News 10
Daily Times Nigeria Thursday, July 12, 2018
Plateau Assembly impeaches Speaker Short News The Plateau House of Assembly on Wednesday impeached its Speaker, Mr Peter Azi. This followed a motion moved by Mr Peter Ibrahim, member representing Barkin Ladi constituency. According to Ibrahim, the action was in accordance with section 92, subsection 2 of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution as amended. “Mr speaker, in accordance with section 92, subsection 2, we the members
of this Assembly have passed a vote of no confidence on you, and you stand impeached,” he declared. Ibrahim did not give any reason for the action, but said members who signed the impeachment notice formed two-third majority of the 24-member Assembly. Mr Yusuf Gagdi, representing Kantana constituency immediately nominated Mr Joshua Madaki, representing Jos East constituency as Azi’s replacement. The nomination was seconded by
Mr Abdul Yanga of Mangu North-East constituency. The members through a voice vote unanimously affirmed the nomination of Madaki as substantive Speaker of the House. Similarly, 12 out of the 17 APC members in the House passed a vote of no confidence on Mr Henry Yunkwap, the Majority Leader, and endorsed Mr Na’anlong Daniel of Mikkang Constituency as his replacement.
Ayo Jaiyesimi’s ITAN (The Story) debuts in Abuja Doosuur Iwambe, Abuja The command performance of Ayo Jaiyesimi on “ITAN (The Story)” is set to be premiered in Abuja on July 14 and 15 According to Jaiyesimi, “ITAN (The Story)” which is
produced and directed by the Thespian Family Theatre and Production in collaboration with Digital Peers International will be open to cinemas nationwide on July 15. According to a statement made available to the Daily Times Newspaper, Jaiyesimi said that ITAN (the Story) is an intriguing award-winning epic
play laced with both cultural and contemporary dance and music that will keep viewers at the ‘edge of their seats. ITAN mirrors the impact of cross-generational conflicts prevalent in our modern day world through the battle for ‘Generational’ supremacy between a village elder, Pa Latinwo and his newly found
‘city gangster’ grandson, DeeKay. Both strongly rooted in their beliefs, refuse to shift their grounds. TIME (personified as Asiko) catches up with them and takes them on a journey into the past and future where they discover dark secrets that had been shrouded by the veil of time.
Customs intercepts containers of Ammunition in Lagos Joy Anyim, Lagos The operatives of the Nigeria Customs Service, Tincan Island Port Command in Apapa have intercepted Catches of Ammunitions in two separate operations on July 9th and 10th respectively. The intercepted containers were said to contain 416 rounds of different calibre live ammunition, 28 pieces of various sizes of Jack knives and one empty magazine. A suspect had also been arrested in connection with the seizures. It was gathered that the first set of ammunition was discovered at the Terminal ‘C’ II (Ports and Cargos), when the 1 by 40 foot container No. TGHU 60143419 was been examined and found to contain 150 live ammunition and 25 jack knives. The Area Controller of the Command, Comptroller Musa Baba Abdullahi who spoke on the seizures, said “On our discovery of the content of the container, it was immediately sent to the Enforcement Unit where it was examined and found to contain the ammunition and Jack knives”. The Controller revealed that the suspect, the containers and the exhibits are currently been detained at the enforcement station pending further investigation.
UNIDO tasks West African countries on quality control Adebisi Oyindamola, Abuja The West African sub region is demonstrating strong commitment towards improving the standards and quality of goods produced locally to meet international standards. This is imminent if the single market quest of the ECOWAS sub region must thrive, especially as the region faces the challenge of lack of certified accreditation bodies, to effectively implement quality standards on products produced in the region. It is in view of this that a capacity building workshop was organised in Abuja, for candidate assessors of the accreditation bodies of the ECOWAS regional Accreditation system (ECORAS) on ISO/IEC 17020 standard.
Bayelsa govt to lead advocacy against voter apathy
Cross section of the members of All Progressives Congress (APC) elected National Executives Non-NWC taking the oath of office, during their inauguration at Party National Secretariat in Abuja...on Wednesday. Photo: Temitope Balogun
NLNG offsets $5.45bn Loan, generates $25bn Idu Jude, Abuja The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Shell, Total and Eni have signed the Front-End Engineering Design (FEED), contract of Train 7 of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd (NLNG) Wednesday in London. A statement from NNPC, Wednesday, stated that the event also witnessed the commemoration of the successful repayment of $5.45 billion shareholders loan for Trains 1-6 by the NLNG Shareholders. According to the statement, the NLNG T7 expansion project aims at increasing NLNG production capacity from 22 MPTA to over 30 MTPA by the debottlenecking of T1-6 and the addition of train -T7 and associated infrastructure at an estimated cost of US$4.3 billion. The target Final Investment Decision (FID) date is fourth quarter 2018. NNPC Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru, expressed the corporation’s
readiness to support the Federal Government’s aspirations to actualizing Train-7 of project. Jointly owned by the NNPC (49%), Shell (25.6%), Total (15%) and Eni (10.4%), NLNG’s successful journey started in 1999 with the commissioning of Train 2 ahead of Train 1 which was commissioned in 2000. The Company grew to a Six Train facility with the commissioning of Train 6 in 2007. The company sourced a total principal amount of US$4.043B from its shareholders in their respective shareholding proportions to partly fund the construction of Trains 1-6. While the interest during the construction period was capitalised and added to principal for repayment from operational date of the financed trains, the total capitalised interest in the shareholders loan is US$1.411B which, in addition to the total principal drawdown of US$4.043B, accounted for the total loan amount of US$5.45B repaid by the company. The NNPC GMD said as 49 per cent shareholder in NLNG, NNPC had immensely contributed to the success of
the company over the years, supporting equity participation and contribution to shareholders loan. “Through critical interface with relevant Government agencies, we have played a pivotal role in the actualization of Trains 1 to 6 (T1-T6). Given the success of T1-T6, NNPC is therefore fully committed and aligned with Government aspirations to replicate the success of this project. Therefore, our current focus is to kick start T7,” Baru noted. Describing the NLNG as a jewel in the crown of Nigeria as well as a very strategic investment for the nation, Dr. Baru stated that the NLNG would continue to act as a catalyst for nation-building for years to come. He said the prompt servicing of shareholders’ loan with accelerated repayments did not only demonstrate NLNG’s credit worthiness, it had also reiterated its robust financial position. As at today, the GMD observed, the NLNG has generated revenues of more than US$25 billion for the Federal Government of Nigeria comprising Dividends of circa US$17 billion and taxes of US$7.2 billion.
Ahead of the 2019 general elections, the Bayelsa government has given an assurance that it would sustain the enlightenment campaign on continuous voter registration to increase the awareness level of eligible voters in the state. The State Commissioner for Information, Mr Daniel IworisoMarkson, disclosed this in Yenagoa on Wednesday when he visited some broadcast media organisations in the state. He said that the government had concluded plans to begin another round of sensitisation to enable eligible voters know their rights and choice of candidates at the polls while discouraging voter apathy. He said the sensitisation programme, billed to commence in August, would be in the form of series of social and electronic media engagements, particularly in the various local languages. Iworiso-Markson said it was high time stakeholders began the conversation on how to have credible people win elective positions in order to sustain the legacies of the present administration.
EFCC secures 13 convictions in South-East The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), says it has secured no fewer than 13 convictions in its anticorruption onslaught in the South-East between January and July. The Zonal Head of the Commission, Mr Adamu Danmusa, disclosed this in an interview with newsmen during the African Anti-Corruption Road Walk on Wednesday in Enugu. He said that many institutions in Enugu State were under investigation for alleged corruption allegations. “This year alone, the zone has secured no fewer than 13 convictions. No zone in the country has surpassed that within the period,” he said. The zonal head said that the Commission was dedicated to its duty of ensuring that corruption was significantly reduced if not eliminated in the country.