Troubled Nigerian Airline Aero Contractors Suspends Flight Operations, Accuses Former Oceanic Bank Of Fraud

After over five years of been in murky waters due to the diversion of funds and inflation of aircraft price by its the management, Aero Contractors has finally announced its plans to suspended flight operations from tomorrow, Thursday, September 1, 2016. The airline, which was taken over by the Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) Saharareporters gathered took the decisive decision when its current management led by Capt. Fola Akinkuotu as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), could not rescue the airline from going further down.

10,000 migrants are rescued from the Med in three days as refugees 'race against the clock' to reach Europe in calm weather before summer ends

Thousands of migrants are 'racing against the clock' to make the perilous crossing from Libya to Europe before summer ends, with authorities in the conflict-torn country at a loss to stem the flow.

Improved weather is said to have triggered this week's mass outflow that has seen more than 10,000 migrants rescued since Sunday from floundering boats.

The migrants are 'racing against the clock because they fear the start of autumn when conditions will not be so good' out at sea, according to  Abdel Hamid al-Souei from Libya's Red Crescent.

Most of the migrants from the Horn of Africa and the west of the continent set out from the Libyan town of Sabratha, just 180 miles across the Mediterranean from the Italian island of Lampedusa.

People traffickers have exploited Libya's rampant insecurity to cash in, as authorities concentrate their limited resources on combating jihadists and an uphill political battle to extend their writ over the entire country.'Our patrols have been reduced lately because the vessels are ageing and we don't have the means to control the Sabratha coast,' Libya's navy chief, Colonel Ayoub Qassem, said in Tripoli.

Rescuers saved 3,000 migrants in the waters off Libya on Tuesday as they tried desperately to reach Europe, a day after a record 6,500 people were rescued in the Mediterranean.

And after several weeks of relative calm in the waters between Italy and Libya, more than 1,100 people were rescued on Sunday.

Dramatic images of one rescue this week distributed by the Italian coastguard showed children among the survivors crammed onto an old fishing boat.

Heathrow-bound United Airlines jet from Houston dropped 4,000 feet in seconds before emergency landing

Terrified passengers on a UK-bound transatlantic flight have described how they thought they would die as the plane suddenly 'dropped' up to 4,000ft.

The United Airlines Boeing 767-300 flying from Houston to Heathrow was diverted to Shannon Airport after 23 people were hurt by severe turbulence 300 miles south-west of Ireland.

The plane landed in Ireland at 4.55am and 12 people including three children and two crew were taken to University Hospital in Limerick. More were treated in the airport terminal. 'Each drop lasted a couple of seconds. There was a loud bang. That was when everybody got really scared.

'The worst part was during the second drop. It felt like a rollercoaster. The drops were that long. Everyone was screaming and crying'.

Js_anghera tweeted: 'My United Airlines flight from Houston to Heathrow has just plunged 4,000 feet above the Atlantic Ocean'.

The victims are said to have suffered lacerations, bruising and minor head injuries. A member of the crew is believed to have a fractured wrist.

Nottingham student Leslie Chi told friends on Facebook that she 'really thought I might die' as the plane dropped.

Conor Brady told MailOnline most people were asleep when the plane when the turbulence struck.

He said: 'All I remember is feeling my seat fall from beneath me and my back hitting the cabin roof, as I fell I managed to use my hands to block the blow of the chair in front.

Russian airstrike 'killed IS spokesman al-Adnani'

A Russian airstrike killed the so-called Islamic State's (IS) spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, Russia's defence ministry has said.

Russian officials said intelligence confirmed the strike on Aleppo province, which 40 (IS) militants, including al-Adnani, who was also the group's chief strategist.

His death is seen as a major blow to IS, which has been on retreat in Iraq and Syria.

The US said it launched an airstrike targeting al-Adnani in the Syrian city of al-Bab, which is northeast of Aleppo.

Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said the US was still assessing the results of the strike.

Watch The Stoning Of Gov. Yahaya Bello Of Kogi State

Courtesy Sahara TV

Schoolgirl hanged herself over fears of online backlash over racially offensive Instagram snap

A TEENAGER committed suicide after becoming concerned about an offensive photograph she had taken being shared online.

Tragic Phoebe Connop, 16, had been speaking regularly with an Asian lad who she called her boyfriend despite the two having never met.

An inquest heard she shared an edited picture of herself where her skin tone had been darkened as she wore a scarf wrapped around her head in a private Instagram chat with pals.

The schoolgirl said to friends that is what she would have to look like to get approval from her ‘boyfriend’s’ parents.

But a coroner was told the image was then taken out of the private chat and spread wider by one of her friends, prompting Phoebe into fearing a backlash.

Black Country Coroners Court heard Phoebe had been working with her father Laurence, 53, to get some money for her summer holidays on July 7 this year.

He had taken her home early due to her feeling unwell but tragically found his daughter hanging when he returned after work expecting to find her ready to go for a meal.

Just days early on July 2 the award-winning gymnast had posted pictures of her school leavers prom on her Facebook page.

Giving evidence at the inquest, which was held on Friday, Detective Sergeant Katherine Tomkins, from West Midlands Police, said: “From speaking to her friends in the weeks following her death, we discovered that the image had circulated further than she wanted it to.

“There had been some negative reaction and she confided in her friend, who did take the image down at her request, that she was scared of what the reaction might be from the Asian community in her area.”

The inquest heard Phoebe, who lived in Halesowen, West Midlands, was a talented gymnast who had ambitions of becoming a midwife.

Company Carts Away 4 Generators from Former Minister’s Hotel Over Debt

Four power generating sets belonging to Mirage Hotels in Calabar, where former Minister for Culture and Tourism, Chief Edem Duke, is the major shareholder, were carted away on Monday by Sypet Oil and Chemical Limited, following a judgement debt valued at N52 million.

Counsel to Sypet Oil, Eric Utang, who spoke about the development, said the company got a judgement from a Calabar High Court presided over by Justice Ofem I. Ofem, in October 2014, ordering the management of Mirage Hotels to pay the balance of N2,937,600. 00 being the balance of payment due to the company for supply of diesel (AGO) to the hotel, and N1.050 million being ter cost of action, including solicitors’ fees, bringing the total to N3,987,600.

Utang stated that the court had also ordered that if the hotel’s management failed to pay the debt after three months from 30th October, 2014, the judgment day, the principal sum shall attract 3 percent interest daily.

The counsel said since the management of the hotel did not pay the debt as ordered by the court, the principal sum added to the interest on it has accumulated to the sum N52 million.

“The judge ordered the defendant to pay within three months from 30th October, 2014, the day the judgment was delivered, and failure to do that shall attract 3 percent interest on the judgment sum per each day of default till liquidation of the entire judgement debt,” Utang stated.

He said from every indication, it appeared that the management of the hotels was not prepared to pay the debt, a situation he said prompted Sypet Oil to enforce the court judgement by carting away items from the hotel which could be disposed off to settle the debt after seven days.
Commenting specifically on the carting away of the power generating sets from the hotel’s premises, Utang said: “In July this year, we got a garnishee order signed by Justice Emanuel Ayade for us to confiscate the money in the hotel’s accounts, but all the money found in Mirage accounts is not up to 2 percent of the debt which prompted us to effect judgement by carting away the generating sets which could be sold after seven days to settle the debt.”

When contacted on phone for his reaction on the development, Duke retorted: “Is that news. How can a journalist call me over such an issue. Will that put food on the table of Nigerians”.

2 Killed in Abuja Collapsed Building

Disaster struck in Abuja when two construction workers were killed in a building that collapsed in the early hours of Monday morning.

The structure under construction at Plot 444 in Wupa District of Gwarimpa is said to be located at Gwarimpa, one of the biggest estates in West Africa.

The four-storey building went down, trapping the construction workers in mangled iron rods and concrete slabs.

Two of the rescued labourers were rushed to the hospital where they are responding to treatment.

Sources at the scene gave the names of the rescued workers as Timothy and Hakeem.

Support agencies led National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Julius Berger and The Nigeria Police, Nigeria Security Civil Defence Corps and Development and Control Department of FCDA rushed to the scene to rescue those trapped in the rubble.

Construction giants, Julius Berger brought in heavy tractors and crane, while police dogs were sniffing around for vital signs of those still alive.
THISDAY was informed at the scene by the Special Assistant, Media, to the FCT Minister, Abubakar Sani, that the structure collapsed because it was built with substandard materials.

The building was said to be under the supervision of the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) which allocated the plot in 2009.

According to Sani, the developers violated what was approved in the plan by erecting a four-floor structure, as against the original plan which only permitted for a suspended floor and a car park.
He also disclosed that the FCDA only found out that the land where the structure was built was a green area reserved for recreation activities, saying that FHA did not inform FCTA until the unfortunate incident.

“When FHA found that there was a violation of the building plan, they gave an immediate order for work to stop, but unfortunately the developer refused to comply. Unknown to FHA, the developer was using sub-standard materials, which compromised the structure, resulting in its collapse. We have commenced rescue operations and full investigation into the incident, ” Sani said.

But a statement signed by Managing Director FHA Prof Al-Amin Mohammed, stated that they approved the plan for the developer for a shopping mall.

The Authority, however, added that early this year, its development control personnel discovered that work had commenced on a structure behind the mall which was not covered by the earlier approved plan.

It said three contravention notices were issued to the developers, followed by a stop work order, prompting a final demolition notice to be issued on the ill-fated structure in line with established protocols.

”We are in consultation with Development Control Department of FCDA for its support in handling the contravention and a follow up meeting was scheduled for this week before the structure came down. FHA is working with the relevant government agencies in the on going rescue operation,” Mohammed said.

Mohammed said FHA complied with established building plan approval and development procedures at all its locations and enforces same with all developers operating on its sites.

Police pepper-spray 84-year-old black woman in her home

Police have pepper-sprayed an 84-year-old black woman in her home.

Geneva Smith, from Muskogee, Oklahoma, received approximately one second’s worth of pepper spray to the face after police entered her house to arrest her son.

Two Muskogee police officers followed Arthur Paul Blackman to his mother’s home after he ran a stop sign.

It later emerged the car was not registered to Mr Blackmon.

On arriving, the officers asked Mr Blackmon to come outside. The 56-year-old man refused, allegedly claiming he did not realise they were police.

Once five more officers arrived, the police forced entry. Seeing Mr Blackmon standing in the living room, one officer shot him with an electrical stun gun.

Ms Smith, who was confused by the noise being made in the early hours of the morning, entered the room to find out what was happening.

After failing to turn around when asked to by an officer, she was pepper-sprayed in the face.

Ms Smith was then handcuffed and taken to jail with her son. In jail, she had a panic attack and was taken to hospital.

Scott Wood, a lawyer for Muskogee Police Force, said the use of pepper spray was understandable “given the totality of the circumstances.”

He did, however, warn the forced entry of Ms Smith’s home “could have been a home invasion.”

Rex Eskridge, Muskogee’s chief of police, said: “There is nothing more serious than to breach a home without a proper search warrant.

“We want to make sure that we were in compliance with not just policy, but the law.

“There's a lot of misinformation out there. There is a lot of prejudgment out there and a lot of concern."

BlackMatters, which aims “to tell the bold truth about racism”, claimed the treatment of Ms Smith was symptomatic of the “continuous unprofessionalism of cops”.

Ms Smith has demanded an apology from Muskogee Police Department and also intends to launch legal proceedings.

Muskogee Police are carrying out an internal investigation into whether officers entered the home without a search warrant.

Mark Zuckerberg meets with Pope Francis during Italy trip

Mark Zuckerberg has added a very special event to his tour of Italy: a meeting with the Pope.

The Vatican said that the Facebook founder and his wife, Priscilla Chan, met with Pope Francis on Monday.

"Together they spoke about how to use communications technology to alleviate poverty, encourage a culture of encounter, and to communicate a message of hope, especially to the most disadvantaged," the Vatican Press Office said in a statement.

Zuckerberg announced his trip to Italy last week after the country was struck by a devastating earthquake. He has scheduled a live question and answer session for later on Monday, and said he was

"looking forward to spending time with our Italian community."

The tech CEO has said Rome is a special city to him. He honeymooned there with Chan, and says he is a student of Latin and Classical history.

Facebook (FB, Tech30) did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday, and Zuckerberg's personal page on the social networking site was silent on the meeting with Pope Francis.

But Zuckerberg did post a photo of himself running by the Colosseum.

"It's great to be back in Rome! We started the day with a run past the Circus Maximus and House of Augustus up to the Colosseum. It's pretty amazing to run on roads in the city that helped invent them," he said.

Over the weekend, Zuckerberg posted an update and photo from the wedding of Spotify co-founder Daniel Ek, which was held near Lake Como in northern Italy.

Usually the act of a politician, visiting a country after a disaster would fit with Zuckerberg's recent push to paint himself as a sort of Silicon Valley statesman. He has been carefully crafting his image through
Facebook posts, Q&As and public trips to places like China.

The social network has also taken on an unexpected role in international disasters. After events like earthquakes, hurricanes, or bombings, people let friends and family know they're OK with Facebook's Safety Check feature.

Utility District Workers Find Children 'living in sewer' in Washington state

Two children appear to have been found living in the sewers in Washington state.

After lifting up an 80-pound manhole cover, Lakehaven Utility District workers found clothes, toys and food 14-feet underground.

One of two boys aged around 13 were reportedly spotted indicated the pair were living in the sewer system.

The discovery was made after meter readers spotted the manhole cover slightly open. They closed it and came back later to find it had been opened again, Kiro 7 reported. 

Ken Miller, an engineering manager, said he had never seen anything like it in his 30 years of work.

“This should not happen at all," Miller told Kiro 7. "This is where all our waste goes from our houses and our businesses.

"No one should be down there ... this could have been life and death."

He also warned there was likely to be vermin and very limited oxygen in the sewer.  

Neighbours say they noticed the manhole cover slightly open for at least the past month and another claimed to have seen children running back and forth.

Girl, 17, who went missing from US beach on Spring Break in 2009 ‘was gang-raped for days, shot and fed to ALLIGATORS’

A TEEN who vanished in South Carolina was repeatedly gang raped for several days then shot dead and fed to alligators, it’s been revealed.

The shocking new details about the mysterious 2009 disappearance Brittanee Drexel came largely from a  new “jailhouse confession”.

The inmate who made the bombshell claims, Taquan Brown, is serving a 25-year sentence for voluntary manslaughter in a different case.

 Brittanee went missing during Spring Break in 2009

Brown told authorities he was present during the final agonising moments of the 17-year-old’s life, FBI Agent Gerrick Munoz testified.

Dawn Drexel, mother of Brittanee, speaks to reporters during a news conference

Brown claimed to have seen Brittanee when he visited a “stash house” — typically a place used to keep guns, drugs or money — in the McClellanville area, the general location where Drexel’s cellphone was last traced.

Munoz said Brown told officials he saw Da’Shaun Taylor, then 16 years old, and several other men “sexually abusing Brittanee Drexel.”

Taquan Brown made the shocking jailhouse revelations

Brown then said he walked to the backyard of the house to give money to Taylor’s father, Shaun Taylor. But as Brown and Shaun Taylor talked, Brittanee tried to make a break for it.

Her escape attempt was in vain, however, and one of the captors “pistol-whipped” Drexel and carried her back inside the house. Brown said he then heard two gunshots.

The next time Brown said he saw the New York state resident, her body was being wrapped up and removed from the house, reports Fox News.

FBI agents have now implicated Timothy Da’Shaun Taylor (pictured)

Brittanee’s body has never been found, but Munoz said “several witnesses” have told investigators she was dumped in an unspecified McClellanville pond teeming with alligators.

Brittanee was last captured on video on April 25, 2009, leaving the Blue Water Hotel in Myrtle Beach, where she was staying against her parents’ permission.

A different inmate serving time at Georgetown County Jail told officials he was informed Da’Shaun Taylor picked Brittanee up in Myrtle Beach and transported her to McClellanville.

Munoz said the FBI believes Taylor “showed her off, introduced her to some other friend that were there … they ended up tricking her out with some of their friends, offering her to them and getting a human trafficking situation.”

A reward of $25,000 was offered for info leading to an arrest

As the media spotlight grew ever brighter on the desperate efforts to find Drexel, the girl was “murdered and disposed of,” Munoz said.

Munoz’s testimony was part of a bond hearing for a federal charge against Da’Shaun Taylor, now 25, stemming from a 2011 robbery of a McDonald’s.

Taylor had previously confessed to being the getaway driver for the holdup, co-operated with South Carolina authorities and completed probation.

But prosecutors are now trying to bring federal charges and, if convicted of the new charges, Taylor could face a life sentence.

Taylor’s lawyer contended the federal charges are a naked attempt to “squeeze” Taylor for information on the Brittanee case.

Asked by Magistrate Judge Mary Gordon Baker about “the real reason” for the charges and if they had to do with Brittanee’s disappearance, Assistant US Attorney Winston Holliday said “that would be one” reason.

Taylor was released after posting $10,000 bail.

The FBI declined to discuss Munoz’s testimony or any aspect of the Drexel case with The Post and Courier.

Osinbajo inaugurates 136 million-dollar Produce City in Edo

The Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, in Edo on Monday inaugurated the ground breaking ceremony of the 136 million-dollar first Integrated Produce City (IPC) in Nigeria. The project is sited at Ugbokun, near Okada in Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo. Represented by Gov. Adams Oshiomhole, the vice-president said the venture would transform the lives of thousands of people in the country. Osinbajo said that the country could not continue to measure its price and value by the quantity of crude exported. He said, “let us stop exporting oil as it will help us rediscover who we are. 

“ The vice-president said the government would continue to support genuine investors to improve the living conditions of the citizenry. The Chairman of IPC, Prof. Pat Uromi, said the project, which has Edo, Delta, Kogi, Ekiti, Anambra and Ondo, as catchment states, would have 50 factories when completed. He said the project would help to assist the Federal Government in transforming the economy by generating jobs and increasing commercial activities in the catchment states. He said the proposed city would have regional wholesale produce market as Agro Allied Industrial Park, a Preservation Park, Export Hub and Farm inputs as well as implement and equipment centre. He said that the project would also have a waste conversion and disposal facility as well as other modern city facilities. Tagged the Agric Value Chain Solution Centre, the IPC chairman said the support infrastructure would include 24 hours electricity and water supply as well as residential accommodation. Earlier, the Edo Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mr Joe Okojie, said the project was timely and in tandem with the Agricultural Policy of the state. He promised that the state would provide the enabling environment for the success of the project. The commissioner urged the management of the IPC project to keep its part of the deal by creating all jobs promised in the proposal.

Rapists to serve life imprisonment in Kaduna

The Kaduna State Government has proposed life sentence for rapists in the new Child Right Bill forwarded to the State House of Assembly for passage into law.

Deputy Director, Civil Litigation in the state’s Ministry for Justice, Mr Irimiya Samson, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna.

Samson explained that the development became necessary, following incessant cases of rape, particularly of minors, being recorded daily in the state.

He noted that current penalty for rape in the Penal Code was very light, as such it was important to make the law more strict to curtail the ugly trend.
“The incidences of rape have become very rampant in the state. It is particularly disturbing that the offenders are mostly elderly men whose victims are toddlers, minors within the age range of three to six.

“In curbing this abominable act, the state government has decided to invoke a stiff punishment for offenders in the child right law.

“As such, when the bill is passed, anyone caught would remain behind bars for life.”

He added that the law also criminalise child trafficking, child labour, street hawking, and begging, which are common practices in the state.

“Similarly, exposing children to obscene materials like phonographic content has also been criminalised.

“Offenders would be imprisoned or made to pay fine of N500, 000 for individuals and one to five million for companies, plus a two-year ban.

“The proposed law also de-emphasise detaining or locking up children for juvenile offences, having realised that detention do not help the children in anyway.

“What the law proposed in place of detention is community service, which in all sense could instil some level of discipline in juvenile offenders.

“Education was also covered in the law, making it mandatory for every child to acquire basic education,” the official added.

Samson also said that the state government would be deeply involved in issues bordering on welfare and development of children.

According to him, based on the proposed law, government would take away children from parents, caregivers, or guardian who failed to properly cater for children under them.

He added that guidelines for fostering and adoption of children was provided in the bill, for people who wish to adopt or foster a child.

Is Manchester United star Paul Pogba dating Justin Bieber’s stunning model and YouTube sensation ex-girlfriend Chantel Jeffries?

JUSTIN BIEBER’S ex-girlfriend Chantel Jeffries has sparked rumours she is dating Paul Pogba after snapping herself hanging out with the Manchester United star.

The stunning model, who is also a DJ, travelled the four hour journey from London to Manchester in order to visit the hunky football players.

Chantel kept her fans and followers up to date with her journey via her Snapchat story – including one intense moment where she claims to have had a panic attack after arriving in the city and discovering that UK cabs don’t take card.

However, she soon seems to perk up and in her next snap United‘s Pogba can be seen busting dance moves towards her and she exclaimed: “Look who it is!!”

They then laugh together at an old Instagram video of him dancing.

Within an hour of her posting the videos, fans started speculating on Twitter that the two were an item, with her name becoming a trending topic as their relationship was questioned.

One wrote: “If this is true pogba has earned my lifelong ratings no matter what team he plays for …. chantel Jeffries uno”

Another added: “Chantel Jeffries uno. Mandem, Pogba is living out our dreams for us. When he’s getting hate from the media we need to back him. He’s the man”

EFCC lambasts NBA President for demanding limitation of its powers

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has lambasted the newly-sworn in National President of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Mr. Abubakar Mahmoud, for suggesting limitation of the commission’s powers.

The commission, in a strongly worded statement by its Spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, described the suggestion, which Mahmoud made at his inauguration on Friday, as self-serving and meant to protect a cabal of untouchables who could only be investigated but never prosecuted for corruption.

Wilson said: “The EFCC appreciates the NBA’s acknowledgement of the Commission’s strategic place in the fight against corruption in Nigeria and the modest achievements that it has recorded so far. It also welcomes the suggestion for reform.

“As the Acting Chairman, Ibrahim Magu, has repeatedly started in his public pronouncements, the agency is open to suggestions that will improve its operations as it cannot pretend to have a monopoly of ideas on how to fight corruption.

“Nevertheless, the Commission views with concern, the call by the NBA president that the EFCC be stripped of its prosecutorial powers. The Commission’s discomfort over this seemingly innocuous proposition, stems from the fact that Mahmoud was silent on the reason for his position.

“More importantly, the Commission cannot comprehend how the redefinition of EFCC’s mandate in narrow terms, ultimately whittling it down, fits into the clamour by Nigerians and the vision of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration for a vibrant and courageous anti-corruption agency.

“Instead, Mahmoud’s suggestions appears perfectly in sync with a cleverly disguised campaign by powerful forces that are uncomfortable with the reinvigorated anti-graft campaign of the EFCC and are hell-bent on emasculating the agency by stripping it of powers to prosecute with the lame excuse that an agency that investigates cannot also prosecute.

Baby born with half his skull missing beats all odds to celebrate his second birthday

A BOY born with half his skull missing is celebrating his second birthday today, despite his parents being told to abort him.

Jaxon Buell won the hearts of thousands across the world after his story was shared last year.

The two-year-old suffers from a rare brain malfunction called Microhydranencephaly.

Doctors picked it up on an ultrasound before he was born and advised mum Brittany and dad Brandon to consider terminating the pregnancy.

But thankfully, they decided against it and now the brave lad, who’s earned the nickname Jax Strong, is thriving against all the odds.

Brandon, 31, told Metro.co.uk: “He is doing very well, he is very comfortable and very happy.

“He’s smiling all the time, he laughs, he’s working on different things, like how to keep his head upright.

“He still has his struggles where he throws up, he still has several seizures several times a day, he’s still on the smaller side at 13 pounds but he’s certainly developing.”

Sokoto State Government to administer preventive malaria drugs to 1.8m kids

The Sokoto state government is set to administer malaria drugs to 1.8 million children in the state to prevent them from being infected by it.

Aminu Tambuwal, governor of the state, said this Monday when he inaugurated a house-to-house campaign for the administration of malaria preventive drugs to an estimated 1.8 million kids.

Speaking at Isa, headquarters of Isa local government area, Tambuwal said: “Government has adopted many strategies in solving the menace of malaria and other health related diseases”.

According to him, these will include capacity building for the medical personnel, provision of healthcare facilities and provision of essential drugs among others.

The governor said his administration would pay more attention to human resources development and equipping of healthcare facilities.

It would also provide medicament for effective and efficient services to the people at the grassroots.

“The ongoing upgrading and renovation of health facilities at Yabo, Dogon Daji, Silame and Illela will soon be completed,” he said.

Tambuawal urged local government councils to give maximum support and cooperation to the programme, commending the development partners for their contributions.

He also commended the Sultanate Council for its effort in mobilising for the programme.

Balarabe Kakale, commissioner for health, said the ministry in collaboration with Malaria Consortium and other agencies had trained health personnel to attend to children aged from three months to 59 months.

FG Insists unemployed Nigerians must register online to benefit from Social Intervention Schemes

Minister of Labor and Employment, Chris Ngige, has said that for any unemployed Nigerian to benefit from any of the social intervention scheme (SIS) of the government, they must register online as registration is now mandatory for job seekers and other empowerment programmes. Ngige stated this while flagging off the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) School-to-Work Programme in Calabar, Cross River State over the weekend.

He said this against the backdrop of different agencies of government laying claim to the ownership of the programmes.
“You must register to benefit from the Social Intervention Scheme. Unfortunately, as we speak, by last week, the portal has only recorded about 1.2 million persons. We expect more persons to have been registered in the portal before our screening exercise; the registration on the portal is Npower.ng.org. The portal closes Aug. 31, which is just few days away. For those who are not computer literate, we advise state governments to encourage them by using local government chairmen to move into local government areas to register the unemployed persons there. So that they can qualify to be considered for the scheme. Each state of the federation is expected to recruit about 1, 500 persons’’ he said

Dangote Rice to hit market soon

The much expected Dangote Rice is billed to hit the market very soon as the management has commenced the harvest of its first tranche.

Sources within the organisation said Aliko Dangote has been very happy with the news of the harvest, especially as it will be launched in the right time to ease the pains of Nigerians, who currently buy rice at N20, 000 per bag.


“We are really excited about the progress so far recorded in this our rice projects. Once we commence the sales of our rice, I can authoritatively tell you that the price of rice will crash in the country as we should have enough, in the next few years to make importation of rice non-attractive again into the country” the source said.

Earlier in the year, Dangote inaugurated its 8,000-hectare Rice Out-growers’ Scheme in Hadejia, Jigawa State, with the distribution of rice seedlings to farmers.

According to a statement by the group, the scheme, which is part of its partnership with government at all levels to reduce Nigeria’s food imports, has the potential to provide 10,000 direct and indirect jobs.

It said the rice project being executed by the Dangote Rice Limited would be replicated in six other states of the federation.

It said the project was the fallout of a Memorandum of Understanding signed between Dangote and the Federal Government, on the one hand, and the Jigawa State Government on the other.

Dangote lamented that the Nigerian agricultural commodities and food imports’ bill had averaged over N1tn in the past two years, with items such as sugar, wheat, rice and fish accounting for 93 per cent of the amount.

He described the situation as unacceptable, adding that this informed his decision to go into agriculture

According to him, under the Dangote Rice Out-growers Scheme, farmers will be given training and other necessary inputs with guaranteed buy-back at agreed prices.

The Minister of State for Agriculture, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, was quoted as saying that the Federal Government was ready to support the scheme and make it a success.

It would be recalled that Dangote Industries Limited (DIL) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) to invest $1 Billion (N165 million) for the establishment of fully integrated rice production and processing operations across Nigeria. Former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan presided over the signing of the MoU then.

The company has acquired farmland in Edo, Jigawa, Kebbi, Kwara, and Niger states totalling 150,000 hectares to be used for the commercial production of rice paddy. Dangote has also established a two state-of-the-art large-scale rice mills each with a capacity to mill 120,000 metric tons of rice paddy, bringing total capacity to 240,000 Metric Tons, with plans to double capacity this within two years. With this installed capacity, the project will become the largest integrated rice mill project in Africa.

Brit teenager, 19, in ‘serious’ condition in hospital after plunging from the fourth floor of hotel in Magaluf

A TEEN Brit tourist has been rushed to hospital after she plunged from the fourth floor of a hotel.

The 19-year-old was said to be in a “serious” condition yesterday.

She cheated death after hitting a ledge over some stairs in Magaluf.

The mid-air collision stopped her from falling further, although she is still believed to have fallen nearly three floors.She was found lying unconscious on stairs by the HM Martinique Hotel in the party resort on the Spanish island of Majorca at 8am yesterday.

Local reports, which could not be confirmed with police or paramedics, said she appeared to have drunk a large amount of alcohol.

She was taken to Son Espases Hospital in the capital, Palma.

Six storey building collapses in Abuja with many trapped under the rubble

A six story building under construction reportedly collapsed Sunday night on Jummai Kwanashie Crescent, Gwarinpa in Abuja.

According to an eyewitness report, no fewer than five construction workers were trapped when the building collapsed around 8pm on Sunday.
We learnt that three of the laborers have been rescued by combined efforts of the Police, NEMA and FEMA. While efforts are still going on to rescue the two others trapped under the rubble.
WuzupNaija gathered that the building was being built to serve as a hotel.

An online platform reports that the iron rods used for the pillars of the building gave in like wood and the concrete work were said to be as brittle as ordinary sand.

Church members storm mortuary to pray for resurrection of dead people

Some members of a church in Kenya, Temple of God, at the weekend, reportedly caused a stir as they stormed a morgue in a hospital to pray for the resurrection of the dead.

The members numbering about five were reportedly led by their pastor, Prophet Daniel Wechuli, saying they were sent by the Holy Spirit to pray for the sick, heal them and resurrect the dead.

The Webuye County Hospital was at a standstill when the prayer team, comprising three women and two men claimed they had led healing prayers for people living with disabilities and various diseases and they all got healed, Kenya Star newspaper reports.

The team leader, Prophet Wechuli, was quoted to have said, “The holy spirit has spoken to us to come and resurrect people who had died prematurely.

“We have been moving to various hospitals praying for the sick and most of them have been healed by faith. We want to show people the power of God in their lives through our church that has been healing and restoring lives to God.

“We are divine people who are anointed by the Holy Spirit to move to hospitals preaching, healing the sick and most importantly, raising the dead without asking for any penny,” the team chorused.

Airport Power Outage: FAAN Restores Power, Activities Resume

The Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria [FAAN] has explained that disruption of flight operations due to power outage at the Murtala Mohammed Airport, Lagos has now been resolved.

The airport was without light for two days, on Saturday and Sunday following a power surge which damaged a major transformer at the airport.

But the General Manager, Public Relations, Mr. Yakubu Datti in a statement on Monday says repairs have been carried out on the transformer and light is now restored.

The Murtala Mohammed Airport, Lagos is the nation’s busiest airport for both local and international flights.

Actress Tonto Dike Churchhill celebrates 1 year wedding anniversay With her Husband