Public Holidays

FG declares Monday, Tuesday public holiday

The Federal Government has declared Monday, June 26 and Tuesday, June 27 as Public Holiday to mark Eid el Fitr.
Minister of Interior, retired Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau made the annnouncement on behalf of the Federal Government on Thursday in Abuja.
‎He‎ enjoined all Muslim faithful and Nigerians in general to use the occasion of the celebration for sober reflection and pray for peace, unity and progress of the nation in its march to nationhood.

‎Dambazau urged all Nigerians to shun hate speeches and divisive tendencies and join hands with the government of President Muhammadu Buhari to build a peaceful, strong and united Nigeria.
He assured of a Nigeria, ‎which guarantees fundamental freedoms, including the right of residence in any part of the…

Increase in University school fees

38 Nigerian universities increase their school fees

The average Nigerian would normally go to a federal university because of the affordability. However, even the federal university are starting to hike their prices, leaving many scared about the future of education for the average man in Nigeria.

There have been changes in school fees of some institutions, below is a table of such changes according to Vanguard:

Institution Old fees New fees

1. UNILAG N14,500 N63,500

2. ABU N27,000 N41,000

3. UNN N60,450 N66,950

4. OAU N19,700 N57,700

5. UNIZIK N20,100 N65,920

6. BUK N26,000 N40,000

7. UNIABUJA N39,300 N42,300

8. UDU N32,000 N43,000

9. NOUN N36,000 N41,000

10. UNIBEN N12,000 N49,500

11. UNILORIN N16,000 N75,500

12. FUTA N13,560 N83,940

13. FUTMINNA N20,000 N37,000

14. FUNAAB N18,250 N33,000

15. UNICAL N30,500 N42,750

16. UNIUYO N71,000 N84,250

17. FCET Akoka N16,000 N40,000

18. Osun Varsity N95,000 N135,500

19. ANSU N76,000 N139,000

20. LASU N96,750 N158,250

21. IBBU N25000 N52,000

22. IMSU N120,000 N150,000

23. PLASU N50,000 N100,000

24. MAPOLY N57,000 N75,000

25. Ibadan Poly N30,000 N50,000

26. Abia Poly N56,550 N61,000

27. Auchi Poly N14,800 N28,000

28. Osustech N70,000 N80,000

29. ESUT N104,900 N124,900

30. KWARAPOLY N28,000 N44,000

31. LAUTECH N65,000 N72,500

32. TASUED N66,500 N76,500

33. Afe Babalola N675,000 N1,075,000

34. Igbinedion N540,000 N820,000

35. Crawford N400,000 N600,000

36. Redeemers N545,000 N605,000

37. Covenant N774,500 N814,500

38. Benson Idahosa N284,300 N1,150,000.00

Meanwhile, NAIJ.com earlier reported that Stellenbosch University is the second best university in Africa and ranks at number 361 in the world, while the American University in Cairo is at number 4 in Africa.The ranking by QS is based on factors such as academic reputation, citations per faculty, employer reputation and other factors.

Ref:online nigeria

WAEC announces new fees for certificate

WAEC announces new fees for collecting certificate

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has urged GCE candidates to endeavour to collect their certificates within four years of writing the examination as any delay beyond that will attract custody fee.

Demianus Ojijeogu, the Head of Public Affairs Department, WAEC, Nigeria disclosed this in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja.

The West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for private candidates, commonly referred to as WAEC GCE, is usually taken in November/December every year.

Mr. Ojijeogu said: “the normal charge for the certificate is N3, 500 and only payable by those whose certificates were issued between zero and four years. 
“But from five to nine years is N8, 500; 10 to 14 years N13, 500; 15 to 19 years N18, 500 while 20 years and above will be charged N23, 500. 
“These charges are (for) custody fee; for keeping the certificates for so long because it occupies space in our office. It will also serve as a deterrent to others. 
“I don’t know the reason why people will sit for exams and their certificates are ready yet they will not come for collection. What was the essence of the certificate in the first place?’’

He also said that requirements for collection of the GCE certificates within Nigeria were an application letter, sworn affidavit from the High Court, online result print- out, one passport-size photograph, photo card and identity card.

US bishops National Review Board

4 new members of US bishops’ National Review Board

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, has named four new members of the National Review Board, which advises the bishops on the protection of children from clerical abuse.

The four are:

Amanda Callanan, director of communications for the Claremont InstituteSuzanne Healy, former victims assistance coordinator for the Archdiocese of Los AngelesChristopher McManus, an Arlington physicianEileen Puglisi, former director of the Office for the Protection of Children and Young People in the Diocese of Rockville Centre

Di Maria sentenced to jail for tax fraud

Di Maria sentenced to prison for tax fraud

Argentina and Paris Saint-Germain star Angel di Maria has been handed a hefty fine and a prison sentence over a charge of tax fraud of €1.3 million ($1.4 million), Spanish authorities announced on Wednesday.

According to a court document seen by AFP, Di Maria will pay around €2 million to the Spanish authorities after pleading guilty to two counts of fraud committed in 2012 and 2013 when he was a Real Madrid player.

Despite being handed a 16-month sentence, Di Maria will not go to prison as is normal in Spain for first offences for non-violent crimes carrying a sentence of less than two years.

Di Maria, 29, played for Madrid between 2010 and 2014, when he joined Manchester United. He then moved to PSG in 2015.

A host of football stars have run into trouble in Spain over suspected tax fraud related to image rights, with Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo summoned to appear in court on July 31 to answer four counts of tax evasion of €14.7 million.

Current Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has been accused by Spanish tax authorities of failing to declare €3.3 million during his time in charge of Madrid.

The President illness is the decision of Allah ....senator said

Buhari’s Illness Is The Decision Of Allah!!! I Now Have More Supporters In The North Than Ever – APC Senator Jubilates

Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, has on Wednesday, stated that he has now gathered more supporters in Kano, and in the entire Northern region, ahead of the 2019 general elections.

While speaking to some selected Journalists, Kwankwaso dropped a hint on President Muhammadu Buhari and 2019.

He said: “If he is going for second time, there is no problem, because (the fact that) somebody is in the hospital doesn’t mean somebody who is outside is healthier than him. It is the decision of Allah, and nobody can fault it.”

Kwankwaso who dodged questions on the rift between him and his successor in Kano, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, said he had more supporters in Kano, more than ever.

“This is not the time to talk on Kano, the time will come… I now have more supporters in my Constituency, Kano, and even in the entire North, more than before”, he said.

Denying his defection speculation, Kwankwaso, who came second in the Presidential primaries of the APC, said the party was fair to him, hence, there was no need to dump it for another.

On whether the National Assembly had powers to introduce new projects in budget, he said the document must be looked at.

“The National Assembly is not a photocopier. It needs to look at the figure and issues. If you take the Constituencies of the entire Senators, they are equal to that of the President, and if you look at the entire Federal Constituencies of Reps, they are equal to that of the President. So, Executive, Legislature and even the Judiciary, must be together in the interest of the country”, he said.

C.R.K not removed from the school curriculum

CRK not removed from school curriculum, FG insists.

For the second time in two days, the Federal Gov­ernment has denied that the Ministry of Education has delisted Christian Reli­gious Knowledge (CRK) from the curriculum of secondary schools.

After the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday in Abuja, which was chaired by Acting President Yemi Osinba­jo, the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, urged Nigerians to ignore the reports on the matter in a section of the print and social media because they were baseless.

At the FEC meeting, the cabinet resolved to convene an emergency retreat in Abu­ja within two weeks to address the falling standards and other knotty issues in the nation’s ed­ucation sector.

Adamu listed the areas of crises in the sector as out-of-school children, inadequate use of Information and Communi­cations Technology (ICT), tech­nical education, and training of teachers.

The minister said that he came to the FEC meeting with an education sector blueprint prepared by his ministry but that other ministers opted for the convening of an encom­passing stakeholders’ retreat to resolve the issues.

He said the day’s FEC ses­sion deliberated the education­al problems in the country and “members agreed that the fall­ing standard in education is so serious that we will need a min­isterial retreat to look at all the issues”.

Yesterday, the minister ac­cused journalists of lying to the public and deceiving Christian leaders who are aggrieved over the allegation.

His words: “You (journal­ists) especially those of you on the social media are not helping this nation by bandying things that are absolutely false. One is the issue of Christian Religious Knowledge that all the nation­al media, social media took up and deceived even the leader­ship of the Christian Associa­tion of Nigeria (CAN) because they believed it.

“I read in the papers that they asked the Acting Presi­dent to confirm it, but there is no truth in it at all. It was just somebody’s imagination; prob­ably somebody who wishes to raise tension in the country af­ter the Biafra issue and then the quit order given by some young people in the North.

“So, the person just fol­lowed suit in trying to stoke the embers of religion. There is no truth in it whatsoever, I repeat.

“Certainly, there was a pol­icy in 2012 which was given ef­fect in 2014 that is even before this government came in. One of the things I did as minister was to speak to the National Council on Education to dis­articulate History from the So­cial Studies curricula because we believe we want our young people to know our history. You cannot know who you are with­out knowing who your ances­tors were.

“And the National Coun­cil of Education did accept and agree that the teaching and learning of CRK has been made compulsory for all Chris­tian students and teaching and learning of Islamic Studies is compulsory for all Muslim stu­dents.

“So, you are actually accus­ing the ministry of the oppo­site of what it has done. I think I just need to tell you that even if you are not the ones in the so­cial media, they must be your compatriots; please tell them to be more responsible in handling the issues, especially at this time in our history,” he said.

Also in a statement, titled: “Situation of Christian Religious Knowledge, Islamic Studies and Civic Education at the Basic Ed­ucation Level”, the Nigerian Ed­ucational Research and Devel­opment Council (NERDC), said that the claims on the re­moval of CRS were not true.

NERDC is mandated to develop Curriculum for Basic and Senior Secondary Educa­tion levels.

In the statement signed by NERDC Executive Secretary, Prof. Ismail Junaidu, he said that the curricula passes through the next stages of planning, devel­opment, critique and editorial as well as the approval stages of the Joint Consultative Commit­tee on Education (JCCE) both reference and plenary made up of a broad spectrum of stake­holders, directors in education, NGOs, CBOs, and internation­al development partners.

The Basic Education Cur­riculum which includes the Christian Religious Knowl­edge and Islamic Studies Cur­ricula was approved in 2013 by the National Council on Edu­cation which is the apex poli­cymaking body in education in Nigeria, made up of the 36 states’ Commissioners of Edu­cation and the FCT under the chairmanship of the Minister of Education.

He said: “For the avoidance of doubt, the last review of the curriculum was approved in 2013 and implementation com­menced in September 2014. In both instances, neither the Christian Religious Knowl­edge nor Islamic Studies was removed from the curriculum. In fact, at the commencement of the present administration, the Minister of Education sought and obtained the approval of the National Council on Edu­cation to make Christian Reli­gious Knowledge compulsory for all Christian students and Islamic Studies compulsory for their Muslim counterparts.

“The claims peddled on so­cial media platforms and a na­tional daily are to say the least speculative, false and unfound­ed. Specifically, as regards the Religion and National Values Curriculum.

2017 Budget signed

Acting President Osinbajo Signs 2017 Budget

Senate President Bukola Saraki and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, joined the Acting President at the Presidential Villa for the signing of the budget.

The National Assembly passed the budget of N7.44tn on June  11 after increasing it from the N7.29tn proposed by the executive.

Professor Osinbajo described the signing of the budget as “an important milestone” in the economic recovery and growth plan laid in April by President Buhari.

Earlier in the day, the Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari, Mr Garba Shehu, said the President had given Professor Osinbajo his backing to sign the budget.

Mr Shehu said in a statement that the President had in a letter dated June 10 and addressed to the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udo Udoma, said it is in the interest of the nation’s economy for the Acting President to sign the budget.

According to him, the letter underscores the unity at the highest level of government.

Mr Shehu added that President Buhari said he was pleased with a resolution that the Executive would “submit next year’s budget proposals by October 2017 and the National Assembly will conclude the Appropriation process by December 2017, so that the country can return to a normal fiscal period from next year onwards”.

By ChannelsTV

Pope gives ultimatum to priests of Ahiara Diocese

Welcome bishop or incur suspension, Pope tells priests of Nigerian diocese

Pope Francis has issued an ultimatum to the priests of the Diocese of Ahiara, Nigeria, demanding that they write a letter accepting their bishop or face suspension.

Founded in 1987 and located in the Mbaise region of Imo State in southern Nigeria, the diocese was governed by Bishop Victor Chikwe from its inception until his death in 2010.

In December 2012, Pope Benedict appointed Father Peter Okpaleke, a priest of the Diocese of Awka in neighboring Anambra State, as the diocese’s new bishop. 400 priests, angered that a Mbaise priest was not appointed, protested the decision.

Bishop Okpaleke was ordained at a seminary in a neighboring diocese in May 2013 amid heavy security. At the time of the ordination, youth locked the cathedral of Ahiara in protest, and some protesters placed a coffin with the new bishop’s name at diocesan headquarters.

In July 2013, Pope Francis appointed Cardinal John Onaiyekan of Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, as the apostolic administrator.

Addressing a delegation from the diocese on June 8 (the Holy See Press Office released the text two days later), the Pope said, “Whoever was opposed to Bishop Okpaleke taking possession of the diocese wants to destroy the Church.”

“I know very well the events that have been dragging on for years, and I am thankful for the attitude of great patience of the bishop, indeed the holy patience demonstrated by him,” the Pope continued. “I listened and reflected much, even about the possibility of suppressing the diocese, but then I thought that the Church is a mother and cannot abandon her many children.”

The Pope demanded:

I ask that every priest or ecclesiastic incardinated in the Diocese of Ahiara, whether he resides there or works elsewhere, even abroad, write a letter addressed to me in which he asks for forgiveness; all must write individually and personally. We all must share this common sorrow.

In the letter, (1) one must clearly manifest total obedience to the Pope, and (2) whoever writes must be willing to accept the bishop whom the Pope sends and has appointed. (3) The letter must be sent within 30 days, from today to July 9th, 2017. Whoever does not do this will be ipso facto suspended a divinis and will lose his current office.

References:

Words of the Holy Father to the Members of the Delegation of the Diocese of Ahiara (8 June), 10.06.2017 (Holy See Press Office)Pope Francis appoints cardinal as administrator of troubled Nigerian diocese (CWN, 7/1/13)Three ironies about a dramatic show of papal muscle in Nigeria (John Allen/Crux)

Ndi Igbo na-oso (Igbos on the run)

Igbos begin fleeing from north following quit notice.

- Igbos have begun fleeing northern states such as Kaduna, Kano following the eviction order given by northern youths

- Those fleeing the north do not trust the government to protect them

- They fear for their lives because as some noted, none of the people who gave the quit notice has been arrested yet

Some Igbos resident in the north have already begun relocating to other parts of Nigeria, following the quit notice issued by the Coalition of Northern Youths.
Though the directive has now been rescinded, barely a week ago, the Coalition of Northern Youths had given all Igbos resident in the north a three month directive to vacate the region, and also asked Hausas in the east to return back to their places of origin.

According to a report by Daily Post, during a visit to the God is Good Motor Park in Mando, Kaduna State on Thursday, June 8, the park was brimming with Igbos returning back to the east.

One of the fleeing Igbos identified himself as Ifeanyi Odozie, an electric appliance dealer.
According to Odozie, he was leaving because he didn’t want to put his family at risk.
He further disclosed that he did not trust the government to protect him and his family.
Odozie stated: “I have been in this place for thirty years but I think I have overstayed my welcome here. I will take my family to the village and return by next week to sell off some of my belongings here.

“The federal government won’t be there to save us when problem starts.
“Since they (the northern youths) gave their order, who has been arrested?
“I also have my village, it is high time I returned home.”

Another Igbo who was interviewed identified herself as Chioma Okoye, a trader of second hand clothes at the Kaduna Central market in Kaduna.
In her words: “I want to go and rest for a while. I really don’t know what these people are up to. I will come back when they are ready to accommodate us.”

In Kano state, the situation was the same.
An angry Igbo man who identified himself as Mazi Obiekwe angrily scolded a reporter saying, “go and ask Buhari and his kinsmen why they want us to leave their land.”

Nigerians have however started reacting to Igbos leaving the North. Below is a few reactions gathered by NAIJ.com:

Meanwhile, NAIJ.com had previously reported that the federal government has formally reacted to the quit notice issued by northern youths to Igbos living in the north saying the Igbos are free to live anywhere in the country.
The youths had stirred nationwide uproar when they issued a statement giving a 90-day ultimatum to Igbos in the north to leave.
The minister of interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau, in a statement issued on Wednesday, June 7, urged Igbos and other Nigerians to go about their business without fear.
By Buchi