Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State has warned contractors handling various road projects in the state to re-double efforts to ensure they deliver quality jobs within the stipulated contract period as his administration is in a hurry to complete all ongoing projects for the overall benefit of the people.

A Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, chieftain in Ebonyi State, Mr. Abia Onyike, yesterday, stressed that the constant blame being heaped on former President Goodluck Jonathan over the state of economy by the Federal Government was a reflection of its unpreparedness to provide quality services to Nigerians.

The Commissioner of Police, Anambra State Police Command, Mr. Hosea Karma has ordered the immediate release of eight suspected persons arrested in connection with the razing of a house at Mgbachu village Nkpor, Idemili North Local Government Area on new year’s day this year.

The Lagos State chapter of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) has filed a N500 million criminal suit against the Nigerian Customs Service, NCS, over the brutal assault on one Yomi Olomofe, a journalist at Seme border post of the NCS last year.

The National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, has vehemently denied the allegation that its leadership expropriated the N23.5 million donated to critically injured ex-corps members, describing the report as mischievous.

Trade Union Congress, TUC, in Rivers State, has decried the seeming poor response of the Federal and Rivers State governments to contain the spread of Lassa fever that has killed a medical doctor and two others in the state within one month.

THE outbreak of Lassa fever which has been ravaging some parts of the country, has claimed the life of a 65-year-old woman who was diagnosed with the illness in Delta State.

Nigeria earned N3.27 trillion from the oil and gas sector in 10 months, between January and October 2015, data obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has revealed.

OIL’S slump to 13-year lows has led to serious cutbacks in investments by energy companies, as 68 large upstream oil and gas projects worth $380 billion have already been put on hold.

Transcorp Hotels Plc, yesterday, listed N10billion corporate bond simultaneously on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange Plc to become the first entity to be listed on both exchanges this year, despite persistent decline in the stock market.

Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State yesterday inaugurated a high-powered panel to audit the state workforce as civil service had not been audited in the last two decades.

Residents smoked out a young man whose gang had for long terrorised Jabe, a community at Gberigbe, Ikorodu, Lagos, especially on Sundays.

—National Public Relations Officer of oil-rich Deghele community in Warri South-West Local Government Area of Delta State, Mr. Johnbull Edema, has applauded the Olu of Warri, Ogiame Ikenwoli I, over his recent policy statement restricting the headship, Olara-Aja, of every Itsekiri community to only the most elderly man residing in the community.

ABUJA — TOP militant
leaders, who have been causing havoc in the Niger Delta and major oil depots in the South-West, have laid out conditions under which they would stop the renewed bombing of oil installations and embrace peace.
The militants told one of our correspondents in Abuja that they would only drop their arms when the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, meets and negotiates with them.
The militants issued the position after a secret meeting involving their leaders from the Niger Delta and their counterparts in Alepo, Agric, Epe, Ikorodu, Itoki and Igbokoda areas of Lagos.
One of the top leaders, who gave his name as General Levi, told Vanguard that they would not want to back down until the Petroleum Minister meets them and secures amnesty for their members to avoid being persecuted by security agencies.
The militant leaders also said after meeting with the minister, they would thereafter take over the responsibility of tracking and exposing those bent on causing further destruction to all facilities and meting our appropriate punishment to them.
They said they had been pleading for amnesty since the days of the President Jonathan’s administration but nobody took them into consideration and were ready to work with the new administration to bring about an end to oil bunkering and pipeline vandalisation in the Niger Delta region and the South-West.
Levi said: “We are ready to drop our arms and denounce hostility with the government on the condition that the Minister of Petroleum will meet with us and hear our own side of the story. We are not against the government but we have genuine issues yet to be addressed by successive administrations in this country.
“We are ready to commence discussion and denounce association with this present situation. From now henceforth, we are ready to block any channel for anyone not to go through to bomb oil pipelines.”
The bombing of oil installations in the Niger Delta commenced last week as militants blew up major oil and gas pipelines in the area.

Abuja — Top militant leaders, who have been causing havoc in the Niger Delta and major oil depots in the South-West, have laid out conditions under which they would stop the renewed bombing of oil installations and embrace peace.

Despite the harsh economic climate sweeping across the nation due to the fall in oil prices, devaluation of the naira, capital flight, inconsistency in government policies and unemployment, the Managing Director of Propertygate Development & Investment Plc, Mr. Adetokunbo Ajayi has predicted that 2016 will be a prosperous year for the real estate sub-sector of the economy.