Lagos uber driver refuses to ‘pay prostitute N6000 fee’

A 28-year-old Uber driver, Sunday Omale, was yesterday arraigned before an Ogudu Magistrates’ Court for allegedly refusing to pay a commercial sex worker.

Omale, who lives at Alhaja Elesin Street, Ogudu, is facing an assault charge, occasioning bodily harm after having three rounds of sex with Precious Mustapha.

The accused was alleged to have refused paying the N6, 000 she charged him.

Prosecuting Sergeant Lucky Ihiehie said the accused committed the offence on July 29 at Ogudu.

Iheihei said Omale allegedly assaulted the complainant after sleeping with her.

The prosecutor said the 28-year-old complainant reported the matter to the police.

Iheihei said the complainant met Omale at the Afrika Shrine, Ikeja, where she charged him N6, 000 after having three rounds of sex with her.

The prosecution said an argument ensued when Omale claimed he did not have cash on him to pay her.

He suggested using his ATM card to withdraw for her.

Iheihei said Omale drove with the complainant round Ikeja and Ogudu axis, without stopping at any bank to use his ATM card.

The prosecution said Omale also deceived the complainant by driving her to his friend’s house under the pretext of collecting money from him to pay her.

“Unfortunately the accused’s friend chased him out of his compound. When it became clear to the accused that there was no place where he could get money, he used an object to hit the woman on the head and started beating her,” he said.

Omale pleaded not guilty.

Magistrate E. Kubeinje granted the accused N50,000 bail, with two sureties in the like sum.

The magistrate adjourned till September 25. - The Nation

54-year-old man arrested for pretending to be a Professor

A 54-year-old man, who pretended to be a professor of Animal Husbandry at the University of Ibadan, has been arrested by the Oyo State Police Command.

He was apprehended after he fraudulently collected N1m from a man under the pretext of manufacturing animal multivitamins for him.

Parading the suspect, the state Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Odude, said the suspect, Olayinka Emmanuel, acted in connivance with an accomplice, Adegoke Adewumi, 53, to obtain the sum from Kolawole Kamorudeen.

He said, “The duo lied to the victim that they were manufacturers of animal multivitamins. Believing them, the suspect parted with the sum only to later discover that the so-called multivitamins supplied to him were grinded green beans.

“The suspect told police during investigation that the label was printed somewhere in the Oluwole area of Lagos State.

“Four cartons of the green beans branded as multivitamin were recovered in the course of investigation.”

Accomplice of the fake professor, Adewumi, said he went into the business in order to make ends meet because he was jobless.

“We actually used animal supplement to produce the vitamin, but we added green beans to improve the quantity for more money. I am jobless and that is why I went into the business. The professor is my boss,” he said. - Daily Post

Sowore To Contest Presidential Election On The Platform of African Action Congress

Omoyele Sowore, a presidential aspirant and publisher of SaharaReporters, on Tuesday unveiled the political party on which he would vie for the highest political office in the country.

The logo of the party, African Action Congress (AAC), was revealed by Malcolm Fabiyi, Director General of the TakeItBack Movement, a socio-political group propelling the candidature of Sowore.

In a statement announcing the choice of AAC, Fabiyi urged Nigerians interested in the progess of the country to embrace the party.

Noting that the official unveiling of the party would take place at the AAC headquarters in Abuja, on Wednesday, Fabiyi also said the TakeItBack Movement would announce members of its 'Coalition of Authentic Progressive Parties & Organisations (CAPPO)' at the official unveiling.

He added: “With our own dedicated party platform, we are now able to match up a pacesetting movement with a transformative political platform.

“We call on progressives and youth everywhere to embrace the AAC. Our party is the authentic platform for political transformation in Nigeria. Our party’s slogan will be: Take it Back - Action!!!” -Sahara Reporters

NUJ demands immediate release of Premium Times reporter

The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has asked the police to release Samuel Ogundipe, a Premium Times reporter, with immediate effect.

The police arrested Ogundipe on Wednesday over a report the organisation published on the sack of Lawal Daura, former director-general of the Department of State Services (DSS).

Copies of the letter Ibrahim Idris, inspector-general of police, wrote to Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on the interrogation of Daura were obtained by the media.

The police had reportedly asked Ogundipe to disclose how he obtained the letter used for a story but the journalist declined in line with the ethics of the profession.

In a statement, NUJ lamented the frequent harassment of journalists by security agencies.

“The Nigeria Union of Journalists condemns in the strongest terms the arrest and detention of Premium Times Reporter, Samuel Ogundipe today by the police and his detention at the facility of the Special Anti Robbery Squad, SARS in Abuja,” the statement read.

“Samuel Ogundipe was arrested for reporting on the report sent to the Acting President, Prof Yemi Osinbanjo by the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris on the sacked and detained DG of SSS, Malam Lawal Daura.

“The NUJ is horrified by the constant harassment and molestation of journalists by the police and other agents of the state and requests that such should abate forthwith.

“It should be noted that confidentiality of sources is necessary for good journalism to flourish and journalists should not be coerced into revealing such sources.

“We call for the immediate and unconditional release of Samuel Ogundipe and an end to all forms of impunity against the media.” - TheCable

Lagos is third worst city to live in the world

People living in Lagos, Nigeria’s economic capital, are inhabiting the third worst city for humans to live in the world.

This is according to the newly released ranking of the 2018 Global Liveability Index released by The Economist Intelligence Unit and World Bank.

Lagos ranked 138 out of the 140 cities considered for the ranking.

The only cities which were scored lower than Lagos on the ranking are Syria and Bangladesh, both cities have been plagued with unrest in recent times.

The ranking is based on five parameters: Political and Social Stability, Education, Culture, Environment, Infrastructure and Access to Healthcare.

Vienna, the Austrian capital, was ranked the most liveable city in the world.

“Every city is assigned a rating of relative comfort for over 30 qualitative and quantitative factors across five broad categories: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure,” the report read.

“Each factor in a city is rated as acceptable, tolerable, uncomfortable, undesirable or intolerable. For qualitative indicators, a rating is awarded based on the judgment of in-house analysts and in-city contributors.”

In the Stability category, the following were considered: prevalence of petty crime, the prevalence of violent crime, the threat of terror, threat of military conflict and the threat of civil unrest.

For Health rating, the following were considered: availability of private healthcare, quality of private healthcare, availability of public healthcare, quality of public healthcare and availability of over-the-counter drugs.

Humidity/temperature rating, discomfort of climate to travellers, level of corruption, social or religious restrictions, level of censorship, sporting availability, cultural availability, food & drink and consumer goods & services were considered for the Culture and Environment rating.

Availability of private education, quality of private education, public education indicators were used for the Education rating.

For Infrastructure, the quality of road network, quality of public transport, quality of international links, availability of good quality housing, quality of energy provision, quality of water provision and quality of telecommunications were considered. - TheCable

Facebook: Nigerian women key to unlocking N19.7b for economy

Women who want to start their own businesses have the potential to boost the Nigerian economy by N19.7 billion, Facebook said on Tuesday in its research.

The study, conducted by Development Economics on behalf of Facebook using data from the Future of Business survey commissioned by Facebook in South Africa, with surveys undertaken by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) in Nigeria, also showed that if the 44 per cent of women who said they were ‘very likely’ to start a business did so, this would create over seven million new businesses within four years and over 8.9 million jobs within five years.

Compared to men, 31 per cent of women are more likely to be interested in setting up businesses in Food & Drink; 13 per cent for Tourism & Leisure; Lifestyle-10 per cent; and Business Services 10 per cent. The motivations for women wanting to set-up a business also varies, with financial gains amongst the highest (56 per cent), followed by wanting to create jobs for family or other people (45 per cent), those wanting to work around family commitments (40 per cent) and those wanting to be their own boss (39 per cent).

Thirty-six per cent of the women in the research cited lack of access to finance as the main barrier to women setting up independently. Facebook’s research also showed that among those likely to start a business, 32 per cent are not sure of how to get started; 30 per cent not feeling prepared or ready; 26 per cent lacks access to premises or equipment. These factors, Facebook said, are the key reasons holding them back from taking this step.

Small and Medium Business (SMB) Sales Manager EMEA at Facebook, Abi Williams, said: “These impact women at every stage of their life – with women 55+ being less likely to start a business followed by those between 35 and 44.

“Facebook recognizes how important women are in building stable economies, and the potential impact of this in Nigeria is encouraging to see. We know that when women do better, economies do better, and with the right support, tools and trainings in place Nigerian women entrepreneurs can, and will be able to compete on a global level.”

The study also revealed that in the area of the use of online tools to facilitate the sale of products or services to potential customers, the proportion of female managers in Nigeria reporting the use of such tools was 83 per cent compared to 74 per cent for males.

A slightly higher proportion of female business managers reported the use of online tools to enable customers to pay for products or services (39 per cent for females compared to 37 per cent for males).

Overall, of those women who are very interested in setting up a business, over 4.1 million appear to want to set up their business within one year. A further 2.5 million anticipate establishing their business within two to three years, and 378,000 say they expect it would be more than four years in the future. - The nation

Ebonyi state Governor : I have over 1,000 aides

Governor of Ebonyi, David Umahi, has disclosed why he appointed over 1,000 aides on assumption of office in 2015.

Umahi, speaking in Egunkwo community, Onicha Local Government Area of the state, on Sunday on the occasion of a special thanksgiving service organised by Caring Heart Vanguards, an umbrella body of graduates that secured appointments in federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies, said he appointed over 1,000 aides in order to tackle the menace of poverty among the teeming youths of the state.

The governor, represented by the Secretary to State Government, Dr. Hyginus Nwokwu, said that more than 1,000 political appointees have been engaged by the administration, comprising commissioners, Special Advisers, Special Assistants, Technical Assistants, and Senior Special Advisers.

“Since my assumption of office on May 29th 2015, more than 500 Technical Assistants, 400 Senior Technical Assistants, 100 Special Advisers, 50 Senior Special Advisers and 21 commissioners have been appointed.

“These appointments were designed to make sure we fight poverty in the land, and also to enable the youths to contribute meaningfully to the development of the State,” he said.

‘Revenue from crude oil not economically sustainable’

Nigeria must stop relying on crude oil earnings as the revenue it generates from the commodity is not economically sustainable, a former United Nations Permanent Representative and Under Secretary-General to the world body, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, as well as heads of other agencies have said.

Speaking on the sidelines of the 2018 Leadership Impact and Sustainability Awards programme, organised by the CEO Clubs Network Nigeria in Abuja, Gambari, who received an award at the event, along with a presidential aspirant, Dr. Johnson Edosomwan, said it was high time the Federal Government diversified the nation’s economy.

Gambari alongside heads of other agencies, in separate interviews, said that the instability in crude oil prices had revealed some of the negative consequences as to why it was wrong to depend on crude as a major revenue source.

The former UN Permanent Representative, who is currently a member of the UN independent eminent experts on the implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, said: “We can’t afford to fully embark on the process of diversifying the Nigerian economy.

“And to do this, we have to invest in research and development so as to acquire the right knowledge and skills, because we cannot continue to depend on crude oil for our foreign exchange earnings. When you look at it critically, how many people does the oil sector employs?

“You will agree with me that the biggest challenge we have now is youth unemployment, not just in Nigeria, but in Africa and to some extent globally. So we have to diversify into the industrial sector, service provision, research and development, education and agriculture, because those are the sectors that have the capacity to employ more people.”

On his part, Dr. Edosomwan, said that Nigeria’s dependence on crude oil should be discontinued.

Edosomwan, who also received a platinum award on political leadership at the event, explained that Nigeria’s over-reliance on earnings from crude oil has been one of the major problems confronting the country.

He urged the government to provide an environment that is conducive for industries to thrive.

Edosomwan, who is also the founder, Nigeria Democratic Congress Party said: “Many countries have now realized that it is no more safe to continue to rely majorly on crude oil as a major revenue earner. Crude oil should be one of the last resource to rely on. So we need to create a diversified economy where we will have a robust manufacturing, agriculture and other productive sectors.

“Just relying solely on crude oil has been one of the major problems we have because when the price of the commodity drops in the international market we suffer as a nation. But when we have an economy that produces what it consumes and is able to export some of its products to other countries, then the country becomes very vibrant economically.”

Meanwhile Gambari and Edosomwan expressed happiness for the awards they got and promised to give more to the society, as well as support the growth of the Nigerian economy in their respective businesses.

“I feel honoured to have received an award from an organisation that focuses on the importance of leadership, its impact, sustainability and development. I am Chairman of Savanna Centre, which is a think-tank and NGO on the link between development, democracy, crisis resolution and peace. And for me, this award means a lot because we must put development back into our politics,” Gambari said.

On his part, Edosomwan said: “This award will spur me to give more to my society, push for the growth of the Nigerian economy and make more Nigerians see the need to support the government at all levels in nation building.” - The Nation