US and UK said they do not recognise the passports issued by Biafra

The governments of the United States and the United Kingdom have said they do not recognise the passports being issued by the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra, according to The Punch.

The National Director of Information, MASSOB, Sunny Okereafor, had said two weeks ago that the passport was valid worldwide, adding that the travel document costs N5,000 while its renewal costs N2,000.

He had said, “I assure you that the Biafran passport is valid. Except Nigeria, other countries of the world accept Biafran passport and allow our citizens to travel with it. In Europe, North and South America, Biafran passport is accepted. Nigeria is the only country that seizes Biafran passport. Go to neighbouring Ghana here, they will stamp the passport for you. Don’t be confused by the propaganda of the Nigerian government that there is nothing like Biafra passport.

“MASSOB appeals to Biafran citizens to procure their passport and use it to travel. If you doubt me, get a Nigerian passport while I have my Biafran passport; when we get to Europe, you will see who they will welcome than the other. Many people with the Nigerian passport have been repatriated, but have you heard of anybody with Biafran passport receiving such ill-treatment?”

However, our correspondent sent an email to the American consulate in Lagos to inquire from the US regarding the claim of MASSOB.

In his response, the Deputy Public Affairs Officer at the consulate, Frank Sellin, said, “The United States does not consider passports purporting to be from a Biafra entity to be a valid legal document for purposes of visa issuance.”

 British Government in a similar response to The Punch via email.

The UK recalled that it did not support the disintegration of Nigeria during the 1967 Biafran War and had not changed its stance 49 years after.

A statement by the Press and Public Affairs Officer, British High Commission, Abuja, Mr. Joe Abuku, read in part, “The answer is unequivocally ‘no’. The UK does not recognise the so-called Biafran passport, told The Punch.

“The position of the UK Government during the Biafran War is a matter of historical record. The UK Government’s position, which reflected the Charter of the Organisation of African Unity, was to recognise the borders laid down at independence.

“The Biafran War caused great suffering and the UK supported the reconciliation work that followed the conflict. The UK supports the territorial integrity of Nigeria and the Nigerian Government’s commitment to work for a secure and prosperous Nigeria for all Nigerians.”

Trouble in federal civil service over employment racketeering

A report shown that some top Federal Civil Servants have been fired for allegedly extorting about N160million from desperate job seekers.

The deal was carried out in one of the parastatals under the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture during the last dispensation, it was revealed yesterday.

Information and Culture Minister Lai Mohammed said the dismissed officials collected N400, 000 each from 400 people whose names were then included in the Integrated Payroll and Personnel System (IPPIS), according to The Nation.

Mohammed, at a meeting with On-Air-Personalities in continuation of his five-day consultations with critical stakeholders in the media industry, said the culprits included Grade Level 17 officers in  the parastatal.

“The first scandal I met in one of the parastatals when I assumed office was the illegal employment of 400 people,” he said.

“This scandal started with very senior officers up to level 17 in that department. They sent out letters and text messages asking people to apply for jobs for a fee of N400, 000 and they were given letters of employment.

“They did not stop there. They invited these people to go and be captured on the IPPIS and they even took cameras to hotels to get them captured. At the end of the day the bubble burst.

“One of the victims told these officials, ‘you cannot take my money and still disengage me. I have a valid letter.’

“That was how we got to know that there was a dedicated account these people paid into. Of course, we dismissed these officials and we even handed them over to the Police,“ the Minster said.

Mohammed said that the incident showed how faulty the IPPIS was and how it had been compromised by unscrupulous elements.

He said that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari was doing all it could to make the IPPIS tamper-proof and guide it from people who might want to load ghost workers on it.

He described On-Air Personalities as very important in the media industry and urged them to leverage on their platforms to educate the people on government`s policies.

The minister said the current war against corruption was a war of survival for the nation and urged all Nigerians to give it the necessary support.

Only last week, Communications and Technology Minister   Adebayo Shittu, suspended the Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mr. Peter Jack indefinitely for “misconduct”.

The suspension, according to Minister’s Special Assistant on Media Victor Oluwadamilare, was on the strength of petitions over alleged wrong doings in NITDA and subsequent preliminary findings of an Investigative Committee set up by the Ministry.

Oluwadamilare said: “The petitions against Mr Jack relate to illegal employments not approved by the appropriate authority and procurements carried out in direct contraventions of laid down rules and procedure unknown to Civil Service administration in Nigeria.”

He added:” Some of the infractions identified by the Investigative Committee made up of three senior Ministry officials include unauthorised illegal recruitment of additional staff totalling 245 within a spate of seven months.

“According to the Committee’s startling findings, “as at 29th May, 2015, NITDA only had a staff complement of 74. But from May, 2015 to 31st December, 2015, additional 245 staff were employed in questionable circumstances despite clear instruction from the Ministry directing suspension of employment in the Agency.

“These disclosure were deduced from the records provided by Mr. Jack, although he was unable to provide concrete information on whose authority he embarked on the massive recruitment and who granted him the authority for officials to be seconded to NITDA from other MDAs,” the statement added.

“Prior to this development, the suspended DG was specifically directed by the Ministry not to embark on a recruitment exercise purported to have been scheduled for 17th December, 2015, but he defiantly went ahead to recruit without authority.”

Soon after President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office in May last year, the federal government suspended the last recruitment into the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) conducted on the directives of the immediate past President, Goodluck Jonathan between March and April 2015.

The Board of Prisons, Immigration, Civil Defence and the Fire Service directed immediate suspension of every activity related to the recruitment until further notice.

The NIS headquarters instructed State Commands and heads of training institutes to recall newly recruited persons sent for training at the Immigration Service Training Schools at Orlu, Kano and Ahoada.

During the now suspended employment exercise, less than 5,000 Nigerians, including candidates of families that lost loved ones in the botched 2014 recruitment that resulted in the death of about 15 applicants were enlisted and sent for training to become personnel of the service.

Wenger run will be Unique - Hiddink

Chelsea interim boss Guus Hiddink thinks no Premier League manager will be given the same amount of time that Arsene Wenger has had at Arsenal.

Wenger, 66, has been in charge of the Gunners for nearly 20 years and has won the Premier League title three times.

However, the Frenchman went eight seasons without a trophy before lifting the FA Cup in both the last two years.

"He might be one of the last to sit on the chair that long," said Hiddink, who is in his second spell at Chelsea.

"Him being in charge in those years without a title means there is a lot of confidence from the board. It's always good to have men who have a long period at a club."

In the 19-and-a-half years Wenger has been at Arsenal, Chelsea have changed their manager 12 times - and won the Premier League title on four occasions.

Asked why Wenger's longevity might be a thing of the past, Hiddink, who replaced Jose Mourinho after he was sacked in December, added: "I don't know why. Maybe the instant result is required.

"It depends on the club, on the philosophy and the calmness of a club."

Arsenal entertain Chelsea on Sunday and will return to the top of the Premier League with a win, although the Gunners have not beaten the Blues in eight Premier League games, a run stretching back to October 2011.

But Wenger is still talking down their chances of winning the league for the first time since 2003-04.

"Sixteen games to go is a long way. Sixteen games in some countries is the championship," said Wenger.

"I believe we have a strong spirit but spirit is a bit like the weather in England. It can change very quickly. And we have to take care of that."

With BBC

Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) pointed Nigerians in the wrong direction - Audu Ogbe

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr Audu Ogbeh, has blamed the poor run of Nigeria’s economy on the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) introduced by former Head of State, General Ibrahim Babangida according to Channel Television.

He disclosed this during an interview in Otukpo, Benue State, at the flag off of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Benue South Senatorial re-run election campaign for its candidate, Mr Daniel Onjeh.

The Agric and Rural Development Minister, who blamed Nigeria’s over-reliance on crude oil, claimed that the Structural Adjustment Programme pointed Nigerians in the wrong direction.

He advised Nigerian youths to take advantage of the oil crisis in other to diversify into Agriculture and non-oil sectors.

Ogbeh also expressed concern over the high rate of unemployment among Nigerian youths with the advice that they take up opportunities being created in the agric-sector, in other to earn themselves legitimate sources of livelihood.

Deadly snowstorm buries much of US East Coast

The massive winter storm that's clobbered the East Coast is heading out to the Atlantic, but the problems it caused aren't over.

Crews are scrambling to clear the roads before the work week starts.

But while the sun and rising temperatures expected in some areas Sunday may help cleanup efforts, meteorologists are worried about ice, which could make roads more hazardous.

And on the New Jersey coast, flooding is a major concern as residents keep a wary eye on rising waters.

The storm has brought more than 3 feet of snow to some areas, killed 14 people, grounded thousands of flights and shut down travel in the nation's largest city.

But snowfall in most of the major cities affected will likely finish early Sunday morning, except for some isolated flurries, CNN meteorologist Sean Morris said.

Jason Pellegrini woke up Saturday morning at his home in Sea Isle City, New Jersey, expecting to see flooding. But when he looked outside, he saw none.

"Then no more than 15 minutes later, I heard commotion out my window and I looked and I saw the raging water," he said. " It came in to the low-lying areas and it rushed fast, and it was like a tsunami."

The restaurant Pellegrini owns was damaged during Hurricane Sandy in 2012, but he says this surge came from the back bay and bodies of water to Sea Isle's west rather than from the ocean.

"It was overwhelming," Pellegrini said. "I rushed to move my car to higher ground, and by the time I got back I was in waist-deep water."

Coastal flooding remains a big concern for much of New Jersey due to the timing of the storm.

It hit during a full moon, which means high and low tides will reach their zenith and nadir for the month. Two high tides have come and gone, but a third is coming Sunday morning, during which forecasters predict more widespread flooding will occur.

After that, Pellegrini said, "I expect our town to be under considerable water."

The National Weather Service has issued a warning for the New Jersey coast until noon Sunday.

"Unfortunately we went through this a few years ago with Sandy," Pellegrini said. "I think now I'm just becoming accustomed to it."

After Sandy, sand dune walls were built to help keep water from flooding ashore.

They worked well during this storm, helping to push back waves that were as high as 20 feet, said Vincent Jones with the Atlantic County Office of Emergency Preparedness.

"They are basically the first line of defense," he said.

Margate City, just down the coast from Atlantic City, was also affected.

"In a lot of our business areas and our back bay areas, water is coming over the bulkhead in a lot of the same areas as Hurricane Sandy hit," Lt. Matt Hankinson of the Margate City Police Department said. "Some areas I would say it's thigh- to waist-deep."

Farther south in North Wildwood, the high tide was much higher than anticipated and caught many of the town's 5,000 year-round residents off guard -- with flooding levels that actually exceeded those during Hurricane Sandy, said Patrick Rosenello, the city's mayor.

"We had a lot of evacuations, a lot of people who had stayed in their homes not anticipating this, needing to be rescued," Rosenello said.

Most of the city was without electricity, he said, and the phones at the emergency dispatch center were jammed all day.

The National Weather Service said "significant" beach erosion was likely. Rosenello said Saturday's flooding "devastated" the dune system.

"There's going to be major cleanup. There's going to have to be major renovations," Rosenello said.

At least 14 people have died as a result of the storm -- six in North Carolina, three in Virginia, one in Kentucky, three in New York City and one in Maryland.

And New York's Central Park, Baltimore's Thurgood Marshall International Airport and both major airports in Washington all broke daily snowfall records Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said the blizzard will almost certainly rank among New York City's "top five snowstorms" in recorded history in terms of snow accumulation.

"I've never seen snow like this," said Luis Abraham Garcia, a doctoral student from Mexico City, as he trudged along snowy sidewalks with his suitcase.

With CNN