ExxonMobil has announced Mr. Shane Harris as the new Chairman and Managing Director in the country.
Mr Ogechukwu Udeagha, the Manager, Media and Communications of ExxonMobil, announce this in a statement made available to newsmen in Eket on Monday.
He said that Harris was to assume the role of lead country manager for ExxonMobil’s three affiliates in Nigeria due to Richard Laing’s retirement.
“ExxonMobil has appointed Mr Shane Harris as chairman and managing director, and lead country manager of its three affiliates in Nigeria.
“The three affiliates include: Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited, Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited, and Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria (Offshore East),” he said.
Udeagha said that Harris succeeds Laing, who is retiring from the company after 33 years of service, effective July 1.
Harris, prior to his appointment, was the chairman and president of ExxonMobil Exploration and Production, Malaysia Incorporated.
“It is a privilege to lead the ExxonMobil team in Nigeria and build on the work that Richard Laing has done over the last three years.
“I look forward to the work that lies ahead and continuing the company’s outstanding relationships,” he said.
Since joining ExxonMobil in 1998, Harris has held a variety of leadership, engineering and business assignments in Australia, Canada, Malaysia, Russia and the United States.
“In two of these previous assignments, he served as asset manager for Imperial Oil’s Kearl oil sands mining asset in northern Alberta, Canada, and as ExxonMobil’s global drilling technical manager in Houston,” Udeagha said.
He said that Harris is Australian and holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Newcastle, Australia.
The retired immediate past president of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, has defended her judicial integrity, saying that she never compromised her oath of office.
According to her, she never interfered with the independence of any of the justices of the court in the discharge of their judicial functions.
Justice Bulkachuwa was responding to a statement made by her husband, Adamu Bulkachuwa, Senator who represented Bauchi North in the 9th Assembly, in a video making rounds.
In the trending video, the Senator was seen saying that he used his position to ask favour for his colleagues from his wife when she was in service.
On the floor of the Senate at the valedictory session of the 9th Assembly, Adamu said, “I look at faces in this chamber who have come to me and sought my help when my wife was the President of the Court of Appeal, and I’m sure..
“And I must thank particularly, my wife, whose freedom and independence I encroached upon while she was in office, and she has been very tolerant and accepted my encroachment, and extended her help to my colleagues.”
However, in a statement, Justice Bulkachuwa maintained that she never compromised her oath of office to favour any party who appeared before her throughout her judicial career spanning 40 years of service.
“My attention has been drawn to the trending video of what was said by my husband Senator Adamu M. Bulkachuwa. I want to state categorically that I never at any time compromised my oath of office to favour any party who appeared before me throughout my judicial career spanning 40 years of service to my country.
“My decisions were always based on the facts, the law and in accordance with my conscience and oath of office.
“Also, as President of the Court of Appeal, my fellow justices of the court can attest to the fact that I never interfered with the independence of any of the justices of the court in the discharge of their judicial functions,” she said.
Earlier, in an interview with BBC Hausa, Sen. Adamu Bulkachuwa said his words were misrepresented, adding that the former President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan, interrupted him while he was explaining.
Bulkachuwa’s comment had gathered reactions, with Olisa Agbakoba, a former President of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), calling for his arrest.
The National Industrial Court on Monday declared that the order restraining the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) from embarking on their planned industrial action subsists.
Justice Olufunke Anuwe stated that the order as granted on June 5 subsists pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.
The court in addition, ordered that parties maintain the status quo and adjourned the matter until July 20, for a hearing.
Earlier, when the case was called, the Federal Government’s counsel, Mr Ochum Emmanuel informed the court that the matter was slated for Monday for the claimant to take its motion on notice for an interlocutory injunction to restrain the defendants from embarking on strike.
He added that he was ready to proceed with his application as the defendants had been served.
Mr Marshall Abubakar, the defendants’ counsel on his part however replied that they had filed an application praying the court to set aside its order granted on June 5, restraining his clients from embarking on strike.
Abubakar further submitted that the claimant was served the application on June 8, only for them to turn around and serve on them a counter-affidavit on Monday in court.
He added that the claimant filed the counter-affidavit on June 16 and instructed the bailiff not to serve them until on Monday in court.
The court enquired if defence was properly before the court, Abubakar responded that he was not certain, but that he will find out and do the needful.
He also prayed for a short adjournment in order to look at the counter-affidavit and respond.
Emmanuel in response opposed Abubakar’s application for adjournment and urged the court to allow him take his motion on notice which was slated for hearing.
The counsel also reiterated that the federal government will never a file process and instruct any bailiff not to serve the other party.
He argued that it was probably due to the fact that he filed the processes late on June 16 that made the bailiff to serve defence counsel in court on Monday.
Emmanuel in his submission equally averred that the defendants were not properly before the court as they had not filed their memorandum of appearance, but only came to urge the court to vacate the order it granted on June 5.
He stated that the defendants being not properly before the court cannot seek for an adjournment.
In addition, he submitted that if the court should deem it fit to grant Abubakar’s application for an adjournment, the court should equally declare that the order restraining the defendants from embarking on strike granted on June 5 subsist.
In his reply, Abubakar submitted that Emmanuel’s application was not necessary as the court had earlier stated that parties should maintain status quo pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit.
He also informed the court that parties were meeting later on Monday to try and resolve the issue.
The court in its ruling granted the application for adjournment, directed the defendants to enter their memorandum of appearance and instructed parties to maintain status quo.
From facts, he defendants had planned to embark on nationwide strike on June 7 to protest the fuel subsidy removal that brought about the new pump price for the Premium Motor Spirit.
The federal government had therefore instituted the suit to stop the defendants, stating that the proposed strike may gravely affect the larger society and the well-being of the nation at large.
The claimant in addition stated that the strike is capable of disrupting economic activities, that will affect especially the health and the educational sector.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has committed 3 million dollars to the African Water Facility (AWF).
This is contained in a statement issued on the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) website.
According to the statement, the funding will support the preparation of water and sanitation investment projects in Africa.
It said this would be done through the provision of grants and technical assistance to African countries and regional economic communities.
The AWF, an initiative of the African Ministers Council on Water (AMCOW), is hosted by the AfDB.
It is the only African project preparation facility solely focused on addressing water and sanitation issues in Africa.
It helps African countries achieve the objectives and targets set by the water-related Sustainable Development Goals and African Water Vision 2025.
And it does this by the preparation of innovative water and sanitation projects across the continent.
It said access to water and sanitation in Sub-Saharan Africa remains poor.
”Approximately 400 million people lack basic water supply services, while over 700 million people have no access to decent sanitation.
”Nearly 200 million people still practice open defecation, and 750 million people have no access to hygiene.
”Achieving water security and sanitation for all requires large-scale investment in water supply and sanitation, improved governance of water resources and operations, and the design of climate-resilient infrastructure.”
The AfDB explained that since inception, the facility provided 205 million euros in grant funding for water and sanitation projects in Africa.
It said it had also enabled over 1.7 billion euros in downstream investment in the water and sanitation sector.
Dr Beth Dunford, AfDB’s Vice President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development, commended the agency for the funds.
“This USAID financing affirms growing international support for the AWF as a trusted partner and resource for Africa’s water sector.
”We thank the United States for the funding commitment that will contribute to scaling up the Facility’s work and positively impacting more people across the continent.
”Under its 2022 – 2027 Strategy, USAID aims to reach 22 million people with access to safe drinking water and 22 million people with access to sanitation over five years,” she said.
The coordinator for the AWF, Mtchera Chirwa said the Facility was raising millions of euros to develop investments.
According to Chirwa, the investment will accelerate public and private sector financing of the water sector and deployment of innovation to improve service delivery.
”The support from USAID comes in the lead up to its 2023 funding dialogue in Paris this October, where the facility will engage donors, beneficiary governments, multilateral and international organisations.
”To enhance financing for water and sanitation investment projects in Africa.
“The negative impacts of inadequate access to water and sanitation and poor management of water resources are seen in many countries in Africa.
”The AWF exists to accelerate viable, climate responsive investments by providing grants, technical assistance, and developing catalytic and innovative projects to improve water and sanitation service delivery and water governance in Africa,” he added.
The Facility’s revised Strategic Plan 2017–2025 will endeavour to mobilise resources to increase the delivery of bankable investment projects in water and sanitation across the continent.
This is expected to enable access to climate-resilient and safely managed water supply for 2.6 million people and provide basic sanitation facilities to 2.4 million people.
The FCT Internal Revenue Service (FCT-IRS) has urged Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs), and contractors in the territory to remit Withholding Taxes (WHT) appropriately to it.
Its spokesman, Mr Mustapha Sumaila, noted in a statement he issued in Abuja, that many organisations erroneously remitted withholding taxes meant for the FCT-IRS to other tax authorities.
He stressed that it was important for taxpayers to understand tax jurisdiction rules.
According to him, WHT for limited liability companies is remitted to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) while WHT for Enterprises and Individual contractors goes to Internal Revenue Services of states or to FCT-IRS.
“We have observed instances where wrong tax jurisdiction is entered on the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) platform by MDAs’ desk officers.
“This error can lead to contractors suffering loss of WHT credit and relevant tax authority experiencing revenue loss.
“The beneficiary of the WHT may also be denied the WHT credit.
“To prevent such losses, we urge all MDA desk officers to ensure accurate data entry at the point of initiation.
“We also wish to draw the attention of enterprises and individual contractors in the FCT to this issue and caution them of the potential consequences,’’ he stated.
Sumaila warned that FCT-IRS would not issue Tax Clearance Certificates on WHT credit wrongly sent to other tax jurisdictions by GIFMIS platform.
“We advise all taxpayers to liaise closely with their respective MDA desk officers to ensure the correct tax jurisdiction is selected during WHT remittance.
“Our aim is to ensure seamless tax administration system that supports compliance, promotes ease of doing business, and upholds principles of transparency and accountability,’’ he stressed.
The FCT-IRS took over the administration, collection, and accounting of taxes in the FCT from the FIRS in 2018.
The Police Command in Enugu State has recovered ammunition comprising one locally-fabricated double-barrell gun with two cartridges (one live and the other expended), from fleeing armed suspects at New Artisan Bridge, off Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway.
This is contained in a statement issued by the Command’s Spokesman, DSP Daniel Ndukwe on Monday in Enugu.
Ndukwe said that the feat was achieved by police operatives serving at the New Haven Division of the Command on June 16 at about 10:46am.
“The hoodlums abandoned their firearm with the ammunition on sighting police operatives, who immediately went on their trail, following the receipt of credible information that the miscreants were sighted in the location perfecting their criminal plans.
“Meanwhile, discreet investigative and moves to fish out the fleeing criminal elements are underway.
“Further development on the matter shall be made public,” he said.
The Police Command in Katsina State has neutralised five suspected terrorists, arrested one other and recovered 143 animals in Jibia and Batsari Local Government Areas.
ASP Abubakar Aliyu, the Command’s Public Relations Officer, confirmed this to newsmen in a statement on Sunday in Katsina.
He said that the team, in an intelligence-led operation, raided and cleared bandits camps in the two affected local governments.
Aliyu added that the operation was conducted in collaboration with hunters and vigilantes.
“The operation was led by the Command’s Officer in Charge of Anti-kidnapping Unit and that of Special Investigations Bureau (SIB).
“The team succeeded in dislodging several notorious bandits’ camps at Marake, Garin Yara and Garin Labo villages, all in Batsari local government.
“The team also dislodged another camp of one Audu Lankai, a notorious bandits’ leader terrorizing Jibia and its environs,” he said.
According to him, during the operation, one Abubakar Idris, 18, a suspected notorious bandit, was arrested, while five others were neutralised.
He further revealed that 38 cows, 40 sheep and 65 goats were recovered at the terrorists camps.
Aliyu said that the police are still scanning the scene for possible arrests of other members of the camp or recover more of their corpses.
He said the police commissioner is calling on residents of the state to continue to assist security agencies with vital information in a bid to curb criminal activities in the state.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan has revealed how the late Kenneth Kaunda prophesied his emergence as Nigeria’s president in 2006.
Jonathan gave the revelation in a speech he delivered at the 2nd Kenneth Kaunda Memorial Public Lecture on Saturday in Pretoria, South Africa.
It is titled ‘Kenneth Kaunda’s Lessons for Humanity’.
Kaunda, who was the first President of Zambia served from 1964 to 1991 and died on June 17, 2021.
Jonathan said this in the statement at the weekend in Abuja.
He said though he was then Governor of Bayelsa State, he never had the dream of becoming Nigeria’s president as at that time.
He recalled that during his time as Bayelsa Governor in 2006, he invited Kaunda to the state because of their shared interest in the protection of their people against HIV/AIDS.
He recalled with relish the impressive pace displayed by Kaunda, then aged 82 years, at the symbolic Three Arms Walk for HIV/AIDS on the streets of Yenagoa.
“My political journey was not the one which attracted much attention from spiritual leaders and seers because many then could not see me playing notable roles in the national affairs of my country, since I was not active in partisan politics back then.
“However, I must say it now that Kaunda in the early days of my political career, captured my political trajectory to the presidency in an accurate prophetic revelation that has continued to amaze me till this day.
“In 2006 when Kaunda had ended his visit to us in Yenagoa and was returning to Zambia, I remember seeing him off to the Port Harcourt Airport in neighbouring Rivers State.
“As he stood up and was about to board a vehicle that would convey him to the aircraft, he turned back and said to me, “Young man, you will be the president of this country one day.”
“I and my Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Amb. Boladei Igali, who was with me simply looked at each other in amazement, because the presidency was never in our dreams, at that time.
“Farfetched as these words seemed to me then, I later saw his prophecy fulfilled in my life within a decade.
“So I can say that KK was the man who saw tomorrow as it related then to my political future and fortune, as I eventually became the President of my country,” Jonathan said.
The former Nigeria president also said that his political experience, in certain ways, mirrored that of Kaunda.
He said that like Kaunda, he handed over to the opposition party after losing election.
“I am glad I made that happen without any contestation in the interest of peace and sustainable democracy.
“Let me end by saying that Dr Kaunda’s political profile as a leader and Pan-Africanist experienced varied fortunes, but in the end, he refused to be defeated and lived his life to show others that politics is about the people and that there is life after office.
“He was a man of the people right to the end of his ripe old age of 97 years when he passed on.
“This is what I am learning from him as I continue to devote my time to the pursuit of peace, good governance and sustainable democracy in Africa,” Jonathan said.
He said that Kaunda was not only of very great significance to Africa’s struggle for liberation, he was also quite significant to him.
He said that one of the reasons he accepted to assume the position of the Chancellor of Cavendish University, Uganda, two years ago was because Kaunda as well as Tanzanian former President, Benjamin Mkapa had served in the same position.
He said that Kaunda would continue to serve as a propelling force for Africa’s struggle for independence and economic emancipation.
“Kaunda’s voyage on Earth was an odyssey marked by many exciting milestones, the most significant being his role in nation-building and his passion for a just and peaceful society.
“He was a foremost Pan-Africanist, who worked tirelessly with his contemporaries like Kwame Nkrumah, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Jomo Kenyatta, Julius Nyerere, Patrice Lumumba and Ahmed Sekou Toure to birth freedom for many of our countries.
“They worked together to promote African unity and solidarity, and to advocate for self-determination and economic development.
“Kaunda’s timeline was defined by courage, strength, and resilience, championing hope and freedom and good governance in Zambia, Southern Africa, and the entire African continent.”
He added that Kaunda’s dedication to the causes of justice and African emancipation paid off, with the decolonisation and freedom of his neighbours and brothers in Malawi, Zimbabwe, and South Africa.
“Kaunda was such a vociferous anti-colonialist that from 1954 he refused to drink tea and coffee in protest against British colonialism – a personal protest he kept up for the rest of his life.”
Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Deputy Senate President, Governors Seyi Makinde, Babajide Sanwoolu, Ahmadu Fintiri, Hope Uzodinma, Acting National Chairman of PDP are all in Rivers State for Ex Governor Nyesom Wike’s thanksgiving service.
The warring parties in Sudan have agreed to a 72-hour ceasefire due to start on Sunday (today), according to the United States (U.S.) and Saudi Arabia.
The ceasefire between Sudanese army and the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF), brokered by the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, was set to kick off at 6 a.m. (0400 GMT) and end on Wednesday.
“The parties agreed that during the ceasefire they will refrain from prohibited movements, attacks, use of military aircraft or drones, artillery strikes, reinforcement of positions, and resupply of forces, and will refrain from seeking military advantage during the ceasefire,” the U.S. embassy in Khartoum said.
“They also agreed to allow the unimpeded movement and delivery of humanitarian assistance throughout the country.”
Conflict broke out unexpectedly in Sudan in mid-April, after a long-simmering power struggle between de facto president Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and vice president Mohammed Hamdan Daglo.
There have been numerous ceasefires since then, but these have been repeatedly broken.
The two generals had originally seized power together in 2021.
According to UN figures, more than 2.2 million people have been displaced by the fighting.
United Nations agencies on Friday said that almost 25 million people are in need of humanitarian aid in the country, and 4 million children and pregnant or nursing mothers are acutely malnourished.
