Author: Amina Ibrahim

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has suspended Godwin Emefiele as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor.  “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has suspended the Central Bank Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, CFR, from office with immediate effect,” the Director of Information, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation Willie Bassey said in a Friday statement. “This is sequel to the ongoing investigation of his office and the planned reforms in the financial sector of the economy. “Mr Emefiele has been directed to immediately hand over the affairs of his office to the Deputy Governor (Operations Directorate), who will act as…

THE National University Commission (NUC) has presented licences to 37 new private universities, bringing the total numbers of private universities in the country to 147. With these additions, the university regulator placed the overall number of universities, both privately owned and publicly owned at 267. The Executive Secretary of the Commission, Mr Abubakar Rasheed made the declaration in the commission’s headquarter in Abuja. He, however, noted that the National University Commission is taking the universities to task, as the NUC has asked owners of the various citadels to compete with global best practices. The universities are – Rayhaan University, Kebbi;…

A FORMER Minister of Aviation, Isa Yuguda, has shed light on the events that led to the early demise of Virgin Nigeria. Founded in 2004 as a replacement for the then-defunct Nigeria Airways, Virgin Nigeria operated as a joint venture between Nigerian investors and British billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Group. However, a feud with the Federal Government led to the Virgin Group pulling out in 2009. This prompted the airline to be renamed Nigerian Eagle Airlines and later Air Nigeria. The business ultimately ceased operations in 2012. Yuguda, who was the aviation minister under former President Olusegun Obasanjo when Virgin…

THE Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) says the fuel subsidy removal by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will relieve the country of huge resources. The chairman of RMAFC, Mr Mohammed Bello Shehueho, in a statement on Thursday, said the removal became necessary following the Nigeria National Petroleum Company limited (NNPCL)’s withdrawal from contributing to the Federation Account due to the fuel subsidy regime which is characterised by opaqueness and other ambiguities. “As one of the fourteen (14) Federal Executive Bodies established by section 153 (1) (n) and empowered by paragraph 32 (a) and (c) of part 1 of the…

GOVERNOR Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has disclosed that the G5 otherwise known as the Integrity Group visited the President Bola Tinubu to brief him of the latest happenings and the group’s stance for fairness, equity and justice in the country. Makinde, who was flanked by the four other members of the group who are now immediate past governors, further acknowledged that nation building is a difficult task and demand constant evaluation. The G5, according to him, will keep meeting with the President on the way forward for the country. Addressing State House correspondents, the Oyo governor said, “Nation building…

TWO ad-hoc staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission acting as subpoenaed witnesses of the Peoples Democratic Party have admitted that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System failed to transmit the results of the election after the collation. The witnesses, Friday Egwuma and Grace Timothy told the Presidential Election Petition Court on Thursday that the BVAS machine allocated to them developed a system error immediately after the results of the Senate and House of Representatives aspects of the poll were freely transmitted. In their subpoena evidence, the two workers of the electoral body explained that they had to resort to other…

THE Federal Government has declared Monday June 12, a public holiday. This was confirmed in a statement on Thursday, from the office of the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Interior. According to the release by the Permanent Secretary, Dr Oluwatoyin Akinlade, the holiday is in commemoration of this year’s Democracy Day celebration. Dr Akinlade while making the declaration on behalf of the Federal Government, congratulated all Nigerians on this occasion. “Nigeria’s democratic journey has, like in many other climes, encountered both stormy and smooth sails, but the ship of State, its institutions and most importantly, the Nigerian people have…

SENATOR Ali Ndume has said that President Bola Tinubu told him that Senator Godswill Akpabio is his preferred candidate for the President of the 10th Senate. “The President told me that his preferred candidate is Akpabio and I should lead the campaign,” Ndume said on Channels Television’s Politics Today monitored by News Point Nigeria on Wednesday. The lawmaker representing Borno South at the Senate added that Tinubu also told him to personally lead the campaign for Akpabio’s Senate President ambition. He expressed confidence that the President won’t change his stance on the leadership of the 10th Senate. The All Progressives…

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has directed the National Economic Council (NEC) led by Vice President Kashim Shettima to device an approach and begin the process of working on interventions to mitigate the impact of subsidy removal on the Nigerians. Governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun, stated this after leading some major oil marketers on a courtesy visit to the president at the State house. Addressing correspondents after the meeting, Governor Abiodun who was a former chairman of the Oil marketers association, stated that the marketers expressed solidarity with the President for removing the 4 trillion naira subsidy burden, a move that…

THE 9th House of Representatives has wound down, with the last plenary of the parliament held on Wednesday adjourned sine die (indefinitely). The House held its valedictory session on Wednesday, which the outgoing Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, presided over. Leaders and members of the House spent about three and a half hours that the session lasted to recall major events recorded in the chamber in the last four years. In attendance were former presiding and principal officers of the House, including Ghali Na’Abba, Patricia Etteh, Babangida Ngoroje, Mulikat Akande-Adeola, among others. Etteh spoke on behalf of the ex-lawmakers, after which Gbajabiamila…

RIDE-HAILING drivers, including that of Uber, Bolt, LagRide and Indriver, on Wednesday, began a nationwide strike. At the direction of the Amalgamated Union of App-based Transport Workers of Nigeria, ride-hailing drivers are following a sit-at-home order until the ride-hailing companies increase their base fares by 200 per cent. According to the National Vice President of AUATWON for Southwest Nigeria, Kolawole Aina, the drivers plan to picket the offices of Uber in Victoria Island and Bolt in Lekki. Despite the strike action, which is supposed to run till Friday, our correspondent who tried to book a ride from Wuse 2 in…

PRESIDENT Bola Ahmed Tinubu is currently holding his maiden meeting with governors across the 36 states of the federation under the aegis of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) at the State House, Abuja. In attendance at the meeting which started around 12:36pm are the governors of Zamfara, Kano, Taraba, Kogi, Ogun, Nasarawa, Bayelsa, Adamawa, Ebonyi, Lagos, Rivers, Osun, Jigawa, Benue, Taraba, Delta, Enugu, Rivers, Oyo, Plateau, Kebbi, Abia, Imo, Bauchi. The deputy governors of Edo and Niger are representing their states. The governors, who are conspicuously missing before the start of the meeting are governors of Katsina, Kaduna, Gombe, Borno,…

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has sworn-in Senator George Akume as the new Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) at the council chamber. Senator George Akume in the brief ceremony which had dignitaries, including some serving and former Governors, took his Oath of Allegiance and Oath of Office. The Vice President Kashim Shettima; President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan; Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara State, Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr FolasadeYemi-Esan and the spouse of the new SGF, Mrs Regina Akume were also among top officials present. This ceremony comes about five days after the president…

THE Interim Managing Director of Nigeria Air, Capt Dapo Olumide, on Tuesday, said the aircraft used to unveil the country’s national career was a legitimate chartered flight from Ethiopian Airlines. He said the aircraft returned to Ethiopian Airlines after the unveiling. Olumide stated this before the Senate Committee on Aviation. The Committee members expressed its misgivings towards the unveiling of the national carrier during a meeting with Olumide; the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Aviation, Emmanuel Meribole; as well as heads of aviation agencies. At the meeting, the Chairman of the Senate Aviation Committee, Senator Biodun Olujimi wondered why…

THE Federal Government says it will consider the list of demands from the Trade Union Congress (TUC) which includes minimum wage. Speaking to State House correspondents after a meeting between the Federal Government and the TUC which lasted for about three hours, the spokesperson for the Federal government, Dele Alake, said that it will also look at the practicability of the demands. Among things the government is considering is tax holidays for workers. Alake said that most fundamentally President Bola Tinubu will constitute a tripartite committee to include states and organised labour and the private sector to study the dynamics…

THE representatives of the Federal Government are meeting with the Trade Union Congress  (TUC)  at the State House over the removal of fuel subsidy. This is a follow-up to Wednesday’s meeting with the organized labour which ended in a deadlock. At that meeting, the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) demanded that the Federal Government go back to status-quo by reversing the price of fuel before resuming negotiations with the union. In Sunday’s meeting, the federal government’s team is led by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume. Others are the Governor of the Central Bank of…

AS the National Assembly leadership tussle intensifies, the President, Bola Tinubu, will on Monday meet lawmakers-elect of the National Assembly from opposition parties. Opposition Senators-elect and House of Representatives members-elect from the Peoples Democratic Party, Labour Party and the New Nigeria Peoples Party, among other opposition parties are expected to meet with President Tinubu at the State House in Abuja between 3pm and 5pm. The President’s notice of invitation to the lawmakers-elect, which was obtained by this newspaper, was signed by the Permanent Secretary, State House, Tijani Umar, on behalf of the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila.…

FORMER President Muhammadu Buhari’s assets did not increase through out the eight years he spent in office, Garba Shehu, his spokesman, has said. Shehu said this could be seen in the assets declaration form he submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB). According to Shehu, the completed declaration showed that Buhari’s movable assets did not increase, at home in Nigeria or outside and he did not add new bank accounts outside the only one he had in Union Bank, Kaduna. “He has taken no loans and has no liability. The number of animals in his farm recorded a little…

PRESIDENT Bola Ahmed Tinubu has sent a message of commiseration to the government and people of the Republic of India over a multiple train crash in the country which killed over 280 passengers. The fatal crash involving two passenger trains and a goods train in the Indian city of Balasore, in the eastern state of Odisha, occurred on Friday. Aside those killed, over 900 others were injured in what was one of the worst rail crashes in recent history. President Tinubu, in a statement Saturday morning, described the train accident as heartrending, while consoling the Indian government and families of…

PRESIDENT Bola Ahmed Tinubu Friday in Abuja said improved livelihood for Nigerians remains a top priority of his administration, with more people-focused economic policies, assuring that the national minimum wage needs a review to reflect realities. The President, who received members of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) led by the Chairman, Hope Uzodinma of Imo State, at the State House, said the national and sub-national governments will work together on the minimum wage, which already requires “soul searching.’’ “We need to do some arithmetic and soul searching on the minimum wage,’’ he said. “We will have to take a look…