NIGERIAN NOTCH

Prominent leaders of Okigwe in Imo North senatorial zone in Imo State have disown the results of the February 23, 2019 senatorial election as well as the March 9, 2019 senatorial re-run election in the zone, saying that only total cancellation of the results would assuage the people of the zone. They said that there was under-hand arrangement allegedly perpetrated by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and its cohorts during the elections. The spokesman of the Okigwe leaders, Chief Athan Anyanwu yesterday said that INEC had made itself a laughing stock in the elections with three conflicting results emanating from one election. They alleged that one of the results showed Senator Ben Uwajumogu of All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the election, while another result in the INEC official website shows Attorney Charles Onyirimba of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) as the winner with yet a third result indicating Mr. Ndubuisi Emenike of Action Allianc

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has advised mothers to embrace six months exclusive breastfeeding of newborns for optimal child growth and development. Dr Zakari Adam, the Chief of Field Office, UNICEF Kaduna, gave the advice on Wednesday in Akwanga at the opening of a six-day capacity building for 32 participants on Community Infant and Young Child Feeding Counseling package. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the six-days training was sponsored by UNICEF in collaboration with Nasarawa State Primary Health Care Development Agency in which participants were selected from the agency. Adam said that the training was aimed at equipping nutritional health personnel with skills for effective healthcare service delivery. He said that exclusive breast feeding was key to the development of the child, adding that it establishes early relationship between the mother, the family and the nation at large. Adam explained that exclusive breastfeeding was good for

An advocacy group, Igbo Youth Assembly Worldwide (IYAW) yesterday urged   President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration and   All Progressives Congress (APC) not to allow exclusion of the South-east from the top positions in the country, in the build up to the new government. They specifically advocated for the APC to zone Deputy Senate Presidency and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation to the South-east zone as part of the administrations drive to ensure that all zones are carried along. They maintained that the South-east remains a major stakeholder in the Nigerian project and as such should be given a prime positions in this administration. They added that the zone gave the President and APC much more votes than in 2015, stressing that it shows that the people from the South-east, despite the seeming stranglehold the opposition party has over region, is ready to work with the President and his party. The President general of the IYAW, Ifeanyi Nwaudunna, wh

The European Council and the Parliament have announced that after Brexit, UK citizens coming to the Schengen area for a short stay of 90 days in any 180 days should be granted visa free travel. The agreement, which was already confirmed by EU ambassadors on behalf of the Council on Tuesday, was approved by the European Parliament Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs committee on Wednesday. The text now needs to be formally adopted by the European Parliament and the Council.

Urges Nigerians to voluntarily declare foreign assets •FIRS targets N750 b from 55,000 millionaire tax defaulters •Tax Amnesty: We’ll make our position known— PDP  The Federal Government, yesterday, said it has approved tax amnesty and permanent waiver of criminal prosecution for owners of offshore assets who are willing to voluntarily declare them. The  Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN, who made the disclosure, said the immunity package would shield the owners from tax offences, penalties and interests concerning such declared offshore assets. Malami spoke at the unveiling ceremony of the Voluntary Offshore Assets Regularization Scheme, VOARS, in Abuja. Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has asked for time to study the rationale behind the Federal Government’s plan to grant tax amnesty to offshore asset owners, to respond appropriately.    This came as the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, said it was targeting a

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Taraba State University chapter, on Wednesday resumed indefinite strike to press home its demands. ASUU strike The union had embarked on a strike in 2018 but suspended it when the Taraba government promised to meet its demands which included the payment of earned academic allowances from 2014 till date, and the provision of required infrastructure to enhance teaching and learning.  Dr Samuel Shikaa, the branch Chairman, and Dr Atando Agbu, the Secretary, in a statement shortly after the Executive Council Meeting with national officials in Jalingo, said that the teachers would remain at home until the demands were met. Shell, UBA sign $200m contractor support fund The union said that the law establishing the university, which specified adequate funding for the institution, had been abandoned by the state government. “Law no 4 of 2008 specified that five per cent of the state allocation, five per cent of the Local Government allocation