47,200 IDPs now in Cross River – SEMA

Cross River State is hosting 47,200 persons displaced by crisis and persistent flood, according to Mr Princewill Ayim, Acting Director-General of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA).

Ayim said on Sunday in Calabar, that the figure was far above the 32,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), the state hosted in 2018.

He attributed the rise in the number of IDPs to the incessant communal clashes across the state, which had rendered thousands of residents homeless.

He said that the heavy rains witnessed in the state had also resulted into massive flooding which displaced many families from their ancestral homes.

Ayim listed local governments with the IDPs to include Boki, Biase, Yala, Odukpani, Obubra, Bakassi and Obanliku.

He said that IDPs from Odukpani, Biase, Obubra and Yala Local Governments were displaced from their homes as a result of the lingering feud between communities in Akwa Ibom State and their neighbours, Ebonyi.

“Some of the clashes have lasted for years and have impacted negatively on the economy and welfare of the people,” he said, adding that the state government had done a lot to end the violence, but without success.

“Currently, we have invited the National Boundary Commission to the affected areas. The commission has been holding peace meetings with the governments of Ebonyi and Akwa Ibom toward finding a lasting solution to the clashes,” he said.

He said that government had been preaching peace and urging those living in the disputed areas to treat their neighbours as brothers and sisters, and regretted that people in same local government were fighting and killing over land.

Ayim urged traditional rulers in affected communities to take precautionary measures by calling their subjects to order, especially during the rainy season, so as to avert future occurrence of communal clashes

- PM NEWS

Suicide: UNIBEN student jumps from 2-storey building

A yet-to-be identified final year student student of the University of Benin, UNIBEN, has reportedly committed suicide by jumping down from the 2nd floor of a hostel building.

The incident occurred Sunday evening at the Faculty of Arts.

The deceased male student was said to be a student of the Department of Actuarial Science, Faculty of Management Sciences.

As at the time of filing this report, it was not clear if the deceased left a suicide note.

It was, however, gathered that the victim who was supposed to have graduated before now, had a spill over.


Efforts to get confirmation from the Public Relations Officer of the University, Mr. Michael Osasuyi, failed, as calls made to his mobile phone failed to connect.

It would be recalled that a 21-year-old student of the University, Christabel Buoro, also committed suicide over alleged failed love affair.

The lifeless body of the 300-level student of Medical Laboratory Science was discovered four weeks ago at her hostel located on Plot 4 Uwaifo Lane, off Newton Street, Ekosodin, a sprawling students’ community behind the University’s main campus.

Unconfirmed reports had it that Christabel mixed sniper, a popular insecticide, with a bottle of soft drink, which she allegedly drank.

- PM NEWS

GIBBERISH !! WASTED 8YRS !! Buhari set to retain 70 percent of ex-cabinet members in second term ministerial list

President Muhammadu Buhari is set to retain at least 70 per cent of his first-tenure cabinet members in this second term of his presidency.

A reliable source at the presidency told DAILY POST that the President is retaining most of cabinet members based on trust.

The top government source said that it was in the nature of Buhari to trust his allies despite the public outcry for him to change some of his previous appointees.

According to the source, a list which was submitted yesterday, contains the names of mostly the now ex-ministers.

The President is bound by the constitution to appoint a minister from each of the 36 states of the federation.

According to the source, “Nigerians should expect to see most of the old faces. There are no two ways about it.

“President Buhari is retaining at least 70 percent of his cabinet members. He works on trust. These are people who served with him in the last tenure and have not been found guilty of any offence.

“Most of his Ministers and aides are returning and most of them will still continue from where they stopped. The President does not believe in changing people just for the sake of doing so.

“You should have known this with the re-appointment of the Chief of Staff and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.”

Another government source, who spoke to DAILY POST on the condition of anonymity, was already frowning at the President’s decision to return some ministers, who according to the source, did not meet the expectations of Nigerians during his (Buhari) first term.

The source, who spoke in anger, wondered why the ex-Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Tunde Fashola; ex-Minister of Sports, Solomon Dalong; ex-Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige; FCT Minister, Mohammed Bello; among others, are coming back to serve in the second term of President Buhari.

The source, who also confirmed the names of the appointees in Buhari’s second term list, said, “To tell you the truth, these men did not do anything that should warrant them coming back.

“Yes, the President has submitted a list to the National Assembly containing some of Fashola, Amaechi, Ngige and others, in fact 80 per cent of his previous cabinet members even the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mohammed Bello, who obviously didn’t bring any change in Abuja in the last four years are there.

“Talking about Fashola, it is not obvious to Nigerians that this man did not bring any visible transformation, or anything new to the country.

“Has the power sector witnessed any change as promised by this administration? How about the housing? I’m telling you that Fashola did absolutely nothing to warrant his return.

“Some of us were thinking that President Buhari will reward good works and dedication in his second term appointments but right now we are disappointed even with the inclusion on Ngige who had serious issues with Labour towards the end of the first tenure.

“The President’s decision means that Nigerians should expect little or nothing from his administration in the next four years because the people he has appointed have nothing to offer and this is a slap on the face of Nigerians who gave him a second chance.”

- DAILY POST

What you must know about Daddy Freeze’s mother

Controversial on-air personality, Ifedayo Olarinde, popularly known as Daddy Freeze, has been dominating the social media space for too long, with his critical comments and attacks on Christian ministers and others.

But many people know little or nothing about his mother.

Daddy Freeze has now showcased who his mother is to his teeming followers on Instagram and Twitter.

His mother is Professor E. Smaranda Olarinde, who is currently the Acting Vice Chancellor, Afe Babalola University Ado Ekiti.

Here him speak on his Instagram page: “Here’s my mum, Professor E. Smaranda OLARINDE FCArb, Acting Vice Chancellor, Afe Babalola University Ado Ekiti, receiving on behalf of the University, the 2019 Best Choice Quality Award from the European Society for Quality Research, ESQR, Berlin, Germany.”

 Smaranda Olarinde is a Nigerian professor of Law, President of the Nigerian Association of Law Teachers  In 1995, she served as UNICEF’s Legal Researcher for Niger and Oyo State.

She has put to bear three decades of cumulative experience as a law teacher, academic, researcher and legal practitioner. Her legal background, in both civil law (Romania) and common law (Nigeria) systems, adds to her diverse multidisciplinary profile.

Her focus has been on women, children and young adolescents’ rights and protection. In 1989 She was a legal researcher for IDRC on Land Tenure and Access to land for women.

She also served as a Legal Researcher for World Bank on Law Development and the Status of Women (1990) and Towards a Gender Strategy in Nigeria (1992).

She is a versatile administrator, having occupied leadership positions of Acting Provost, College of Law; Acting Head of Department of Public and International Law (three tenures) University of Ibadan; Sub Dean, Undergraduate and pioneering Sub Dean Postgraduate, Faculty of Law, University of Ibadan.

- PM NEWS

STILL GLORIFIED VILLAGE !!! Lagos revenue in 2018 was higher than that of the entire south-east

The total revenue received by the Lagos state government in 2018 was higher than what was received by the entire south-east region.

The south-east region consists of five states namely: Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo.

Lagos generated total revenue of N501.2 billion while the entire south-east region generated N340.1 billion.

The state’s 2018 revenue was also higher than that of the northeast and north-central, which was N351.5 billion and N378.7 billion respectively.

This is contained in the Quarterly Review document of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI).

The revenue of states was calculated as the sum of the internally generated revenue (IGR) and allocations from the federation accounts allocation committee (FAAC).

The total IGR generated by states in 2018 was N1.103 trillion while the total FAAC allocations were N2.849 trillion.

Lagos state had the highest total revenue of N501.2 billion while Osun had the lowest at N33.2 billion.

“This implies that the total revenue of Lagos State was 13.9% of the combined total revenue of all states. Also, if the states with the highest and lowest revenues are compared, the revenue of Lagos State was 15 times or 1,518% of the revenue of Osun State,” the report read.

“The total revenue of Lagos State (N501.2 billion) exceeded total revenue of each of three zones: North Central (N378.7 billion), North East (N351.5 billion), and South East (N340.1 billion).

“While the total revenue received by Lagos State is higher than the total revenue of each of these zones, the total revenue of the South-South is higher than the combined total revenue of all three zones. The total revenue received by Lagos State is greater than the combined total revenues received by nine states (N449.49 billion) – Osun, Ekiti, Zamfara, Ebonyi, Gombe, Taraba, Cross River, Nasarawa, and Adamawa.”

On a zonal basis, the south-south zone recorded the highest total revenue (N1.102 trillion), followed by the south-west with N877.8 billion.

The north-west zone came in third with N546.5 billion, north-central with N378.7 billion, north-east with N351.5 billion and south-east recorded the lowest with N340.1 billion.

- THECABLE

FG cancels ALL foreign printing contracts for Nigerian passports

President Muhammadu Buhari has cancelled all e-passport printing contracts abroad, saying that it will now be the sole responsibility of the Nigerian Security Printing & Minting Company (NSPMC).

Femi Adesina, special adviser to the president on media and publicity, made this known in a statement released on Thursday.

This new directive means all existing contracts concerning printing passports and other documents will not be renewed.

The Nigerian Security Printing & Minting Company (NSPMC), popularly known as The Mint, was established in 1963 and was saddled with the responsibility of printing the nation’s currency and security documents for ministries, departments and agencies of government, banks and other blue-chip companies.

At inception, the Mint was the largest banknote and security documents specialist printing company in West Africa until its performance dwindled.

After his appointment as governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele set new targets for the company including zero importation of currency which has been achieved since 2014.

Speaking on the company, Abbas Umar Masanawa, the managing director, said: “The Mint has returned to profitability. From a moribund organization with heavy losses, the company grew from a loss position of N14.6 million in 2014 to a profit of N14.3 billion in 2018. Turnover also grew from N17.8 billion in 2014 to N61.4 billion in 2018.

“Other achievements include enhanced production capacity, revenue diversification, reduced cost of production, the institutionalization of corporate governance, improved staff welfare and industrial harmony, among others.

“We will conserve scarce foreign exchange, improve revenue generation, create job opportunities, and boost acquisition/transfer of technology.”

- THECABLE

Funke Akindele reveals how she blocks female friends from her husband

Popular Nollywood actress and Producer, Funke Akibdele, has kicked against female friends having a mutual relationship with her husband, JJC Skillz.

Akindele of ‘Jenifa’ fame, while speaking on a TVC programme, said although she trusts her husband, she does not allow her female friends to call or visit her husband while she is away.

She stressed that only male friends can pay her husband a visit.

Akindele said: “I trust my husband and anyone can be his friend but you cannot call my husband as my female friend to just say hi unless it is his birthday.

“You can only call him when you have been trying to reach me and can’t.

“Why will you bring food, come and say hello to my husband, I’m your friend not him. Only his male friends can visit him.”

The actress added that when a married man cheats, the wife is not to blame, but the character of the man that should be questioned.

Funke Akindele got married to her husband sometime in August 2016.

- DAILY POST