Jonathan's response to Nigerians after North issues quit notice to Igbos

Nigeria's former president, Goodluck Jonathan has weighed in on the ethnic tension following an ultimatum issued to the Igbos in the north to leave the region by a Northern youth forum.

It was gathered that Jonathan took to his Facebook page on Thursday, June 8, to share a powerful message to Nigerians.

In his message the former president stated that Nigerians have the right to live in any part of the country.

Nigeria's former president Goodluck Jonathan says Nigerians have the right to live in any part of the country.

He said:

"Every Nigerian citizen has an inalienable right to reside in any part of Nigeria. As Nigerians, we should all tailor our thoughts, actions and utterances to promote this and other rights.

We are all brothers and sisters born from the womb of mother Nigeria. There are no still births or unwanted births from our mother.

We are all one and equal and it is the responsibility of all men of goodwill to appeal for calm and unity in our beloved country Nigerians."

It has been on news that a group named, the Coalition of Northern Youths (CNY) on Tuesday, June 6, issued a statement orderingIgbo people in the north to vacate Northern Nigeria within 3 months.

It was learnt that learnt that the group also urged northern people in the south-eastern part of the country to immediately start moving back to their various states.

The group threatened that from the 1st October, 2017, it will begin to prove to the whole world the north was no longer part of any federal union that should do with the Igbos.

N19tn debt: NESG, Utomi, Rewane, others call for caution

Economic and financial experts have raised the alarm over the nation’s rising debt burden, calling on the Federal Government to spend more on capital expenditure and exercise care in its quest for more borrowing.

The experts, who spoke in separate interviews with our correspondents on Tuesday, reacted to the N7.1tn increase in the nation’s total debt in two years to N19.16tn as of March 2017.

A professor of Political Economy and management expert, Pat Utomi, said, “A country is not different from a household, more or less generally, in terms of how it manages its finances. So, if your personal debt profile is going up at that rate, will you be comfortable?

“However, there are times that you need to spend your way, literally speaking, out of a challenge of output; recession being one of those. But I think that even at that, you need a certain level of care to make sure that you don’t get into an unsustainable debt scenario.”

Utomi expressed hope that the government would be more careful even if the recession required spending.

“My big worry is that the impact of the borrowing may not be reflected on output, in the sense that if we get into a double whammy where our debt balloons, but we don’t have the necessary stimulation of production, especially when our consumption is very external in its orientation, we need be very careful to watch all of those,” he added.

The Chief Executive Officer, Financial Derivatives Company Limited, Bismarck Rewane, said it was wrong for the government to be mainly borrowing to support recurrent expenditure.

He said, “We need to move away from debts for recurrent expenditure to debts for capital expenditure, which is projects-specific. The debt level itself is not dangerous, but the debt service level – the debt burden – is very high.

“We are using 66 per cent of our independent revenue to pay interest. So, interest rates must come down substantially, or else, we are in trouble.”

Reps summon Health Minister, NAFDAC DG over beverage packages

The House of Representatives on Wednesday summoned the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, to appear before it to explain likely effects of using plastic containers to package foods and beverages.

Also, Yetunde Oni, the acting Director-General, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, was summoned to appear before the house.

The decision was sequel to a motion by Rep. Sergius Ogun (Edo-PDP) entitled: “Need to Regulate the Use of Bisphenol “A”(BPA) Plastics in the Production of Bottled Water”.

Moving the motion, Ogun expressed concern over the effects of drinking water in plastic containers that had been left under the sun or near a heat source, which had been linked to degenerative diseases.

He explained that plastics were hydrocarbons obtained from crude oil which, when heated, became unstable and slowly released chemicals that entered the water.

According to him, most plastics contain a chemical known as Bisphenol “A” (BPA), also known as “environmental estrogen” which causes reproductive defect and neurological abnormalities and prostate issues.

“During the hot and humid weather, the demand for water is on the increase and as such, production of bottled water is on the rise.

“The production of bottled water in most parts is unregulated.

“As a result, the use of BPA plastics, which are by far cheaper than the non-BPA, is generally used by companies producing bottled water,” he said.

Other lawmakers that contributed to the debate called for sensitisation of the public on the health hazard of using plastic bottles to package drinks and foods.

In his contributions, Rep. Oghene Egoh (Lagos-PDP) said, “we need to educate the public on this.“

Also, Rep. Rotimi Agunsoye (Lagos-APC), warned against the dangerous effects of Bisphenol “A“ to the body.

“It is important that we inform NAFDAC and the National Orientation Agency to educate and sensitise the public on health hazard of using plastics to package drinks and foods,’’ Agunsoye said.

The motion was unanimously adopted by members when it was put to a voice vote by Speaker Yakubu Dogara.

It was referred to the House Committee on Healthcare Services for further legislative action.

APC declared winner of ALL Benue’s 23 councils — without election results

The Benue State Independent Electoral Commission (BSIEC) announced on Sunday that the All Progressive Congress (APC) had won all the 23 local government chairmanship seats in the election held on Saturday.

It also announced that the party won all the councillorship positions, with some of the candidates returned unopposed.

John Tsuwa, BSIEC chairman, who declared the results in Makurdi, the state capital, however, declined to release details of votes scored by the candidates.
“The figures are not ready. I will not entertain questions because this is not a press conference,,” he told curious reporters.

Tsuwa said that eight political parties participated in the exercise and listed them to include Accord Party, APC, PDP, SDP, ACB, PPP, LP and NNPP.
He thanked security agencies for ensuring a smooth conduct of the elections, and expressed happiness that no case of violence or snatching of ballot box was reported throughout the exercise.