Makarfi denies pact with Sheriff, both disagree over Dickson panel report (Read full details)

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Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State and PDP Factional Chairman, Ahmed Makarfi at PDP NEC Meeting.

• PDP senators to discuss out-of-court settlement with govs

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Caretaker Committee Chairman, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, yesterday declared that he had not entered into any agreement with the National Chairman of the party, Ali Modu Sheriff.

Makarfi in a statement by his personal assistant, Mukhtar Zubair Sirajo, described as untrue “reports of acceptance of certain conditions as a precursor to reconciliation within the PDP family.”

“Senator Ahmed Makarfi wishes to state categorically that even though his commitment to reconciliation in the party as well as that of the caretaker committee are total and unwavering, neither he nor the committee has given or accepted any terms to or from anybody,” the statement added.

Also, Sheriff and Makarfi have disagreed over the report of the Seriake Dickson-led reconciliation committee. While Sheriff accepted the recommendations of the committee, Makarfi rejected it, describing the report as a breach of the February 17 Appeal Court judgement, which reinstated Sheriff as the party’s national chairman.

The committee on Tuesday submitted a report to Sheriff with recommendations on how to reunite warring factions of the PDP and that the national unity convention be convened on or before June 30 this year.

Rising from a meeting of the National Working Committee (NWC) yesterday evening, the Sheriff leadership of the party disclosed that it had already given a directive to the National Organising Secreatary, Okey Nnadozie, to begin preparation for the event.

The communiqué issued at the end of the NWC meeting signed by the National Secretary, Wole Oladipo, commended the Dickson-led committee for the job.

But Makarfi in a statement yesterday stated that the National Caretaker Committee disagreed with the recommendations. He said: “I am shocked and disappointed that the Governor of Bayelsa made public presentation of a purported report approved or endorsed by us and other stakeholders as reported.”

“The committee did not see any draft report, although Dickson promised to come with it. In any case, as personal advice I referred him to the organs of the party and the Goodluck Committee,” he stated.

Meanwhile, the PDP caucus in the Senate acting on an invitation from Sheriff met yesterday after plenary and resolved to meet with the 11 governors from the party to discuss out-of-court settlement of the crisis in the party.

Briefing journalists after the meeting, the Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio said the PDP senators felt there was need for them to meet the governors before honouring the invitation sent to them by Sheriff.

Vía Uzomedia http://ift.tt/2mljK1K

Community pharmacists charge government on economic down turn (Read full details)

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Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN), has charged government to fix the economic downturn and create enabling environment to enable pharmacists source raw materials locally.

Chairman of ACPN, Lagos State chapter, Pharm. Biola Paul-Ozieh, said the economic recession affects many businesses in Nigeria, especially the pharmaceutical sector, which is largely import dependent both for finished goods and raw inputs.

She made this call at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the association, sponsored by Lagos ACPN, and held in Ikeja, Lagos. She said: “Prices of pharmaceuticals have skyrocketed. Some brands have been phased out from circulation, while capital flight has become an issue all through the value chain from manufacturers/importers to distributors and the retail end. In fact, multinationals are already leaving the shores of this country. Thus, the industry and consuming public are faced with challenges of availability, accessibility and affordability and this ugly scenario has persisted in the country.”

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Saraki seeks efficient healthcare services in Nigeria (Read full details)

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Bukola Saraki

Commissions Hospital Built By Senator In Yobe

Senate President, Bukola Saraki, yesterday, urged the federal, states and local governments to ensure efficiency in all healthcare facilities across the country for the benefit of the masses.

According to a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Sanni Onogu, Saraki made the call during the commissioning and handing over of an 80-bed hospital built by Senator Hassan Mohammed and donated to the Federal Government in Potiskum,  Yobe State.

The Senate President noted that with the hospital, the residents of Potiskum would no longer need to travel to neighbouring states for treatment.
He said: “This is why I committed to helping Senator Mohammad with getting the support of the Federal Government in the running of this hospital, so that its benefits to the people of Potiskum and Yobe are guaranteed and sustained. 

“This is the kind of leaders we find today in the Nigerian Senate; people who are abandoning the practice of yesterday’s politics. It must be strongly lauded that this is a PDP Senator, in an APC-led state, donating this edifice to an APC government.

“I implore the Ministry of Health to ensure the hospital continues to receive priority attention, both in management and in resources. I expect that this facility will be run with the highest degree of efficiency possible; and to the good people of Potiskum, I encourage you to use the hospital and demand efficiency in service from the management,” he said.

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Ambode, others to attend The Guardian’s cyber security conference (Read full details)

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Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode (middle), flanked by Commissioner for Finance/Economic Planning and Budget, Adeyemi Ashade (left) and Permanent Secretary/Accountant General, Mrs. Abimbola Umar during the governor’s meeting with investors on Bond Issuance in Abuja.

Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State has confirmed his participation at the maiden cyber security conference being organised by the flagship of the Nigerian media, The Guardian.

Scheduled for February 23, 2017 at the Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos by 9:00 a.m., the theme of the conference is “Monitoring, Detection and Prevention: Keys to Organisational Growth.”

Ambode will be the chief host of the conference, the strategic partners of which include the Lagos State government, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Microsoft Inc.

Speakers at the conference include Director, Banking and Payment Systems, CBN, Dipo Fatokun; Chief Executive Officer, Makeway International, United Kingdom (UK), Kola Olutimehin, and the Senior Partner, Lockwire Security, East Midlands, UK, Anthony Maxwell.

The conference which costs N120,000 per participant is expected to bring to the fore current global best practices in integrated network defence systems; provide exposure to proven standards-based methodologies for assessing and managing the risks to organisation’s information systems and infrastructure; provide exposure to intrusion detection and prevention and other broad strategies employed in cyber security.

Participants would also be exposed to up-to-date digital forensic investigation techniques, identity/access management for Information Communication Technology (ICT) resources, building the right public key infrastructure (PKI) to manage enterprise trust as well as exposing participants to key online transactions monitoring and security techniques.

Expected at the meeting are ICT managers, top executives, bankers, accountants, auditors, company treasurers, marketing managers, officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFFC), Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), Customs, Police, Army, Navy, NDLEA, e-payment companies and revenue collectors, among others.

On the speakers, Maxwell is an IT security specialist with a 15-year background securing Windows and Linux systems. He is a qualified CISSP with ISO 27001 certifications in auditing and digital forensics, among others.

His security experience has encompassed forensics, incident response, penetration testing, audit and consultancy. A widely travelled and seasoned cyber-security accredited trainer, consultant and practitioner, he worked extensively in Japan and has even conducted technical presentations in Japanese.

Maxwell’s active international experience in cyber security within varied industries and across different continents includes areas such as security training and consultancy, hands-on security administration and investigations, as well as forensics and malware analysis. He has worked with leading multi-national blue chip organisations in Europe such as Intel, Oracle, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and the National Health Service (NHS), to name but a few.

In Japan, he has provided security services to clients ranging from banks to broadcast media and Internet service providers. Olutimehin is an astute professional consultant of almost two decades involved in financial systems development and IT security.

Olutimehin’s overall compass in organisational management is focused on change, where he is an accredited and certified trainer for a number of programme/project management courses and business analysis courses. His business is particularly geared towards the provision of training and development, management consulting and publishing. The training and development arm provides events on specialist areas (such as cyber security, investment banking, accounting and finance, media and communications) where experts are engaged to meet clients’ specific technical demands, as well as programme/project management courses based on the BMP (best management practice) set of frameworks. There is also significant focus for business skills and business applications courses.

Other high points of the conference will be the presentation of the 2016 Nigeria Cyber Security Report, put together by United States International University-Africa and Demadiur in partnership with Serianu.

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Court orders permanent forfeiture of $153.3m linked to Diezani (Read full details)

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Former Minister of Petroleum, Alison-Madueke

Justice Muslim Hassan of the Federal High Court, Lagos, yesterday ordered the final forfeiture of the sum of $153 million linked to a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke.

The order followed an application by the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) seeking a forfeiture of the funds on account that they are proceeds of crime.

Justice Hassan had on January 6, issued an interim order of forfeiture of the said money to the Federal Government, in line with the prayers of the anti-graft agency.

The EFCC had initiated an ex parte application, seeking an interim order, for the temporary forfeiture of the sum to the FG, which it claims is linked to the ex Minister.

The court had also issued 14 days to any interested party to appear and prove the legitimacy of the monies, failing which the funds would be permanently forfeited to the FG.

At the last adjourned date on January 24, counsel for the Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo and that of the respondent (Lawal), had respectively argued their originating processes before the court.

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Why FG withheld fiscal support allocation to Ekiti State, by minister (Read full details)

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Minister for Finance, Kemi Adeosun PHOTO: SUNDAY AGHAEZE/STATE HOUSE

CBN denies AGF’s query on forex transactions report

Finance Minister, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, has confirmed that the Federal Government indeed withheld allocations due to Ekiti. She cited non-conformity on the part of the state government with regulations regarding disbursement of such funds by the ministry.

A statement by the Director of Information in the Ministry of finance, Alhaji Salisu Na’Inna Dambatta, said the action was taken because it had become the habit of Ekiti State not to obey rules set for disbursement. The statement further said the claims by the Ekiti State Government were spurious.

“The Ekiti State Government failed to comply with the necessary requirements for participating in the Budget Support Facility (BSF), which is a Conditional Loan Programme to state governments introduced with the view to enhancing fiscal prudence and designed to enhance transparency, efficiency in public expenditure and payment of salaries.

“This is not the first the Ekiti State Government failed to comply with the rules. It had defaulted in meeting the conditions specified and agreed upon by the 36 state governments that are participating in the programme as contained in the Fiscal Sustainability Plan (FSP) and the Ekiti State Government was warned formally of its failure to comply with the full requirements vide a letter on August 5, 2016, with reference number HMF/FMF/ASG/1/2016,” the statement read.

It further stated that failure of Ekiti State Government to comply with the requirements and conditions for the Budget Support Facility (BSF) resulted in a letter sent to the Chief of Staff to notify him of the suspension of BSF for Ekiti State and it was conveyed to Mr. President before payment to the Ekiti State Government was reinstated.

Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Nigeria [CBN] has denied reports that its governor, Godwin Emefiele and some top management staff have been queried by the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) over the sale of foreign exchange.

Acting Director of Corporate Communications, Mr. Isaac Okoarafor, said in a statement yesterday that the apex bank observed that while it was perfectly normal for any agency of government to seek clarifications on any matter from other agencies of government, it wishes to clarify that neither the governor of the CBN nor the Director, Legal Services Department, received any communication with regard to the issue.

The CBN said as a responsible government institution, the third currency transactions should be in line with the prevailing forex rate range in the interbank market, when properly examined.

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New malaria vaccine provides 100% protection in clinical trial (Read full details)

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According to the World Malaria Report 2016 released by the World Health Organisation (WHO), malaria killed 429,000 and infected 212 million people in 2015.

Scientists have discovered an effective vaccine that offers up to 100 per cent protection from malaria. German researchers at the University of Tübingen in collaboration with the biotech company, Sanaria Incorporated, have demonstrated in a clinical trial that a new vaccine for malaria called Sanaria PfSPZ-CVac has been up to 100 per cent effective when assessed at 10 weeks after last dose of vaccine.

With this discovery, Nigeria can save over 300,000 lives lost to malaria yearly and over N480 billion spent on the treatment and control of the parasite annually. The search for a vaccine has been going on for more than a century. An effective vaccine would make it easier to control malaria; vaccination campaigns could be conducted in severely affected areas to eliminate the pathogen. Such a vaccine could also help to stop the spread of resistance to the treatment, and to better protect travellers.

Details of the research results were published yesterday in the latest edition of the journal Nature. Tübingen University is a public research institution located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg. It is one of Germany’s most famous universities in the areas of medicine, natural sciences, and the humanities.

For the trial, Professor Peter Kremsner and Dr. Benjamin Mordmüller of the Institute of Tropical Medicine and the German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF) used malaria parasites provided by Sanaria. The vaccine incorporated fully viable, not weakened or otherwise inactivated, malaria pathogens together with the medication to combat them.

The Tubingen study involved 67 healthy adult test persons, none of whom had previously had malaria. The best immune response was shown in a group of nine test persons who received the highest dose of the vaccine three times at four-week intervals. At the end of the trial, all nine of these individuals had 100 percent protection from the disease.

According to the World Malaria Report 2016 released by the World Health Organisation (WHO), malaria killed 429,000 and infected 212 million people in 2015. It noted that millions of Africans still lack tools to prevent and treat the ailment. Around 90 per cent of those malaria deaths were in Africa. Nearly three-quarters of those who succumb to the disease are children under five.

Malaria parasites are transmitted by the bite of female Anopheles mosquitoes. The Plasmodium falciparum parasite is responsible for most malaria infections and almost all deaths caused by the disease worldwide. Most of the previous vaccines, which have been tried involved the use of individual molecules found in the pathogen.

Prof. Peter Kremsner explained: “The 100 per cent protection was probably caused by specific T-lymphocytes and antibody responses to the parasites in the liver. The researchers analyzed the bodies’ immune reactions and identified protein patterns which will make it possible to further improve malaria vaccines.”

The researchers injected live malaria parasites into the test subjects, at the same time preventing the development of the disease by adding chloroquine — which has been used to treat malaria for many years. This enabled the researchers to exploit the behaviour of the parasites and the properties of chloroquine.

Once the person is infected, the Plasmodium falciparum parasite migrates to the liver to reproduce. During its incubation period there, the human immune system could respond; but at this stage, the pathogen does not make the person sick. On top of that, chloroquine does not take effect in the liver — so it is unable to prevent the parasite from reproducing. Malaria only breaks out when the pathogen leaves the liver, entering the bloodstream and going into the red corpuscles, where it continues to reproduce and spread. As soon as the pathogen enters the bloodstream, however, it can be killed by chloroquine — and the disease cannot break out.

Study leader, Benjamin Mordmueller, said: “By vaccinating with a live, fully active pathogen, it seems clear that we were able to set off a very strong immune response. Additionally, all the data we have so far indicate that what we have here is relatively stable, long-lasting protection.”

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Osinbajo urges Nigerians to shun ethnic, religious biases

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Acting President Yemi Osinbajo being received by Rivers State monarchs at the Port Harcourt International Airport in continuation of Federal Government’s dialogue with Niger Delta people…yesterday

•Acting president at Rivers, says nation needs new vision, visits Imo today

Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has urged Nigerians to shun ethnic or religious biases. Speaking yesterday at the 2017 Murtala Muhammed Memorial lecture in Abuja, Osinbajo expressed regrets that the spirit of the Nigerian project had degenerated to the extent that, “The first question we ask is not what is the worth of a man or a woman, or what he or she can do but where he or she is from or what religious label he is wearing.

According to the acting president, Nigerians should emulate the legacy of the late General Muhammed, who even in his short reign, left indelible marks in the country.

Meanwhile, the Acting President yesterday paid an official visit to Rivers State in continuation of Federal Government’s dialogue with peoples of the Niger Delta.

In Port Harcourt, he declared that the zone required a new vision devoid of the prevailing unhappy circle of discontent that sometimes resulted in violence, vandalism and security response.

He said that it was extremely discomforting that the Niger Delta region where he did his National Youths Service Corps 38 years ago was still grappling with the same challenges of underdevelopment and poverty.

He disclosed that the groundbreaking ceremony for the Integrated Contaminated Soil Management Centre provided for by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report will be performed on Thursday in Ogoni.

The acting president reassured the stakeholders that the Federal Government would continue the amnesty programme for ex-militants. In response, Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike said he was in support of the 16-point agenda submitted by the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) to the Federal Government.

Osinbajo will also pay an official visit to Imo State today. A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Sam Onwuemeodo in Owerri yesterday stated that the Acting President would inaugurate “one or two projects, out of more than two thousand verifiable projects” executed by the Governor Rochas Okorocha’s administration.

Vía The Guardian Nigeria http://ift.tt/2lElbes

‘We will hold government responsible if El-Zakzaky dies in custody’

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The leader of Islamic Movement of nigeria otherwise known as Shi''te, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky

Alleging that the Federal Government was deliberately holding its leader in detention in order to turn him blind, the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), Shiites yesterday said the Federal Government would be held responsible if Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky dies in solitary confinement.

The Shiites again urged the government to immediately obey the court judgment ordering his release and wife for urgent medical attention.

According to a statement issued by its spokesman, Mallam Ibrahim Musa, “the doctor assigned to attend to our illegally detained leader, Sheikh Zakzaky, has clearly told the authorities detaining him that he could go blind if not given the proper medical attention he deserves without further delay.’’

According to IMN, ZakZaky has been denied access to his own doctor alleging that with the way he has been treated, government wants him to die. “Thus far, the government has decided to play deaf, dumb and blind, as if all is well. The continued detention, illegally, in what it termed protective custody, against court orders and despite the doctor’s red alert is objectionable and condemnable. It is a moral obligation upon all people of conscience to show support and empathy to the plight of the oppressed Sheikh. Something urgent must be in place to save the deteriorating eye of Sheikh Zakzaky.”

IMN appealed to Nigerians to join them in mounting pressure on government to release him, in compliance with court order and to enable him attend to his health.

The group also called on Acting President Yemi Osinbajo to obey court order and free Sheikh Zakzaky. The Shiite leader and his wife were arrested in Kaduna in December 2015, in the wake of the clash between his followers and the Nigerian military.

The military authorities claimed the Shiite followers wanted to assassinate chief of army staff, General Tukur Buratai, which prompted soldiers to open fire on them.

The clash had been a subject of probe by the Human Rights Commission and the Kaduna State Government.

Vía The Guardian Nigeria http://ift.tt/2lEb8FZ