FEDERAL GOVERNMENT PLANS TO PENALIZE TELECOM OPERATORS,ISSUES DEADLINE.

The Federal Government is to prosecute telecommunications operators, found to be cheating subscribers through poor service delivery. The Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson said the ministry had commenced collaboration with the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) to sanction operators rendering poor services or collecting charges from subscribers for services not rendered. Also speaking, the NCC Executive Vice Chairman, Dr Eugene Juwah, said the commission had issued a Dec. 31, 2013 deadline to stop telecom operators from selling SIM packs or expanding their networks if they failed to improve services. On her part, the Director-General of the CPC, Mrs. Dupe Atoki, said the council had constituted a consumer education taskforce to enlighten consumers on their rights and privileges. Atoki also pleaded for more funds from the Federal Government to enable the CPC achieve the goals for which it was established.

 

#HEADLINES

=President Goodluck Jonathan has directed all public officials, civil servants and visitors to government establishments to wear the 2014 Armed forces Remembrance Emblems.

= The Federal Government is to prosecute telecommunications operators, found to be cheating subscribers through poor service delivery.

= According to Channels Television, The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has suspended its over five months old strike.

= The Minister of Interior, Mr. Abba Morro has disclosed that from next year, applicants for Nigerian passports are to get it within 30 minutes, which he said would help eliminate corruption, as part of the rebranding process of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS).

= The chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru  Jega says general elections would not hold in the three north-eastern states of Adamawa, Yobe and Borno, unless the state of emergency declared by the federal government to fight the Boko Haram insurgency ends before 2015.

= Fresh gunfire has erupted overnight in the South Sudanese capital Juba a day after the government said it had crushed an attempted coup.

= Japan's cabinet has approved a new national security strategy and increased defense spending in a move widely seen as aimed at China.

= The Metropolitan Police in the UK has resolved that there was no credible evidence that the British Special Air Service was involved in the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales, and Dodi Al Fayed.

= Super Eagles defender Azubuike Egwuekwe has tipped Nigeria to reach the quarterfinals of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

= Former England manager Glenn Hoddle would be willing to become Tottenham Hotspur manager for a second time in a short-term or long-term capacity.

= The Hobbit: “The Desolation of SMAUG” has topped the US box office, taking $73.7million, according to initial estimates but it was down on the first Hobbit installment, which took $84.6million in its opening weekend last year.

 

 

PRESIDENT JONATHAN ORDERS WEARING OF ARMED FORCES REMEMBRANCE EMBLEM IN PUBLIC OFFICES.

President Goodluck Jonathan has directed all public officials, civil servants and visitors to government establishments to wear the 2014 Armed forces Remembrance Emblems. President Jonathan gave the directive at the emblem appeal launch ceremony for the 2014 Armed Forces Remembrance Day celebration held at the Presidential Villa. He said that the mandatory wearing of the emblem from the launch date to Jan. 15, the official date for honouring fallen heroes, was a mark of respect and appreciation for the veterans. President Jonathan, Vice-President Namadi Sambo, Senate President David Mark and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, were all decorated with the emblems. Also decorated, were former President Shehu shagari, former Head of Interim Government Ernest Shonekan, Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Ola Ibrahim and the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, and PDP National Chairman Bamanga Tukur amongst others.

 

 

 

FOOD SHORTAGE AND HIGH PRICE IN FOOD COME NEXT YEAR.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has warned of food shortage and high food prices in the country come next year.  FAO has cited failed rainfall, high prices of farm inputs, uncertified seeds and the lethal maize disease as some of the main challenges facing the agriculture sector. This came as the government, FAO and other development partners embarked on an assessment of the food security situation in high and medium potential areas of the country. FAO Geographical Information Systems (GIS) officer, Joseph Matere, said that 24 counties would be covered in the assessment which would target crops, fisheries and livestock sector and the smart phone technology would be used to collect and relay data from the field.

 

 

NIGERIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION SET TO EMBARK ON A WARNING STRIKE.

                                                                                       

The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has planned to withdraw all its members from public health institutions across the country from Wednesday, December 18, 2013. This was one of the resolutions reached at the end of the union’s December 2013 National Executive Council meeting held in Minna, Niger State , over the weekend. A communiqué issued at the end of the meeting and jointly signed by the national president, Dr. Osahon Enabulele and national secretary, Dr Akpufuoma Pemu, said the decision to embark on five days warning strike was arrived at after the expiration of several ultimatums issued to the Federal Government to meet its demands, the last which expired on Saturday, December 14, 2013. The NMA said it had directed all it members in public health institutions to withdraw their services with effect from 8a.m. on that day and, therefore, appealed to members of the public “to bear with the association during the period of withdrawal of services.

 

ISRAEL SET TO DEPORT ETHIOPIANS

As Ethiopians removed from Saudi Arabia continue filing back into the country, Israel is also planning to deport 500 Ethiopians, possibly as early as January 2014.Some 60,000 migrants from different African countries - particularly Eritrea and Sudan, which makes up the lion's share at some 90 pc of the total - have entered Israel in recent years through the Sinai Peninsula. This has led to fears that the Jewish character of the country of 7.8 million is being threatened, as was stated by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a speech in May 2012.In order to assuage those concerns, the country is embarking on a drive to remove the undocumented migrants, which it calls 'infiltrators', with incentives designed to encourage voluntary departures. These include 3,500 dollars in compensation for each migrant, in addition to free plane tickets and health care.For Ethiopians, deportation is to happen within a short period of time, Fortune has discovered from the Ethiopian Embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel.

INDIA REINSTATES BAN AGAINST GAY SEX

India's top court has upheld a law which criminalises gay sex, in a ruling seen as a major blow to gay rights.The Supreme Court ruling reverses a landmark 2009 Delhi High Court order which had decriminalised homosexual acts.The court said it was up to parliament to legislate on the issue. According to Section 377, a 153-year-old colonial law, a same-sex relationship is an "unnatural offence" and punishable by a 10-year jail term.Several political, social and religious groups had petitioned the Supreme Court to have the law reinstated in the wake of the 2009 court ruling.