Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribery scored a sensational volley to lead the German champions to a 1-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday that kept them five points clear at the top of the Bundesliga with six matches left.
Second-placed Borussia Dortmund, who face Liverpool in the Europa League next week, secured a Champions League spot for next season, staging a late rally to beat Werder Bremen 3-2 thanks to substitute Adrian Ramos’ 82nd minute winner and make sure of a top three finish.
Frenchman Ribery, who has missed most of the season due to injury, took off at the edge of the box and sent his mid-air volley past Lukas Hradecky in the 20th minute after the keeper had initially saved a shot from Mario Goetze.
It was the 32-year-old’s second goal of the campaign after being sidelined for eight months with an ankle problem and then suffering another injury that kept him out until last month.
Their win also set a Bundesliga record for the longest clean sheet against one team, with Frankfurt having failed to net in their last 757 minutes against them and their last goal against Bayern dating back to 2011.
“We started really well and had a lot of good plays. Not only Franck’s amazing goal,” said Bayern coach Pep Guardiola, whose team face Benfica in the Champions League quarter-finals next week.
“It would have been easier if we had scored a second goal.”
Bayern, however, found little resistance from Eintracht and Xabi Alonso rattled the crossbar with a free kick as the hosts enjoyed close to 70 percent possession.
The treble-chasing Bavarians, who face Benfica in the Champions League quarter-finals next week, are on 72 points with Borussia Dortmund, who host Werder Bremen later on Saturday, on 64.
Dortmund top scorer Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang notched his 23rd goal of the campaign to put the hosts ahead in the 53rd but two goals in five minutes from Werder, without injured forward Claudio Pizarro, put them unexpectedly on the backfoot.
Japan international Shinji Kagawa grabbed the equaliser in the 77th, while Ramos, who came on in the 80th, secured the win with a diving header two minutes later to open up a 22-point gap with fourth-placed Bayer Leverkusen with six matches left.
Hertha Berlin, third on 48, are in action at Borussia Moenchengladbach on Sunday. The top three teams qualify for the Champions League group stage with the fourth going into the qualifying rounds.
Schalke 04 failed to climb back into Champions League contention, suffering a 3-0 loss at promoted Ingolstadt to drop to sixth on 44 points.
Argentine Pablo de Blasis struck twice as Mainz 05 battled past Augsburg 4-2 to reclaim fifth spot.
Hamburg SV took a big step towards securing their top- flight status, crushing bottom-placed Hanover 96 3-0 to move them into 10th place on 34, seven points above the relegation zone.
UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) said it was “deeply concerned and shocked” by a Sunday Times report in which a British doctor alleged he had prescribed banned performance-enhancing drugs to 150 sportsmen including several Premier League footballers.
The paper said Dr Mark Bonar claimed his “clients” included an England cricketer, British Tour de France cyclists, a British boxing champion, tennis players and martial arts competitors as well as footballers.
In the past six years he had treated more than 150 sportsmen from the UK and abroad with banned substances such as erythropoietin (EPO), steroids and human growth hormone, and the performance improvements were “phenomenal”, the report added.
The Sunday Times said that during a series of meetings with undercover reporters, Bonar had spoken about sportsmen he had treated. The newspaper also sent a sportsman to Bonar’s clinic, who recorded his appointments with a hidden camera.
Neither the newspaper nor Reuters was able to substantiate the claims made by the doctor.
UKAD chief executive Nicole Sapstead said the body had been aware of allegations against Bonar after a sportsperson approached them two years ago but had not been able to act upon them because he was not affiliated to any particular sport.
“Under current legislation, UKAD has the power only to investigate athletes and entourage (including medics) who are themselves governed by a sport,” she said.
UKAD had considered informing the General Medical Council, which overseas medical practitioners in Britain, but decided the evidence they had was insufficient for such a referral, Sapstead added.
UKAD chairman David Kenworthy said an independent review would be conducted into the issues raised by the report.
“They will be asked to look at the way the information supplied by the sportsperson was handled and whether proper procedures were followed,” he said.
“They will also be asked to make any recommendations to improve the way in which intelligence is dealt with in the future so that UKAD can be as effective as possible in keeping sport clean.”
The news is likely to cast a further shadow on the sporting world ahead of the Rio Olympics.
Russia was suspended from international track and field last year following a report exposing widespread cheating and corruption among its athletes.
The country faces a ban from the Olympics unless Russia can prove to the World Anti-Doping Agency and the IAAF governing body that it has met a series of conditions regarding its anti-doping operations.
Victoria Azarenka celebrates after her match against Svetlana Kuznetsova
Victoria Azarenka kept up a banner year when she beat Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3 6-2 to win the Miami Open in Florida on Saturday.
Azarenka punished her Russian opponent’s weak serve to wrap up the final in 80 minutes in relentless humidity under a searing sun in the early afternoon encounter on the Key Biscayne hardcourt.
The 13th seed finished off Kuznetsova with a powerful backhand groundstroke for the 20th title of her career, and her third of the year, after winning previously in Indian Wells and Brisbane.
It is the third Miami title for the 26-year-old from Belarus and the first time she has won the same tournament more than twice.
She is also the first woman to win the Indian Wells and Miami tournaments back-to-back since Kim Clijsters in 2005.
“This just gives me even more inspiration and motivation to keep working harder,” Azarenka said in a courtside interview.
“I’m very happy that all the work that I’ve been putting in is paying off. It’s such a great opportunity to play the whole month so consistent.”
Azarenka seems to be returning to the form that took her to the top of the world rankings four years ago, before she was sidetracked by injury and personal problems.
She beat Serena Williams in the final at Indian Wells two weeks ago, and on Saturday never gave Kuznetsova a chance.
She pounced on Kuznetsova’s second serve, breaking the Russian five times in the first set alone.
Azarenka also had her serving problems, however. She was broken three times in the first set but settled down in the second to hold throughout.
“It was pretty tough conditions with being so hot,” she said.
“It didn’t seem too windy but it was really difficult to serve because the ball was flying too much. I really took my opportunities, stepped into the net a lot.”
A long week perhaps caught up with Kuznetsova in the final, after she battled through three sets in four of the five matches she won to get to the final.
Along the way, she beat world number one Serena Williams.
But Kuznetsova was outclassed by Azarenka, whose sights will soon turn to the clay court season and the French Open.
“I think my game suits pretty well for the clay court season,” said the two-times Australian Open champion.
“I’ve been in the semis of the French Open. I’m ready to take that second step.”
The Naira on Friday, April 1, exchanged at N321 to the dollar, an increase of 0.3 per cent at the parallel market.
The Naira gained N1 from its previous value of N322.
However, the Naira depreciated against the Pound Sterling and the Euro as it traded for N457 and N357 respectively, from N448 and N355 it had exchanged previously.
Meanwhile the official interbank rate remained at N197 to the dollar.
Traders at the market expressed optimism that the Naira would appreciate further over the weekend as trading activities unwind.
Transactions on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, on Friday, April 1, traveled further North by 0.79 per cent due to gains achieved by some highly capitalized stocks.
The All-Share Index gained 200.87 points, representing 0.79 per cent growth to close at 25,507.09 points against 25,306.22 posted on Thursday.
Likewise, the market capitalisation inched N69.09 billion or 0.79 per cent to close at N8.773 trillion compared to the N8.704 trillion on Thursday.
Dangote Cement recorded the highest price gain to lead the gainers’ table, growing by N3.20 to close at N171 per shared. It was trailed by PZ with 79k to close at N23.50, while ETI garnered 69k to close at N15.20 per share.
Unilever chalked up 50k to close at N29.50 and Oando appreciated by 40k to close at N4.58 per share.
On the other hand, Guinness topped the laggards’ chart with a loss of N4.50 to close at N100 per share. 7UP dipped N1 to close at N154, while Stanbic IBTC shed 75k to close at N14.25 per share.
Nigerian Breweries dropped 61k to close at N106.39 and Lafarge Africa lost 49k to close at N76.51 per share.
However, the volume of shares traded closed lower with a total of 211.31 million shares valued at N1.01 billion transacted in 2,377 deals.This was against 264.04 million shares worth N1.94 million achieved in 3,298 deals on Thursday.
The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, has expressed concern over multiple taxations imposed on telecommunications firms in Nigeria.
The Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Garba Umaru, made the observation in a message to the Special Day of the commission at the ongoing 27th Enugu International Trade Fair in Enugu on Friday, April 1.
Umaru said the service providers are suffering untold hardship in the country as a result of imposition of taxes and levies.
“Apart from the taxes and levies, the service providers are further burdened with regulations that restrict right of way to deploy or expand services.
“Even when the service providers are willing to make services available, we as members of government at various levels and communities put bottlenecks on their way.
He said that for the service providers to make services available to consumers, they have to build base stations, masts, towers, which were challenges they faced.
The NCC boss said that the commission had continued to engage states in the South-East to discourage multiple taxations and regulations.
Umaru expressed regrets that vandalising telecom infrastructure was very high in the South-East of the country which also contributed to the challenges faced by service providers.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, on Friday, April 1,stated that it did not disqualify, Tonye Alalibo, PDP candidate for Akuku-Toru Constituency 11, from participating in re-run election in Rivers.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Aniedi Ikoiwak, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Port Harcourt that judgment of election tribunal and Court of Appeal excluded the party and its candidate from participating in the election.
Ikoiwak explained that two days to the re-run, the commission wrote to the state chapter of PDP informing it that the party and its candidate had been excluded in the election.
He said: “The decision was taken by the commission in compliance with the judgment of the tribunal and that of the Court of Appeal.”
The commissioner said insinuations that the commission deliberately disqualified the candidate was false and baseless.
A breakdown showed unclaimed depositors’ fund of N17.02m from three micro finance banks, as well as N43.68m for depositors in the closed Havard Trust Savings and Loans. Managing Director/ Chief Executive of NDIC, Umaru Ibrahim, made the call at the ongoing 27th Enugu International Trade Fair.
Ibrahim, who was represented by Mr. Nicholas Ayuba Ibrahim, urged depositors who have funds in liquidated banks “to endeavour to file their claims with the corporation for immediate payment.”
“I wish to use this opportunity to call on depositors of the three MFBs here in Enugu, whose licences were revoked recently to, as a matter of urgency, come forward and file claims for payment of their deposits.
“Of the total insured deposit, amounting to N75.49 million for the three MFBs, N58.47m has been paid, leaving a balance of N17.02m.
“Furthermore, depositors of the closed Havard Trust Savings and Loans, also in Enugu, are advised to file their claims as N37.96m only has been paid to some of them to date out of the insured sum of N81.64m, leaving an outstanding balance of N43.68m.”
The NDIC boss equally cautioned Nigerians against patronising ‘wonder banks,’ which he said “offer mouthwatering interest rates to dupe unsuspecting members of the public of their hard earned incomes in the name of investments.
Against the backdrop of an increase in the number of shopping malls in the country in recent times, one of Nigeria’s foremost real estate companies and Manager of the Lagos City Mall, Ibukun Efuntayo & Co has said the increase was good for the Nigerian economy.
Since the beginning of this year, more than five upscale shopping malls have opened shops in the country while some existing ones are expanding their outlets across the length and breadth of the country.
For instance, Shoprite, a leading South Africa mass retail supermarket, has been opening more outlets in the country, following its successful debut in Lekki, Lagos in 2005 while Spar, another hypermarket, which also begun operations in the country in the 2000s has also recently opened a new outlet in the Ilupeju area of Lagos to enhance shopping experience of Nigerians among others.
Speaking in an interview in Lagos, Mr. Emmanuel Efuntayo, Chief Executive Officer, Ibukun Efuntayo & Co said the coming of the new malls signposts positive investor confidence in Nigeria’s economy. He stated that as much as the malls provided convenient shopping experience to shoppers, it will also provide job opportunities for Nigerians and boost government tax revenues.
He attributed the rise in number of shopping malls in the country to changing lifestyle as more people find it more convenient to purchase all their needs in one shop than go from shop to shop.
“The coming of these malls is good for our economy. It goes on to show that our economy is developing and that we have the population that can support these malls. Shopping malls provide that convenience where shoppers can buy all that they want under the same roof while being entertained at the same time, so it’s good especially for those upwardly mobile people. Beside all these benefits, the malls provide direct employment to thousands of Nigerians and that is a good development,” Mr. Efuntayo said.
The Chief Executive Officer also hinted that the Lagos City Mall was poised to continue to offer quality shopping experience to visitors at the mall. He described the Lagos City Mall as a one-stop shopping and entertainment centre where friends and families can visit to unwind. Apart from the quality experience offered by the mall, he said the mall was strategically located for shopping comfort.
“At the Lagos City Mall, we have the advantage of accessibility both for people living on the Island and on the Mainland. It is easier to connect and exit. We have a generous car park and adequate security for shoppers and their properties. The Lagos City Mall is just a few meters away from the Onikan Police Station which guarantees the security of mall visitors and tenants alike,” he said.
He added that a top of the class restaurant would open in the mall in a few weeks to complement the other eateries and pubs that offer quality services to upwardly mobile people who live on the Lagos Mainland but work on the Island to get adequate refreshment while waiting for traffic to ease before going home.
He urged visitors and residents of Lagos to patronize the mall for their lifestyle shopping and entertainment. He said the mall will create more fun and social hub for the upscale south west of Ikoyi, Victoria Island and Lagos Island.
Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima has disclosed that his administration has expended over thirty billion naira to promote agricultural production in the state.
The pointed out that agriculture held the key to job creation in the state and also a solution to the Boko Haram menace in the area.
He said, “Agriculture offers opportunity to our people in productive venture and it (we) has to be in the whole value chain of agricultural production process.”
Governor said, ”We have investment worth over N30 billion in agricultural machinery and the whole mantra is for an increase in yield. In Nigeria, we produce five tonnes of tomato per hectare, in England, they produce 50 tonnes per hectare.”
He further explained that a cow in Nigeria produces one litre of milk per day, while a cow in Germany would produced 40 to 60 litres per day.
“So, the whole mantra is to increase yield and we have to invest in modern technology, improve seed varieties, fertiliser and other modern agricultural practices. We have over 50 combined harvesters, we have 700 planters, right now, we have about 600 rice mills”, he revealed.
Governor Shettima also revealed that the state government had established 10 industries, including a tomato processing plant as part of initiatives to take advantage of the core value chain in the agricultural production process.
He said, the plants would take advantage of the huge quantum of tomato and other raw materials produced in the state and its environs.
He further disclosed that the state had also invested in poultry production that would be used to implement the government’s school feeding programme.
“We just imported 3,000 units of Anglo-Sahelian goats from Niger and Chad that are superior to our local varieties and we are buying 100 Kalahari South African goats.”
Access Bank has announced the appointment of Mr. Abba Mamman Tor Habib, as Non-Executive Director. Mr. Habib is a thorough bred banking professional with 20 years banking experience. 15 of which were spent with Guaranty Trust Bank Plc where he voluntarily retired in 2008 as an Executive Director. His experience in Guaranty Trust Bank spanned across Corporate Banking and Risk Management. Mr. Habib has since 2008 been the Managing Director of Gremcoh Services Limited his family owned agriculture and real estate enterprise.
He holds a First Class Bachelor of Science degree in Agric Economics from University of Maiduguri (1986) and Master of Science in Banking and Finance from Bayero University Kano (1997). Mr Habib has attended several Executive Development programmes in leading institutions including African Development Bank, Harvard, IMD, D.C Gardner London and Insead. His appointment is subject to the approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Bank’s shareholders.
Commenting on the appointment, Mrs. Mosun Belo-Olusoga the Chairman of Access Bank said: “We are very delighted to welcome Abba on the Board of Access Bank. He brings on board a very rich professional and board level experience relevant to our Bank and our industry. These skills will no doubt support our Bank’s quest to become the World’s Most Respected African Bank.”
With this appointment, Access Bank’s board is made up of 15 Directors, 7 of which are Executive while 8 are Non-Executive, 2 of whom are Independents.
The Federal Government of Nigerian was not winning the war on corruption in spite of the overwhelming evidence available to it, human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has said.
Delivering the keynote speech at a round table on “Winning the War Against Corruption” in Lagos, Mr. Falana said, the government was yet to understand that the anti-corruption battle could not be won through regular courts.
“Apart from the class solidarity usually extended to politically exposed persons by judges in all capitalist societies, the situation is compounded in Nigeria by judicial corruption and professional misconduct on the part of senior lawyers involved in the defense of corruption cases,” said Mr. Falana, also a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).
“Owing to lack of coordination in the trial of politically exposed persons, corruption is fighting back. Painfully, the federal government is on the defensive as it has failed to counter the deliberate manipulation of the criminal justice system by the indicted looters of the public treasury.”
Mr. Falana, who was represented by Wahab Shittu, accused the regular courts of subjecting corruption and drug related cases to frivolous adjournments, rather than hearing them day by day as stipulated by the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015.
“As if that is not enough, the suspects are being granted bail in their own recognizance or other ridiculously liberal terms by trial judges notwithstanding the gravity of the offences allegedly committed by them.
“Some other judges are granting interlocutory or perpetual injunctions to restrain the anti-graft agencies and the police from arresting, investigating and prosecuting politically exposed persons.
“The ban on granting of stay of proceedings by the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, is not being observed by the courts.”
Mr. Falana also said most of the ongoing corruption cases would not be concluded before 2019.
“Even if the defendants are convicted, the cases will be pursued up to the Supreme Court,” he said.
“If the current trend continues, some of the cases will not be concluded in the next 10 years., therefore, the federal government should review the anti-corruption policy with a view to setting up a Special Anti-Corruption Court to try all economic and financial crimes including corruption”, he advised.
The lawyer canvassed for the establishment of Special Courts to specifically handle cases of corruption, terrorism, drug trafficking, human trafficking, advanced fee fraud, and other economic crimes.
“At the end of the four years of the Buhari administration, the success of the anti-corruption policy will not be measured by the number of arrests or investigations carried out by the anti-graft agencies,” Mr. Falana said.
Adding that, “If the status quo remains unchanged, the Nigerian people and the international community will blame the administration for its inability to secure the conviction of corrupt politically exposed persons with all the evidence at its disposal.”
“Therefore, a special court ought to be established to deal specifically with economic and financial crimes as well as electoral offences. Otherwise, the anti-corruption policy of the federal government will not achieve its desired objectives,” he suggested.
President Muhammadu Buhari during a ceremonial parade in Abuja to mark the 2016 police week said, recruitment of 10,000 personnel by the Nigerian Police (NPF) would help address the challenges of unemployment in the country.
Represented by the Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau, the president said the initiative would also address the manpower gap in the police.
He advised the NPF management to put national interest in mind when conducting the recruitment exercise in line with the reform agenda of the ministry of interior.
The President averred that community policing had become more imperative considering the current security challenges in the country.
He also disclosed that the government had funded the procurement of over 1,000 patrol vehicles and other logistics to strengthen operational capacity of the police and strengthened its technical intelligence capacity in order to address the challenges of highly organised crimes.
“No nation thrives without security, and neither can a nation lay claim to security without an efficient policing service.
“This administration shall continue to support initiatives that will guarantee the reform and modernisation of the Nigeria Police.
Earlier, the Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, said that with the support of the citizens, the police was determined to fight criminals who continued to threaten the peace and security of the nation.
He said that the ‘Week’ was aimed at restoring the lost glory of the Force.
“In essence, the Police Week is a celebration of our history as well as an opportunity for the Force to reconnect with the people for a more effective policing,” he said.
The chief of defense staff, other service chiefs, diplomats and traditional rulers were among others that witnessed the parade.
Oando Plc informed the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) that it was unable to file its 2015 corporate results before the March 31 deadline as required by the exchange’s rules since there was a need to refer it to the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRC) before it would be made public.
In a statement to the NSE, the management said it would like to advise shareholders, key stakeholders and the wider investors community that it was unable to complete the 2015 audit and issue the audited accounts before the March 31 deadline, as required by exchange rules.
The statement said OandO had worked diligently with its external auditor to ensure a swift conclusion of the audit process, “however, after reviewing the financials, EY indicated that the Accounts may likely need to be referred to the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (“FRC”) pursuant to Rule 5 of the recently publicised FRC Rules.”
The management said, “We expect the process to be concluded on or before 31 May, 2016, however this is dependent on the completion of the external review process as referred to above. The company’s management would also like to bring to the attention of its shareholders and the investor community that the accounts of the company at FYE 2015 will be in line with its Q3 2015 performance.”
The statement further said, “The expected decline is attributable to the industry’s downturn, prevalent economic headwinds, as well as fiscal and monetary restrictions driven by a challenging macro environment. While we are actively restructuring the business to adapt to this difficult period, we are optimistic and steadfast in our commitment to return to profitability in 2016.”
OandO Plc was a strong player in the downstream sector and among the major petroleum product marketers in Nigeria and its also quoted on the floor of the Lagos bourse.
Are you in love with an Igbo girl and planning to marry her? Then this is for you!
Igbo girls, a sect of Nigerian girls from the south-eastern parts of the country, are one of the most beautiful and intelligent women in the world. However, they have other unique quirks which impact their marriages considerably.
For those who have fallen in love with Igbo girls and are unaware of these other things that come with being eternally linked to them, Jovago.com, Africa’s No1 online hotel booking site, has put together a little list to help you understand your wife to be. Please keep in mind that list is applicable to most Igbo girls, but not all, like everything else, there are exceptions to the rule.
They value the presence of their family
Igbo girls have deep regard for family and so usually want to have members of their family around most of the time. Her relationship with her parents, siblings and even extended family is close knit and she will not compromise or cut them off in a hurry.
Any guy marrying an Igbo girl has to keep in mind that their home will always be packed with family members gossiping, quarrelling and laughing. Even if you decided to live far away from family, be rest assured that she will keep sending random things back home, will get home-sick a lot and so, will be in constant communication with her family.
They will speak their language to the children
While most Igbo girls are well-groomed and can speak English without the detection of a local accent, they are usually well-versed in their dialect and are proud to speak it at any time. Even when they marry from other tribes or country, they do not neglect their dialect for their husbands or a foreign one.
Their children most usually speak this mother-tongue first before learning that of their husband or any other language. So also, they tend to pass down unique Igbo traits and traditions to their children even if they are married into other tribes.
They will take care of you with love
Igbo girls are beautiful and intelligent, but most of all, they are very caring, hardworking and industrious.
They are generally strong women and while the husband plays the head of the home and brings home the bread, she most likely ends up being the foundation of the house: takes care of the kids, the budget, the food, the home generally. She will not hesitate to take up several jobs to support her husband and family, and she will still fulfill her wifely duty to keep everyone happy.
They are very religious
Igbos are very religious people and their preferred religion is Christianity. Most Igbo girls are brought up in strict religious homes and as such, they have the fear of God and the belief in His supremacy instilled in them.
Even when they get emancipated from their parents, they still carry those values with them into their marriage and homes. Be prepared to go to church every Sunday, and observe religious holidays and church programmes once married to an Igbo girl, they hardly compromise on this or convert to other religions.
Their local delicacies will fill out the home menu
Igbos have a large variety of delicious dishes and their women are trained to know these recipes from an early age. They also have a love for their local meals and so they find it difficult to change their diet to food from other areas.
No doubt after marriage, especially if they are married to someone from another country or tribe, they can make the necessary compromise and eat other dishes, but be rest assures that they will not throw their home food completely away. They find ways to cajole their new family into accepting their local dishes and this is usually easy as Igbo meals are usually delicious and the girls are great cooks.
Federal Government of Nigeria has approved the sum of N350 billion payment to contractors handling various infrastructure development projects in the country, most of whom had abandoned the projects for almost three years due to lack of fund.
Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Babachir Lawal who disclosed the approved sum at the opening of the second National Conference on Public Procurement (NACOPP) said, the payment was a relieve to the contractor would were expected to mobilise to site immediately.
Mr. Lawal opined that the payment would encourage the contractors to discharge their obligations to the development of infrastructure, but warned that every kobo expended must be guided by the Procurement Act.
He pointed out that the present administration had promised ‘change’ to Nigerians and would deliver it, he also gave an assurance that the dividends of democracy would soon be seen by Nigerians.
“I am convinced that when the dividends of democracy flourish, all will benefit. We are confident that the state stands to benefit from the procurement system that is transparent, efficient, competitive and accountable”, he said.
Meanwhile, the acting Director General of Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), Mr. Ahmed Abdu, revealed that 25 states had set up procurement agencies through the inspiration of BPP.
He confirmed support the agency received from World Bank, African Development Bank (AfDB) and other foreign organisations in the discharge of its duties.
President Mohammed Buhari and John Kerry, U.S. Secretary of State
Government of the United State of America would invest 600 million dollars as development assistance to Nigeria in 2016, the Secretary of State, John Kerry has said.
American embassy through a statement issued by its Public Affairs Unit said John Kerry was quoted as saying this at a bilateral meeting between Nigerian and U.S. officials in Washington D.C.
The U.S. Secretary of State said, “our development assistance this year will top 600 million dollars”.
“We are working closely with your leaders, the leaders of your health ministry, to halt the misery that is spread by HIV/AIDS, by malaria, and by TB,” he said.
Mr. Kerry then lauded President Muhammadu Buhari’s actions in the area of security and the attempt to diversify the economy.
He said, “The U.S. is very encouraged by President Buhari’s commitment to diversify the Nigerian economy in order to make it less dependent on a single commodity for export earnings, and that means we need to develop sustainability.
“Sustainable growth depends on a climate that is welcoming to investment and respectful of the environment and of workers’ rights,” he said.
He added that the U.S. Power Africa Initiative was aimed at strengthening the energy sector, where shortage in electricity frustrated the population and impeded growth.
Mr. Kerry said that the U.S. Young African Leaders Programme which many Nigerians participate in, was preparing the next generation to take the reins of responsibility.
He noted that the U.S. was working with Nigeria to fight illiteracy, especially in the Northern part of the country.
“We are working together to fight illiteracy, especially in the country’s north, where the lack of opportunity has been holding people back and Boko Haram murdered thousands and disrupted million lives.”
The statement quoted Nigeria’s Foreign Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, as commending the U.S. support to Nigeria.
Mr. Onyeama said the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration had put in place measures to diversify the nation’s economy.
“We’re really looking to diversify into areas such as agriculture, solid minerals and other extraction industries.
‘’We have to promote our manufacturing sector and look at sustainable economic growth.
“For sustainable economic growth, we appreciate that we have to also develop a manufacturing base,” he said.
The foreign minister said Nigeria was also placing emphasis on Foreign Direct Investment which he said was key to the economy and stressed the need for Nigeria to do a lot more to make it an attractive place for business.
A South African court has ordered President Jacob Zuma to pay back some of the $16 million of state money spent upgrading his private home, in a stinging rebuke that hits the scandal-plagued leader financially and politically.
The unanimous ruling by the 11-judge constitutional court, a central pillar of the democracy established at the end of apartheid, also said Zuma had failed to “uphold, defend and respect” the constitution by ignoring Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s findings on his sprawling residence at Nkandla in rural KwaZulu-Natal.
In 2014, Madonsela, a constitutionally mandated anti-corruption watchdog, identified a swimming pool, cattle enclosure, chicken run, amphitheater and visitor centre as non-security items that Zuma must pay for.
Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng gave the Treasury 60 days in which to determine their “reasonable cost”, after which Zuma would have a further 45 days to pay. Early estimates of the costs were 10 million rand ($680,000), Madonsela said.
Besides hurting Zuma, the ruling is a vindication for the soft-spoken but steely lawyer described by Mogoeng as “the embodiment of the Biblical David” fighting against the Goliath of state corruption.
“The office of the Public Protector is one of the true crusaders and champions of anti-corruption and clean governance,” Mogoeng said. “Hers are indeed very wide powers that leave no lever of government power above scrutiny.”
In a short statement, Zuma’s office said it respected the ruling and would determine the appropriate action in due course.
Madonsela said the ruling should help restore the shaken faith of South Africans and others, including investors, in the state of democracy in the continent’s most advanced economy.
“The judgment was something that many of us as lawyers will cherish for the rest of our lives,” she said. “I always said that our democracy is built to last. When part of the system fails, you can’t say the entire system has failed.”
The uncompromising nature of his verdict – Mogoeng said it carried a “profound lesson” for South Africa – piles more pressure on Zuma, whose second term in office is due to end in 2019.
Zuma was also ordered to pay costs.
Standing outside the court in downtown Johannesburg, opposition leader Mmusi Maimane told reporters Zuma should be removed from office and said he would table a parliamentary motion to have him impeached.
Zuma, a 73-year-old polygamous Zulu traditionalist, has been under intense fire since December when his abrupt sacking of Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene sent the rand into a tail-spin.
The rand firmed to a near-four month high against the dollar as Mogoeng delivered his ruling.
The African National Congress (ANC) called an emergency meeting of its ‘Top Six’ leaders – who include Zuma – to discuss the “serious nature” of the court’s findings.
Its majority in parliament would most certainly give Zuma political cover against any attempt to impeach him, but the judicial rebuke may embolden anti-Zuma factions within the ruling party to mount a challenge.
“It’s a major decision that is going to have a significant impact on our political environment,” said Gary van Staden, political analyst at NKC African Economics.
“In most other places in the world it would be terminal for President Zuma but we will have to wait and see how the balance of forces are playing out in the ANC.”
Much of the court ruling focused on whether Madonsela’s 2014 findings and recommendations on Nkandla were legally binding.
Mogoeng made it very clear they were, saying it would be pointless if the public protector’s findings could be ignored “willy nilly”.
Over the last two years, Zuma has refused to comply, instead ordering parallel investigations by the public works and police ministries that exonerated him, based on declarations that included calling the swimming pool a fire-fighting reservoir.
As president, Zuma’s annual salary is 2.7 million rand ($183,000). If any payments are made on his behalf, they would be liable for income tax at 41 percent.
Last month, Zuma’s legal team admitted they were worried about political fallout from the case in mid-year provincial elections, urging the court not to wander too far from its explicitly legal mandate.
“This is a delicate time in a dangerous year,” his lawyer, Jeremy Gauntlett, told the court. “It will be wrong if this court makes a ruling which may result in a call for impeachment.”
Adama Simila wears a knife tied to his belt by a piece of rope, his only protection against Boko Haram, the Nigerian Islamist insurgents who have repeatedly targeted his home town in remote northern Cameroon.
While the threat once came from heavily armed, battle-hardened jihadists crossing from neighbouring Nigeria, today Simila knows he is more likely to die at the hands of a teenage girl strapped with explosives.
“We’re here to look out for suicide bombers,” said the 31-year-old, a member of a local civilian defence force in the town of Kerawa.
After watching its influence spread during a six-year campaign that has killed around 15,000 people according to the U.S. military, Nigeria has now united with its neighbours to stamp out Boko Haram.
A regional offensive last year drove the insurgents from most of their traditional strongholds, denying them their dream of an Islamic emirate in northeastern Nigeria. An 8,700-strong regional force of troops from Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria is seeking to finish the job.
Now, increasingly on the back foot, Boko Haram is retaliating with a deadly guerrilla campaign against civilians, and ordinary people like Simila have become the last line of defence.
“I’m not scared. They are people, we are also people. We must die to live,” said Simila, who was at the Kerawa market in September when two girls detonated themselves, killing 19 people and injuring 143 others. A nearly identical bombing at the same market followed in January.
Outside Nigeria, Cameroon has been hardest hit by Boko Haram, which now operates out of bases in the Mandara Mountains, Sambisa Forest and Lake Chad — areas straddling the borders between Cameroon, Nigeria, Chad and Niger.
Since August 2014, the sect has carried out 336 attacks in Cameroon, according to the Cameroonian army, which has lost 57 of its own men while defending the north.
Of 34 recorded suicide bombings killing 174 people, 80 percent were carried out by girls and young women aged 14 to 24 years.
Girls abused as sex slaves by the group are psychologically damaged and therefore more vulnerable, the army says. Boko Haram also uses girls because they are thought less likely to arouse suspicion, although that may be changing now.
“The goal now is to stop Boko Haram incursions into villages, stop them from planting IEDs (home-made bombs), and stop suicide bombings,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Felix Tetcha, a senior officer in the army’s operation against Boko Haram.
Cameroon has thrown vast resources into protecting the north.
In total nearly 10,000 of its troops are deployed against Boko Haram. The army’s Rapid Intervention Brigade (BIR), comprised of its most professional, best equipped soldiers, patrols a high-risk 400-km (250-mile) stretch of the border with Nigeria.
The U.S. military backs them with equipment, training and intelligence gathered from American drones flown out of a base in the town of Garoua. A Reuters reporter saw a small American military camp inside another BIR base in nearby Maroua.
Still, the terrain is mountainous and Boko Haram has rigged many roads with explosives designed to kill soldiers. Army officers are convinced that some fighters from Boko Haram, which pledged allegiance to Islamic State last year, have been trained at IS camps in Libya.
Armed incursions by Boko Haram fighters have dropped. But the army does not have enough soldiers to deploy in every town in northern Cameroon, and suicide bombers strike regularly, often several times in a single week.
“The border is under control, but it’s still very porous,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Emile Nlaté Ebalé, head of operations and logistics for the BIR’s mission in the north.
Faced with such an asymmetrical threat, Cameroon’s army has turned to so-called vigilance committees for help.
As the blazing midday sun beat down on Kerawa, Bouba Ahmada walked along a dry, scrub-lined creek bed, an ancient flintlock musket slung around his neck.
“Here is Cameroon, over there is Nigeria,” he said, gesturing towards the abandoned homes just across the dusty expanse. “It’s empty. Only Boko Haram stays there.”
Made up of men and boys armed with machetes, home-made rifles or bows and arrows, these self-defense forces have the blessing of the local government.
They accompany the army on patrols and intelligence gathering missions, question travelers, and denounce to the military anyone deemed suspect.
Last week they intercepted two female suicide bombers and handed them over to the army before they were able to detonate.
“We are not 100 percent dependent on this information, but this information is crucial,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Tetcha, who is not only defending Cameroon but also a growing number of Nigerians.
Close to the border sits the U.N.-run Minawao camp, home to nearly 57,000 refugees who have fled Boko Haram in Nigeria.
“Everybody suffers in this place,” said James Zapania, a 24-year-old camp resident from Gwoza, Nigeria. “We’re not worried about Boko Haram coming here, we’re worried about food.”
Refugees like Zapania often receive a chilly welcome from suspicious local villagers, many of whom view them as collaborators or even underground Boko Haram fighters.
According to one Cameroonian officer, the army has removed a number of individuals from Minawao for “activities that were not in line with the behaviour of a normal refugee”.
Suspicion is everywhere. And while Boko Haram infiltrators make up only a tiny portion of fleeing refugees, many, including the Cameroonian military, fear that desperation provides fertile ground for recruitment.
“We need to act quickly. There are young people with no work who could be vulnerable. When people are hungry, they are easily approached,” said Colonel Didier Badjeck, a Cameroonian military spokesman.
