It was a big honour for Nigeria as Newark, the largest city in the State of New Jersey honoured the country with hoisting of the green-white-green flag in the City Hall.

The Mayor of the City, Ras Baraka, also presented Nigeria with the City’s Highest Order of Proclamation in recognition of the contributions to the City and the United States.

Nigerians in Newark and New York shutdown the city hall as they trooped out to commemorate Nigeria’s 58th independence anniversary.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that this was the second time a U.S. city celebrated Nigeria’s independence with the raising of the country’s flag at the city hall.

Newark’s proclamation came only few weeks after Hempstead, a city in the State of New York, hoisted the Nigerian flag to commemorate the country’s 58th independence anniversary on Oct. 1.

The Newark mayor said that the hoisting of the flag at the City Hall was significant for him and the largest city in the State of New Jersey.

He added that “the significance of the proclamation is that the Mayor and the City of Newark recognise Nigeria on this day: this is ‘Nigeria’s Day’ at the City Hall”.

Represented by Mr Ugochukwu Nwaokoro, the Deputy Mayor for International Relations and Diaspora Affairs, Baraka said: “the raising of Nigeria’s flag at the City Hall symbolises that the city accepts you; it means your flag is rising.

“Nigerians are very hard working people and they are highly goal-oriented individuals. So that’s how the city sees them – as very valuable members of the City.”

The event, jointly organised by the Mayor’s Office and Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation (NIDO), New Jersey, was attended by Nigerian officials, led by Consul-General in New York, Benaoyagha Okoyen, and Ambassador to the UN, Prof. Tijjani Bande.

The Consul-General said “Nigeria is a land of promise” that had endured a tortured history of political instability, religious and ethnic conflicts like many countries.

Okoyen, who spoke on: ‘Nigeria the Promise’, said “the nation has come of age”, noting, however, that “if the country must succeed, Nigerians must be truthful to the national pledge.

“We must be faithful, loyal and honest, serve our country with all our strength with sincerity, defend her unity as a people and uphold what brings honour and glory to our dear nation.

“To truly make Nigeria a place of the ‘promise’, we must uphold the ideals of true patriotism and nationalism,” he said.

Okoyen regretted that the consequences of Nigeria’s post-colonial disposition were enormous but said the country must overcome the internal contradictions and marshal out a purposeful direction for the citizenry.

According to him, Nigeria must look inwards to solve its problems with what it has, adding that citizens must stop blaming government and take the destiny of the country into their own hands.

“As Nigerians in Diaspora who have seen it all, it is your duty to replicate your experience, knowledge and intellectual capacity back at home.

“We must, therefore, help to support the government to succeed. We must pursue developmental initiatives by building institutional capacity and utilise our intellectual capabilities to benefit Nigeria.

“Nigerians must be good ambassadors of our great nation. Nigeria’s flag must continue to fly higher to project the good image of the country in the United States and beyond.”

The President of NIDO, New Jersey, Dr Kazeem Bello, said the event was to celebrate efforts toward nation-building that ultimately delivered the promise and dividends for the benefit of citizens.

Bello said: “we must work together to sustain the hopes, we must remain steadfast and join the efforts to positively contribute to relieving the challenges of nation-building.

“We must become proactively engaged and actively participate in enthroning the spirit of good governance and sustained democratic principles.

“We must take our past as relevant and acknowledged history teachers and open our hearts for future development for our country in all ramifications through our individual and collective contributions.

“We must remember that the world is a generational dynamics,  our focus must be to ensure that the next generation in our country lives a better life, dynamic life, modern, scientific and technological life than its currently exists.”

Nigerians honoured for their exemplary service to Nigerian diasporas included Mr and Mrs Moses Adeniji of New African Broadcasting Network; and Mr Okems Okemezie, the Commissioner for African Affairs, City of Newark.

Others were Dr Abel Famubode, pioneer African trado-pharmacist in U.S.; Ms Olamide Talabi, Commissioner in the City of Newark; Pastor Christopher Talabi, a foremost philanthropist; and Miss Chierika Ukogu, a Nigerian Olympian.

Others were Hon. and Councilman Charles Onyejiaka, African immigrant’s only elected public official in New Jersey; and Chief Albert Okagie, a distinguished Nigerian community leader.

NAN

Kaduna State Government in northern Nigeria has relaxed the 24-hour curfew imposed on Kaduna metropolis and environs, saying considerable peace has returned to the city.

Government spokesperson, Samuel Aruwan, said in a statement on Sunday that residents were free to move until 5:00 pm.

“Residents are free to pursue their legitimate activities from now till 5pm today, Sunday, 28th October 2018.

“From tomorrow, Monday, 29th October 2018, the curfew is relaxed from 6am to 5pm, daily. Residents of Kaduna metropolis, Kasuwan Magani, Kajuru, and Kateri now join the people of Kachia in having free movement during daytime hours.

“Banks and markets are expected to reopen and deliver services as usual. The Kaduna State Government has also requested the airlines and the Nigerian Railway Corporation to promptly resume normal services to Kaduna.

“Nighttime curfew hours will continue to be enforced from 5pm to 6am, until further notice,” the statement says.

Miners Association of Nigeria says the Federal Government has agreed to involve its executives in the disbursement of the N5billion mining intervention fund.

President of the association, Sani Shehu, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja.

He said this measure by the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development (MMSD) would enhance the effectiveness of the disbursement to genuine miners across the country.

NAN recalls that the miners executives have complained of not having access to the fund due to stringent conditions by Bank of Industry (BoI) saddled with the disbursement of the fund.

The MMSD signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the BoI in August 2017 to give N5billion intervention fund to Artisanal and Small-Scale Miners across the country.

The intervention fund was a joint venture between the BoI that provided N2.5billion and MMSD that provided another N2.5billion.

This effort was a plan by the Federal Government through the MMSD to rejuvenate the mining sector as a means of economic diversification.

The loans would be available to certified mining industry participants at a single digit interest rate of five per cent per annum.

The aim of the intervention was to address lack of fund which was a major factor militating against artisanal and small scale miners operations.

He said that the ministry had also discovered some reasons why miners were not able to access the fund.

“Government has given us the opportunity to be involved, identify and also to guarantee our members to access the fund.

“We are happy with this arrangement, we will soon come up with a tripartite arrangement with the ministry and Bank of Industry which the fund is domiciled with to ensure miners access the funds on time,” he said.

According to Shehu, all conditions required for accessing the fund remains valid, adding that the association would now serve as guarantor for its members.

“We will put mechanism in place to assess and guarantee our members that are worthy of the loan to avoid the association’s name being tarnished.

NAN

Nigeria’s Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo said that the nation’s debt was $73 billion, a $10 billion increment from $63 billion the present administration inherited in 2015.

He made the disclosure in Ibadan on Saturday during the 9th Public Lecture of Sigma Club at the International Conference Centre, University of Ibadan.

The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) reports that Osinbajo delivered a lecture entitled ‘Developing the Nation Through Youth Empowerment.’

“In 2010 our debt was $35 billion, $41 billion in 2011, $48 billion in 2012, $64 billion in 2013, $67.7 billion in 2014, $63.8 billion in 2015, $57.8 billion in 2016, $70 billion in 2017 and $73 billion in 2018.

“The nation’s debt as at today was $73 bilłion, an increment of $10 billion from the $63 billion inherited in 2015,” he said.

Osinbajo revealed that from oil, the nation earned $119.8 billion from 1990 to 1998, $481 billion from 1999 to 2009 and $381 billion from 2010 to 2014, while present administration has only earned $112 billion from June 2015.

“The earnings from oil from 2010 to 2014 were the highest recorded in the history of the country. This is a period when the price of oil per barrel sold from $100 to $114.

He said that the most important drain on the nation’s public purse was grand corruption, saying the nation would earn more revenue if such was addressed.

“In a 2015 transaction met by this administration, a sum of $67 million was made without a purpose for it. So also is another $292 million,” he said.

The Vice President also listed lack of commitment to diversification of the economy as one of the problems which affected the economy.

On restructuring, Osinbajo said that some of those clamouring for it were those who opposed their efforts on restructuring years back when they were in government.

“Let me explain my position clearly. I am not just an advocate of restructuring, there is no other government in Nigeria that has actively pursued restructuring such as we did when I was Attorney General in Lagos State.

“People talking about restructuring, if you ask them what they meant by restructuring? They won’t even know what it means and that is the problem we have to face,” he said.

The vice president narrated how he pursued issues of restructuring to the Supreme Court when he was the Attorney General in Lagos State.

According to him, “We started with fiscal restructuring, which is more of resource control. Should states control their own resources? We went to the Supreme Court. They argued that each state should control its own resources.”

“The states that argued in favour of autonomy for states to control their resources were the oil producing states in the country and Lagos State, while some others argued on the other side because they want to share oil money.

“We lost at the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court said no, that you cannot control your resources. If you are an oil producing state, take 13 per cent extra, which is derivation.”

He said that Lagos State further argued that it had ports and the ports served the entire nation, so the state should also take 13 per cent derivation which the Supreme Court objected.

Osinbajo said that further argument led to the introduction of onshore and offshore law, which enabled the state to share from onshore resources.

“All this time, this was 2000, some of those people, including the presidential candidate of PDP, who is talking about restructuring, was the vice president then.

“They opposed every step we took. Of course, we were taking the Federal Government to court then. They opposed every step.

“The next thing we did was that the states should be able to create their own local governments, which is autonomy of states.

“So, we created 37 new local governments in Lagos. The president then, Chief Obasanjo, seized our local government funds and said we could not create new local governments,” he said.

He also narrated how they challenged the seizure at the Supreme Court and the court ruled in their favour.

“If you ask those people now talking about restructuring, none of them has done anything compared to what we have done. So, I am not a latter day convert to restructuring.

“I am an active practitioner of restructuring, and I have gone to the Supreme Court 12 times to test restructuring,” Osinbajo added.

NAN