Care
JAMB boss lists major challenges
Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) said malpractice and indiscipline are some of the board’s major challenges yet to be fully addressed. The Registrar made this known when members of the Senate Committee on Basic and Secondary Education visited the board’s headquarters in Bwari, Abuja on Monday. Oloyede said that the challenges, unfortunately, were mostly with regards to parents trying to bend the system by all means and get their wards or children into schools, irrespective of their performance. “Our challenge remains examination malpractice, especially with regards to parents who keep calling me to favour their wards or children whether they meet the requirements of the system or not. “There’s also indiscipline from the tertiary institutions...
Gary Lineker urges Three Lions to ‘treasure’ Euro 2020 final
Gary Lineker has urged the England players to “treasure and enjoy” Sunday’s Euro 2020 final against Italy – but believes it is just the beginning and success will soon come even if they are beaten at Wembley. Gareth Southgate’s side are preparing for their first major tournament final in 55 years, something not even Lineker achieved during his time as a Three Lions player. The former Tottenham, Everton and Barcelona forward also praised the players for the showing a “shining social conscience” off the field which represents the “very best” of England. In an open letter to the England team in the Players’ Tribune, Lineker said: “I wish I was playing with you. This is the sort of occasion you dream about as a player. And honestly, it’s much less nerve-racking out on the pitch than in the sta...
Roberto Martinez to stay on as Belgium coach
Roberto Martinez will stay on as Belgium coach despite the country’s European Championship exit and attempt another tilt at a major title at next year’s World Cup, he said in an interview with Belgian newspapers on Friday. Martinez, whose contract runs until after next year’s tournament in Qatar, had not given any clarity on his plans since Belgium were beaten 2-1 by Italy in Munich in the Euro 2020 quarter-finals a week ago in a major disappointment for the team, who have spent the last three years top of the Fifa rankings. “I’m staying as coach. When I feel I no longer have anything to contribute is when I will leave,” he said. “But I don’t have that feeling now. I was a bitterly disappointed to be knocked out but now I’m looking ahead to the World Cup in Qatar. And also the Nations Leag...
NSITF raises N180 billion from employers’ enrollment in 10 years
The Managing Director of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), Dr. Michael Akabogu, has revealed that the agency has raised N180 billion from employers’ enrollment from July 2011-May 30, 2021. He also said that plans were afoot to plug revenue leakages, even as he warned the public to be wary of fraudsters masquerading as agents of NSITF. At an interactive session with Finance Journalists in Abuja on Thursday, Akabogu also stated that the scheme has registered almost 200,000 employers. Out of this number, 170,000 employers are actively involved in the scheme by making their contributions steadfastly. He added: “We have collected both from the private sector who have contributed about 80% of the total revenue and we have collected from the government and all other agencies, so we...
PDP vice chairman: Electronic transfer of results, a must for free, fair polls
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the South-south has called on the National Assembly to retain electronic transmission of results in the Electoral Act The National Vice Chairman, South-south of the party, Dan Orbih, made the call on Wednesday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Benin. He was reacting to the purported removal of the provision for the electronic transfer of result provision from the proposed amendment Act currently being debated by the National Assembly. “Nigerians should resist the removal of electronic transmission of election results during elections from the Electoral Act because it is an invitation to unending electoral fraud,” Mr Orbih said. The introduction of electronic transmission of election results from the polling units to collation cen...
NLC urges National Assembly to transform NNPC to public liability company
The Nigeria Labour Congress has cautioned the National Assembly to handle with utmost care what it described as the very sensitive issue of the unbundling of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation. It urged the lawmakers to transform the NNPC to a public liability company as part of the reforms of the oil and gas sector captured in the Petroleum Industry Bill. The NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, said this on Tuesday, in a statement lauding the passage of the PIB titled, ‘Congress commends the national assembly for passing the petroleum industry bill – demands that the NNPC be transformed into a public liability company.’ It stated, “We know that the process of making the PIB a law has not been completely consummated as the passed bill would still need to be harmonized by a conference of th...
APC states to implement Security Trust Fund to address insecurity
In a bid to fight the increasing wave of insecurity in the country, All Progressives Congress (APC) controlled states are to strengthen the legal framework for the implementation of the Security Trust Fund (STF) by member States. This decision was reached at the 12th Quarterly meeting of Secretaries to Government of APC states in conjunction with the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) in Lafia, Nasarawa State capital. The communique, jointly signed by the Nasarawa State Secretary to Government, Barr. Muhammad Ubandoma Aliyu and the Director-General of PGF, Salihu Moh. Lukman, issued at the end of the meeting and released to newsmen in Abuja on Saturday stated that States Chief scribes will continue to mobilize resources for the management of security challenges in the APC-controlled states....
Brazilian potential presidential candidate announces he is gay
Brazilian governor and potential major party presidential candidate Eduardo Leite, a prominent critic of President Jair Bolsonaro, came out as gay in a TV interview. Leite, governor of the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, would be the first openly gay presidential candidate in Brazil. Anti-gay rhetoric has been a staple of speeches by Bolsonaro, who once declared that if he had a gay son, he would rather the child died in an accident. “I have never spoken about a subject related to my private life,” Leite told Brazilian journalist Pedro Bial in a TV interview on Thursday evening. “But during this moment of low integrity in Brazil, I have nothing to hide, I am gay. I am a governor who is gay, not a gay governor, as former President Obama in the US was a president who was Black, not a Bl...
Catholic Church seeks Nigerian government’s partnership to tackle climate change
YouTube The Catholic Bishop of the Abuja archdiocese, Ignatius Kaigama, has urged the federal government to collaborate with the church to ensure a clean and healthy environment for Nigerians. Mr Kaigama made the call Saturday at an event to mark the beginning of a seven year climate improvement programme by the diocese, with the theme: “Care for our common home.” Mr Kaigama said local and international environmental realities had proven that “nature has been wounded and the church must be part of its healing” process. “We are interested in collaboration. We just hope that the government will return the gesture and embrace us. We must work together for beautifying the earth, for creating harmony and order in our society. “When we are doing it our way, providing the quality schools and clin...
Official: PDP focused on taking over government in Anambra
File Photo The Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Anambra, Ndubuisi Nwobu, said the party remains focused to take over the state in the upcoming governorship poll. Nwobu said this in an interview with newsmen in Awka on Tuesday, adding that he would not be distracted by those trying to destabilise the party in the state. He lauded the National Executive Committee of the party for organising successful ward congresses in the state which he said was a sure step to the party’s free, fair and credible primary election. “We want to conduct our primary election, where party people will freely vote and produce a candidate that will be acceptable to Anambra people at the November 6 poll. “This is not (the) time for distractions. We are focused on taking over the government from the ...
Lagos governor asks security agencies to crush criminals
Lagos State Government has tightened the noose on criminal elements, as Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu fortifies the armoury of the State Police Command with new hardware and gadgets. One hundred and fifty units of double cabin vehicles, 30 patrol saloon cars, four high-capacity troop carriers and two anti-riot water cannon vehicles are part of the crime-fighting equipment donated to the police, yesterday, by the Lagos Government to strengthen security responses across the state. President Muhammadu Buhari took inventory and inaugurated the security equipment before Governor Sanwo-Olu handed over the gears to the Inspector-General of Police (IG), Mr. Alkali Usman, for the use of Lagos Police Command. The equipment and gadgets were procured through the Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF) –...
Ex-soldiers: We trained 4,400 IPOB militias after Nnamdi Kanu promised us rank of General in Biafra Republic
Operatives of the Force Intelligence Response Team have arrested three dismissed soldiers, who allegedly partook in the training of 4,400 members of the Eastern Security Network for the Indigenous People of Biafra. The suspects have been identified as Linus Owalo, Godswill Steven and Chinasa Orji. They were arrested recently after operatives of the IRT, while following a tip-off from some members of IPOB, raided the group’s hideouts in Imo, Anambra and Delta States and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. ESN is the armed wing of the POB. IPOB and ESN have been accused by the police of being responsible for the attacks and killings of security operatives as well as burning of police stations and government infrastructure across the South East and South South regions of the country. IPOB a...
