Michael Ojuroye Initiative (Ngo)

Image of  Proposed 4th Mainland Bridge Lagos State government, yesterday, said the proposed Fourth Mainland Bridge may not be realisable soon because; “With the current plan, 318 buildings will need to be demolished for the bridge to take-off.” Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Mr. Ben Akabueze and his counterpart from the ministry of Works and Infrastructure, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat disclosed these during an inter-ministerial press briefing on analysis of Year 2014 budget, stressing that the year’s budget is aimed at eradicating poverty. Hamzat explained that it was difficult for the state government to embark on the previous alignment for the construction of the bridge because of its huge requirements and expenses, adding that the previous alignment which is eight  kilometers, will cost the state government N320 billion. According to him, “And to construct a kilometer of that bridge is about N40 billion, so the issue is that we also need to factor the cost of d...

El Tio Mexican forces have captured one of the country’s most wanted drug lords, officials say. Dionicio Loya Plancarte, known as El Tio (The Uncle), was one of the leaders of the Knights Templar drug cartel in western Michoacan state, officials say. The government had a 30m-peso ($2.2m; £1.3m) bounty on his head for drug and money-laundering crimes. Troops were deployed to Michoacan earlier this month after vigilantes clashed with gang members. The vigilantes accuse the government of not doing enough to protect locals from extortion and violence. Armed with high-powered weapons, they have pushed out the Knights Templar from some of their strongholds in the Tierra Caliente region. The army was sent in to restore order and disarm the so-called self-defence forces. However, many have refused to lay down their weapons until the cartel’s main leaders are captured. Follow us on Twitter: Click here On Facebook:   Click here Add on BBM: 2860E881 or 7C80F17E

D' banj Oyebanjo, a.k.a D’banj, on Monday said he would take to farming to encourage youths to embrace agriculture and fight poverty. D’banj said in an interview with in Ikeja, during the launch of “ONE’s Year of Agriculture’ Campaign” that his action was to explore another area of opportunities. “ONE’’ is an international, non-partisan, non-profit, advocacy and campaigning organisation aimed at eradicating poverty and preventable diseases in the world through public awareness. D’banj said that during his meeting with the “ONE Organisation” in South Africa, he was convinced that agriculture was the only way forward for Nigeria and Africa. “They told me about how many potentials that we’re missing out on. “They told about how if we focus on agriculture in the next five, six, seven, 10 years, Africa can actually be feeding the rest of the world. “They told me about how much the small scale farmers don’t even have any support and they are the larger percentage of people that are...

The State Security Service released the former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, in the early hours of Tuesday after quizzing the ex-minister for about 15 hours. El-Rufai, who reported to the SSS Abuja office at about 9.30am on Monday, was released some minutes after midnight. The bail conditions of the All Progressives Congress chief was not known as of the time of filing this report. The former minister was summoned by the SSS for what the security agency described as provocative and inciting comments. El-Rufai was reported to have said there would be violence if the 2015 elections are not free and fair.   El- Rufai SSS detains El-Rufai The State Security Service on Monday detained a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Malam Nasir el-Rufai at its headquarters in Abuja. The SSS operatives detained el-Rufai, who is the interim Deputy Publicity Secretary of the opposition All Progressives Congress, when he reported at their of...

Properties worth more than N50 million were on Monday destroyed in a fire incident that gutted a warehouse in Omu-Aran, Kwara, the News Agency of Nigeria reports. An eyewitness told NAN that the warehouse, located on Aperan Way and behind a filling station, was stocked with foam and building materials. It caught fire at about 4.15p.m. and raged for more than three hours before the arrival of fire fighters from Ilorin. NAN reports that although no life was lost in the incident, police men from the Omu-Aran police division, assisted by some military personnel were on hand to maintain law and order in the area. An Assistant Chief Fire Superintendent, Mallam Mustapha Ibrahim, who led the team of firemen, told NAN that he received a distress call at about 5.30p.m. and immediately headed to Omu-Aran. He said that the intensity of the fire was due to the materials stocked in the warehouse which accounted for the huge losses incurred in the incident. Ibrahim attributed the fire to a susp...

Emotions ran high in Otukpo, Benue State in the week, when a 52 year old HIV positive teacher (name withheld) simply went berserk and allegedly took advantage of his 12 year old female student and raped her. The rather unfortunate incident occurred at Wesley High School, a missionary secondary school located in the heart of Otukpo town which also has boarding facilities for resident students. Narrating the ordeal through a petition written to the Chief Judge of Benue State a copy of which was made available to Vanguard, titled: A petition for Justice to be done devoid of favouritism, the father of the victim, Mr. Amos Adeoye, intimated that the teacher, on July 2 2009, within the premises of the school allegedly raped his daughter. He explained that the victim was caught in the web of the accused on the fateful day, when on her way to the school matrons abode to make a phone call to her parents when she was waylaid and lost her virginity to the HIV positive teacher. According to Mr....

In readiness for the 2015 general elections in the country, over 60,000 anti-riot mobile Police officers are being trained at the Police Mobile Training College, Ila-Orangun, Osun State. The Police officers who are currently undergoing training  were drawn from the 36 states of the federation and they are deployed next year during nationwide general elections. The Commandant of the college, Mr. Jackson El-Ekoh, a Deputy Commissioner of Police, told newsmen, weekend, that the training was to make police effective before, during and after the various elections scheduled for this year and 2015. El-Ekoh, who said the training would be in batches, disclosed that the 700 officers and men in the first batch started receiving their training last Friday. According to him, the training was at the instance of the Inspector General of Police, Mr Mohammed  Abubakar who he said gave a directive to ensure proper training for all Police officers that will participate in the future electi...