President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday assured Nigerians in The Netherlands that the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) would soon be passed by the National Assembly. . This is contained in a statement issued by the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr Reuben Abati, in Abuja. . It stated that Jonathan gave the assurance at an interactive session with Nigerians residing in The Netherlands. . According to him, he has been assured by the National Assembly that the seventh National Assembly will be able to complete the process of passing the bill. . “The NASS will as soon as they…
Author: David F.
A former Head of State, Gen. Mohammadu Buhari, on Monday urged the National Assembly to adopt a holistic approach to ensuring transparency and accountability in the oil and gas sector. . Buhari made the call at a roundtable for Legislators and Civil Society Organisations organised by the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) in Abuja. . PGF is a forum of 16 state governors who are members of the All Progressives Congress (APC). . The theme of the roundtable was; “Improving governance through transparency, budgeting, accountability and effective public financial management“. . He noted that it was a duty of legislature in…
The ranks of All Progressives Congress, APC, in Imo State have continued to deplete since the recent return of former governor of Imo State, Chief Achike Udenwa, to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. . The Mayor of Owerri, Chief Gibson Njemanze, has joined the league of appointees of Governor Rochas Okorocha that had resigned their appointments. . Scores of Okorocha’s foot soldiers, such as Dr. Vin Udokwu, Chief Soronnadi Njoku, Chief Analyn Nwaneri, Col. Lambert Ihenacho (rtd) and a host of others, have since resigned their appointments and returned to the PDP family. . Chief Njemanze, who conveyed his resignation…
A private investor, Festrut Conglomerate is set to establish a farm covering 100 hectares of land in Uzebba, Edo State that will provide about 15,000 employment opportunities for the people of the state. . Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the company, Dr. Festus Asikhia, disclosed this when he led a delegation on a courtesy visit to Governor Adams Oshiomhole at the Government House in Benin City, weekend. . Asikhia said “I have to go to my community, where I can easily have access to land and I have acquired about 100 hectares of land for the take-off of the company. Apart…
The Coordinator, Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB), Lagos office, Alhaji Kamaldeen Oladeji, on Monday said all was ready for the Unified Tertiary Matriculations Examination (UTME), scheduled for April 12. . Oladeji in Lagos said that 11 centres accredited for the Dual Based Test and the 103 venues for the Paper Pencil Test in the state were ready. . He said that the board was yet to compile the total number of centres to be used for the Computer Based Test (CBT) mode of the examination. . “As you may know, the CBT registration is still ongoing, having been extended…
THE Lagos State Government has dismissed the alleged sale of blood in its hospitals even as it has initiated better compensation for voluntary blood donors. A member of the Lagos State Blood Transfusion Committee, LSBTC, Sherifat Lawal said the N4,500 charged for a unit of blood should. not be regarded as payment, but accepted as the normal processing charges. . Lawal who spoke during a blood donor drive organised by the LSBTC, in partnership with the State Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation Centre, maintained that no amount is commensurate with the value of human blood as it is…
Dr Erastus Akingbola, the former Managing Director of the defunct Intercontinental Bank Plc, on Tuesday, asked an Ikeja High Court presiding over his alleged N47.1 billion theft case to wash-off its hands of the case. . In his preliminary objections filed before Justice Lateef Lawal-Akapo, Akingbola was arguing that the court lacks jurisdiction to entertain the charge pressed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Akingbola was charged alongside former executive director of the bank, BayoDada. . When the matter was called yesterday, his lawyer Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, told the court that the applications have been…
The Federal Government and the Republic of Namibia have proposed to construct a joint oil refinery to maximise cooperation in the area of energy. . The decision was reached during the two day official visit of President Goodluck Jonathan to Namibia at the invitation of his counterpart, President Hifikepunye Pohamba. . This is contained in a joint communiqué issued on the visit and made available in Windhoek, Namibia. . It stated that the refinery, which would be located in Walvis Bay, would be wholly private financed. . The two leaders urged the private sector of both countries to work toward…
AHEAD of the April 5 Ilaje/Ese-Odo Federal constituency bye election, Police in Ondo State yesterday read a riot act to the seven political parties participating in the poll. . State Commissioner of Police, Isaac Eke, at a meeting with political party leaders in Akure, said security details attached to politicians/ VIPs would not be allowed to accompany their principals to the polling units on election days. . Eke said: “There would not be any sacred cow that day as no security detail will be allowed to follow any politician,” warning that violence and intimidation would not be tolerated. . The…
The two Edo-born female boxers, Edith Ogoke and Oluwatoyin Aladeji, have been commended for their performances at the just-concluded African Boxing Championship in Yaounde, Cameroon. . A Commissioner in the Edo State Oil and Gas Development Area Commission (EDSOGPADEC), Mr Wellington Okoh, gave the commendation on Monday in Benin. . Ogoke, who fought in the 75 kilogramme category, won a gold medal, while Aladeji who featured in the 51 kilogramme category won a bronze. . Elena Vystropova (L) of Azerbaijan defends against Edith Ogoke (R) of Nigeria during the women’s Middleweight (75kg) boxing round of 16 of the 2012 London…
THIRTY-ONE suspects including a 28-year old Pastor Okpara Emmanuel Chigozie, who allegedly demanded for N50 million ransom after kidnapping a two-year old girl, have been arrested by the police in Ondo State. . Another 28-year old suspected kidnapper, a student of Niger Delta University Bayelsa, Gasiakpo Niakpo, was paraded for the kidnapping of Olanrewaju Adekunle, a student of Leads City University, Ibadan. . The state Police Commissioner, Isaac Eke, said Niakpo confessed to the crime while his alleged partners in crime escaped. . He said items recovered from him include a Toyota Solara car marked AKD 731 AR, adding that…
A mobile policeman attached to a bank in Minna, Niger State allegedly shot himself. to death with his service rifle. The reason for the suicide remained unknown. . The policeman, identified as Corporal Tanko Usman, according to eyewitnesses, shot himself in an uncompleted building around. General M.I Wushishi Housing Estate along Eastern Bye-pass, Minna. . Sunday we gathered that the corporal, attached to Squadron 12 Police Mobile Force, was returning from his duty post when he parked his motorcycle by the building, entered and shot himself. . The shot attracted people living in the area and passersby who rushed to…
CONTROVERSY over representation at the ongoing National Conference yesterday made the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) to threaten to boycott the 2016 population census and subsequent exercises if religion and ethnic data are not included. . Responding to the claim by an Islamic organization, Jama’atu Nasril Islam, led by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Abubakar Sa’ad III, that the process of selecting delegates to the National Conference was not done with fair representation and will affect the credibility of its outcome, CAN General Secretary, Dr. Musa Asake, said the inclusion of religion in population census will correct certain negative impressions…
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Special Congress for the nomination of the party’s candidate for the June 21 governorship election in Ekiti State has announced a. former governor of the state,Mr Ayo Fayose, as the party’s flag bearer. . The five-man committee, which conducted the congress and headed by a former governor of Rivers State, Dr Peter Odili, declared Fayose after polling 462 votes, while a former Minister of Police Affairs, Navy Captain Caleb Olubolade, scored seven votes and the former spokesman of. the Yoruba socio cultural organisation, Afenifere,Prince Dayo Adeyeye, had three votes. . A former PDP Women Leader…
About 20 bodies of people believed to have been killed for ritual purposes were discovered, yesterday, in Soka, Oluyole local government area of Oyo State. . Also, 18 men and five women, believed to have been bewitched and bound with fetters in a dungeon, were found and rescued. . One of the rescued victims believed to have been bewitched and bound with fetters in a dungeon, in Soka, Oluyole local government area of Oyo State. . The rescued victims looked emaciated. One of the women was said to have been delivered of a baby who was sold to a waiting…
At least 17 people have been killed by an explosion in a village market in Borno State in an attack blamed on Boko Haram Islamists, a local police chief said on Sunday. . The deadly blast struck a busy marketplace late on Thursday in the remote village of Nguro-Soye, injuring many more, said police chief Lawan Tanko. . News on the attack was slow to emerge after insurgents destroyed nearby telecom towers, shutting down communications in the area. . “An explosion in the market in Nguro-Soye killed 17 people,” Tanko told AFP, adding that police were investigating the source of…
President Goodluck Jonathan has arrived Amsterdam, Netherlands, ahead of the Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) scheduled to hold in The Hague on Monday. . This was contained in a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday by the President’s Senior Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr Reuben Abati. . The president, according to the statement, had earlier travelled to Namibia and the Vatican on other official engagements before his arrival in Amsterdam. . The statement said the president was being joined at the summit by more than. 50 other world leaders including United States President Barrack Obama and the Chinese President, Xi…
The Consumer Protection Council (CPC) has said that consumer’s right is not observed in the country. . Head of CPC, Lagos Office, Mr. Tam Tamunokonbia, said this at the World Consumer Right Protection Day held in computer village with the theme: “Fix your phone right.” . Tamunokonbia said, “Consumer right is not observed in Nigeria where there should be value for money on every product purchased or service rendered.” . He said that the literacy level in the country is not encouraging, given that so many people who come to complain do not have e-mails. . According to him, “Our…
FOR going ahead with the competency test for secondary and primary schools in the state, despite a court order stopping same, counsel to Academic Staff Union of Secondary Schools, ASSUS, Mr. Olayiwola Afolabi, is to file contempt proceeding against Edo State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Henry Idahagbon. . Meanwhile, Edo State Commissioner for Higher Education, Mr. Washington Osifo, has described the assessment test conducted in the state by the Prof. Denis Agbonlahor- led Assessment Committee as a success, saying that teachers who absented themselves from the test will have themselves to blame. . Although the exercise was…
The Registrar of a Magistrate’s Court in Enugu State has been sentenced to three years imprisonment for demanding bribe in the course of discharging his official duty. . Anikwu Ifesinachi was convicted and sentenced by Justice A. A. Nwobodo of Enugu High Court without an option of fine. . The convict was arraigned by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, on a two-count charge of demanding and receiving bribe. . Ifesinachi was acused of demanding a bribe of N80,000 from the relation of a suspect before he would process the warrant of release. . The relation…