Only beans screened will be allowed into the country - NAFDAC

The Nigerian Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), has announced the banning of foreign beans into the country except those screened by the Agency.

The Acting Director General of the Agency‎, Mrs. Yetunde Oni who disclosed this at the awareness/Sensitization Workshop on Safe and Responsible use of Regulated Agricultural inputs for Stakeholders in the North Central Zone in Minna Wednesday emphasized that only beans screened by the Agency will be allowed into the country in order to be sure of their safety.

According to her “We must recall that these banned beans produce that have been banned in the European Union (EU) are those ones that never passed through NAFDAC. All the beans that passed through NAFDAC and issued EU certification to, of food and health impart on Nigerians do not get rejected.

The ones that have been banned are those ones that never passed through NAFDAC”. She however called on all relevant Agencies to be awake to their responsibilities by working hand in hand with the Agency to actuaize this objective.

“It is not entirely the function of NAFDAC, but the primary assignment of the Quarantine which is under the Ministry of Agriculture to look into beans because it is an Agricultural produce”, she had used.

On whose purview the produce is regulated, she said ‎”beans is an agricultural produce, as opposed to a semi or fully processed regulated product under the purview of NAFDAC and such products are food, drugs, medical devices, chemicals, packaged water and detergents. These are the ones that are under our purview.

“But because we have seen that the beans is a raw material into a final product that is regulated by NAFDAC, we are now talking of collaboration with one another so that all relevant stakeholders will join hands towards a common goal of ensuring that only good quality regulated products are available for consumption, for sales, distribution, advertisement, information and importation into the country.‎”

With AIT News

We condemned violence against children in any form or shape - Christian Women Group

The National President of the Women Wing of Christian Council of Nigeria, Mrs. Omatshola Williams, has condemned violence against children in any form or shape, Channel Television reported.
She also called on all Nigerians to join the crusade in saying ‘No to Violence against Children’.

Mrs Williams made this known while speaking during a courtesy call on the Governor of Anambra state, Willie Obiano, at the Governor’s Lodge, Amawbia, where they presented a branded T-shirt shunning the vice that is said to be prevalent in most south-south and southeast states of the country, in the report.

The governor commended their mission and said the ecumenical spirit that united them in the campaign is noteworthy and urged them to continue to help make the state and the country, at large, a better place to live in.

The women presented a branded T-shirt to the governor which they intend to use to drive home the message of shunning violence against children.
Governor Willie Obiano’s commended the spirit with which they formed the association to help mankind fight vices while enthroning virtues.

He urged them to continue in same spirit to achieve the ultimate purpose of having a safe and secure world to live in.

The visit featured prayer sessions for peace in the state and for God’s protection on the governor.

The National President also spoke extensively on forms of violence perpetrated against children in the country, which includes cultism, gay practice, trafficking and unwholesome attitude of orphanage homes.

She prescribed good Christian home training, sensitization and advocacy on the subject matter.

Donald Trump reminds him of Adolf Hitler - Former Mexican President Vicente Fox

Former Mexican President Vicente Fox says US Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump reminds him of Adolf Hitler.

"Today, he's going to take that nation (US) back to the old days of conflict, war and everything. I mean, he reminds me of Hitler,” he told CNN on Friday.

Fox, who was president of Mexico from 2000 to 2006,  said Trump “has offended Mexico, Mexicans, (and) immigrants. He has offended the Pope. He has offended the Chinese. He's offended everybody."

Last week, Pope Francis said that anyone who embraced Trump’s border-security positions “is not Christian.”  Trump has vowed to expel undocumented immigrants and build a wall on the US-Mexico border.

The former president earlier denounced Trump's proposal that Mexico should be made to pay for the wall.

Trump, who has never held elected office, is still leading the Republican presidential primary field, despite the fact that his campaign has been marked by controversial statements, including with disparaging remarks about Mexican immigrants and Muslims.

He vowed to deport 11 million undocumented workers from the United States and establish a “deportation force” for this purpose.

It is not the first time that he was compared to the German dictator. Former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman said in December that Trump’s rhetoric about banning Muslims from entering the US reminds him of Hitler.

"If you go and look at your history and you read your history in the lead-up to the Second World War, this is the kind of rhetoric that allowed Hitler to move forward," Whitman said.

The New York real-estate mogul has created a furor in the US and around the world by proposing a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims” entering the United States, following a mass shooting in California.

He has also called for a database to track Muslims across the United States, and he has also said that the US would have "absolutely no choice" but to close down mosques.

Fuel Scarcity: queues reappeared in fueling stations across Ibadan, Oyo State

Motorists are groaning as queues reappeared in fueling stations across Ibadan the Oyo State capital.

The situation has started creating panic among residents.

Going round some major roads within Ibadan, Channels TV reported that only a handful of petrol stations were selling petrol while majority were not selling.

Both the independent and major marketers appeared to be affected as most were not selling.

Some motorists are suspecting that some filling stations are possibly hoarding the products as no explanation has been given for the non-availability of the product.

Some of the station managers  denied this allegation and said that they were not dispensing fuel because they did not have product to sell.

However, managers of some of the few stations selling claimed that they had no idea why there should be any form of fuel scarcity.

These few stations sold at the official pump price but there were fears that they might not be doing so for long if the fuel scarcity continues.

Efforts to get the NNPC or the leadership of IPMAN for comments were unsuccessful

Twin blasts in Somalia capital

Hundreds of Somali soldiers erected new security checkpoints across the capital, a day after attacks by Islamic extremists killed at least nine civilians and wounded several others, according to AP.

Government security forces patrolled the streets of Mogadishu Saturday following the attacks Friday night on a hotel and a nearby public garden.

Police said at least five militants from the group al-Shabab were also killed in the attacks on SYL Hotel and the Peace Garden, which each involved suicide car bombers.

The first blast, at the hotel, sent a loud booming sound across the city, shattering windows and ripping the roofs off many nearby buildings. The truck packed with 200 kilograms (440 pounds) of explosives bomb may have been the most powerful bomb used by al-Shabab in recent years, said Somali security minister Abdirizak Omar, told AP.

At the scene of the hotel blast Saturday, an elderly Somali woman raised her hands in grief, shouting "God have mercy on him" as she looked at the wreckage of her son's car which was near the truck bomb.

Somali resident Barre Ali said the explosion at the hotel "felt like there was an earthquake." In his bedroom, Ali pointed to cracks in the wall of his house, which is located 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the scene of the blast.

More than 20 of the wounded are being treated at local hospitals, said Mohamed Abbas, the director of Daru Shifa hospital. Inside one hospital on Saturday, some victims of the attacks lay bleeding on the ground, screaming in pain, in the report.

Somali Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke condemned the bombings.

"Such acts were perpetrated to terrorize (the) public and wreck the stability and development of the country," he said in the statement.

Despite being pushed out of Somalia's major cities, al-Shabab continues to launch deadly guerrilla attacks across the Horn of Africa nation.