Chairman
Sultan declares July 31 Eid-el-Kabir
The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Abubakar, has declared Friday 31st July 2020, as the 10th day of Zulhijia 1441 and the day of Eid-el-Kabir. Abubakar, who is also the President-General of the Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, also advised on how to observe prayers across the country amid the Covid-19 pandemic. This is contained in a statement issued signed by the Chairman, Sultanate Council Advisory Committee on Religious Affairs, Sambo Junaidu. “In view of the current situation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Sultan hereby advises all the District Heads and Imams in Sokoto State to observe Eid prayers in their Jumu’at mosques in their respective towns and villages and not at Eid grounds. “Also, the council advises the muslim communities throughout the country to obser...
Stakeholders advocate efficient fiscal policy for oil, gas sector
Stakeholders in the oil and gas sector have called for proactive fiscal policy in the petroleum industry to fast track investment and infrastructure development in the country. The stakeholders disclosed this at the Virtual workshop on Leveraging Fiscal Regulations to Attract Investments in the Petroleum sector, on Thursday. Mr Osten Olorunsola, Chairman, Energy Institute Nigeria, said that the oil and gas sector in Nigeria needed a lot of investment to meet with the current global challenges. He stated that globally, the industry had witnessed decline in product demand and low price regime, adding that only low cost molecules would be able to make it in the market. Olorunsola said that the sector in Nigeria needed to transform to meet with current trend as the sector was not buoyant as pe...
Speaker Gbajabiamila: House of Reps to provide funds for fight against gender-based violence
Speaker of the House of Representatives Femi Gbajabiamila says the house will provide funds for the fight against Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in the 2021 budget to be presented to the National Assembly in September. Gbajabiamila said this in response to a request by Ulla Mueller, the Country Representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Nigeria on Wednesday in Abuja. Mueller led a delegation of United Nations (UN) and European Union (EU) Spotlight Initiative on a courtesy call to the speaker, a statement issued by Mr Lanre Lasisi, Special Adviser on Media and Publicity said. Gbajabiamila said that apart from budget funds, the house would also provide all necessary support and partner with relevant stakeholders for the fight against GBV to succeed. According to the speaker...
How Amotekun will tackle crime in Ekiti – commandant
The Corps Commandant of Amotekun in Ekiti, retired Brig.-General Joe Komolafe, says ancient and modern security techniques would be deployed to tackle crime in the state. Newsmen report that Amotekun is the security outfit initiated by the six states in the South West Zone to tackle crime in the region. Komolafe spoke at Efon Alaaye during a sensitisation tour to the three council areas of Ekiti West, Efon Alaaye and Ijero. He said the neglect of culture was responsible for the rising crime wave and urged traditional rulers to deploy their traditional powers to secure lives and properties. Describing Amotekun as a force of liberation, Komolafe said the security outfit would protect the people of the zone from criminals. He also said that the first phase in the recruitment exercise was aime...
60 convicted over face mask violation in Ekiti
COVID-19 Task Force in Ekiti, on Monday arrested not less than 60 people who violated regulation on the compulsory use of face mask. Newsmen report that the offenders were taken to a Special Court, where they were convicted for contravening Coronavirus Disease Regulations 2020. Prof. Bolaji Aluko, Chairman of the COVID-19 Task Force, who spoke on the development, said the enforcement would henceforth be a regular exercise. Aluko said that the offenders were arrested in various parts of Ado Ekiti including Ajilosun, Ijigbo, Old Garage, Okesa, Fajuyi, Adebayo and Basiri. ”A fine of N5,000 is imposed on the convicts for refusal to wear face masks in public, in line with the new law to contain the disease,” the task force chairman said. He expressed concern over refusal of some citizens to wea...
Official: Oyo ready to conduct WAEC, other external exams
The Oyo State Government has disclosed its readiness to present students in the state for the West African Examination Council (WAEC) as well as other external examinations as the world prepared for post-COVID-19 realities. The Chairman, Oyo State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Dr Nureni Adeniran, said this in Ibadan on Monday, while leading members of the board and management of SUBEB to Islamic Mission Schools 1 and II, Bode and UMC Demonstration Basic Schools I, II and III, Molete, Ibadan to warn owners of shanties and illegal structures around the schools’ environments. He said judging from the readiness of the state through the preparation of students in all terminal classes, students would now face any external examination, including WAEC and the Joint Admission Matriculati...
Gunmen kill 21 in fresh Kaduna village attack
At least 21 people have been reported killed while 28 others sustained various degrees of injuries when gunmen attacked Kukum Daji Village of Kaura Local Government Area of Kaduna State on Sunday night. While the State Police Command is yet to confirm the incident, the President of the Community, Mr. Yashen Titus, told newsmen that the gunmen, suspected to be herdsmen, invaded the venue of a wedding party in the community at about 10 pm on Sunday night. Titus, who explained that the suspected herdsmen opened fire on the people who attended the party, said 19 people died on the spot while two others later died at the hospital. The remaining injured ones according to him were rushed to the Barau Dikko teaching hospital and other clinics in the state capital for treatment. Kaduna has been exp...
Eseme Eyiboh: NDDC suffering from faulty leadership recruitment process
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress in Akwa Ibom State and the Chairman, Cross River Basin Development Authority, Hon. Eseme Eyiboh has said the root cause of underperformance and corruption in the Niger Delta Development Commission NDDC and other public institutions was faulty leadership recruitment. Eyiboh who spoke on Saturday in an interview in Uyo against the backdrop of the ongoing investigation into financial recklessness in NDDC said recruiting wrong people to man right places and sometimes right people into wrong places had been responsible for weak institutions in the country. He said to make headway, institutions must be strengthened by recruiting the right leaders into the right positions. He, however, regretted that 20 years after its establishment, NDDC was yet to ac...
NANNM: 200 nurses in Abuja contract coronavirus
Over 200 nurses in the various medical facilities in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have contracted COVID-19, Nigerian Association of Nurses and Midwifery has stated. Out of the affected nurses, some 12 others have recovered and have been out of isolation, Chairperson Nigerian Association of Nurses and Midwifery, Federal Capital Territory chapter, Deborah Yusufu, told the leadership of the Nigerian Union of Journalists who was at the Secretariat in Abuja to make donations of Personnel Protective Equipments (PPEs) to them. According to Yusufu, Nigerian nurses are at the frontline of battling the COVID-19 pandemic because of their duties which make them most exposed among medical personnel in the various healthcare facility across the world and in the case Nigeria. She explained that th...
CAN: Igbo presidency will be Nigeria’s political solution
File Photo The Imo State Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria, Rev. Dr. Divine Eches Divine, has said that Igbo presidency in 2023 is incontestable, arguing that it will be Nigeria’s political solution. The cleric spoke to newsmen on Monday in Owerri, the state capital. He said that it would amount to injustice if Igbos are denied the opportunity to produce the next president of Nigeria, describing it as long overdue. “We are laying a serious foundation for people to understand that the Igbo presidency is not a zoning issue. Every agitation should surrender at the feet of the Southeast presidency as a doctrine of necessity. “Southeast leadership of Christian Association of Nigeria, as well as other religious groups, are seriously consulting. There should be a fair share of power wher...
IGP asks Ibrahim Magu’s lawyer to request for bail from presidential panel
The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu, has asked Tosin Ojaomo, the counsel for the embattled former acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, to direct the request for his client’s bail to the Presidential panel investigating his activities in office. Adamu said the police were not investigating Magu and is accordingly, not being detained by the force but by the panel headed by a former President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami. Adamu said this in a letter dated July 14, 2020, in response to the bail application filed by Ojaomo for the release of his client who had been in police custody since July 6. The letter with reference CB:7000/IGP.SEC/ABJ/VOL.489/171 titled, ‘RE: Application for bail,’ was signed by the Principa...
NMA warns Lagos not escalate impasse with medical doctors
File Photo The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has appealed to Lagos State Government to speedily and holistically address the demands of the striking doctors, under the aegis of Medical Guild. The NMA made the appeal in a statement jointly signed by Dr Adenekan Adetunji and Dr Ramon Moronkola, the Lagos State Chairman and Secretary of the association respectively. The NMA leaders said that this was to prevent avoidable escalation of the issue. Adetunji and Moronkola had closely monitored the developments surrounding the ongoing industrial dispute between Lagos State employed doctors, under the auspices of the Medical Guild and the state government. “We are aware of the extension of the ultimatum set by the Medical Guild for the LASG to address its demands. “Indeed, we were optimistic t...
