Author: Maryam Garba

THE lawmaker representing FCT in the National Assembly, Senator Ireti Kingibe, has denied sponsoring the ongoing #EndBadGovernance protests in Abuja. A video had gone viral alleging that she was sponsoring the protest. But Senator Kingibe described it as “misinformation”. “I am shocked and outraged by the blatant lies and misinformation being spread by mischief-makers! The video being circulated is from over six weeks ago, during a Labour Party NWC meeting when the NLC was protesting outside the Labour Party office,” she said on X. “As stakeholders, including Senators, House of Reps members, and Mr. Peter Obi, we went out to…

THE United State Mission in Nigeria has asked some of its staff not to come to work on the first two days of the planned nationwide protests. Nigerians, many of them young people, have called for demonstrations from August 1 over soaring costs. Living costs spiked in Nigeria after President Bola Tinubu ended the fuel subsidy and eased foreign exchange controls after coming to power in May last year. Inflation hit record levels at 34.19 per cent in June, with food inflation more than 40.87 per cent, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. The police, military and the Department…

THE Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on Monday directed telecommunication companies to reactivate all lines blocked because they weren’t linked to the National Identification Numbers (NINs). A spokesman for the regulatory body Reuben Muoka said the order to reactivate the lines was in view of “the challenges the blockages have caused”. Millions of phone users had their lines blocked over the weekend with speculations rife that the disconnection of SIM cards was one of measures of the government to stifle a planned #EndBadGovernance protest against hunger and economic hardship widely publicised by displeased youths and scheduled for August. Human rights lawyer…

THE federal government has resumed work on dualisation of uncompleted sections of the 375.9 kilometer Abuja – Kaduna – Zaria – Kano highway. Minister of Works, Engr. David Umahi, stated this yesterday during the flag-off of the completion works and handover of the 38km dual carriageway section of the road to Dangote Group. Umahi in a statement by his special adviser on media, Barrister Orji Uchenna Orji, charged the three companies handling the three sections to show absolute devotion to the completion of the project. He noted that the ministry would look at the need for rate review to cushion…

THE Gombe State House of Assembly has conducted a public hearing to deliberate on two significant bills– the Gombe State Social Investment Programme Agency Bill and the Gombe State Disability Commission Bill. The session held on Monday at the House of Assembly and attended by lawmakers, stakeholders, and members of the public, underscored the state government’s commitment to enhancing social welfare and addressing the needs of persons with disabilities. The Gombe State Social Investment Programme Agency, when passed into law, will spearhead various initiatives targeted at reducing poverty and promoting economic development among the state’s residents, coordinating efforts such as…

THE embattled Minister of Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye has said that she was allegedly being victimised by some cabals in government because she refused to sign a $500 million World Bank loan request. On July 10, 2024, a near physical confrontation between Kennedy-Ohanenye, and the House of Representatives Committee on Women Affairs and Social Development was averted at the National Assembly Complex, Abuja, where the minister had appeared to clarify the controversy surrounding her alleged diversion of N1.5 billion meant for the payment of contractors by officials of the ministry. But speaking with THISDAY through a phone interview, the minister…

THE Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Professor Ishaq Oloyede, has uncovored the scandal of violating age limit for admission seekers in Nigerian tertiary institutions. Oloyede revealed that some universities admit students as young as 10 years, flouting the legal age limit of 18. Speaking during JAMB’s policy meeting in Abuja, Oloyede cited examples of universities like UNILAG and OAU, with a minimum age requirement of 16 years. He also narrated a case of a candidate who applied for a master’s degree at a university in Germany, only to be discovered that she had graduated from a…

THE Minister of Education, Professor Tahir Mamman, has accepted 16 years as the admission age into tertiary institutions for the 2024/2025 academic session. Mamman who had earlier pegged the admission age of undergraduates to 18, however made a u-turn after protests from stakeholders at the 2024 policy meeting organised by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB). The minister succumbed following the argument that students under the age of 18 had already registered, sat and passed the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and were awaiting admission. The meeting held on Thursday in Abuja and had in attendance the JAMB Registrar,…

THE Management of Dangote Industries Limited has insisted that the international oil companies are still frustrating crude supply to its 650,000-capacity refinery. The management said this even as it commended the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission for its various interventions in the oil company’s crude supply requests from IOCs, and for publishing the Domestic Crude Supply Obligation guidelines to enshrine transparency in the oil industry. In a statement on Wednesday, the Dangote Group alleged that the IOCs insisted on selling crude oil to its refinery through their foreign agents, saying the local price of crude would continue to increase because…

A TOTAL sum of N1.354 trillion June 2024 Federation Accounts Revenue has been shared with the Federal Government, States and Local Government Councils in the country. The revenue was shared at the July 2024 meeting of the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC), held in Abuja and chaired by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun. A communiqué issued by FAAC and signed by a spokesperson for the Accountant General of the Federation, Bawa Mokwa, explained that the N1,354.371 trillion total distributable revenue comprised distributable statutory revenue of N142.514 billion, distributable Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue…

THE Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has cancelled the aptitude test for 2024 Direct Entry candidates. A statement published on its X account on Monday, said other factors will be considered for Direct Entry admissions instead of the test. “Attention 2024 DE Candidates! This is to inform you that the Board has shelved the conduct of the aptitude test for the year. Other placement criteria shall be considered for your admission while adequate preparation goes into the exercise ahead of next year.” This is as the Board also said all processes had been put in place for the commencement…

THE federal government have announced the National Examination Council 2024 common entrance examination results for Unity schools. The Minister of State for Education, Dr. Yusuf Sununu announced during a press briefing at the ministry’s headquarters in Abuja. According to him, a total of 71,291 candidates participated in the 2024 National Common Entrance Examination (NCEE) conducted in 599 centres on Saturday, June 1, 2024. He said: “Out of the maximum obtainable score of 210, one candidate obtained the highest score of 203, while 13 candidates obtained the lowest score of 1” Sununu also noted that this year, 52 candidates (2 candidates…

NIGERIA’s relegated third tier of government, the Local Government administration, got a boost on Thursday when the Supreme Court made some landmark declarations, settling a decades-long debate on the financial demarcation between the 36 state governments of the Federation and 774 LG administrations across the country. Designed to be the closest to the people and recognised by Section 7 of the 1999 Constitution, the efficiency of the government at the grassroots has been hampered by the weight of some overbearing governors who see the third tier of government as offshoots of their political dynasties undeserving of both financial and democratic…

THE House of Representatives has resolved to set up an ad-hoc committee to investigate the activities of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), the Federal Capital Territory Administration Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, their agents and sub agents over the lapses observed in the 2024 Hajj exercise. This followed the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance sponsored by Rep. Mohammed Umar Bio and presented at the plenary on Thursday. The lawmaker while presenting the motion, condemned the performance of NAHCON and the FCTA Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board in the 2024 Hajj exercise. He reminded that, Hajj is important…

A BUSINESS relationship manager with Zenith Bank PLC, Ifeoma Ogbonnaya, has told a Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja how funds were moved from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) through Zenith Bank to some accounts linked to Mrs Margaret Emefiele, wife of a former Governor of the CBN Godwin Emefiele. Ogbonnaya who is the fifth prosecution witness testified in the trial of Godwin Emefiele and his co-defendant, Henry Omoile, on charges of alleged abuse of office to the tune of $4.5 billion and N2.8 billion Led in evidence by EFCC’s Prosecutor (SAN) Rotimi Oyedepo, the witness told trial Judge…

THE National Population Commission (NPC) has said it has proposed November, 2024, for the Nigerian Population and Housing Census. Speaking during a press conference to mark the 2024 World Population Day, the Chairman of NPC, Nasir Isa Kwarra, said the proposal was, however, subject to the approval of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Kwarra, who stated that the commission was 70 per cent ready to conduct the census, said the delay in Nigeria having data of its population would not prevent the country from achieving the UN 2020 Round of Population & Housing Censuses. It would be recalled that Nigeria is…

THE United Nations has again predicted that 82 million Nigerians, about 64 per cent of the country’s population, may go hungry by 2030, calling on the government to tackle climate change, pest infestations, and other threats to agricultural productivity. The prediction comes in the wake of a persistent hike in food prices in the country. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria’s food inflation rate hit a record high of 40.66 per cent in May 2024, surpassing the previous month’s 40.53 increase. This surge represents the largest year-on-year increase in food prices since records began in 1996. Historically, food…

THE Minister of Police Affairs, Senator Ibrahim Gaidam, is intervening in the ongoing face-off between the Police Service Commission, and the Nigeria Police Force. After concluding the recruitment exercise, the PSC on June 4 released the list of 10,000 successful applicants for constable and specialist cadre roles in the Nigeria Police Force. Eleven days later, the police rejected the list over the allegation that the recruitment exercise was marred by corruption and irregularities. The statement by the force spokesperson, Muyiwa Adejobi said, “Several names of persons purported to be names of successful candidates are those who did not even apply…

ONE hundred and three Nigerians on Friday arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, the nation’s capital. They were part of those deported from the Republic of Turkey. They arrived at the pilgrims’ wing of the airport at about 6:45 pm on the Southwind Airlines flight with registration number TC-GRB. Upon their arrival, they were received by multiple agencies of government like the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) as well as those of the military. It is unclear whether they committed any…

AS the rainy season gathers momentum, residents of Jigawa State are bracing themselves for potential floods that may devastate their homes and livelihoods. The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has sounded the alarm, warning that some local government areas in the state are at high and moderate risk of flooding. At a sensitization programme in Dutse, NEMA urged stakeholders to take proactive measures to mitigate the impact of floods. “We cannot afford to be complacent,” said Nura Abdullahi, Territorial Coordinator of NEMA’s Kano Territorial Office. “We must work together to protect lives and properties.” For Aisha Mohammed, a resident of…