Author: Amina Ibrahim

THE Federal Government through the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation has commenced moves to ensure that official government documents classified as sensitive are not leaked to the public. The Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Dr Folashade Yemi-Esan, in a memo uploaded on the website of the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation which was dated February 19, 2024, said the leakages of such documents have become embarrassing to the government and as such become unacceptable. The memo tagged HCSF/3065/VI/189 reads, “It has been observed with dismay, the increase in…

THE management of Dangote Cement Plc has stated that two of its trucks that were wrongly intercepted in Adamawa State have been released. The company stated the two trucks loaded with 900 bags of cement each from the Obajana Cement Plant were on their way to Jamtari, Maiha Local Government, Adamawa State, based on a customer’s request. However, they were intercepted by security agents who accused them of trying to export banned products to the Republic of Cameroun through the Adamawa routes. The interception, on Friday, February 9, 2024, followed an executive order banning the transportation of food and building…

THE President, MAAUN  Group of Universities, Prof. Adamu Abubakar Gwarzo has congratulated a Nigerian human rights activist and writer, Omoyele Sowore on his 53rd birthday. The congratulatory message is contained in a statement personally signed by Prof. Gwarzo, a copy of which was made available to newsmen in Kano on Sunday. He said the popular pro-democracy campaigner cum writer, deserves to be celebrated at this auspicious occasion for his contribution to the development of journalism profession in Nigeria. “On behalf of myself and the MAAUN Group of Universities, I wish to felicitate with Omoyele Sowore, a pro-democracy campaigner on this…

SUSPECTED bandits have seized two loaded trucks with smuggled goods inside a deep forest as they were being brought into Nigeria. It was gathered that the bandits confiscated the goods as the smugglers decided to use the forest to bring in the smuggled items few days ago around the Batsari area of Katsina State. The Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone B, Kaduna, Comptroller Dalha Wada Chedi, who disclosed this yesterday at a news briefing, said the smugglers used dangerous routes that are under bandits’ control to smuggle items into the country. “We just received the news less than 24 hours…

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has been appointed as the African Union (AU) Champion for Human Resources for Health and Community Health Delivery Partnership against the backdrop of his ambitious, innovative, and people-focused efforts in the sector. In recognition of President Tinubu’s commitment to train 120,000 frontline health workers nationwide within 16 months and to double the number of primary health facilities in communities across all local government areas of the federation from 8,800 to over 17,000 over the next three years; his doubling of health personnel enrollment capacity from accredited nursing and midwifery institutions to accommodate the new demand created by…

ON Tuesday, Boss Mustapha appeared at the FCT High Court, Abuja for the ongoing trial of former CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele. Emefiele is standing trial before Justice Muazu on 20-count amended charges bordering on corrupt advantages, conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, forgery and obtaining by false pretences to the tune of $6,230,000. He was accused of impersonating the Secretary to the Government of the Federation to illegally obtain a sum of $6.2m. Appearing as Prosecution Witness 2, Mustapha testified on his involvement in the $6.2 million alleged fraud case against Emefiele. Boss Mustapha said he knew nothing about the transaction…

ACCESS Holdings Plc has announced the appointment of Ms. Bolaji Agbede as the Acting Group Chief Executive Officer. This follows the death of its former Group Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Herbert Wigwe in a helicopter crash alongside his wife, son, and a former chairman of the Nigeria Exchange Group, Abimboloa Ogunbanjo on Friday in California, United States. A statement made by the company’s Board of Directors and dated February 12, 2024, stated that the appointment was subject to the approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria. “Further to its announcement dated February 11, 2024, the Board of Directors of Access…

THREE weeks before the crash that claimed his life, the late Group Chief Executive Officer, Access Holdings Plc, Herbert Wigwe, had posted in January about appreciating life as a gift and valuing each day. In a tweet posted on his official X handle on January 19, Wigwe wrote, “Today and always, let us remember that life is a precious gift – a chance to breathe, feel, love, experience and connect. “Let’s honour this gift by living with purpose, kindness, and gratitude, making every moment count. Let us number our days.” This newspaper reports that Wigwe reportedly died following a helicopter…

THE Bank of Industry has said that it will be disbursing three categories of funding totaling N200bn to support manufacturers and businesses across the country. The development bank, in a statement, noted that funds included the Presidential Conditional Grant Scheme, the FGN MSME Intervention Fund and the FGN Manufacturing Sector Fund. The Presidential Conditional Grant Scheme is a N50bn grant scheme to support eligible nano business owners. The grant will be disbursed to a minimum of 1,000 beneficiaries (especially women and youths) across the 774 local government areas and the six council areas in the Federal Capital Territory. The statement…

THE Accountant General of the Federation has said federal workers will start receiving their January salaries from Thursday evening (today), attributing the delay to a glitch from the Government Integrated Financial Management System (GIFMIS) platform. There have been rising concerns over delay in the payment of January salaries of federal workers. The delay was blamed on the non-conclusion of the 2024 appropriation on the GIFMIS platform by the Office of Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF). A January 31 memo titled, “Delay in the payment of January 2024 Salary”, from the bursary department of the National Mathematics Centre, Abuja, to all…

THE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), fulfilling its pledge to clear the backlog of foreign exchange owed to foreign airlines in the country, has concluded the payment of all verified claims by airlines with an additional $64.44 million to the concerned airlines. Confirming the figures on Tuesday, January 30, 2024, the Acting Director of Corporate Communications at the CBN, Mrs Hakama Sidi Ali, noted that the latest amount paid to the airlines brought the total verified amount paid to that sector to $136.73 million. She added that all the verified airline claims had now been cleared. According to her, the…

THE Central Bank of Nigeria says it has released $500m to various sectors in its determination to address the backlog of confirmed foreign exchange transactions. Its Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department, Mrs Hakama Sidi-Ali, disclosed this in a statement on Monday in Abuja. According to Sidi-Ali, this comes barely a week after the apex bank paid approximately $2bn to settle outstanding commitments across various sectors. She said that the management of the CBN was committed to settling all legitimate foreign exchange backlogs within a short time frame. She said the CBN had begun implementing a comprehensive strategy to improve liquidity…

DANGOTE Cement’s shares have more than doubled this month (January 2024) helping add $6.9 billion to its founder’s wealth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The report said as of Thursday, the fortune of Chairman of Dangote Industries, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, jumped to $22 billion. This is as billionaire businessman, Femi Otedola, who calls Dangote, his “bestie”, had made a significant acquisition of Dangote Cement shares, boosting his wealth to the highest in a decade. Otedola, explaining his reasoning for buying stakes in Dangote Cement in a statement issued, said the potential of Dangote Cement to earn foreign exchange as…

THE Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mr Kashifu Abdullahi has disclosed that the plan of the Nigerian Government as regards Artificial Intelligence, is to ensure that Nigerians take a leading role in shaping the global use of the AI technology. Abdullahi on Wednesday, said Nigeria will not just be a consuming participant of AI, but will contribute immensely to shaping the use of this technological advancement, even as it helps in birthing the nation’s desired future. Speaking just after the official launch of the ‘Digital for all Challenge’, the NITDA CEO asserted that Nigeria needs to…

THE Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Niger/Kogi Command has seized vehicles and other contraband with a cumulative duty paid value of over N194 million in December 2023. The Comptroller of the Command Busayo Kadejo disclosed this to newsmen in Minna, the Niger State capital on Thursday. He said the command also recovered over N20m from demand notices within the same period. In December 2023, items recovered from smugglers include eight units of exotic cars and 875 litters of premium motor spirit PMS which has already been auctioned due to its inflammable nature. The Comptroller also added that the command made sixty-five…

THE Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria has justified the directive asking the agency to relocate its headquarters to Lagos. The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, had issued a directive for the relocation of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria’s headquarters from Abuja to Lagos. In an internal memo dated January 15 2024, FAAN’s Managing Director, Olubunmi Kuku, directed the agency’s Director of Human Resources and Administration to come up with the implications of the relocation order. In the memo, titled, “Relocation of FAAN Headquarters From Abuja to Lagos”, Kuku requested the implication of moving the operations of…

JUSTICE Hamza Muazu of the Federal Capital Territory High Court has granted the immediate past Governor of the Central Bank, Godwin Emefiele’s request to travel out of the FCT. The court said Emefiele must, however, remain in the country. On his bail terms, he was restricted to the FCT. Emefiele, through his lawyer, Mathew Bukka, SAN, had requested a variation of the terms. The Counsel of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, did not object. He told the court to ensure that Emefiele wrote an undertaking that he would remain in the country if his plea…

FORMER President, Muhammadu Buhari, on Tuesday, said that he remains committed to the leadership of President Bola Tinubu, and his party, the All Progressives Congress. Buhari stated this at the book launch titled “Working with Buhari,” and “Muhammadu Buhari: The Nigerian Legacy – 2015 – 2023 (Vols 1-5)” which focused on his eight years in office. The book was written by his former Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina. The book “Working with Buhari” was written by a former Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to Buhari, Femi Adesina, and reviewed by Shola Oshunkeye, a former CNN Journalist…

FIRST Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu on Monday called on security agencies to intensify their efforts in addressing the pressing matter of kidnappings and insecurity in Nigeria. News Point Nigeria reports that Senator Tinubu said this in a post on X in her reaction to the recent abduction of the Al-Kadriyar sisters in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. “I implore our security agencies to intensify their efforts in addressing the pressing matter of kidnappings and insecurity in our nation,” she posted. “The safety and swift return of the Al-Kadriyar sisters and others in captivity should be our paramount concern.” President Bola…

IN fulfilment of its commitment to eliminate the backlog of pending matured foreign exchange in Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has recently disbursed approximately US $61.64 million to foreign airlines through various banks. This initiative is part of the CBN’s efforts to decrease its remaining liability to the airlines. This information was confirmed by the Acting Director of the Corporate Communications Department at the CBN, Mrs. Hakama Sidi Ali, in Abuja on Friday, January 5, 2024. Mrs. Sidi Ali further disclosed that, in the past three months, the CBN has also redeemed outstanding forward liabilities…