6) Austria
This central European, and highly mountainous, country of 8.5 million citizens is the 6th happiest place in the world. With a history that stretches back over 1,000 years, Austria is now an advanced economy with an extremely high standard of living. Boasting a good per capita , strong social programs, scenic mountain views, and a social market economy.
5)Finland
Finland, a Nordic Country of 5.5 million nationals comes in at number 5 on our list of happiest nations. With a history that extends back near to 1,000 years, Finland’s natives have seen a lot of European history. Regardless of having an economy that was concentrated generally on cultivating until the 1950’s, Finland has since made major strides in its industrialization. From that point forward, Finland has joined the 21st century worldwide economy and now brags a profoundly progressed economy in Europe.
President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, has sent former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar as his emissary to South African President Jacob Zuma to lobby for the candidacy of Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, as president of the African Development Bank.
This was contained in a statement issued by the Atiku Media Office in Abuja on Saturday.
According to the statement, Abubakar’s shuttle diplomacy is to shore up the much-needed support for the Nigerian candidate.
The statement explained that this follows a mandate from the President-elect to the former Vice-President to leverage on his contacts to lobby for the emergence of Adesina.
Buhari, who backs the candidacy of Adesina, had last month conveyed his support to the President of Ghana, John Mahama, when the two leaders met in Abuja.
The statement said Atiku travelled with Adesina to South Africa during the weekend, where the two met with President Zuma at the Presidential Residence in Durban.
It further stated, “Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar met President Zuma in the company of Dr. Akinwumi Adesina during which the directive of President-elect General Muhammadu Buhari was conveyed to Zuma. The issue of South Africa and the southern African region’s support for Nigeria’s candidate was exhaustively discussed and well appreciated.”
It isn’t by incident that yet another Northern European nation comes in as the fourth happiest nation on the planet. The Netherlands, a generally little nation at only 16,000 square miles, is a thickly populated country and is home to one of the world’s biggest ports – the Port of Rotterdam. The Netherlands has a populace of more than 16.8 million. This, blended with its entrance to Europe and mellow atmosphere, clearly makes for an exceptionally content populace. For real the Dutch people are happy and always smiling people compare to their German counterparts.
The Chief Judge of Ogun State, Justice Olatokunbo Olopade, last week freed no fewer than 38 inmates, who were awaiting trials in the five prison facilities across the state.
The prisons are located in Abeokuta, Ilaro, Sagamu and Ijebu Ode.
She said she ought to have embarked on the visitation to the prisons much earlier, but for the strike embarked upon by judiciary workers in the state.
At the prison in Ilaro, Justice Olopade pardoned six inmates, who were awaiting trial, while she set free 15 inmates at Ibara, Abeokuta prison.
She freed 12 inmates at Oba prison in the Obafemi-Owode Local Government area of the state while three inmates and two others were freed at Ijebu Ode and Sagamu respectively.
At Ibara prison, one of the lucky inmates, Oluwatoyin Akanni, who had been in the prison for two years, broke down in tears, and later said her phone was stolen by a lady and in the process of retrieving it, she told one boy about her ordeal and the boy beat the lady to death.
Another lucky inmate at the Ijebu Ode prison, Adebayo Monday, while recounting his ordeal, said, “I am a bricklayer and I was working on that fateful day when one of my friends, who found a dead body, called me to tell me one of my friends was involved in an accident. I went there and I was arrested along with my friends. ”
Obviously moved by the overwhelming number of awaiting trial inmates in these prison facilities, Justice Olopade pledged to persuade the state governor to appoint more judges and magistrates to reduce congestion.
3)Switzerland
This uneven nation in central Europe, at only 16,000 square miles in size (3 times the size of the Los Angeles metro area), is home to the third happiest individuals on the planet. Upheld by grand mountain sees, rich European society, and an economy bolstered by a great degree financial sector makes for an incredibly glad and prosperous populace.
The troops of the Nigerian Army have arrested a man said to be a supplier of fuel and food to members of the Boko Haram sect at Daban Shata, a suburb of Baga, Borno State.
Director of Defence Information, Maj. gen. Chris Olukolade, said the military intelligence had been on the trail of the man until he was picked up in the early hours of Sunday.
The Defence spokesman stated that the soldiers also rescued an additional 260 women and children near Chalawa Village in Adamawa State.
The troops had rescued 293 women and girls on Tuesday and another 160 women and children on Wednesday last week.
According to him, the women and children, who were prevented from escaping from their Boko Haram captors, were rescued and taken back to their communities in Madagali Local Government Area after being profiled.
He added that some of the rescued women said they had to escape from their homes when the Madagali area came under attack from the insurgents while others said they were abducted and taken to the area.
He said, “A man, who specialises in supplying fuel and food to terrorists, was this morning nabbed in Daban Shata in the suburbs of Baga, Borno State.
“The military intelligence had been trailing him till he was eventually trapped in the early hours of Sunday. He is presently undergoing interrogation.
“In another development, troops on patrol yesterday(Saturday) located 260 women and children in the outskirts of Chalawa village in Adamawa State, where they had been held up while trying to escape from the terrorists.
“They have now been conveyed back to their various communities in Madagali after undergoing the normal security profiling.
“Some of them disclosed that they had to abandon their homes to escape from the terrorists when Madagali came under attack, while others were actually abducted and taken there. The terrorists were sacked from the Madagali recently.”
The National Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party, has constituted a post-election assessment committee to review and evaluate the party’s performance in the just concluded general elections.
This is contained in a statement issued by Mr Olisa Metuh, the PDP National Publicity Secretary on Sunday in Abuja.
The statement said that the committee, which would be formally inaugurated on May 5 at the party`s national headquarters, would make recommendations on how to reposition the party.
It listed the membership of the committee to include: Sen. Ike Ekweremadu (Chairman), Governors Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom, Theodore Orji of Abia and Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe state.
Other members are: Mr Nyeson Wike, Rivers Governor-elect, Malam. Ibrahim Shekarau, Minister of Education, Alhaji Abdulkadir Kure, Mr Emeka Ihedioha, Deputy Speaker, House of Rrepresentatives, Mr Abba Moro, Minister of Internal Affairs and Alhaji Adamu Waziri.
The statement also named Sen. Ahmed Makarfi, Mr Makanjuola Ogundipe, Mr Pegba Otemolu, Mrs Funmi Ayoola as members while Sen. Walid Jibril would serve as secretary of the committee.
1) Norway
Though the people here are not smiling that much like Nigerians but the Country is doing well.
The death toll in the clashes between some villagers and soldiers in three villages of Kadarko, Kurmi and Wadata in Wase Local Government Area of Plateau State has risen to 39 as nine more bodies have been uncovered.
Soldiers, said to be on reprisal in over 40 trucks, were said to have stormed the villages on Saturday following reports of an alleged killing of four soldiers at Angwan Nanmi, Karin Lamido Local Government Area of Taraba State.
The traditional ruler of Kadarko, Ponzhi Kadarko, Chief Lot Nde, told our correspondent on the telephone on Sunday that the death toll could still rise as soldiers, with armoured tanks, had pursued some villagers right inside the bush where many of them were shot and killed.
He said the entire villages had been razed.
The PUNCH had reported that about 30 people were killed, but Nde said 28 people were killed in Kadarko while 11 villagers lost their lives in Wadata.
The traditional ruler said the entire villages had been deserted, adding that he had fled since, according to him, he was target of the attack.
He explained that some women in his area told him that when the soldiers arrived at his house, they told them that they were told to kill the traditional ruler first.
He said his house was completely razed while all the economic trees in his compound were cut down, adding that he had taken refuge in the neighbouring Langtang.
The monarch said, “As I am talking to you now, all the villages have been deserted and I am taking refuge somewhere in Langtang.”
Spokesman for the Special Task Force, Capt Ikedichi Iweha, disputed the claim in some reports that more than 400 people had been killed.
He said it would be erroneous to believe that soldiers would turn round and start killing civilians.
Iweha said following frequent attacks on communities around the Plateau-Taraba border by some militiamen, the STF and soldiers from the 3 Armoured Division of the Nigerian Army had been carrying out operations to flush out the gunmen in the area.
He said in the process, there was a clash between some locals and some of the militiamen, stressing that mop up operation was still ongoing.
Iweha added that the number of casualties could not be determined until the operation was over.
The Federal Government on Sunday called on oil marketers to be patriotic in their decisions by considering the interest of Nigerians who always bear the brunt of their actions, noting that they should not by their actions hold the country to ransom.
The Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, while speaking with journalists in Abuja said contrary to claims by the marketers that they were being owed about N200bn after being paid N156bn last week, what is being owed them is about N131bn.
The marketers had claimed that the government’s indebtedness to them for oil subsidy was about N354,4bn.
Confirming the figure, the Executive Secretary, Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mr. Thomas Olawore, had said, “The government had paid N154.2bn out of N354.4bn and we are left with a balance of N200.2bn.
“What happens to the N200.2bn? That is why we requested that the government invites us so that we can be told how it intends to liquidate the remaining N200.2bn.”
But the minister said this figure could not be correct, noting that the balance that is left based on Petroleum Pricing Products Regulatory Agency’s template is about N131bn.
She said, “As you know, we paid N156bn recently, N100bn of the principle payment that we owe them and then we paid N56bn interest rate and some remaining exchange rate differentials.
“Prior to that, we have just paid N31bn exchange rate differentials. So at the time we paid that last week, what we had outstanding is N98bn.”
According to her, every week, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency sends data and that is what government only subscribe and certified as what is due to marketers.
“As at now, since we made the announcement last week, it has now risen from N98bn to N131bn outstanding in principle payment.
“And they are now making a demand of N200bn and I asked them what is the balance for,” she added.
She likened the oil marketers to a small cartel that are into a no risk business based on template negotiated with PPPRA long time ago which factored in exchange rate differential, and profit margin guarantee.
This situation, she said, leaves them with absolutely no risk.
She said. “It has become a situation where we have a cartel that can ground the nation to a halt at will. I strongly suggest that the nation has to do something about it.
Maiduguri recorded its first rain for the year on Sunday, making occupants to express delight following a long time of serious warmth, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.
The downpour, which began at around 5.30pm and went on for about 30 minutes, conveyed help to the city, which had encountered temperature of more than 47 degree Celsius.
Malam Alpha Ibrahim, an occupant of the town told NAN that he was content with the advancement.
Ali Goni, onother occupant, said the warmth recorded in the region before the downpours was insufferable.
“Nobody thought it will rain today; we just saw a heavy dust without any cloud,” he said.
NAN reviews that comparable phenomemnon was recorded in Abuja on Saturday when occupants likewise saw a moderate precipitation that achieved moderate cool climate.
