Nigeria Football Federation - Abuja Gutted With Fire!

News making the rounds says a strange fire erupted at the office of the Nigeria Football Federation in Abuja on Wednesday morning that has destroyed several offices in the building.

Eye witnesses claim the flames started due to a spark in the office of the NFF's accountant early in the day as work went on, which quickly spread through the building before it was eventually brought under control by fire service.

According to reports, the flames spread through to the office of the general secretary and the IT office.

Manhunt for a British murderer with hostages’ fate in his hands!

Nigeria Health Minister Expresses Confidence in Ebola Containment Measures!

Nigeria's Minister of Health Onyebuchi Chukwu, said the administration has made strides in containing the Ebola disease by implementing a "multidimensional and Multi-sectorial" approach to combat the disease after some infected patients were successfully treated and discharged. While assuring that the government will not relent on its effort to eradicate the Ebola disease in spite of the successes of containing the virus which so far has left an estimated 1,069 people dead in four West African countries.

There have been 12 confirmed Ebola cases in Nigeria with at least four deaths.

He said the government is stepping up efforts to secure the country's borders by screening travelers who visit Nigeria at the point of entry.

"We need to secure our airports we need to secure our land borders we need to secure our seaports so that is one strategy. Right now in Lagos, we are following up on 121 secondary contacts, but none of them is symptomatic said,"

So the fact that all of our cases have been primary contacts of index case shows that our containment plan is working."Chukwu said. "

He stated that government's efforts to contain the Ebola disease should give confidence to citizens about the bid to eradicate any further infections.

"One non-Nigerian and 11 Nigerians have been diagnosed, but out of the 12, unfortunately, we have lost four, and so we have lost four including the index case. Now of the 8 that are surviving, we have actually successfully discharged five of them. We have only three that are on admission, and we have every hope they will recover. So that should give everyone confidence that we are doing the right thing," he said.

Ways to Safeguard one's self: 

Avoid physical contact with people showing symptoms: continuous high fever, red eyes, vomiting and stomach ache.

Wash hands thoroughly and frequently, including under the fingernails. Use soap and clean water; use hand sanitizer if soap is not available.

Use gloves when taking care of infected patients.

Avoid contact with raw meat; cook all animal food and by-products thoroughly.

Avoid bush meat; avoid buying or eating the wild animals, including nonhuman primates.

Avoid areas of known outbreaks.

Do not touch anyone who has died from Ebola.

Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Mayo Clinic, Plan International.

Chukwu said the Nigerian Ministry of Health is working with both local and international partners to contain the disease. He hailed contributions from the United States to help combat the disease, following a recent meeting with ambassador James F. Entwistle, who he said promised more assistance to help with efforts to contain the Ebola disease.

"We are working with our partners; principally the World Health Organization. They are involved in every aspect of the containment strategy along with our own people," . 

"The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention has been so wonderful in fact the U.S. government has been so supportive even I had a meeting with the American ambassador to Nigeria and he was promising more assistance." he said.

Concerning speculations that Ebola infections have increased in some parts of the country. Chukwu said that is not the case and those rumors are unsubstantiated.

He said Nigeria is cooperating with neighboring countries battling the Ebola virus including, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

"Certainly, we will offer technical assistance," said Chukwu. "Minister of health in West Africa will meet in Accra next week and we are going to reemphasize that we are willing to be of help to the other countries. So, surely we will offer our assistance."

Group of Nigerian Soldiers Refused To Fight Boko- Haram!

A group of soldiers in the North East has been reported to be refusing to fight Boko Haram insurgents until they are better equipped.

One of the soldiers, who requested anonymity, told the BBC that at least 40 of his colleagues would refuse orders to deploy.

Wives of some soldiers recently demonstrated at the army barracks in Borno State to protest deployment of their husbands to fight the terrorists because, according to them, the Boko Haram group had better equipment than the Nigerian Army.

A state of emergency that was declared in three North Eastern states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe last year has failed to curb the insurgency.

"Soldiers are dying like fowl," the anonymous soldier, who said he and his colleagues were just outside Maiduguri, told the BBC Hausa service.

"The Nigerian Army is not ready to fight Boko Haram," he said, explaining that soldiers were not being given enough weapons and ammunition to take them on.

"Boko Haram are inside the bush, everywhere," he said, adding that "they (senior commanders) are sacrificing soldiers".

Even the vehicles the soldiers were expected to use were old armoured cars that were not up to the job, he added.

A General in the army, who asked not to be named, told the BBC that he was unable to confirm the mutiny, but said "cowardice" was not uncommon in times of war - and that any mutineers would be punished.

When the solder was asked if he feared being court-martialled for taking part in the mutiny, the source said a soldier could only be taken to task for refusing to go to war.

"I joined the army to defend my country, but you cannot defend it without being equipped to do so", he said.

In April, Boko Haram caused global outrage by abducting more than 200 girls from the Government Girls Secondary School (GGSS), Chibok, Borno state.

Boko Haram has also carried out a wave of bombings and assassinations, including that of moderate Muslim leaders opposed to its ideology.

But the Defence Headquarters denied any mutiny by soldiers in Maiduguri.

Director of Defence Information, Chris Olukolade, a Major General, said the report of mutiny was part of calculated efforts to rubbish the military that has devoted all its powers to prosecute the war against insurgency and terrorism.

"The report is not true and even the man they spoke to is not a soldier. The Nigerian soldiers are 99 per cent loyal and would not descend to the fabrication of the report.

"Anyone who knows the military reward for mutiny will not join anyone to try it. The overwhelming majority of the Nigerian soldiers remain as brave and disciplined as ever.

"They will certainly not join any renegade, coward, deserter or those trying to incite mutiny in the military to betray the nation at a time like this in the way that impostor told his interviewers.

"His claims are false," Olukolade stated.

He argued that such reports are a reflection of those sympathetic to the terrorists, assuring that the military has the wherewithal to defeat the insurgents.

Meanwhile, Chief of Army Staff, Kenneth Minimah, a Lt. General, has warned officers and men of the 82 Division of the Nigerian Army, Enugu, that any act of mutiny would be followed with death sentence after court a martial in line with military laws.

Minimah, who was in Enugu to begin the first leg of his familiarisation visit to the division, spoke in reaction to the attack by soldiers on an army commander in the North at the peak of Boko Haram insurgency.

"We are taking charge of sabotage in the North and we are working on it. If they are found guilty that will be death by firing squad. Some may be dismissed.

"This happens more in the North and they are saboteurs against the fight against insurgenccye. I wish to announce that we have made procurement to fight the crisis in the North and I can guarantee you all that it will soon come to an end.

"I also wish to assure you that we will win this war," the Army chief said.

On the recent protest by soldiers' wives in Borno, Minimah warned that the Army will not condole that anymore, adding that they are not under the employment of army and has no role to play in its activities.

"If that repeats itself they will be kicked out of the barracks, they are meant to be controlled by their husbands. If they dare that they will see. We shall get stick and strip them naked," he added.

Source: Daily Independent

Nigerian female team qualifies to the finals!

The Nigerian female under 20 World Cup Team defeated their Korean counterpart to book a place in the finals of the ongoing Female World Cup Soccer Tournament.

We are very proud of you girls......

Group Accuses British American Tobacco of Misleading Police On Tobacco Law!

The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, ERA/FoEN, has accused the British American Tobacco Nigeria, BATN, of embarking on a mission to thwart the implementation of the tobacco control law in Lagos State.

The group accused the tobacco company of "deliberately misinterpreting" the recently-passed Lagos State bill regulating smoking in public places.

In a statement issued in Lagos, Monday, ERA/FoEN said the series of visibility events organised by BATN, including a sensitization exercise last week for police officers in Lagos on enforcement of the anti-smoking law, were nothing more than gimmicks to confuse the public and police officers.

Akinbode Oluwafemi, ERA/FoEN Director, Corporate Accountability, said while the intent of the Lagos State government in fashioning the legislation is targeted at saving lives, the interests of BATN are strictly commercial.

"We are not deceived by BATN seeming interest in ensuring the implementation of the bill when in actual fact it is attempting to rewrite the law strictly for its commercial interests through deliberate misinterpretation of the meaning of smoke-free public places," said Mr. Oluwafemi.

Mr. Oluwafemi noted that BATN would stop at nothing to confuse the general public and other regulatory agencies of government that are charged with enforcing the legislation.

"In the months since the bill was signed into law by Governor Babatunde Fashola we have seen a host of articles syndicated across media organisations poking the law and urging so-called smokers groups to challenge sections that protect non-smokers from the hazardous tobacco smoke," he said.

"Is it not ironic that the same industry that sponsors those groups is now trying to lecture the police and general public on provisions of the law?"

The group urged the Lagos State government to "read the lips" of BATNofficials engaging in public trainings on implementation of the bill.

"What we hear is double-speak and outright misrepresentation of the intent and spirit of the law," Mr. Oluwafemi said.

"The Lagos State government must wake up to its responsibility of interpreting in clear terms the letters of the law so as not to leave the citizenry in a state of confusion as intended by the tobacco industry.

"This is simply unacceptable. We must again draw the attention of the Lagos State government and the implementing agencies of government at all levels to Article 5.3 of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) which de-normalises the kind of interactions that BATN is involved in with the Nigeria Police and other agencies.

"Tobacco industry interests run counter to public health interests.

The Lagos government must henceforth stamp its feet and put a rein on such exercises," he added.

Northern Delegates Seek Amendment Before Final Report Is Submitted to Jonathan!

Despite the unanimous adoption of the National Conference reports at the plenary session last Thursday, a document signed by the Chairman of the Northern Delegates Forum (NDF), Alhaji Ibrahim Coomasie, who is also the Chairman of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and the former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Lt. General Jeremiah Useni, has outlined discrepancies in the final report of the conference.

In the letter addressed to the Chairman of the Conference, Justice Idris Kutigi, the Northern delegates demanded that the identified errors in the reports must be corrected before submission to President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday.

The Northern delegates listed misrepresentations on how the Inspector General of Police should be appointed, the mistake in the removal of the land use act, the scrapping of the State Independent Electoral Commission from the constitution as some of the issues that were contrary to the decisions of the national conference.

Also, the Northern delegates said some of the criteria for the creation of new states were not adequately represented in the final report, while criteria for the payment of royalties, infrastructures for border towns, extension of the continental shell project were missing in the final report.

According to Coomasie and Useni, "Page 257 H2.4 - Appointment of IGP contradicts provisions of page 258 K; Conference recommendation is the provisions captured on page 257 H. Page 260 C 5.11 (4) (C): This amendment was rejected by the conference"

On the land use, they said: "Page 21: The following recommendations contained in Chapter 6 of Vol. 2 of the final draft are missing in chapter 5 of Vol. 1:page 678 (3) Infrastructure for border towns, page 678 (4) Bakassi, page 680 (10) Nigeria's Extended Continental Shell Project (NECSP), page 680 (6.10 3(1)) Royalties page 682 (iii) Boundaries enforced and Conference recommendation on Wednesday 9th July was to retain the Land Use."

The document further said: "Conference recommendation on Wednesday 9th July was to retain the Land Use Acts in the constitution. See page. 249 para. 52 (a) of Vol. 1 of the Draft Report. Equally on pg. 657 (1) the Land Use Act was retained in the constitution with some amendments.

However the document titled: Draft Constitution" on page 267 proposes the deletion of Section 315 of the Constitution contrary to the resolution of conference. This by implication puts the total laws of the country in complete jeopardy and specifically deletes the Security Agencies Act, NYSC Act and Public Complaints Commission Acts".

On Citizenship, they said on Page 107 (G), the way it was couched appears to be contradictory and discriminatory. It should therefore be deleted from the report. The recommendation as amended by the Votes and Proceedings of Wed. 21st May, item 13 "page 18, 1.4th paragraph additional recommendation (d) persons incorporated into Nigeria by plebiscite after Independence" was omitted from the final report.

"Another recommendation omitted from the Votes and Proceedings of Thursday 22nd of May, 2014 at page 23, para. 33 (J) (ii) additional recommendations "A person born in a state or who marries an indigene of a State acquires automatic residence status in the State".

"Another omitted recommendation: The Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps are very close to the grassroots people and have mandates that should be adjusted to make them more responsive to the conditions of internally displaced person (IDP).

Source: ThisDay