The 2018 diary: February

February 1: LASTMA announces traffic diversion for Lagos City marathon: To ensure a hitch-free Lagos City Marathon scheduled to take place on February 10, the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) announced traffic diversion on the affected routes during the race.

February 2: Ekwueme buried in home town, Oko: Former Vice-President Alex Ifeayinchukwu Ekwueme was buried at his hometown Oko, in Orumba North Local Government, Anambra State. He was Vice President between 1979 and 1983, the Federal Government renamed the Federal University, Ikwo, Ebonyi State as “Alex Ekwume Federal University, Ikwo”.

February 3, World Cancer Day: Grim day, bright future: Four out of every five Nigerians diagnosed with cancer ended up dying.
**Lagos revs up economy with new power, property laws: The Lagos state government perfected plans to boost the state’s economy in 2018 through its Embedded Power Supply initiative and review of the Land Use Charge Law.

February 5. Buhari nominates Adamu as CBN deputy director. President Muhammadu Buhari nominated Edward Adamu as a Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Born on June 22, 1959,in Kaltungo Local Government Area of Gombe state.
**Benue Govt loses confidence in FG over killer herdsmen. The Benue state government declared it had lost confidence in the ability of the country’s security agencies to bring to justice their herdsmen accused of killings in the state.

February 7. Sack police chief Idris now, Reps tell President Buhari. The House of Representatives unanimously called for the immediate sacking of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Ibrahim Idris. The resolution followed the adoption of a motion by Abubakar Nhu Bambura (APC, Kano) at a plenary presided over by Speaker Yakubu Dogaro

February 8. We buy petrol at N162, can’t sell at N145, says IPMAN The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) said that it was impossible to continue the sale of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) at N145. The Vice President of IPMAN, Abubakar Shettima said members of the association bought products at ex-depot price of N162 instead of the official price of N133.28 per litre. Shettima said unless products were sold at the depot price to marketers, maintaining a pump of N145 would remain elusive.

February 9. Buhari approves retirement, dismissal of justices. Following recommendations from the National Judicial Council (NJC) President Muhammadu Buhari approved the compulsory retirement of Justice A. Ademola of the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court and the dismissal from office of Justice O.O Tokode of the Benia Division of the Federal High Court.

February 10. Again, Kenyans, Ethiopians rule Access Bank Lagos City Marathon. A Kenyan-born French runner, Abraham Kliptrech finished ahead of over 80,000 runners from across the world, posting a new course record of 2 hours 13:04 secs in the process. Two other Kenyans, Kibos Roony and Bitok Benjamin finished in 2nd ad 3rd places with a time of 2:13:26 and 12:13:29 respectively. In the female category, it was an all Ethiopia affair, as they claimed the first, second and third positions. In the Nigeria category (42km) race, Illiya Pam kept his promise of defending his title as he fiished in a time of 2 hrs. 40 16 Sharabatu Philibus was the second Nigerian while we lliams Kefas made a time of 2hrs 58.16.

February 11. School confers best education reportage award on The Guardian. Members of the press club of Power and Glory International School, Ejigbo, Lagos state, bestowed on The Guardian the best education reportage award for its engaging and enriching coverage of the educational sector.

February 12. Health sector dips as more Nigerian doctors move abroad. No fever than 5,405 Nigeria trained doctors and nurses with the British National Health Services (NHS) in the United Kingdom (UK) and more would join the league. The figure released by the British Government, meant Nigerian medics constituted 3.9 per cent of the 137,000 foreign staff of 202 nationalities working alongside British doctors and nurses.

February 13. 22 Pupils on excursion die in Kano auto crash. Twenty-two secondary school pupils died in an accident between Maitama Sule College and Daddunu Village in Gaya town, about 65 Kilometers from Kano. The auto crash involved a truck and an 18 passengers bus conveying the pupils on an excursion in Kano

February 14. Ambode donates $1 million cancer mobile clinics. Lagos State Governor, Akinwumi Ambode, donated $1 million mobile clinic to facilitate advocacy, screening and treatment of cancer in the State.
**Candle fire kills baby in Lagos. Residents of 6, Soyinka Street, Bariga, Shomolu, Lagos State, woke up to the tragedy caused by midnight fire, which burnt a five-month old infant beyond recognition, left two other children in critical condition, and destroyed property worth millions of naira.

February 15. I’ll work hard not to disappoint people of South Africa, says Ramaphosa. Newly elected President Cyril Ramaphosa said he would work hard “not to disappoint the people of South Africa”. Ramaphosa made the pledge in a brief remark after he was President by parliament after the resignation of Jacob Zuma. President Muhammadu Buhari congratulated Ramaphosa.

February 16. FUTO host community protests alleged forceful acquisition of lands. Scores of youth and other members of host community of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), Umuchina, disrupted economic and social activities of the institution and neighbouring communities.

February 17. Obasanjo performs ground-breaking ceremony formodular refinery. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, in Bayelsa state, performed the ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of the first private modular refinery in Niger Delta.

February 18. Nigeria sells $2.5 billion Euro bonds to replace naira debt. Nigeria sold $2.5 billion of Eurobonds as it sought to lower finding costs by using the notes to refinance higher-yields naira debt.

February 20. Outrage as Governor El-Rufai demolishes APC faction’s office. The crisis within the All Progressive Congress (APC) IN Kaduna State turned messier, as governor Nasir-El Rufai ordered the demolition of a factional headquarters of the party. The buildings at 11B, Sambo Road, GRA, Kaduna, belonged to Senator Suleimon Hunkuyi (Kaduna North).

February 21. Marketers threaten deposits’ shutdown over oil subsidies. The Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari and Minister of state for Petroleum Resources, Ike Kachikwu, over the non-payment of their outstanding subsidy in excess of N650 billion. The marketers issued a fresh 14-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to pay up, fallings which they would shut down their depots and embark on a massive sack of workers.

February 22. Council of State okays $1 billion for agric, livestock, others. After a six-hour deliberation on the prevailing insecurity in the country, the economy and electoral maters, the council of state meeting, presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari reviewed the funding of agriculture from $200 million to $1 billion to care for livestock and farmers.

February 23. ‘ Dapchi school attack getting every attention it deserves. President Muhammadu Buhari assured the families of students reportedly abducted from the Government Girls Technical College. Dapchi in Yoe state that no efforts would be spared in bringing succur to them.

February 24. Soyinka becomes citizen of Haiti. The Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka was officially decorated as “Honorable citizen of Caphaitain, capital of the northern region of the Caribbdean Island Country. He was formally handed key to the country’s second largest and most touristic city.

February 25. Lassa fever hits 17 states with 73 deaths, 913 suspected cases. Lassa fever continued to spread in Nigeria with 915
suspected cases and 73 deaths in 17 states in 2018 with Edo and Ondo bearing 75 per cent of the burden.

February 26. Solanke charges senior lawyers on pupilage. The first Female Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Folake Solanke, implored senior lawyers who utilized the services of young lawyers in pupilage to pay them adequately, her statement was at the presentation of Dele Adesina’s book.

February 27. Odigie-Oyegun survives sack plot, gets tenure extension. The National Chairman of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) Chief John Odigie-Oyegun survived renewed efforts to outst him as the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party extended his tenure by an additional year.

February 28. Hate speech offender to die by hanging in Senate’s new Bill. Any person found guilty of any form of hate speech that resulted in the death of another person should die by hanging upon conviction, read a new Bill by the state.