Author: Amina Ibrahim

THE Inspector-General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, as part of his manpower development policy targeted at promoting deserving police officers on the basis of competence, qualification, and length of service, has promoted a total of Thirty-One Thousand, Four Hundred and Sixty-Five (31,465) policemen comprising 24,991 from Sergeants to Inspectors, 194 from Corporal to Sergeant, and 6,280 from Constable to Corporal. The IGP, however, charged the affected officers to add more pep in promoting the lofty principles and values of modern policing and discharge their duties as expected of them in line with the provisions of the extant laws. Force…

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has appointed the outgoing Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, as his Chief of Staff. He was introduced as the brand new chief of staff at the ongoing meeting between the President and the nation’s security chiefs currently holding at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Thursday morning. More details shortly…

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu on Thursday met with the service chiefs at the State House in Abuja. The routine meeting in the previous administrations is the first since President Tinubu’s assumption of office on May 29, 2023. Those in attendance at the President’s first engagement with heads of the nation’s security and intelligence agencies include the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Farouk Yahaya; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo; the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Isiaka Amao; and the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba. Others are the Director-General of the Department of State Service(DSS), Yusuf Bichi;…

THE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has reacted to reports claiming that it has devalued the naira to about 630 naira to a dollar. The report of the currency devaluation was earlier reported by one of the national dailies. However, in statement on Thursday, the bank’s Acting Head of Corporate Communications, Dr Isa Abdulmumin, described it as falsehood. “The news report, which in the imagination of the newspaper is exclusive, is replete with outright FALSEHOODS and destabilizing innuendos, reflecting potentially willful ignorance of the said medium as to the workings of the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market,” he said.

THE meeting between the Federal Government and the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) over fuel subsidy removal has ended without a consensus. The meeting began around 4 pm on Wednesday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Representatives of the Federal Government included Dele Alake, the spokesperson for President Bola Tinubu; and the Group CEO of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Mele Kyari. Other government officials present were the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele; and former Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole. The Organised Labour was represented by the NLC National President, Joe Ajaero; and the President…

THE Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Government over discriminatory, unfair and illegal treatment of its members. A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, filed the suit on Tuesday at the National Industrial Court in Abuja, the nation’s capital, on behalf of ASUU. Joined in the suit as defendants are the former ministers of Labour and Employment and Justice as well as the Accountant General of the Federation, according to a statement made available to Channels Television on Wednesday. In the suit with number NICN/ABJ/152/2023, the human rights lawyer is asking the court…

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu is currently meeting the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Abdulrasheed Bawa, at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja. The meeting comes barely 24 hours after Tinubu ordered the Department of State Services to vacate the Ikoyi office of the antigraft commission. Bawa, who arrived at the Villa a few minutes past 2 pm, was ushered into the President’s office complex. Although the purpose of the meeting is not yet public, it may be connected to the reported fracas between the EFCC and the DSS. News Point Nigeria reported that Tinubu, on Tuesday, directed the…

FEDERAL Government representatives are expected to meet with the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) today by 2pm over the planned removal of fuel subsidy. This was disclosed by NLC National President, Joe Ajaero, on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Wednesday monitored by News Point Nigeria. He said the position of Labour has been clear that even if President Bola Tinubu has a good intention, alternatives must be provided. He said the President should have asked questions and find out the implications of fuel subsidy removal on Nigerians on the streets. The NLC boss listed the alternatives to…

CONGRATULATONS are in order, it would seem, as more than two dozen states inaugurated the winners of their March 18 governorship elections and April 15 reruns. Today, they took their oaths of office with expectations of them as high as ever. But the epoch-making events did not include eight states — that is, Anambra, Bayelsa, Edo, Ekiti, Imo, Kogi, Ondo, and Osun — for which the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will conduct off-cycle elections at various times within the next three years to determine their governors. Making up the “Class of 2023” governors are 18 newbies and 10 returnees…

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has ordered the Department of State Security Services (DSS) to immediately vacate the office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Ikoyi, Lagos. DSS officials stormed the EFCC Ikoyi office, stopping officials from accessing their workplace. Gunshots were also held in the area. But Tinubu in a statement by his media aide Tunde Rahman, the President called on the DSS to quit the premises. “The President said if there were issues between the two important agencies of government, they would be resolved amicably,” the short statement read. The DSS had stormed the premises, claiming ownership…

THE House Of Representatives on Tuesday commended the decision of President Bola Tinubu on fuel subsidy removal. This followed a motion of urgent public importance by a member, Jimoh Olajide. The House further appealed to Nigerians to be patient and prayerful to allow the President deliver on his promises. On Monday during his inaugural speech at the Eagle Square in Abuja, Tinubu said the era of subsidy payment on fuel has ended, adding that the 2023 Budget made no provision for fuel subsidy and more so, subsidy payment is no longer justifiable. “The fuel subsidy is gone,” Tinubu said, noting…

GODWIN Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), is currently at the Presidential Villa in Abuja for a meeting with President Bola Tinubu. Tinubu, whose vehicle entered the villa at 2:30pm, inspected a parade by the Guards of Honour. He was later received by Vice-President Kashim Shettima; Emefiele; Mele Kyari, Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL); speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila; and Permanent Secretary, State House, Tijjani Umar. Wale Edun, former Lagos Finance Commissioner; and James Faleke, a House of Reps member, were also at the villa. In his…

THE Presidential Candidate of Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi and his running mate in the February 25 poll, Datti Baba-Ahmed attended the Presidential Election Petitions Court hearing on Tuesday in Abuja. Though Obi had attended a number of proceedings in the past few weeks, Datti-Ahmed attended court proceedings for the first time on Tuesday, a day after the inauguration of the candidate, Bola Tinubu as Nigeria’s President. The Labour Party is expected to call just one witness today. The party had previously said it would call 50 witnesses to testify against the victory of Tinubu, and will need seven weeks…

WHEN new leaders are sworn in, especially in this part of the world, the spotlight, as expected, is always on the men. But looking back at history and in contemporary times, women have played important roles in their husband’s administration. In Nigeria, the wives of the president and the vice president are people whose actions or inactions rub off on their husbands. While there may be controversies over their constitutional roles, one can’t wish away how important they are to the new administration. Remi Tinubu has largely been in the public eye and Nana Shettima is also not new to…

FOUNDER of Daar Communications Plc, AIT TV company, High Chief (Dr) Raymond Dokpsesi is dead aged 71. Dokpesi died on Monday, May 29, 2023. According to a statement issued by his family and signed by his first son, Raymond Dokpesi (JNR), they described the deceased businessman as beloved husband, father, grandfather, and friend to many, who will be deeply missed by all who knew him. “It is with deep sadness and heavy hearts that we announce the passing of High Chief Raymond Aleogho Anthony Dokpesi (Ezomo of Weppa-Wanno Kingdom) who passed away on May 29th, 2023. High Chief Dokpesi was…

NIGERIA’s new President, Bola Tinubu says the era of subsidy payment on fuel has ended. He said the 2023 Budget made no provision for fuel subsidy and more so, subsidy payment is no longer justifiable. “The fuel subsidy is gone,” Tinubu declared in his inaugural speech at the Eagle Square on Monday after he was sworn in as Nigeria’s 16th President. He promised a “unified exchange rate” and vowed to rid Nigeria of terrorism and criminality. “Security shall be top of our administration,” he said, adding that he will reform security architecture, invest more in security personnel, better training and…

BOLA Ahmed Tinubu has been sworn in as the 16th Nigerian President. He mounted the podium alongside his wife, Senator Oluremi Tinubu. Former President Muhammadu Buhari and his wife, Aisha Buhari stood behind Tinubu as he took oath of office at exactly 10:37am. Tinubu, a former Lagos State Governor, was inaugurated as 16th Nigeria’s President on Monday, May 29 at the Eagle Square in the nation’s capital city, Abuja. Earlier, Kashim Shettima took the oath as Vice-President as exactly 10:28am. “I, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, do solemnly swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the Federal Republic…

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari GCFR has conferred on the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development Sadiya Umar Farouq with the Commander of the Order of the Niger CON award. This is contained in  a statement by the Ministry of Special Duties and Inter- Governmental Affairs on Sunday May 28, 2023. Umar Farouq is among  75 recipients who received the prestigious National Honours. The CON Award is for her resilience and headlong confrontation of humanitarian crises in the country from August 2019 to May 28th, 2023 including poverty, Covid-19 pandemic, flooding, internal displacements, refugee crisis, youth unemployment, statelessness, fire…

THE Vice President-elect, Senator Kashim Shettima on Saturday has addressed concerns that he and his principal, Bola Tinubu, have an agenda to islamise Nigeria. Since Tinubu announced Shettima as his running mate last year, there have been divergent views by different groups and individuals with some alleging that the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) could be a ploy to Islamise Nigeria. But speaking at a lecture in Abuja forming part of the events around Tinubu’s inauguration on May 29, the incoming Vice President allayed such fears, saying there was no agenda to Islamise Africa’s most populous…

FORMER Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has urged President-elect Bola Tinubu to be a uniting force in Nigeria. He gave the charge in Abuja on Saturday during the presidential inauguration lecture ahead of Tinubu’s swearing-in. Kenyatta believes since elections are over, the onus lies on Tinubu to unite every Nigerian irrespective of religion, tribe, political and other affiliations. “The contest is now over and the hard work of building a prosperous and unified Nigeria now begins,” he said as a keynote speaker during the event. “Upon assuming the office of president, you would be wise to transcend from the tactical politics…