President Buhari Appoints A Blind Man as Special Assistant

President Muhammadu Buhari has appointed a visually impaired man, DR. SAMUEL INALEGWU ODE ANKELI as his Senior Special Assistant with responsibility for his dealings with persons living with disability.

Dr. Ankeli headed the  Directorate of Persons With Disability at the Buhari/Osinbajo APC presidential campaign headquarters, the first of any such department in a political party in Nigeria.

He led a team that successfully mobilized a large number of the more that 24 million disabled persons in the country to support the APC candidate and his running mate in the 2015 presidential election campaign.

Dr Ankeli hails from Benue State. He went to school in Giwa, near Zaria and Kaduna before reading veterinary medicine at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

He worked with the Benue State government before quitting to give time to his activist role in the promotion of the wellbeing of the blind and people with all kinds of disability. He leads a very active religious and sporting life.

He is married and has children.

Report Cases Of Illegal Charges By Banks - CBN Tell Nigerians

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has asked banks’ customers to report cases of excessive and in some cases illegal charges by Deposit Money Banks.

In a statement on Saturday by the CBN’s spokesman, Ibrahim Mu’azu, the apex bank said it had received series of complaints from customers of Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) alleging excessive charges from their respective banks, Channel News reported.

The bank reiterated that the Revised Guide to Bank Charges clearly specified allowable charges for all banking services, warning that it would not in any way condone the fleecing of banking customers under any guise.

“It was in the quest to provide a strong voice to banks’ customers and moderate the arbitrary charges that the CBN in 2012, established its Consumer Protection Department,” the statement read.

The apex bank said it had investigated over 6,000 complaints relating to unauthorised bank charges brought to its notice and that banks had been compelled to refund over 6.2 billion Naira to affected customers in 2015 alone.

It expressed its resolve to continuously enforce the provision of the Revised Guide to Bank Charges and urged members of the public to report cases of infringement to enable it investigate and apply sanctions on any erring Deposit Money Bank (DMB), in the report.

Bank Customers are urged to forward their complaints to the Director, Consumer Protection Department through an email the apex bank provided – cpd@cbn.gov.ng

We are Committed to Global Peace – CDS

The Chief of Defence Staff, General Gabriel Olonisakin has re-emphasised Nigeria’s commitment to global peace and security.  He reiterated that Nigeria has been maintaining steady deployment of troops to hot spots around the world to maintain and enforce peace. General Olonisakin made this disclosure at Defence Headquarters Abuja when the Deputy Military Adviser, United Nations Peace Keeping Operations, Major General Adrian Foster, paid him a courtesy call.

The CDS pointed out that Nigeria had been actively involved in peace keeping operations around the world before her independence and has kept the tempo, ever since then despite its security challenges. For instance, the CDS revealed that Nigerian troops are presently on UN missions in Guinea Bissau, Mali, Dafur, Liberia and many other countries across the globe. For this commitment and unalloyed loyalty to UN missions and obligations, Nigeria, he said, deserved more support and recognition from the world body. Hence, General Olonisakin solicited for Nigeria, quality and reputable representations in the area of UN positions and appointments.

The CDS thanked the UN for the confidence reposed in the Nigerian contingents to its mission areas which justified their retention, especially in Dafur and promised that Nigeria would continue to be a key player in world’s politics and diplomacy as well as maintenance of peace and security. He used the occasion to call the attention of the world body that the challenge of insurgency in Nigeria is a regional threat that deserves the UN active collaboration and support to end the menace as soon as possible.

Earlier in his remark, the guest, Major General Foster stated that he was in Nigeria to thank the Armed Forces for its contributions towards the world peace through its active participation in the United Nations Peace Keeping Operations around the world. General Foster further stated that he was in the country to access the situation regarding its war against insurgents in order to recommend to the UN to rally support for the country to overcome its multiple security challenges for the overall benefit of the mankind.

EU Chamber Of Commerce Warns China Over Industrial Overcapacity

China Steel Market (Photo: AFP/RFA)

The European Union (EU) Chamber of Commerce has expressed concern over China’s industrial overcapacity, particularly in the steel sector, saying it pose an increasing threat to European economies.

EU Chamber Head, Joerg Wuttke, disclosed this on Monday in Beijing ahead of the release of a study on the China’s capacity. He said study has shown that China has been accumulating machinery and manpower faster than demand has been growing in recent years.

The official said the report showed that the overcapacity in China’s steel sector rose from 132 million tons in 2008 to 327 million tons in 2014.

Wuttke said the excess led to China offloading its steel at dumping prices on the international market.

He stressed that Chinese authorities need to address the problem more urgently and the protectionism of local employment and business needs to be broken down.

The European Commission this month announced provisional anti-dumping duties on cold-rolled flat steel from China and Russia, and an investigation into the imports of seamless pipes, heavy plates and hot-rolled flat steel from China.

The EU earlier imposed a slew of anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on Chinese products ranging from solar panels to ceramic tiles and ironing boards.

The bloc applies measures to China on the basis of it not being a market economy.

It was due to review that status by the end of the year, potentially changing the way it calculates whether Chinese imports are fairly priced.

Fani-Kayode Insists Sheriff Is ‘Intrinsically Linked With Boko Haram’

A member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the spokesman for the Goodluck Jonathan campaign team in 2015, Mr Femi Fani-Kayode, is insisting that Senator Ali Modu Sheriff appointed the party’s Chairman is ‘intrinsically linked with Boko Haram’ and should not head a serious political party, Channel News reported.

Mr Fani-Kayode made the allegation on ‘Sunday Politics Today’ while giving his opinion about the appointment of Senator Sheriff as the PDP’s leader by the National Executive Committee.

Dismissing Senator Sheriff’s denial of an allegation that he was a major sponsor of Boko Haram, Mr Fani-Kayode said: “In terms of his person, he is intrinsically linked with Boko Haram. At the inception, he was one of those that created the Boko Haram and terrorised our nation” told Channel News.

He insisted that his comments were not mere allegations, saying that “a man that is so badly stained…. has such antecedents cannot be a leader of a serious political party”.

“This is somebody I have known for many years since we were both in the NRC in the early 90s.

“I must tell you that if he wants to convince the world that he has nothing to do with Boko Haram, let him explain his relationship with Mohammed Yusuf, the man who started Boko Haram and who was murder in mysterious circumstance by the police.

“Let him tell us who he was using as his local thug whilst he was two-time Governor of Borno State. Let him tell us that it was not Mohammed Yusuf that was leading the thugs and that he was not funding them.

“Let him tell us who asked Yar’Adua to send the soldiers and kill as many people as possible of the Boko Haram group simply because he was tired of them and he was fed up with giving them money,” the PDP member insisted.

On the appointment of Senator Sheriff, Mr Fani-Kayode said it was a very complicated issue and that there were many aspects to it.

He also insisted that it would do the party a world of good if Mr Ali Modu Sheriff chose the option of stepping down.

“There has been so much rancour and division created by the fact that he has emerged.

“Not just about his personality and his antecedent but also the process by which he emerged.

“It has caused a lot of trouble.

“Had it not been for the efforts of former President Jonathan and the chairman of the Governor’s forum, Governor Mimiko, the rift could have been far wider and many people should have left the party in droves in the last couple of days,” Mr Fani-Kayode explained.

According to him, there is a problem and a number of stakeholders are not happy with the situation. He also stated that it was very clear that top party members were not going to sit by and allow it to go away.

“Concrete measures are being taken, positions have been taken, discussions are on and the Forum of Governors for instance and every single minister that has been a PDP minister from 1999 to 2015 will meet on Tuesday in Abuja to take position on the matter.”

Explaining the circumstance surrounding Senator Sheriff’s appointment, Mr Fani-Kayode said: “A group of people came together and decided that he should be the one that will complete the tenure of the former PDP chairman. It is fair enough but they have to consult the people and stakeholders before they come to this conclusion.

“They took the decision and they went to the PDP Board of Trustees and told them this is a decision that they have taken.

“The way the PDP works is that before any serious decision is taken about anything, the PDP Board of Trustees is consulted and carried along and usually, they agree and they ratify.

“On this occasion, when the name of Sheriff was put to the PDP Board of Trustees, they rejected it outright.

“There is a court order stating clearly that the deputy national chairman, Mr Secondus, is not in power and has been barred from presiding over any national council meeting”.

He was also of the view that the PDP Chairman’s appointment violated the party’s law that stipulated that any individual that must occupy that position must have been a member of the party for over two years.