Arsenal defeated Newcastle United to earn a third straight win, Granit Xhaka finding the net in some style at St James’ Park.
Bianca Ojukwu
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Buhari to attend 73rd UN General Assembly –Minister
The Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, says President Muhammadu Buhari, will lead Nigeria’s delegation to the 73rd United Nations General Assembly in New York.
The 73rd UNGA will begin September 18 at the UN Headquarters, New York, while the General Debate will hold from September 25 to October 1.
Onyeama, who disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja at a news conference on the 73rd UNGA, said Mr President would use the opportunity to assert Nigeria’s position on global issues.
“It an opportunity for him to assert Nigeria’s position globally and to put forward our ideas and our vision going forward as a global community.
“The President will address the 73rd Session of the High-Level General Debate of the UN General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York on September 25.
“He will deliver Nigeria’s National Statement on the first day of the general debate of the General Assembly high-level events,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that President Buhari has been placed as number 20 on the list of the speakers out of the 193 world leaders that would address the Assembly.
He would deliver the address to the Assembly on the first day between 8pm and 9pm (between 1am and 2am Nigerian time).
Onyeama said the theme for this year’s UNGA is:“Making the United Nations relevant to all People: Global Leadership and shared responsibilities for peaceful, equitable and sustainable development “.
According to him, Mr president will be leading Nigeria’s delegation, made up of ministers and heads of agencies and permanent secretaries to the event.
“Of course, this is the global meeting of heads of state in the world.
“It is extremely important and it is a rare opportunity for Nigeria as a country to engage with the other countries of the world,” he said.
Onyeama said the 73rd UNGA will avail Nigeria and other member states of the UN the opportunity to engage, interface and share best practices toward reaching common understanding and consensus on key issues of global significance.
According to him, Mr President will hold bilateral meetings with the UN Secretary-General, some African and other world leaders, as well as few strategic partners during this period.
“Nigeria’s expected outcome at the 73rd UNGA should be to achieve a well-planned, synchronised and successful participation of Nigeria at the 73rd Session, under the guidance of Mr President.
“It will be weighed against the backdrop of externalisation of Nigeria’s foreign policy objectives through effective engagement,” he said.
(NAN)
FG moves to tackle deadly gases from exposed coal seam in Nnewi
THE Federal Government yesterday said officers from the Federal Ministry of Mines and Development have been dispatched to tackle deadly gases from the exposed coal seam in Umuozu community, Otolo in Nnewi North Local Government Area of Anambra State.
This was made known by the Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, Abubakar Bwari, in a statement signed by the Personal Assistant on Media to the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, lshaku Kigbu.
This was as the community reported that 15 people have been killed by the deadly gases being emitted from the exposed coal seam.
Bwari said the dispatched officers from the ministry will visit the scene for preliminary inspection and to hold discussion with the affected community that would enable them carry out full scale investigation and how to stop the emission.
According to him, no mining activity goes on in the affected community and therefore, the pollution does not connect with mining operations.
“Coal deposits are known to contain several gases that are highly toxic and injurious to human health and environment. In this case, the deaths could be as a result of the coal releasing carbon dioxide and other gases that if inhaled, could cause harm to human beings.
“The Ministry of Mines and Steel Development’s attention was drawn to a gas emission from exposed coal seam in Umuozu community in Otolo, Nnewi North Local Government Area of Anambra State.
“We have dispatched a team of officers from the ministry to visit the scene for preliminary inspection and to hold discussion with the affected community. This is to ascertain the type of gas as well as proffer adequate solution so as to curb the situation.
“In order to ascertain the effect on the ecosystem, samples of the coal and water were taken from the affected community for further investigations.”
Meanwhile, the community reported that 15 people have been killed by the deadly gases being emitted from the exposed coal seam, which the Minister said was part of the report the ministry got.
“The team observed that as a result of gully erosion around the community some coal seams were exposed with some emitting gases that resulted in the death of 15 persons as reported by the community”, he stated.
The Minister further said that, “Intermittent fire flares from the exposed coal seams and this commenced around December 2017 according to what the community told the ministry’s team.
“Coal deposits are known to contain several gases that are highly toxic and injurious to human health and environment. In this case, the deaths could be as a result of the coal releasing carbon dioxide and other gases that if inhaled could cause harm to human beings”, he said.
In this light, the Minister of Mines and Steel Development has ordered further investigation on the effect of this on humans and the environment.
POLITICS2019: MASSOB leader Uwazuruike declares support for Bianca Ojukwu
Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, Leader of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), has endorsed Mrs Bianca Ojukwu’s bid to contest the Anambra South Senatorial election in 2019.
NAN reports that Uwazuruike endorsed Bianca’s aspiration when Bianca, wife of late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, visited Ojukwu Memorial Library Owerri on Sunday.
He said that he supports Bianca because her late husband meant everything to the identity of the Igbo people and was his bosom friend and mentor, who struggled for the emancipation of Ndigbo.
Uwazuruike, who also doubles as the leader of Biafra Independence Movement, said that though he was not from Anambra Senatorial District, he would deplore tools available to him to ensure Bianca emerged victorious.
“Bianca already has the backing of more than 15 Igbo billionaires for her 2019 senatorial project, and I make bold to say that she has my full support and we call on Anambra people to look back on our history and support her,” Uwazuruike appealed.
Reacting, Ojukuwu commended Uwazuruike’s zeal and interest in engraving the name of her husband and Ndigbo in the sands of time.
“When Uwazuruike started this Ojukwu Memorial Library project after the death of my husband, it was like a bourgeois dream, but the project today is almost completed,” she said.
The opportunity cost of an Ubah vs Bianca contest
By Major Oseloka
Elementary economics left me with some sing-songs, amongst them are, inflation, the scale of preference, and the sweetest of them all to me – opportunity cost. Opportunity cost which simply means the loss of other alternatives when one alternative is chosen is what characterizes the polity of Nnewi at the moment.
The Anambra south senatorial contest which has been reduced to an online dogfight between the online minions of Dr Ifeanyi Ubah and the less sophisticated media neophytes of Ambassador Bianca Ojukwu, the two major aspirants of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), has polluted the ideological space of the town, reducing what could have been an intellectual and strategic battle to a puerile contest between sycophants who have solemnly pledged to the loyalty of their daily bread.
Dr Ubah who carries around an uncommon burden of reputational damages, ranging from his alleged record of more successfully completed slaps than completed projects to the reports of betrayal of business associates, is a populist whose fan base remains a political fortress for willing negotiators. On the other hand, Mrs Ojukwu a political neophyte whose backbone is strengthened by the heroic acts of her late husband, General Dim Emeka Ojukwu, is buoyed by accusations of elitism and lack of connection with the people she seeks to represent.
A few days ago, accusations arose from Mrs Ojukwu filarial relationship with some of her supposed ‘billionaire sponsors’ – an accusation magically conjured by the electronic henchmen released into the media space unconsciously by their indebtedness to Dr Ubah’s philanthropy. Although the accusation has been denied by the management of a hotel through an unprofessionally written memo, supposedly denying it as the work of mischief makers.
Just more damaging also was the outcry by the immediate family of the Late Ojukwu, distancing themselves from her ambition. This outcry dumbfounds the reality of parliamentary politics: parliamentary politics exemplifies the locality of politics, hence, the charity must begin at home.
However, amidst the elitist leanings of Ambassador Ojukwu and the populist displays of Dr Ubah, is lost the opportunity of intellectual understanding of the responsibilities of a parliamentarian. The present dilemma of having a Senator Ubah or Ojukwu presents a terrible impasse where a subject that should have been debated is now a market square debate with character assassination taking the place of logical interrogation.
The opportunity cost of a having a senator who as an aspirant, fails to appear in public meetings that should connect her with her people, and that which embarks on projects only to obtain casualties as outcomes – casualties who are affected either by leaving them unpaid for services rendered or betrayed by the projects unexecuted – for a well scrutinized selection process is lost on a citizenry saturated with some persons who have refused to grow beyond patriarchal sentiments of the gender of a candidate.
The contest for the Anambra South Senatorial District is beyond the dirty fights between the unleashed e-rats of both parties. There must be a logical process of scrutiny, which a society made up of a huge population above the middle class – as Nnewi is known – should follow.
Dr Ubah’s antecedent of speaking out and intervening in critical sectors that have helped in saving the lives of his people is a key ingredient that makes him the man to beat irrespective of the party he is in. However, his penchant for picking up fights with opponents should also be a cause for concern, as the Senate is made up of lobbyists, whose interest cannot be bought over by mere belligerence. Ambassador Bianca on her own, whose unnecessary meekness and aloofness betray the energy.