Dr Samuel Ortom at the UN

Dr Samuel Ortom took his turn at the United Nations.
Its a rare feat because only heads of states usually have such opportunities to address the UN.

RELEASE OUR STOLEN FUNDS- BUHARI CRIES OUT.

President Muhammadu Buhari has asked Switzerland to urgently release Nigeria’s stolen funds stashed in the European nation.
The Nigerian leader stated this at a meeting with his Swiss counterpart, Johann Schneider-Ammann, his spokesperson said on Tuesday.
Read the full statement by Mr. Buhari’s spokesperson below.
President Muhammadu Buhari has applauded the long history of economic relationship between Nigeria and France on the one hand, and Nigeria and Switzerland on the other.
At separate bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the ongoing 71st United Nations General Assembly in New York, United States of America, the President welcomed more investment and economic partnerships, saying Nigeria was a fertile ground for o handsome return on investments.
“Apart from your country’s close relationship with us, you have the same with most of our neighbours,” President Buhari told Francois Hollande of France. “We seek more collaboration, particularly in agriculture, mining and security.”
The President told his French counterpart of the Presidential Committee on the North East, which he described as a one-stop mechanism on development partnership for a zone that had been ravaged for many years by Boko Haram insurgents, and which needed urgent rebuilding.
Responding, President Hollande pledged that France would not only fully engage with Nigeria on different fronts, but would also provide humanitarian assistance in the North East.
“We will invest in Nigeria, we believe in her,” the French President said.
At another audience with President Johann Schneider-Ammann of Switzerland, President Buhari sought his counterpart’s cooperation on speedy repatriation of Nigerian money stashed in that country, stressing that Nigeria needed such resources, particularly for infrastructure.
With the two countries having agreed on projects to which the restituted funds would be deployed, President Schneider-Ammann promised quick action, as soon as the draft agreement was signed. He also pledged consolidation of mutual trade relationships, infrastructural development as well as support in training and equipping of the Nigerian military.

NPOWER INTERVIEWS BEGIN TODAY ONLINE

THE final assessment for over one million Nigerians who applied online for the Federal Government’s 500,000 job scheme for unemployed graduates will begin today.
According to a statement by Laolu Akande, senior special assistant, Media and Publicity, Office of the Vice President, the assessments in the various categories of the N-Power programme will end on October 18.
The N-Power Programme, which is the job creation and empowerment initiative of the Federal Government’s Social Investment Programme, also has programmes for non-graduates.
From the assessments, 500,000 job seekers would be picked for the two-year volunteer positions.
According to Akande, candidates will be assessed in phases based on their specific chosen programmes before the final selection.
”Under this phase, applicants are to log in and fill in their phone numbers and surnames as contained in their original application, using their personal profile (which has been opened for every applicant).
In addition, all candidates will be notified by SMS of their assessment the day before.
All assessments will include some personal questions and other questions testing basic knowledge of English, General Knowledge and Quantitative Reasoning.
Applicants will also be tested on other programme-specific questions depending on the programme they applied for.
Applicants can take their tests on a smart-phone, tablet, laptop or desktop computer provided that the devices have internet connection.
According to the statement, applicants can only gain access to their profile for assessment as represented in the schedule which breaks down applicants in batches by the first letter in their surnames.
The schedules for the assessments are as follows:
N-Power Teach: September 20 – September – 28, 2016
N-Power Agro: September 29 – October 1, 2016
N-Power Health: October 2 – October 3, 2016
N-Power Community Education: October 4 – October 6, 2016
N-Power Creative: October 7 – October 9, 2016
N-Power Tech (Software): October 10 – October 12, 2016
N-Power Tech (Hardware): October 13 – October 14t, 2016
N-Power Build: October 15 – October 18, 2016
Based on the schedule, applicants for the N-Power Teach programme will be first in line, starting on Tuesday September 20, 2016 and applicants whose surnames fall between the alphabets V-Z are expected to log in and take their assessments on the stipulated dates.
According to the first letter of surnames, the assessments will be held as follows:
N-Power Teach
20th September 2016 V, W, X, Y, Z
21st September 2016 P, Q, R, T, U
22nd September 2016 Aa – Al
23rd September 2016 Am – Az, B
24th September 2016 O
25th September 2016 M,N
26th September 2016 F, G, H, I
27th September 2016 C, D, E
28th September 2016 J, K, L, S
N-Power Agro
29th September 2016 A, B, C, D, F, G
30th September 2016 E, H, I, J, K, L, M, N
1st October 2016 O – Z
N-Power Health
2nd October 2016 A – I
3rd October 2016 J – Z
N-Power Community Education
4th October 2016 A – G
5th October 2016 H – N, P – T
6th October 2016 O, U, Z
N-Power Creative
7th October 2016 A – E
8th October 2016 F – N
9th October 2016 O – Z
N-Power Tech (Software)
10th October 2016 A – H
11th October 2016 I – R
12th October 2016 S – Z
N-Power Tech (Hardware)
13th October 2016 A – J
14th October 2016 K – Z
N-Power Build
15th October 2016 A – B
16th October 2016 C – I
17th October 2016 J – S
18th October 2016 T – Z.

COURT ORDERS ARREST OF SENATE PRESIDENT

The Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, sitting in Abuja has ordered the Inspector General of Police, IGP, Mr. Solomon Arase and other relevant security agencies in the country to arrest the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki.
In a ruling this afternoon, the tribunal headed by Justice Danladi Umar issued a bench warrant against Saraki following his refusal to appear in court to face a 13-count criminal charge that was preferred against him by the Federal Ministry of Justice.
FG had through a deputy director in the office of the Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. M.S. Hassan, asked the tribunal to order Saraki’s arrest.
Saraki who was billed for arraignment this morning, sent his team of lawyers to serve the tribunal with a copy of the ruling of Justice Ahmed Mohammed of the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court, yesterday, which summoned the Ministry of Justice to appear on Monday to show cause why the trial should be allowed to proceed.
Equally summoned by the court were the Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Danladi Umar and that of the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB, Mr. Sam Saba, as well as Mr. Hassan who signed the charge against Saraki.
Meanwhile, irked by Saraki’s absence at the tribunal for the commencement of his prosecution over alleged false declaration of assets, the Ministry of Justice prayed the Justice Umar-led panel to order for his arrest, saying “he cannot sit in the comfort of his chamber and object to his trial in absentia”.
The prosecution further maintained that Justice Mohammed lacked the powers to summon the CCT and CCB chairmen, even as it accused Saraki of engaging in “forum shopping” in a desperate bid to scuttle his trial.
Meanwhile, Saraki has through his lawyer, begged the tribunal to consider his position as the Senate President and stay the execution of the arrest warrant, saying he would be available for trial on Monday.
His plea was refused by Justice Umar who maintained that the accused person, having sworn to protect the constitution, ought to have shown respect to the tribunal by appearing before it today.

PRESIDENT OBAMA MEETS BUHARI.

President Obama and Buhari meets at the united nations and hold bilateral talks.

WOMAN BITES PRIVATE PART OF A MAN.

A Techiman Municipal Fire Commander is reportedly in a critical condition after his penis was chopped off by a 24-year-old woman, who he allegedly attempted to rape in her room.
According to Adom online reports, the victim said she works with Mr. Eric Ansah Andor at the Techiman Fire Service at Techiman in the Brong Ahafo Region, Ghana.
On the day of the incident, she was at home when Mr Ansah came with his cloths to have them washed. After she had accepted to wash it, she offered her boss water and was returning to the kitchen to start washing the clothes, only for him to drag her from behind and started abusing her sexually.
She said: “I offered him water and in an attempt to enter my other room I resisted initially and later he threatened me saying ‘he is the commander and so anything he wants he gets it’ and because he said that I got scared he would do something bad to me.
“I decided to play to his gallery on the bed and I told him I am ready and so he should do whatever he wants to do with me but after romancing with him for three minutes, I grabbed his penis  and bit it hard.”
“He started bleeding profusely and so called for help from their office.”
The fire commander was later rushed to the Dr. Kesse Hospital at Techiman for medical attention.
The Techiman Police station has begun investigations into the matter.

FEDERATION ACCOUNT HOLDS,SHARES 510.2 bn.

The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, on Tuesday in Abuja, said N510.2 billion was shared among the federal, states and local governments as revenue realised in August.
She made the disclosure while addressing a news conference on the outcome of the Federation Account Allocation Committee, FAAC.
The amount is higher than the N493.6 billion shared in July by N16.6 billion.
The minister said that during the month, N315 billion was generated as statutory distributable revenue, adding that this was higher than the N287.8 billion received in the previous month by N27.22 billion.
She added that “the sum of N6.3 billion was refunded to the Federation Account by Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
“There is a proposed distribution of N35 billion Excess Petroleum Profit Tax.
“Also, there was the exchange gain of N84.2 billion proposed for distribution.’’
She also said that Value Added Tax (VAT) was N75.9 billion as against N66.9 billion generated in July, indicating an increase of N8.9 billion.


She added that mineral revenue for the month was N158.7 billion, while that of July was N119.4 billion. Non-mineral revenue for August was N156.3 billion and that of July was N168.4 billion.
Giving the breakdown of revenue among the three tiers, Mrs. Adeosun said the Federal Government received N187.3 billion, representing 52.68 per cent, while states got N95.0 billion, representing 26.72 per cent.
Local governments, she said, received N73.2 billion, amounting to 20.60 per cent of the amount distributed, while N18.4 billion, representing 13 per cent derivation revenue, was shared among oil producing states.

According to her, crude oil export volume increased by 2.2 million barrels in May in spite of the brief Force Majeure declared at Qua Iboe and Bonny Terminals.
She also said that there was $109 million revenue increase in federation export sales as a result of the increase in average price of crude oil from 42.2 dollars in April to 46.0 dollars per barrel in May.
She said there was a rise in dutiable imports which contributed significantly to the increase recorded by import duty and VAT.
The minister said that the balance of the excess crude account stood at $2.91 billion.
(NAN).