Author: Farouk Abbas

THERE are indications that the supply of crude oil in naira by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited to the Dangote Petroleum Refinery which should have started on October 1, 2024, has yet to begin as of Thursday, October 3. Officials at the Dangote refinery and those at the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Federal Ministry of Finance, and NNPC, among others, stayed mute when contacted for updates on the naira-for-crude deal between NNPC and Dangote. On Monday, this newspaper reported that the Technical Sub-Committee on Domestic Sales of Crude Oil in Local Currency had confirmed the preceding day that…

PRESIDENT Bola Ahmed Tinubu has saluted the invaluable contribution of the founder of LEADERSHIP newspaper, Late Sam Nda-Isaiah to the development of media in Nigeria. The President made the remark in a statement by the Special Adviser to the President, Information & Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, Thursday on the 20th anniversary of the LEADERSHIP Group. According to the statement, President recalls Nda-Isaiah’s invaluable contributions to Nigeria’s vibrant media landscape, from his time as a weekly columnist at Daily Trust newspaper to founding Leadership Confidential and later establishing the Leadership group of newspapers.   The President also acknowledges the role of Nda-Isaiah’s wife,…

WANTED bandit kingpin, Bello Turji, has dared the security forces, saying he is not afraid to be killed. He, however, called for dialogue with the federal government to end armed violence in Zamfara State. Turji, who is among the 43 terrorists in the North West declared wanted by the Defence Headquarters, made the call in a five-minute and forty-second video. In the video, Turji confirmed the killing of his boss, Halilu Sububu, saying that Sububu’s killing would not silence him. Turji said that he was willing to lay down his arms if the government would dialogue with him. He said,…

JUSTICE Sylvanus Oriji of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court has granted former Governor of Taraba State, Darius Ishaku, bail to the tune of 150 million Naira and two Sureties in like sum. The two sureties must be residents in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, with their house addresses verified by the registrar of the court. One of them must be a director with the Federal Civil Service, the judge said. The former governor was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a ₦27bn alleged fraud, before Justice Oriji. Justice Oriji barred the former governor and…

THE National Examination Council, (NECO) recently, released the results of the 2024 Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) for Internal candidates, which was conducted between June and July 2024. The Registrar of NECO, Prof Dantani Wushishi, while announcing the result in Minna, Niger State, said the results were released 55 days after the last paper was written. According to him, a total of 1,376,423 candidates, comprising 706,950 males and 669,473 females registered for the examinations but 1,367,736 (706,950 males, & 669,473 females) sat for the examination. This is against 1,205,888, comprising of 621,084 males and 584,804 females who registered in 2023…

MEMBERS of the House of Representatives, drawn from various political parties, on Wednesday called for the conferment of the national honour of the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger on the Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas. The House described as demeaning the conferment of the Commander of the Federal Republic on the Speaker and the GCON on the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, by President Bola Tinubu. Recall that President Tinubu announced the conferment of different categories of honours on the nation’s leaders during his Independence Day speech on Tuesday. Moving a motion of urgent public importance during…

THE family members of Bashir Hadejia have alleged police harassment and intimidation, saying their lives might be in danger. This was stated by Alhaji Umaru Hadejia, father of detained Bashir Hadejia in a statement he personally signed yesterday. He said the police arrested and detained him alongside five of his children on Monday without any justifiable cause. The family had earlier secured an order from the Federal High Court, Abuja Judicial Division, seeking to enforce the fundamental human rights of his family. Joined in the suit are the Inspector-General of Police, the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, the…

FORMER Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, has asserted that his entry into politics was driven solely by a desire to serve the people, not to amass wealth or siphon public funds. El-Rufai made this declaration on Tuesday during a Hausa program aired on Freedom Radio, Kaduna. Speaking candidly, the former governor dismissed allegations of financial misconduct during his administration, maintaining that he was already financially content before assuming office. The Kaduna State House of Assembly had earlier indicted El-Rufai’s administration for the misappropriation of over N423 billion during his eight-year tenure. However, El-Rufai and his associates have categorically…

THE nationwide protest scheduled for today has commenced in the Federal Capital Territory. The October 1 protest tagged #FearlessInOctober is a continuation of the #EndBadGovernance protests held between August 1 and 10 in response to the economic hardship experienced by many Nigerians. The protesters, as early as 7am, gathered at the busy Utako market in the Utako area of the FCT, where the demonstration is currently ongoing. The Director of Mobilisation Take It Back Movement, Damilare Adenola, lamented the hardship in the country, which he attributed to the policies of the Federal Government.

THE Governor of Kebbi State Nasir Idris has received the 19 rescued underage children who were trafficked from Kebbi State to Cross River State. The children, whose ages range from four to 10 years were rescued through the joint efforts of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Kebbi State Government, Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), Department of State Service (DSS), and other security agencies. The governor who received the children started his speech angrily blaming the parents of these children for neglect. Governor Idris expressed gratitude for the collaborative effort that led to the children’s…

THE Federal Government has inaugurated an independent investigative panel to probe allegations of corruption and gross violations of standard operating procedures within the Nigeria Correctional Service NCoS. Minister of Interior, Hon. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo who inaugurated the committee on Monday in Abuja said the committee must also look at the recent allegation that some correctional service personnel had provided an alternative accommodation for convicted cross-dresser, Idris Okuneye, also known as Bobrisky The panel, according to the Minister became necessary to sanitize the Service towards attaining transparency and accountability. Recall that the Minister, who is also the Chairman of the Civil Defence,…

THE Technical Sub-Committee on Domestic Sales of Crude Oil in Local Currency, on Sunday, confirmed that the supply of crude in naira by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited to the Dangote Petroleum Refinery is to begin on Tuesday, October 1, 2024. On September 13, 2024, the committee announced that the Federal Executive Council under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu approved the sale of crude to local refineries in naira and the corresponding purchase of petroleum products in naira. “From October 1, NNPC will commence the supply of about 385kbpd (385,000 barrels per day) of crude oil to the…

ORGANISERS of the #FearlessOctober1 protest have declared that the police, Department of State Services, and the military would not stop them from embarking on the demonstration as planned. The organisers have also written to the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to request security during the demonstration, noting that protest is a fundamental right they would not submit to any state agent. Nigeria will celebrate its 64th independence on Tuesday, October 1, the day some Nigerian youths have taken to protest the hardship occasioned by the removal of fuel subsidy and the devaluation of the naira. The National Coordinator of…

ABUBAKAR Umar, the Sixth Prosecution Witness in the trial of former governor of Benue State, Gabriel Suswam has narrated before the Federal High Court, Maitama, Abuja presided over by Justice Peter Lifu, how in 2014, he converted the sum of ₦3.1bn wired to him by Suswam as governor, and delivered its equivalent of $15.8m in cash to him at his Maitama, Abuja residence. This was revealed in a statement by Head,  Media & Publicity, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Dele Oyewale on Saturday. Suswan, alongside his then Commissioner of Finance, Omodachi Okolobia facing 11-count amended charges of money laundering…

THE Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA), is in the forefront of the implementation of the Performance Management System (PMS) in the Public Service. This was disclosed by Mrs. Titi Akisanya, the PMS Consultant from Zohar to FERMA, during the PMS appraisal session with FERMA Management at the Agency’s headquarters on Thursday 27th September, 2024. According to a statement by Maryam Sanusi,  Director Information and Public Relations, FERMA on Friday, the Performance Management System (PMS) has been at the centre of government reforms in recent years as an integral modern tool for planning, management, budgeting and improving accountability. The PMS is…

THE Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Bauchi Zone, has raised alarm over the exodus of 30 trained PhD holders from Sa’adu Zungur University (SAZU) formerly Bauchi State University, due to deteriorating working conditions and inadequate welfare provisions. The development was highlighted during a press conference held on Friday, where ASUU officials detailed their concerns. The absence of an employee exit policy has forced many of our best scholars to seek opportunities elsewhere, stated the Zonal Coordinator of ASUU Bauchi Zone, Namo Timothy, “SAZU has no pension or death benefit scheme in place as obtained in the structured public service…

THE Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) has stressed the need for those living around River Niger and River Benue banks to relocate immediately to safe locations and secure their lives and property. In a statement on Friday, The Director General NIHSA, Umar Mohammed further affirmed that the steady rise in the water levels of river Niger and Benue has reached the red mark. He stressed the need for Nigerian citizens to heed the Agency’s warning, by doing the needful- clearing their drainages, and gutters as well as making way for water run-off. He also emphasised that the prolonged rain that…

TEN years after, former President Goodluck Jonathan, on Thursday, denied suspending former Central Bank Governor, Dr Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, now Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II, for alleging that $49.8bn went missing from the government’s coffers. Jonathan, who insisted that no such money went missing, said the CBN leadership under Sanusi cooked up the allegation. The former President spoke on Thursday in Abuja during the launch of the book, “Public Policy and Agents Interests: Perspectives from the Emerging World,” co-authored by former Minister of Finance, Dr. Shamsudeen Usman, who served as Minister of Planning under his government. He responded to…

ANTI-CORRUPTION Civil Society organisations have described as statement credited to one organization, which called itself Human and Environmental Development Agenda, HEDA, calling for the arrest of former Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, as a ” display of egregious ignorance”. The Coalition of CSOs, in a statement on Thursday, made available to journalists in Abuja, said, with the current situation of things around the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission-Governor Yahaya Bello saga, only an uninformed person would still be calling for his arrest. The activists said it was a known fact that HEDA had a history of encouraging executive lawlessness…

MINISTER of Works, Dave Umahi, says the Federal Government will toll all major roads in the country upon completion of construction and renovation. “We have the Lagos-Ibadan (Expressway), we are completing it and we are tolling it,” Umahi said on Thursday in Abuja at an Inter-Ministerial Press Briefing, part of activities to mark Nigeria’s 64th independence anniversary. He listed some of the roads as Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Second Niger Bridge, Abuja-Kano Road, and Makurdi-9th Mile, among others. The former Ebonyi State governor said the tolling of federal roads “is going to bring a lot of money to the Federal Government”. Umahi…