SEGUN ADENIYI: Gaming the Rural Farmers

The Verdict By Olusegun Adeniyi. Email, olusegun.adeniyi@thisdaylive.com

My late father was a carpenter and a subsistent farmer, so I grew up in the village and tilled the land. For that reason, whenever any of those “A for Apple” school products talks about rural farming, I pay considerable attention. Yet the more the Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, “blows grammar” on this his multi-billion Naira cell phone project, the more I fail to understand what his real motivation is. Now that he has told Nigerians, right inside Aso Villa (where else?) that he doesn’t give a damn about how we feel on the issue, he can go ahead and procure his handsets. Of all that ails Nigerian farmers, how anybody would argue that doling out free handsets (that almost every Nigerian can afford) is the solution beats me.

THE VERDICT BY SEGUN ADENIYI: Petrol and the Looming Catastrophe

The Verdict By Olusegun Adeniyi. Email, olusegun.adeniyi@thisdaylive.com

Scores of pipelines vandals lost their lives at the weekend at Arepo Village in Ogun State, following an explosion which occurred as they struggled to siphon fuel. According to media reports, it all started with an argument between some of the thieves. When one of them shot into the air, obviously in ignorance, the fire that consumed them all was sparked off. 

AFCON 2013: Jonathan Asks Super Eagles to Deliver

President Goodluck Jonathan with the Eagles in Abuja

Members of the senior national soccer team, the Super Eagles have been charged to improve on their performance during the 2013 African Cup of Nations which kicks off in South Africa this weekend. President Goodluck Jonathan handed down the charge Wednesday at the Federal Executive Council (FEC), urging the team to ensure that it makes the country proud.

Niger Delta Communities Risk Mercury Poisoning

Minister of Health, Professor Christian Onyebuchi Chukwu

By Femi Williams

Within the next few days in Geneva, Switzerland, a communiqué will be issued from an important conference by United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) on mercury poisoning. UNEP has sounded the alarm about the potential increase in risk of exposure to mercury in African countries, including Nigeria. This will be a consequence of environmental pollution due to higher level of mercury emissions from a variety of sources.

Chukwu: Medical Students to Study Traditional Medicine

Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu

After decades of fighting for the formal recognition and acceptance of their products just like western medicine, traditional medicine practitioners appear to have now won the heart of the government. This was as the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, Wednesday disclosed that his ministry was in the process of integrating traditional medicine practice into medical school curriculum.

He also announced that following the rising abuse of codeine syrup, especially in the northern part of the country, the ministry was taking drastic steps to regulate the drug, stressing that it would henceforth be treated as a narcotic that should not be sold over the counter.

Chukwu, however, hinged the veiled official recognition of herbal medicine on the need for practitioners to go to medical school to equip themselves with the requisite expert knowledge. He promised a level playing field to all stakeholders in the health sector.

Aviation Ministry Plans to Re-Model Eleven Airports

Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Odua

The Federal Ministry of Aviation has disclosed that it is set to embark on re-modelling of additional 11 airports as soon as the first set of 11 currently undergoing re-modelling is completed and the airports commissioned by the end of the first quarter of 2013.

Disclosing this on Thursday, the Director of Cargo Development, Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mr. Rowland Uchenna Ofubue, who was in Jos, Plateau State, to have discussion with the state government on the preparedness for the commencement of the Agro-Cargo operation of the Yakubu Gowon Airport, Jos, added that President Goodluck Jonathan is determined to pursue his transformation through the Nigerian Aviation industry.

He added that the pressure for remarkable transformation from the Presidency has made all stakeholders in the industry under the leadership the Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Odua to be on their feet towards achieving the transformation dream, noting that “for the first time in the history of the industry, 11 Airports are undergoing re-modelling exercise simultaneously.”

Mali: Jonathan Off to Cote d’Ivoire for ECOWAS Meeting

Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Admiral Ola Saad Ibrahim

President Goodluck Jonathan leaves for Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire Thursday for an Extraordinary Session of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government ahead of the full deployment of the community’s troops to Mali.

Some Nigerian troops are billed for Mali this week as a global coalition mounts pressure on the Islamist insurgents in a bid to reclaim the country.

Two Fuel –Laden Tankers Explodes in Lagos Loading Bay

By Chiemelie Ezeobi

In what seems like a season of fire in Lagos State, pandemonium ensued today at Waterworks Road, off Liverpool, Apapa, when two tankers fully loaded with petroleum products exploded in a loading bay belonging to Petrol-Cargo Limited.

The fire is coming barely days after the state’s City Mall in Alausa, Ikeja caught fire and weeks after the MRS Tank Farm in Apapa, was gutted by fire.

As at press time, concerted efforts by the Lagos State Emergency Agency (LASEMA), the state Fire Service, the Merchant Navy and the Nigeria Police, proved abortive as the fire continued to rage.

Damilola Taylor’s Killer Back in Jail for the Third Time

Damilola Taylor

Like a recidivist that he is, one of Damilola Taylor's killers is back to where he seems to belong: the prison. He was sent to prison for a third time Wednesday after he was arrested for another crime.

Ricky Preddie, 25, was taken into custody after police found a stolen motorbike at his bail hostel in Richmond, Surrey.