FEC meeting turns spiritual, as 3 ministers fall ill

The Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting, yesterday, started on a sober note, with a supplication to God to heal President Muhammadu Buhari and three other members of the cabinet. Recall that President Buhari had, Monday, departed Abuja for London, United Kingdom, to seek medical treatment for an ear infection. Osinbajo The FEC meeting, which was slated for 12noon, came on stream at 12:10p.m., when the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, entered the filled council chambers, venue of the meeting. After the opening ceremonies, Osinbajo asked the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammad, and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Babachir Lawal, to pray. While Alhaji Mohammed asked God for guidance and wisdom, Lawal handed over to God President Buhari, who he said was on “medical vacation” abroad. He then prayed to God on behalf of the Minister of Women Affairs, Aisha Alhassan, popularly known as Mama Taraba, saying she had been down but now “recuperating from surgery in the US.” The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu was the next on the list. While revealing that Adamu was down with “back pain,” the SGF also prayed God to heal him, and then he handed the Acting President over to God for guidance. However, as soon as the members chorused “Amen” and took their seats, an unidentified voice was heard reminding the SGF that he forgot to include the Minister of State for Environment, Ibrahim Jubril, to which the SGF said: “Yes, let us pray for him, too.” Meanwhile, journalists did not witness this part of the prayers as they had filed out to for the meeting to commence.

Fraudsters ask govt for money to negotiate Chibok girls’ release — Buhari

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday said fraudsters have asked the government for money to negotiate the release of more 200 girls abducted by Boko Haram militants over two years ago from their school in the northeastern town of Chibok. The first of the 219 girls held captive since the mass kidnapping in April 2014 to be found alive was discovered last month. A second girl was rescued days later, although campaigners said she was taken in a separate abduction. “While the rescue and safe return of the remaining Chibok girls remain a top priority of his administration, he will not fall for the antics of fraudsters,” Buhari’s spokesman, Femi Adesina, said. Adesina said the president stated this during a meeting with archbishops of the Church of Nigeria. “President Buhari said that his administration will continue to insist on a thorough authentication of the identities and bona fides of any persons or groups claiming to have custody of the girls before entering into negotiations with them,” he said. Boko Haram, which has tried to create an Islamic caliphate in northeast Nigeria over the last seven years, captured 276 girls in the Chibok raid but 57 escaped in the melee. Under Buhari’s command, and aided by Nigeria’s neighbours, the army has recaptured most territory lost to the group. 0 0

Nigerians are suffering, Labour tells FG

ORGANISED Labour yesterday in Abuja told the Federal Government in clear terms that the Nigerian economy was in bad shape and that ordinary Nigerians were suffering and going through hard times. President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the opening of a 2-day National Economic Council Retreat at the Statehouse Conference Centre on 21st March 2016. But while acknowledging the hardships and sufferings Nigerians were passing through, the government said practical steps were being taken to ensure that the sufferings end soon. Speaking at the 10th Triennial National Delegates Conference of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, its President, Mr. Bobboi Kaigama, also lamented the emerging cases of corruption by actors in the last administration. He argued that the present administration was in the right tracks to returning the nation to the path of glory. According to him, “Presently the economy of the country is in a very bad shape. We are in a period of stagnation with its attendant slow economic growth, high unemployment and rising prices. The country’s currency, the Naira is in a free fall. There is insecurity posed by Boko Haram insurgents, problem of herdsmen and Niger Delta militants, and a host of other ills bedevilling the country. In spite of all these challenges, however, we cannot afford to give up the struggle. But I see hope coupled with signals of a brighter future for our unborn generations. We will surely get there.” According to him: “The theme of this Conference, “Labour and National Re-orientation: The Change we want” is apt and well crafted to reflect our present situation and steps needed to be taken to reshape the country and favourably reposition it to rank among the best in the comity of nations. In a 15 page speech, Kaigama chronicled the socio-economic and political crises facing the country and concluded that corruption was the bane of the nation’s development. He said: “The several mind-boggling corrupt cases we have at hand are eloquent testimonies to the fact that but for providence, the country would have since ceased to exist. Some people have cornered a large chunk of the wealth of the country to themselves and their cronies. In the past, we questioned the rationale behind any individual keeping two billion naira, but today such a question might be considered irrelevant as individuals even keep billions of dollars in soak-away pits, septic tanks and even buried them in the ground. “The fight against corruption is on and we commend the present administration for the bold and courageous initiative. It is however necessary to state that more still need to be done effectively to sanitise the system.” Speaking, Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, said the Federal Government was aware of the hardships Nigerians were passing through and noted that the government was doing everything possible to lessen the sufferings the citizens were going through. While reiterating that the rot left by the previous administration was enormous, he said “the present economic circumstances and the attendant hardships must be approached with new reorientation that these sacrifices we are all called to make at this point of our national life are needful to correct the misrule of the last administration and put our nation on a sustainable path of economic recovery. “This government is sensitive to the current plight of Nigerians and had committed itself to ensuring that every possible effort must be made to ameliorate the present sufferings. In this regard, the palliatives contained in the 2016 Budget must be implemented with the highest sense of responsibility and patriotism. Nigerians must be restored to its former glory where citizens’ welfare is top on government’s priority.”

Is Scrapping Of Post-UTME Good OR Bad? - Debate Here

Mixed reactions have trailed the scrapping of Post-UTME by the Federal Government since it was announced yesterday.
As disclosed by the JAMB Boss, Prof Dibu Ojerinde, after the Combined Policy meeting yesterday,“There won’t be any written post-UTME but institutions can screen candidates. It is a necessary thing to screen the candidates.
"We agree and the Minister of Education also agrees but the issue of taking another examination is no longer going to happen.”
While some have seen this development as a good one, some others have out-rightly kicked against it.
Now to you our highly esteemed reader , what do you think about this development? Keep your contributions real and precise.