Ahead of the 2015 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting which begins in Malta on Friday, President Muhammadu Buhari will later today, Thursday, leave Abuja for the island nation. The Commonwealth is made up of Britain, Nigeria and 51 other countries that work together to pursue common goals and promote development, democracy, peace, security and good governance. The Special Adviser to the President on (Media & Publicity), Femi Adesina, said in a statement on Wednesday that President Buhari and other Heads of State and Government who will be in Malta for this year’s summit are expected to deliberate on fresh Commonwealth initiatives on…
Author: Wale Adebayo
After 10 years of meritorious service, the chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Ahmadu Giade, on Wednesday bowed out of the agency. Speaking after a colourful ceremony held at the Ikoyi head office the agency, Giade said: “I am leaving the NDLEA better than I met it 10 years ago. My greatest legacy is the zero tolerance for corruption. If we must continue to dislodge drug barons and eradicate drugs from our society, we must remain forthright and committed to drug control programmes. I am leaving behind a legacy of proactive and intelligence-led organisation. “The agency under…
The Senate, on Wednesday, gave its Committee on Works the go-ahead to invite the Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, over the status of Bailey bridges nationwide. Bailey bridges, made from pre-fabricated metal truss, developed and used during the Second World War, were built in Nigeria during the colonial era and post-Nigerian civil war era. They served as temporary crossing for human and vehicular movement. Sponsoring the motion titled: “Recurring Collapse of Bailey Bridges Nationwide”, the Peoples Democratic Party senator representing Enugu East, Gilbert Nnaji, said the bridges have either collapsed or caved in due to pressure and…
President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed sadness on the death of the paramount ruler of the Tiv people of Benue State, the Tor Tiv, Dr. Alfred Akawe Torkula and a Minister of Defence in the First Republic, Alhaji Muhammadu Inuwa Wada. The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, in a statement Wednesday, said Buhari, in separate condolences, commiserated with the immediate families, friends and associates of the late monarch and former minister as well as the governments and people of Benue and Kano States, where they both hailed from respectively. The president urged them to…
The payment of N5, 000 to unemployed Nigerians is being delayed because it was not captured in the 2015 budget, the Federal Government on Wednesday said. The Minister of Youth and Sports, Barrister Solomon Darlong, who stated this during a visit to the All Progressive Congress (APC) national secretariat in Abuja, however, said government is making arrangement to effect the payment with effect from 2016. Speaking with journalists, the minister said the government will fulfill all the campaign promises made to Nigerians during last elections. “I want the youths to understand that every promise must be backed up by budgetary…
A fresh crisis is looming in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) if the threat by a former Special Adviser on Political Matters to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Barrister Ahmed Ali Gulak, is anything to go by. Gulak, who is an aspirant for the national chairmanship of the PDP, on Tuesday said that members of the party from the North-east Zone may pull out from PDP if the acting national chairman, Uche Secondus remains in office without doing what was expected of him. According to the former presidential adviser, if Secondus does not organise bye-election to fill the vacant position of the…
Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, has predicted a harsher economic climate in 2016 as the price of crude oil in the international market continues to suffer a slip. “Except by God’s intervention, Nigerians should brace up for more challenges next year”, he said. Fayose, who made this known in Efon during his sensitisation tour of local governments in the state, attributed the poor performance of the 2015 budget to the $68 per barrel benchmark on which it was predicated, while oil sold much lower than that. “This year’s budget did not meet expectations, especially in the area of capital…
The use of long hijab (Muslim veil) during the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) orientation exercises will remain prohibited, in view of the prevailing security concerns in the country. The Director General of the NYSC, Brigadier General Johnson Olawumi, who stated this when he received the League of Muslim Youths in Da’awah yesterday in Abuja, expressed regrets that terrorists in recent times, have used ladies who wore long hijabs with suicide belts underneath, to kill people. While reiterating NYSC’s tremendous respect for the religion and tribe of every Nigerian, the scheme also had the responsibility of protecting the lives of…
About 500 Nigerians have been deported from the UK and are now in Lagos, a report by BBC said. “One person told me that he was arrested by British police and was not allowed to even take his belongings before being deported. A few of them who say they don’t have relatives here are stranded in the airport,” BBC reporter Umar Shehu Elleman said. UK’s plan to deport 29,000 Nigerians had recently hit the news with the Nigerian government expressing concern and asking Britain to ensure that those being deported are really Nigerians, medically fit to travel and have a…
The N1.04 trillion fine imposed on MTN Nigeria by the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) is now before President Muhammadu Buhari, the Minister of Communications, Barr. Adebayo Shittu has revealed. The minister said the president would take the necessary decision at the appropriate time in the best interest of the country. Speaking yesterday at the Alliance 4 Affordable Internet Nigeria Coalition conference in Lagos, Mr. Shittu said that the government decision to impose the hefty fine on MTN was not borne out of hatred but “in the interest of the public”. “I don’t think there is any conflicting position on where…
Some lawmakers in the Cross River State House of Assembly have decried what they term as the “one man government” style of the state governor, Prof. Ben Ayade. Two of the lawmakers, who spoke with reporter on the condition of anonymity for strategic reasons, alleged that the governor was taking too much for granted. One of them said: “Governor Ayade is taking critical state decisions alone, without recourse to neither the Assembly nor his deputy, and without even a cabinet in place. “We shall no longer keep quiet and watch him behave as if he cannot be checked”. The other legislator…
A 65-year-old man, Ado Maisumunti, has stabbed himself to death with a knife in Kano. A witness told the News Agency of Nigeria on Tuesday that the incident happened around 8.30 a.m. at Sheka quarters in Kano metropolis. According to witness, the deceased was sighted using a sharp knife to cut his own throat with blood running down his body. “Before people could do anything, he cut his throat and finally gave up the ghost”, the witness said. NAN gathered that the late Mr. Maisumunti was a successful businessman before his death. When contacted, the Kano State Police Command’s Public…
The Minister of Defence, Brig.-Gen. Mohammed Mansur Dan Ali (retd.), has re-assured the nation that the activities of Boko Haram insurgents would soon be brought to an end. Delivering an address at the Nigerian Air Force Base, Mando, in Kaduna State after commissioning projects for the Training Command, the minister said he was fully convinced that the Nigerian military has the viable tool in tackling national insecurity. “I am convinced that the activities of the insurgents will soon be a thing of the past and all areas under occupation will be liberated for people to go about their normal lives.…
The Minister of Youths and Sports, Solomon Dalong, on Tuesday passed a damning verdict on the Nigerian youth as he blamed them for aiding and abetting corruption. Mr. Dalong said the youth submit themselves to people with questionable wealth, most especially those in government and charged them to play key roles in the fight against corruption rather than submitting themselves to people with questionable characters. Speaking at the opening session of a two-day National Conference on Youths Against Corruption organised by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, the minister urged them to declare war against corruption…
The Transmission Company Nigeria (TCN), yesterday, said it has achieved a new record peak generation of 4883.9 Megawatts (Mw) and the highest maximum daily energy delivery of 106,288.48Mw. A statement signed by the Asst. General Manager (Public Affairs), Clement Ezeolisah, explained that the new feat was achieved at 21.15hours on November 23. The previous peak generation was 4810.7Mw attained on August 25. The previous highest maximum daily energy wheeled was 104,794.26Mw, attained on September 23. The Managing Director, System Operation/Market Operation, TCN, Engr. Dipak Sarma attributed the achievement to the improvement in the supply of gas to the power generating…
Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has urged the Federal Executive Council (FEC), headed by President Muhammadu Buhari, to immediately hit the ground running by arresting the worsening fuel scarcity across the country. NUPENG in a statement, yesterday, by its President, Igwe Achese, contended that since President Buhari was in charge of the Petroleum Ministry, he and his team must put up short and long term measures to end the sufferings of the masses and get products available to Nigerians. “The expectations are high and FEC should put up concrete policies to hit the ground running by…
Ijaw Monitoring Group Coordinator, Comrade Joseph Evah, has criticized the way the Federal Government is handling ongoing agitations for the sovereign state of Biafra. “The way the Federal Government is handling the Biafra agitation in the East is very dangerous. They are taking the wrong steps by ignoring the agitations that are going on. For the first time since the end of the civil war, we are seeing an organised agitation. The Igbo man cannot ordinarily abandon his business for something else, but now we are seeing Igbo men leaving their businesses in order to agitate,” Evah told Vanguard in…
The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has demanded the resignation of the Minister of Justice, Mallam Abubakar Malami and Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmud Yakubu over alleged conspiracy on the Kogi governorship election to derail the democratic enterprise. “The party is shocked that INEC, a supposedly independent electoral umpire could allow itself to succumb to the antics of the APC by following the unlawful directive of an obviously partisan AGF to substitute a candidate in the middle of the ballot process,” the party said through its National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh in a statement issued…
General Overseer of The Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, yesterday expressed confidence that the matriarch of the Awolowo family, Chief (Mrs) Hannah Idowu Dideolu Awolowo, is resting with the Lord. The cleric said this while holding a private prayer session with the Awolowo family inside their Ikenne country home. “By the special grace of God and because of my interaction with Mama, I have no doubt at all that she is in heaven now,” he said. The prayer session which held at the Efunyela Hall had in attendance family members, relations, friends and other well wishers. Pastor…
Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State has decried the dwindling economy of the country. He blamed the state of the economy on poor receipts from oil proceeds. Okowa said this during the opening ceremony of the 30th annual conference of Fisheries Society of Nigeria (FISON) held at the Asaba campus of Delta State University. The governor, who spoke through the Secretary to the State Government, Chief Festus Agas, stressed the need for the diversification of the nation’s economy to agriculture. He expressed the readiness of his administration to partner FISON and other private sector organisations in its efforts to improve…