The Distillers and Blenders Association of Nigeria (DIBAN) says it rejects the new “astronomical increase” in excise duty being imposed on domestic wines and spirits.

The Chairman of DIBAN, Chief Patrick Anegbe told newsmen on Wednesday in Lagos, that the hike was a threat to the N420 billion investment of the industry.

Anegbe said that there was no prior engagement/consultation whatsoever with the indigenous producers of wines and spirits, before adopting the new excise method.

The Minister of Defense, Mansur Dan-Ali, has called for the suspension of the implementation of the anti-grazing law.

The minister said that the suspension will reduce the tension in troubled states.

He disclosed this on Tuesday after a security meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

New York-UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has awarded the Dag Hammarshjold Medal to 129 military, Police and civilian personnel, including three Nigerians, who lost their lives in 2017 while serving under the UN flag. Guterres paid tribute to the peacekeepers at the commemoration of the international day of united nation peacekeepers 2018, at the UN Headquarters in New York, US.

Three Nigerians were found dead in a rented flat in Delhi's Uttam Nagar area, New Delhi, on Friday under mysterious conditions, the police said. The incident was reported from the Mohan Garden locality. The landlord noticed a foul smell belching out of the flat and informed the police, a senior officer said. "Two bodies were found in one room and the third in another room. No external injury marks were found on them," he said.

Since the Government has lost monopoly of violence to criminal gangs and life has become totally cheap and unsafe in the country it is high time that the National Assembly enacted a law to provide for compulsory military training or military service for citizens of Nigeria without any delay,” Falana said.

Five soldiers have been killed in a Boko Haram ambush in Borno State.

The incident occurred in Gwoza Local Government Area on Thursday, a statement by the army said.

The troops, of 271 Task Force Battalion had run into the ambush while on a clearance operation along Pridang-Bitta in Gwoza Local Government Area, the Director of Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Texas Chukwu, said in a statement.