By Jutha Gupah, Maiduguri

Troops of 151, 202 Battalions and 21 Brigade of Nigerian Army have killed several terrorists in a coordinated  clearance and blockade Operation Deep Punch II in three villages of Borno state on Thursday.
The cleared villages are Abaram, Churuchuru and Aulajiri in Bama Local Government Area of the state.
This was disclosed on Friday in a statement issued to journalists in Maiduguri, by Brig-Gen Sani Usman, the spokesman of the military.
He said troops neutralized three of the terrorists, and rescued a child with the recovery of two Dane guns.
He said the troops also engaged some Boko Haram terrorists along the Bama-BOCOBS Road, while fleeing Sambisa Forest at the southern flank.

“The troops engaged the terrorists in a heavy fire fight and neutralized quite a number of them; while some fleeing insurgents escaped with gunshot wounds,” said Usman.
He said a soldier was wounded in the operations that lasted for over three hours, while the wounded soldier was evacuated for treatment at 7 Division Hospital and in a stable health condition.

By Tayo Joseph Lagos

A Federal High Court sitting in Kainji, Niger State, has convicted and sentenced 45 Boko Haram members to between 3 and 31 years in jail, following the conclusion of the first phase of the trial during which 575 Boko Haram suspects were arraigned.

In a statement issued in Abuja on Friday, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the Court also discharged 468 suspects who had no case to answer.

Thirty-four cases were struck out while 28 suspects were remanded for trial in Abuja and Minna.

The Court ordered that the 468 discharged persons should undergo deradicalization and rehabilitation programmes before they are handed over to their respective state governments.

The trial commenced with the formal remand by the Court of 1,669 suspects for a period of 90 days, with the Court ordering that they be arraigned within the specified period or released unconditionally.

The Court adjourned the trial of other suspects to January 2018

By Tayo Joseph Lagos

Those who specialize in a deliberate twisting of information have wailed and raged endlessly on the news item credited to the World Bank Group President, Jim Yong Kim, who disclosed in Washington DC, United States of America, that President Muhammadu Buhari had requested a concentration of the Bank’s intervention efforts in the northern part of Nigeria, particularly in the North-east.

The ignorant and mischievous people, who twist everything for their vile purposes, are making it seem that it was a calculated attempt to give the North an unfair advantage over other parts of Nigeria.

The truth of the matter is that President Buhari, right from his first week in office in June, 2015, had reached out to the G-7 in Germany that Nigeria needed help to rebuild the North-east, which had been terribly devastated by insurgency. He said the country would prefer help in terms of rebuilding of infrastructure, rather than cash donation, which may end up being misappropriated. In concert with Governors of the region, a comprehensive list of needed repairs was sent to the G-7 leaders.

Also, during a trip to Washington in 2015, and many other engagements that followed, President Buhari sought the help of the World Bank in rebuilding the beleaguered North-east, which was then being wrested from the stranglehold of a pernicious insurgency. It was something always done in the open, and which reflected the President’s concern for the region.

Those ululating over the disclosure by the President of the World Bank should be a bit reflective, and consider the ravages that the North-east has suffered since 2009, when the Boko Haram insurgency started. Schools, hospitals, homes, entire villages, towns, cities, bridges, and other public utilities have been blown up, laid waste, and lives terminated in excess of 20,000, while widows and orphans littered the landscape. The humanitarian crisis was in monumental proportions.

President Buhari simply did what a caring leader should do. He took the battle to the insurgents, broke their backs, and then sought for help to rebuild, so that the people could have their lives back. Should that then elicit the negative commentary that has trailed the disclosure from the World Bank? Not at all, except from insidious minds.

President Buhari has a pan-Nigerian mandate, and he will discharge his duties and responsibilities in like manner. Any part of the country that requires special attention would receive it, irrespective of primordial affinities, which narrow minded people have not been able to live above. This President will always work in the best interest of all parts of the country at all times. Let ethnic warriors sheathe their swords.

By Adebisi Adeyemi Lagos

President Muhammadu Buhari is deeply saddened by news of the tragic death of some students of Victory College, Ungwan Yelwa, Kaduna, who drowned in River Kaduna while on an excursion.

President Buhari’s thoughts and prayers are with the distraught families of the deceased and the management of the College, and he expresses heartfelt condolences to the Government and people of Kaduna State, during this difficult time.

The President prays that God will comfort families and friends affected by the profound loss of these young minds, and he wishes speedy recovery to other staff and students, who are in shock over the unfortunate incident.

By Tayo Joseph Lagos

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has called on Nigeria’s international partners to designate the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) a terrorist organisation.

The Minister made the call in his article, entitled ”Thwarting Terrorism in Nigeria”, which appeared in the US newspaper ‘Washington Times’ on Thursday, 12th Oct. 2017

He argues that IPOB’s actions qualify the group as a terrorist organization in most jurisdictions.

On 20th Sept 2017, the Federal Government of Nigeria proscribed IPOB, which has been violently agitating for a separate state in the South-East.

“The terror lays bare their opportunism. They masquerade as a separatist movement, yet they endanger the very people they claim to represent. In reality, IPOB cares about IPOB and nothing more,” Alhaji Mohammed said.

Using the words of IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu, such as “If they fail to  Give us Biafra, Somalia will look like a paradise compared to what will happen to that ‘zoo’ (Nigeria).” “I don’t want peaceful actualisation (of Biafra)”; “We need guns and we need bullets”; “If they don’t (give us Biafra), they will die,” the Minister exposes IPOB
as a terrorist organization like ETA in Spain, the Tamil Tigers was in Sri Lanka, and the PKK is in Turkey (all of whom are proscribed by the U.S. State Department).

He makes clear that this administration will not make the same mistake as the previous in allowing terrorists to capture land.

“The government reiterates its appeal to its international partners to proscribe the organization, and in doing so, starve it of the funds which gives it sustenance. Nigeria has just defeated one preventable terrorist insurgency. This one must not be given the chance to get a foothold,” the Minister writes.

By Lai Mohammed -Thursday, October 12, 2017

ANALYSIS/OPINION:
“If they fail to give us Biafra, Somalia will look like a paradise compared to what will happen to that ‘zoo’ ( Nigeria ).” These are the words of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the so-called Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
On Sept. 20, the Federal Government of Nigeria proscribed IPOB as a terrorist organization. I, as minister of Information and Culture and the spokesman of the government , call on our international partners to do the same.
Whilst there is no internationally agreed definition of terrorism, many nations’ characterizations closely correlate. Basic to all of them is this: the calculated threat or use of violence to further a political, religious or ideological cause.
Back to Nnamdi Kanu: “I don’t want peaceful actualization (of Biafra)”; “We need guns and we need bullets”; “If they don’t (give us Biafra), they will die.” Public announcement like these puts IPOB’s designation beyond doubt in most jurisdictions: they are a terrorist organization, as ETA was in Spain, the Tamil Tigers was in Sri Lanka, and the PKK is in Turkey (all of whom are proscribed by the U.S. State Department).
But it is not for the sake of a label we level this appeal. Currently, streams of cash come from across the globe to swell the organization’s stockpile of weapons. Yet funding of terrorism is illegal in international law. Only with the group’s correct categorization will our international partners be able to halt the financing — and with it, IPOB’s future.
The threat posed by the organization may be low. IPOB commands little grass-root support in the South East (the region it calls Biafra). All South-East governors have collectively condemned IPOB’s calls for secession. And local traditional and religious leaders have weighed into the debate, restating that absolute integrity of Nigeria . Violence, much less terrorism, never solves grievance. And for that reason, the overwhelming majority of residents in the South-East reject IPOB. They know the ballot box offers the best mechanism for redress.
In spite of this, the latent threat is high. Boko Haram similarly had little support in the North East in 2009. They didn’t need it. Armed with terror and buoyed by government inaction, they seized large swathes of land. Inertia in Abuja lubricated the group’s advance. But now due to this government’s actions, Boko Haram hold no local districts. This administration shall not make the same mistake as the last. We will take the rapid, precise and necessary action required to deal with IPOB now.
The government recognizes in IPOB’s lust for destruction a trait shared with Boko Haram. It also appreciates a qualitative difference in the threat. Unlike Boko Haram — a regional insurgency — IPOB breeds insecurity across the whole nation. In their divisive and inciting rhetoric, they jeopardize the very social fabric that binds us.
Nigeria is a multicultural nation. Our strength lies in our diversity. The Igbo — the ethnic group that IPOB claim to represent — live in the South East, as they do in every zone across Nigeria alongside Hausa, Ijaw, Fulani, Yoruba and more. Each district makes up its own rich tapestry, with ethnicities and religions intermingling to form unique communities.
IPOB’s public announcements endanger Igbos that reside outside the South East. In claiming to speak for the Igbo, they falsely represent the group. But the public may sometimes miss this distinction. And whilst the government has taken all measures to soothe tensions, rumor still takes hold.
This is a terrorist tactic we have seen through history across the world. IPOB intend to drive a wedge between the Igbo and the rest of Nigeria . Grievance rooted in discrimination drives their recruitment — or so they think. They therefore manufacture it through stoking ethnic tension. This is the aim of IPOB’s rhetoric.
The violence they have sown in the South East has the same intention. The attacks on police officers, army stations, local Hausa groups as well as the establishment of a national guard and secret service are all breeding uncertainty in the region. The timing of the violence is not coincidental: the Nigerian economy has just broken free of recession. Yet IPOB must generate grievance to fuel recruitment. Prosperity threatens the organization’s existence.
And that is the heart of it: the terror lays bare their opportunism. They masquerade as a separatist movement, yet they endanger the very people they claim to represent. In reality, IPOB cares about IPOB and nothing more.
Terrorism is often called the power of the weak. That IPOB indeed are. But if the last decade has taught us anything, it is how quickly the weak can become strong. The government reiterates its appeal to its international partners to proscribe the organization, and in doing so, starve it of the funds which gives it sustenance. Nigeria has just defeated one preventable terrorist insurgency. This one must not be given the chance to get a foothold.
• Lai Mohammed is Nigeria ’s minister of information and culture and chief government spokesperson.
Copyright © 2017 The Washington Times, LLC.

By Tayo Joseph Lagos

By Adebisi Adeyemi, Lagos

 President Muhammadu Buhari has re-appointed Mr Uchechi N. Orji as Managing Director of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA).

 Mr Orji was first appointed in October 2012 for an initial term of five years, renewable for another term of five years.

 Under his leadership, the NSIA has made remarkable strides, and its assets now stand at over $2 billion, which is invested in Nigerian Infrastructure, Economic Stabilization and Future Generation Funds.

 In line with Section 16(2) of the NSIA Act, the National Economic Council had in July, this year, endorsed the renewal of Mr Orji’s appointment, given his performance in the first term.

 Also, President Buhari has approved the nomination of Professor Isa Hayatu Chiroma as the Director General of the Nigerian Law School.

 Prof. Chiroma will succeed Mr Olanrewaju Onadeko, who is due for retirement.

 Chiroma is a Professor of Law, and currently the Deputy Director in charge of the Yola Campus of the Nigerian Law School. He hails from Adamawa State.

By Afolabi Oluwatobi, Lagos

The Garden City of Port Harcourt is set to host The Energy and New Green Technology Conference with the theme: ‘The Future of Hydrocarbon  Industry in the New Age of Green Technology’ between 28th – 30th November, 2017 at the Hotel Presidential.

The event will provide a platform for articulating a proactive response to the seemingly irreversible disruption to the hydrocarbon industry, according to Alfe City Company Ltd (www.alfecity.com), the organisers.

Among key speakers expected at the event that will attract major stakeholders in the economy are Prof. W.J. Okowa, Dr. Eddie Wikina, Prof. P. A.  Olomola, Prof. R A.  Olowe, Engr. Don Boham and Dr. Adebayo Adedokun.

The conference with provision for exhibition of new green technology products and services and Regulators Clinic is targeted at participants from Oil & Gas Companies; Petrochemical Companies; Services Companies; Financial Institutions; Regulators; Federal Government; State Government; Oil Producing Areas Development Authorities; and Insurance Companies.

Among the sub-themes of the conference which industry experts will do justice to include, A perspective on the evolution of the hydrocarbon Industry and its role in the industrialised global economy; The recent emergence e of the new green technology and its potential impact on the future of the energy trade; The direct cost of the new green technology industry on economies like Nigeria that are almost wholly reliant on the hydrocarbon Industry; Managing the immediate to short term effects of the new green Technology on the economies of countries like Nigeria whose economic prospects are tied to the fate of the hydrocarbon Industry; The roles of government and regulators in managing the transition from a hydrocarbon based economy to a new green technology environment; Deciding on a new template and business module in a green technology economy.

According to Mr Soji Adeleye , Chief Executive Officer, Alfe City Company, “one of the most important decisions being discussed right now at both the policy level and corporate headquarters across the Globe is what to make of the inevitability of the new green technology and potential demise of the energy trade as we know it.

“In the case of economies like Nigeria that hitherto had relied almost exclusively on hydrocarbon industry for their economic survival, the issue is existential.

“This conference will bring this existential discussion into focus for three days. Distinguished experts in the sector and renowned economists are scheduled to bring their considerable wealth of Industry experience to bear on the subject with a view to channelling a way forward.”

He listed other objectives of the conference to include, exploring the role hydrocarbon energy has played in the global economy industrialization; exploring the politics of oil and the emergence of the new green technology; channelling a part for a possible coexistence of hydrocarbon business and the new green technology; for bringing industry operators, regulators, government, and other industries together for a look at the future of the hydrocarbon Economy.

“The global collapse of the crude oil market in the recent time demands a rigorous analysis particularly in a place like Nigeria that derives almost all of her foreign exchange earnings exclusively from hydrocarbon, the Alfe City boss said.

“This specialist conference would attempt to put into focus the role hydrocarbon energy has played and continue to play in the world economy. It would also consider the critical circumstances of countries like Nigeria that did not leverage the considerable wealth accumulated from oil to diversify their economy.

“The technical content will be handled by seasoned international experts in the industry who are expected to proffer plausible solutions for industry operators, government and regulators on how best to confront the inevitable transition to the new green technology.”