WELCOME TO IFEANYI UMUDU BLOG

HAVING survived a civil war, security challenges, political and religious upheavals, it is desirable for the country to celebrate its 60thh anniversary, the Federal Government said yesterday. The activities will be staggered within one year and they will be low-key, Minister of Information Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said. According to him, the economic situation of the country caused by the COVID-19 pandemic will not allow an elaborate activities. Mohammed spoke at a news conference in company with Minister of Communication and Digital Economy Dr. Isa Ali Pantanmi and Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster management and Social Development, Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouq – all members of the media sub-committee of the event. Mohammed said the Buhari administration is “working assiduously to build a new Nigeria.” As part of the celebration, the President will launch the “National Ethics and Integrity Policy” and the ”Integrity Award” to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Independent Co...

IMPORTERS and their agents have said that a 5.0 per cent increase is now effected in duty payable on all imports following the implementation of the new exchange rate by the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS. The Customs, Vanguard Maritime Report gathered, commenced the enforcement of the new regime following the devaluation of the Naira exchange rate to N381 to a US Dollar, from N361, a development which most importers say will further impact negatively on the economy, especially the inflation rate. National Public Relations Officer of NCS, Joseph Attah, who spoke with Vanguard Maritime Report on the development explained that the increase is not a function of the Customs but that of exchange regime because as the Customs tariff has not changed. However, the exchange regime may result in a higher amount payable. The duty payable when the exchange rate N300 will not be the same when it is N450’’, he stated. Former National President of the National Association of Government Approved Freigh...

A man has been arrested in northern India after slashing his pregnant wife’s stomach with a sickle, leaving her critically ill and causing the death of their unborn baby boy, police and her relatives said. The woman was in intensive care in a hospital in the capital, New Delhi, said police in Budaun district in northern Uttar Pradesh state, following Saturday’s attack. According to Nypost, her brother said the attack took place because the husband wanted to know the baby’s gender. The couple already had five daughters. “He attacked her with a sickle and ripped her stomach saying that he wanted to check the gender of the unborn child,” the woman’s brother, Golu Singh, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Police said the baby was stillborn late on Sunday and a man had been remanded in custody. Daughters are often seen as a burden in India, with families having to pay dowries when they marry, while sons are prized as breadwinners who inherit property and continue the family name. Abortio...

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) through the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has reduced interest rate to 11.5 per cent. What this means is that banks can now lend to their customers and other borrowers at around 11.5 per cent interest rate. Addressing journalists at the end of bi-monthly Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja on Tuesday, CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele said that to arrive at the decision, the Committee opted to “provide cheaper credit to improve aggregate demand, stimulate production, reduce unemployment and support the recovery of output growth”. This is the second time the MPR has been reduced in four months. MPR was reduced from 13.5 per cent to 12.5 per cent on the 28th of May, 2020. The Committee, however, observed that with inflation trending upwards, easing of the policy stance (reducing interest rate) may exacerbate the current inflationary pressure through an increase in money supply. The Committee decided to reduce the MPR by 100 basis points to 11....

A 35 years old woman, Ms Blessing Emmanuel, on Saturday, fell into labour and was delivered of a baby boy under the flyover bridge in Ajah area of Lagos State. The incident occurred at about 4.30p.m.The woman, who hails from Cross River State, was said to be homeless, but personnel from Lagos State Ambulance Services from Eti-Osa, were said to have come to her rescue. Both mother and baby were said to be fine, and have been taken to Island Maternity. Confirming the incident, Director-General, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA, appreciated the Ambulance Services’s intervention, adding that mother and child were responding fine to treatment.

Honest Digbara, a.k.a Boboski Few hours after his arrest, the most wanted Rivers State criminal and notorious killer, Honest Digbara, aka Boboski is dead. He died following multiple gunshot injuries and machete wounds sustained during the crossfire that led to his arrest this morning. Vanguard had reported how Boboski was arrested. According to the Commissioner of Police, Rivers State Command, CP Joseph Mukan, Boboski and his gang on sighting “Police engaged and in a return fire, his driver was fatally wounded, while he was arrested alive. Dastardly acts carried out by them include kidnap of Barrister Emelogu who was killed after collecting ransom, kidnap and killing of DCO, Afam, SP Moses Egbede after collecting ransom. “Killing of a soldier and a personnel of Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps, at Gio pipeline, Ogoni last year. Kidnap of Chief Mbu of Ogu/Bolo who they kidnapped and collected ransom of 7million Naira.”

Lai Mohammad Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed said the Federal Government has spent a whopping N1.7 trillion to subsidize electricity tariffs in the country; stressing that the burden had become too heavy on government. The Minister disclosed this at a Joint Press Conference with the Minister of Power and the Minister of State for Petroleum on Monday. The media briefing was aimed at addressing concerns over recent hike in fuel price and electricity tariffs in the country. Mohammed said the burden of subsidizing electricity tariff had become too heavy on the government to continue to shoulder. The Federal Government had last week announced that tarriff adjustments be made with improved power supply. The upward review will only affect consumers currently enjoying 12hrs of uninterrupted power supply daily. Those with less than 12 hrs of unterrupted supply of electricity will not have their tarriffs increased. On the issue of fuel price hike, the Minister said g...

Obiano & Ngige FIRST civilian governor of Anambra State, Dr Chukwuemeka Ezeife and other prominent citizens of the state have waded into the rift between oil magnate, Prince Arthur Eze and the state governor, Willie Obiano. The 13-man peace committee, inaugurated by the League of Eminent Citizens of the state under the aegis of ‘The Anambra State Elders and Stakeholders Forum’, would also look into the diatribes between the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige and Eze. They were also mandated to resolve the crisis between the governor and the 13 suspended traditional rulers. The Forum, pioneered and founded by Ezeife in a meeting at Nimo in Njikoka Local Government Area of the state, described the rift between Obiano and the business mogul as avoidable distraction. Obiano & Arthur Eze National President of the forum and former Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Anthony Iguh who hosted the meeting told journalists that the stakeholders would not keep quie...

  Some say love is blind. True for some people and not true for some. Personally, I would say this is a relative term and an arguable one at that. Relationships need work, care, attention, commitment, loyalty and honesty. It takes two to make it work which is a fact. Relationship involves two adults with the ability to accept each other’s mistakes and forgive. The capacity to forgive, overlook and ignore works differently for everyone. We all know   that love is about action.  Love   needs to be nourished, kept vibrant and have the power to endure through hard times and not just in good times only. We all have various beliefs on the concept of having a soul mate, even if you are someone’s soul mate, you still have to work on the relationship, keep the relationship healthy is not for one person only, it is for everyone. The amazing thing about relationship is that you can indeed be with the right person, who is your “soul mate”, and still face numerous probl...

Dele and Shayo (not real names) have been married for a few years. Shayo is a housewife, taking care of the kids, while Dele goes to work every day. Dele came back from work one fine evening, expecting to get “something light” from his wife after dinner, only for her to say “Dele I have already masturbated a few hours ago, so I am not really in the mood right now”. This was the fifth time Shayo was telling him this in three weeks, so obviously she had replaced “Dele” with her “fingers,” using her newly purchased vibrator hidden away somewhere in the house. Dele was so angry at being deprived of his right. Being a Christian, he didn’t believe in cheating on his wife, and he didn’t want to be put in that situation so he wanted her to stop using that “evil” vibrator right away. Out of fear, she threw it away, but couldn’t overcome the urge soon and started using her fingers to please herself, Dele couldn’t take it anymore when he discovered and that was the beginning to the end. This sto...