Gov. Isa Yuguda of Bauch State on Tuesday presented N127.89 billion as the 2015 budget to the state house of assembly. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the 2014 budget for the state was N133.7 billion. Presenting the budget, Yuguda said that the huge percentage of the budget would be for the payment of salaries, wages, pension and gratuity. He said that the budget would give priority to health, agriculture, water resources, poverty eradication, women and youth empowerments as well as ongoing projects. According to him, the recurrent expenditure is N62.80 billion while the capital expenditure is N65.08 billion.…
Author: Wale Adebayo
Justice Musa Kurya of a Federal High Court in Lagos on Wednesday ordered that a 36 year-old businessman, Moses Nwizu, charged with drug trafficking, be remanded in prison custody. Nwizu is being prosecuted by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on a charge of unlawfully importing about 1.57 kilograms of cocaine into Nigeria. He, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge. Kurya ordered the remand of the accused in the Ikoyi Prisons, pending the determination of his bail application and adjourned the case till Dec. 5 for trial. Earlier, the prosecutor, Mr Emmanuel Vembeh, told the court that the…
Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State on Tuesday said the insurgency in the northern parts of the country was a temporary setback for the nation, which would soon become a thing of the past. The governor stated this in Minna, the state capital when he received in audience the Egyptian Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Asraf Salama, who paid him a courtesy visit at Government House. “What is happening in parts of Nigeria is temporary destabilisation; it should be an ingredient for our development”, he said. Mr. Aliyu urged Egypt ‘to do more’ for the people of Nigeria in particular to…
Honestly, they have become so many that I have totally lost count at the moment. Nigerian media personality, Elizabeth Awoliyi, more known as Liz Yemoja, shared this picture on her Instagram page a few minutes ago and got everyone asking the obvious questions. She made this announcement a few minutes ago on her Instagram page with a picture of her campaign poster, and she captioned ‘Whatever is good for the goose is good for the gander! After so much deliberation and plenty consultations I have decided to accept this calling and serve the great people of Lagos State! I hereby…
She has tried to keep her intimate life away from prying eyes but people have a way of getting information, especially when it has to do with relationships. This is actually the first time the veteran Nollywood actress, Stella Damasus would be opening up about this aspects of her personal life that has dominated the media in past years. Over 3 years ago, Stella Damasus has not publicly responded nor has she granted an interview to anyone regarding the rumors, gossips and side talks on repeated allegations that she’s a “husband snatcher”. She has however opened up in an exclusive down-to-earth interview with Emma…
I remember I was talking about this just a few days ago; about how a lot of artistes have crushes on the Kedike singer, but she already revealed that she wouldn’t date a fellow entertainer. Her latest admirer is the multiple award-winning Nigerian music star, Ayo Balogun popularly known as Wizki. Wizkid has revealed in a chat with MTV Base that he has a huge crush on MTN Project Fame 2010 winner, Chidinma Ekile. Speaking to the channel, Wizkid disclosed: ‘I’ve had a huge crush on Chidinma for a long time. She doesn’t know it but it’s true.’
A former Head of State and presidential aspirant on the platform of All Progressives Congress, APC, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd), has condemned Saturday’s raid on the data centre of the party in Lagos by operatives of the State Security Service, SSS. In a statement Tuesday, Mr. Buhari said with the raid, the President Goodluck Jonathan-led administration “seems intent on demonstrating for all to see that they have mastered the art of how to push a nation into chaos within the shortest time possible”. The former head of state said the early morning attack is a display in a growing chain…
Ahead of the 2015 general election, the Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu, has said the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, will never produce a governor in Lagos State, Nigeria’s commercial capital. Since the return to democratic system of government in 1999, Lagos, estimated to have a population of over nine million people, has consistently been ruled by the opposition. The PDP has however, reiterated its commitment to change the status quo by dislodging the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, in the forthcoming elections. Speaking as the chief launcher of the autobiography of the former President of the Court of Appeal,…
The member representing Benue North Senatorial District, Senator Barnabas Gemade, has denied the allegation that he was on warpath with the state governor, Gabriel Suswam, saying he was pursuing his re-election bid in a civil and democratic manner. Gemade, who is a former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and founding member of the party, made the clarification on Tuesday in Abuja, while reacting to a newspaper report that he was on a warpath with Governor Suswan. Suswam, whose eight year tenure as governor of the ‘Food Basket’ state comes to an end in May 2015, is also…
A week after he rated President Goodluck Jonathan’s performance as ‘below average’, ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo has again launched a verbal missile at the present administration, saying its actions put Nigeria’s democracy at great risk. Speaking at a book launch in honor of the pioneer chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offenses Commission, ICPC, Justice Mustapha Akanbi (retd.) at the Sheraton Hotels and Towers, Abuja on Wednesday, Obasanjo, who was Chairman of the occasion advised Mr. Jonathan to stop encouraging “verbal violence, which may not physically hurt, but has ways of degenerating into physical violence”. The former president,…
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Tuesday arraigned one Hassan Muhammed Bashar of Federal College of Education (Technical) Gusau, Zamfara State, and two others, Aliyu Muhammed and Murtala Abubakar before Justice Nasiru Umar Gumi of Zamfara State High Court, Gusau, on a 12-count charge bordering on conspiracy and forgery. A statement by the EFCC head of media and publicity, Wilson Uwujaren said the three accused persons allegedly connived sometime in 2010 to forge land title and bank documents, which they used to claim the sum of N4.2million paid to their victim, one Abubakar Maishanu, by a telecoms company…
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has devalued the naira from N155 to N168 as it battles to preserve macroeconomic stability. It has also increased its benchmark interest rate to a record high of 13 percent from 12 percent. Sliding oil prices has for months made speculations of a devaluation rife. But the CBN had maintained it would not devalue the naira, and had periodically intervened using the country’s foreign reserves which has now depleted to $36.5 billion. It has fallen $12.5 billion since the post-global crisis peak of $49bn in April 2013. With oil prices continuing to fall –…
PHOTO CREDIT: PUNCH Following the face-off between members of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the Ekiti State House of Assembly led by embattled Speaker, Dr. Adewale Omirin and Governor Ayodele Fayose, the state’s Council of Traditional Rulers have urged both parties to sheathe their sword in the overall interest of the state. The council expressed concerns over the feud between the two arms of government saying that the crisis, which was purely domestic, had been taken outside the shores of the state. The APC lawmakers had relocated to Lagos State since their ordeal began with the swearing-in of Gov. Fayose over…
A former Vice-President and presidential aspirant on the platform of All Progressives Congress, APC, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, on Tuesday insisted that he is not desperate to become Nigeria’s next president as he considers politics as a means of service, rather than for self-aggrandizement. The ex-VP also promised to bring an end to the Boko Haram insurgency if provided the opportunity to become Nigeria’s president in 2015. Mr. Abubakar, who spoke through the Ekiti State Coordinator of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar Collectives, in Ado-Ekiti, Dr. Olajide Akinyemi, said his experience as a grassroots mobiliser would earn him the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress. Mr.…
The Nigerian Prisons Service (NIPS) said it had re-arrested nine of the 144 inmates that escaped during the Nov. 3 gunmen attack on Koton Karfe Prison in Kogi. The Controller of Prisons in the state, Mr Adam Omale, who disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Lokoja, said the prisoners were recaptured in Kogi and neighbouring states. Omale also said that 22 of the fleeing inmates had returned to the prison on their own. He said among those re-arrested were six convicts while the remaining ones were awaiting trial. He said that the service was on the trail…
President Goodluck Jonathan has urged Nigerians to desist from making inciting and inflammatory comments capable of upsetting peace and causing disharmony. The president said this in Abuja, yesterday, while declaring open, a two-day roundtable meeting with Special Advisers on Religious Affairs from the 36 states and the Abuja Federal Capital Territory, FCT. Themed “Towards Synergising and Interfacing in the Religious Sectors for National Development,’’ the meeting was jointly organised by the offices of the Senior Special Assistants to the President on both Islamic and Christian Matters. The president, who was represented by the Vice President, Namadi Sambo, said: “We should…
It has been gathered that the death toll in Tuesday’s suicide bombing at a market in Maiduguri has risen over 60. Apart from about 35 bodies said to have been taken to the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH), 24 were also taken to the State Specialist Hospital, reports Thisday. Hospital sources however said that the casualty figure was higher, as some bodies could not be identified. The permanent secretary in the ministry of health and executive secretary, hospital management board, Dr Salisu Kwaya Bura told Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno state that 24 corpses were deposited at the hospital.…
Former member of the House of Representatives, Otunba Dino Melaye has assured his supporters that he would defeat the incumbent senator representing Kogi West senatorial district in the National Assembly, Senator Smart Adeyemi in the 2015 general elections. Melaye, who is aspiring for the Kogi West senatorial seat in 2015 on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) gave the assurance Tuesday in Abuja. According to the anti-corruption activist, Senator Adeyemi has failed woefully in his representation of the district at the National Assembly in the last eight years, pointing out that the Senate Committee Chairman on the FCT…
PHOTO CREDIT: NAIJA HEADLINES The Nigerian Senate on Tuesday again failed to approve President Goodluck Jonathan’s request for the extension of state of emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states even after meeting with service chiefs for over five hours. Though the Senate said that the extension of emergency rule was not tabled for discussion in yesterday’s meeting with the service chiefs, lawmakers, however, stated that the military insisted on a state of emergency to effectively carry out the war against insurgency. Recall that the Red Chamber had begun debate on the request for the extension of emergency rule last…
Ahead of the 2015 general election, a former Governor of Oyo State, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, has called on politicians to serve the people who elect them, rather than aiming to rule over the electorate. Ladoja, who is seeking a return to the Agodi Government House in 2015 on the platform of Accord Party, said good leaders must build institutions and sustainable structures that could produce quality leaders for tomorrow. He made this known at the International Leadership Lecture for Students of Tertiary Institutions in South West Nigeria, organised by the Reading Awareness Society for Development in Africa, in conjunction with…