Students on FG scholarship begging for food in Russia

Failure by the Federal Government to pay allowances of 322 Nigerian students on scholarship in Russia forces them into begging and illegal jobs, TEMITAYO FAMUTIMI reports

When Moyosore Ojuri lost her father at age 11, her world practically came crashing. Her father had promised to give her the best of education. Although he was not a millionaire, the man had struggled to enrol her in one of the top private secondary schools in Lagos.

But with the death, her mother, a retired civil servant, could not pay her tuition when due. Luckily, the authorities of her school recognised the young lady’s academic exploits and gave her family the concession to pay her tuition in installments. Even with that, her mother had difficulty doing so as she occasionally ran into debts.

However, on completion of her secondary education in 2010, Ojuri passed the West African Senior School Certificate Examination, obtaining six distinctions and two credits. But accessing university education did not come that easy, due to lack of funds. Fortunately for her, in 2012 she came across the Bilateral Education Agreement Scholarship Awards advertised by the Federal Scholarship Board through the Federal Ministry of Education and grabbed the opportunity.

Ribadu picks PDP Adamawa gov election form

Mallam Nuhu Ribadu

The 2011 presidential candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, on Monday picked up the Peoples Democratic Party’s Expression of Interest form to contest for the governorship of Adamawa State.

Ribadu, who defected to the ruling PDP recently, said he had applied to the national leadership of the party for a waiver to contest the party’s governorship primary in Adamawa.

The PDP form was picked for the former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission by his political associate, Alhaji Ahmidu Mahmoud.

Mahmoud, who spoke with journalists after he paid N11m for the form, said Ribadu was ready for the party’s primary and that he was confident of getting the waiver.

He said, “I’m here on behalf of Ribadu to purchase the nomination form in order to enable him contest the governorship primary in Adamwa State.

“We have commenced the process of getting waiver. The waiver clause in the party’s constitution was not inserted because of him.

Tambuwal set to dump PDP for APC

Speaker, House of Representatives, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal

There are strong indications that the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal, will soon defect to the All Progressives Congress.

Our correspondent learnt in Abuja on Monday that the Speaker was set to dump the Peoples Democratic Party for the APC after a nationwide consultation.

Tambuwal’s spokesperson, Imam Imam, said the nationwide consultation would determine whether the Speaker would contest the Presidency or the Sokoto State governorship election in 2015.

Imam, who spoke with our correspondent on the telephone, said that the Speaker was still consulting on the 2015 presidency and the defection to the APC.

Obi denies coordinating Jonathan’s group

Former Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi, has denied a report that he is the coordinator of the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria, a campaign group canvassing support for the re-election bid of President Goodluck Jonathan.

The Media Aide to Obi, Mr. Valentine Obienyem, in a press release emailed to journalists on Monday, said contrary to the reports credited to the National Chairman of All Progressives Grand Alliance, Chief Victor Umeh, the former governor was not even a member of TAN.

Obienyem said that the rally organised by TAN, a non- governmental organisation, in Anambra State on Saturday was not even a political event, but a platform used to tell President Goodluck Jonathan that he has done well for the South-East.

Ebola: Two Lagos doctors, nurse, woman discharged

Four more people who had been undergoing treatment for the Ebola Virus Disease were on Monday discharged from the Lagos treatment centre after being certified free.

The Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, made this known in a statement that was issued on Monday after   Natural Solutions Foundation, the manufacturers of Nano Silver,claimed that the drug was the only one capable of curing the deadly   virus.

Chukwu said in the statement by   his Special Assistant on Media and Communication, Mr. Dan Nwomeh, that the four discharged persons   comprised two male medical doctors, a female nurse and a female patient.

He explained that the three medical personnel participated in the treatment of the Liberian-American, Patrick Sawyer, who was the first person to die of the disease in Nigeria.

Dora Akunyili for burial August 28

The formal burial rites for the former Minister of Information and Communications, Prof. Dora Akunyili, will start on Monday, August 25 with a night of tributes in Abuja at the International Conference Centre.

According to the programme of events released to the press by her husband, Dr. Chike Akunyili, there will be a mass on Tuesday, August 26, at Our Lady Queen of Nigeria Cathedral, Garki.

The burial train will move on Wednesday, August 26, to Enugu where she spent a good part of her life for a burial mass at the Holy Ghost Cathedral.

US ‘to send’ untested Ebola drug to Liberia

Liberia has said it will receive doses of an experimental Ebola drug to treat infected doctors in the West African country.

A statement, published on the Liberian presidency’s website on Monday, said the United States had approved a request from Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to ship the medicine, ZMapp, after a direct appeal to US President Barack Obama on Friday.

However, a spokesperson for the US Health and Human Services (HHS) Department said US authorities had simply assisted in connecting the Liberian government with the drug’s manufacturer.

“Since the drug was shipped for use outside the US, appropriate export procedures had to be followed,” the HHS spokesperson said, adding the drug company had worked directly with the Liberian government.

The Liberian statement said the head of the WHO, Margaret Chan, had authorised the dispatch of additional doses of the experimental drug to Liberia to support the treatment of affected doctors. Those doses will be delivered by a WHO expert this week.