Author: Abdullahi Maitama Sani

THE country has been thrown into a fresh round of blackouts over the shutdown of the national grid by aggrieved members of the labour unions. The national grid system dropped to zero megawatts on Monday as a result of the complete disruption of power supply to all eleven electricity distribution companies in the country. A Monday statement from Transmission Company of Nigeria’s General Manager, Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, said the nationwide blackout was due to staff of the TCN, under the aegis of the National Union of Electricity Workers (NUEE), completely shutting down all power substations across the country at…

AFTER a four-hour meeting with the leadership of the National Assembly on Sunday evening in Abuja, the leadership of the Organised Labour says there is no going back on the nationwide industrial action slated to start on Monday, June 3, 2024. “For now, we don’t have the power to call off the strike, tomorrow (Monday) morning, the strike will kick off as we take their (NASS) plea asking us to call off the strike to our various organs,” said Festus Osifo after the meeting with NASS leadership. Earlier, Osifo, the President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC); and his counterpart…

THE leadership of the National Assembly, on Sunday evening, arrived at a meeting with the leadership of the Organised Labour in Abuja as part of last-minute efforts to persuade aggrieved workers to shelve their planned industrial action for a new minimum wage. The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero; and his Trade Union Congress (TUC) counterpart, Festus Osifo; are at the meeting with Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Speaker of the House of Representatives Tajudeen Abbas. in Abuja. The National Assembly said the meeting was to “avert the impending industrial action” to commence on Monday, June 3,…

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has vowed to clamp down on non-state actors, describing the recent killing of five soldiers in Abia State as a “treasonable offence” which must not be tolerated. “I want to make it clear that the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the armed forces have the capacity to crush violent non-state actors, making our communities unsafe,” he said in a statement on Saturday. Gunmen had stormed a military unit at Obikabia Junction, Ogbor Hill area of Aba, Abia State, and killed five soldiers and six civilians. They also burnt the unit as well as a…

THE Branch Controller (Ekiti), West Africa Examinations Council, Mrs T.A.Y. Lawson has said that the nationwide strike scheduled to begin on Monday will not disrupt examinations nationwide. She alerted Principals and school heads in Ekiti State in a letter titled, “Notice of Commencement of Indefinite Strike by NLC and TUC” with reference number EK/BC/SC/EXAM/07/Vol.1/89 late Friday. This newspaper reports that the Nigeria timetable for the examination began Tuesday, April 30 and will end Thursday, June 20, 2024. The letter read, “The attention of Management has been drawn to a notice of the Commencement of Indefinite Strike by NLC and TUC…

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has justified the reintroduction of the old national anthem ‘Nigeria, we Hail thee,’ saying it was a priority for him. Tinubu had signed a bill bringing back the old national anthem in a move that triggered criticisms from several quarters. But during a meeting with the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, Tinubu dismissed the critics, insisting the reintroduction of the old anthem is not a misplaced priority as some have argued. “Let me allude to something that happened yesterday. The change of national anthem, ‘Nigeria, we hail thee’,” President Tinubu says at…

A FORMER Health Minister, Isaac Adewole, has urged politicians to invest in human capital development such as education and healthcare as much as they build roads, hospitals, and bridges. Adewole, a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, was a guest on Inside Sources with Laolu Akande, a socio-political programme aired on Channels Television monitored by News Point Nigeria on Friday. The former minister lamented that there has been “undue emphasis on infrastructure” without commensurate human capital development. He said politicians build flyovers for exhibitionism because they want to have something to show to the people at the end…

THE Economic and Financial Crime Commission is probing a former Kano State Governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, over alleged N2.5bn pension fraud, this newspaper has learnt. Our correspondent gathered that Kwankwaso was invited and had been grilled by EFCC interrogators over the development. A source in the anti-graft agency familiar with the matter but had no authourisation to speak, said, “The commission invited Kwankwaso over the alleged N2.5bn Kano pension funds. We have grilled Kwankwaso over the matter, and he has provided some details to interrogators.” Another source noted, “Former Kano governor, Kwankwaso has been invited by the commission. He has been…

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…

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…