Author: Khadija Abubakar

THE Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has suspended the distribution of seized food items over a stampede that claimed lives at NCS Old Zonal Headquarters in the Yaba area of Lagos State last Friday. A spokesperson for the Customs, Abdullahi Maiwada, announced this in a statement on Monday. The Customs had on February 20, 2024 said it would disposed seized food items to cushion the hardship and cost of living in the country. To start with, the Customs disposed food items at its Yaba office last Friday in the presence of other security agencies like the men of the Nigeria Police…

THE National Examination Council (NECO) has released the 2023 senior secondary school examination (SSCE) external results with 67.35 percent of candidates who sat for the examination earning five credits and above including English Language and Mathematics. The Registrar and Chief Executive of the council Professor Dantani Wushishi while declaring the results on Monday, 68 days after the last examination, said 74,342 candidates sat for the examination for 29 subjects. According to the breakdown, 52.28 percent of the candidates were male and 47.71 candidates were female. The registrar also said that 8,518 candidates were booked for various forms of malpractice showing…

A GROUP, Arewa Professionals Forum (APF) has urged the judiciary, and the EFCC to be just and fair in the trail of former Accountant General of the Federation, Malam Ahmed Idris. The group made the call on Friday in Kaduna during a press conference. According to the group, the call was made in response to an earlier one issued by a group, Southern Solidarity Forum, last week,in Osogbo the Osun state capital. The secretary, Arewa Professionals Forum, Comrade Muhammad Auwal stated that, “The former AGF, Mallam Ahmed Idris has served this country meritoriously, regardless of the many lies and half-truths…

NIGERIA’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has joined other African First Ladies to affirm that closing the gender gap is not an act of charity but of justice. She explained that without education, girls lack skills to support themselves and access information to make informed choices about their health and future with school dropouts further fueling the cycle of poverty and gender inequality. The First Lady, according to a statement by her media aide, Busola Kukoyi, said this while addressing the Organization of African First Ladies for Development (OAFLAD) in Addis Ababa the Ethiopian capital on the sideline of the…

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has approved the immediate upgrade of 16 key health infrastructure and equipment across all six geo-political zones in the country. This, according to a statement by the President’s media aide, Ajuri Ngelale, is in line with his administration’s vision of overhauling the health and social welfare sector for enhanced service delivery to all Nigerians. “Upgrading health infrastructure and equipment is a top priority of President Tinubu’s Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative. “To advance this landmark effort, the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in collaboration with the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) will carry out the…

THE West African Examinations Council has released the results of the 2023 West African Senior School Certificate Examination for private candidates across the country. This was made known in a statement made available by the acting Head, Public Affairs, WAEC Nigeria, Moyosola Adesina, on Tuesday evening. According to her, only 46,267 out of the 80,904 candidates who sat for the examination scored a minimum of five credits. She said this translates to 57.19% of candidates obtaining credit and above in a minimum of five subjects (with or without English Language and/or Mathematics). She added that 35,830 candidates, representing 44.29%, obtained…

THE Office of the Auditor General of the Federation has indicted about 256 Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government for violating extant laws and spending billions of naira that were not appropriated in 2020. The MDAs, including the Office of the Surveyor-General of the Federation, Airforce Institute of Technology among others reportedly engaged in extra-budgetary expenditure amounting to N284bn in 2020. This revelation was made in the latest 2020 Audited Report of government finances submitted to the National Assembly by the OAuGF. The document which was two years later than allowed by the constitution revealed unbudgeted expenditure and…

NURSES under the aegis of the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives, Abuja chapter, on Monday, protested against the new verification certification guidelines released by the Nigeria and Midwifery Council of Nigeria. The nurses expressed displeasure over what they described as an attempt to hinder their freedom to pursue career opportunities, asking the council to address nurses’ welfare, salary scale, shortage of staff, and other rights. The protest monitored by our correspondent was carried out at the NMCN’s office in Abuja. The NMCN had on February 7, 2024, issued a circular revising the guidelines for requesting verification of certificates…

THE Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria, on Wednesday, announced revised guidelines and requirements for individuals applying for certificate verification with foreign nursing boards/councils. Applicants are now required by the council to have at least two years of post-qualification experience from the date of issuance of their permanent practising licence. The revised guidelines for verification of certificates was signed by the Registrar/Secretary General of NMCN, Dr. Faruk Abubakar, and posted on the council’s X page on Wednesday. It read, “Applicants are to visit https://licence.nmcn.gov.ng/ and login to initiate verification application by clicking on the verification application link. “A non-refundable fee…

THE federal government is working towards establishing six new cancer treatment centres in tertiary hospitals across the geopolitical zones of the country. The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Tunji Alausa, stated this yesterday in Abuja during a ministerial press briefing organised by the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in collaboration with the National Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment (NICRAT) to mark the 2024 World Cancer Day. He said the centre would be established in the following hospitals – University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital Ituku-Ozalla, Enugu State (UNTH), Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH)…

A MEETING of the Presidential Committee on Emergency Food Intervention is taking place in the State House in Abuja. The meeting, which was convened by the Chief of staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, has in attendance the Minister of Agriculture, Abubakar Kyari; Minister of State for Agriculture, Mustapha Shehuri; the Minister of Budget and Planning, Atiku Bagudu; the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Yemi Cardoso among others. Tuesday’s gathering is coming on the heels of protests in some parts of the country over the rising cost of food and…

JUSTICE Mobolaji Olajuwon of the Federal High Court Abuja has denied bail to five Port Harcourt-based men allegedly loyal to Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State. They were charged with terrorism offences by the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun. The suspect were accused of burning the Rivers State House of Assembly Complex, amongst other offences, last year. Their bail applications, filed and argued by Lukman Fagbemi, was rejected and dismissed for lacking in merit. Justice Olajuwon refused them bail on the ground that they did not provide special circumstances to warrant their respective release from remand at the Kuje…

AIRLINE passengers travelling from Kano to Abuja on Air Peace Airline (P47425) have been left stranded as the airline rescheduled its flight time from 4.50pm on Friday Feb. 2 to 1am Feb. 3. This newspaper reports that the airline first sent emails to travellers that its original flight time of (16.50) 4.50pm had been moved to 8.55pm After check-in and a long wait at the airport, the airline announced at 9.15pm that the aircraft meant to lift the passengers from Kano would arrive at 10.20pm The airline at 10.20pm announced that the aircraft would arrive instead at 1am Some passengers…

THE Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake has described the United States (US) as Nigeria’s longstanding ally and strategic partner for the nation’s mining sector development. Speaking while receiving Charge d’Affairs, US Embassy, David Greene in his office on Thursday, Alake lauded the United States’ commitment to fostering cooperation with Nigeria in diverse sectors of the economy, stating that it underscores the significance of the smooth bilateral relations between both countries. “I thank you for your visit. I met the US Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources, Geoffrey Pyatt, on the sidelines of the Mines and Money…

THE Police Service Commission (PSC) has approved the appointment and posting of Commissioners of Police for 10 State Commands. This is coming on the heels of the promotion of 14 Deputy Commissioners of Police to the substantive rank of Commissioners. In a statement from the PSC spokesperson, the newly appointed State Commissioners of Police are Peter Ukachi Opara, former Deputy Commissioner, Administration in Imo State, who has been posted to Osun State; Olughemiga Emmanuel Adesina posted to Benue State, Akinwale Kunle Adeniran, Ekiti State Command and Mohammed Umar Abba, Adamawa State Command. CP Beneth Igwe has returned to the Federal…

NIGERIA on Tuesday recorded an improved ranking in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI), moving five places up to rank 145 out of 180 countries assessed. According to the latest corruption index released by Transparency International (TI), the country also gained one point added to its previous 24, ending up scoring 25 out of the 100 maximum points in the 2023 CPI results, apart from moving five places up from its 150th position. Arguably the most widely used global corruption ranking in the world, the CPI measures how corrupt each country’s public sector is perceived to be. It uses a scale…

THE Bakori Old Girls Association has reiterated its commitment towards empowering the girl child in Nigeria with quality education and skills that will make them employable. The association declared the commitment on Saturday in Abuja, during the unveiling of the 50th Anniversary Logo of the Federal Government Girls College (FGGC), Bakori, and Lightening of the Anniversary Torch. The theme of the event is,”Honouring our History, Celebrating our Present and Investing in our Future”. In her welcome remark, the National President, Bakori Old Girls Association, Hanatu Ismaila said the occasion was historic and of great significance to the association. Ismaila who…

NO fewer than 4,613,197 Permanent Voters’ Cards have been collected by voters for the February 3 rerun/by-elections. This was contained in a document posted by INEC on its X handle sighted by our correspondent. Findings by our correspondent showed that 2,189,171 PVCs were collected by voters for the by-elections while 2,424,026 PVCs were collected for the rerun elections. This newspaper also gathered that no fewer than 8,500 Bimodal Voters Authentication System and over 35,000 ad-hoc staff would be deployed for the elections. According to the commission, 74 domestic observers and one international observer will observe the February 3 elections. By-elections…

IN a move towards inclusive and faith-aligned investing, i-invest has launched “Mudarabah Term Deposit (MTD) on its app. Mudarabah, a revered Islamic financial concept, epitomises a partnership contract between an investor who provides capital and an investment manager. This distinctive arrangement involves the capital provider entrusting funds for investment to be skillfully managed by the investment manager. The resulting profits are then shared based on a pre-agreed Profit Sharing Ratio (PSR). In the banking sector, Mudarabah has evolved into an investment product, offering a Sharia-compliant alternative to conventional fixed deposit products, aptly named MTD. In this arrangement, customers act as…

SENATOR Ali Ndume has faulted the planned relocation of some departments of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from Abuja to Lagos but is confident President Bola Tinubu’s will reverse the move. Some of the CBN departments targeted for relocation are the Banking Supervision (DBS), Other Financial Institutions Supervision (OFISD), Consumer Protection Department (CPD), Payment System Management Department (PSMD), and Financial Policy Regulations Department (FPRD). But Ndume, who represents Borno South, has kicked against the plan, citing several reasons. “The regulators of the financial institutions are in Abuja. This is one of the mistakes and I am sure Mr President…