OMOJUWA.COM

Latest Nigerian News | Naija News | Breaking News

OMOJUWA.COM

UN Needs $1bn to Deliver Life-Saving Assistance in the North East

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has said the agency would need $1 billion in its bid to provide urgent and quality humanitarian assistance to victims of Boko Haram Insurgency in the three northern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe in 2017.
 
The amount which is more than double of what the agency appealed for in 2016 is occasioned by the worsening humanitarian conditions in the area, which is said to be the worst in the region.
 
United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Nigeria, Peter Lundberg, disclosed this to newsmen in Abuja, at the unveiling of the Humanitarian Response Plan for 2017.
 
He said, “Together with 75 partners, we are seeking US$1 billion to deliver life-saving assistance and prevent further hardship for the children, women and men in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States, and we are particularly reaching out to Nigerian private sector.
 
“We are grateful to the international community for their support so far, but we ask for commitments throughout 2017 to prevent this disaster from escalating into widespread catastrophe.”
 
Lundberg, while calling for urgent support from all and sundry stated that if nothing urgently is done to help mitigate the situation, millions of people in the area may lose their lives within the next few months.
 
He disclosed that the 2017 plan will focus on 8.5 million people in need of urgent assistance and also aimed at reaching 6.9 million people with life-saving humanitarian support. Also targeted are the over 75,000 children who may like die from severe famine and malnutrition if something urgent is not done.
 
Minister of State, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, who appreciated the agency and the entire international community for rallying round Nigeria in this crisis situation, disclosed that the government is not just focused on Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) but the interest of all communities affected and also those communities that have been providing support to the IDPs.
 
Stressing the urgent need to address the issue of hunger, Ahmed appealed to the agency and her partners to scale up efforts and reach at least 3 million people with food supplies. She also tasked the agency on improving health conditions in the region by particularly ensuring that the renewed outbreak of polio in the area is curtailed.
 
“Education is also important as a lot of these children have been out of school for a very long time. 50% of the 8.1 million people in need of urgent assistance are children and we must help them”, she said.
 
The agency apart from intervening in the area of food and health is also assisting in the area of water and sanitation, shelter, education, empowerment amongst others.
Credit: thisdaylive

Nigeria’s Economy Needs Visionary Leadership- Bloomberg

Africa and the world cannot afford a failing economy in the continent’s most populous nation. Yet that is exactly what Nigeria might be getting: Its economy is on track to shrink by 1.7 percent this year, the official unemployment rate has more than doubled over the last two years, and inflation is at an 11-year high.

One concrete step President Muhammadu Buhari could take to address the crisis would be to eliminate the country’s disastrous foreign exchange controls. Instead, Buhari has made no secret of his desire to defend Nigeria’s currency.

And the central bank has mostly gone along. Despite allowing the devaluation of the naira in June, it is continuing to manipulate the exchange rate — discouraging foreign investors, creating a crippling shortage of dollars for businesses that need to import, and feeding a currency black market. To keep down the street price of vanishing dollars, Buhari’s government has arrested informal money-changers. More capital controls are in the works.

Dismantling Nigeria’s foreign exchange controls will doubtless cause at least a short-term rise in inflation. Yet doing so will not only draw foreign investment and make the economy more productive and competitive, but also cut off a conduit for corruption. Buhari can cushion the blow for Nigeria’s poor through targeted cash payments — an approach Nigeria has used in electronically delivering subsidies to poor farmers. That same mechanism could also shield the poor from the regressive impact of an increase in Nigeria’s value-added tax — which is relatively low but a potentially valuable source of additional government revenue.

There are other ways to stimulate the economy, of course. But Nigeria’s Senate rejected Buhari’s three-year spending blueprint and an ambitious campaign to borrow $30 billion abroad because they lacked details. Meanwhile, his reluctance to sell off state-owned assets has undermined other efforts to raise revenue.

To be sure, Buhari faced ugly circumstances when he took office in May 2015. The plunge in oil prices had left the economy reeling and government coffers bare, and attacks by Boko Haram were ravaging the country. Yet while some progress has been made fighting both terrorism and corruption, Buhari’s rigid leadership style has made the country’s economic problems harder to solve.

Buhari’s election and pledges of good governance rightfully raised expectations across Africa. To fulfill those hopes, however, he will have to demonstrate more flexibility.

Credit: bloomberg

PDP Needs To Change Its Name- Chieftain

Jackson Lekan Ojo is a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In an interview, he bares his mind on the Kogi State governorship challenge.
When asked, “What is your impression about PDP’s zoning of its 2019 presidential ticket to the North?”, he said:
“Anything done on illegality is illegality on its own. If some people are saying that Prince Uche Secondus still maintaining that position is illegal, then any decision taken by him is illegal. At the same time, are these people not confused? For now, the PDP is not in order; they are divided into three. One of the camps has sympathy for former President Goodluck Jonathan, one has sympathy for Secondus and his cohorts, while the other I think is headed by some of the governors and the Minority Leader. To me, for the PDP to rule at the centre again, they must change name and I want to talk like a political prophet.”
I foresee very clearly today that the PDP at the end of the day will scatter. Some progressive elements will go out. The progressive elements will turn to another party. The APC too, so those people that are the progressive elements in the PDP and the APC will come together under the umbrella of another party before 2019.
But we are talking about the PDP today, what about the APC. While Bola Tinubu has some people who are sympathetic to him, Buhari is also forming and building his own structure. Whether you like it or not, Atiku Abubakar is a giant and he cannot stay under the leadership of any of these two persons. So, he will stand on his own. So, the APC also will soon scatter and some of them will go and form another party. I assure you that before 2019, a mega party will come up from the PDP and the APC that will be stronger. But as at today, I think the PDP is badly mutilated.”
Credit: DailyTrust

Nigeria Needs $1bn Annually To Attain 20,000MW By 2020- TCN

The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer  of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Mr. Mark Karst, has said the company is targeting 20,000 megawatts of electricity by the year 2020 and would need $1 billion annually to achieve the target.

Speaking on Wednesday at the public hearing into the activities of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and Distribution Companies  (DISCOS) as relates to infrastructure and billing by the House of Representatives Committee on Power, Karst noted that the money required is a huge sum.

“We have a long term expansion plan that is detailed to build 20,000mw evacuation capacity by 2020, and the funding would be by external institutions,” he said.

The TCN is however having difficulty is attracting funding, and is considering Public Private Partnership (PPP) alternatives.

“It will need $1billion annually over that period of time. It is a substantial amount of money. But this is a generation on the move, so the only choice we have would be to see how we raise the money,” he added.

Credit; ThisDay

Nigeria Immigration Needs 25,000 New Personnel- Comptroller General

The Nigeria Immigration Service requires about 5,000 personnel annually for the next five years to meet its manpower capacity, its comptroller-general, Martins Abeshi, has said.

Mr. Abeshi said this Thursday in Abuja when the Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau, visited the NIS as part of his familiarisation tour of parastatals under his ministry.

On the botched recruitment where some applicants lost their lives, the comptroller-general said the NIS was ready to conduct and absorb new officers as soon as it got directive from the Federal Government.

He pledged to ensure professionalism in the service in line with international best practice and the federal government’s Change Agenda.

Mr. Abeshi disclosed that the Nigeria Immigration Service generated N19. 4 billion between January and October 2015.

According to him, N9, 788, 969,705 was generated from passports/operations, while N9, 676, 474, 587 was generated from the Combined Expatriate Residence Permit and Alien’s Card (CERPAC) within the period.

Credit: PremiumTimes

Why Women Leave Men They Love, What Every Man Needs To Know

As a marriage counsellor working with men and women in relationship crisis, I help clients navigate numerous issues. While many situations are complex, there’s one profoundly simple truth that men need to know: Women leave men they love.

They feel terrible about it. It tears their heart out of them. But they do it. They rally their courage and their resources and they leave. Women leave men with whom they have children, homes and lives.

Women leave for many reasons, but there’s one reason in particular that haunts me, one that I want men to understand: Women leave because their man is not present. He’s working, golfing, gaming, watching TV, fishing…the list is long. These aren’t bad men. They’re good men. They’re good fathers. They support their family. They’re nice, likeable. But they take their wife for granted. They’re not present.

Women in my office tell me: “Someone could come and sweep me off my feet, right out from under my husband.” Sometimes the realization scares them. Sometimes it makes them cry.

Men, I’m not saying this is right or wrong. I’m telling you what I see. You can get as angry, hurt or indignant as you want. Your wife is not your property. She does not owe you her soul. You earn it. Day by day, moment after moment. You win her over first and foremost with your presence, your aliveness. She needs to feel it. She wants to talk to you about what matters to her and to feel that you’re listening to her. Not nodding politely. Not placating. Definitely not playing devil’s advocate.

She wants you to feel her. She doesn’t want absent-minded groping or quick sex. She wants to feel your passion. Can you feel your passion? Can you show her? Not just your passion for her or for sex; your passion for being alive. Do you have it? It’s the most attractive thing you possess. If you’ve lost it, what’s the reason? Where did it go? Find out. Find it. If you never discovered it, you are living on borrowed time.

If you think you’re present with your wife, try listening to her. Does your mind wander? Notice. When you look at her, how deeply do you see her? Look again, look deeper. Meet her gaze and keep it for longer than usual, longer than what’s comfortable. If she asks what you’re doing, tell her: “I’m looking into you. I want to see you deeply. I’m curious about who you are. After all these years I still want to know who you are, every day.” But only say it if you mean it, if you know it’s true.

Touch her with your full attention. Before you put your hand on her, notice the sensation in your hand. Notice what happens the moment you make contact. What happens in your body? What do you feel? Notice the most subtle sensations and emotions. (This is sometimes described as mindfulness.) Tell her everything you’re noticing, moment after moment.

But you’re busy. You don’t have time for all this. How about five minutes? Five minutes a day. Will you commit to that? I’m not talking about extravagant dinners or date nights (although these are fine too). I’m talking about five minutes a day to be completely present with the woman you share your life with. To be completely open– listening and seeing without judgement. Will you do that? I bet once you start, once you get a taste, you won’t want to stop.

Credit: Huffington

Nigeria Needs N453bn For Gas Pipelines- CSJ

The Federal Government would require a total amount of $2.3bn (N453.1bn) for the 2,300 kilometers of pipelines identified under the Nigeria Gas Master Plan, a study conducted by the Centre for Social Justice has revealed.
The report, a copy of which was made available to our correspondent in Abuja on Tuesday by the Lead Director, CSJ, Mr. Eze Onyekpere, revealed that depending on the terrain, it would cost between the sum of $800,000 and $2m to develop a kilometer of gas pipelines.
It said if an average amount of $1m is taken per kilometer, then the country would require $2.3bn to implement the NGMP.
It said going by the rise as well as the the risk of political violence, majority of the international oil companies are not willing to invest such an amount into the gas sector.
It said, “The construction cost of developing natural gas pipelines and infrastructure vary between $800,000 per km and $2m per km (for large diameter projects over rugged terrains).
“If we take the average cost of $1m for each kilometre of gas pipeline and 2,300 kilometres of pipelines identified under the NGMP will require about $2.3bn.
“Due to a number of reasons, mainly the risk of politically inspired violence, vandalisation, the risk of expropriation and the long gestation period before the investment becomes profitable, international oil companies are unwilling to invest in gas projects while government and citizens are desirous of gas investments.”
Read Morepunchng

Nigeria Needs Divine Intervention, Says El-Rufai

Governor Nasiru El-Rufai of Kaduna State on Friday said Nigeria needed divine intervention to pull out of its present socio-economic challenges.

El-Rufai made the remark when he received the leadership of the state chapter of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) who paid him a courtesy visit in Kaduna.

He said that the problems of security, dwindling economy, lack of jobs and general despair among the populace would require extraordinary efforts and God’s intervention to surmount.

El-Rufai expressed concern over the recent killings in some villages across the state and urged religious leaders to intensify prayers for Nigeria to overcome its problems.

According to him, the state government is determined to restore normalcy and ensure peaceful co-existence.

He said the people must unite in prayers for the stability and prosperity in the state and Nigeria.

In his remark, state CAN chairman, Rev. Judge Dodo, said the visit was to congratulate the governor for his success in the governorship election and pray for his success.

He advised the administration to focus on security, job creation and resuscitation of industries, in order to ”make life meaningful to the people”.

Dodo also urged the government to ensure freedom of worship and protection of worship centres.

Meanwhile, the Jama’atul Nasrul Islam (JNI), said it would support the state government with prayers to deliver on its mandate.

Malam Ibrahim Kufaina, JNI state secretary, who led members on a courtesy visit, urged the governor to be patient and just in his dealings.

Responding, El-Rufai thanked them for the visit and solicited for more prayers to for his government to succeed.

He appealed to them to offer advice and constructive criticisms that would guide the government to meet the aspirations of the people.

Special prayers were offered by the clerics for peace and stability in the country.

Credit: NAN