Artisans
Police: No invasion of miscreants into Ekiti
The Ekiti State Police Command has described as untrue the reports that miscreants have invaded Ado Ekiti, the state capital. The state’s Commissioner of Police, Tunde Mobayo, who disclosed that the information was false, said it was intended to disturb the peaceful atmosphere of the town. A video had circulated online on Friday that some Fulani-Hausa men were found around Agric Olope Housing Estate, in Ado Ekiti, in possession of dangerous weapons including AK-47 rifles with the intention to unleash terror on the community. Mobayo, in a statement signed by the command’s spokesman, ASP Sunday Abutu, and made available to reporters on Saturday, explained that the news was fake as the men were in the town to execute a building project, warned peddlers against spreading false information. He ...
IPOB sit-at-home records success in Onitsha
The sit-at-home protest ordered by the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, and the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, recorded total compliance and success with all the residents of Onitsha and Nnewi and business outfits complying with the directive. All business activities were shot down, all markets were under lock and key public and private Secondary and Primary Schools were shot down, government offices and banks were also not opened for business as they were under lock and key, Petrol and Gas filling stations were also not opened for business as streets and roads shops and artisans in both Onitsha and Nnewi shut for the day business when Vanguard moved round the cities. All the roads leading into and exit of Onitsha, the commercial city, and those ...
House asks FCT councils to suspend illegal taxes on businesses
The House of Representatives has declared illegal, levies being imposed on businesses by area councils in the Federal Capital Territory, ordering the task forces to suspend their activities. A member of the House from Kogi State, Mr Tajudeen Yusuf, had moved a motion calling for the suspension at the plenary on Tuesday. It was titled ‘Investigation of Alleged illegal Levies by the Federal Capital Territory Area Councils on Business Outlets and Premises in the Area Councils.’ Yusuf said, “Business outlets and private enterprises have been under threats, intimidation, and coercion by task forces operating in the Federal Capital Territory area councils under different guises, forcing business owners to pay illegal levies which are not remitted into the government coffers but private pockets o...
Lagos recovers N50 million over fraudulent real estate activities
The Lagos State Government on Tuesday said it had recovered more than N50 million from parties involved in illegal real estate transaction activities. Mrs Toke Benson-Awoyinka, Special Adviser to Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Housing, made the disclosure during a news conference in Ikeja. It was to give account of activities in the housing sector for the 2nd year anniversary of the Sanwo-Olu-led administration of the Governor. Benson-Awoyinka said that the agency had successfully mediated in about 55 out of 150 petitions/complaints between property developers, landlords, potential tenants and tenants. She said that 50 cases were adjourned for further mediation while 40 were referred to appropriate agencies, with five cases in courts in Ketu, Ajah, Ikorodu, Gbagada and Yaba. The special advise...
Minister: Nigerian government worried about rising unemployment rate
Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has said the federal government is worried over the rising unemployment rate in the country. Speaking at the 2nd Shakeholders’ Meeting on Expatriate Quota Administration organized by the Citizenship and Business Department of the Ministry of Interior, the Minister said: “Anyone that is not worried about the unemployment rate in the country is not a patriot.” He lamented that the unemployment rate of 33 per cent released by the National Bureau of Statistics was indeed worrisome and a wake up call that something urgently needed to be done to keep Nigerians employed and drastically reduce the unemployment rate. The Minister, who called on all stakeholders at the meeting to ensure quality inputs were brought to the table that will lead to the produ...
Nigerian government says 300,000 mass housing scheme strictly for low income earners
The Federal Government says its Social Housing Programme, one of the components of the National Economic Sustainability Plan (NESP), is targeted at low income earners. Imeh Okon, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Infrastructure, who made this clarification on Tuesday in Abuja, said the scheme was not meant for politicians or highly placed persons. The 300,000 social housing programme is a component of the NESP designed by the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo-led committee constituted by President Muhammadu Buhari to cushion the effects of COVID-19 on Nigerians. She explained that one of the objectives of the administration was to provide houses for citizens across the country. Okon said that the houses would be durable and of high quality not minding the low prices. “It is a social ...
Nigerian government commences N30,000 grants to Uber drivers, Keke NAPEP riders
The federal government has commenced the disbursement of N30,000 grants for transporters as a measure to support those affected by COVID-19 pandemic under its economic sustainability plan (ESP). This was disclosed in a statement signed by Laolu Akande, senior special assistant to the vice president on media and publicity, on Sunday. The funds are being disbursed under the federal government’s micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) survival fund scheme for artisans and transporters. The transport support track opened on November 30, 2020, after the artisans’ support track launched on October 1, 2020. According to the statement, the artisans track is under federal government’s survival fund, while the transport track is a different scheme also under the same fund. Those to benefit from th...
Ondo INEC fire: l suspect foul play, our fate in God’s hand – PDP candidate
Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Ondo State, Eyitayo Jegede, says he suspected foul play in the mysterious fire that gutted the state office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Over 5,100 card readers meant for the October 10 governorship election stored in a container were burnt in the inferno on Thursday night. In a statement by his campaign organization in Akure, Jegede said; “We cannot rule out a foul play in the mystery fire that completely razed down the state INEC office; now, our fate is in the hands of God. The Head, Media Research for the organisation, Mr Samuel Fasua, in the statement said, “For a while now, our main rival in this race has been in the eye of the storm over accusation that it was using loan assistance decoy to collect the pin code...
Understanding the strength of small businesses
The number of small businesses keeps growing in the formal and informal sectors of the Nigerian economy, due to the role of small businesses as the live-wire of any economy and the backbone of major developed economies the world over. Though Nigeria rely majorly on oil and revenues derived from it, from context observation the economy is largely supported by small businesses covering almost all spheres of activities within the country, ranging from Nano, kiosk, and Micro businesses most importantly. A visible reference usually includes the vulcanizers, corner shop owners, single retail marketers, repairers, painters, business center operators, restaurants, market women, and men in the various open markets, among others. and the formal operations such as the law firms, accounting firms, con...