Welcome to Temitope Winner's blog

‘Nigeria Spends N5.6bn To Import Toothpick, N189bn To Import Fish Every Year’ – Audu Ogbeh The Federal Government has complained about the country’s over-dependence on imported products and the ridiculous amount spent to get these products. Chief Audu Ogbeh, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, described the situation as ridiculous that the country spends over $18million (about N5.6 billion) annually on importation of tooth picks. Asked how he arrived at the figure, he said it was from a recent Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) report, stressing that it was pathetic that Nigeria was spending its hard earned resources on non-essential items. Ogbeh said: “We depended on Thailand, India and Vietnam to feed us with rice, we depend on other countries to feed us with tomato paste; we depend on others even for tooth picks at the cost of 18 million dollars per annum. “We depend on Brazil for sugar; and we also depend even now on other countries for pepper and so on. We import 5million eg

Former Abia Governor, Orji Kalu Re-arraigned By EFCC For N3.2bn Fraud In Abuja The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has re-arraigned former governor of Abia State, Orji Kalu alongside two others on a 34-count amended charge bordering on fraud. Kalu, his company, Slok Nigeria Limited and his former Commissioner for Finance, Jones Udeogo, were re-arraigned before Justice Anwuri Chikere of the Federal High Court, Abuja on Tuesday. The duo, however, prayed that the court should await the pending appeal by Slok before the Supreme Court. Justice Chikere had turned down the defendants’ objection to their arraignment and ordered that the charge be read to them immediately. Kalu and others were in the amended charge accused of diverting about N3.2 billion from the Abia government’s treasury during Kalu’s tenure as governor. They all pleaded not guilty to the charges and Justice Chikere allowed them on bail on the terms attached to the bail granted them on April 30, 2008. They had

Lawmakers Abandon Sitting As 40 Senators Accompany Saraki To Forgery Trial Senators of the Federal republic of Nigeria, today, abandoned their sitting – one of the three days the National Assembly has for plenary in a week – in other to attend the trial of their presiding officers. Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and his Deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, are facing trial for allegedly forging Senate Rules that brought them to power in a suit filed by the Federal Government in June before a High Court in Abuja. The trial resumed today, Wednesday, and like previous days of Saraki’s trial at Code of Conduct Tribunal for charges bordering on false assets declaration, the Senate did not open for plenary. Not all the Senators followed Messrs. Saraki and Ekweremadu to court today, but about 40 of them did. Since the National Assembly was inaugurated in June 9 last year, the Senate has sat for 112 days, giving an 11-day difference between the upper legislative arm and the House of Representatives which

‘Prepare For Earthquake In Nigeria’ – Senate Warns The Senate has called on the National Emergency Management Agency and other relevant government agencies to take proactive measures on the repeated earth tremor in some parts of Kaduna State. According to the Senate, this measure should include educating Nigerians on what to expect and how to react when tremor occurs. While adopting a three-prayer motion sponsored by Senator Danjuma La’ah (APC, Kaduna-South) titled ‘Earth Tremor and the Preparedness of Nigeria to Deal with its Intending Consequences,’ the Senate urged all stakeholders to take the earth tremor being recorded in parts of the country seriously. The lawmakers also urged NEMA and security agencies to intervene through public enlightenment and drills to be prepared, saying minimal resources would be required at the warning stage. The Senate mandated the Committee on Environment and Solid Minerals to make a fact-finding tour of the affected communities and report to the chamb

Win 1 million naira in the Olympic Milk 5-A-Side Football Championship Season 2! Are you a good footballer looking for an opportunity to shine? Do you coach a football team of talented youngsters? Born out of a desire to support the development of grassroots football in Nigeria, the Olympic 5-Side competition has been identifying and rewarding Nigerian soccer talents for years. This time, it’s back and is even bigger and better! With the success of the first season held in 2015, and an increased demand for participation, the 2016 championship will be held in 8 cities around Nigeria instead of 6 as in the first season. The locations for the season 2 championship are Lagos, Kaduna, Abuja Kano, Ibadan, Port Harcourt, Enugu and Benin City, in no particular order. Registration of teams for the competition began on Tuesday, September 6th and closes on Friday, October 28th, 2016. To qualify for registration, each team is required to buy a carton of Olympic Powdered Milk (400 grams),

African Kings of Comedy Canada tour with Basketmouth & Bovi. The Beast from the East meets the Man on Fire Winnipeg  Oct 14th  Toronto  Oct 21st Ottawa  Oct 22nd Calgary  Oct 28th Edmonton  Oct 29th Vancouver Oct 30th