PRESIDENT BUHARI ORDERS ESTABLISHMENT OF TECHNICAL COMMITTEES ON NEW CHINA/NIGERIA JOINT PROJECTS

Information reaching MNB through Garba Shehu SSA to the President Media & Publicity says that President Muhammadu Buhari has directed that technical committees be immediately established to finalize discussions on new joint Nigeria/China rail, power, manufacturing, agricultural and solid mineral projects.
The President gave the directive Tuesday in Beijing after talks between his delegation and high-ranking Chinese government officials led by President Xi Jinping.
The technical committees are to conclude their assignments before the end of next month.
President Buhari had at the talks welcomed China's readiness to assist Nigeria in her bid to rapidly industrialize and join the world's major economies.
President Jinping agreed that Nigeria's chosen path of development through economic diversification was the best way to go.
To help Nigeria to achieve this, China promised to fully support the country through infrastructural development and  capacity building.
China also expressed an interest in setting up major projects in Nigeria such as refineries, power plants, mining companies, textile manufacturing and food processing industries as soon as the enabling environment is provided by the Federal Government.
In response to President Muuhammadu Buhari's desire to make Nigeria self-sufficient in food production, President Jinping offered 15 million U.S. dollars agricultural assistance to Nigeria for the establishment of 50 Agricultural Demonstration Farms across the country.
China and Nigeria also agreed to strengthen military and civil service exchanges as part of a larger capacity-building engagement.
In line with this, China offered to raise its scholarship awards to Nigerian students from about 100 to 700 annually. In addition, 1,000 other Nigerians  are to be given vocational and technical training by China annually.
President Jinping applauded the war against corruption being waged by President Buhari.
The Chinese leader assured President Buhari that Nigeria will always have a special place in the affairs of the Peoples Republic of China.
After the talks, President Buhari and President Jinping witnessed the signing of several agreements and memorandums of understanding by Nigeria and China.
The agreements include a "Framework Agreement Between the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the National Development and Reform Commission of the Peoples Republic of China."
Others were a "Memorandum of Understanding on Aviation Cooperation between the Ministry of Transportation (Aviation) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Ministry of Commerce of the Peoples Republic of China" and a "Memorandum of Understanding Between the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Government of the Peoples Republic of China on Scientific and Technological Cooperation".
A  "Mandate Letter Between the  Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and the Central Bank of Nigeria on Renminbi (RMB) Transactions was also signed.

NYSC explains late payment of Corps members allowance

A message credited to the DR NYSC through NYSC facebook accounts reads as follows

My dear Corps members, l sincerely regret the late payment of your March allowance.

For avoidance of doubt, your allowances do not come to the NYSC as the scheme has no account.

Once it is approved by the Federal Ministry of Finance, it goes to the Central Bank account from where it is disbursed directly to Corps members account.

It is the beauty of the Treasury Single Account and that explains why you get the whole allowance in full without any charges.

As at now, we are liaising vigorously with the Ministry so that fund is released to the CBN GIFMIS account and once it is done, it takes us just minutes through the online platform to remit straight to all the 244,532 Corps members in service.

We are equally mounting pressure on the Ministry to ensure that the April allowance for 2015 Batch A and the outstanding one month allowance for Stream 2, Batch A 2015 is also paid as quickly as possible.

It has become necessary to explain this so as to clear the erroneous believe that the Scheme is holding Corps members allowance.

Please just exercise patience as this will be resolved in a couple of days.

God bless you my children!

Brig Gen Olawumi
DG NYSC

Massive fire at Puttingal temple in India's Kerala state kills over 100 people, leaves hundreds injured

MUMBAI, India —
A series of explosions early Sunday
caused by a fireworks display during a religious festival at a temple left 106 people dead and hundreds more injured in the southern Indian state of Kerala, the local authorities said.
P. T. Chacko, a spokesman for Chief Minister Oommen Chandy of Kerala, said that the fireworks display had been specifically forbidden by officials in the coastal district of Kollam but that the Puttingal temple had gone ahead anyway.
One of the devices landed in the building where the fireworks were being stored, setting off explosions that leveled several buildings, killing and injuring people, K.Hari Kumar, a fire officer at the scene, said in a telephone interview.
“Fragments of the building with huge pieces of burnt crackers were flying all over,” said Rajendran, 36, a mason who goes by one name.
He had traveled with friends from his village 20 miles away to attend the festivities, which marked the start of the new year on the Hindu calendar.
“We all started scrambling for a safe place,” Mr. Rajendran said by telephone from his bed in an intensive care unit at the nearby Holy Cross Super Specialty Hospital, where he was taken with broken bones in his face and in one arm. His friends were so badly burned, he said, that he did not know if they would survive.

Over the six weeks leading up to the Kollam fire disaster, officials at every level recommended denial of permission to the Puttingal temple for the fireworks show, and a day
before it, banned the display.

The powerful temple administration simply ignored the order, helped along by local politicians with an eye on elections.

Top sources in the Kerala Secretariat and the Kollam District Collectorate said that both Additional District
Magistrate A Shanavas and District Collector A Shainamol, who were instrumental in denying permission
for the fireworks, were also bullied and threatened by local politicians and Hindu groups, with communal
motives attributed to their actions.

The temple is a replica of the Adikesava Perumal temple located in Kanyakumari District.

It is the richest Hindu temple in the world. In terms of assets gold and precious stones, it is by far the wealthiest institution and place of worship of any kind, in the recorded
history of the world.

Clue from NY times.

Akwa ibom set to implement it's development blue print

Akwa Ibom State Government has set in motion a machinery for the achievement of its development blue print. This was the focus of deliberation at a special Executive Council retreat, presided over by the State Governor Mr Udom Emmanuel. Briefing Government House Correspondents at the end of the Special Executive Council meeting, the Commissioner for Information and Communications Mr Aniekan Umana said that the council brainstormed on the creative utilization of the abundant economic potentials in the state for employment generation and wealth creation through aggressive Agricultural development and industrialisation for sustainable development.
The Information boss said consultants from the National Transformation Institute and the MIRAI Group in Isreal delivered lectures on how to harness the creativity of Akwa ibom people towards the development of the state in furtherance of the vision of Governor Udom Emmanuel in developing a viable Agricultural base as well as industrial and mental re-engineering of the people towards making the state a model in the development matrix of the Nation. According to the Information Commissioner, critical memos as it relates to various Ministries, Agencies and Departments were deliberated on and the council also discussed on areas of harmonisation as well as service delivery by the Workforce and chart a course for the actualisation of the state's blueprint. Also speaking the Commissioner for Economic Planning Dr. Emmanuel Owodiukut said that the strategic session was aimed at thinking out of the box for the state to take the right strategy in the implementation of the budget in view of the dwindling allocation of funds adding that the time has come to apply requisite know how to achieve the set target Mr Owodiukut identified a mental re orientation as essential factor that would enable the people partner the administration as stakeholders with confidence in their abilities.
On his part the Commissioner for Rural Develpment and Utilize, Barrister Ekong Sampson said a range of options were also considered to strengthen the sensibilies of the citizens on how to protect available infrastructures in their domain for enhancement of expansion to other areas and listed the key infrastructure to include roads, electricity and water. The State Executive Council members congratulated Governor Emmanuel on the ingenuity he has brought into governance by reshaping the way things were done to suit international best practice and for drving a new focus for economic transformation of the state.

Lagos schools resume on Monday, April 11

The Lagos State Government, through the Ministry of Education, has confirmed Monday, April 11, 2016 as the resumption date for the Third Term academic session in public schools in the State.

In a statement released today by the Ministry, Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Dr. Idiat Oluranti Adebule, emphasised that it became necessary to clarify the resumption date based on recent rumour and insinuations that the resumption date has been postponed.

Mrs. Adebule, who supervises the activities of the Ministry, said the state government   recognizes the pressure associated with the current fuel scarcity and its attendant consequences, but maintained that higher premium must be placed on the development of school children who are the leaders of tomorrow.

While appealing to parents and guardians to look beyond the present situation and encourage their wards to face their studies with renewed vigour, she noted that the call for a shift in the resumption date will only distort the academic calendar for the year.

The Deputy Governor therefore urged proprietors of Private Schools, Head Teachers/ Principals of public schools to do everything humanly possible to see that the school calendar runs uninterrupted in the State

Suspected meteor falls from the sky in Taraba state

By JOHN MKOM, JALINGO

About 10:45 am on March 12, farmers and hunters in Tse-Agena area of Mbatyula in Takum local government area of Taraba State heard a loud sound from the sky and then an object, suspected to be meteorite stone, landed. The landing of the white object created panic. Women and children were asked to vacate the farms immediately while men went to pick the object. Mr. Shausu Agena, a farmer and an eye witness, said the object landed on a big tree in an empty farm land. Agena, while speaking to Sunday Vanguard inside his hut in the village, said heavy sound accompanied the falling of the object from the sky. The clan head of Mbatyula, Zaki Bem Tom, also disclosed that the object landed with a sound that was heard in several communities. “It was in the morning. People were in their various farms when the object landed within our community. It was very shocking because some of us that witnessed it descending from the sky thought it was the end of the world,” Ben Tom said. “It took our brave men to go closer to the object so that we will know what it was. Initially when the object landed, it was pure white in color. Human faces were reflecting on the object like mirror. Then it turned pure black. “We have been living in fear because we don’t know what will follow”. The village head said the community reported the incident to the state government immediately and the Director of Minerals Resources was sent to Mbatyla. “Before the official came, we had already removed the stone for safe-keeping and the person who kept the stone was not around when the Director visited. Therefore, the Director could not see the stone. “We are calling on government to commission a study of our area following the incident because we may be affected one day by nature”. When contacted, Taraba State Commissioner for the Environment, Mrs. Rebecca Manasseh, pleaded with the community to release the stone to the state government so that it could study it. Rebecca, who spoke to Sunday Vanguard on phone, confirmed that the state sent its Director of Mineral Resources to the area after the incident was report to ascertain the nature of the ‘mystery stone’. She promised that her ministry was ready to investigate the issue as soon as the stone was released to the state government.

PRESIDENT BUHARI TO CONFER WITH XI JINPING ON GREATER CHINESE SUPPORT FOR DEVELOPMENT OF NIGERIA'S INFRASTRUCTURE

President Muhammadu Buhari will leave Abuja tomorrow for a working visit to China aimed at securing greater support from Beijing for the development of Nigeria's infrastructure, especially in the power, roads, railways, aviation, water supply and housing sectors.
President Buhari's talks with President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang and the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National Peoples’ Congress, Zhang Dejiang will also focus on strengthening bilateral cooperation in line with the Federal Government's agenda for the rapid diversification of the Nigerian economy, with emphasis on agriculture and solid minerals development.
It is expected that in the course of the visit, several new  agreements and memorandums of understanding   to boost trade and economic relations between Nigeria and China will be concluded and signed.
The agreements include a Framework Agreement between the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment and the National Development and Reform Commission of the Peoples' Republic of China to Boost Industrial Activities and Infrastructural Development in Nigeria.
Others are a Framework Agreement between the Federal Ministry of Communications and the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, and a Memorandum of Understanding between Nigeria and China on Scientific and Technological Cooperation.
In keeping with his administration's prioritization of economic diversification and industrialisation to boost employment, President Buhari and his delegation will tour the Shanghai Free Trade Zone and the Guangzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone to gain more useful insights and understanding of the policies that underpinned China's astronomical economic growth in recent years.
The President, whose entourage will include some state governors as well as the Ministers of Agriculture, Water Resources, Transport, Defence, Power, Works & Housing, Industry, Trade & Investment, Federal Capital Territory, Science & Technology and Foreign Affairs, will also open a China-Nigeria Business/Investment Forum in Beijing and meet with members of the Nigerian Community in China before returning to Abuja at the weekend.