ENYA'S GIST BLOG

To improve immunization coverage across the globe especially African countries, Bill and Melinda Gate Foundation through 3ie International Initiative for Impact Evaluation held a Mid-term Learning and synthesis Workshop from July 11-12, 2017 at Sheraton Hotel, New Delhi, India to effectively find a way in eliminating Polio in Nigeria and two other Asian countries. Dr Betta Edu said despite the billions of dollars spent by the global health community, donors, governments among others, we are yet to achieve polio eradication in the world and millions of children still die every day from vaccine preventable diseases. According to her the reasons are not far-fetched. Some new ‘distractions’ have surfaced on our level field to change the dynamics of the whole immunization global strategic plan. Sequel to this, new innovative strategies must be brought on board to address these distractions. She said distraction like terrorism, insurgency and conflict in many countries ...

Rt. Hon John Gaul Lebo Cross River State House of Assembly Speaker, Rt. Hon John Gaul Lebo and Director General Cross River State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr Betta Edu has paid fees for 736 school children in Adadama, Abi Local Government Area for 2017 Academic year. The payment, as revealed is part of the continuous education grant relief to the less privilege in their Community. The fee grant is a continuous exercise which is to assist the parents of the students from Adadama community where the hail from. Speaking on behalf of the Speaker, Dr Betta Edu said Education is a right of every child and by that these scholarship is for parents and guardians facing challenges in paying school fees of their wards and children schooling in Adadama. She said the payment is part of their commitment to raising the human capital base of the people of Adadama through Education. " the gesture was in line with the State Governor's agenda and marchi...

The International Air Transport Association, IATA, says over $175 million generated from ticket sales by foreign airlines is still trapped in Nigeria due to inadequate foreign exchange. The figure is however down from the $600 million the association said was trapped before the Central Bank of Nigeria, started offloading the funds to the airlines at the beginning of the year when revenues from oil sales improved due to increase in crude oil prices. But IATA  on Wednesday  said non-remittance of such funds was having negative impact on the operations of the carriers, as they constitute operating costs. It gave examples of Iberia and United Airlines, which stopped operations to Nigeria over the issue. Samson Fatokun, IATA Area Manager, South West Africa, said the development also forced other international airlines to cut down operations to and from Nigerian airports. Mr. Fatokun urged the CBN to hasten the process that would enable the affected ...

Oil prices rose on Thursday lifted by signs of a tightening U.S. market although high crude supplies from producer club OPEC weighed on market sentiment. Benchmark Brent crude was up 25 cents at 52.61 dollars a barrel by 1353 GMT. U.S. light crude was 15 cents higher at 49.74 dollars. Strong demand in the United States has been supporting prices. The US Energy Information Administration reported record gasoline demand of 9.84 million barrels per day (bpd) for last week and a fall in commercial crude inventories of 1.5 million barrels to 481.9 million barrels. That’s below levels seen this time last year, an indication of a tightening US market. OPEC and other producers including Russia have promised to restrict output by 1.8 million bpd until the end of March 2018 to help support prices and draw down inventories. OPEC output, however, hit a 2017 high of 33 million bpd in July, up 90,000 bpd from the previous month, a media survey showed this week, led by a further...

The federal government has granted ‘Pioneer Status’ to the creative industry, in a landmark move aimed at transforming the industry to a creative economy and creating jobs. In a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said the decision to grant the industry ‘Pioneer Status’ is in fulfilment of the promise made by the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, represented by the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, at the opening of the Creative Industry Financing Conference in Lagos 17-18 July 2017. The ‘Pioneer Status’ is granted to companies making investments in qualifying industries and products as tax holiday from the payment of corporate income tax and withholding tax on dividend from pioneer profits for an initial period of three years, extendable for one or two additional years. The ‘Pioneer Status’ for the Creative Industry covers music production, publishing and distribution (including online digital distribution...

The Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, has told the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission that it must always submit to his office details of its investigations into ‘serious cases’. He said the directive is in compliance with the Economic and Financial Crimes (Enforcement) Regulations, 2010. The Cable online newspaper reports that the Justice Ministry made the request  on Tuesday , via a letter dated August 1, and signed by a lawyer, Abiodun Aikomo. According to the letter, the ministry accused the commission of failing to comply with section 10 of the said regulation and demanded compliance going forward. “I am directed by the Honourable Attorney- General and Minister of Justice to refer to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Enforcement) Regulations 2010 (the Regulation) published in the Federal Republic of Nigeria Official Gazette No.61 Vol. of 21st September 2010, particularly the obligations of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commiss...

The police have dismissed four police officers for their alleged roles in the theft of items from a house belonging to former President Goodluck Jonathan. The Federal Capital Territory’s Commissioner of Police, Musa Kimo, approved the dismissal of the four policemen for burgling the Gwarimpa residence of the former president. The affected officers, all sergeants, are: Musa Musa, F/No. 436691; John Nanpak, F/No. 235422; Ogah Audu, F/No.261898 and Gabriel Ugah, F/No. 425210. A statement by the spokesperson of the FCT Police Command, Anjuguri Manzah, on Thursday said the officers were guarding the residence of the former president when they  suddenly turned turned round to rob the property, stealing everything of value therein. Mr. Manzah said the dismissal of the cops followed the outcome of the orderly room proceeding. “Sequel to the outcome of the orderly room proceeding, the Commissioner of Police FCT, CP Musa Kimo, has approved the immediate dismissal of the ...

Diego Costa's lawyer Ricardo Cardoso has confirmed the striker will hand in a formal transfer request at Chelsea. Costa has been told he is not part of Antonio Conte's plans for the upcoming season and the Spain international is now widely expected to leave following the arrival of compatriot Alvaro Morata from Real Madrid. Costa's lawyer Cardoso told Spanish news agency EFE that the forward intends to 'formally request a transfer' away from Stamford Bridge.  We are going to use all legal mechanisms to hold Chelsea accountable for this behaviour, making it possible for Diego Costa to leave," Cardoso said. Sources close to the player have told Sky Sports News that Atletico Madrid remain the most likely destination for Costa, although nothing is agreed. Costa spent four seasons with the Spanish club before leaving to join Chelsea in a £32m transfer in 2014. Atletico Madrid are currently banned from signing new players until the start of next ...

Barcelona have confirmed payment for Neymar’s £198m buyout clause has been received. Neymar's world-record transfer from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain had hit a stumbling block after La Liga refused to accept the release clause for the striker, but the Spanish giants have now confirmed Neymar is no longer contracted to the club. A Barcelona statement read: "On Thursday afternoon Neymar's legal representatives visited in person the club's offices and made the payment of 222 million euros in the player's name with regards to the unilateral termination of the contract that united both parties.  As such, the club will pass on to UEFA the details of the above operation so that they can determine the disciplinary responsibilities that may arise from this case." PSG lawyers had arrived at La Liga HQ in Madrid on Thursday morning in an attempt to put the finishing touches on a deal for the 25-year-old Brazil international, which is worth nearly £4...

The Cross River State Government says the N6 billion and seventy five million naira Paris Club refund recently released to the state by the Federal Government would be used basically for payment of gratuity and salaries of public and civil servants in the state. The state's Head of service, Mr Ekpenyong Henshaw disclosed this while briefing newsmen in Calabar at the weekend. According to the Head of Service, "our Governor Prof. Ben Ayade is desirous of paying all outstanding arrears owed civil servants by the previous administrations because he has their interest at heart. "He is ready to do anything within his power to ensure their salaries and other lawful entitlements are paid as and when due." Consequently, Henshaw said "the Governor has directed the Commissioner for Finance and Accountant General to immediately commence processes for the payment of gratuity to 2014 retirees as we round up payment to 2013 retirees." On the fate ...

As part of the backward integration policy of Prof Ben Ayade's administration, Cross Rive r State government is set to roll out 30 tonnes of cotton from its cotton farm by November this year. The cotton farm situated in Woda community, Yala Local Government Area of the state, is in partnership with Arewa Cottons. Managing Director, Arewa Cotton, Anibe Achimugu, in a chat with newsmen at the farm disclosed that "we will start by allocating parcels of land to the community farmers, train them and hope that they can now pass the knowledge to others. "Members of the community are already working with us in terms of the casual labour that we need. Also, we are collating the small holders farmers as out growers," Achimugu said, adding that "the entire cotton value chain has the capacity to generate 10,000 jobs and a lot of that vistas of opportunity will come from Cross River State." Achimugu further informed that about 30 thousand tons of cotton...

The Executive Chairman Cross River State Universal Basic Education Board, Dr Steph en Odey has locked out staff of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) for coming late to work today, Friday 28th July 2017. Expressing his disappointment Dr Odey said he was displeased with the attitude of staff towards work and that the action was to instill discipline among staff and ensure quick service delivery to all stakeholders “I was not impressed when I got here by 8 o’clock and most offices were locked, nobody should force us to do our work. People are looking for this job, you have it and you are taking it for granted,” he said. He advised staff to be punctual and remain committed, while warning that those who go against the rules will face disciplinary action. According to Dr Odey “I will pardon you today without query because this is the first time, next time would not be the same, we should all try to support government efforts by showing commitment to ...

Our attention has been drawn to online scammers purporting to be recruiting, can vassing and soliciting membership for a phony platform called “PDP Ayade Team”, using cloned photograph of His Excellency on different social media platforms, and luring unsuspecting members of the public to join the team. These fraudsters, operating under various pseudo-names have been requesting registration fees from their unsuspecting victims to be registered as members of the “PDP Ayade Team”. For the records, we do not know anything about “PDP Ayade Team" and have NOTHING, whatsoever, to do with it. While we acknowledge the existence of a platform called “Team Ayade”, which is a forum aimed at rallying support for His Excellency’s policies and programmes, we wish to, however, state that no fees or remittances are required to join the platform, as membership is voluntary and free. We therefore, wish to warn the general public to be on the watch out for theses online predato...

Cross River state government to appoint transaction advisors for shipping line, airline Ahead of the planned floating of the state's air and shipping lines, no fewer than 10 com panies made presentations to the Cross River State Government for consideration as transaction advisors for the procurement of aircraft and vessels for the proposed Cally Air and shipping lines respectively. The companies that participated in the presentation for CallyAir included Catalyst Gold Innovations, Glory Airlines, Travel Essentials, Manyata Engineering, Dana Airlines and tropic Aviation. Others who made presentations for the procurement of vessels and fishing trawlers included Lumberg Services limited, Strickland Services, Travel Essentials and Obyke System Consults. In his remarks before the presentation Commissioner for Transport, Mr. Saviour Nyong, said: "Over the years, Cross River, as a coastal state has not tapped into the benefits of being endowed with a coastal land bu...