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Popular actor turned politician, Yul Edochie, veteran actor, Peter Edochieâ€
s son, strongly believes that if Nigerians can come together to fix the countryâ€s problem, then just like President Donald Trump is proud of his country, the United States, someday, Nigerians too can boast of being a proud citizen.
How Nigerians can learn patriotism from Donald Trump — Yul Edochie
UNIPORT Pre-Degree Form – The University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) is now selling the forms for admission into its pre-degree …
The Federal Government Wednesday, said it was not in a hurry to sign the controversial African Free Trade Agreement (AFCFTA). The FG cited its implication on the nationâ€s economy as the major reason for the delay. Special Adviser to the President on Economic Matters, Dr Adeyemi Dipeolu, disclosed this in Ibadan at the 60th anniversary […]
Nigeria not in hurry to sign African free trade agreement – Buhari govt
Nigeria not in hurry to sign African free trade agreement – Buhari govt
A man in South Florida was caught on camera calling a Baskin Robbins employee the N-word.
-Baskin Robbins store in Miami Beach, Florida. The man can be seen and heard repeatedly shouting the N-word at an employee there.A man was captured on video verbally attacking an employee inside a Dunkin'-Baskin Robbins store in Miami, Florida on Monday.
The unidentified man can be seen and heard on video shouting the N-word at the employee, and making obscene gestures with his hand.
It is not entirely clear what set the man off, but a witness told the local ABC affiliate WPLG that the man had gotten upset after being told by the only employee on duty that he had to wait to be served. That employee had apparently been busy with another customer at the time, the news report said.
The incident is the latest example of racist attacks that have been captured on video in recent years.
A woman in North Carolina was fired from her job after drunkenly accosting two African-American women.
Dunkin' released a statement to WPLG about the Monday incident in its store:
"We are aware of the video and the situation that occurred at the franchised Dunkin' restaurant located in Miami Beach. We're disappointed by the behavior exhibited by the guest in this video. Dunkin' and its franchisees remain committed to our shared goal of providing a positive restaurant experience for all guests and restaurant employees."
It was four weeks ago. A scanty crowd of workers carried out a tame protest in front of the Lagos office of the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR. Their grouse was with Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics, LADOL.
But they work for Samsung Heavy Industries, SHI. So, why would any group of workers leave where they collect their salaries to protest against another company without inscriptions of their names anywhere?
No minimum wage, No vote in 2019 – C-River NLC declares ADVERTISING This is the intricate story of SHI and LADOL partnership. An alliance that held immense and historic possibilities, the LADOL/SHI partnership, at infancy, was chequered, perhaps, by acute infidelity to contract. ADVERTISING This inconstancy became a bad omen of things to come. The protesting workers’ fate is one of them. By the action of their protest, however, they seemed, sadly to be treating the effect of a problem. But the cause actually is their headache. They, therefore, need to dissect the root cause of their problem to be sure they are not mere pawns in the hands of a cynical corporate player.
So, what was the grumble of SHIâ€s workers? What do they want? They say they are about to lose their jobs at SHI because of an alleged termination of a sublease agreement that SHI Mega Construction and Integration Free Zone, SHI MCI-FZE, had with LADOL. They, therefore, want the quick intervention of DPR as the regulator of the oil and gas sector in order to save their jobs.
They are of the opinion that LADOLâ€s purported action, that is the termination of the sublease contract, poses a threat to Samsungâ€s continued operation in the zone and by extension the source of their livelihood. In fact, Samuel Samidotun, the Assistant Manager, General Affairs department at SHI considers LADOLâ€s alleged act arbitrary and wants DPRâ€s strong intervention to resolve the lingering dispute.
However, there are close observers of the SHI/LADOL partnership since their parts intersected in 2010 and culminated in a partnership that won the bid for Totalâ€s Egina Floating Production Supply Offloading, FPSO, with LADOL as the Local Content Partner, a partnership that SHI needed as the law required for that success to happen.
Two of these observers who preferred to be anonymous did not share the sentiments of the protesting SHIâ€s workers. As one of them put it, the fate of SHIâ€s workers lies in SHIâ€s wry, double-edged approach to the partnership with LADOL.
“They were not transparent; every step they took seemed to show a mindset to short-change LADOL and possibly edge them out of the partnership. Did you not read of all the issues Samsung created when the whole thing just started and how it terminated the agreement unilaterally as if there are no laws in this country�. He added; “You must have heard of the outcome of the Senate Public hearing on the FPSO. It has been revealed that some US$214 million paid by Total for the upgrade of the fabrication and integration facilities at LADOL was hidden by Samsung and still they made LADOL cough out some good money for the facilities while losing a lot of their shares.
So, what I am trying to say is that if Samsung had started the whole business in good faith, this issue of termination of their sublease agreement would not have arisen. It would have been a matter of simple discussion and an agreement easily reached�, he concluded.
LADOL has, however, come out to debunk the claims of both SHIâ€s protesting workers and some publications it alleged were sponsored by SHI. According to the logistics company, its affiliate, Global Resources Management Limited. GRML, terminated SHI MCI-FZEâ€s sublease on September 5, 2018, for three reasons, “First unremedied and material breaches of lease covenant. Second, denial of its landlordâ€s title by inter alia asking the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, the head lessor, to carve out a part of GRMLâ€s leased land and grant a direct lease in favour of SHI MCI-FZE, so that SHI MCI-FZE could deal directly with all government regulators without needing to go through GRML or the Zone Managementâ€�.
LADOL added that although GRMLâ€s sublease agreement provided for upward only rent review, SHI MCI-FZE, in anticipation of NPAâ€s approval of a direct lease in its favour made several statements at various government agencies affirming its decision to unilaterally crash its rent from US$70 per square meter to US$5 per square meter (a reduction of more than 90%) on the expiry of its sublease in June 2018. For GRML, SHI MCI-FZEâ€s renunciation of the upward only rent review was an anticipatory breach of the sublease contract. It was therefore left with no choice but to terminate the contract since it was, in any case, entitled to do so as a matter of law.
But the LADOL Zone management understood the pivotal importance of the Egina FPSO as a strategic national project with regard to Nigeriaâ€s local content and technology transfer quest.
And so when Samsungâ€s operating licence was about to expire the first time, it granted SHI MCI-FZE a two month licence extension on July 2, 2018, to enable Samsung to complete its work on the Egina FPSO. Job completed, the Egina FPSO sailed away on Sunday, August 26, 2018, to the Egina oil field in OML 130. And at midnight on September 2, 2018, the two-month extension of SHI MCI-FZEâ€s operating licence expired. Since SHI MCI-FZE did not renew its operating licence and did not indeed meet the conditions for renewal such as payment of licence fee, provision of information and documents requested by the Zone Management in addition to failure to pay all outstanding amounts and fees, SHI MCI-FZEâ€s licence could not be renewed.
And so everything about LADOL/GRML and SHI MCI-FZE came effectively to an end. So, you ask, why were the SHI MCI-FZE workers protesting? What were they protesting for? And why are they blaming LADOL over their fate? Another close observer of the LADOL/ SHI MCI-FZE face-off provided an answer. In his words, “those workers need to go back to their organization and seek an audience with their employers.
The truth is, they will soon find out that Samsung is just using them against their own country and sooner or later will dump them with the flimsy excuse that LADOL is the cause of their problem�. Continuing he added, “See, all over the world, Samsung is known for lack of transparency in its operations. It is presently in major legal battles in South Korea, its own country for withholding crucial information on chemicals its many sick workers were exposed to at its computer chip and display factories that led to those sicknesses. Those sicknesses include leukaemia, lymphoma and other dangerous ailments.
Now, add this to the declaration of May 1, 2018, as the International Day of Action Against Samsung by a coalition of human rights bodies in Europe, Asia and the United Stated to protest health, labour and human rights violations of Samsungâ€s factory workers everywhere by the corporate giant. So, the summary of what I am saying is that Samsung should call his workers back to its office and sort out their issues. They should be open to their staff and tell them in truth that their business with LADOL is overâ€�, he concluded.
Zik Zulu Okafor is an award-winning writer, Zik Zulu Okafor wrote from Lagos.
Between Samsung workers and Ladol
IT was a night of celebration of creativity, excellence, originality or what one can describe as the birth of a new dawn for art in the coal city, as the art community again witnessed the presentation of prizes to the winners of 2018 edition of Life in My City Art Festival, LIMCAF one of the most consistent art competitions in the country for Nigerian youths, held last Saturday in the Enugu State capital, Enugu .
Continue reading LIMCAF transforms coal city to art city at Vanguard News Nigeria.
LIMCAF transforms coal city to art city
(FILE) An injured victim of a female suicide bomber arrives in an ambulance for medical attention at a Maiduguri hospital in northeast Nigeria on August 15, 2017.<br />Boko Haram female suicide bomber detonated her explosives killing 28 people and leaving over 80 others injured at a market in the village of Konduga on the outskirts of Maiduguri in northeast Nigeria. / AFP PHOTO / STRINGER
Islamic extremists killed no fewer than 360 defenseless civilians, including 260 Christians and 100 Muslims in the country in the month of October 2018.
A report, released yesterday by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, was signed by its board Chairman, Emeka Umeagbalasi and Head, Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, Obianuju Igboeli.
The report showed that jihadists perpetrated the killings in the Middle Belt Region of the country, particularly in Kaduna, Plateau and Benue, as well as in Adamawa and Borno states.
It also lamented the response of the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai and the Nigerian Army to the killings, saying it was distasteful.
The breakdown of the over 360 deaths, revisited and evaluated by Intersociety, showed that no fewer than 135 Christians were killed in Kaduna State in October; specifically between October 18 and 21, 2018.
Over 53 Christians were killed in Jos, Plateau State in the past 30 days and not less than 30 (16 Christians and three Churches and 15 Muslims) in Lafia-Lamurde and Mamsirmi communities in Adamawa State on October 23, 2018.
The report also disclosed that in Benue State, no fewer than 14 Christians were killed in Agena and Agbaaye communities of Ukum and Okpokwu local government areas of the state.
In Borno State, along Maiduguri-Damboa Road and Molai Village in Jere Local Government Area, Boko Haram terrorists slaughtered 38 civilians, many of them Christians.
“Therefore, with the loss of no fewer than 260 Christians in the past 30 days, the total number of defenseless Christians killed by herdsmen, jihadists and their collaborators in the Middle Belt in the past 10 months of 2018 has risen to at least 2,262,� it stated.
Meanwhile, the Journalists for Democratic Rights (JODER), has disclosed that at least 10 people are killed every month in Plateau, Nasarrawa, Benue and Kaduna states.
It also pointed out that over 200 people are being held at various security formations without trial, warning that the lingering ethnic crisis in some Northern states could snowball into a major national disaster that may affect the 2019 polls.
The National Working Group on Peace and Conflict Prevention (NWGPC) pioneered by JODER stated in its report yesterday that government and communities in Plateau, Nassaraw and Kaduna States were key to the resolution of the lingering crisis in the states.
It had submitted a comprehensive peace roadmap to governors of Kaduna, Plateau and Nassarawa states where ethnic conflicts had claimed several lives.
The report signed by Abukar Onalo, Chief Digifa Werenipre and Adewale Adeoye noted that the state governments and people were underestimating the crisis in Kaduna, Plateau and other Northern states.
‘Islamists killed 260 Christians, 100 Muslims in Octoberâ€
Jose Mourinho will not be punished by the Football Association after Manchester United successfully contested a charge he swore in Portuguese during the club’s win over Newcastle United. The Manchester United manager reacted passionately at full-time following his team’s 3-2 home win last month, with TV cameras capturing him gesticulating and shouting as he made […]
The post Mourinho Avoids FA Punishment For Comments After United – Newcastle Clash appeared first on Complete Sports Nigeria.
Mourinho Avoids FA Punishment For Comments After United – Newcastle Clash
We all know that physical attraction is one of the main keys to an attraction. However, what happens when the beauty begins to fade?
This is why it is important to emotionally connect with him so that he sees you more than just a friend.
You need to understand that a man and a womanâ€s psyche are different.
Throwing a few jokes or stories is not a guarantee that you will get a part of his heart. You are probably afraid that if you express your true emotions, it will be a turn-off.
[ File # csp7434499, License # 1200212 ]<br />Licensed through http://bit.ly/2QdYPMx in accordance with the End User License Agreement (http://bit.ly/2qlqlw1 />(c) Can Stock Photo Inc. / monkeybusiness
Yet, there are some women who naturally attract men to themselves.
The good thing is they learned this skill and you can too. It all boils down to getting acquainted with some personality traits.
First, you have to find out if he is emotionally available. This is because some have placed barriers that make them inaccessible emotionally. Examples of these kinds of men abound. The classic player, devoted husbands, committed businessmen who have cut off love, extreme conservatives.
If he is, then you move on to the stage of encouraging him to open up.
The biggest rule to take into cognizance here is that first impression matters and that includes your dressing and your grace. You want him to look forward to meeting you again and you want to look stunning all the time. You might want to look at your dress looks again.
The next step is mesmerising him intellectually. This will make him think you have something to interesting to contribute. Now that you have got his attention, stir up him emotional interest by using the right words and actions via planting ideas, flirting and being versatile in your conversations.
Three Ways To Connect With Him
WaterAid is an international organisation whose mission is to transform the lives of the poorest and most marginalised people by improving access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene. Through their partners, they have reached 2 million people with safe water and 3 million people with sanitation last year.
Fresh Vacancies at WaterAid
Parents of the co-joined twins separated at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Ferdinand and Courage Buzugbe, on Wednesday, said they once considered abandoning their children after they were born because of the family’s economic situation
Abuja co-joined twins: Jobless, homeless, we almost abandoned our children – Parents
Amid the clamour for new investment in the nationâ€s housing sector to address the deficit, the joint venture partner in the ongoing Emotan Gardens estate project, in Benin City, MIXTA Nigeria, has said that Edo State is set to exit the league of states grappling with inadequate housing. According to the Head, Business Development & […]
The post Emotan Gardens Estate Will Assist To Bridge Housing Deficit In Edo State – MIXTA Nigeria appeared first on Leadership Newspaper and Nigerian News Network.
Emotan Gardens Estate Will Assist To Bridge Housing Deficit In Edo State – MIXTA Nigeria
Abeokuta – The former Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Dr Reuben Abati and the former Governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, were amongst the names of candidates submitted by Senator Buruji Kashamu’s faction of Peopleâ€s Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State to Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
In a statement personally signed by the Senator, Leke Shittu, who emerged at the primaries conducted by the faction led by Adebayo Dayo remained the gubernatorial candidate of the party, while Abati was named as his running mate.
Daniel, who is the Director General of Atiku Abubakar Presidential Primary Campaign Organisation, was also named as the Ogun East Senatorial candidate of the party, the current position occupied by Kashamu.
The Senator also revealed that all the candidates by Adebayo Dayo exco in all levels have been received and acknowledged by the electoral body.
The statement read, “The candidates†list of the Kashamu backed Bayo Dayo exco of Ogun PDP has been received and fully acknowledged by INEC for the 2019 elections. Prince Leke Shitu and Dr Rueben Abati were duly acknowledged as the Ogun PDP Governorship and Deputy Governorship candidates respectively.
“Former Ogun state Governor, HE Otunba Gbenga Daniel is for the Senate, Ogun East and all other candidates for the Senatorial, Federal House of Representatives and the State House of Assembly were equally accepted and duly acknowledged.”
The Senator, who took a swipe at the National Chairman and the National Publicity Secretary of the Party, Uche Secondus and Kola Ologbondiyan, respectively, saying that the duo were deliberately acting unlawfully having refused all wise counsel.
Kashamu said the leadership of the Party was ignorant of the fact that both the chapter Chairman and Secretary can sign on behalf of the National Chairman and the Secretary in the event of judicial resolution in the case of Ogun State.
He further alleged that the leadership of the Party has an unexplainable desperation to install Ladi Adebutu as the governorship candidate in the state.
He however vowed not to be intimidated out of the Party, insisting that the PDP is a creation of Nigeria for all Nigerians who are willing to be members.
He said: “Any rumours being peddled around by our National Chairman and National Publicity Secretary through a purported press release should be disregarded as the duo are deliberately acting unlawfully and beyond their powers to which they’ve refused wise counsel to tow the path of rule of law.
“The guarantee of our democracy under established regulations and rule of law is that no party official, no matter how highly placed could use the office for selfish preservation/promotion of his own interests and legacy at the detriment of the interests and legacy of other party members.
“This resolve to act with unchecked impunity shall be fully resisted in a fight to finish battle to strengthen our party’s internal democracy.
“Ignorantly, the National Chairman is unaware that where there is dispute resulting into a judicial resolution as in Ogun state matter, the State Chairman and Secretary could sign in place of National Chairman and Secretary when backed by validly subsisting court judgements.
“Whatever makes our National Chairman to be this resolute at challenging the constituted electoral regulatory body, INEC and also dwelling in nauseating impunity against Nigerian court judgements out of unexplainable desperation to install Ladi Adebutu as PDP Ogun governorship candidate should as well have forced him to create his own INEC and conduct elections inside his office.
“The PDP as a Nigerian creation by law is for all Nigerians by established regulations and national statue; nobody can as such intimidate us in our democracy.
“All the state elders, leaders and party faithful are again enjoined to continue and remain focused on the ongoing aggressive mobilisation and reconciliation efforts for our party, PDP to come out victorious in the forthcoming elections. I’m emboldened by the power and grace of almighty Allah and shall NEVER succumb to injustice.”
The post Reuben Abati, Daniel, In Kashamu’s Candidates†List To INEC appeared first on Independent Newspapers Nigeria.
Reuben Abati, Daniel, In Kashamu’s Candidates†List To INEC
A fighter from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) attends the funeral of a commander, killed a day earlier in the town of Hajin during battles against the Islamic State (IS) group, in the Kurdish-controlled city of Qamishly in northeastern Syria, on October 29, 2018. – The Islamic State group ousted a US-backed coalition of Kurdish and Arab forces from its holdout in eastern Syria on October 28, killing dozens of fighters, a monitoring group said. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)
A Kurdish-led force backed by a US-led coalition on Wednesday suspended operations against the Islamic State group and said they would not resume until Turkey halts its attacks on Kurdish militia posts in northern Syria.
The Syrian Democratic Forces, joint Arab-Kurdish units under Kurdish command, announced a “temporary halt” to their operation, launched in eastern Syria on September 10, and condemned Turkey’s “provocations”.
On Wednesday, Turkish shelling of Kurdish positions in the Kobane sector of northern Syria killed four fighters, according to Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency.
The SDF condemned what it called the “coordination” of Turkey’s attacks with a fightback by jihadists and warned of “a prolonged halt to our military operation” against IS if Ankara keeps up its strikes.
Hundreds of Kurdish civilians, carrying party flags and portraits of jailed Turkish Kurdish separatist leader Abdullah Ocalan, demonstrated in the streets of the northeastern city of Qamishli to denounce the Turkish attacks.
“These attacks serve to support the mercenaries” of IS, said a protester, 44-year-old teacher Rizan Hamo. “The international community and the world must stop the Turkish state.”
Backed by coalition air strikes, the SDF aims to expel IS from a holdout on the Iraqi border, but the jihadists staged a fierce fightback last week under the cover of a sand storm, using suicide bombings to force a retreat.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the IS counter-attack killed at least 72 fighters from the SDF, which is dominated by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).
The monitoring group said hundreds of Kurdish fighters, men and women, had since been deployed on the outskirts of the IS holdout of Hajin.
But, the Britain-based monitor said Wednesday, “on the ground, everything has come to a halt”.
On Tuesday, two days after another round of shelling of Kurdish posts in northern Syria, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country had completed preparations for a new operation to “destroy” the YPG militia, which Ankara has branded a terrorist group.
“We are going to destroy the terrorist structure in the east of the Euphrates. We have completed our preparations, plans, programmes regarding this issue,” said Erdogan, who has made similar threats in the past.
The YPG has worked closely with the United States in the fight against IS jihadists in Syria, straining ties between NATO allies Washington and Ankara.
The animosity between Syria’s Kurds and Turkey underlines the complexity of the multi-front Syrian conflict that has cost over 360,000 lives since it broke out in 2011 with anti-government protests that were violently suppressed by the regime.
Earlier this year, Turkish military forces supported Syrian opposition fighters in seizing the Afrin region, west of the Euphrates, from the YPG in a two-month air and ground offensive.
Ankara previously launched an offensive between 2016 and 2017 against IS on its border with Syria, as well as blocking the YPG from linking up areas under its control.
US-backed Syria force suspends anti-IS attacks after Turkey hits
The video shows the aircraft going into a spin, which experts say suggests a problem with the tail rotor.
Leicester City helicopter crash: Aircraft 'spun' after take-off
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike has declared that there is no iota of doubt that the APC-led Federal Government has failed Nigerians, necessitating the need for a new leadership in 2019. Wike further stated that the visit of four South-South Governors to President Muhammadu Buhari had no political connotation, noting that the governors were […]
Wike speaks on governors’ meeting with Buhari, Obi’s candidature
Wike speaks on governors’ meeting with Buhari, Obi’s candidature
