Author: Amina Ibrahim

THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says re-run and bye-elections may be held across the country next February. This is according to the Chairman of the electoral body Mahmoud Yakubu who spoke at a meeting with political parties. “With regard to the bye-elections, you may recall that in my recent address at the swearing-in of new Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) which was combined with our last quarterly meeting with the RECs nationwide, I made a commitment that the Commission will conduct elections to fill vacancies in the National and State Assembly constituencies,” the INEC chief told the Monday gathering at…

THE Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has increased the registration fees for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) for 2024. In an official statement shared by JAMB, the updated registration fees are outlined as follows: Seven Thousand, Seven Hundred Naira Only,(N7,700 )for UTME registration inclusive of a mock examination, and Six Thousand Two Hundred Naira Only (N6,200) for UTME registration without the mock examination. Before the recent adjustment, the cost of the JAMB form without a mock exam stood at Five Thousand Seven Hundred Naira (N5,700) and the application form inclusive of a mock exam was priced at Six…

TROOPS of Operation Hadarin Daji have killed three terrorists and also rescued six kidnap victims in Sokoto State. The Nigerian Army disclosed this in a Friday statement, saying the development followed an “onslaught against terrorists”. “The offensive clearance operation which took place on the 14th December 2023 at Bauni village and Bauni forest in the state led to a Gun duel that lasted for several hours,” the Army said. “However, troops’ aggressiveness and firepower superiority forced the terrorists to abandon their hideouts and flee in disarray, leading to the rescue of six kidnapped victims while three terrorists were neutralized and two…

MRS Gill Lever OBE – Officer of the Order of the British Empire – has been appointed as the British Deputy High Commissioner (DHC) in Abuja, Nigeria. She takes over from Ms Gill Atkinson who recently concluded four years as Deputy High Commissioner in Abuja. According to a statement from Atinuke Akande-Alegbe, a spokesperson of the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) in Abuja, Lever is an experienced career diplomat who has worked in different parts of the world including Romania, India and Japan. “Before becoming the British Deputy High Commissioner (DHC) in Abuja, she served as the UK Deputy…

THE Central Bank of Nigeria has announced a suspension of applications for new loans, under its development finance intervention funds programme. The suspension represents a significant shift in its approach to development finance intervention funds, which was previously considered a cornerstone of the central bank. The apex bank also charged Deposit Money Banks with the recovery of previously granted loans under the scheme. The CBN made this known in a circular to the Chief Executives of banks, signed by the Acting Director, Development Finance Department, Sa’ad Hamidu, on Tuesday. The circular titled ‘Suspension of Acceptance of New Applications under the…

THE Senate has taken a swipe at the Minister of Trade, Industry and Investment, Doris Nkiruka-Anite for proposing to spend N1 billion on trip to Geneva in 2024, as contained in next year’s budget of the ministry, just as the minister said that the ministry has no record of the nation’s balance of trade. This was revealed, yesterday, when the minister appeared before the Senator Sadiq Umar (APC, Kwara North) led joint Senate and House of Representatives Committee on Trade, Industry and Investment to defend the budget. Plans to spend N1 billion next year on trips to only Geneva was…

THE Federal Government has disclosed plans to deploy drones for monitoring and protection of the country’s vast borders. The Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Caroline Wura-Ola Adepoju, disclosed this on Tuesday while speaking at a press conference where she outlined the activities to mark this year’s International Migrants’ Day. She said the Federal Government was in discussion with a Chinese giant, Huawei, to deploy Artificial Intelligence to secure the borders. The CG allayed fears raised over the use of drones in security operations following the accidental bombing in Kaduna, explaining that the gadgets would only monitor and…

THE Corporate Affairs Commission is set to delist 91,843 companies for failing to file their annual returns with it. In a list published on its website, the commission listed 91,843 companies for delisting (2,738 less than the 94,581 it initially published in August). This is still less than the initial 100,000 companies that CAC said it would remove in an earlier announcement. In July, the Registrar-General and Chief Executive Officer, CAC, Garba Abubakar, revealed that the commission would delete 100,000 registered companies from its database for failing to file an annual return. He said, “CAC steps up enforcement of 100,000…

THE Central Bank of Nigeria has suspended the processing fees on large cash deposits, a release by the Acting Director of Supervision, Dr Adetona Adedeji, on Monday revealed. The new development under the “Guide to Charges by Banks, Other Financial Institutions, and Non-Bank Financial Institutions” issued on December 20, 2019, with reference number (FPR/DIR/GEN/CIR/07/042), affects deposits above N500,000 for individual accounts and N3,000,000 for corporate accounts. The suspension shall remain in effect until April 30, 2024, CBN said. The CBN had in 2019 declared that it would begin to levy bank customers making cash deposits and withdrawals as part of…

THE Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has been listed on Forbes’ 100 Most Powerful Women list. According to Forbes’ 20th annual ranking released on Tuesday, the distinguished Nigerian economist holds the 87th spot, surpassing South African businesswoman Mpumi Madisa, who stands at 88th. Tanzanian President Samia Hassan also makes her debut on the list at the 93rd position, alongside Nigerian media mogul and philanthropist Mo Abudu at the 98th. Topping the chart is Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission for Impactful Policy and Budget, while Christine Lagarde, European Central Bank President, secures the…

THE Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Christopher and the Minister of State for Defence Bello Matawalle have visited the victims of Sunday’s accidental Tudun Biri bombing in the Igabi area of Kaduna State. Eighty-five persons were killed and 66 injured in the incident that the Nigerian Army has claimed responsibility for. But days after the bombing, the CDS and minister visited the victims at the Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital in Kaduna. They were received by the Deputy Chief Medical Director of the hospital Dr Shuaibu Musa. Matawalle and the Chief of Defence Staff went through different wards in the…

THE UK has announced it would raise the minimum salary threshold for a skilled worker visa and prevent overseas health and social care staff from bringing family dependents to Britain. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s office trumpeted the proposals as “the biggest clampdown on legal migration ever”. But critics said it would damage the state-run National Health Service (NHS), which faces staff shortages. Immigration is set to be a key issue in nationwide elections that must be held by January 2025 at the latest, and which the main opposition Labour party is currently favoured to win. Sunak has pledged to reduce…

A RESIDENT of the Federal Capital Territory, Rima Lotu (not real name), who was kidnapped between Bwari and Dutse Market in Bwari Area Council has narrated her bitter experience in the hands of her abductors. She recalled how the abductors butchered a secondary school student, with whom she was abducted, in her presence. The victim narrated to our correspondent that she had boarded a green-coloured taxi from Bwari to Dutse Market in mid November, unknown to her, it was a “one-chance” vehicle. “When we entered the vehicle, because the road was under construction, the place was so dusty, so the…

WARRING factions of the National Association of Nigerian Students have stormed the National Hospital, Abuja on Friday, in protest over alleged delay by medical personnel in treating their colleagues who were injured during a NANS factional crisis earlier on Thursday. This newspaper reports that several patients have been forced to flee their hospital wards and beds following the violent attack by the NANS factions. Meanwhile, police officers are currently at the hospital in a bid to restore law and order. Our correspondent also observed the deployment of police officers in the Central Area of the Federal Capital Territory, where the…

NO fewer than 433 out of the 836 foreign-trained medical graduates who sat the qualifying examination organised by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria failed, The PUNCH has gathered. The qualifying examination was held at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital between November 22 and 23,2023. The assessment for the foreign-trained medical graduates was in a Computer Based Test format with the graduates taking the examination in four different centres, namely: BMG Institute of Information Technology; JAMB Professional Test Centre; Kano Cooperative CBT Centre and Treztech, all in Kano State. The examination comprises a computer-based test, a picture-based test, and…

THE Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has suspended all the wet-leased aircraft in the operations of United Nigeria Airlines (UNA). The suspension is said to be connected with the diversion of the Abuja bound flight from Lagos to Asaba Airport on Sunday by the cabin crew of the airline. A source close to the agency, said on Monday that the regulatory body took the decisive action on after an emergency meeting held at its headquarters in Abuja. It was learnt that at the meeting, the NCAA inspectors were not convinced about the claim of the airline that its crew diverted…

MINISTER of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has summoned heads of aviation agencies in the country over recurring safety issues in the industry. Keyamo will meet the aviation agencies’ bosses on Monday in Abuja, according to a statement by the ministry on X. “Due to safety concerns in the aviation sector expressed by members of the public, I have summoned the heads of the regulatory agencies to my office later today to review the incidents that are the causes of these concerns and to ensure that appropriate steps are taken to forestall future occurrence and to apply sanctions, where…

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of Dr Shamsudeen Usman as chairman and nine other qualified Nigerians as members to serve on the Board of Directors of the Ministry of Finance Incorporated. This was disclosed in a statement by the Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to the President, Ajuri Ngelale, late Friday. See full statement below: STATE HOUSE PRESS RELEASE President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of ten qualified Nigerians to serve on the Board of Directors of the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI): (1) Dr. Shamsudeen Usman — Board Chairman (2) Dr. Armstrong Ume Takang — CEO/Managing…

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu, on Friday, approved the appointment of eight new permanent secretaries in the Federal Civil Service. The appointment follows “the recently concluded selection process by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation,” a statement signed by President Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, read Friday. The statement is titled ‘President Tinubu appoints eight new permanent secretaries.’ According to Ngelale, the new appointees include: (1) Ndakayo-Aishetu Gogo (2) Adeoye Adeleye Ayodeji (3) Rimi Nura Abba (4) Bako Deborah Odoh (5) Omachi Raymond Omenka (6) Ahmed Dunoma Umar (7) Watti Tinuke (8)…

NO fewer than 5,000 federal civil servants who have discrepancies in their dates of first appointment and dates of birth may not receive their December salary, National President, Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, Tommy Okon, has said. Okon, however, said the union was working with the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation and it has forwarded the names of the affected workers to their Directors of Human Resources for confirmation. The ASCSN President said 2,772 workers have been successfully restored back to the payroll of the Federal Government after concluding their online and physical verification exercise.…