Brussels Bombing Prime Suspect Arrested: Media

A prime suspect in Tuesday's Brussels bombings, Najim Laachraoui, was arrested on Wednesday in the city's Anderlecht district, several Belgian media said.

Police and prosecutors could not be reached for comment, but federal prosecutors announced they would hold a news conference at 1200 GMT.

Police were hunting Laachraoui as being a man seen with suspected suicide bombers at Brussels airport.

Belgium Identifies Brussels Airport Attackers: Media

Identified on CCTV

The two men who blew themselves up at Brussels airport on Tuesday were brothers known to the police and a third attacker, who is at large, is a known Paris attacks suspect, Belgian media said on Wednesday.

The suicide bombers were named as Khalid and Brahim El Bakraoui and the third man as Najim Laachraoui. Federal prosecutors declined to comment, but said they would provide information in the course of the morning.

Laachraoui's DNA had been found in houses used by the Paris attackers last year, prosecutors said on Monday, adding that he had traveled to Hungary in September with Paris attacks prime suspect Salah Abdeslam.

Captured on a security camera photograph at Brussels Airport on Tuesday morning beside the El Bakraoui brothers, Laachraoui did not detonate a bomb and is still at large. A bomb was subsequently destroyed in a controlled explosion.

Khalid El Bakraoui, 27, had rented under a false name the flat in the Forest borough of the Belgian capital where police killed a gunman in a raid last week, RTBF said.

Belgian newspaper DH said the Bakraoui brothers may have fled the flat in Forest after last week's shootout.

In the raid, investigators found an Islamic State flag, an assault rifle, detonators and a fingerprint of Abdeslam, who was arrested three days later. Both brothers have criminal records, but have not been linked by the police to Islamist militants until now, RTBF said.

Brahim El Bakraoui, 30, was convicted in October 2010 for firing a Kalashnikov assault rifle at police and wounding an officer after a robbery in Brussels earlier that year. He was sentenced to nine years in prison. In 2011, his brother Khalid was given a sentence of five years for carjacking.

Middle East Countries Respond To Brussels Attacks With Anger And Finger-Pointing

Mourners laying candles

The deadly attacks on Brussels brought swift condemnation across the Middle East, but some countries seized the moment to criticize the West for adhering to policies that they said had planted the seeds for such acts of terrorism.

Syria’s embattled government, locked in a five-year fight against rebels seeking to topple President Bashar Assad, said the attacks confirmed “anew that terrorism has no borders."

The attacks, a source with the Foreign Ministry was quoted as saying, represented “the inevitable result of wrong policies and sympathy with terrorism to achieve certain agendas and legitimizing it by describing some terrorist groups as moderate," the spokesperson said.

In Syria, Western countries have helped prop up rebel factions, especially those operating under the opposition’s  Free Syrian Army, while describing them as “moderate” groups that seek to overthrow Assad’s government while rejecting Islamic extremism.

The Syrian government considers the rebels to be terrorists who do the business of Assad’s international and regional enemies, especially Saudi Arabia, which has provided money and weapons to the opposition.

FG to Raise VAT, Release N350 Billion Budgeted Expenditure

NASS complex

The federal government has said that it will inject N350 billion budgeted expenditure to revamp the Nigerian economy in the next few months. It will equally work in collaboration with the state governments to adopt a plan for the gradual increase of value added tax (VAT) on goods and services.

These were some of the decisions taken at the end of a two-day retreat for governors of the 36 states of the federation and members of the National Economic Council (NEC) at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

The Nigerian economy has been hit by dwindling crude oil prices, leading to a shortage of foreign exchange, a shrinking economy and spiraling inflation, which have all impacted on the standard of living and impeded the ability of several state governments to pay the salaries of their workers.

Briefing State House correspondents at the end of the retreat, the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, who was joined by the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, Zamfara State Governor, Mr. Abdul’aziz Yari and his Anambra State counterpart, Mr. Willie Obiano, said part of the funds would assist in the payment of local contractors who had laid off their staff due to lack of funds.

Nigerian Doctors Abroad Give Conditions To Return Home

Stethoscope

PHYSICIANS of Nigerian origin practicing abroad have given the Federal Government some conditions under which they can transfer their services home, among which include granting them low interest loans and high reduction in tariff of transportation of medical equipment into the country. But the Senate swiftly advised them to seek request for the former from the governments of America and the United Kingdom as according to it, Nigeria lacks such financial strength.

 Speaking yesterday, during a courtesy call on the Senate Committee on Health, the medical practitioners under the aegis of Association of Nigerian Physicians in the Americas, ANPA, said they had intention of moving their trade back home given what they called “ineffective medical health care” in Nigeria but but being prevented by the issues listed.

The physicians, who spoke through their National President, Nkem Chukwumerije,said they had passion to return and work for their fatherland but lamented that government was not doing enough to encourage their relocation.

Chukwumerije listed poor remuneration, inadequate modern equipment to work with, and lack of low interest loans for those who want to set up medical facilities in Nigeria, among others, problems hindering their return.

Nigerians Unhappy With State of Economy-Buhari

President Buhari

 President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday opened on the state of the nation’s economy and for the first time, admitted that Nigerians are fully united about the ills facing the economy.

The President who was speaking at the opening session of National Economic Council Retreat specifically conveyed to address current economic challenges at the State House Conference Centre, Abuja, said he was seeking the help of foreign investors and local construction companies in his efforts to fix the economy, especially the housing deficiency.

“We invite foreign investors together with local domiciled big construction companies to enter into commercial housing building to pick up the rest”

He declared that from “information at my disposal, if we aggregate public views from the grassroots, city dwellers, the economic managers, consumer groups, the Unions and other stakeholders of the economy, there is near unanimity about the ills of our economy. But naturally, there are divergent views about solutions.”

The President who stated that he was limiting current efforts at the retreat to areas such as Agriculture, Power, Manufacturing and Housing, however stated that other areas such as Education, Science and Technology were reserved because they “require a whole retreat by themselves”

Speaking on the power sector challenges, the President noted that Power situation in the country was no longer a laughing matter, adding that current administration has a target to generate 10,000megawatts in the three years, while 2,000; Megawatts will be developed in 2016 alone.

FG To Pump N350B Into The Economy——Adeosun

Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun

Federal government yesterday rose from the two-day economic retreat with a resolution to immediately pump the sum of N350 Billion into the economy as part of measures to stimulate growth and ease economic sufferings in the country.

This is just as government has also resolved to free the N58 bllion currently trapped with the Universal Basic Education Commission to rehabilitate about 1000 Schools across the 36 states of the federation.

Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun disclosed this while speaking at the end of the two day economic retreat organized by the federal government which took place at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Adeosun who spoke in the presence of Chairman Nigeria Governors Forum and Zamafara Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Yari, Anambra State Governor, Chief Willie Obiano, as well as the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, said government was in the process of identifying contractors with ongoing contracts as part of plans to further stimulate the economy.