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The Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), on Wednesday said it had commenced investigation into the Bristow helicopter that crashed into the lagoon in Lagos. This was contained in a statement issued by the bureau’s General Manager, Public Affairs, Mr Tunji Oketunbi, in Lagos. The statement said the investigation had commenced with the AIB Commissioner, Dr Felix Abali, leading the team. The statement said 12 persons were believed to be on board. NAN recalls that Bristow-owned helicopter crashed inside ExxonMobil Facility in Port Harcourt on August 3, 2007. Another crash involving Bristow Helicopters also occurred on July 14, 2011 in Port Harcourt

Ganiyu Adams, the national coordinator of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) has said the death of Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuade, the Olubuse II, is an irreparable loss which he described as the “biggest Elephant transited to the vault”. Adams made the remark while reacting to the announcement of demise of the monarch. According to him, the Olubuse II has completed his mission as assigned to him by Almighty God. “He has gloriously relocated to the ancestral abode of his progenitors, to feed them back after the completion of his assigned role as the protector of the ancestral stool of the Yoruba. “Ooni Olubuse has gone to eternally dine and wine with his ancestors and to give the feedback to those who sent him to tender their stead. “The biggest Elephant has transited to the vault. He said it was sad but not tragic that he returned home at 85. He said the late monarch was able, not only to sustain the royal majestic and reverence left behind by his predecessors, but also “added

Some members of the All Progressives Congress from Rivers on Wednesday staged a protest at the headquarters of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Abuja. The protesters were led by the governorship candidate of the party in the last election, Dakuku Peterside. Peterside said they were protesting against the refusal of the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Rivers, Mrs Gesila Khan, to release election materials for inspection in accordance with the ruling of tribunal. Peterside wondered why the commissioner refused to comply with the order of the tribunal, adding that the 180 days for adjudication of electoral matters was fast approaching. He said the commissioner claimed that she was working under the instruction of INEC headquarters. Some other protesters included Sen. Magnus Abe, Andrew Uchendu, Otelemaba Amachree, Chidi Julius Lloyd, and Victor Amadi among others. The state Chairman of APC, Denis Ikanya was also one of the leaders of the protest. The protest,

Osun state governor, Rauf Aregbesola has broken his silence on the death of the late Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade following his passing in a London hospital. Speaking for the first time in public, Aregbesola said that the last text message that he received from the late Oba Sijuwade would soon be revealed. According to the governor, the message was touching and he promised to share the content of the message with the people of the state when the time is right. The governor while speaking at a special sitting at the Osun State House of Assembly on Friday to mark the 50th birthday of the Speaker of Osun Assembly, Najeem Salaam, explained that he discussed the message with the Ife Royal Traditional Council during his meeting with them in Osogbo over Ooni’s issue. Aregbesola maintained that a traditional ruler does not die in Yoruba land and prayed for long live for all the traditional rulers who were present at the Assembly to felicitate with the Speaker on his golden jubilee. H

News report that former governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Raji Fashola shelled N78.3million of Lagos tax-payers money on his personal website, has stirred a huge buzz on twitter. In tweets and retweets, commentators have been expressing derision and disgust that the former governor could have approved such a questionable expenditure under his watch. The consensus is that the cost was grossly exaggerated and over-inflated. A WordPress website, like http://tundefashola.com/http://tundefashola.com/ should not cost more than N3million, according to expert opinions. The story was broken by BudgIT, quoting a budget report on the website of the Lagos State Public Procurement Agency. The contract was awarded in 2014 to “Info Access Plus Limited”. A Google search by TheNEWS did not turn anything out about the company.

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health, Linus Awute, says Nigeria has the poorest exclusive breastfeeding rate in Africa with only 17 per cent of the children being exclusively breastfed. Awute made this known at the ministerial launch of the 2015 World Breastfeeding Week in Abuja on Monday. Represented by Dr Bridget Okoeguale, Director Public Health, Awute said many women fed their infants with breast milk along with water. “All the water the child needs is contained in the breast milk; there is no need to give the child water or any other liquid,” he said. According to him, exclusive breast feeding means that water or other liquid is not given to the child, except oral rehydration solution, drops or syrups of vitamins, minerals and medicines. “The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends that infants be exclusively breast feed for the first six months of life to achieve growth,” he said. NAN reports that the theme of this year’s celebration is “Breastfeeding and

Former governor or Rivers state, Rt Hon. Rotimi Amaechi has stated that under the government of Goodluck Jonathan the money for fuel subsidy rose from N300 billion to a staggering N1.9 trillion, noting that, the administration was going to milk Nigeria dry. “The fuel subsidy was N300 billion under former President Olusegun Obasanjo and it remained the same under President Umaru Yar’Adua. “Within six months under President Goodluck Jonathan, the fuel subsidy rose from N300 billion to N1.9 trillion,” he said in Abuja on Monday at a reception organised for him by the Committee of Friends at the International Conference Centre, Abuja. He said he fell out with Jonathan because he wanted more money. “Yet, Jonathan wanted more money for fuel subsidy. This prompted the trouble between me and the Jonathan administration,” he explained. Amaechi noted that the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in this year’s general elections was engineered by God. He said God engineered the vic

The national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Oyegun has credited former Rivers state governor, Rotimi Amaechi for bringing passion and energy to the party. Oyegun who lauded Amaechi at a reception organised for him (Amaechi) by the Committee of Friends at the International Conference Centre, Abuja said he had the ability to struggle, fight and win power, describing him as “hyper-active”. “Amaechi brought passion and energy into APC and he was aware of the risks of failure. The man we are celebrating today deserves honour,” Oyegun said at the reception. In response to the gesture shown to him, Amaechi said all members of the party played a role in ensuring that the party won the presidential election. “Governor Amaechi did not contribute more than you did. We all worked together; in fact, it will be unfair for us to claim the glory,” Amaechi said to all those in attendance. He added that: “This is because I believe that the victory of APC was engineered b

Governor Ayodele Fayose seems to have swapped jollying with Ekiti residents at Palm Wine joints to going hard on them for taxes after Ekiti State Government on Monday said that henceforth any taxable adult that evades tax would be treated as an economic saboteur. The same treatment, the government said, would be given to private and public premises owned by all tiers of government operating in the state, but refused to remit their annual tax dues. Special Adviser to the Governor on Revenue Matters Ropo Ogunjobi said this at a public enlightenment on tax payment in Ado-Ekiti. He said that all tax dues should be remitted to government’s coffers, warning that anyone that flouted the order would face the wrath. Also, any private or public premises that refused to pay their annual dues would be sealed-off and prosecuted. The steps, according to Ogunjobi, are taken as a way out of the current economic crisis in the country, as well as boost the revenue tempo of the state. “We have to t

Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state and Chairman of the Committee of Friends who hosted Rotimi Amaechi to a reception at the International Conference Centre in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital has described him as “transformative leader” who transformed Rivers within the seven years he governed the state. “I know this because I have visited Rivers many times and have seen the work he did. The primary schools in the state are better than some state universities,” he said. Adding that: “He also transformed the roads, health sector and created jobs, among other things. All these feats make him a transformative leader,” El-Rufai said. The governor said that Amaechi was constantly strategising for the party, making him an arrowhead in the lead-up to the governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun states. El-Rufai said Amaechi particularly contributed to efforts to increase the collection of the Permanent Voter Cards from 50 per cent to 90 per cent nationally, shortly before the general electio

An Ijaw leader, Regent Youmor, on Monday said the appointment of retired Brig.-Gen. Paul Boroh would facilitate the payment of fees of ex-militants schooling abroad. Youmor, the adviser of the Ijaw National Congress, Lagos chapter, said this in an interview with NAN in Lagos. President Muhammadu Buhari, on July 28, appointed Boroh as the coordinator of the amnesty programme to replace Mr Kingsley Kuku, the former Special Adviser to former President Goodluck Jonathan. Youmor said that over 3,000 beneficiaries of the programme had been ejected from their various institutions abroad due to non-payment of the fees. He said that the beneficiaries were sent back home from their various schools in Italy, Germany and US. According to him, the appointment of Boroh has brought hope to the ex-militants as it will ensure quick return of those students to their schools. “In fact, by next week, the students will be going back to their schools; and the issue of non-payment of amnesty programme

Prof. Julius Okojie, the Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), on Monday, said the standard of Nigerian universities was high in spite of their low global ranking. Okojie, who said this at the opening of a two-day workshop on African Centres of Excellence (ACE) Project Post-Effectiveness in Abuja, said that the problem with Nigerian universities was low Internet presence. NAN reports that Nigeria has 10 out of 19 African Centres of Excellence. According to Okojie, the Nigerian Research and Education Network (NgREN) is solving the problem of Internet connectivity in Nigerian universities, saying it will improve global presence of Nigerian universities. He said “what has happened in NgREN is a big boom because of Internet connectivity to 27 universities; you can almost share resources, knowledge and findings. “The people that do the ranking do not really visit universities; they go to the Internet and find out what you are doing. “Whatever research we are doi

ABUJA, (Reuters) – Nigeria’s new president should overhaul how Africa’s biggest oil producer sells its state oil company’s share of crude oil output to save billions of dollars in wasted and lost revenues, a report by an international governance watchdog said on Tuesday. About half of Nigeria’s 2 million barrel per day (bpd) crude output goes to NNPC, the state-owned oil company. NNPC sells half that oil to its subsidiary Pipelines and Product Marketing Co for the country’s refineries. The poorly maintained plants are however unable to process the bulk of the oil and over the years this allocation has devolved into a “nexus of waste and revenue loss,” according to the report by Natural Resource Governance Institutes (NRGI), a non-profit. The other half of NNPC’s oil share is mostly sold to “unqualified intermediaries,” earning significant margins for little or no added value, rather than directly to the end-users, NRGI said. A spokesman for NNPC declined to comment on the report.

Colonel Sani Kukasheka, acting Director, Army Public Relations, said troops of 7 Div. Nigerian Army have mopped up Dikwa and environs of Boko Haram terrorists. Kukasheka, who disclosed this in a statement issued on Saturday in Abuja, said the troops recovered four Toyota Hilux vehicles. He said that they also discovered that the terrorists had converted the abandoned Chemistry laboratory of Dikwa College of Education into an Improvised Explosives Devices making factory. “Some of the equipment recovered from the laboratory include a welding machine and mine detector. “The gallant troops are in a very high spirit and more determined to further pursue the fleeing terrorists to all known enclaves and sanctuaries,” he said.

There seems to be no let up in the war between workers at the Abuja national secretariat of Nigeria’s main opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and members of the National Working Committee, NWC of the party. Workers of the party had yesterday called for investigation of members of the NWC by the anti graft agencies over allegations of mismanagement of N12 billion realised by the party from the sale of nomination forms for the 2015 general elections. The accusation of massive funds mismanagement followed moves by the party’s NWC to sack about 50 per cent of the workers and also cut wages by 50 per cent. But while responding to the allegations, Olisah Metuh, the PDP National Publicity Secretary had accused the workers of being used by the opposition All Progressive Party. The PDP Staff Welfare Association however described the claim by Metuh as “an absolute bunkum, a clumsy, and blundering blackmail”, in a statement issued on Saturday, signed by the Chairman of the Associat