TRUCK CRUSHES BUS CONVEYING 18 UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

More than 12 students of Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago -Iwoye, Ogun State were crushed to death yesterday when a container fell on the passenger bus conveying them.
Many others were seriously injured in the mishap, which occurred at the Shagamu section of the Lagos/Benin Expressway.
Our correspondent gathered that the unlatched 20-feet container fell off a moving truck as the driver tried to avoid an obstruction while driving against the direction of traffic.
The container with a Lagos registration number BDG 779 XE was said to have fallen on the roof of the Toyota Hiace bus also with a Lagos registration number XV 311 MUS a few metres away from the gate of a plastic manufacturing company near Ilisha Remo junction.
It was learnt that the OOU students were travelling to Lagos State for the weekend when they met their untimely death.
The Ijebu-Ode Commander of Ogun State Traffic Management and Compliance Agency (TRACE), Tommy Hamzat, told reporters that the driver of the container laden truck drove against the traffic.
Hamzat added that the fact that the truck was driving on the wrong side of the road made it difficult for the driver of the passenger bus to notice it, hence the two vehicles collided.
He said: “I was coming from the Sagamu end when I saw the accident and hurriedly parked my car. I ran there to see if the passengers but, unfortunately, all the occupants, were dead, including the driver,.

Anambra Traders Kick Against Move To Transfer Prison Inmates From Northern Nigeria

Mild Drama ensued between the men of the Nigeria police Force and scores of traders under the eagis of Amalgamated Market and Traders Association (AMATA) Anambra chapter who took to the streets to oppose the rumored move by federal Government to swap some prisoners in the north with inmates in Anambra state but were later dispersed the police.

The traders numbering in their tens representing different markets in the state had earlier barricaded the Enugu-Onistha highway, chanting war songs to drive home their message to forestall moves by federal government to embark on such act.

They said they are not ready to start experiencing what the northern states are currently experiencing with the spate of Boko Haram insurgency and incessant bombing of markets and houses, they expressed worry  that prisoners brought from the north would have some Boko Haram members that may spoil the minds of  inmates here into insurgency activities.

 The frowned at the move by government and asked for a total cancellation of such move in the interest of the state and country at large.

BUHARI DISSOLVES NNPC BOARD

President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the immediate dissolution of the board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.
The decision was conveyed in a letter, dated June 26, 2015, signed by the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Danladi Kifasi.
The letter quoted President Buhari as thanking members of the dissolved board for their services to the nation.
The NNPC is the state-run oil company which oversees Nigeria’s oil and gas industry. It’s board is statutorily headed by the minister of petroleum resources.
The corporation regulates the oil and gas sector, and also operates as a joint venture partner representing the government in deals with oil multinationals.
The NNPC has in recent years been accused of large scale corruption, the latest being the alleged disappearance of $20 billion oil money.
An independent audit ordered by the Nigerian government in 2014 concluded that the corporation has an outstanding $1.48 billion it should pay to the government.
The NNPC has yet to make the payment several months after the release of the audit report.

How President Buhari Traced Stolen Money To Switzerland, United Kingdom Others

The Federal Government has started tracing looted Nigerian funds to foreign nations with the aim of recovering and repatriating them.
The Federal Government specifically targets the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Switzerland and other European jurisdictions where it believes corrupt officials have been stashing public funds.
This move came on the heels of the declaration by President Muhammadu Buhari on his first day in Aso Villa office that he inherited an almost empty treasury from his predecessor, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, thus vowing that his administration would recover all the looted funds stashed in foreign banks by corrupt Nigerians.
“The next three months may be hard, but billions of dollars can be recovered, and we will do our best,” the President was quoted as saying in a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina.
Some of the countries where looted funds from Nigeria have been kept in the past include Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. Others are France, Germany, British Virgin Islands and other tax havens spread across the globe.
Adesina, who confirmed the move in an exclusive interview with Saturday PUNCH on Thursday, said, the search for the looted funds will not be limited to these countries but anywhere in the world where they may be hidden.

Awka Prison Inmates Cry For Help From Hunger & Starvation

They readily, albeit regrettably, acknowledge their unenviable status as prisoners, persons who have been found wanting by their action or conduct under the law and therefore condemned to live under confinement. But that has not stopped them from pressing for their right to continued existence.
This obviously explains why inmates of the Awka prison in Anambra State have cried out to both the federal and Anambra State governments as well as private and public spirited individuals to come to their assistance before they die of hunger and penury while under the prison custody.
A self-acclaimed General Provost of the inmates who made the appeal on their behalf, identified hunger and starvation as one of their major problems. He spoke at the weekend when a philanthropist,   Mr Godwin Ezeemo, visited them to mark his 59th birthday anniversary with them.
They also listed lack of electricity supply, non-functional water bore-hole, lack of accommodation, and medical facilities as some of their problems, adding that some of them die for lack of proper care.
He regretted that most of the inmates were either jailed for an offence they did not know anything about or were thrown into prison because they had nobody or money to speak for them in minor counts. While thanking Ezeemo for choosing the prison yard as venue for his birthday, they added that people like him deserve to be at the helm of government.

Anambra Traders Set To Shut Down Markets For Fear Of Relocation of Boko Haram Suspects To Anambra

Thousands of traders in Anambra  state will Tomorrow 27th June 2015 shut down all markets in he state in protest of the planned relocation of Boko Haram suspects to Prisons in Anambra state.including Onitsha , Awka and Ekwulobia 

The traders under the aegis of Amalgamated market traders association of Anambra (AMATAS) will carry a peaceful protest in collaboration with Campaign for Democracy
When contacted the, state publicity secretary of AMATAS , Chief Dede Uzor A Uzor confirmed the planned early morning protest till evening , saying no market will open in Anmabra state tomorrow.
He said the planned relocation of Boko Haram suspects to Anambra state posses a security threat to the state.

Ignore Impeachment Petition On Aregbesola---AGF

A Concern group named Asiwaju Grassroots Foundation (AGF) has requested Osunstate House of Assembly speaker  Mr. Najeem Salaam, to ignore the petition by the state judiciary seeking the impeachment of Governor Rauf Aregbesola over the inability of the state government  to pay its workers’ salaries.
Salaam, on Wednesday, said that the Assembly had received a petition from Justice Folahanmi Oloyede, calling for the impeachment of Aregbesola on the grounds of alleged financial recklessness.
In a letter dated June 24, 2015 and signed by the AGF coordinator in Osun State, Adeboye Adebayo, the group, which acknowledged that Oloyede’s views should be respected, however, urged the Assembly to disregard the petition because “Aregbesola has made meaningful achievements.”
The letter read in part, “Mr. Speaker, you know that before now, workers’ salaries, pensions and other emoluments were being paid as and when due, including car loans and 13th month salaries.
“Things began to go the other way when financial meltdown hit the country through the mismanagement of the national economy by the President Goodluck Jonathan-led government and it is worthy of note that it was Aregbesola that first raised the alarm about the impending financial crisis.

Uduaghan Mortgaged Delta For N637.22BN DEBT - OKOWA

Delta State governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, has pledged to extricate the state from what he called its stringent mortgage to financial institutions between June 2015 and September 2018 over a cumulative debt of N637.22 billion.

In his maiden address to the Delta State House of Assembly yesterday on the “State of our Economy”, Okowa said “the state is grappling with a revenue bond and indebtedness totalling N98.62bn (principal sum) to commercial banks, while outstanding contractual obligation is N538,601,962,421.50.”
He disclosed that “in 2011, the government took a N50bn facility from the bond market, with a repayment period of seven years in 84 instalments at N1.098bn each month.”
He said the facility would terminate in September 2018 with 40 more instalments (totalling N43.92bn) to pay with effect from June 2015.
He continued, “In November 2014, Delta State also acted as guarantor to some select contractors supported by the issuance of an Irrevocable Standing Payment Order (ISPO) of N2.23bn monthly for which the contractors received the total sum of N40bn.

President Buhari Appoints AHMED IDRIS As New Accountant-General of The Federation

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of Alhaji Ahmed Idris as Accountant General of the Federation. Until his appointment, Idris was Director of Finance and Accounts in the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development.
Announcing this in Abuja, yesterday, Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Mr. Danladi Kifasi, said the appointment was with effect from June 25, 2015.
Signed by Director of Communications in the Office of Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Haruna Rasheed Imrana, the statement added that the appointee, who hails from Kano State, was born on November 25, 1960.
In another development, the Directorate of Road Traffic Services, DRTS, in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, is seeking approval to limit the influx of vehicles to the nation’s capital.
Consequently, DRTS has requested the FCT Administration to help it recruit more personnel to execute the mandate. Director of DRTS, Danjuma Garba, stated this yesterday while commissioning DRTS ICT Training Centre in Mabushi District, Abuja.
He said the directorate in its efforts to improve service delivery through seamless vehicle registration system, has established six additional driver licencing centres in the territory.
Deputy Director, Press in the FCTA, Muhammad Hazat Sule, quoted the DRTS boss as pleading “with the FCT Administration to provide the directorate with additional manpower to help curb the influx of vehicles in the FCT.”

Police Display Weapons Seized From Kidnappers Of G.U.O Boss In Anambra

Corporal Victor Edet, a policeman attached to Anambra State headquarters of Special Anti-Robbery 

Squad, SARS, Awkuzu as at 2009, yesterday, at an Onitsha High Court, displayed the weapons of mass destruction used by a gang of armed robbers/kidnappers who abducted the chairman of GUO Motors Limited, Chief Godwin Ubaka Okeke, on Sunday, August 23, 2009.
Chief Okeke was kidnapped at the All Saints Anglican Church Cathedral, Onitsha, but was released the next day after payment of N30 million ransom by his family.
Testifying before the court, presided over by Justice Alexander Okumah, in the on-going trial of three accused persons suspected to be members of the kidnap gang that abducted Okeke, Edet, who is the fifth prosecution witness, and currently attached to SARS, Kano State police command, also told the court how the police arrested some of the gangsters who kidnapped Okeke and recovered their weapons of mass destruction which were displayed before the court.