THE National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) says Nigeria will host the Gulf Information Technology Exhibition (GITEX) in 2025. Head, Corporate Affairs and External Relations of NITDA, Mrs Hadiza Umar, made the announcement in a statement in Abuja on Friday. Umar said the Director-General of NITDA, Malam Kashifu Inuwa, and Ms. Trixie LohMirmand, the Executive Vice President in Events Management, Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), in Marrakesh, Morocco, during GITEX Africa. Speaking on the significance of the agreement, Inuwa said it was a way of boosting the country’s tech ecosystem and introduce the experience…
Author: Khadija Abubakar
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THE United States, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has announced about $176m in additional humanitarian assistance for Nigeria, Mali and some other countries in West Africa. In a statement on Tuesday, USAID said the fresh aid “will support communities in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Nigeria facing staggering humanitarian needs amid conflict, food insecurity, and displacement”. The funds would be provided through the United Nations and partners, including the UN World Food Program, UNICEF, and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. “These funds will allow our partners to reach additional…
ORGANISED Labour on Wednesday reduced its demand for an improved new minimum from an initial N615,000 to N500,000 after an agreement could not be reached at the Tripartite Committee meeting on Tuesday. The Deputy President of Nigeria Labour Congress Political Commission, Prof. Theophilus Ndubuaku, disclosed this in an exclusive phone chat with this newspaper. Ndubuaku told this newspaper that the labour team was compelled to reduce its demand to ensure the Federal Government meets up with the arrangement. Unfortunately, he expressed concern that despite their shifting ground, the FG is stalling the negotiation process. He said, “Yes, it is true…
THE Minister of Women Affairs , Uju Kennedy -Ohanenye, has withdrawn a suit she earlier filed against the speaker of the Niger State House of Assembly, Abdulmalik Sarkindaji, following his decision to marry off 100 orphans from his constituency. Speaking with reporters, the minister noted that the ministry in collaboration with the speaker of the Niger state assembly, and traditional rulers from the state, are currently investigating the ages of the girls to ascertain if they are within the stipulated age for marriage. According to her, the Ministry of Women Affairs will, for now, focus on empowering girls, as well…
THE Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has threatened to down tools after two weeks if the President Bola Tinubu administration fails to pay public university lecturers their withheld salaries. ASUU President Emmanuel Osodeke said it is unfair for the Federal Government to pay lecturers four months of their 2022 withheld salaries and hold on to that of three-and-half months. “It’s not about paying four months out of the seven-and-half months’ withheld salaries,” a displeased Osodeke said on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Thursday. He argued that public universities in the country have so far covered the work for…
OVER one million, six hundred thousand Nigerians have submitted applications for the consumer credit scheme, the Federal Government said on Tuesday. This is according to the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Nigerian Consumer Credit Corporation (CREDICORP) who put the exact figure at 1.6 million Nigerians. On April 21, President Bola Tinubu launched the first phase of the Consumer Credit Scheme. The programme allows working citizens to access loans for important purchases. Three weeks after the take-off of the scheme, the CREDICORP boss described the volume of applications received so far as overwhelming. “It has been overwhelming.…
THE 2024 National Examinations Council (NECO) Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) Internal Examinations timetable has been released, the release marked the commencement of a crucial period for secondary school students across Nigeria. With the release of the schedule, candidates and educators alike are gearing up for the rigorous assessments ahead. This is disclosed in a Monday post on its X platform, @Neconigeria. The indigenous examination body disclosed that the exam begins Wednesday, June 19, 2024, and ends Friday, July 26, 2024. Here are the photos of the NECO 2024 timetable below:
THE First Lady Oluremi Tinubu on Monday hosted 2nd Lieutenant Princess Oluchukwu Owowoh, First Nigerian Female Graduate of the UK’s Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst (RMAS). The 24-year-old Owowoh was one of the 135 officer cadets to graduate during RMAS’ sovereign’s parade in London on April 12. According to a statement by the Nigerian Army, Senator Tinubu received Owowoh, who was led by Major General John Ochai, the Commandant, Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), at the State House. The First Lady was said to have described Owowoh’s achievement as outstanding and divine. She commended the Nigeria Army for giving a female the…
THE Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has declared illegal Regulations 126 and 127 of the Nigerian Police which allows for the dismissal of an unmarried policewomen who become pregnant during their service. The three-man panel of the court also asked the respondents, the Attorney General of the Federation, the Police Service Commission and the Nigerian Police Force, to carry out a comprehensive review of the entire Police Regulations to ensure that they accord with the demands of a modern society operating under the rule of law. Justice Olubunmi Oyewole read the lead judgment which was unanimously adopted by the…
THE newly recruited nurses and midwives in Kaduna State have called on the state Governor, Senator Uba Sani, to intervene and pay their eight-month salary arrears. The over 200 health workers were recruited by the state government in June 2023 on a salary grade level 7 and posted to General Hospitals across the state. This newspaper gathered that they (nurses) worked for months without being paid salaries until recently when they were paid February, March and April salaries while the remaining eight months salary arrears were pending. Some of the affected nurses claimed there were deductions in their February, March…
PRESIDENT of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote has garnered a fresh round of accolades as northern governors and monarchs describe the N15billion Aliko Dangote Food Intervention Scheme as a monumental and impactful process. The Governors of Nasarawa and Benue States joined their peers across Nigeria to commend the effort of Dangote through his Aliko Dangote Foundation (ADF). Speaking weekend at the commencement of the distribution of products under the Food Intervention Programme in the State, Governor of Benue State, Hyacinth Alia, lauded Mr. Dangote, for what he described as his multifaceted philanthropic efforts, which are benefiting the poor and vulnerable populace…
THE Association of Registrars of Nigerian Universities (ARNU) has called on the Federal Government and other concerned stakeholders to immediately reconstitute the Governing Councils of universities in the country that were earlier dissolved by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. ARNU, also calls for a reconsideration of the practice of dissolving Councils before the expiration of their statutory tenures. This was contained in an 11-point communique issued and signed by ARNU Chairman, Mr. Ife Oluwole and the Public Relations Officer, Mr. Yakubu Ayuba, at the end of the Second Registrars’ Workshop and the 75th Business Meeting, held between April 24 to 26,…
A COMPETITION and Consumer Protection Tribunal (CCPT) sitting in Abuja, has restrained Multi-choice Nigeria Limited from increasing its tariffs and cost of products and services scheduled to begin on May 1. The three-member tribunal, presided over by Saratu Shafii, gave the interim order on Monday following an ex-parte motion moved by Ejiro Awaritoma, counsel for the applicant, Festus Onifade. In a ruling, the tribunal restrained multi-choice from going ahead with the impending price increase schedule to take effect from May 1, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice filed before it. She also directed all parties in…
RESIDENTS in Kano State have continued to lament the untold hardship they are subjected to following the fuel scarcity being experienced in all parts of the state that has made businesses and other activities very difficult. Commuters in the state said most filling stations are locked under the guise that they lack product to dispense, while black marketers are selling a litre of petrol between N2,000 and N2,500 across the metropolis. Some residents who spoke with our correspondent called on the government to intervene to bring the situation under control so as not to degenerate. They said the situation has…
PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of Jim Ovia as the Chairman of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund. This was disclosed in a statement by the Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to the President, Ajuri Ngelale, Friday. According to the statement, Mr. Ovia is the founder of one of Nigeria’s leading banks and a respected business leader, with a surfeit of efforts and benefaction towards nurturing and empowering young Nigerians. See full statement below: STATE HOUSE PRESS RELEASE PRESIDENT TINUBU APPOINTS JIM OVIA AS CHAIRMAN OF THE NIGERIAN EDUCATION LOAN FUND President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of…
THE Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.) says the issues that led to the tightness in the supply of fuel currently being experienced in some parts of the country have been resolved. The NNPC Ltd. said that the issues were as a result of logistics problems. The Chief Corporate Communications Officer, NNPC Ltd. Olufemi Soneye, made the disclosure on Thursday while reacting to the situation. Soneye reiterated that the prices of petroleum products were not changing. “The NNPC Ltd. wishes to clarify that the tightness in the supply of PMS currently being experienced in some areas across the country…
TWENTY-TWO years after the last survey on child and forced labour in Nigeria, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in their reports on Thursday, said over 24 million Nigerian children between the age of 5 to 17 are embroiled in child labour. The figure, according to the Nigeria Child and Forced Labour Survey conducted in 2022 shows that of the 24,673,485, (39.2%) of the child population is caught in the web of child labour with a nearly equal distribution among boys, 39.6% and girls 38.8%. Of this figures, 30.0% of the child workers are…
THE United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has said attacks and abductions targeting Nigerian schoolchildren have surged since the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping in Borno State 10 years ago. UNICEF, in a report released on Monday, said only 37% of schools in 10 states have early warning systems to detect threats of such attacks. The report, titled ‘Minimum Standards for Safe Schools (MSSS) Monitoring Report’, presented by UNICEF Nigeria’s Chief of Education, Saadhna Panday-Soobrayan, noted the alarming statistics of conflict-related violence affecting children. Over the past decade, more than 1,680 children have been abducted, 180 killed in school attacks, and 60 school…
AISHA Galadima, one of the biggest political allies of the former governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, has been arrested in Kaduna. The arrest, a source told this newspaper, was connected to a post on her Facebook page, criticizing Governor Uba Sani. The female politician was picked up by the operatives of the Department of State Services, DSS, from her residence on Sunday afternoon. The development was confirmed by one of her brothers, who said, “Aisha has just been arrested by DSS at her Tudun Wada residence in Kaduna” via a telephone conversation.
POPULAR Kannywood actress, Saratu Gidado well-known as Daso is dead. A colleague in the Kanywood film industry told this newspaper that Daso passed away Tuesday morning after a dozen-hour of illness. “Funeral venue and time will be announced soon’, the aged thespian added. Gidado was born on 17th January 1968 in Gombe. She attended school in Kano, where she joined the Kanywood movie industry. She was known for the role she always plays as an aggressive and mischievous actress who defied all odds to rise to stardom. She made her film debut in 2000 in Linzami Da Wuta, produced by…