DRAMA AS SENATE WALKS OUT MINISTER OF POWER FROM CHAMBERS

According to Vanguard, the Senate yesterday,  walked out the Minister of Power, works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola over what they described as his “unpreparedness to face the committee for his 2018 budget defence.”  The Senate also took a swipe at the Rural Electrification Agency, REA , a parastatal in the Ministry of Power for planning to spend a total sum of N10 billion on solar power projects  in nine universities in the six geo-political zone of the country.  This was raised yesterday,  when the Managing Director of REA, Mrs Damilola Ogunbiyi appeared  before the Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (PDP, Abia South) led Senate Committee  on Power, Steel Development and Metallurgy to defend the 2018 budget proposals of the agency. On Fashola, who was walked out, Senator Abaribe disclosed that the Ministry wrote the Committee that Minister was ready to appear before the Committee, adding that he would come to defend the budget of the power sector of the ministry next week Monday. On the turning back of Fashola, Abaribe said that the minister told the committee that he was not ready to face members, just as he said that the minister did not come with necessary documentation to present to members, adding that the committee should have been furnished with necessary documentations to enable members peruse over them. On the solar power project,  Vice Chairman of the committee, Senator Buka Mustapher insisted that the details of the power solution projects in universities must be disclosed as well as details of “who is paying for the installations when the power sector had been privatized.” Meanwhile, REA boss, Mrs Ogunbiyi, who responded, noted that it was the responsibility of the Federal Government to provide power in the rural areas, adding that most of the universities were located in rural areas. She however did not define “rural areas” as demanded by the committee. Another member of the committee, Senator Mohammed Hassan said that the committee could not understand why the agency was spending huge amount of money to provide solar power in universities when rural communities for which the agency was created are left in darkness.x

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ABU STUDENTS BEAT THIEF MERCILESSLY AFTER NABBING HIM IN THE PROCESS

 Luck has ran out on a notorious thief after he was caught trying to steal from students at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State.

The unidentified thief who was caught in the early hours of today was beaten mercilessly by the students. He was nabbed with a knife, scissors and other dangerous items.

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RONALDO SAYS HE'S THE BEST PLAYER IN THE HISTORY OF FOOTBALL [READ]

Cristiano Ronaldo says he is the "best player in history" after winning his fifth Ballon d'Or on Thursday, according to a report by SkySports.

The Real Madrid forward scooped the award, which is organised by magazine France Football, for the fifth time to tie level with Lionel Messi's tally.

Ronaldo, who helped his side win the Champions League and La Liga last season, also won the best male player prize at the 2017 Best Fifa Football Awards in October, and believes he is now the greatest to have played the game.

"I'm the best player in history, in the good moments and the bad ones," he told France Football. "I respect everyone's preferences, but I've never seen anyone better than me. I have always thought that. No footballer can do the things I can. There's no player more complete than me.
"I play well with both feet, I'm quick, powerful, good with the head, I score goals, I make assists. There are guys who prefer Neymar or (Lionel) Messi. But I tell you: there's no-one more complete than me.
"No one has won as many individual trophies as me. And I'm not speaking just of the Ballon d'Or. That says something, doesn't it? It's not just a result of the work I do in the gym, like some people think. It's the sum of many things.
"Legends like Floyd Mayweather and LeBron James don't get to their perfect level by chance. Many factors coincide. To be at the top and to stay there, you have to have more talent than the others."
Ronaldo admitted he was "sad and angry" when Messi scooped the Ballon d'Or on four consecutive occasions from 2009 to 2012, and said he had no interest in going to ceremonies to accept second place.

"I won the Ballon d'Or before Messi, then he overtook me and won four in a row. I'm not going to hide from you that I was sad and angry," he said.
"I went to the award ceremonies and I never won. At one point, I was even demotivated. I had no desire to go. To be there for the photo didn't interest me.
"Then, little by little, thanks to those close to me, I told myself that in life there is a beginning and an end. And in football what counts is the finish, not the start. I was patient. And I won four other Ballon d'Or's."x

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LAGOS STATE POLYTECHNIC TO START AWARDING DEGREES SOON

Efforts are being intensified to give Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH) a degree-awarding status, the Rector, Mr Olayinka Sogunro, said on Saturday.

The rector gave the assurance at a meeting of the Association of Communication Scholars and Professionals of Nigeria (ACSPN).

The event was hosted by the institution’s School of Communication and Liberal Studies, in conjunction with Diamond Award for Media Excellence.

Sogunro said that, by the upgrade, the institution would run National Diploma and Higher National Diploma programmes alongside degree programmes.

“We are working on the upgrade of this polytechnic to a university status, but our polytechnic will be different from the conventional university because we are not going to abandon our National Diploma and Higher National Diploma programmes.
“We are going to run them concurrently so that students would have acquired the necessary skills and theoretical path upon graduation,’’ he said.

According to him, Lagos State Government has promised to improve the institution’s learning environment in line with the proposed upgrade.

“Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode said that he would provide a befitting 5,000-capacity auditorium estimated at N3.2 billion, an administration block that was to cost N1.9 billion in 2003, and students’ hostels,’’ he said.

The rector added that the governor promised to complete building the school’s sports ground.

“By January 2018, these projects will commence,’’ he said.

Sogunro called on students and staff of the institution to improve the quality of their research output, noting that the survival of any economy would depend on the quality of its human capital.

Mr Steven Omojafor, Chairman, STB McCann Advertising Company, and the guest speaker at the occasion, observed a decline in the number of advertising, communication and marketing agencies in the country.

“We have not been able to sustain our growth because many agencies are being short-changed by their clients who now run agencies, and many were not properly setup.
“We should be increasing and not decreasing,’’ he said.

Omajafor urged the students to be hard working and take advantage of the opportunities in the changing world of advertising, communication and marketing industry.
“Being the digital generation, you can turn things around because the current state of affairs in the industry cannot continue forever,’’ he said.

The Chairman, ACSPN, Prof. Lai Oso, blamed massive unemployment in the country on unpreparedness of graduates for the labour market.

Oso was represented by Mr Ayo Oluwatosin, Group Managing Director, Rosabel Group.
“The association was borne out of the fact that the typical Nigerian graduate is not industry-ready by the time he or she completes education; this is accountable for the massive unemployment,’’ he said.

-NAN
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