Kano pays N1bn counterpart funding for basic education scheme (Read full details)

Abdullahi Umar Ganduje

Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano state said that his administration had paid N1 billion as counterpart funding for the basic education scheme.

Ganduje told newsmen on Thursday in Kano, shortly after the inauguration of 2,000 classrooms in selected primary schools in the metropolis.

“We have paid N1 billion to the Federal Government as our counterpart funding for basic education,’’ he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the inauguration of the classrooms and the governor’s visit to some schools were parts of the week-long activities organised by the Ministry of Education to mark the state’s Basic Education Week.

According to him, the Federal Government will also contribute the same amount to the state for the implementation of the basic education scheme.

The governor also said the fund was meant to construct additional classrooms in all primary and Junior Secondary Schools, (JSS), provide furniture among other necessary facilities to enhance teaching and learning.

He said the state would soon launch its Education Trust Fund as part of measures to ensure effective community participation in the development of education.

“If you have a large population, you will have problem in education as government cannot do it alone. So, community participation in education is necessary.

“As you know, not many people are interested in investing in education. Sometimes, you become confused as to where you start, hence our decision to give priority to basic education.”

The governor said the state would also invite experts from the organised private sector and some Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to contribute their quota toward promoting education.

He said the state would continue to give priority to the welfare of teachers and ensure that only qualified ones were allowed in the system.

“We are not looking for everybody to teach. So, we will make sure that we sanitise the system by making sure that only qualified ones teach in our schools.’’

Ganduje said it was in line to improve the education system in the state that, the state government set up Education Promotion Committee in each local government to ensure quality education.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that no fewer than 2,000 classrooms were inaugurated during the governor’s visit to the selected primary schools in the metropolis.

The Guardian organises maiden cyber security conference in Lagos (Read full details)

The flagship of Nigerian media, The Guardian, is organising its maiden one – day cyber security conference in Lagos, the nation’s economic capital.

The theme is “Monitoring, Detection and Prevention: Keys to Organisational Growth”. The conference holds February 23, 2017, at the Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos by 9:00 a.m.
The chief host for the event is Governor Akinwunmi Ambode.

Speakers include Mr Dipo Fatokun, Director, Banking Systems, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Kola Olutimehin, Chief Executive Officer, Makeway International, United Kingdom (UK) and Anthony Maxwell, The Senior Partner, Lockwire Security, East Midlands, UK.

The conference aims to bring to the fore current global best practices in integrated network defence systems, provide exposure to proven standards – based methodologies for assessing and managing the risks to organisation’s information systems and infrastructure, provide exposure to intrusion detection and prevention and other broad strategies employed in cyber security.

Participants would also be exposed to up-to–date digital forensic investigation techniques, identity/access management for Information Communication Technology (ICT) resources, building the right public key infrastructure (PKI) to manage enterprise trust as well as exposing participants to key online transactions monitoring and security techniques.

The conference costs N120,000 and has Lagos State Government and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as strategic partners.

Expected at the meeting are ICT managers, top executives, bankers, accountants, auditors, company treasurers, marketing managers, officials of EFFC, ICPC, Customs Police, Army, Navy, NDLEA, e-payment companies, revenue collectors among others.

On the speakers, Maxwell is an IT security specialist with a 15 – year background securing Windows and Linux systems. He is a qualified CISSP with ISO 27001 certifications in auditing and digital forensics among others.
Olutimehin is an astute professional consultant of almost two decades involved in financial systems development and IT security.

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Russia demands Fox apologise for Putin ‘killer’ question to Trump…Read full details

Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses a press conference with the Hungarian Prime Minister at the parliament building in Budapest on February 2, 2017.  PHOTO: AFP / Attila KISBENEDEK

The Kremlin on Monday urged US network Fox News to apologise after its presenter called Russian President Vladimir Putin “a killer” while interviewing US President Donald Trump.

“We consider such words from a Fox News correspondent unacceptable and offensive,” Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists in a conference call.

“To be honest we would prefer to receive an apology addressed to the president from such a respected television company,” the Kremlin spokesman added.

Fox News’s Bill O’Reilly in an interview broadcast Sunday pressed Trump on Putin’s alleged links to extrajudicial killings of journalists and dissidents, saying: “he’s a killer though, Putin’s a killer.”

Trump answered: “We’ve got a lot of killers. You think our country’s so innocent?”

“Take a look at what we’ve done too. We’ve made a lot of mistakes,” Trump added.

Asked to react to Trump’s response, Peskov said “in this case I would prefer to leave this without comment.”

Trump has prompted a political firestorm with his remarks on Putin in the interview broadcast ahead of the Super Bowl.

“I do respect him. Well, I respect a lot of people, but that doesn’t mean I’ll get along with them,” Trump said.

Senate leader Mitch McConnell, speaking on CNN, said of Putin, “He is a former KGB agent (and) a thug.”

But Vice President Mike Pence told NBC that Trump would not “let semantics or the arguments of the past get in the way of exploring the ability to work together with Russia.”

Trump and Putin had their first call since the US president took office on January 28, which the White House called “a significant start to improving the relationship between the United States and Russia.”

Rice farmers in South-South strategises to boost production (Read full details)

Rice farmers in the South-South geo-political zone of the country say they are determined to boost rice production with a view to ensuring food security in the zone.

Mr Sylva Ejezie, Chairman, Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) Delta chapter, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Asaba on Sunday.

Ejezie told NAN that members of the association from Delta, Edo, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Cross River States met in Asaba to strategise on how to achieve their aim.

He said that food security was necessary for any nation to advance in other sectors like education, manufacturing or military.

The RIFAN chairman said that advancing agri-business in the zone would make food available and create jobs for the teaming youths.

“We gathered in Delta to harness issues that will take rice farming to another level in the zone. Agriculture is a good business and we do not want to be known for militancy only.

“Some of the issues we discussed included ways to avoid combining politics and farming; I believe the cabals in politics are the setback to growing agriculture.

“We do not want to be known only for youths restiveness, militancy and kidnapping. South-South has the manpower and fertile land for farming,” he said.

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Hollywood holds breath for Oscars nominations (Read full details)

Announcement cards and envelopes by designer Marc Friedland which are used by presenters at the Oscars to announce winners are on display at the food and decor preview February 4, 2015 of this years Governors Ball, the post-Oscar celebration which follows the 87th Oscars ceremony on February 22 in Hollywood, California.  This year's Governors Ball celebrates Hollywood's history and glamour and iconic actors in a vintage Hollywood atmosphere of warm, deep tones of a period-inspired lounge. AFP PHOTO / ROBYN BECK (Photo credit should read ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)

Hollywood was on tenterhooks Tuesday for the unveiling of this year’s Oscars nominations, with critical darlings “La La Land,” “Moonlight” and “Manchester by the Sea” leading a crowded field of contenders.

The nominated films, actors and filmmakers will be made public shortly after 5 am (1300 GMT) during an announcement which for the first time will be streamed online.

This year’s crop is expected to reflect a push by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to show more diversity and avoid the social hashtag #OscarsSoWhite that has dogged the awards for the past two years.

Industry watchers are predicting that Damien Chazelle’s whimsical, romantic musical “La La Land” — buoyed by a record seven Golden Globe awards earlier this month — will triumph at the February 26 Oscars bash with possible golden statuettes for best movie, best actor and in several other categories.

But the movie starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling is facing stiff competition from “Moonlight” — the coming-of-age tale of a black man in Miami — and “Manchester by the Sea,” about a depressive loner played by Casey Affleck.

Both films also received nods at the Golden Globes, though far fewer than “La La Land.”

Other frontrunners for best picture are Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi thriller “Arrival”; Mel Gibson’s bloody WWII movie “Hacksaw Ridge”; Garth Davis’s family drama “Lion”; and Theodore Melfi’s biographical comedy-drama “Hidden Figures.”

“I suspect ‘La La Land’ and ‘Hidden Figures’ will get a lot of nominations, because the movies impressed people in both above-the-line categories as well as behind the camera — costumes, production design, music, et cetera,” Tim Gray, awards editor for trade magazine Variety, told AFP.

– ‘Extraordinary outreach to diversity’ –
In the lead actor category, Affleck, Gosling and Denzel Washington, who plays an African-American father trying to raise his family in the screen adaptation of the Broadway hit “Fences,” are leading the pack.

Other contenders are Andrew Garfield, who plays an army medic in “Hacksaw Ridge” and Viggo Mortensen who plays a father trying to raise his six kids in “Captain Fantastic.”

The field is also crowded in the best actress race, where Stone is expected to vie for an Oscar opposite Natalie Portman, who plays a grieving JFK widow in “Jackie”; Isabelle Huppert, for her performance in the rape-revenge thriller “Elle”; Amy Adams, who plays a linguist able to communicate with aliens in “Arrival”; and Meryl Streep, who stars in the comedy biopic “Florence Foster Jenkins.”

Huppert — often described as France’s equivalent of Streep — scooped the best actress award at the Golden Globes for her performance in “Elle,” which also won for best foreign film.

Industry pundits say the 63-year-old could very well walk away with an Oscar next month, becoming one of the rare actresses to win for a foreign language performance.

Tom O’Neil, editor of awards prediction website Gold Derby, said the 6,000-plus Academy voters are sure to address head-on last year’s outcry over the overwhelmingly white nominees.

“I expect Oscar voters to make an extraordinary outreach to diversity with gads of nominations for ‘Moonlight,’ ‘Hidden Figures,’ ‘Fences’ and others,” he told AFP, referring to movies with African-American actors.

He added that two black actors — Viola Davis (“Fences”) and Mahershala Ali (“Moonlight”) — have a real chance of winning in the best supporting actor/actress categories, while “Moonlight” could scoop the award for best picture.

Hollywood holds breath for Oscars nominations

Shell Gabon employees end strike after deal (Read full details)

PHOTO:AFP

Shell Gabon’s 400 staff have returned to work, ending an 11-day walkout after a deal was reached with management over the planned sale of the business, union sources said Monday.

“Work has resumed at all sites operated by Shell Gabon,” after the government helped mediate a deal regarding workers’ compensation, said the ONEP union which had originally organised the open-ended strike.

Royal Dutch Shell, one of the two historic operators alongside French group Total, is selling its Gabon oil assets.

The planned sale, worth an estimated $700 million, is part of a drive by Shell to spin off a total of $30 billion worth of assets to cut debt.

But the sale plans have worried the workforce, with the union saying Shell’s withdrawal from Gabon was detrimental to staff and they should be paid damages.

Shell is expected to sign a deal to sell the Gabon operations to US fund Carlyle this month, a source close to the talks said last week.

“We don’t comment on market rumours and we have nothing to add on this occasion,” the group said.

French group Perenco, present in Gabon since 1960, was also in the running to buy the Shell assets.

The 400 staff are expected to be retained by the company’s new owners.

Last week, the union said that the ongoing strike had led to production cuts of up to 50 percent, with lost output worth some $4.5 million.

Shell Gabon employees end strike after deal