Chibok girls are alive and can be freed - Sani

Senator Shehu Sani representing Kaduna Central Senatorial District on Thursday said the abducted Chibok girls are alive and can be freed.



He also says the government should use minimal force and negotiation to seek the release of the abducted girls.

According to him, after three failed attempts by the government to negotiate with the insurgents, what is needed in any new negotiation is a guarantee from the government and the insurgents that they will honour agreements.

He also asked the government to reach out to a few people rather than set up a panel of many people that will not be united in their thoughts.

Humblesmith Shares Life’s Untold Story

Now in the spotlight, a place he has toiled several years to arrive at, Humblesmith, born Ekene Ijemba, shares his untold story of struggling in Ebonyi state, eastern Nigeria, where he started out as a dancer, according to Channel Television.

He also worked as a producer and songwriter but was forced to move to Asaba, where he believed he would be able to establish himself as an artiste.

After several years of moving around in the entertainment industry, taking up different opportunities, no matter how little, Humblesmith wrote and released the song ‘Osinachi’, which shot him into the limelight.

Nigerians Must Communicate In Their Mother Tongues —Minister State Education

Prof. Anthony Anwukah, Minister of State for Education

Minister of State for Education, Prof. Anthony Anwukah has warns that Nigeria’s indigenous languages could go into extinction due to decline in usage by the youths.

This was disclosed in a statement issued by the Ministry of Education in Abuja, which said that Anwukah raised the concern during the celebration of International Mother Language Day.

The statement, signed by Mr Agidike Onu on behalf of Dr Ihuoma Priscilla, the Director of Press, said Anwukah was represented by his Special Adviser, Prof. Godswill Obioma.

It said that the minister expressed concern at the sharp drop in the number of Nigerian youths who were able to read or write in their mother tongues.

He expressed concern over youths, especially those living in the urban centres, that hardly communicate in their mother tongue.

The statement quoted Anwuka as saying that the theme of the celebration, “Quality Education, Language(s) of Instruction and Learning Outcomes” was apt.

The statement quoted Mrs Magdalene Maidoh, Secretary-General, Nigerian National Commission for UNESCO, as saying that the Minister of Education was the president of the commission.

According to Maidoh the President of the Nigerian National Commission for UNESCO has the mandate to coordinate all UNESCO activities in the education sector in Nigeria.

UNESCO proclaimed Feb. 21 of every year as the International Mother Language Day in commemoration of the massacre of Benghali speaking people of Indonesia for defending their mother tongue.

Earnings from non-oil exports drop to $1.6 billion

The inability of Federal Government to revive incentives for non-oil exporters, proceeds from the sector has continued to witness a southward trend, as the nation’s earnings hit $1.6 billion from $3 billion recorded in 2013.

According to stakeholders in the sector, earnings from non-oil export can easily cross $5 billion this year and bring some relief to tackle the foreign exchange crisis prevailing in the economy, if suspended incentives are revived and other challenges addressed.

Executive Secretary of the Organised Private Sector Exporters Association (OPEXA), Jaiyeola Olarewaju said that exporters have in the last two years, been sitting on a backlog of over N100 billion worth of unutilized export certificates issued under the seal of the Ministry of Finance, urging government to honour its financial commitments in regards to extant law, The Guardian reported

“It is paradoxical that one sector that had the potential to cushion the commodity shock has been paralysed due to lack of inter-ministerial coordination. Nigeria’s non-oil exports fell from $3billion in 2013 to $1.6 billion in 2015. In 2014, the country had realised $2.7 billion in non-oil exports. In 2015, exports of cocoa, Nigeria’s largest commodity declined by 35 per cent whereas leather exports, which is the main stay of industrial economy in the North plunged by 60 per cent.

“If the EEG policy had been sustained, our non-oil exports today would have easily crossed $5 billion by 2016 and brought some relief to tackle the foreign exchange crisis prevailing in the economy. The officials have been evading the issue by alluding to perceived abuses of the grant which led to its suspension. It is classic case of throwing the baby with the bath water. The exporters relied on the extant policy and repatriated forex through the banks duly verified by the CBN”.

He explained that while diversification is being advocated as the need of the hour to generate employment by boosting production in the non-oil sector, government should clear the backlog of unutilised NDCCs and exports made in 2014 and 2015 under the extant policy to sustain about 11 million Nigerians employed directly and indirectly in the non-oil export sector.

He noted that addressing unutilized export certificates could be done by converting them into government bonds with a medium to long term maturity to avoid undue pressure on current government revenue.

“The ministries of Industry, Trade and Investment as well as Finance, should harmonise their position and come up with a sustainable and effective EEG policy to put non-oil exports back on track,” he said.

Nigeria’s non-oil export sector is still in its infancy and came into mainstream in the last 10 years due to the policies that were put in place that encouraged the sector to invest in agricultural supply chains, export processing factories and overseas marketing.

“The root cause of the decline in non-oil exports was a legacy of the past administration inherited by the present government. There is an opportunity to reverse the trend by restoring the policy framework that led to the rapid development of the sector.

“Non-oil exports were boosted by the Export Expansion Grant or EEG policy meant to cushion the cost disadvantages faced by our exporters due to infrastructural deficiencies. It improves the price competitiveness of Nigerian products in the international market. Since 1999, EEG has been given in form of negotiable duty credit certificates (NDCCs). However, the former Minister of Finance arbitrarily suspended the utilisation of the certificates pending a review of the scheme which for the past three years has been languishing due to lack of inter-ministerial coordination”, he added.

Latest monthly economic report released by the CBN provisionally puts non-oil exports at $244 million in the month of November, noting that the month-to-month decline was precipitated by fall in receipts from the food products and minerals sectors. Industrial products, which earned $79 million, accounted for the largest proceeds.

The sector breakdown shows that proceeds from manufactured products, agricultural products and the industrial sub-sector grew by 13.3 percent, 13.5 percent and 38.3 percent, respectively, on a month-to-month basis.

On the other hand, proceeds from food products and minerals decreased by 86.4 percent and 49.2 percent, respectively.
In the month of November, non-oil exports stayed very low at approximately 1 percent of GDP.

The report stated that, “the agriculture and manufacturing sector, which underpinned non-oil exports in November, grew by 2.6 percent yearly and contracted by minus 1.8 percent in third quarter 2015, respectively. The national accounts are due for later this year.”

Resilient and efficient dispute resolution mechanism, key to strong capital market, says CJN

The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mahmud Mohammed yesterday said that a resilient and efficient dispute resolution mechanism is an imperative for a strong and reliable capital market, The Guardian reported.

Justice Mahmud Mohammed, while declaring open the 2016 workshop for judges on legal issues in the capital market, organized by the Securities and Exchange Commission in collaboration with the National Judicial Institute (NJI) holding in Abuja, added that the entrenchment of sound adjudicatory processes must be seen as a precursor to a world class market and so, which must be accorded priority.

According to the CJN, the ongoing capital market reforms embarked upon by the Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] are aimed at building a world class capital market with the underlying need to boost investor confidence in the dispute resolution mechanisms available in the Nigeria capital market, in the report.

Represented by Justice Ibrahim Tanko Mohammed at the occasion, the CJN said that all over the world, capital markets are principally established to mobilize long-term capital for investment and productive purposes even as the capital markets play a very significant role in our society because they enhance industrial growth and aid socioeconomic development by expediting the rate of capital formation, fostering free enterprise, promoting creativity, advancement and good governance.

Speaking on, ‘’Current Reforms in the Nigeria Capital Market and the role of the Securities and Exchange Commission,’’ former Acting Director-General and Executive Commissioner, Operations of SEC, Ms. Daisy Ekinelu said ‘’Reforms have been introduced to address specific concerns such as unclaimed dividends, corporate governance and compliant management, reforms have also taken a comprehensive form, all aspects of the capital market for transformation purposes.”

In his welcome address, the Director-General of SEC, Mounir Haliru Gwarzo said that the interactive workshop is one of such engagements conceptualized as a platform to hear from the judiciary, the most critical stakeholder in dispute resolution.