Lai Mohammed replies critics of "Change Begins with Me" campaign

 

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, yesterday replied critics of the "Change Begins with Me" campaign that was launched on September 8th. Speaking to a delegation of the National Council of Women’s Societies, NCWS who paid him a courtesy call in his office in Abuja yesterday September 20th, Lai Mohammed said

"So many people have criticised the campaign. Some have said that the campaign ought to start from the top. We completely agree with them, but their criticism is because they did not understood the campaign.
The campaign actually started from the top, because we are doing what we are preaching. This is the least ostentatious cabinet you can ever have. We are all living and showing good examples. We obey traffic rules. We queue up at public places and get to work early and close late. Some people said that we should wait for the economy to improve before we start the campaign, but we say no, for two reasons: If only those before us have launched the campaign, we will not be where we are today. If the campaign had sunk in, there will be no embezzlement, no corruption and no impunity. You cannot say, as a mother, that because you are poor, you will allow your daughter to go out from morning till midnight without correcting her. Though we are facing difficulties now, we still have to tell Nigerians the need to do the right things”he said

Ballon D'or award to be seprated from World Footballer of the year as FIFA ends it's partnership with France Football

 

France Football- the original organizers of the Ballon D'or Award have announced that they've ended their 6 year partnership with FIFA and that from next year the Ballon D'or award won't be associated with the World's football governing body.

The statements by FIFA and France Football explained that from next year France Football will organize the Ballon D'or Award while FIFA will organize the FIFA World player of the year.

Another earth tremor occurs in Kaduna community

 

A third earth tremor has occurred at Kwoi community in Jaba Local Government Area of Kaduna State. According to residents of the community, the tremor occurred yesterday morning at about 9am and was accompanied by a heavy vibration. Schools and offices in the community were forced to shut down following the tremor. Many of them fear that their community may soon experience an earthquake as the tremors are becoming one too many.

A similar earth tremor occurred on Monday at about 3am while the first one happened on Saturday September 10th. 

PDP announces closure of its twitter handle, @pdpnigeria, launches new handle

 

Below is a press statement signed by PDP's head of publicity, Chinwe Nnorom announcing the closure of PDP's Official Twitter Handle @pdpnigeria And Re-Launch of a New Handle, @officialpdpnig. Read the statement below:

I am directed by the Leadership of our great Party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by H. E. Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi, CON, to announce the immediate closure of the Party's Official Twitter Handle, @pdpnigeria and re-launch of another handle for effective use and control. The New Handle is @officialpdpnig henceforth.

This Decision has once again become necessary due to the frequent unauthorized, and most times embarrassing tweets that emanate from the Handle tweeted by the Handlers claiming to represent the PDP. You will recall that the Party had in the past, announced the Shutdown of the Handle on two occasions when hackers manipulated it to embarrass the Party. 

Following these developments, the Party hereby informs all its members, supporters, friends, the Media and general public to ignore and disregard any tweet from the Handle @pdpnigeria forthwith. 

In view of the above, the Party has immediately re-launched a new Handle,@officialpdpnig to form part of the Social Media Platform of our great Party for ease of communication, administration and control.

In addition, the leadership has also frowned at the incessant and unauthorized statements that are being issued by some Party members purported to have spoken for and on behalf of the Party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). For the record, you may recall that the National Publicity Secretary on June 17, 2015 issued a Statement Titled: “PDP Disown group over unauthorized statements on Buhari”; and urged members nationwide to desist from making official statement(s)on behalf of the Party without authorization. 

Also, the PDP hereby states unequivocally that the position of Director of New Media is non-existent and alien to the PDP Establishment Manual, and has not appointed Prince Deji Adeyanju as the PDP Director of New Media.For emphasis, Social (new) Media is one of the Units in the Publicity Division of the Party and not a separate directorate, division or unit. 

For clarification, the National Publicity Secretary, Prince Dayo Adeyeye is currently the Chief Spokesman and Image-maker of our Party in line with the PDP Constitution. Consequently, nobody is allowed to issue official statement or speak for and on behalf of the Party except authorized by the Party hierarchy to do so. The Leadership warns that it will not hesitate to take disciplinary measures accordingly against any member that flouts this directive. 

However, the Leadership welcome members and supporters who may wish to speak in their official or personal capacities to do so,but in tune with the Party’s rules of engagement and interest on the subject matter under discourse to avoid speaking at variance with the Party. 

Finally, the Party calls on all our members nationwide to unite and work together with the National Caretaker Committee in their quest to achieve harmony, rebrand, rebuild and revitalize the vision, mission and ideals of our founding fathers.

Signed: Adm. Chinwe I. Nnorom
PDP Head, Publicity Division
For: National Publicity Secretary

Kachikwu denies reports of possible increase in prices of petroleum products

 

During a closed-door meeting with President Buhari and the Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Alhaji Maikanti Baru in Abuja on Monday, the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu denied media reports of the intended increase in the prices of petroleum products within the country due to media reports that Oil marketers were planning to increase the prices of Petroleum products due to the scarcity of foreign exchange to procure the necessary products needed for their business.


Dr. Kachikwu told state House correspondents and that there was no truth in it asking them if they had seen any memo to that effect.

Alhaji Baru backed up what Kachikwu said by also denying there was any planned increase of petroleum products.
Baru advised the correspondents to contact the Petroleum Product Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA‎) if they needed more information on the issue. 

Obama cancels meeting with new Philippine President Duterte after he called him a SOB

 

President Barack Obama called off a planned meeting Tuesday with new Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, because he didn't want Obama to ask him questions about his directive for civilians to kill drug dealers in the Philippines. It's unusual for one president to tell another what to say or not say, and much rarer to call the other a "son of a bitch."  Before Duterte flew to Laos for a regional summit he warned Obama not to challenge him over extrajudicial killings in the Philippines.
Obama responded by saying:

"Clearly, he's a colorful guy." "What I've instructed my team to do is talk to their Philippine counterparts to find out is this in fact a time where we can have some constructive, productive conversations."

Duterte has been under global scrutiny over the more than 2,000 suspected drug dealers and users killed since he took office. Obama had said he planned to raise the issue in his first meeting with Duterte, but the Philippine leader insisted he was only going to listen to his own countrymen.
Duterte said of Obama as he talked to reporters in Manilla:

"You must be respectful."  "Do not just throw questions." Using the Tagalog phrase for "son of a bitch," he said, "Putang ina I will swear at you in that forum."

Last month, Duterte said he didn't mind Secretary of State John Kerry but "had a feud with his gay ambassador - son of a bitch, I'm annoyed with that guy." He said.

Early Tuesday, National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said the meeting with Duterte was canceled.

Source: AP

Minister of Agriculture warns of imminent food crisis

 

Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh, has warned of an imminent food crisis following the possible invasion of quelea birds, locusts and grasshoppers from neighboring Niger Republic into the country.

Ogbeh gave the warning during an emergency meeting with state commissioners of Agriculture in 12 states in Abuja.

According to the Minister, the invasion of army worm from neighboring countries into some farmlands in Nigeria have resulted in large scale losses of grains, a situation that has led to the increase in the price of maize to N15,000 a bag.

Commissioners of Agriculture in Kebbi, Zamfara, Sokoto and Jigawa states who spoke at the meeting, confirmed the presence of quelea birds in about six -seven local governments areas in their states. Ogbeh said Nigeria is already facing maize crisis, adding that if the birds are added to the crisis, the country would be in turmoil.

“There is warning that we have received that locusts and quelea birds are massing up in Niger Republic from where they normally attack us in Nigeria. We know how dangerous quelea birds can be and locusts. If they arrive within hours and days, they would have wiped out everything the farmers would have put in the field. We already have maize crisis. We may have food problems if we are attacked. This country would be in turmoil. We can’t afford that. The army warm is another problem. We already have severe shortages of maize. You know the price rose to N15,000 as a result of that. Most of the poultry farms are in trouble and many families are hungry. We have got to start working together like this to deal with these things as soon as there is any sign of them. We must have an emergency team between you and ourselves to tackle these issues very swiftly. Now we know they will come. We have to design a strategy where chemicals are available in all the states and contingency steps can be taken quickly.”he said

Nigeria is better off with Lagos than with the Niger Delta- Emir of Kano says

 

n a post on his IG page, Emir of Kano, Sanusi Muhammad II says Nigeria is better off with Lagos than with the Niger Delta region. He wrote;

"The Lagos story is a story of what Nigeria can do with itself – transparency, consistency, regulations. That’s why today Lagos state is 30% Nigerian non-oil GDP, and Lagos can do without oil. This country is better off with Lagos than with the Niger Delta. Let’s not make that mistake. We should be together as a country.
Every part of the country is important. But, let us not be so obsessed by a resource, because we have had the commodity driven model, and we are blind to the potentials of an alternative model. Lagos doesn’t need oil. What is oil anyway? It is a raw material. You don’t drink it. You need it to move your vehicles. Now, you have electricity. You need it to fill your generator. Now you have solar power, and biomass. The future of oil is not there. So, those few people who are trying to break up this country over oil, after sometime that oil will be worthless. - Muhammadu Sanusi iI