Guggenheim celebrates immigrant roots in age of Trump…Read full details

http://ift.tt/2ltY46i

NEW YORK, NY – FEBRUARY 09: Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation Richard Armstrong speaks at 'Visionaries: Creating a Modern Guggenheim' sponsored by Lavazza at the Guggenheim New York on February 9, 2017 in New York City. Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images for Lavazza/AFP<br />Ilya S. Savenok / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP

The Guggenheim Museum is highlighting the work of some of the visionaries who shaped its collection, using the occasion to note immigrants’s contributions to American art weeks after President Donald Trump signed a travel ban.

A show opening Friday in New York features works collected by founder Solomon R. Guggenheim’s niece Peggy Guggenheim, who along with art dealer Justin K. Tannhauser came to the United State to flee Nazi Germany.

Paintings and sculpture acquisitions by immigrant art dealer Karl Nierendorf, as well as those of two other Guggenheim contemporaries — German-born artist Hilla Rebay and Katherine Dreier — are on display for this tribute to the Guggenheim Foundation’s eight decades of support for radical experimentation in art.

These collectors held many works by European artists, including Marcel Duchamp, Paul Klee, Piet Mondrian, Pablo Picasso and Vasily Kandinsky, the Russian painter whose art is at the heart of the Guggenheim collection, which holds 150 pieces.

There are also works by Americans like Alexander Calder, who created a series of beloved moving sculptures known as “mobiles,” Jackson Pollock, Irene Rice Pereira and Claire Falkenstein.

“It’s no secret that we’re going through times with fundamental principles like tolerance and critical thinking being challenged,” said Richard Armstrong, director of the Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, in previewing the exhibit.

“Many similar challenges faced some of the visionaries of creative expression… We find inspiration in individuals whose beliefs was that art can change human behavior.”

His comments were a clear reference to Trump’s conservative immigration policy.

The show is also a reminder of a time when “artists and also dealers fled an earlier war… and found refuge, home and freedom in the United States,” Armstrong added.

Ever since Trump’s election, the art world has expressed its unease in various forms, be it fashion, song, video or photography.

A streaming video performance installation that aimed to provide a forum for anti-Trump expression was shut down after it became “a flashpoint for violence,” New York’s Museum of the Moving Image said.

And another New York venue, the Museum of Modern Art, is exhibiting works by artists from the seven predominantly Muslim countries targeted by Trump’s executive order, currently on hold after a series of court defeats.

– ‘Fertile period’ –
With the advent of war and Nazism in the 1930s, several of the European artists presented by Guggenheim through his public collection immigrated to the United States.

In the 1940s, New York catered to an “exciting cultural milieu where you had European and American artists encountering one another. It was just a really exciting moment. It was a really fertile period,” said curator Megan Fontanella.

In all, 160 works by 70 artists are featured in “Visionaries: Creating a Modern Guggenheim,” which runs through September 6.

It includes a broad range of artists from the late 19th century through the first half of the 20th century.

The oldest piece is a painting by Camille Pissarro from 1867. The most recent is Pollock’s “Alchemy,” from 1947.

For the curator, the Guggenheim, whose museum was established in 1939 but only occupied its spiral building near Central Park in 1959, benefitted directly from the creativity of artists from abroad.

“So many artists and culture figures found refuge here and ultimately helped shaped our institution,” said Fontanella.

Vía Uzomedia http://ift.tt/2lz6ULL

Guggenheim celebrates immigrant roots in age of Trump

http://ift.tt/2ltY46i

NEW YORK, NY – FEBRUARY 09: Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation Richard Armstrong speaks at 'Visionaries: Creating a Modern Guggenheim' sponsored by Lavazza at the Guggenheim New York on February 9, 2017 in New York City. Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images for Lavazza/AFP<br />Ilya S. Savenok / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP

The Guggenheim Museum is highlighting the work of some of the visionaries who shaped its collection, using the occasion to note immigrants’s contributions to American art weeks after President Donald Trump signed a travel ban.

A show opening Friday in New York features works collected by founder Solomon R. Guggenheim’s niece Peggy Guggenheim, who along with art dealer Justin K. Tannhauser came to the United State to flee Nazi Germany.

Paintings and sculpture acquisitions by immigrant art dealer Karl Nierendorf, as well as those of two other Guggenheim contemporaries — German-born artist Hilla Rebay and Katherine Dreier — are on display for this tribute to the Guggenheim Foundation’s eight decades of support for radical experimentation in art.

These collectors held many works by European artists, including Marcel Duchamp, Paul Klee, Piet Mondrian, Pablo Picasso and Vasily Kandinsky, the Russian painter whose art is at the heart of the Guggenheim collection, which holds 150 pieces.

There are also works by Americans like Alexander Calder, who created a series of beloved moving sculptures known as “mobiles,” Jackson Pollock, Irene Rice Pereira and Claire Falkenstein.

“It’s no secret that we’re going through times with fundamental principles like tolerance and critical thinking being challenged,” said Richard Armstrong, director of the Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, in previewing the exhibit.

“Many similar challenges faced some of the visionaries of creative expression… We find inspiration in individuals whose beliefs was that art can change human behavior.”

His comments were a clear reference to Trump’s conservative immigration policy.

The show is also a reminder of a time when “artists and also dealers fled an earlier war… and found refuge, home and freedom in the United States,” Armstrong added.

Ever since Trump’s election, the art world has expressed its unease in various forms, be it fashion, song, video or photography.

A streaming video performance installation that aimed to provide a forum for anti-Trump expression was shut down after it became “a flashpoint for violence,” New York’s Museum of the Moving Image said.

And another New York venue, the Museum of Modern Art, is exhibiting works by artists from the seven predominantly Muslim countries targeted by Trump’s executive order, currently on hold after a series of court defeats.

– ‘Fertile period’ –
With the advent of war and Nazism in the 1930s, several of the European artists presented by Guggenheim through his public collection immigrated to the United States.

In the 1940s, New York catered to an “exciting cultural milieu where you had European and American artists encountering one another. It was just a really exciting moment. It was a really fertile period,” said curator Megan Fontanella.

In all, 160 works by 70 artists are featured in “Visionaries: Creating a Modern Guggenheim,” which runs through September 6.

It includes a broad range of artists from the late 19th century through the first half of the 20th century.

The oldest piece is a painting by Camille Pissarro from 1867. The most recent is Pollock’s “Alchemy,” from 1947.

For the curator, the Guggenheim, whose museum was established in 1939 but only occupied its spiral building near Central Park in 1959, benefitted directly from the creativity of artists from abroad.

“So many artists and culture figures found refuge here and ultimately helped shaped our institution,” said Fontanella.

Vía The Guardian Nigeria http://ift.tt/2kZ3xRz

Simons pays homage to America at Calvin Klein debut…Read full details

http://ift.tt/2kfxUiq

Designers Raf Simons (L) and Pieter Mulier walk the runway at the Calvin Klein show at New York Fashion Week on February 10, 2017.<br />Angela Weiss / AFP

Raf Simons, considered one of the finest designers of his generation, made his debut for Calvin Klein on Friday, offering an homage to America in one of the most eagerly awaited New York shows in years.

A-listers Gwyneth Paltrow, Oscar-nominated British actress Naomie Harris, former Calvin Klein model Brooke Shields and Sarah Jessica Parker, perhaps the American actress who more than any other personifies fashion in New York, were among those sitting in the front row.

Other guests were film director Sofia Coppola and Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour at the label’s Garment District headquarters, which reportedly archives every Calvin Klein item ever designed.

The 49-year-old former creative director for Christian Dior sent out men’s and women’s wear in what the program notes called an homage to America inspired by American artist Sterling Ruby.

Simons, a Belgian with roots firmly in Europe, offered an outsider’s take on the diversity and myriad influences that make up the contemporary United States as part of his mission to revive and re-imagine the iconic New York label best known for its racy underwear ads decades ago.

There was sharp suiting, denim, bat-wing style shoes for women, plastic coated outerwear and dresses finished with feathers, an array of workwear, western wear and handcrafted quilting.

It closed with David Bowie’s track “This Is Not America” — hard not to see as throwing shade on President Donald Trump and his administration’s assault on immigration.

It was a look that channelled modern urban America, not the blue collar America that voted for Trump.

– Past and future –
“All these different people with different styles and dress codes. It’s the future, the past, Art Deco, the city, the American West,” wrote Simons in the program notes.

“Not one era, not one thing, not one look. It is the coming together of different characters and different individuals, just like America itself. It is the unique beauty and emotion of America.”

Simons emerged at the end to wave to the packed crowd with Pieter Mulier, his long-term colleague and former right-hand man at Dior, before being mobbed backstage by well-wishers.

From the ceiling hung distressed fabrics and balls of wool, in what the program notes said was an artwork by Ruby, who was born on a US military base in Germany to a Dutch mother and American father, and who today lives and works in Los Angeles.

Ruby has cited, among his influences, hip-hop, urban gangs, graffiti, prisons, globalization, violence, art history, consumption and waste, “together with American domination and decline.”

His brief for the installation was to imagine a work appropriate for Calvin Klein. He imagined America, the program said.

– Changing of guard –
The label announced Simons’ appointment in August 2016 as its new chief creative officer responsible for the creative strategy of the entire brand, uniting all its clothing, underwear and jeans under one vision as it seeks to grow to $10 billion in global retail sales.

Simons, who also runs his eponymous label, spent more than three years at the helm of Dior before quitting in 2015.

“Not since Mr Klein himself was at the company has it been led by one creative visionary, and I am confident that this decision will drive the Calvin Klein brand and have a significant impact,” said CEO Steve Shiffman at the time.

“I really liked it,” Imran Amed, founder of the London-based Business of Fashion website, told AFP after the show.

“It’s quite a departure. When you change creative directors, part of the reason you do that is to get a new energy, a new direction, and I think they very successfully achieved that,” he added.

The Calvin Klein invitation included the white bandanas being promoted by the website in order to promote diversity and tolerance in the wake of Trump’s election and inflammatory first three weeks in office.

Simons is perhaps best known for stabilizing Dior after British designer John Galliano was fired in 2012 following an outcry over anti-Semitic insults he made in a Paris bar that were caught on camera.

One of his most famous dresses was the pale pink bulb-skirted gown worn by Jennifer Lawrence to the 2013 Academy Awards when she famously tripped before collecting her first Oscar for best actress.

Vía Uzomedia http://ift.tt/2l3ufrS

Simons pays homage to America at Calvin Klein debut

http://ift.tt/2kfxUiq

Designers Raf Simons (L) and Pieter Mulier walk the runway at the Calvin Klein show at New York Fashion Week on February 10, 2017.<br />Angela Weiss / AFP

Raf Simons, considered one of the finest designers of his generation, made his debut for Calvin Klein on Friday, offering an homage to America in one of the most eagerly awaited New York shows in years.

A-listers Gwyneth Paltrow, Oscar-nominated British actress Naomie Harris, former Calvin Klein model Brooke Shields and Sarah Jessica Parker, perhaps the American actress who more than any other personifies fashion in New York, were among those sitting in the front row.

Other guests were film director Sofia Coppola and Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour at the label’s Garment District headquarters, which reportedly archives every Calvin Klein item ever designed.

The 49-year-old former creative director for Christian Dior sent out men’s and women’s wear in what the program notes called an homage to America inspired by American artist Sterling Ruby.

Simons, a Belgian with roots firmly in Europe, offered an outsider’s take on the diversity and myriad influences that make up the contemporary United States as part of his mission to revive and re-imagine the iconic New York label best known for its racy underwear ads decades ago.

There was sharp suiting, denim, bat-wing style shoes for women, plastic coated outerwear and dresses finished with feathers, an array of workwear, western wear and handcrafted quilting.

It closed with David Bowie’s track “This Is Not America” — hard not to see as throwing shade on President Donald Trump and his administration’s assault on immigration.

It was a look that channelled modern urban America, not the blue collar America that voted for Trump.

– Past and future –
“All these different people with different styles and dress codes. It’s the future, the past, Art Deco, the city, the American West,” wrote Simons in the program notes.

“Not one era, not one thing, not one look. It is the coming together of different characters and different individuals, just like America itself. It is the unique beauty and emotion of America.”

Simons emerged at the end to wave to the packed crowd with Pieter Mulier, his long-term colleague and former right-hand man at Dior, before being mobbed backstage by well-wishers.

From the ceiling hung distressed fabrics and balls of wool, in what the program notes said was an artwork by Ruby, who was born on a US military base in Germany to a Dutch mother and American father, and who today lives and works in Los Angeles.

Ruby has cited, among his influences, hip-hop, urban gangs, graffiti, prisons, globalization, violence, art history, consumption and waste, “together with American domination and decline.”

His brief for the installation was to imagine a work appropriate for Calvin Klein. He imagined America, the program said.

– Changing of guard –
The label announced Simons’ appointment in August 2016 as its new chief creative officer responsible for the creative strategy of the entire brand, uniting all its clothing, underwear and jeans under one vision as it seeks to grow to $10 billion in global retail sales.

Simons, who also runs his eponymous label, spent more than three years at the helm of Dior before quitting in 2015.

“Not since Mr Klein himself was at the company has it been led by one creative visionary, and I am confident that this decision will drive the Calvin Klein brand and have a significant impact,” said CEO Steve Shiffman at the time.

“I really liked it,” Imran Amed, founder of the London-based Business of Fashion website, told AFP after the show.

“It’s quite a departure. When you change creative directors, part of the reason you do that is to get a new energy, a new direction, and I think they very successfully achieved that,” he added.

The Calvin Klein invitation included the white bandanas being promoted by the website in order to promote diversity and tolerance in the wake of Trump’s election and inflammatory first three weeks in office.

Simons is perhaps best known for stabilizing Dior after British designer John Galliano was fired in 2012 following an outcry over anti-Semitic insults he made in a Paris bar that were caught on camera.

One of his most famous dresses was the pale pink bulb-skirted gown worn by Jennifer Lawrence to the 2013 Academy Awards when she famously tripped before collecting her first Oscar for best actress.

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

Saraki laments abandonment of projects (Read full details)

http://ift.tt/2l3nAxU

Senate President Bukola Saraki briefing State House correspondents after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja…yesterday PHOTO: IBRAHIM SUMAILA/TA/BJO/NAN

Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has lamented the abandonment of critical infrastructural projects after investing huge amounts of money on them.
Receiving the Niger State Governor, Abubakar Sani Bello, who paid him a visit yesterday, Saraki said the action has resulted in waste and left the country with little options in times of eventualities.

Saraki, in a statement signed by his Media Office, noted that the non-completion of re-modeling projects of Minna airport has left the Federal Government with no option or backup to the diversion of flights to Kaduna to allow for the rehabilitation of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

Saraki, who disclosed that no provision was made in either the 2016 or 2017 budget for the rehabilitation of the Abuja Airport runaway, expressed surprise that, “one will be wondering how such kind of decisions are arrived at.”

He assured the Governor that funding provision would be made for the completion of the abandoned dualisation of Suleja-Minna road project.

He urged the Federal Emergency Roads Management Agency (FERMA) to immediately commence the rehabilitation of the existing road to alleviate the sufferings of motorists and other users of the road.

On the completion of Boro Port, Saraki said it was regrettable that the project was abandoned after huge sum of money had been invested in it.

Vía Uzomedia http://ift.tt/2kfra49

Presidency mismanaged Buhari’s ill-health matter, Anglican Bishop (Read full details)

http://ift.tt/2l3wNGM

Former governor of Lagos State Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, President Muhammadu Buhari and former national chairman of APC Chief Bisi Akande at Abuja House, London PHOTO: TWITTER/PRESIDENCY

The Bishop of Calabar Diocese of the Anglican Communion, Bishop Tunde Adeleye, has taken a swipe at the presidency for mismanaging information on the ill-health of President Buhari.

Adeleye, who spoke in Calabar, yesterday, said the media team of the President was churning out falsehood as regards the true health condition of the President and this has resulted in all manners of speculations and confusion and at the same time keeping Nigerians at sea. Citing the case of how former United States President Ronald Reagan ill health was managed, he lamented that in Nigeria, everything is shrouded in secrecy.

Commenting on the current economic crunch, he called for true federalism in the country so that power would not be concentrated at the centre, a situation where “the centre is too powerful,” it does not augur well for the country and also proposed a part time service for the Nigeria parliamentarians in order to reduce government spending.

Giving his opinion on whether or not Nigerians should give the federal government time to change the harsh economic narratives, he said, “Our economy is very disturbing and very frightening. Something must be done urgently. The mistake this government made was to promise Nigerians ‘change’, and it was on this basis of ‘change’ that the people voted for them. Nigerians are now holding them to those promises. “They presented themselves as if they had a plan to bring about the ‘change’ but unfortunately, there was no plan. They have now turned around and are blaming the people for complaining.”

Vía Uzomedia http://ift.tt/2kfuAUA

FG alerts Nigerians on planned attacks by terrorist group (Read full details)

http://ift.tt/2kSkJWH

PHOTO:AFP

The Federal Government has alerted Nigerians on plans by a Boko Haram affiliate, Muslim Brotherhood Cell in Kogi State, to acquire bomb-making chemicals and high-calibre weapons to perpetrate acts of terror, including attacks on banks, arms depots and prisons.

In a statement yesterday in Abuja, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said intelligence monitoring has shown that the cell is making frantic efforts to advance its IED-making capability through the acquisition of chemicals such as Sodium Azide (for producing improvised detonators), Potassium Chlorate (alternative to ammonium nitrate used for producing IEDs) and
Aluminium Powder (a fuel source for amplifying explosions).

The minister said intelligence reports revealed that the group is making serious efforts to acquire sophisticated arms, including shoulder-fired rocket launchers adding that further intelligence monitoring has revealed that members of the Muslim Brotherhood are planning to forcefully free their members who are in detention in Kogi, Abuja and Kaduna, including one Bilyaminu, an IED expert for the group who is now at Kuje prison.

According to him: “One Usman, an IED apprentice, left the cell some time back to join Islamic State in Libya. The new desire to acquire IED precursor chemicals could suggest that Usman or other persons may have returned from Libya and have acquired IED-making skills intended to increase the activities of the group.”

Mohammed appealed to Nigerians to be vigilant and to report any suspicious persons or movements to the appropriate authorities.

Vía Uzomedia http://ift.tt/2kfMExD

FG to return 10 Arik’s aircraft stranded overseas (Read full details)

http://ift.tt/2lvPkIu

• Assures Creditors, Workers Of Payment
• AMCON Deploys Sanusi To Aero Contractors

Barely 24 hours after taking over the management of Arik Air, the Federal Government has pledged to return at least 10 aircraft stranded overseas into the fleet of the airline.

The 10 aircraft, as at the time of change in management, were said to have gone overseas for mandatory C-checks, but said to be stuck due to unpaid maintenance cost running into million of dollars.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Managing Director of Arik Air, prior to AMCON’s takeover, Capt. Ado Sanusi, has been commissioned as the new Chief Executive Officer of Aero Contractors.

Sanusi takes over from Capt. Fola Akinkuotu, who was recently appointed Managing Director of Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) by the Federal Government.

It would be recalled that Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), owned by the Federal Government, on Thursday took over the control of Arik Air to save the carrier from collapse due to heavy financial debt burden.

Arik, the largest carrier in West and Central Africa, was accused of bad corporate governance, erratic operational challenges, inability to pay staff salaries and heavy debt burden, among others.

The airline has, however, vowed to challenge the takeover in court. AMCON yesterday said the airline has started receiving assistance to be able to offer flight services.

Head of Corporate Communications Department of AMCON, Jude Nwauzor, said one of the immediate interventions was to recover the aircraft to complement the erstwhile large fleet of 28 that has been reduced to 10 functional aircraft and pay debts to creditors.

Vía Uzomedia http://ift.tt/2kfsUKH

Police arraign alleged serial fraudster, Egbegbe (Read full details)

http://ift.tt/2kCDYF2

Seun Egbegbe

The Police Special Fraud Unit yesterday arraigned Nigerian filmmaker, Olajide Kazeem, popularly known as Seun Egbegbe, for alleged serial frauds, involving N39, 098,100, $90,000 and £12,550 at the Federal High Court, Lagos.

Egbegbe was arraigned on 36 counts, alongside Oyekan Ayomide, whom he allegedly conspired to perpetrate the frauds between 2015 and this year. The duo were arraigned before Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo.

They allegedly defrauded no fewer than 30 Bureau De Change (BDC) operators in Lagos between 2015 and February this year, mostly by falsely presenting to the victims that they had foreign currencies to sell to the BDC operators.

The Police alleged, for instance, that on February 2, this year, Egbegbe and Ayomide fraudulently obtained the sums of N2.45m and £3,000 from one Alhaji Isa Adamu in Lagos under the guise that they wanted to see the naira and buy the pounds.

The other victims of the alleged frauds by Egbegbe were Mohammed Sanni, who was allegedly defrauded of N2.46m on New Year day; Jubrila Ado, allegedly defrauded of N1.257m on September 9, last year; Hassan Amodu, allegedly defrauded of N600, 000 in January last year; Sanni Hassan, defrauded of N1.43 and £2,750 in August 2015; Saidi Abdullahi, defrauded of N700, 000 on April 18, last year; Atairu Abdullaahi, defrauded of N1m on June 23, last year; and Abdullahi Babadisa, defrauded of N650, 000 in January last year.

Others were Abdurawan Hassan, who allegedly lost N1.46m to Egbegbe on January 1, this year; Suraju Garuba, who lost N850, 000 in July last year; Abdullahi Mumini, who lost N2.15m in September last year; Garuba Hassan, who lost N700, 000 on January 10, last year; and Sanni Mohammed, who lost N1.89m on January 29, this year.

Also allegedly swindled by Egbegbe were Barowo Abdullahi, who lost N2.6m; Yahu Alidu, who lost N1.75m; Tairu Musa, who lost N2m; Mohammed Bello, who lost $300; Mohammed Usman, N450, 500; Suleiman Shehu, who lost N1.276m; Ahmadu Abda, who lost N2m; Nairu Musa, who lost N1.007m; and Sanni Mohammed, who lost N1.6m and $3,000.

Others include Umaru Haruna, who lost N1.7m; Abubakar Musa, who lost $4,000; Abdulrasaq Sanni, who lost N1.7m; Abdullahi Babatunde, who lost N2.77m; among others.

The Police prosecutor, who signed the charge sheet, Mr. Effiong Asuquo, said Egbegbe and Ayomide acted contrary to Section 8 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, 2006 and were liable to be punished under Section 1(3) of the same.

However, when the 36 counts were read to Egbegbe and Ayomide, they both pleaded not guilty.

The prosecuting counsel for the Police, Innocent Anyigor, urged the court to order the remand of the defendants in the prison custody and to fix a day for trial.

But the defence Counsel, Mrs. A.O. Gbadamosi, told Justice Oguntoyinvo that she intended to file bail applications on behalf of Egbegbe and Ayomide. The Judge ordered that the defendants should be remanded in the prison custody and adjourned till March 24, this year for commencement of trial.

Vía Uzomedia http://ift.tt/2kfvZub

$1bn Eurobond: Fayose knocks FG, seeks explanations on beneficiaries, repayment (Read full details)

http://ift.tt/2kCBhU8

Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State

Governor of Ekiti State and Chairman of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) Governors’ Forum, Mr. Ayodele Fayose has described the Federal Government’s plan to secure Eurobond which re-payment would last till 2032, as an act like that of the Biblical prodigal son, expressing the fear that the loan may plunge the nation into prolonged economic misery.

The governor, who challenged the federal to government make clarification as to the beneficiaries of the bond, stating whether it would be both the federal government and the federating units or federal government alone, added that; “questions must also be asked on repayment of the Eurobond because deductions from what should accrue to the federation account on a bond to be taken by the federal government for its own use only.”

In a statement issued on Friday, by his Chief Press Secretary, Idowu Adelusi, the governor said, “The rate at which they are taking loans, which would keep this country indebted till 2032, is quite unfortunate. Currently our currency has been badly devalued to N500 to a Dollar. So, how do we pay back?

They went to tie the money to the source; the accruers outside the country where crude oil revenue goes. I just want our people to know that this government is taking us to another side of life, one is to destroy our economy, the other is death.”

Vía Uzomedia http://ift.tt/2kfvZdF

Osinbajo in Bayelsa, promises new dawn for Niger Delta (Read full details)

http://ift.tt/2ltVMUu

Acting President receives a Staff-of-Office representing Honour from King Alfred Diete Spiff of Bayelsa, and the entire council of elders with Gov Henry Seriake Dickson during his visit to continue the FG’s Niger Delta dialogue in Yenagoa… yesterday PHOTO: NOVO ISIORO

Acting President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, yesterday promised a new era and new dawn for the people of oil-producing communities in the Niger Delta, saying plans were underway for the rapid development of the area.

Osinbajo, who was in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, in continuation of his engagement visits to seek opinions on the way out of the Niger Delta impasse, said he was in the state as an emissary of President Muhammadu Buhari and the Federal Government, to propose a new vision that would signpost a new era for the people.

While acknowledging the many challenges and difficulties being faced by the people of the oil-producing communities, the Acting President said government would soon begin a partnership with oil-producing states, local government and oil companies for developmental purposes.

He said: “We must convene an oil communities intervention to work out what can be done in the short, medium and long term possibilities. “We must focus to see how the people can see the benefits of oil wealth in the land. This new vision will define the future of the region.

“We must make sure that our oil-producing communities are hubs for petro-chemical industries, small and large. We must make these communities hub for refining and other related activities.”

“The Ministry of Petroleum Resources, in collaboration with the companies, is working on a 40-point agenda, a new initiatives for oil-producing communities in Niger Delta. In particular, working with illegal refineries to participate in the modular refineries that will be established.”

Osinbajo, who made a case for the establishment of a power plant, because of the huge deposit of gas in the region, said the biggest benefit is to attract more investment to the region.

He, however, called on youths to shun pipeline vandalism and other ills inimical to the growth of the oil industry, as there was no way the Federal Government could get funds for development in the region if key oil installations are being destroyed.

He also challenged Niger Delta youths to be resourceful and innovative, as that remains the key critical points in building a society.

“It is from this great state of Bayelsa, precisely Oloibiri, that the history of oil exploration in Nigeria began.

“It is here that this great source of wealth was discovered and this oil became the source of 70 per cent of national revenue and 90 per cent of foreign exchange earnings.

“Over 50 per cent of our non-oil revenue is determined by oil revenue, but for the people of historic Oloibiri and many oil communities in this state and many others in the Niger Delta region, the blessing of oil has paradoxically become a curse or at best a burden.”

The host governor, Seriake Dickson, while thanking the Acting President for the visit, tasked the Federal Government on the need to revisit the Brass Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project and the Brass Fertilizer Plants.

He said: “Today that you’ve visited Bayelsa State is actually the day you’ve visited the Niger Delta, so welcome to the Niger Delta, because the contradictions and issues, historical and contemporary, all the challenges of security, of stability, all the challenges of development and of environment, you see them in their naked form in Bayelsa.”

Others who spoke include the presidents of Ijaw National Council (INC), Boma Obuoforibo; Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Udengs Eradiri, traditional rulers, women representatives and leaders from host communities who all unanimously sought massive development of the region and job creation for its youths through industrialisation.

Vía Uzomedia http://ift.tt/2kff0Iy