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COME TO THE STATE OF OSUN AND ENJOY STABLE ELECTRICITY – Governor Oyetola

The Governor, State of Osun, Mr. Gboyega Oyetola today invited both local and international investors to the State of Osun where they would enjoy considerably stable power supply, friendly environment and unparalleled market. He stated this today at the official commissioning of the Itesiwaju International Abattoir Market situated along Ife-Ibadan Expressway, Ikire.

The massive edifice, built by Alhaji Mutiu Oladejo Onimalu is to produce both life and processed meats in a hygienic environment to serve the South West market and beyond.

In an address read by the Deputy Governor, Mr. Gboyega Alabi, who represented the Governor, he stated that the state is ever ready to support both the new Abattoir and other investments in the state to ensure good profit for investors and product availability at affordable prices for Nigerians.

He thanked Alhaji Mutiu Oladejo Onimalu for choosing Osun State for the laudable project and invited other investors to consider the State of Osun for profitable ventures.

The Flying Eagles of Nigeria coach, Paul Aigbogun has submitted a provisional list of 30 players ahead of the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Poland. 

Flying Eagles The list include Villarreal of Spain’s striker Samuel Chukweze, Bologna of Italy midfielder Kingsley Michael and Manchester City’s midfielder Tom Dele Bashiru, but long Afeez Aremu who helped the team to qualify for the World Cup was dropped from the list. 

The Flying Eagles have been drawn in the same group alongside Qatar, USA and Ukraine at the 2019 FIFA U20 World Cup finals. 

VAM News confirmed the Squad, Home-Based: 
Detan Ogundare, 
Olawale Oremade, 
Matthew Yakubu, 
Mike Zaruma, 
Rabiu Mohammad, 
Solomon Onome, 
Ikouwem Udo Utin, 
Quadri Liameed, 
Adewale Oladoye, 
Peter Eletu, 
Ernest Chidiebere, 
Victor Arikpo, 
Effiom Maxwell, 
Abubakar Ibrahim, 
Adeshina Gata, 
Aniekeme Okon, 
Sor Collins, 
Ahmad Ghali, 
Aliu Salawudeen, 
Tijani Muhammad, 
Pascal Durugbor, 
Saeed Jibril, 
Valentine Ozornwafor. 

Overseas-Based: 
Samuel Chukwueze, 
Kingsley Michael, 
Ash Kigbu, 
Tom Dele-Bashiru, 
Chinedu Ekene, 
Henry Offia, 
Abubakar Jibril and Hamdi Akujobi.

The Lagos State Environmental Sanitation and Special Offences Task force has arrested 26 persons suspected to be cultists in different parts of the state. 

The Chairman of the agency, CSP Olayinka Egbeyemi, confirmed the arrest in a statement issued on Sunday by the Head, Public Affairs Unit of the Task Force, Mr Adebayo Taofiq. 

Egbeyemi said that that the suspects were arrested at their usual base in Agege. No fewer than 100 “Awawa boys’’ had been arrested and charged to court for breach of public peace, possession of arms and unlawful society group in 2017 and 2018, the statement added.

The taskforce chairman said that the suspects were arrested during an over-night enforcement operations tagged ‘Operation Restore Sanity to Lagos. Egbeyemi said that the taskforce carried out the operation around ‘Isale-oja’, ‘Funmilayo’, ‘Ile-pako at Amoo’, ‘Orile by cannal’, ‘Papa-Ashafa’, ‘Dopemu’ and ‘Old Oko-oba’ in Agege. 

“Criminal activities perpetuated by these various cult groups, particularly the dreaded ‘Awawa’ cult gang had become a serious threat to lives of residents and innocent members of the public around the areas. “It was an eye-sore seeing these miscreants and cultists robbing, raping and freely smoking Indian hemp with under age boys and girls during day time and at night,’’ he said. 

Egbeyemi added that another 64 miscreants and hoodlums, including three female teenagers were arrested during over-night raid around Oshodi. 

According to him, dangerous weapons and substance suspected to be Indian hemp were recovered from the 64 miscreants. “These miscreants and hoodlums were those attacking/breaking motorists’ windscreen and disturbing innocent members of the public by dispossessing them of their valuables such as cell phones, wallets and jewelleries around Oshodi. “It is disheartening that most parents have abdicated their responsibility toward their children as the youth are now found to be deeply involved in gangsterism. 

“Honestly, most of the crimes committed across the state are perpetrated by the youth who lack parental care,” he said. The chairman, who said that “Operation Restore Sanity to Lagos’’ would be a continuous exercise, added that it would be extended to other areas known to be inhabited by undesirable elements across the state. 

According to him, the Commissioner of Police in Lagos, CP Zubairu Muazu, has directed that all those arrested be charged to court for prosecution. Egbeyemi said the agency also dislodged more than 1500 illegal traders and impounded 96 motorcycles for plying restricted routes around Igando, a suburb of Lagos. He said that the traders were dislodged to pave way for free-flow of traffic as there were serious complaints by residents and motorists about the newly constructed roads being taken over by activities of illegal traders. 

“Strategically, this unusual and very risky trading practice has led to the death of some traders especially those who were not quick enough to escape from reckless drivers,” he said. 

The chairman maintained that the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Laws prohibit hawking, buying or selling goods on railway tracks, road-setbacks, walk-ways and drainage alignment across the state.

As candidates who sat for the 2019 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, await the release of the results, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, has alerted of fresh plots being deployed by fraudsters to dupe unsuspecting candidates. 

JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede To this end, the board, which said this in a weekly news bulletin, released to the media, Sunday, by its Head of Media, Dr Fabian Benjamin, has advised all candidates to “jealously guard their UTME registration numbers and profile codes to avoid falling victim of this latest scam.” Candidates, it added, “should know that what these fraudsters do is to take advantage of their naivety and subsequently obtain their registration numbers with which they print their Examination Notification slips which contain the candidates’ phone number and other vital data.” 

“These fraudsters then use this information to send messages to same candidates disguising as officials of the Board or persons who have special information, access and capacity to inflate the candidates’ scores among other things.” 

Their strategy is akin to that of a police officer who is unmindful of the fact that he is wearing his name tag on his uniform and when you address him by his name, he is surprised that you know his name, “the board said.  

It further advised candidates:” The Board urges candidates to see their registration numbers and profile codes as security data similar to the Automated Teller Machine, ATM pin number which admit them to make a withdrawal from their accounts. ” 

“The fraudsters use the information deprived of the examination Notification slip printed using the candidates’ registration number to open up a line of communication with candidates to dangle the enticing offer of awarding them higher scores in the yet-to-be-released 2019 UTME results among other mouth-watering promises.” 

This is fraudulent as they lack the capacity to do any of such. “Candidates are, therefore, enjoined to disregard messages or calls from anybody claiming to have access to the board’s classified information,” it said. 

JAMB said: “The board wishes to state emphatically that the results of the 2019 UTME have not been released.” It also urged the public, “particularly parents and candidates, to be wary of these dubious elements and disregard any overtures made by anybody touting their power or influence to inflate any candidate’s score.” 

“The Board will make it public when the results are ready. As such, the channel through which candidates can view their results has been communicated to them. ” In the meantime, security operatives have picked up some of these nefarious characters and they are on the trail of others still at large,” it further added.

The Nigerian Citizens Association in South Africa (NICASA) says Tony Elochukwu, a Nigerian from Nnobi, Anambra State, has been killed by an unidentified gunman in South Africa.
Prince Ben Okoli, the President of NICASA, said this in a letter to the Consular-General, Nigerian Consulate in Johanesburg.
Three Nigerians had been killed between April 6 and April 9 at different locations in the country.
In his letter, Okoli lamented the death and incessant killings of Nigerians in South Africa, saying:  “We received yet again the sad news of the death of another Nigerian in Witbank Mpumalanga province.
“Mr Tony Elochukwu from Nnobi Anambra State was shot twice in the head by an unidentified Nigerian gunman on April 24 at around 2:45pm.”
Okoli said that a lone Nigerian man walked to some Nigerians at a restaurant and inquired from them where to get some weed to smoke, but they told him that they did not know where since they do not smoke.
Okoli said the man then pulled out his gun and shot Elochukwu on the head and sped off in a car parked down the street.
He added that a case of murder had been opened at the police station by NICASA Chairman in Mpumalanga, Obeji Chukwuma.
“This look like another case of Nigerian killing one another,” he said.
“This ugly trend of Nigerians killed by fellow Nigerians is on the increase and is disturbing to our community. NICASA is deeply worried over the death and continued killings of our citizens in South Africa. People are worried and scared, since none of the perpetrators had been arrested or charged over it.
He appealed to the consulate to pressure the South African police to pursue the case of death of any Nigerian with seriousness.
“The South African police must stop attempting to encourage this killings by lack of investigation and prosecution with aim of bringing to justice every criminal involved in these heinous crimes,” he said.
Before the latest incident, Godwin Adama, the Consul-General, Nigerian Consulate Johannesburg, had condemned the killing of Nigerians at different locations in the country.
“It is clear that as much as any form of criminality and xenophobic attacks against foreigners, including Nigerians in South Africa, is condemnable; the killings do not fit into xenophobic attacks,” he had said.
“The cases are the stabbing of a Nigerian, Mr Bonny Iwuola, in Turfontain in Johanesburg on April 6 at about 23:30 hours in front of his house, by unknown assailants, and more of crime-related murder. “Another Nigerian, Gozien Christian, from Agbor in Delta State, was stabbed to death by three unknown assailants. No arrest has been made but cases were opened and police are investigating
the murders.
The third case of murder which happened on the night of April 8 at Sunnyside in Pretoria at the usual place of cult-related murders by Nigerian cult groups.
“All these cases do not appear to be xenophobic,” he added. “They are part of the usual crime-related killings in South Africa. Police statistics in South Africa indicate that over 18,000 murders take place in South Africa in a year.”

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has assured candidates of the 2019 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) that results would be ready from April 29.

The Board’s Head of Media and Publicity, Fabian Benjamin, disclosed this in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Bwari.
Mr Benjamin said that screening of the results would soon be over and the result released.
“We are still screening but hopefully, anytime next week, the results will be ready,” he said.
Speaking also on the board’s readiness to screen results of UTME candidates from 2009 to 2018, Mr Benjamin said this would begin after the release of the 2019 results.
He said this was part of the board’s effort to address the issues of malpractice in the system.
The board had stated that it would only release the 2019 UTME results after undergoing thorough screening to identify and apprehend examination cheats.
The process would identify those involved in multiple registration through biometric capturing and also address group registration by some elite schools, who end up mixing candidate’s data.
The board said: “Normally, results are expected to be out within 24 to 48 hours as obtained in previous examinations held in 2017 and 2018.
“However, the board does not want this to be business as usual.“Hence the programmed delay, which is part of its deliberate effort to properly scrutinize, identify and address all forms of examination malpractice.
“The board will continue to act decisively with regards to any irregularity discovered even after results are released.
“However, the board has made it a point of duty to screen all activities at all centres via CCTV recordings, to ensure that it does not release results of compromised examinations.”
The board, while regretting all inconvenience caused in the process, reaffirmed its commitment to providing equal opportunity to all candidates in order to articulate their aspirations.
JAMB said that effective from when it would officially release the results, all candidates can simply send RESULT, via SMS, to 55019 using the same number that was used for registration.
The result, it said, would be replied as an SMS shortly after.
This process, the board explained, was simplified to eliminate exploitation by business centres and cyber cafés who often take advantage of candidates.
It also urged candidates to ignore all messages in circulation on how to check the results as they were all products of deceit.
The 2019 UTME was conducted from April 11 to April 18 and over 1.8 million candidates registered for it. (NAN)

The President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Ayuba Wabba, said on Thursday that the excuse by some state governors that they could not pay the new N30,000 minimum wage was not tenable.

Wabba, who said that the minimum wage was binding having been signed into law, said that workers would not accept anything short of N30,000 minimum wage from any governor.
The NLC President, represented by an ex-officio of the Congress, Comrade Maureen Onyia-Ekwuazi, spoke in Ado Ekiti at the Ekiti NLC Delegate Conference, where a former Chairman of the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities, Ekiti State University Branch, Comrade Olatunde Kolapo, emerged as the new NLC chairman in Ekiti State.
Wabba said:
“Once the minimum wage bill had been signed by President Muhammadu Buhari, it has become a law and we won’t allow any governor to circumvent the law. What we asked for was a living wage and we can’t allow anybody to shortchange our members”.
The NLC boss urged the new labour leaders in Ekiti State to be resolute and committed in the struggle for improved welfare of their members, which he charged them to do without compromise.
Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, had at the opening of the conference raised hope of his government’s readiness to pay the new minimum wage to workers in the state.
Fayemi, represented by the Chief of Staff, Mr Biodun Omoleye, said the newly elected leadership of labour and trade unions in the state would soon be invited for a meeting on the modalities to ensure the payment.

President Muhammadu Buhari has vowed  that the Federal Government will not spare anyone found wanting in the wanton destruction of lives and property in Zamfara, Katsina and Kaduna States. 

President Buhari Buhari, who condemned banditry in the three states in strong terms, gave a marching order to  security chiefs to, within the shortest time possible, route out bandits tertorising parts of Zamfara, Katsina and Kaduna states. 

The President spoke through Governor Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina State, who, accompanied by  security heads in the state, visited Yar Santa and Tsamiyar Jino villages in Kankara Local Government to condole with the people over recent terrorist attacks on the communities resulting in the loss of lives and property running into millions of naira. 

According to a  statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media, Abdu Labaran Malumfashi,  Masari said the situation was unacceptable, assuring that the government was  prepared to deal with it. “We will not hesitate to deal appropriately with anyone found to be connected, or in anyway involved, in the banditry”,  the statement quoted the governor as telling his guests.  

“Peace and nomalcy must return to the the area, as securing lives and property is the essence of  government, and failure to do that is tantamount to shirking the responsibility of the oath of office. “Be rest assured that government will not abandon you in your hour of need, because we will take the fight to the bandits where ever they may be”. 

The President, however, noted that security was the business of everybody, more so that there was no sufficient security personnel to be posted to every part of the country in adequate measure. “Security and the maintenance of law and order are beyond the capacity of the men and officers of the security agencies. 

Therefore, there is the need for everyone, especially leaders in the society, to contribute towards ensuring the safety and security of their respective environment” , Buhari said.

The Federal Government has offered employment to 168 people who won the President’s National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Honours Awards.

The Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, announced this at the award ceremony which held on Friday in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.
Professor Osinbajo directed that the recipients of the awards be employed immediately into the Federal Civil Service.
He also announced automatic scholarships for the awardees to undertake postgraduate studies of their choice.
The event had in attendance former Head of State and founder of the NYSC, General Yakubu Gowon (rtd), and the Minister of Communications, Mr Adebayo Shittu, among other dignitaries.
VAM News confirmed that It was organised for corps members who served in the sets of 2015, 2016, and 2017.
The award ceremony took place at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa in the nation’s capital.
Details to follow…

Ajafẹtọ ọmọniyan, Ọmọlolu Akinwale ti bu ẹnu atẹ lu igbesẹ awọn adari ni Naijiria ti wọn ma n lọ si oke okun lati lọ ṣe ipade ṣaaju idibo lorilẹede Naijiria. 

Ọmọlolu bu ẹnu atẹ lu iṣesi yii lasiko to n ba BBC sọrọ lori bi oludije fun ipo adari Ile Igbimọ Asojusofin, Femi Gbajabiamila ko aṣojuṣofin aadọta ti wọn sẹsẹ dibo yan lọ si Saudi Arabia lati lọ sepade.
Iroyin gbe e jade pe adari ẹsin musulumi ni ariwa Naijiria, Sheikh Dahiru Usman to wa pẹlu awọn aadọta asojusofin ti wọn dibo yan naa ti buwọlu Gbajabiamila gẹgẹ bi ẹni ti yoo jẹ adari Ile Asojusofin lorilẹede Naijiria.
Ajafẹtọ ọmọniyan naa ni ohun to buru jai ni ki wọn fi owo to yẹ ki wọn fi tun ilu se, lọ maa fi se ipade ti wọn ṣi wà lori alefa. Ati wi pe o jẹ ọna ati ko owo jẹ ati lati se owo ilu basubasu.
O fi kun un wi pe o yẹ ki Aarẹ Buhari to n gbogun ti iwa ibajẹ kan an ni dandan wi pe, ko gbọdọ si ẹni ti yoo lọ si oke okun lati lọ se ipade ni okeere.
Ọmololu Akinwale naa wa fi kun wi pe ko si ipade kankan ti eniyan fẹ se ti ko le e se ni awọn ilu to lamilaaka lorilẹede Naijiria, ti yoo si yori si rere.