THE Federal Government has again extended an invitation to organised Labour for the continuation of minimum wage negotiations, a source familiar with the matter told our correspondent in Abuja on Wednesday. The source noted that Labour would honour the invitation. “A letter has been addressed to Labour by the committee chairman and signed by the NSIWC chairman. The meeting is scheduled for Friday. “Of course, Labour will attend. If they present a better offer on Friday we will accept it.” On Tuesday, the minimum wage committee had adjourned indefinitely after talks between the Federal Government and organised Labour broke down…
Author: Abdullahi Maitama Sani
PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu on Wednesday addressed a joint sitting of the National Assembly in Abuja, the nation’s capital. Tinubu’s visit to the lawmakers comes as the nation marks 25 years of unbroken democracy. The President stepped into the parliament at 12:28pm, accompanied by the Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima. Upon his arrival, the lawmakers recited the new national anthem, “Nigeria, we hail thee” which the President had earlier signed into law. Briefing the lawmakers, he thanked them for their efforts in sustaining the nation’s democracy for over two decades. “Out of respect, I want to say thank you very much.…
THE Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Media and Publicity Ajuri Ngelale says his principal will not deliver a speech to a joint sitting of the National Assembly on Wednesday. “In view of public commentary concerning the President delivering a speech before a Joint Sitting of the National Assembly tomorrow, May 29, 2024, it is important to state that this information is false and unauthorized as the Office of the President was not involved in the planning of the event,” Ngelale said in a Tuesday evening statement. This is contrary to earlier statements by the spokesperson of the Senate…
THE Senate has passed the National Anthem Bill 2024 to revert to the old national anthem, “Nigeria, we hail thee”. The bill, which speedily passed first and second readings on Thursday, now awaits assent into law by President Bola Tinubu. The Senate passed legislation to swap the national anthem from “Arise, O Compatriots” to “Nigeria, We Hail Thee.” The old anthem, composed when Nigeria gained independence on October 1, 1960, will replace the current anthem. The bill seeks to revive the anthem that was dropped in 1978 during Olusegun Obasanjo’s military administration. Lillian Jean Williams, a British expatriate who lived…
PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu is ready to fire underperforming ministers who fail to deliver on targets set for them, the Presidency has said. The Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to the President, Bayo Onanuga told this newspaper, said though the President was yet to decide on the ministers’ performances, he had told them to deliver on his administration’s eight-point agenda. He added that those found wanting would be asked to leave the cabinet. Onanuga also rated the performance of the administration high as it approaches its first year in office, giving it a score of 70 per cent. He said…
PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has arrived in Lagos State to commission the Lagos-Calabar Superhighway, estimated to cost about N15 trillion. The 700 km Lagos-Calabar coastal road is designed to connect Lagos to Cross River, passing through Ogun, Ondo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, and Akwa Ibom states, before culminating in Cross River. The project, which has caused some buildings to be demolished, has attracted a barrage of intense criticisms from many Nigerians who strongly felt that the timing of the project was wrong but Works Minister, Dave Umahi, said the project is in the best interest of Nigerians. In a statement on Saturday,…
TWO years after the intrigue-filled June 2022 presidential primary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) that produced ex-Lagos governor Bola Tinubu as the party’s flagbearer, the party’s National Secretary at the time, Iyiola Omisore, has made some revelations on how he delivered his “mission” for a South-Westerner to secure the much-coveted ticket of the party. Omisore was a guest on Inside Sources with Laolu Akande, a socio-political programme aired on Channels Television on Friday. The mathematician and former Osun State deputy governor confirmed that the then APC National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, wanted the North to retain the Presidency after…
KANO State Governor, Abba Yusuf, is in a closed-door meeting with the members of the state assembly and some traditional leaders believed to be kingmakers at the Government House in Kano. The governor is expected to assent to the bill earlier passed on Thursday by the state assembly which reversed the creation of new emirates by the then Governor Abdullahi Ganduje administration. If signed into law, the move is expected to see the return of the 14th Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, who was deposed in March 2020. The fate of Sanusi’s successor, Emir Aminu Ado Bayero, is, however,…
PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has directed a total and comprehensive review of the recently announced governing boards of tertiary institutions before the inauguration and retreat being planned for the nominees. The Ministry of Education had last week released of governing councils for 111 federal tertiary institutions in the country. The list contained names of technocrats, politicians and traditional rulers for 50 universities, 37 polytechnics, and 24 colleges of education. Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Didi Esther Walson-Jack, who released the statement containing the list had stated that inauguration and retreat of the councils would hold on May 30 and 31,…
THE House of Representatives has passed a bill to revert to the old national anthem “Nigeria, We Hail Thee”. The bill was quickly passed through first second and third reading within minutes. The lead debate for a return to the old anthem by the House Leader, Professor Julius Ihonvbere, pointed to the need for Nigerians to see the anthem as a national symbol and sign of authority, one which does not deny the realities. The old anthem “Nigeria, We Hail Thee” was replaced with the current one “Arise, O Compatriots in 1978. The Minority Leader, kingsley Chinda, however, opposed the…
IN commemoration of his first anniversary in office, President Bola Tinubu has directed his ministers to present their performance reports to Nigerians. The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, while announcing this at a press briefing in Abuja on Wednesday, said the low-key first-anniversary celebration would be marked with sectoral media briefings by the 47 federal ministers starting on Thursday (today). Idris was joined at Wednesday’s media press conference by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, and the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Abubakar Bagudu. Tinubu was declared the winner of the…
PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has removed Chukwuemeka Woke as the managing director (MD) of the Ogun-Osun River Basin Development Authority (OORBDA). Woke, former Chief of Staff to Nyesom Wike when he was Rivers governor, was appointed on May 9, 2024. However, the appointment was greeted with huge protests as some groups and individuals said it was against the principle of familiarity and regional representation. In a statement on Wednesday, Ajuri Ngelale, presidential spokesman, announced that Woke had been replaced with Dr. Adedeji Ashiru. Ngelale said Tinubu had moved Woke to the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) as the…
THE Chairman of Northern States Governors’ Forum and Governor of Gombe State, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, CON, has met with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu today at the Presidential Villa in Abuja. During the meeting, Governor Inuwa Yahaya briefed the Nigerian leader on the developments in Gombe State under his stewardship over the past five years, the positive impacts of his leadership and the ongoing efforts to improve governance and development at the state level. Speaking to State House Correspondents after the meeting, the Governor highlighted his administration’s strategic planning and deliberate approach to governance since his assumption of office in 2019.…
PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu received business mogul, the Chairman of Dantata Group of Companies, Alhaji Aminu Alhassan Dantata, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Tuesday. The last time both men were seen together in public was in the buildup to the 2023 elections. Tinubu had visited the influential businessman in Kano. Details of Tuesday’s discussion have not been made public as of the time of filing this report. See photos from the visit below:
FOLLOWING the walkout by the Organised Labour comprising of the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress during the last meeting with the Tripartite Committee on Minimum Wage after the proposed N48,000 as minimum wage by the Federal Government, our correspondent learned that the government has now upped it to N54,000. A highly reliable source within the meeting, which is currently ongoing, disclosed this to our correspondent in Abuja. “The Federal Government has now proposed the sum of N54,000,” the reliable source said. Though it is not clear whether Labour would accept this offer, this newspaper reports that the…
PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has joined other world leaders to pay tributes following the fatal helicopter crash that killed Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and the country’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. A total of nine people were on board the aircraft that crashed in a mountainous region of the country on Sunday. Since the confirmation of their deaths, leaders across the globe have sent their condolence messages to the Iranian people. In a statement on Monday, presidential spokesman Ajuri Ngelale said his principal extends his condolence to the people of Iran over the accident. “President Bola Tinubu extends his condolences to the…
EIGHT manufacturers, including BUA, Lafarge and Nestle saw their foreign exchange-related losses rise to N627.7bn in the first quarter of the year. This is according to an analysis of the financial statements of the firms, published on the Nigerian Exchange Limited. The listed firms include Lafarge Africa Plc, BUA Foods, Nestle Nig, BUA Cement, Dangote Sugar, International Breweries, Nigerian Breweries and Dangote Cement. Since the turn of the new year, the naira, which was floated almost a year ago has witnessed a dramatic depreciation, leaving a devastating mark on organised businesses across the board. The height of the depreciation came…
PRESIDENT Bola Ahmed Tinubu has appointed former Secretary To The Government of the Federation, Alhaji Yayale Ahmed (ABU Zaria), former Bauchi Governor, Alhaji Isa Yuguda (NOUN), son of late head of state Sani Abacha, Alhaji Muhammad Abacha (UNIMAID), former INEC boss, Prof Attahiru Jega (Sokoto) and others to serve in the Federal Universities’ Governing Councils. The list of 555 persons are serve as Pro-chancellors/Chairmen and members of Governing Boards of 111 federal universities, polytechnics and Colleges of Education. This followed Tinubu’s assent to a list of nominees selected by the Ministry of Education. An advertorial by the Education Ministry sighted…
PRESIDENT of the Pan-African Conglomerate, Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), Aliko Dangote has called for increased investments in the African continent to foster its rapid growth and development. Speaking at the largest gathering of private sector leaders in Africa, the Africa CEO Forum in Kigali, Rwanda, Dangote emphasized that recent trends underscore Africa’s pivotal role as the future epicenter of global progress. The business mogul cautioned against the continent’s overreliance on raw material exports, but advocating instead for strategic investments that will propel indigenous industries. He urged African nations to resist the urge to export raw materials but to nurture domestic…
President Bola Tinubu on Thursday said West African countries must unite to crush banditry, terrorism and other criminal activities plaguing the region. Tinubu stated this at the Presidential Villa in Abuja while receiving President Bassirou Diomaye Faye of Senegal where he called for an alignment of purpose and structure in West Africa to effectively address the challenges confronting the region. “We must defeat human trafficking; we must defeat terrorism, banditry, and poverty in our society. That must be our focus and commitment,” a statement by presidential spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, quoted Tinubu as saying. The President described Nigeria and Senegal as…