Dear KFBers, we have got loads of interesting stories in tonight's #MajorHeadlinesYouMissedToday feature...enjoy! Senate rejects Bu...
Senate rejects Buhari’s 46 ambassadorial nominees
The Senate has rejected the 46 non-career ambassadorial nominees sent to it by President Muhammadu Buhari for legislative approval.
The lawmakers said the list will be sent back to President Muhammadu Buhari “for resubmission and re-jigging.”
Some notable nominees are retired Justices of the Supreme Court, Justice George Oguntade; former Deputy Governor of Plateau State, Mrs. Paulen Tallen; former member of the House of Representatives, Usman Bugaje; and former Deputy Governor of Niger State, Ahmed Ibeto.
The nominees are Dr. Uzoma Ememke (Abia State), Dr. Clifford Zirra (Adamawa), Maj.-Gen. Godwin Umo (retd.) (Akwa Ibom), Christopher Okeke (Anambra), Yusuf Tugar (Bauchi), Baba Madugu (Bauchi), Brig.-Gen. Stanley Diriyai (Bayelsa), Dr. Enyantu Ifenne (Benue), Mohammed Hayatuddeen (Borno) and Dr. Etubom Asuquo (Cross River).
Also on the list are Francis Efeduma (Delta), Jonah Odo (Ebonyi), Uyagwe Igbe (Edo), Ayodele Ayodeji (Ekiti), Maj.-Gen. Chris Eze (retd.)(Enugu), Suleiman Hassan (Gombe), Amin Muhammad Dalhatu (Jigawa), Muhammad Yaro (Kaduna), Deborah Iliya (Kaduna), Prof. D. Abdulkadir (Kano), Haruna Ungogo (Kano), Justice lsa Dodo (Katsina), Dr. Usman Bugaje (Katsina), Prof. Tijjani Bande (Kebbi), Prof Y. O. Aliu (Kogi) and Nuruddeen Mohamed (Kwara).
Others are Prof. Mohamed Yisa (Kwara), Justice George Adesola Oguntade (retd.)(Lagos), Senator Olorunimbe Mamora (Lagos), Modupe Irele (Lagos), Musa Ilu Muhammad (Nasarawa), Mohammad Ibeto (Niger), Ade Asekun (Ogun), Sola Iji (Ondo), Adegboyega Ogunwusi (Osun), Maj.-Gen. Ashimiyu Olaniyi (retd.) (Oyo), Pauline Tallen (Plateau) and Dr. Haruna Bawa Abdullahi (Plateau).
Orji Ngofa (Rivers), Justice Sylvanus Adiewere Nsofor (Rivers), Jamila Ahmadu-Suka (Sokoto), Kabiru Umar (Sokoto), Mustapha Jaji (Taraba), Goni Modu Zanna Bura (Yobe), Garba Gajam (Zamfara) and Cpt. Abdullahi Uba Garbasi (Zamfara) were also nominated.
State governors had protested against their non-involvement in the selection of the non-career ambassadorial nominees by Buhari.
Tallen and Bugaje had rejected their nominations, citing failure to duly consult them.
Imo State and the Federal Capital Territory, which had representatives among the 47 career ambassadorial nominees, did not get any nominees in the non-career batch.
Sambo Dasuki declined offer to attend father’s burial – FG
Minister of Interior, Retired Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Danbazau, said former National Security Adviser, retired Col. Sambo Dasuki, on Monday declined an offer to visit his late father, Ibrahim Dasuki, in an Abuja hospital.
Similarly, Danbazau said Sambo had declined another offer to be in Sokoto throughout the mourning of his Father.
The Minister disclosed this while addressing newsmen in Sokoto on Tuesday.
”We had discussed with the Director-General, DSS, yesterday and Sambo was offered to visit his late father on his hospital bed in Abuja.
” He declined and said he preferred to pray for him. He was also offered to be in Sokoto throughout the mourning period and he also declined, preferring to pray for his late father. That was the true situation,” Danbazau said.
The Minister described the late Dasuki as a true nationalist, and prayed Allah for the repose his soul.
Ibrahim Dasuki, who was the former Sultan of Sokoto, and father of Col. Sambo, died on Monday in an Abuja Hospital at the age of 93.
He was buried in Sokoto on Tuesday.
CBN seek powers to stop Nigerians from keeping dollars, pounds at home
The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, is seeking to criminalize possession of foreign currency for more than 30 days, without depositing it in a bank.
This is contained in a document called the ‘Working Paper’, where the apex bank is proposing new amendments to the Foreign Exchange, Monitoring and Miscellaneous Exchange Act (FEMM).
Signed in 2014, the law liberalized the foreign exchange market in the country, allowing foreign investors to import and repatriate money freely.
CBN believes this is deeply flawed, especially in the current recession Nigeria is facing.
The Working Paper has been shared to members of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) and has also been uploaded to the website of the Nigerian Law Reform Commission.
According to Nairametrics, the act allows for “foreign currency purchased from the market to be repatriated without restrictions”.
The act “prohibits the seizure, forfeiture or expropriation of imported money by the government without providing exceptions.”
But CBN now wants to have powers to seize any such foreign currency if the source is questionable.
The CBN is unhappy that the law “allows foreign currency in excess of five thousand dollars imported or exported subject to declaration of statistics reason only.”
The apex bank is recommending that it be granted powers to restrict or prohibit the exportation of foreign currency when and where necessary to “protect the economy”.
The CBN also wants an amendment that allows it have the powers to “prevent monopoly and hoarding and a time limit for deposit of foreign currency in the bank”
Most public buildings are death traps – Fire Service
The Federal Fire Service (FFS) has expressed concern at the structural design of public buildings.
Controller General of FFS, Engr. Joseph Anebi, told newsmen on Tuesday in Abuja that most buildings in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and other states are death traps.
He lamented that despite the Service’s sensitisation programmes, the buildings were still non compliance to fire requirements.
Anebi disclosed that the Service will soon begin to close down such buildings if the occupants failed to put the fire fighting requirements in place.
“So many government structures here need to be sanctioned because the lives of people working there are not safe,” he said
“Some of these public buildings that have been fond wanting should do the needful to avoid being sanctioned very soon.”
Meanwhile, Amnesty International has asked the Lagos State authorities to provide alternative accommodation for over 30,000 residents of Otodo Gbame community in Lekki, whose houses were last week demolished in contravention of a court order.
UNIBEN to award 61 first class degrees
A total of 61 graduates will be awarded First Class degrees at the forthcoming 42nd convocation of the University of Benin, UNIBEN, according to its Vice Chancellor, Faraday Orumwense.
Addressing journalists in Benin on Tuesday, the UNIBEN vice-chancellor said 12,808 candidates would be awarded various diplomas and degrees during the ceremony holding from November 23 to 26.
According to him, 154 graduates would bag doctorate degrees, 2,531 master’s degrees, 233 post-graduate diplomas, 9, 281 undergraduate degrees, 95 undergraduate diplomas and 514 unclassified.
Mr. Orumwense said the ceremony would also feature the conferment of honorary degrees of Doctor of Science as well as Professor Emeritus to deserving Nigerians.
The vice-chancellor said the Convocation Lecture will be delivered by the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola.
He said that 15 newly-completed projects will be inaugurated while the institution’s Hall of Fame will be dedicated to Godwin Oshodin for his exceptional leadership qualities and creativity.
Boko Haram reportedly kills another Army Commander(PHOTOS)
Boko Haram insurgents have reportedly killed an Army Commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel, B.U. Umar.
Umar, who was the commanding officer of 114 TF battalion of the Nigerian Army was ambushed alongside his troops on Monday between Bita and Piridang.
The incident occurred while the troops were on their way to Yola in Adamawa State from Bita in Borno State.
The vehicle he and his men were travelling in was said to have stepped on an Improvised Explosive Device, IEDs, and when he stepped out to access the damage, the insurgent opened fire on him, killing him in the process.
Floods displaced over 2.1million Nigerians
President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said more that 2.1million people have been displaced by devastating floods in the country since 2012.
According to a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, the President disclosed this in his statement at the 22nd Session of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change taking place in Marrakech, Morocco.
The President was quoted as saying that Nigeria has no choice but to key into the global action on climate change.
“In Nigeria for instance, the impact is being felt by the more than 2.1 million people displaced by devastating floods that the country has continued to suffer since 2012.
“If not addressed by 2050, the human and financial cost would be colossal. For us in Nigeria, the larger dimension of the challenge goes beyond emission rights. Survival rights are also at stake,” the President said.
He declared the resolve of the Federal Government to ensure that policies put in place to address climate change will make the country emerge as one of the world’s best examples of how reducing emissions can benefit the environment and the economy.
