Marketers jostle for Afrocandy’s soft-porn movie

It is not a rumour, but reality. Some movie marketers are jostling to win the right to sell Afrocandy’s controversial “Destructive Instinct’ movie in Nigeria.

The American based Nollywood actress cum singer confirmed this development to HVP yesterday morning when she was contacted via facebook.

Afro Candy

“Destructive Instinct” which is currently being greeted with mixed-reactions from fans features the 41-year old mother of 2 completely nude in sexually explicit positions as she tries to make a daring impact on the industry

HVP gathered that some reputable marketers are already giving Afrocandy the headache in choosing who will eventually win the right to distribute her movie in the country. The film was premiered in America recently. Those who graced the premiere said, it was well attended.

Meanwhile, it is unclear if the censors board will pass the film for sale in Nigeria.

Pathologists probe death of Ngor Okpala 8

OWERRI — A team of pathologists from Imo State Ministry of Health has been put together to examine the circumstances that led to the death of the Ngor Okpala eight.

Commissioner for Health, Dr. Joe Obi-Njoku, who disclosed this during an interview, said government was interested in getting to the root of the incident.

Obi-Njoku said: “Government has set up a team of pathologists to probe the cause of death of eight members of the Nwosu family in Umueze Egbelu Nguru in Ngor Okpala Local Government Area.”

The commissioner further explained that the team drawn from the State’s Department of Public Health, is headed by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry.

He said: “The pathological team, which is led by the Permanent Secretary, has already visited the General Hospital, Umuneke Ngor where the bodies of the victims were deposited.”

Answering a question, the Commissioner for Health explained that government would definitely carry out post mortem examination on all the bodies of the ugly incident, so as to arrive at definite clue to the seeming puzzle.

A leader in the area, Chief Eustace Eke, lamented the inability of the General Hospital, Umuneke and Federal Medical Centre, Owerri, to save the life of any of the victims.

“It is most regrettable that none of the two hospitals was able to save any of the victims. The development has made nonsense of the establishment of the medical outfits”. Eke fumed.

Meanwhile, some people who live around the home of the deceased Nwosus and fled their homes because of fear of being arrested by security agencies are gradually returning home.

AD opposes 6-year single tenure for elected office holders

Ibadan – Alliance for Democracy (AD) says it opposes the single tenure of six years in office for political office holders as proposed by the National Assembly.

The party, in a statement by its National Secretary, Mr Rafiu Salau on Saturday in Ibadan, said a single term of office would not give room for valuation of performance.

“It will encourage corruption that has been the major problem of the nation.

“It will not give motivation for performance that will enable the electorate to give a verdict either for the office holder to continue or to be voted out,” the party said.

The AD said a two-term tenure was the people’s mandate to appreciate the performance and dividends of democracy in the first term.

It appealed to the National Assembly not to deny the people the role of assessing those occupying elected political offices after half of the tenure of six or eight years.

“No matter the number of years of a tenure, it must be divided into first and second terms.

“Elections into a second term of office affords the electorate to re-elect or vote out an office holder based on  performance,” it said.

The party said the current tenure system was eight years, adding that it was structured to have the electorate approve the continuation of an administration if they were satisfied after the first half.

The AD stressed that the national assembly should allow for re-election by the electorate after three years, if it wanted to reduce the tenure to six years. (NAN)

Emir tasks Northern governors on agric, solid mineral sectors

Zuru (Kebbi) – The Emir of Zuru in Kebbi, Alhaji Sani Sami, has called on governors in the Northern states to accord priority to the agriculture and solid mineral sectors.

The monarch made the call at a reception in his palace in honour of the newly appointed Director-General of the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr Benjamin Dikki, in Zuru on Sunday.

“The North of this country is endowed with solid mineral resources in commercial quantities but their exploitation have not be been fully explored.

“I urge our present leaders to reverse this trend because the commercialisation of our solid mineral and agriculture resources will end poverty, unemployment and crime.”

He said the neglect of the agriculture sector for crude oil exploration was the major factor that resulted in high poverty and unemployment in the country.

On the insecurity in the North, the emir urged “security agencies to curtail the situation to revamp our ailing economy”.

The royal father appealed to Dikki to handle his new post with high sense of honesty, commitment, patriotism and transparency.

“We want you to justify the confidence we have in you,” Sami said.

Dikki  was installed Magajin Rafin of Zuru Emirate.(NAN)

Fuel Subsidy: House of Reps lifts ban on Olusola Adekanola & Co

The House of Representatives has revoked its resolution calling on the Federal Government to blacklist and prosecute a foremost indigenous firm of chartered accountants and tax practitioners, Olusola Adekanola & Co., for alleged involvement in the petroleum subsidy regime.

A statement by the Media  media and communication consultant to Olusola Adekanola & Co., Mr. Kazie Uko, stated, ” The decision by the House to quash the resolution, a fall-out of recommendation by its ad-hoc committee on fuel subsidy probe, was as a result of petition by Olusola Adekanola & Co., which, according to the House, showed that the accounting firm was never in any way involved in the subsidy regime before the investigation by the House and eventual cessation of service to its employer, Federal Ministry of Finance.

According to the transcript of Votes and Proceedings of the House, No. 98, dated Wednesday, 5 June, 2013, the House in the Committee of the Whole chaired by the deputy speaker, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, considered the report of its Committee on Public Petitions to reconsider the House resolution on the petroleum subsidy report, as it affected Olusola Adekanola & Co.

The petition was presented to the House by Hon. Uzo Azubuike (Abia North/Abia South Federal Constituency). When the question was put to vote by the House Speaker, Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, who presided during the Plenary, the House adopted the report and thereafter quashed the earlier recommendation and subsequent resolution to the government to blacklist and prosecute the firm of Olusola Adekanola & Co.

Olusola Adekanola & Co., had in various publications protested its indictment by the House of Representatives ad-hoc committee on petroleum subsidy regime, chaired by Hon. Farouk Lawan, declaring that it was innocent of the allegation of wrong doing against it.

“We hold the House of Representatives committee on fuel subsidy in high esteem and we are sure that it did not have valid information within its reach to premise its recommendations on. We are therefore prepared to avail it information and evidence to assert our innocence on this subject”, Otunba Olusola Adekanola, executive chairman of Olusola Adekanola & Co had announced in one the publications.

FG to recruit 2,000 additional midwives

Dutse – The Federal Government is to recruit 2,000 additional midwives to be deployed to rural areas, Dr Ado Mohammed, Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency has said.

Mohammed made the disclosure in an interview in Dutse on Sunday.

He said that the Midwives Service Scheme (MSS) introduced by government was an ongoing programme to tackle maternal mortality in the country.

The director said that so far, 4,300 midwives were deployed to health facilities in rural areas across the country.

He noted that the MSS had been implemented in 1,500 health centres, adding that the agency was also training community health officers to assist the midwives.

“We also recruited some women and built their capacities to provide some basic services in their communities.

“The Federal Government is committed to ensuring that we meet the MDGs target of eradicating maternal mortality.

“We are working with the state and Local Governments, to put Nigeria on track in achieving the MDGs target of eradicating maternal mortality in the country,” he said.

Mohammed also appealed to traditional rulers to assist the government in the supervision of midwives posted to their areas. (NAN)

Protesting Chanchangi workers were not sacked – Management

The management of Chanchangi Airline said the 53 workers of Chanchangi Airline who have been on compulsory leave  were not sacked. The station manager of the airline, Mr. Babadiya Ahmed said the airline is already looking into the matter.

The workers protested last week at the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA’s  headquarters, Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos over unpaid salaries alleged to have accrued since 2010 when the airline sent them on compulsory leave. The workers who decried the airline’s delay in paying their salaries registered their grievances at the ticket counters of the company at the airport before proceeding to the NCAA headquarters to drive home their demands.

They alleged that they have not been paid their salaries for 36 months, a situation which they said cannot be tolerated any more.The workers further said they were asked to stay off work since 2010, when the airline started having operational challenges, and have not been paid since.

According to them, all attempts to draw the attention of the management of the airline to their plight fell on deaf ears, even as the official communication to the NCAA on the matter has not yielded positive result.

Receiving the workers at NCAA, the Director of Human Resources, Mr. Austin Amadi Ifeanyi and the Director of Consumer Protection, Alhaji Adamu Abdulahi assured them that the regulatory agency would look into their plight and provide possible solutions by ensuring that the airline does what is right.

The directors further commended the aggrieved workers for towing the path of peace by reporting the matter at the appropriate quarter as it is the duty of NCAA to ensure that all goes well in the aviation sector.

According to them, the regulatory authority will investigate their claims and call Chanchangi Airline to order to ensure that the grievances of the workers are addressed and their demands met.

They, however, gave a week timeline for the aggrieved workers to get back, assuring them that the matter would be critically looked into for the health of the industry.

Meanwhile, the station manager of Chanchangi Airline, Mr Babadiya Ahmed said the airline is already looking into the matter, but however affirmed that the workers were not sacked.

2 killed, 7 injured in Okene-Lokoja highway auto crash

Lokoja – Two people have lost their lives while seven others sustained injuries in a fatal accident that occurred at Zariagi Village along the Okene-Lokoja road in Kogi on Saturday.

The state’s Command of the Federal Road Safety Commission made the announcement in a statement, signed by the Sector Commander, Mr Olakunle Motajo in Lokoja on Sunday.

Motajo said that the accident involved two vehicles, a Toyota Hilux van with registration number KG 24U 01 and a commercial Peugeot 504 station waggon with registration number Lagos BC 942 LND.

He said the vehicles had a head on collision, killing two people on the spot while seven others sustained various degree of injuries.

Motajo blamed the accident on human error, adding that wrongful over-taking on the part of one of the vehicles led to the accident.

He said that investigation on the incident had commenced.

The sector commander said that the corpses, a male and female, had been deposited at the morgue of the Kogi State Specialist Hospital, Lokoja.

He said that the seven injured victims had also been taken to the same hospital and were responding to treatment.

Motajo said the road which was blocked as a result of the accident, had since been cleared to ease free flow of traffic. (NAN)

Nigeria to leverage on Turkish expertise in energy – Nebo

The Minister of Power, Professor Chinedu Nebo, has said that Nigeria in its quest for new energy mix strategy would leverage on Turkish expertise in Thermal and Hydro power sources.
The minister, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Power, Amb Dr. Godknows Igali, said that Nigeria offers the best environment for business not only in power, but also in heavy equipment, machineries and construction.
Speaking in Abuja while receiving the Bereket energi Group led by its Deputy Chairman, Ali Yagli and the Nigerian partner -Oral Energy Limited (the core investor of Jos DISCO), the minister commended the group for the confidence it has in the Nigeria economy, saying that the Group would not regret its decision as there are unequal potentials in terms of returns on investment.
He described their visit as the best timed against the backdrop of the shift in emphasis on hydro renewable like wind, solar and coal to power, with the enormous coal reserves that stretched from Enugu-Kogi-Benue and Nasarawa States.   Nigeria should harness these potentials to the fullest as our coal has been described as one of high quality. On the group’s request for more participation in Nigeria’s power market, the minister assured the Turkish company that other renewable like solar energy, wind are also available for exploration.
Responding on behalf of the group, Tukur Modibo, who represented, Alhaji Yayale Ahmed, the Chairman of Oral Energy Ltd, said that the Bereket energi of Turkey has been a dependable ally in the on-going privatisation of the power sector.   He said the group has enormous experience that has helped the Nigeria partner to effectively operate in six states with three million customers through its Jos DISCO. With that success story, the Turkish group is ready to go into power generation.