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Africa & World

Breaking: U.S. President Biden slips, falls three times on Air Force One

by Leading Reporters
written by Leading Reporters

Joe Biden’s ability to effectively govern the world’s most powerful country despite his fragile health was a major topic of concern during the 2020 presidential elections.

President Joe Biden on Friday stumbled and fell three times while trying to board Air Force One out of Washington.

Videos circulating on social media from multiple angles show how Mr. Biden, 78, repeatedly stumbled and then fell completely on the stairs.

Report said he was departing for a programme in Atlanta to meet with Asian American leaders in the wake of recent attacks on a row of spas, during which six Asian women were killed.

Mr. Biden’s stumbles could renew concerns about his failing health. His ability to effectively govern the most powerful country in the world was a major topic of concern during the 2020 presidential elections. He has maintained that his health was not fragile, dismissing former President Donald Trump’s criticism as misguided and misplaced.

Mr. Biden also ridiculed Mr. Trump when the former leader stumbled during a military event in New York in the run up to the election. 

Mr. Biden’s supporters said his fall was not unusual for someone of his age, and a spokeswoman for the White House said the president was in good condition and would proceed with his assignment in Atlanta. 

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Life Style

President Muhammed Buhari Look-Alike Spotted In Lagos

by Leading Reporters
written by Leading Reporters

A man who resembles President Muhammed Buhari has been spotted in Lagos, driving a bus.

The Buhari look-alike was besieged by onlookers who stopped to get a picture of him.

Eye witnesses say the man at first was a bit resistant but later saw it as a huge fun when many passersby stopped to get a glimpse of him.

People were seen taking pictures while many were head hailing him “Baba Bubu”

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Opinion

There is Shortage of Leaders

by Leading Reporters
written by Leading Reporters

“Nigeria In Dire Need of Leaders That Understand The Moral Dimension of Leadership In Service Delivery”

Light I. Shedrack

“If you understand what sound leadership is all about, you’d know that the world, and indeed Nigeria have serious shortage of leaders in the truest meaning of leadership.  When I talk about leadership, I do not mean the politicians that mount the podium during campaign and brand themselves “tested and trusted” leaders. 

I am talking about leaders who understand the moral dimension of leadership in service delivery; leaders who have conquered selves, egos, and their ravenous appetite to steal from the treasury; leaders who understand the principle of stewardship; leaders who are followers and not bosses; leaders who understand how to optimize human, natural and other resources”.

The above were part of the opening address given by Light I. Shedrack in his talk to members of the Civil Society Organizations during its maiden edition of a two-day capacity building on Leadership/Basic ICT application training for civil society groups in Nigeria organized by Transparency Advocacy For Development Initiative (TADI) in conjunction with National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).

Speaking on the topic “Leadership Capacity Building (Quality of Good Directive/Leadership Skill), Mr. Shedrack leveraged some legendary stories, including “Reformers of Selves Wanted in America’s Early History”, “The Sage Who Tied An Earthen Pot to His Waist” and “Mahatma Gandhi and The Woman Whose Son Had Sugar Addiction” to buttress the fact that leaders are first reformers who have reformed themselves.

“There is a silken thread of morality that holds great leaders together”. 

In Mr. Shedrack’s words “leaders are those who have reformed themselves.  Those who are selfless; Those who are driven by passion to serve and not to be served.  Those who inspire others and build them to succeed”.

“There is the moral dimension of leadership and unless it is present, no society moves in the right direction. Forget about those that brandish the name “Leaders”.  If they are truly leaders in the best definition of leadership, why have we not made any tangible progress since we got independence?  He described a true leader as an organizer, a mentor, a manager and someone who truly inspires others to succeed.  A leader is a Shepherd and not just a herder who only takes the sheep to the field.  A shepherd stays with the sheep in the face of danger.  He has emotive connection with the flock that he hurts when the flock hurts.

“Leaders always know the “Why”.  They know why they are saddled with the responsibilities they are saddled with.  They know why they need to deliver results. Mr. Shedrack reiterated the words of Raymond Smith, a USA business leader who said that leaders are in short supply and the society is not doing much to raise more. 

“A leader is visionary and he thinks SMART.  He is assertive.  He teaches and is teachable.  They are driven by passion to succeed and they do not only delegate authorities and responsibilities, they are part of the doing-team.

Mr Shedrack frowned at the system of leadership in Nigeria which sees others with bright ideas as a threat.  He said that Nigeria public office holders, including civil servants and those in private sectors do not feel comfortable when they have subordinates or staff who look and act brighter than them. 

“We only have managers and so-called leaders who will never allow those who exude more brilliance and intelligence to be promoted because they feel threatened that such brilliance and intelligence may take them out of business. It is called law of Injelitance”.

He encouraged the attendants to rejig their leadership consciousness towards promoting social cohesion, love, peace, intellectualism, merit and patriotism, among other virtues that build strong nationhood. He charged the attendants to begin to replace symbols of violence and divisions with symbols of peace, unity, love and creative engagements.

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Investigation

Exposed: Pilots of Ill-fated Military plane Were Threatened with Detention for Refusing to Fly “A faulty plane”

by Leading Reporters
written by Leading Reporters

Discrete information emerging, following the crashed military plane that took the lives of seven personnel, has it that the pilots of the ill-fated Nigeria Airforce Plane Code-named The King Air 350 vehemently refused to fly the plane,

insisting that it was faulty and might not reach target destination, a complain, LeadingReporters learnt was hushed down and branded “insubordination” by the higher authorities with a threat of detention of the officers, if they refused to fly the plane.

A source who spoke to LeadingReporters on condition of anonymity said that the officers have severally complained that the plane needed total overhauling and may pose a flying danger if deployed on any assignment.

The source said that when the position of the lead pilot was made known to the higher authorities in the Nigeria Airforce, an order to detain them in the officers’ mess was given.  Their genuine concerned were believed to mean insubordination.

“There were asked to choose between flying the plane on the errand they were sent to and being detained in the mess.  At first the officers accepted to be detained, knowing too well that it was a journey they may arrive alive or never arrive at all.

“It was after much persuasion from their colleagues that the officers grudgingly boarded the problematic plane that ended their young lives and career.

Recall that an aircraft that belonged to Nigeria Airforce, named The KingAir 350 heading to Minna, Niger State crashed moments it left the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport over reported engine failure.

Nigerians are wondering where billions of Naira being voted for security are spent if the aircrafts owned by the military would be left in such condition that resulted in the deaths of its officers, seven promising young Nigerians.

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Headlines

$1.5b PH Refinery Rehabilitation: Atiku, Ezekwesili Kick

by Leading Reporters
written by Leading Reporters

The proposed $1.5b turn around maintenance TAM of the Port Harcourt refinery may hit a brick wall as many Nigerians, including a former Vice President, Alh. Atiku Abubakar and former Minister of Education and Co-converner of Bring Back Our Girls, Oby Ezekwesili have continued to question the rationale behind plunging such amount into rehabilitation of a refinery that has been perennially running at a loss.

Atiku said that plunging $1.5 Billion to renovate the Port Harcourt Refinery is suspicious at the least.

“At this critical period, we must as a nation be prudent with the use of whatever revenue we can generate, and even if we must borrow, we must do so with the utmost responsibility and discipline.

“To therefore budget the sum of $1.5 billion to renovate or turn around the Port Harcourt Refinery would appear to be an unwise use of scarce funds at this critical juncture for an assortment of reasons.

“First of all, our refineries have been loss-making for multiple years, and indeed, it is questionable wisdom to throw good money after bad. At other times, I have counselled that the best course of action would be to privatise our refineries to be run more effectively and efficiently.

“Moreover, the cost appears prohibitive. Too prohibitive, especially as Shell Petroleum Development Company last year sold its Martinez Refinery in California, USA, which is of a similar size as the Port Harcourt refinery, for $1.2 billion. We must bear in mind that the Shell Martinez Refinery is more profitable than the Port Harcourt Refinery.

“Given this discrepancy, might we ask if there was a public tender before this cost was announced? Was due diligence performed? Because we are certainly not getting value for money. Not by a long stretch.

Atiku opined that putting that much into rehabilitation of a refinery at this point is tantamount to funding inefficiency. He as well frowned at the untamed rising national debt which grew from ₦12 trillion in 2015 to ₦32.9 trillion today.

Oby Ezekwesili on her part queried why such amount should be expended in rehabilitation of a refinery that has worked at the least installed capacity. In her verified Twitter handle, Oby asked:

“Did I just actually read that the Federal Executive Council approved a $1.5Billion, as in 1.5Billion US Dollars for ‘rehabilitation’ of Port Harcourt Refinery?

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BusinessHeadlines

FGN N50b monthly electricity susbsidy not True

by Leading Reporters
written by Leading Reporters

Organised Labour has tackled the Federal Government over claims of subsidising electricity supply across the country for over N50billion monthly.

The administration of President Goodluck Jonathan privatized the electricity sector in November 2013 and handed it over to 11 distribution companies and six generating companies.

Last month, Minister of Power Sale Mamman, said the Federal Government was paying N50 billion monthly to subsidise electricity across.

But Labour yesterday wondered why the government would pay subsidy for a sector it claimed to have privatized.

Deputy President, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, asked the government to come out and tell Nigerians the level of money they were giving to the operators of the sector.

Ajaero, who doubles as the General Secretary of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), asked the government to unmask the real owners of the Distribution and Generating Companies the sector was sold to in 2013.

He spoke at a briefing to unveil the burial arrangements for the late Secretary General of the Medical and Health Workers Union (MHWUN), Dr Silas Adamu.

The MHWUN scribe and his wife and daughter died in a road accident along Abuja-Kaduna.

Ajaero said: “I have never believed that there is subsidy. Let us take the electricity for instance. When it was under NEPA, the tariff was down there; nobody gave NEPA one kobo. And NEPA was running the lowest tariff. It was not subsidised.

“Now you sold it to people and they increased tariff five times and you still tell me you are subsidising it. I think there is something wrong there. And throughout the meeting we told them there is no subsidy.”

“How do you subsidise a commodity that is the private sector? Are they subsiding garri, banana and plantain that are in private houses? Having privatise the sector unless the so called operators are blackmailing them (Fed Govt) and collecting money free from them (government).

“If a product is sold for N10 per kilowatt hour you then privatise and started selling it at N30 per kilowatt hour, with additional N20 and then you say you are subsidising it doesn’t add up. I don’t know where that money is coming from. It is not true.

“They (government) should come out and tell Nigerians the level of money they are giving to the operators. Nigerians should be able to unfold the real owners of the Discos.

“The names we are hearing none of them own the Discos whether the MD or Chairman or both and we need to know. We have said this again and again and people are saying subsidy. Then you say you have subsidised with about N1.3 trillion and you sold it at N400 billion and we don’t ask questions?

“Why will subsidy be more than the price?”

The labour leader also said governance structure in the country has collapsed.

“Why will subsidy be more than the price?”

The labour leader also said governance structure in the country has collapsed.

Ajaero said: “Governance to a very large extent seems to have collapsed because when we talk of there is no electricity it will seem as if the roads are working or the rail system is working or the roads are working.

“The same way there is no electricity there is no water. You can’t even go through the public water system and open the taps. Growing up, I can still draw an inference from the 70s. That is why I said Nigeria is under developing; the country is going down.

“Things are getting bad and the problem we have is that of governance and if we fix governance things will start working again.”

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Headlines

Tanzania’s President, John Magufuli dies at 61

by Leading Reporters
written by Leading Reporters

John Magufuli, Tanzania’s President, has passed on from a brief illness.

Tanzanian President John Magufuli, who drew widespread criticism for his denialism of the coronavirus pandemic, has died only five months after he won a second term in a disputed election. He was 61.

“We have lost our courageous leader, President John Magufuli, who has died from a heart illness,

This was disclosed by Vice President, Samia Suluhu Hassan in a broadcast on Wednesday evening.

“Dear Tanzanians, it is sad to announce that today 17 March 2021 around 6 p.m. we lost our brave leader, President John Magufuli who died from heart disease at Mzena hospital in Dar es Salaam where he was getting treatment,” the vice president said

Magufuli had not been seen in public since the 24th of February. The Vice President, Samia Suluhu Hassan, will be sworn in and complete the rest of the five-year term that Magufuli began serving last year after winning a second term, becoming Tanzania’s first female president.

What you should know about Magufuli

Magufuli was born in Chato, north-west Tanzania, in 1959, and Studied Chemistry and maths at the University of Dar es Salaam, after which he worked as a Teacher and Industrial Chemist before he entered Politics.

He was elected as Member of Parliament in 1995, Minister in 2000 and President in 2015.

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Africa & WorldHeadlines

BREAKING: EU reports Nigeria to WTO

by Leading Reporters
written by Leading Reporters

The European Union has reported Nigeria to the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

The complaint was about Nigeria’s policy on dairy.

Director General of the WTO Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala made this disclosure in Abuja on Tuesday when she visited the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Okonjo-Iweala said the WTO has received a letter from the European Union complaining about Nigeria’s restrictions on milk and diary products.

She said the WTO will look into the complaint but urged Nigerian to take advantage of the trade remedy initiative in place at the WTO to protect local industries.

Reacting, CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele, said the process to bring milk and dairy producers has been on for six years with the milk and diary producers treating the matter with levity.

One of the producers, he said, has been in Nigeria for over 60 years and has not deemed it necessary to engage in backward integration rather but is comfortable importing products.

Details shortly…

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Life Style

Meet The Medical Doctor Who Loved, Lived And Fantasized With Her Lover’s Corpse For Years

by Leading Reporters
written by Leading Reporters

When 22-year-old Maria Elena Milagro de Hoyos went to the hospital in Key West for tuberculosis, her attending physician, Carl Tanzler, immediately fell in love with her.

Unfortunately, she died after several months under his care, and he quickly became infatuated with her corpse.

He secretly took her body back to his house. When her skin began to fall off, he replaced it with French plaster. He jury-rigged a system of wires and hangers to maintain her skeleton.

When her eyes decayed, he replaced them with glass eyes. He filled her rotting body with rags to maintain its original form. Finally, he blasted a steady stream of perfume to cover up the stench of decay. He often kept her in his bed.

Rumors began to spread that Tanzler was living with a corpse. He was sometimes seen through his windows, dancing with the dead body.

This macabre situation would go on for 7 years — before it was uncovered by the victim’s sister.

After the corpse was taken away from him, Tanzler built a life-sized effigy of Elena, using her death mask as the face. He continued living with this effigy until his death. Rumor has it that he died with the effigy in his arms.

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Africa & WorldHealth

New EU Covid-19 vaccine setback as AstraZeneca announces shortfall

by Leading Reporters
written by Leading Reporters

The European Union was faced with another setback in its coronavirus vaccination programme after AstraZeneca announced a shortfall, as countries across the world try to step up their Covid-19 immunisation drives.

The pharmaceutical company’s image had already taken a hit, with several countries suspending the roll-out of its vaccine over blood clot fears, though the World Health Organisation (WHO) said there was no reason to stop using it in the fight against the pandemic.

Mass vaccinations are considered critical to ending the pandemic, which has claimed more than 2.6 million lives globally, and the AstraZeneca announcement was another blow for EU leaders, who have already faced criticism for the stumbling start to the jab drive on the hard-hit continent.

“AstraZeneca is disappointed to announce a shortfall in planned Covid-19 vaccine shipments to the European Union… despite working tirelessly to accelerate supply,” the firm said on Saturday (March 13).

It previously warned of shortfalls from its European supply chain due to lower-than-expected production output, and was hoping to compensate by sourcing shots from its global network.

“Unfortunately, export restrictions will reduce deliveries in the first quarter, and are likely to affect deliveries in the second quarter,” the company said.

AstraZeneca’s shot is among the cheapest available, and forms a bulk of deliveries to poorer nations under the WHO-backed Covax initiative, which aims to ensure the equitable global distribution of vaccines.

The supply issues added to the firm’s troubles, with some countries including Denmark, Norway and Iceland suspending the use of its shot over concerns over side effects such as blood clots.

The WHO, which said its vaccines advisory committee was examining the safety data, stressed that no causal link has been established between the clots and the jab. AstraZeneca has also insisted that the shot is safe.

Global coronavirus infections are approaching 120 million and even as nations around the world ramp up vaccinations, social distancing and movement restrictions are being used at varying levels to counter the spread of Covid-19.

French Prime Minister Jean Castex did not rule out a new lockdown in the region that is home to the capital Paris, describing the situation as “on a razor’s edge”, while the head of Germany’s disease control agency warned that “the third wave has already started” there.

Italy had already announced new restrictions on Friday, with schools, restaurants, shops and museums ordered to close across most regions.

In Africa, Tunisia and Ethiopia both launched vaccination campaigns on Saturday, but Ethiopian officials flagged an alarming rise in cases too.

The drives are crucial in reviving the global economy, which was battered by the pandemic as most travel was curbed and people forced to stay home, with no nation spared the impact.

Millions were left jobless in the United States, the world’s biggest economy, and those who could not work from home had to balance the risk of Covid-19 with the need to make ends meet.

For Mr Matt Valentin, who worked at a cafe in the state of Michigan, the job became an increasingly anxiety-ridden environment last year as the pandemic worsened.

“It went from ‘get these drinks and orders done as fast as possible’ to ‘do all of that, and try not to bring a deadly virus home to your vulnerable family,'” the 21-year-old told AFP.

After a much-criticised start to its vaccination programme, the US has accelerated the roll-out of shots, with the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention saying 100 million doses have been administered.

That is just less than a third of the total given worldwide so far.

There was also a sign of recovery at American airports, which saw their largest number of passengers in a year.

Just over 1.35 million travellers were checked in at US airports on Friday, the most since March 15 last year, according to the Transportation Safety Administration.

And hopes for international travel were boosted as officials said Australia and Singapore were working to create a travel bubble as early as July, which would allow travellers between the two countries to avoid quarantine.

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