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Shkodran Mustafi joins Schalke from Arsenal
Arsenal’s squad trimming has continued, with Shkodran Mustafi joining Schalke on a deal until the end of the season. Gunners boss Mikel Arteta said prior to the January transfer window that he was keen to trim some flab from his squad. Mesut Ozil has been the highest-profile departure, with the former Germany international joining Fenerbahce and in so doing the club cleared a sizeable chunk of wages from the monthly bill. Sokratis Papastathopoulos joined Olympiakos earlier this month after being released from his contract, William Saliba, Sead Kolasinac and Matt Smith have left on loan, while Matt Macey joined Hibernian on a permanent basis. World Cup winner Mustafi emerged as a possible departure towards the end of January, and he was linked with a shock move to Liverpool. Premier League ...
Senate moves to push retirement age of Supreme Court justices to 75 years
The Senate is putting in place measures to push for the retirement age of Supreme Court Justices in the nation’s apex court from the age of 70 to 75 years. According to the Senate, it is considering the proposal made to it by the Supreme Court March this year, 2021. Speaking today in Abuja during the Senate Constitution Review Committee Retreat to Review and Analyse Submitted Memoranda, Deputy President of the Senate Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, All Progressives Congress, APC, Delta Central said that the upper Chamber will in March consider the proposal of shifting the retirement age of Supreme Court Justices from 70 to 75 years and the retirement age for judges of the states, including that of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT and the Federal High Courts to bring in about parity with the 70 y...
Official: Gombe records 200 rape, 37 sodomy cases in 2020
Gombe State Commissioner for internal security and Ethical Orientation, Dauda Zambuk, on Saturday said the state recorded 200 rape, 37 sodomy and 10 kidnap cases in 2020 with five recorded in January of the new year 2021 alone. Addressing a group of journalists in his office in Gombe Zambuk said 61 persons were also arrested for an act of gross indecency while three children were reported abandoned. “In all the total number of 314 suspects were arrested and all were charged to court,” he said. The commissioner said the state government after the investigation was a shock to find out that all kidnappings were perpetrated by criminals from the neighbouring Adamawa and Taraba States. According to Zambuk, 40 rape cases were lodged in Gombe alone while 39 attempted rape were reported in the ent...
Senator lauds President Buhari for signing Modibbo Adama University bill into law
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Sustainable Development Goals, Senator Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed (Binani), on Friday commended President Muhammadu Buhari for signing the Modibbo Adama University bill into law. Binani, who initiated the bill in the 7th National Assembly, said the university can now run all approved academic programmes like any other conventional University. She said the bill will also create more placements for youths seeking admission into the university. Binani, who made her feelings known in a statement in Abuja, said the assent of the President was heart-warming. She said: “It is heartwarming to note the gracious assent by Mr. President to this bill. Precisely on the 6th of January, 2021, Mr. President assented to the bill converting MAUTECH to a Conventional Univers...
TUC: Electricity tariff hike another betrayal of trust
File Photo The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, has expressed disappointment over the latest hike in electricity tariff, describing is as a betrayal of trust. TUC, in a statement by its President and Secretary-General, Quadri Olaleye, and Musa-Lawal Ozigi, respectively, said: “We are disappointed by the recent hike in electricity tariff, while negotiations were ongoing with the Organised Labour on the last hike because of the untold hardship it has brought on the workers and Nigerians as a whole. “Sometimes we wonder why this government espouses unfriendly policies that are capable of crippling the economy. “There are many companies that have either closed shops or relocated to neighbouring countries because they cannot afford to pay the last tariff hike, yet this government has done ...
Kogi Assembly passes 2021 budget estimate of N130.54 billion into law
The Kogi House of Assembly on Tuesday passed the N130.54 billion Appropriation Bill tagged “Budget of Accelerated Recovery” into law. Newsmen report that the House considered the bill Clause-by-Clause at the “Committee of the Whole” of the House at plenary in Lokoja. Aderonke Aro (APC-Yagba West) and Chairman, House Committee on Finance, Budget Monitoring and Economic Planning, presented the committee’s report for consideration. Aro declared that Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) with genuine reasons for adjustments in their allocations were taken care of during the defence of their respective budgets. In the budget presented to the House on Dec. 1, Gov. Yahaya Bello of Kogi had said that the budget was indicative of the assessment of the amount the state could generate on its ow...
Millions of Americans risk losing jobless benefits as Donald Trump refuses to sign aid bill
Millions of Americans are about to see their jobless benefits expire on Saturday as U.S. President Donald Trump has so far refused to sign into law a $2.3 trillion pandemic aid and spending package, insisting that it did not do enough to help everyday people. Trump stunned Republicans and Democrats alike when he said this week he was unhappy with the massive bill, which provides $892 billion in badly needed coronavirus relief, including extending special unemployment benefits expiring on Dec. 26, and $1.4 trillion for normal government spending. Without Trump’s signature, about 14 million people could lose those extra benefits, according to Labor Department data. A partial government shutdown will begin on Tuesday unless Congress can agree a stop-gap government funding bill before then. Af...
Lagos assembly tasks governor on second wave of coronavirus
Following the ravaging effect of the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic, the Lagos State House of Assembly, yesterday, called on the state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to direct the Commissioner for Information, Mr. Gbenga Omotoso, to intensify public enlightenment campaigns to curtail its spread among Lagosians. Speaker of the House, Mudashiru Obasa, who presented the matter during plenary on Tuesday, also said it was important for the House to invite the Commissioner for Health, Professor Tunji Abayomi, to brief the House on the state government’s efforts to prevent the spread of the disease in the state. He stressed that there was an urgent need to ensure that all the COVID-19 protocols were strictly observed, even as he the government to ensure that enforcement was total as the most rel...
Senator Lawan: Electoral Act amendment ready by early 2021
Senate President Ahmed Lawan on Wednesday said an amendment to the nation’s electoral law would be ready by next year. At the public hearing on the repeal of the Electoral Act 2010 and enactment of the 2020 Electoral Act, held in Abuja yesterday, Mr. Lawan said that the Electoral Act Amendment Bill will be passed by the first quarter of 2021. Mr. Lawan added that the passing of this legislation would enable the 2020 Electoral Act to be tested ahead of the elections to check its efficacy. “A free fair and credible election in 2023 is doable; we just have to remain focused,” Mr. Lawan said. “I have participated in several elections since 1999 and none of them has been the same. I have had different experiences. It means we always have some new emerging problems.” The joint hearing was organi...
National Assembly to make smart card reader compulsory in future elections
File Photo The National Assembly plans to make the use of Smart Card Reader compulsory in future elections in Nigeria, a lawmaker has said. The Chairperson of the House Committee on Electoral Matters, Aishatu Dukku, said this at a Joint Public Hearing on “The Bill for an Act to repeal the Electoral Act 2010 (As Amended) and enact the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Act, 2020″, on Wednesday in Abuja. The event was organised by the National Assembly Joint Committee on INEC and Electoral Matters. Ms Dukku said the amendment will affect about 300 clauses in the Act. ” In Section 49 of the Electoral Act 2010 under Use of Ballot Paper, Subsection (1) and (2) are to be amended to read: “A person intending to vote in an election shall present himself with his voter’s card to a pre...
Bill to extend free education to senior secondary school passes second reading
A Bill for an Act to amend the Compulsory, Free, Universal Basic Education Act on Wednesday, passed second reading in the House of Representatives. The bill, which seeks to expand the scope of compulsory free basic education in Nigeria to include, Senior Secondary Education level, was sponsored by Taiwo Oluga and four other lawmakers. Leading the debate, Ms Oluga said the bill sought to amend sections 2, 4, 7, 11 and 15 of the existing Act. The lawmaker said the aim was to provide for rehabilitation of delinquent children and provide comprehensive definition for services, stakeholders, children or wards as captured in the existing Act. According to her, this will be done by providing a role for community based organisations in the development of basic education in states and local governme...
Nigerian National Assembly spends billions of naira on constitution review
The perennial constitution amendment exercise by the National Assembly is characterised by proposals that keep resurfacing despite gulping billions of naira yearly, an analysis has shown. The federal parliament had from the 5th to the current 9th National Assembly made several attempts to amend some provisions of the 1999 Constitution to no avail. At every session, the parliament officially spends N1 billion shared equally between the Senate and the House of Representatives. There are reports that the lawmakers spend more than what is appropriated for the exercise. While some amendments were successful, several others suffered serial failures but kept appearing in new proposals. Considering the huge spending, lawyers and civil society groups have pointed out that no significant amendments ...