As part of the deliberate measures to curtail abuse and to prevent smuggling of tobacco products into the country, the Federal Government says it may increase taxes on Tobacco. This was made public in a statement made by the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, when he addressed State House correspondents after the meeting of the Federal Executive Council on Wednesday. The meeting was presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari in the Presidential, Villa, Abuja. According to Adewole, Nigeria is implementing the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Nigeria became a party to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control on Jan. 18, 2006. “Yes, we are part of the campaign against Tobacco. We are implementing the WHO Framework Convention for Tobacco Control. As of Monday, we were part of the ECOWAS meeting to look at how do we raise taxes on tobacco, and that meeting would really work to prevent smuggling of tobacco products. We looked at h...

Despite the hostile responses by many Nigerians over the Jacob Zuma’s 250-metre multi-million statue erected in Owerri by the Governor, Rochas Okorocha of Imo State, he (Governor) has publicly said that he owes no apology for erecting Jacob Zuma’s statue in Owerri, the State capital. Okorocha’s Chief Press Secretary, Sam Onwuemeodo has however said that they cannot be deterred by enemies of the people who are trying to discourage them from making the state open to foreign investors. The statement reads: “And in case these “Galatians” do not know all we need to do to attract good things or investments to Imo is erecting statues, then, we have no option than to erect as many of such structures as possible. “We owe no one apology. Rochas made a promise to open the doors of Imo to the rest of the world, for good and he is doing that and we cannot be deterred by these enemies of our people. “If it was in the days of PDP, schools and markets would have been shut down. And roads...