Michael Ojuroye Initiative (Ngo)

BY: FUNMI OJUROYE  28th Sept. 2013 UNITED NATIONS, – The UN Security Council unanimously passed a landmark resolution Friday ordering the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons and condemning a murderous poison gas attack in Damascus. The major powers overcame a prolonged deadlock to approve the first council resolution on the conflict, which is now 30 months old with more than 100,000 dead. UN leader Ban Ki-moon, who called the resolution “the first hopeful news on Syria in a long time,” said he hopes to convene a peace conference in mid-November. Resolution 2118, the result of bruising negotiations between the United States and Russia, gives international binding force to a plan drawn up by the two to eliminate President Bashar al-Assad’s chemical arms. The plan calls for Syria’s estimated 1,000 tonnes of chemical weapons to be put under international control by mid-2014. International experts are expected to start work in Syria to meet the tight deadline nex...

BY: FUNMI OJUROYE  28th Sept. 2013 President Goodluck Jonathan will tomorrow speak on current national issues during a Presidential Media Chat to be broadcast live at 7pm, local time. In a release by Reuben Abati, Special Adviser to the President, Media and Publicity, said, President Jonathan will in the course of the programme, answer questions from a panel of journalists on current national issues and events, as well as policies and actions of his administration. He further asked members  of the public who have  questions for President to respond to on the programme  to send via Twitter to @mediachatng1.  According to Abati, the  programme will be broadcast live on the network services of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) and the Voice of Nigeria (VON). What are your expectations on the President’s chat? What are your questions?  Do write your expectations and questions on ...

BY: FUNMI OJUROYE  28th Sept. 2013 Jonathan Nigerians who have questions they will like President Goodluck Jonathan to address during the presidential media chat billed for 7pm on Sunday can send such questions via Twitter to @mediachatng1. According to a statement on Saturday by presidential spokesman, Reuben Abati, the President would be ready to answer questions on current national issues and events, as well as policies and actions of his administration during the programme that would be broadcast live on national television and radio stations. The statement read, “President Goodluck Jonathan will host another edition of the Presidential Media Chat on Sunday, September 29, 2013 at 7pm. “President Jonathan will in the course of the programme, answer questions from a panel of journalists on current national issues and events, as well as policies and actions of his administration. “Members of the public who have questions they will like the President to respond to on the...

BY: FUNMI OJUROYE  28th Sept. 2013 Sule Lamido of Jigawa on Saturday appealed to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to end the ongoing strike in the interest of the students. Lamido made the appeal when he received a delegation from the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) in Dutse. He said it was unfortunate that the industrial action was still on almost three months since it began. The governor blamed the protracted strike on lack of trust between the Federal Government and ASUU. “It is really unfortunate that the strike has lasted up until this time. There is no trust between the two bodies and when there is no trust it will be difficult to have a common ground. “As a parent, I am so worried seeing our children that supposed to be in school at home. “I am appealing to ASUU to go back to the classroom while the negotiation with the government continues,” he said. Lamido, however, pleaded with the Federal Government to continue to dialogue with the...

BY: FUNMI OJUROYE  27th Sept. 2013 Prof Wole Soyinka Nobel laureate,  Prof Wole Soyinka  is expected to be the Special Guest of the Rivers State government at the formal international presentation of Port Harcourt The World Book Capital 2014 on Saturday, September 28 at Trenton, New Jersey, USA. Other speakers and special guest at the event include Prof Toyin Falola, Prof. Kalu Ogbaa, Dr. Ogaga Ifowodo, and some other members of the Nigerian literary community in the US. The presentation designed as one of the series of events to usher in the 2014 deadline for the World Book Capital is expected to be done by the Governor of Rivers State, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, who same day is also being conferred with the Quintessence Award for Leadership by the African Writers Foundation. Governor Amaechi will be supported by the President of the Port Harcourt Literary Society, Dr Chidi Amuta and Mrs Koko Kalango, President of the Rainbow Book C...

BY: FUNMI OJUROYE  27th Sept. 2013 nPDP chair, Kawu Baraje The chairman of the new Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje, has unequivocally condemned the rape of the country’s economy by the Goodluck Ebele Jonathan administration. He said that despite claims to the contrary by the government in a futile bid to deceive Nigerians, the overwhelming evidence is that the Nigerian economy has been run aground and is now comatose. The assertions are contained in a statement issued by the faction in Abuja, and signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Chukwuemeka Eze. It drew attention to the massive scale of officially-induced oil theft, the dwindling returns from oil and massive looting going on at the federal level as evidence that Nigeria is on the brink of economic collapse. "One manifestation of this is the Federal Government’s inability to pay states their share of the Federal Allocation since July. The last time that states were paid was for part of...

By: Funmi Ojuroye  27th  Sept., 2013 AS the 2015 general elections draw nearer, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has advised intending observers of the poll to make their own security arrangements. This advice was given, yesterday, in Abuja by the Chairman of INEC Prof Attahiru Jega, in his remarks at a one- day workshop organised by the commission, entitled “Election Observation Outside Nigeria; Lessons Learnt.” Jega further stated that all over the world, apart from Venezuela, election observers were always responsible for their own security, adding that this would also apply to Nigeria  since INEC would be saddled with the engagement of security agencies for the overall conduct of the polls. Said he: “What we do in Nigeria is to liaise with the security agencies to   provide security for the overall conduct of the elections. Observers to provide own security “Observers can make their own security arrangements. We even have some countries ...