. The virtual conversation, which is a monthly programme focused on engaging thought leaders, was moderated by Adeboye Adegoke, senior programme manager at Paradigm Initiative. The AI country director described the government’s ban on Twitter and its proposed amendment to the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) code as attempts to gag criticism. “What we are seeing is a government that is highly sensitive to criticism and, as such, seeks to work more on the public re...
Total targets more renewable electricity, LNG production by 2030
Total Companies in Nigeria has unveiled its corporate vision in line with the change of the Total Group to TotalEnergies. The organisation aims to produce more renewable electricity and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) by 2030. The oil major also outlined its broad energy lineup that includes oil, gas, electricity, hydrogen, biomass, wind and solar. TotalEnergies is committing $60 billion to investment in renewable energy in the next 10 years, with 10 per cent of that investment expected to come to Nigeria. Speaking at a virtual parley with journalists, the Executive General Manager, Total Country Services, Mrs. Bunmi Popoola-Mordi, highlighted steps that would help in adapting the new name, logo and visual identity of the company. THISDAY had reported that the shareholders of Total Group, had ...
Russians nationals detained in Chad desert say they are tourists
A group of Russians detained by the police in a part of northern Chad where the army has been battling a rebel invasion from Libya said on Wednesday that they were tourists who had come to sightsee in the Sahara Desert. The roughly 10 Russians were picked up last week by the police near the town of Faya Largeau because they were in a military operational zone, according to national police spokesperson Amane Issac Azina. Azina said they had not broken any laws and had not been arrested, but rather evacuated to the capital N’Djamena for their own safety. “We decided this time to visit the Republic of Chad because it is very interesting,” one of the Russians, Alexey Kamerzanov, told Reuters at an N’Djamena hotel. “Usually world travellers do not visit the Republic of Chad because it’s not the...
Private polytechnic owners set to clamp down on illegal operators
The National President of the Association of Private Polytechnic Founders/Rectors in Nigeria, Pastor Bassey James, has said that illegal school operators across the country would soon run out of business. He stated this in Uyo while briefing newsmen as part of the activities marking the maiden matriculation of Southern Atlantic Polytechnic, scheduled for Saturday, June 26, 2021. James mentioned that a total of 300 students would partake in the maiden matriculation ceremony of the Southern Atlantic Polytechnic, even as admissions were still ongoing in the institution. According to him, the association had written to both the national and state assemblies to inform them of the ugly incident even as he had met with some of the perpetrators of the illegal business and had given them a timeline...
Anambra election: PDP aspirant rules out consensus candidate
File Photo The aspirant, Godwin Maduka, a professor and founder of Las Vegas Pain Institute and Medical Center, U.S., said this when he spoke with reporters in Abuja on Tuesday, after a stakeholders meeting. He said it was unimaginable for any of the 16 aspirants to step down before the Saturday’s primaries. “Some of the aspirants will come to you and say let’s talk. They will say, you don’t need to be in politics. What are you looking for? “I will tell them, are you going to take the governorship title and allow me to work? I will allow you to do that. “Let me work on my ten point agenda-education, ICT, Agriculture, Women and Youth empowerment, solar energy, transportation and all that. I don’t think consensus is possible,” he said. Maduka said he was prepared for the party’s primary elec...
U.S. blocks websites linked to Iranian disinformation
The U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday blocked some three dozen websites, many of them associated with Iranian disinformation activities, a U.S. government source said, adding an official announcement was expected. The source in Washington spoke after notices appeared earlier on Tuesday on a number of Iran-affiliated websites saying they had been seized by the United States government as part of law enforcement action. Iranian news agencies said that the U.S. government had seized several Iranian media websites and sites belonging to groups affiliated with Iran such as Yemen’s Houthi movement. Some sites later started to display as normal. The website of the Arabic-language Masirah TV, which is run by the Houthis, read: “The domain almasirah.net has been seized by the United States Governm...
Gianluigi Buffon: Why I turned down Champions League for Parma
Gianluigi Buffon has said he rejected ‘two opportunities to even win the Champions League’ so that he could help Parma come back into Serie A and hasn’t lost hope of a spot at the 2022 World Cup. The 43-year-old shot-stopper signed the two-year contract and will be presented to the media this evening after leaving Juventus for the club where his career first started as a teenager. “I have many memories, above all the motivation and hope is to write a few more important pages in the history books of this club, and I know I can do it,” Buffon told Sky Sport Italia. “That is the main reason I returned here, along with the other 999 reasons! I felt such strong emotions, as an emotional reaction is the only way to keep delivering at this level at my age. “I knew Parma would give me something th...
