President Buhari returns to Nigeria after 5-day break

President Muhammadu Buhari has returned to Abuja after a 5-day break. Aboard a presidential jet, the president touched the ground of Nnamdi Azikiwe International airport, Abuja at about 8: 45 pm on Wednesday.

Buhari returns It will be recalled that the president last week after attending the Syria conference in London, United Kingdom, announced his vacation and subsequently delegated the function of his office to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

The president is expected to resume duties on Thursday.

US tells Nigeria: You are hurting our business interests

Foreign-exchange controls implemented by Nigeria’s government over the past year are hindering the ability of US companies to do business in Africa’s largest economy, according to Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker.

US companies have “been quite explicit it’s a barrier to trade,” Pritzker said in an interview in the Nigerian commercial capital, Lagos on Monday.

The policies also hurt Nigerian manufacturers because they import about 52% of their inputs and need dollars to pay for those, she said. Pritzker will raise the issue with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in Abuja, the capital, on Tuesday.

Nigeria Govt to partner UN for local production of HIV drugs

The Federal Government of Nigeria has expressed plans to work with the United Nations for the local production of antiretroviral drugs in the country to ensure sustained treatment for the 3.4 million Nigerians living with HIV.

According to a statement, the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, SAN said on Wednesday while receiving the UNAIDS Country Director, Dr. Bilali Camara in his office that, “Certainly the capacity exists in Nigeria to be able to produce those drugs for Nigerians, and the whole of west and central African countries. And we certainly can contribute to see how that happens.”

South East roads require urgent Government attention - Osinbajo

Vice President Osinbajo, while answering questions from journalists at a wedding he attended at the Cathedral Church of the Good Shepherd, Anglican Communion, Enugu, during the weekend, said that the worst problem plaguing people of the South-Eastern area was bad roads, adding that the situation required urgent Federal Government attention.

Prof. Osinbajo stated that even though the government has some financial constraints, there was urgent need to improve on the roads in the region where commerce is the source of income for the people. He said that he had discussed the issue with Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State.

He said:

UK to support Nigeria with N67bn yearly

 The ​United Kingdom (UK) has pledged to support Nigeria’s effort towards ensuring stability and development with a commitment worth £218 million (N67 billion).

 The country’s minister for Africa, Grant Shapps, said on arrival in Abuja on his maiden visit to Nigeria that the two countries would work together to increase the nation’s prosperity in the areas of trade and security.

 He said the UK government would provide a comprehensive package of support to Nigeria, by expanding military training and intelligence cooperation.

 According to him, the UK would also assist Nigeria on anti-corruption capacity building and investigative support, and an annual development programme worth £218 million (about N67 billion).

 He said the country would also contribute to the increasing prosperity at the heart of a thriving trade relationship worth £6.1 billion per year (about N1.8 trillion).

 He praised the UK’s close relationship with Nigeria and set out how the two countries would work together to increase prosperity, trade and security.

Blame Obasanjo for Yar’Adua, Jonathan’s failure – Pastor Bakare

 The Serving Overseer of the Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare, spoke to Punch correspondents BAYO AKINLOYE and TOBI AWORINDEabout President Muhammadu Buhari’s list of ministerial nominees, among other issues.

What do you think about President Muhammadu Buhari’s ministerial nominees so far and what input did you have in the selection process?

 We all waited for President Buhari’s list to come out. We have seen it and we trust God for the best as regards these people he (Buhari) chose by himself after due consultation with the Vice President (Prof. Yemi Osinbajo) and the party (the All Progressives Congress). We trust that as some of them had performed well in time past (in areas) that we can point to, they would had the grace to also do extraordinarily well for the citizens of Nigeria.

Photos: Buhari meets Saraki, Dogara, others at Presidential Villa

President Muhammadu Buhari Wednesday evening met with the leadership of both the Senate and the House of Representatives for a closed-door meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, led the lawmakers to the meeting.

Buhari and I will not rest until you feel safe in your homes - Osinbajo

In a message he shared on his Facebook page, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said he and President Buhari will not rest until they make Nigerians safe in their homes and community. He said this in reaction to last Friday's bomb blast in Abuja.

Boko Haram no longer has the capability to occupy North-East, says Pres. Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday said that the fight against corruption is aimed at saving the soul of the nation. Buhari who was represented by Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, made this statement at the second plenary meeting of Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), near Port Harcourt. 

He said:

“ Our fight against corruption is not just a battle of virtue and righteousness in our land, but it is a fight for the soul and substance of our nation.

“ Corruption in our country is endemic and it constitutes a parallel system,“ he said. According to the President, corruption has made a potentially prosperous country struggle to feed and provide jobs for its people.

Lagos State govenor, Akinwunmi Ambode, VP Yemi Osinbajo & his wife, Dolapo, along with other dignitaries attended the 70th Birthday Thanksgiving Service for Bishop Mike Okonkwo at TREM Head Quarters yesterday.

More photos after the cut...

Buhari and Osinbajo have publicly declared their assets Nigeria’s

President Muhammadu Buhari and his Vice, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, have declared their assets and will make the documents public soon, as promised during the electioneering campaigns. 

A statement by the Senior Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Garba Shehu said “the documents submitted to the CCB, which officials say are still being vetted and will soon be made public, show that prior to being sworn in on May 29, President Buhari had less than N30 million to his name. He also had only one bank account, with the Union Bank. President Buhari had no foreign account, no factory and no enterprises. He also had no registered company and no oil wells”, the statement said. 

The statement further added that “the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) who had been a successful lawyer before his foray into politics declared a bank balance of about N94 million and 900,000 United States Dollars in his bank accounts”. 

Osinbajo arrives Abidjan for inauguration of former Agriculture minister as new AfDB boss

VP Osinbajo, arrived Abidjan yesterday night to represent President Buhari at the swearing-in ceremony of Nigeria's immediate past Agriculture Minister, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina as the 8th President of the African Development Bank, AfDB. The inauguration will take place today Tuesday September 1st in the Abidjan capital, Cote D'Ivoire. The former Minister was elected President of AfDB at a keenly contested election in Cote D'Ivoire on May 28th. 

Continue to see more photos...

Fight aganst corruption is not ethnic based - Osinbajo

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says that the anti-corruption fight of this present administration should not be seen as one directed at a particular ethnic group in the country. Osinbajo made said this when some Yoruba traditional rulers paid him a courtesy call at the state House yesterday August 27th.

"You hear people saying that the reason that man is being tried for corruption is because he is Yoruba, he is from the North, and he is from South South. We must not encourage those kinds of ideas. If a person steals, he ought to be punished and made to return what he has stolen because the money does not belong to him. The money is what is to be used for the training of our young people, who are in school or hospital and for the building of roads. There is no family in Yoruba land that allows thieves. If you are a thief, we will expose you. We should support the effort of the administration to fight corruption ” he said

Speaker Dogara visits VP Osinbajo

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara visited Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the presidential villa today August 13th. 

More photos after the cut..

Alake of Egbaland visits VP Osinbajo at the state house

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo this morning received the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo III who came to pay him a visit at the state house Abuja. 

More photos after the cut..

Buhari meets with reps of Min of Transport, queries diversion of foreign loans for rail project

President Buhari and his Vice, Yemi Osinbajo met with officials from the Transport and National Population Commission at The Presidential Villa, Abuja today. He queried the diversion of $600m from a $1 billion loan collected from the Chinese Exim Bank meant to be used for the construction of a standard gauge rail line linking Lagos to Kano.

President Buhari expressed his displeasure at the development when he met with representatives of the Ministry of Transport at the state house Abuja earlier today.

“I hope that due process was followed before such diversions were carried out. Taking 

money from one project to another has to be done properly,” he said.

Lawyer Sues Buhari, Osinbajo Over Assets Declaration

Lagos—A lawyer and rights activist, Kabir Akingbolu, has dragged President Muhammadu Buhari and his vice, Prof Yemi Osinbajo before a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos over allegedly failure to keep to their promise to Nigerians during their electioneering campaigns to publicly declare their assets.

Akingbolu, who initiated the suit, is contending that by declaring their assets secretly, Buhari and Osinbajo have violated Section 172 and Section 11 (1) and (2) of the Code of Conduct for public officers under the Fifth Schedule to the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

Other defendants in the suit are the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF and the Code of 

Conduct Bureau, CCB.

Buhari and Osinbajo had declared their assets to the CCB secretly, a development which drew public condemnation, with many insisting that it was a departure from the anti-corruption posture of the president and his vice.

Emir of Kano, Sanusi Muhammad II visited Vice President Yemi Osinabjo at the state house Abuja today August 5th. More photos from the visit after the cut...

Pres. Buhari arrives Nigeria after his state visit to the US

President Buhari arrived the Presidential Wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja this morning after concluding his 4 day visit to the US. He was received at the airport by the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo. 

More photos after the cut...

There is nobody who will be above the law in Nigeria - Osinbajo

VP Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, said on Wednesday the Muhammadu Buhari administration would not spare anyone who went against the law as it would propagate the rule of law in all its programmes.

He said this when officials of the National Union of Road Transport Workers paid him a visit at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja. Osinbajo said;

"There is nobody who will be above the law in Nigeria, no matter who you are. You cannot use party. You cannot use the association; you cannot use position in government. Nobody is above the law. That is the first move and I want us to support that. Let us not say that if a person, who is one of our own, is being held to account for his wrong-doing, so long as the person is being held to account according to law, we must not support such a person. We must say ‘let the law take its course’. That is how good societies are run, there is no other way. If we see fairness, let us describe it as fairness; let us support what is right and good for our country. And our country is going to call upon us time and time again. We are the elite of this country. There is no other elite. You can’t look anywhere else for elite."