Electricity supply in Nigeria, worsened in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2013, at the peak of the privatisation process, power poll results just released by NOIPolls Limited have shown. . The report said that although power supply to households worsened in Q4, nevertheless, majority of Nigerians (70 percent) were hopeful about the ongoing reform in the power sector. . The report also said that an average of 46 percent of Nigerians received between 1-4 hours of continuous power supply daily, while 17 percent said they have received absolutely “No Light” in their households. . The Poll however, noted that in…
Author: David F.
For fears that they might be members of the dreaded Boko Haram, Imo State government, weekend, sent back to Katsina about 84 persons. . The deportees, mainly youths, had been in Imo State for eight days under-going skill acquisition training when the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the state raised an alarm that they might be Boko Haram insurgents. . The young Muslims, who had spent about eight days in the state, were quartered in the premises of Imo Newspapers Limited, on Egbu Road, Owerri, which is now renamed “Imo College of Advanced Professional Studies, ICAPS.” . A security man…
The Apex Igbo Socio-cultural Group, the Ohaneze Ndigbo yesterday succeeded in pressurising the former governor of Abia State and former presidential candidate of Progressive peoples Alliance, PPA, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu to shelve his Presidential ambition for 2015 general elections. . Kalu on Monday – after an intense pressure from the apex Igbo socio-cultural group, Ohanaeze NdIgbo that lasted for six months – announced his total withdrawal from the 2015 race in his Abuja home, following an extensive meeting with the leadership of Ohaneze Ndigbo led by the president general worldwide, of the association, Gary Nnachi Enwo- Igariwey. . He…
President Goodluck Jonathan is to pay a 1- day visit to Adamawa State today. . As he arrives, Jonathan is expected to commission a number of projects undertaken by the Nigerian Air Force, NAF, under the then Chief of Air Staff, CAS, now Chief of Defence Staff, CDS, Air Marshal Alex Badeh. . Among the projects to be commissioned are the NAF Comprehensive Secondary School located in the state capital and the Terminal Building of the Yola International Airport. . Security has been beefed up in the state which had been under emergency rule since May last year, even as…
After being questioned for close to fifteen hours at Department of State Services, (DSS) Malam Nasir el- Rufai, former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, who on Tuesday willing surrendered to the DSS regained his freedom. . El-Rufai, the current Interim Deputy National Secretary of the nation’s leading opposition party, All Progressives Congress, APC, was driven on Tuesday by Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi, to the national headquarters of the security outfit at about 9.15a.m. in an ash-coloured Mercedes Sports Utility Vehicle was released at about midnight on Monday to go home. . The All Progressives Congress (APC) on Friday…
The federal government is to resolve pension terminal benefits issues of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, workers in the next two weeks. . The Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE, said in Abuja, weekend, that its officials would commence a tour of designated centres across the country beginning Wednesday, this week to address residual issues related to the settlement of the terminal benefits of the workers. . The bureau said: “This is in line with the Bureau’s determination to ensure that all residual issues related to the settlement of the terminal benefits of staff of the defunct PHCN are…
What could be termed a graveyard peace returned to public health institutions, weekend, following the end of the three-day warning strike called by the Joint Health Sector Unions, JOHESU, on Friday last week. . The union leaders have vowed not to enter into any new agreement with government. . Meanwhile, peace remains elusive at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, Idi Araba, Lagos as health workers are still at loggerheads with the institution’s management. . Reacting to the outcome of the strike in a telephone chat with Vanguard yesterday, Chairman, Federal Area Council, Lagos, Mr. Stephen Ibe said the three-…
Employers in the nation’s construction industry are today meeting leaders of the National Union of Civil Engineering, Construction, Furniture and Wood Workers, NUCECFWW, to avoid a shut down of the sector by the workers. . The union, last week issued a seven-day ultimatum to all the construction companies in the country to end alleged protracted negotiation on improved welfare for workers and other working conditions or the entire industry would be shut this week. . The union in a letter to the employers’ body under the umbrella of the Federation of Construction Industry, FOCI, dated January 20, 2014, accused the…
Victims of police demolition exercise in Lagos have dragged the Attorney-General of the Federation, Inspector General of Police, Commissioner of Police, Lagos State and the Ministry of Police Affairs to the Federal High Court in a N100 billion suit over the violation of their fundamental human rights. . Also joined as respondents were: Attorney-General of Lagos State, Lagos State Taskforce on Environment and Special Offences Unit, Lagos State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, Lagos State Lands Bureau and Area Commander, Area K Police command. . The Nigerian Police Force on December 16, last year demolished 1,500 structures erected…
The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, weekend, urged leaders at all levels to seek for knowledge on leadership. . Abubakar said this at the launching of a book entitled, “Leadership in Islam,” written by Alhaji Modibbo Ibrahim. . Abubakar, who was represented by Alhaji Isma’il Abubakar, District head of Gumbi, said, “it is very necessary for the leaders to seek for knowledge for that will give them the right way of leading the society. . “The main frame of any society is the quality of their leaders and it can only be achieved by leaders that have good knowledge…
Governor Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State, yesterday, called on the Ogoni people to declare one- day fasting for God to make the Federal Government to release one billion dollars (N170 billion) from the 49.8 billion dollars allegedly missing for the implementation of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Report on Ogoni. . The governor, who spoke in Bori, Khana local government area during the inauguration of the local government executive of Save Rivers Movement, a pro-All Progressive Congress (APC) group, flayed the delay on the part of the Federal Government to release the money for the clean up of oil…
Cracks have appeared in the political camp of former President Olusegun Obasanjo as his loyalists are divided. Some of the loyalists want to remain in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, while others are in favour of defection to the All Progressives Congress, APC. . It gathered that some of the ex- president’s loyalists, who ruled out the idea of defecting into APC, are behind President Goodluck Jonathan in his second term ambition. . It was gathered that at a meeting of the PDP caucus in Ogun State, held at Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), Friday night, a motion was moved…
Nigeria has set a date for its presidential and parliamentary elections but the main question dominating discussion in the country is whether Goodluck Jonathan will seek a second term. . The 56-year-old, who stepped up to the top job in 2010 when former head of state Umaru Yar’Adua fell ill and later died, has yet to declare his candidacy. . But sustained speculation that he will run for re-election on February 14, 2015 has caused deep rifts within his ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). . Five influential governors quit the PDP for the main opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in…
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Alliance (APC) on Saturday in Osogbo pledged to shun thuggery and rigging in the forthcoming 2014 and 2015 elections in Osun. . While the gubernatorial election is scheduled to hold in Osun in 2014, the people of the state will join the rest of Nigerians for the Presidential and National Assembly election in 2015. . The Osun gubernatorial election is slated to hold on Aug. 9. . Mr Diran Odeyemi and Mr Kunle Oyatomi, spokespersons of PDP and APC respectively made the pledges in separate interviews. . Odeyemi said that the PDP…
The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), said on Saturday that the rain which fell on Friday evening in FCT and its environs was not the beginning of rainy season. . A statement from the agency said “a sudden weather change occurred over Abuja around 4 p.m. due to a rapid northward movement of the line of demarcation between the south-westerly winds. . “The winds brought moisture from the Atlantic Ocean and the dry north-easterly winds from the Sahara Desert’’, the statement quoted the Director-General of the agency, Dr Anthony Anuforom, as explaining. Anuforom noted that this led to the influx of…
Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, President, Al-Mustapha Peace, Unity, Development Initiative (APUDI), says his organisation will empower majority of the 22 million unemployed Nigerian youths with skills. . Al-Mustapha, the former Chief Security Officer to late former Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, made this known while speaking with journalists in Gombe on Sunday. . He said the organisation was compiling the list of youth organisations across the country with a view to assisting the unemployed youths with skill acquisition and other entrepreneurship development schemes. . “APUDI will go all the way out to call on the attention of all people that…
Some religious leaders in Omu-Aran, Kwara, have commended President Goodluck Jonathan, for signing into law the same-sex marriage prohibition bill recently passed by the National Assembly. . The religious leaders, who gave the commendation in Omu-Aran, Kwara, on Sunday in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said the move was a step in the right direction. . The Bishop of The Cathedral Church of St. Paul’s, Omu-Aran, Rt. Rev. Phillip Adeyemo, said the president had the right to protect the sovereignty of the country and also sustain the values of its cultural heritage and practises. . “I…
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has described critics of its directive to its National Assembly members to block all legislative proposals as those who are either ignorant of the workings of democracy or those who have chosen to play to the gallery for pecuniary gains. . ”Ether way, these critics have rushed to judgement without even taking time to study the directive, without understanding that governance is about people, and without caring about the principles of fairness, justice and equity, and they should cover their faces in shame,” the party said in a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday by…
The Northern States’ Governors Forum has charged security agencies to end the killing of defenseless citizens, especially in the North-East region, where suspected Boko Haram members have continued their bloody campaign since 2009. . The forum’s Chairman and Governor of Niger, Dr Babangida Aliyu, stated this on Sunday in Minna, noting that members of the forum were seriously concerned at the renewed attacks, which have killed 18 persons around Maiduguri. . “The forum is particularly alarmed that the shooting to dead of 18 persons in Njaba, Mude, Kwaljiri and Kaya villages in Borno followed the same pattern as previous midnight…
Militants appeared to have captured five Iraqi soldiers near Fallujah, according to witnesses and online videos, while anti-government fighters took control of more territory in Anbar province Sunday. . Meanwhile attacks elsewhere in Iraq killed 13 people, pushing to more than 850 the number of people killed this month. . Authorities have been grappling for weeks with a deadly standoff in Anbar province, west of Baghdad. Foreign leaders have urged the Shiite-led government to seek political reconciliation with disaffected minority Sunnis in order to undercut support for militants. . But with elections looming in April, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki…