Citizens
Kaduna debunks rumour of helicopter supplying arms to criminals
The Kaduna State Government on Friday described as false, the news in circulation that helicopters supplied gunmen with arms at Ungwan Dankali and Tsallaken Dogo in Zaria Council Wednesday. The State’s Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, said the security stakeholders in the state conducted checks and discovered that the report was fake. While urging residents of Kaduna to always provide useful information to fight banditry, cattle rustling and kidnapping, Aruwan in a statement also assured the residents that the state government, together with security operatives are working round the clock to maintain peace security in the state. According to Aruwan, “the attention of the Kaduna State government has been drawn to a story that is being circulated by certain...
‘Christmas village’ boost Akwa Ibom economy with N1 billionn revenue – official
Mr. Orman Esin, the Akwa Ibom Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, has said the ‘Christmas Village’ generated more than N1 billion to the state economy since Dec. 1, 2020. Esin announced this to newsmen in Uyo on Friday. He said that the opening of the village had brought some life back to holidaymakers and citizens of the state. “The Christmas village has created value of more than N1 billion since it was opened on Dec. 1, 2020,’’ he said. “More than 600 vendors attract thousands of visitors every evening, adding that the Christmas village became a must-visit place in Nigeria every December. “With the ravaging Covid19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown, the 2020 Christmas season looked bleak. “Annual events were cancelled all over the world including the record-setting annual 999 events in...
Nigerian government begins three-month special public works scheme in Jigawa
The federal government on Friday inaugurated the Extended Special Public Works (ESPW) programme in Jigawa with 1,000 unskilled youth benefiting from the 27 local government areas of the state. Each participant will receive N20,000 monthly for three months for the duration of the programme. The Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, who made this known at the ceremony in Dutse, said that the extended programme was an outcome of the pilot SPW in rural areas approved by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2020. Mr. Adamu said that the programme was introduced following the emergence of the novel COVID-19 pandemic, as a measure to cushion the adverse socio-economic effects on citizens. “It aimed at shielding the vulnerable from the ravaging effects of COVID-19 pandemic which included, but are ...
Minister: Nigeria expecting vaccine from China
The Federal Government has opened talks with the Peoples Republic of China to have access to COVID-19 vaccines for the citizens, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, said on Tuesday. This is as both countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on establishment of inter-governmental committee to coordinate aspects of cooperation between both countries. The MOU was signed by Onyeama and the Chinese State Councillor and Minister of Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi in Abuja on Tuesday. The Chinese Foreign Minister is on a two-day working visit to Abuja. Briefing reporters after their bilateral meeting, Onyeama said at this point when countries were discovering vaccines and China being one of them, Nigeria was engaging the country in the area of access to the vaccine. “We have...
Alibaba founder Jack Ma ‘missing’ after criticism of Chinese government
Chinese business magnate Jack Ma has reportedly gone missing for two months, Yahoo Finance reported early Monday. The seemingly awkward disappearance of the 56-year-old billionaire businessman from the public eye comes nearly three months after he made critical remarks about the ‘stifling of innovation’ by Chinese authorities through stringent regulations, which he said had outlived their relevance. “Today’s financial system is the legacy of the Industrial Age,” Yahoo Finance reported Mr. Ma to have said on October 24. “We must set up a new one for the next generation and young people. We must reform the current system.” The Alibaba and Ant Group founder, who has spent years advancing the course of an open and market-driven economy in the communist East Asian country, has not been seen in ...
Police: Only 10 suspects escaped from Benin facility
The Police Command in Edo on Monday said only 10 suspects -two of whom have been rearrested, escaped from its cell at the Command Headquarters in Benin. A statement from the command’s spokesman, SP Chidi Nwabuzor, said the incident occurred at about 02:45 hours of Friday, January 1. Mr. Nwabuzor said the command decided to set the record straight, contrary to publications that had gone viral on social media and other platforms alleging that hundreds of armed robbery and kidnapping suspects had escaped. “Only 10 suspects escaped after the cell break, two of the escapees have already been rearrested while we have intensified hunt for the remaining eight,” the statement read. It said that the publication on social media and other platforms alleging that hundreds of suspected armed robbers and...
PDP: Nigerians fed up with President Buhari’s government
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on Sunday, maintained that Nigerians have become fed up with the Muhammadu Buhari administration and are now rallying under the main opposition party. In a statement issued in Abuja by its national spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP described the recent attack on it by presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, “as a feeble kick of a weak horse, in another failed attempt to beguile Nigerians.” Recall that the presidential spokesman had described the PDP as “a university of lies.” The PDP said it is not surprised that “the Buhari Presidency is rattled by the bitter truth that Nigerians are fed up with President Muhammadu Buhari as well as his All Progressives Congress (APC) and are rallying on our platform to rescue our nation from misrule.” The party noted:...
PDP: Nigerians fed up with President Buhari’s government
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on Sunday, maintained that Nigerians have become fed up with the Muhammadu Buhari administration and are now rallying under the main opposition party. In a statement issued in Abuja by its national spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP described the recent attack on it by presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, “as a feeble kick of a weak horse, in another failed attempt to beguile Nigerians.” Recall that the presidential spokesman had described the PDP as “a university of lies.” The PDP said it is not surprised that “the Buhari Presidency is rattled by the bitter truth that Nigerians are fed up with President Muhammadu Buhari as well as his All Progressives Congress (APC) and are rallying on our platform to rescue our nation from misrule.” The party noted:...
Coronavirus: School reopening, worship centres, others caused second wave – Prof. Abayomi
The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, has attributed the reasons for the second wave of COVID-19 to the opening up of the economy, the re-opening of schools, large religious congregations, and social gatherings among others. A statement from the Lagos State Ministry of Health quoted the commissioner as saying this while giving an update on the State Government’s response against the second wave of COVID-19 at a press briefing held in Ikeja on Monday. The statement titled, ‘COVID-19: Lagos admonishes residents’, was signed by the LSMOH Director of Public Affairs, Tunbosun Ogunbanwo. “Abayomi attributed the reason for the second wave of COVID19 to include, opening up of the economy; general laxity, false sense of security and non-adherence to safety guidelines by citiz...
Senator Sani visits survivors of 2012 Kaduna church bombing
CNN Ex-Senator from Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani, on Saturday visited survivors of a 2012 Boko Haram bomb blast at St Monica Catholic Church, in Malali, Kaduna. In 2012, about eight worshippers had died at the explosion, with several others sustaining injuries. Those who survived the attack lamented that they have since been abandoned to cater for themselves. The survivors used the former lawmaker’s visit to call on the government and citizens for aid to be able to get back their life. A survivor, Polycarp Lawrence, who lost an eye in the attack, said that he has been paying for his medical bills with the little support from the church, which has not been enough. ‘Since the bomb blast of 2012, I have not found my rhythm back in life. Life has been so difficult for me and my family. There has...
Coronavirus: Nigerian government rolls out measures for UK, South African returnees
The Federal Government has rolled out new containment measures against the importation of COVID-19 particularly from the United Kingdom and South Africa, saying returnees from both countries are required to present two documents before boarding. National Coordinator of the Presidential Taskforce PTF on COVID-19, Dr Sani Aliyu, disclosed this during Thursday’s briefing of the Taskforce. He said; “In particular, international travellers must register with the Nigeria international travel portal. “We are concerned a out the emergence of the new variant of COVID-19 in the UK and an additional mutant in South Africa. Our protocol to ensure the safety of our citizens and prevent the importation of cases into the country is one of the most strict. “Specifically, for the UK and South Africa, the P...
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 ...