NIS recruitment exercise! At last, President Jonathan fulfills his promises

President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan Friday in Abuja
presented letters of employment into the Nigerian
Immigration Service to members of the 15 families who
lost sons and daughters during the Service’s recruitment
exercise last year.
At a brief ceremony in the Presidential Villa, President
Jonathan gave letters of employment to 33 members of
the bereaved families. Employment had been offered to
three members of each bereaved family, but some of the
bereaved families are yet to present qualified members
to take up the offer.
In his remarks at the occasion, the President said that
he was deeply saddened by the death of their relatives
in circumstances that were completely avoidable and
unwarranted.
President Jonathan said that the Federal Government
was fully committed to ensuring high standards for
recruitment processes into the public service, and the
provision of safety measures to avoid the recurrence of
the March 15, 2014 incident which claimed many lives.
“Today is a sad day for all of us. First, let me convey
our deepest condolences to the families who lost very
young people during the recruitment exercise into the
Nigeria Immigration Service. “It is quite regrettable and
we promise that such a thing will never happen again,”
President Jonathan said.
President Jonathan apologized for the delay in fulfilling
the promise of employment to members of the bereaved
families, explaining that employment into the public
service must go through some processes.
Cheques for an undisclosed amount were also given to
each of the bereaved families at the occasion. “The
cheque is not for compensation. You cannot replace
somebody with any amount of money,” the President
said.
Speaking on behalf of the bereaved families, Yunusa
Imam thanked President Jonathan for the cheques and
letters of employment. “We thank you, Mr. President for
the promises that you have kept. We are profoundly
grateful,’’ Imam, a guardian of one of the victims, said.
Reuben Abati Special Adviser to the President (Media
and Publicity)

I have no plan to sack workers in Osun’ —- Governor, Rauf Aregbesola

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in the State of
Osun has debunked the rumour that Ogbeni Rauf
Aregbesola is planning a massive retrenchment of senior
civil servants on grade level 12 and above, including
other workers above the age of 50 from the state’s
employment after the general elections.
In a statement from the party’s Directorate of Publicity
Research and Strategy, the APC described the rumour
as, “the usual silly spin of falsehood characteristic of
PDP’s evil genius for manufacturing and propagating
wicked lies especially in the State of Osun.”
According to the APC, “at no time did Aregbesola
contemplate to retrench any staff of any grade or age,
and no such thing will be allowed to happen any time
soon or in the future.
“From day one, the policy of “gainful employment” of the
APC governor, Rauf Aregbesola, had been, continues to
remain and will be the intensified mantra of the party in
the months and years ahead.
“The only monstrous obstacle to this policy,” the APC
contended, “is the evil construct of the PDP-led federal
government in starving Osun State of its legitimate
statutory funding.
“Not many people knew, until Governor Fashola of Lagos
State revealed recently, that to further starve APC
states in particular of funding assistance, the PDP
Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala ordered the
banks not to help fund state government projects.
“This kind of frustrating impediment is what the PDP is
using to force states of the opposition to look for ways
to overcome deliberate strangulation, through forced
retirement of workers.
“But the APC government is more innovative and
constructive than the PDP had imagined.
“Rather than contemplate retrenchment as the PDP was
scheming, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola is planning the
creation of more jobs for the people; and one of the
ways, indeed the most effective way to achieve this for
Nigerians is to defeat the PDP on March 28 and April 11
Presidential and general election,” the APC said.
“The evil that the PDP has become, through its
promoting of massive corruption in the system, has
brought Nigeria to its knees,” the APC argued, adding
that, “Unless Nigerians as a people remove this obstacle
to their progress and well-being, their suffering will
deteriorate.”
The APC therefore, alerted the people of Osun not to fall
for the lies of the PDP because their purpose is to
mislead, confuse and confound the masses to get them
to vote for this same party that has turned Nigeria into
the hell of a place that it is today
source the nation

Oath of neutrality! 12,000 Ad-hoc staff administered in Taraba state — INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
in Taraba on Saturday administered the oath of
neutrality on the 12,000 ad-hoc staff it trained for the
March 28 and April 11 polls.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that
Magistrate Yazeedu Aliyu of the Chief Magistrates’
Court, Jalingo, administered the oath on behalf of the
commission.
Speaking at the occasion in Jalingo, Mr Fabian Yame,
INEC’S Head of Public Affairs in the state, explained
that the exercise was aimed at ensuring that the ahoc
staff were unbiased.
Yame said the exercise was being carried out in all the
local government headquarters across the state.
The spokesman, who also disclosed that INEC was fully
prepared for the elections, urged all stakeholders to
collaborate with the commission to ensure a peaceful,
free, fair and acceptable polls.
the nation:

Jonathan has ordered EFCC to immediately arrest Tinubu, others – APC

The All Progressives Congress, APC, has raised the
alarm over plan by the Jonathan-led federal government
and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to arrest
its national leader, Bola Tinubu and other chieftains of
the party by the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission, EFCC, ahead of next Saturday’s election.
APC National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed,
on Saturday said the federal government also planned
to freeze the accounts of companies, individuals and
organisations believed to be financing the party so as to
cripple its activities.

“Without mincing words, we are aware that a RED
ALERT has been sent to the EFCC to arrest the National
Leader of our party, the All Progressives Congress (APC)
, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on trumped-up charges
anytime from now,” he said.
“In addition, anyone who is suspected of being a
financier of the APC is to be arrested, all in efforts to
decapitate the main opposition party which is
undoubtedly cruising to victory in the forthcoming
elections.
“And as part of the offensive against the APC in the
days ahead, there is a plan to freeze the accounts of
companies, individuals and organisations believed to be
financing the party, with the ultimate objective of
crippling the party so it won’t be able to sustain its
activities, like paying its agents on Election Day and
other logistics.
“I am sure the question playing on your lips are: Why
would anyone want to arrest APC leaders at this time?
What have they done to warrant their arrest? Will there
still be a level playing ground for the elections if the
main opposition party is decimated just days to the
polls?
“Well, we can tell you that this planned arrest is
orchestrated by the same people who have sponsored a
series of protests to the EFCC, on the basis of the same
documentary against Asiwaju which they also
masterminded. It may sound like an intrigue, but that is
exactly what it is”.

Igbo Kwenu! Africa Magic Launches Igbo Channel

Watch out DSTV subscribers, Africa Magic is launching
its Igbo Channel on channel 159!
Africa Magic Igbo is designed to showcase the rich Igbo
culture of Nigeria. The 24 hour general entertainment
channel follows the success of the Africa Magic Hausa
and Yoruba channels and will go on air at 19:00 CAT on
the 2nd of April, 2015.
The first Africa Magic channel was launched in 2003 and
more than 10 years later, the brand has expanded to
include content dedicated to world class African
entertainment programming ranging from drama series,
music, magazine and reality shows, and movies.
The launch of Africa Magic Igbo will bring the total
number of Africa Magic channels to a whopping 8! It
follows the redefinition of the Africa Magic channels in
2014, and the recent refreshing of the Africa Magic
Urban channel.
Speaking on the launch, the Director of M-Net for West
Africa, Wangi Mba-Uzoukwu , said:
“We are thrilled to announce the launch of
Africa Magic Igbo. Igbo language
entertainment content has always played a
prominent role in the Nigerian film and
television industry and we are glad to offer
a platform where this rich content can be
showcased to the rest of Africa and the
world.
Popular Igbo language content like Living
in Bondage, Nneka the Pretty Serpent and
many others set the trend for the modern
Nigerian film and television industry, or
Nollywood as it’s called; it is thus only
fitting that such content should be given a
platform where it is easily accessible by
audiences around the continent. With the
launch of Africa Magic Igbo, we have once
again proven our commitment to providing
content made for Africa by Africans.”
For his part, the Managing Director, Multichoice Nigeria,
John Ugbe, said:
“For over 20 years, Multichoice has played
an active role in the development of the
African film and television industry. The
Africa Magic channels, which sit on our
Dstv and GOtv platforms, continue to
display the best of African entertainment
content to the world. With the launch of
Africa Magic Igbo, we have once again
provided a platform for African talent to
shine and our viewers can definitely expect
to see the best of Igbo culture and talent
on display.”
All the Africa Magic channels are
renowned for their exciting content which
celebrates African entertainment and Africa
Magic Igbo will be no different. The
channel will appeal to audiences in and
outside Nigeria, as the Igbo language is
also spoken in a number of other African
countries like Equatorial Guinea,
Democratic Republic of Congo and
Gabon.”
Mba-Uzoukwu added,
Africa Magic Igbo will also undoubtedly be
popular with audiences across the
continent as shown by the widespread
success of the popular Igbo language
movies of the 1990s, and our viewers can
expect to see the best from renowned and
exciting Igbo talent like Okey Bakassi,
Chiwetalu Agu and Dede One Day
amongst many others.”
Africa Magic Igbo launches on the 2nd of April 2015 at
19:00 CAT and will be available on DStv channel 159.
For more information on Africa Magic channels and
programmes, simply visit: www.africamagic.tv