Hadi Sirika, minister of state for aviation, has unveiled the name and logo of the new national carrier, Nigeria Air.

Speaking on Wednesday in London at the ongoing Farnborough International Airshow, Sirika said the government will not own more than five per cent of the airline.

“This is an important day for Nigeria. The largest economy in Africa, largest population, GDP of around half a billion dollars, and the only true aviation player in West and Central Africa,” he said.

“Nigeria has unfortunately not been a serious player in Aviation for a long time. We used to be a dominant player, through Nigeria Airways, but sadly not anymore.

“This will be a national carrier that is private sector led and driven. It is a business, not a social service. The government will not be involved in running it or deciding who runs it. The investors will have full responsibility for this.

“The Nigerian government will not own more than 5% (maximum) of the new national carrier. The government will not be involved in running it or deciding who runs it.

“New terminals in Lagos and Abuja Airports will add 11 million passenger capacity in each of the two airports.

According to the minister, the airline will have flights on 81 domestic, regional and international routes.

Operations are scheduled to begin in December 2018.

https://www.thecable.ng/breaking-nigeria-air-fg-unveils-new-national-carrier

There are many factors that led to the loss, salaries were not paid, the grass root were not connected with the state government operations, the government was deceitful, Above all the people of Ekiti has decided to change positively with this administration by voting in Fayemi as their Governor. [color=#990000][/color]

The PDP will never stop, they are always looking for every opportunity to rubbish the president's effort in trying to make Nigeria great.The international bodies has an organised way of doing things. Its funny how this people criticize without facts.

Ahaaa.....Fayemi obviously has the interest of the people at heart. He is known to be the man of words and am certain that the people of Ekiti will sure not regret associating with change.

This people think this country is a joke, how can the president be accused of killing his people, a President like Buhari will never sit back,fold his hands and watch some killers kill his people. i don't know why critic are talking as if they don't know operations are ongoing to tackle insurgency in those states and arrest related to that course are being made.

A presidential aide has explained that the president decided to sign the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) Act into law because it will strengthen the recently signed Executive Order 6, aimed at consolidating the fight against corruption in the country.

Briefing State House correspondents on Wednesday in Abuja, Mr Buhari’s legislative adviser, Ita Enang, said with the signing of the Act, the NFIU will now be independent of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

He said the NFIU will now be domiciled in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), but will remain “autonomous and Independent”.

The establishment of the NFIU is based on the requirements of Recommendation 29 of the Financial Action Task Force Standards and Article 14 of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, he said.

The Egmont group, an informal network of 156 financial intelligence units (FIUs), had suspended Nigeria due to the alleged inability of the country to grant autonomy to the NFIU.

To this end, the two chambers of Nigeria’s National Assembly passed the NFIU bill on March 7 this year.

National FIUs collect information on suspicious or unusual financial activity from the financial industry and other entities or professions required to report transactions suspected of being money laundering or terrorism financing. Such information and then shared with relevant anti-crime or regulatory agencies.

Mr Enang on Wednesday said the new NFIU is now “independent and operationally autonomous body institutionally domiciled in the Central Bank of Nigeria.”
He also said the new act has now dissolved “the Nigeria financial intelligence unit established in the EFCC Act and consequentially amends the Economic and Financial Commission Act, the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act among others.

“One of the key objectives of the Act is the creation of a legal, institutional and regulatory framework to ensure transparency, effective and efficient and management administration and operation of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit.
Also the bill will institutionalise best practices in financial intelligence management in Nigeria and strengthen the existing system for combating money laundering and associated predicated offences, financing of terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.”

“The Act, which makes the unit an autonomous body, makes provision for the unit to exchange information with financial intelligence institutions or similar bodies in other countries in matters relating to money laundering, terrorist financing activities and other predicated offences.”

Wrong Decision?

The EFCC and some anti-corruption experts were opposed to the total separation of the NFIU from the EFCC.

For instance, the pioneer chairman of EFCC, Nuhu Ribadu, in March this year warned against removing the NFIU from the EFCC. He described the proposal as a setback for the Nigeria.
This is another way of corruption fighting back; people are fighting and pretending to be in support of what is ongoing, but they are not giving a face to the fight against corruption,” he said.

Mr Magu said he was “not opposed to the autonomy of the NFIU; in fact the NFIU has always been operationally autonomous.

“I understand the workings of Financial Intelligence Units around the world and they are domiciled in law enforcement agencies based on their credibility”

Also, the Director of the NFIU in EFCC, Francis Usani, who spoke at the occasion said the Egmont Group was not calling for the removal of NFIU from the EFCC, but simply asking for amendment of Section 1(2)(c) of the EFCC Act.

“The section says that the EFCC is a designated FIU, but the group is saying the provision is not clear to them.

“What the group is saying is that we should create the NFIU as a unit under the EFCC by amending that provision of the EFCC Act. It is as simple as that.

“But it is unfortunate that the perception generally is tending towards abusing what the Egmont Group is asking us to do,” he said.

https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/275871-why-buhari-signed-nfiu-law-separating-it-from-efcc-aide.html [color=#006600][/color]

PDP spent 16 years in office and couldn't complete anything, but PMB is completing everything in less than 3 years...Nice one Mr. President

The people already knew it was a mistake, nobody is above mistake,i don't know why they are still capitalizing on it. this won't stop the imminent failure of fayose and his puppet come this Saturday.

It is obvious that Atiku is sure trying to come up with stories all to enhance his campaign strategy but he should be aware that we Nigerians actually can reason for ourselves and he should be at-least sincere with himself.

The president fight against corruption is actually commendable, after drawing various policies like the TSA and the whistle blower policy, the president has also decided to sell the assets seized from looters and transfer them into the National treasury . we should understand that his reason is because the properties he seized when he was ruling Nigeria as a head of state were returned to the looters when he stepped down, he just don' t want history to repeat itself.

This killings are saddening and should be brought to an abrupt end. Security is actually everybody's business and should be treated as one. It is indeed to the extreme that some politicians are using this as a strategy to disrupt this administration. The lives of every Nigerian is precious and we should not be cajoled to be use as an instrument to carry out their selfish and wicked act. The President has promised that this killings will be brought to an end and this will be 100% achieved if we collectively work together as Nigeria belongs to all of us.

REMARKS BY HIS EXCELLENCY, MUHAMMADU BUHARI, PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA, DURING HIS AUDIENCE WITH MEMBERS OF THE CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (CAN) FROM 19 NORTHERN STATES AND ABUJA, THURSDAY, JULY 5, 2018

I thank you very much for taking the time to pay this visit today and for the issues you have raised.

The recent killings in Benue, Zamfara and lately Plateau are wicked, condemnable and completely unacceptable acts.

We, Nigerians, are religious people and no religion or culture accepts the killing of people for any reason whatsoever.

This is why we must all rise as one to condemn these vile and wicked acts to ensure that all the culprits are brought to justice.

We owe it to the memory of those who lost their lives in the violence in Plateau, Benue, Nasarawa, Taraba, Zamfara and elsewhere since 1999 to bring the conflicts to a decisive end. I assure you that we will do this.

Let me make it clear that even a single life lost in any part of the country is one too many. I came to office vowing to ensure the protection of lives and property, and I remain committed to this despite the challenges we have experienced.

I, therefore, seek your support as clerics and religious leaders to join hands with this administration and give us your full support. As you all know, deploying law enforcement agencies is fully our responsibility as a government while creating the platform and mechanisms for dialogue is a collective effort.

The military and police have arrested hundreds of suspects across the various flash-points in the region and several prosecutions are going on. In a number of cases, we have seen convictions. Nigerians are right when they say they want to see more convictions and I would like to appeal to the judiciary to help us fast-track these cases.

When some, for clearly political purposes, attempt to suggest that this government is doing nothing about the killings, and that I, being Fulani, must be encouraging these satanic acts, it seems to me that there is no limit to the evil in the minds of men.

Otherwise, how can anyone in their right minds suggest that I, as an elected President even with substantial votes in the affected areas, will for any reason do harm by an act of omission to those same people?

Secondly, the problems in all these areas, as you all know, are historical. There is no administration that has not had to contend with killings in these same areas over the years.

Indeed, in 2001, you may recall that after thousands were killed in Plateau State, a State of Emergency was declared and a Governor was replaced by an Administrator.

To suggest that our Administration is doing nothing is terribly unfair.

We must not forget that the same Plateau State which has been crisis-ridden for years has in the past three years been celebrated for its peacefulness. The Governor’s hard work for peace and the presence of the military’s Operation Safe Haven must have had some impact.

In recent weeks, we have beefed up its strength with the deployment of extra Special Forces from the Defence headquarters.

Besides, we currently have no fewer than three special military intervention forces in the troubled zones.

Operation Safe Haven to secure Plateau State, Operation Whirl Stroke 1 (OPWS) to secure Benue, Taraba and Nasarawa and OPWS 2 to secure Zamfara and Kaduna States.

These forces are supported with investigative and intelligence gathering capabilities from the Nigeria Police Force, Department of State Services and other agencies.

Government can achieve lasting peace only with the sincere and active cooperation of communities, religious leaders, youths and other stakeholders.

These include the Media in whose hands lies the power to frame, shape the perspectives and narratives which influence the thinking of millions of people within and outside Nigeria.

Finally, let us collectively shame those who are stoking the fires of ethnic and religious conflicts for their short-term political gains.

This country belongs equally to Christians and Muslims and even those who claim ignorance of God.

Thank you very much.

This is huge and commendable. This project is actually very necessary as this will go a long in reducing traffic and criminal act on the existing Onitsha bridge.

One thing am certain about this administration is the fight against corruption. Very certain that they wouldn't go Scot free if actually found guilty.

President Buhari has earlier signed the not too young to run bill which will enable the youth to take part in the decision making of this country. the french leader has supported the mission of this administration in enabling the youth contest for the position democratically by advising the youth to be active in that course to change the narrative of the nation. which i think is a form of encouragement to the Nigeria Youth.

Am Assured this money will go a long way in assisting these poor citizens as it certain that the money will get to them because the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programme that has being set in place by this administration to oversee the process has proven credible with time and for the fact that it is in conjunction with the world bank

This is a joke, I believe that Buhari has no competition come 2019, This man that has served Nigeria as a president and a minister but has nothing to show for it has come to tell us that he will defeat a president that took Nigerians from the mess they put the country, a man who recognizes democracy and has respect for the rule of law, maybe he think Nigeria is a joke.

Because the president has block their means of embezzlement , they have decided to frustrate his Government and even make attempt to his life. policies and reforms like the whistle blower and the single treasury really affected the corrupt officials that they can do anything to make the president retrace his fight against corruption.[color=#006600][/color]

This NPDP cannot influence the decision of this administration, they were brought in for change, its unfortunate that they are not ready to work with this administration to build a better Nigeria, it doesn't change anything, This administration is doing fine with or without them.

This is the work of the opposition party. Anyway, it does not matter how many cloned PVC's are there, it doesn't matter if they have plans to rig the 2019 elections, doesn't matter how much bash the party, what matters is that PMB will win effortlessly come 2019. He has done and is still doing the needful

There would not be crisis, crisis will arise if the FG is actually giving ownership of the ranches to the herders. This initiative of erecting ranches to reduce or totally alleviate this disease of farmers/herders clashes so we can all live in peace. This ranches wouldn't be owned by the herdsmen but by the FG, they are only being given land so they have a place for their cows to graze and not have to compete with farmers for land space. There is no way this new livestock program will cause more harm than good

All these are political strategies to win elections. Atiku will run from pillar to post seek in desperation even from his enemies just like what he did with GEJ. This man is not genuine

100% unrealistic, this is the biggest lie of today, speculations does not validate a story. The FG will not, in anyway recruit the same persons that caused commotion and wrecked carnage on both both human lives and property into the military force. This is just one of those political antics to throw the shade at PMB. Sadly for you, we Nigerians are more informed than that

HOW THE $322million ABACHA LOOT WILL BE SPENT

• According to an agreement signed between the Nigerian Government and the Swiss Government, the fund is to be used in “alleviating poverty”. The Swiss Court Conditions that released the money set these conditions before the release. Another condition was that the spending of the money would be supervised by the World Bank.

• The Money was Repatriated in December 2017. It is being held in a special account in the CBN.

• 302,000 of the poorest households in Nigeria will benefit from the funds.

• The households are spread across 19 states. The states are: Niger, Kogi, Ekiti, Osun, Oyo, Kwara, Cross River, Bauchi, Gombe, Jigawa, Benue, Taraba, Adamawa, Kano, Katsina, Kaduna, Plateau, Nasarawa, Anambra and IDPs in Borno.

• The Money will be disbursed through the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT), one of the programmes under the National Social Investment Programmes (NSIP).

• Each of the households will receive N5,000 monthly

• The Cash Transfer to the beneficiaries will be monitored by the World Bank, National Cash Transfer Office (NTCO) and the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs).

• The Conditional Cash Transfer programme was designed to not only provide funding support to the poorest and most vulnerable households in Nigeria but also train beneficiaries on livelihood skills, as well as ensure compliance with health and educational conditions like immunization and school attendance.[color=#006600][/color]

The apex cattle breeders’ organisation, Miyetti Allah, has distanced itself from reports that it justified the recent killings of over 100 people in Plateau State.

The group’s leader in the North-central, Danladi Ciroma, was reported as saying the killings were a retaliation of previous acts of deadly aggression against Fulani residents and pastoralists in the state.

“These attacks are retaliatory. As much as I don’t support the killing of human being, the truth must be told that those who carried out the attacks must be on revenge mission,” Mr Ciroma was quoted as saying in a statement June 25. “Fulani herdsmen have lost about 300 cows in the last few weeks – 94 cows were rustled by armed Berom youths in Fan village, another 36 cows were killed by Berom youths. In addition to that, 174 cattle were rustled.”

PREMIUM TIMES published the alleged statement, which was the first to be attributed to Miyetti Allah in the wake of the chilling massacre.

But Mr Ciroma has now strongly protested the quotes credited to him in a follow-up conversation with PREMIUM TIMES, and there appears to be no documented evidence to counter his rebuttal.

Multiple accounts said the killings occurred between the afternoon of June 23 and the early hours of June 25 in several communities in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area, about 50 kilometres south of Jos, the state capital. About 100 have been confirmed killed by the police. The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) said its findings revealed at least 218 people were killed as at June 27. The police could not immediately corroborate CAN’s figures, telling PREMIUM TIMES their own counts have not been updated.

Unlike in recent past when authorities attributed killings to herdsmen, no agency has openly blamed herdsmen for the latest violence in Plateau. But there are already widespread insinuations that herdsmen were responsible for the killings, and President Muhammadu Buhari has once against been called on to act decisively to end atrocities linked to herdsmen, which had seen over 1,500 killed beginning with the January 1 attacks on two local government areas in Benue.

Demands also intensified for Mr Buhari to order a full-scale crackdown on Miyetti Allah from those who interpreted Mr Ciroma’s comments as an admission of responsibility for the carnage. They said Mr Ciroma’s comments were enough to declare Miyetti Allah a terrorist group and proscribe it like the separatist Indigenous Peoples of Biafra in South-east Nigeria.

While Mr Ciroma acknowledged speaking with a reporter on Monday in Jos, he insisted to PREMIUM TIMES that he did not make the statement credited to him. In fact, he said what he told the reporter was the opposite of what was reported.

“I told the reporter that leaders at the local and national levels should come together and resolve this crisis before it is too late,” Mr Ciroma said by telephone Wednesday night, protesting strongly the comments attributed to him.

Tracing the error

An internal investigation by PREMIUM TIMES found that there was no recording of any interview in which Mr Ciroma made the statement, neither was any statement signed or circulated by him that contained the quotes.

The error was traced to our outstation reporter based in Jos, whose failure to properly attribute the source of the purported statement by Mr Ciroma misled the editors into believing that it was e-mailed to the reporter.

The reporter filed the story on Monday morning based on ‘a statement’ from Mr Ciroma. But checks by PREMIUM TIMES following Mr Ciroma’s protest on Wednesday afternoon showed that the quotes were lifted from The Nation Newspapers.

The Nation’s reporter in Plateau State also circulated the quotes in the WhatsApp group of reporters on the government house beat in Jos, telling his colleagues they were the full transcription of his interview with Mr Ciroma.

The reporter later admitted to PREMIUM TIMES that he did not have a recording of his call with Mr Ciroma, but said the quotes mirrored the Miyetti Allah leader’s position on the latest killings in Plateau State.

The Nation published the purported quotes by Mr Ciroma hours before our reporter in Jos lifted it without attribution, thus misleading his editors in Abuja.

PREMIUM TIMES management has initiated an ethics and professional review of the reporter’s work; how it came to be that his sourcing for the story fell below house standards, and how his documentation fails to measure up to expected standards for verification and accuracy.

Even if Mr Ciroma made the purported statement, newsroom managers agreed yesterday, the expectations would be to report it with proper recording or digital footprints, for the simple reason that ethical journalism places the onus on the reporter to document proof of sources’ contribution to a story.

When one of the editors on duty called our reporter to find out how the story was sourced shortly before passing it on Monday morning, he said it was personally sent out by Mr Ciroma. This turned out to be the WhatsApp group broadcast by The Nation reporter, which several other Jos-based print and electronic correspondents sent to their respective media organisations throughout Monday.

Accountability And Remediation

This again brings to fore the limits of a common culture in Nigerian beat reporting where correspondents share stories amongst themselves in the manner of pool reporting. While journalists cannot be at two or more events simultaneously, standards in ethical reporting require reporters to ensure thorough verification of any second-hand information.

PREMIUM TIMES publisher, Dapo Olorunyomi, admitted in a meeting with newsroom senior editors yesterday that the paper was substantially in error with respect to its reporting on Mr. Ciroma’s role in the conflict in Jos. “This is very much below the standards of verification we strive to maintain and for which we have come to earn the trust of our readers. As a first step, we are sending an apology letter to Mr. Ciroma regretting the mischaracterisation of his role, and assuring him that a disciplinary process is currently apace to ensure accountability for the breakdown in our editorial procedures.”

The controversial attribution to Miyetti Allah comes as the media were facing allegations of bias in its coverage of the ongoing killings in the country.

In February, presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu disparaged the media for its coverage of the killings. PREMIUM TIMES largely restrains from using potentially harmful stereotypes or slurs save for where authoritative references have linked an incident to a group pattern.

The media needs to be very careful on how it disseminate information because they play a very important role in the politics of the nation. Millions of Nigerians depend on them for news. I know the chaos the incorrect publication has caused already and now they have come out to say it's not true. Nigerians should as well not be in too much of a hurry to act on cases like this. Forward we are moving![color=#006600][/color]

It is obvious the Federal Government wants the best for its citizens and when what seems like the best is becoming thorns on people's flesh they have the heart to listen to citizen's plea. This is commendable. I believe soon we will hear the president's final take on the issue.[color=#006600][/color]

All this hypocritical display....Nigerians should be wise not to fall for any. They ain't saints obviously.[color=#006600][/color]

This PDP shaa.[color=#006600][/color]....Really trying to take advantage of every situation at hand. They should sure be aware that Nigerians are wiser now than they use to be. This killings ain't peculiar to this administration and when they were in power they never dropped any flag in respect to any killings. It is saddening enough that lives have lost but using it as a strategy is hypocritical.

It actually makes no sense rendering curses on the president. We all know he is not the actual cause of this killings. Nigerians should please start being self security conscious because it is indeed the major way to curb this mess.

My take in this is that we Nigerians have allowed ourselves to be used by some wicked and selfish politicians who wants to disrupt ones regime because of greed or lack of patience. we are all aware that this killings ain't peculiar to just this administration. It is high time Nigerians start treating security issue as everybody's business and together we can bring an end to this nonreligious killings. [color=#006600][/color]