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Cross River agency chief calls for legislation to back labour migration
The director-general, Cross River Migration Control Agency, Prince Michael Nku Abuo, has called for enactment of a legislation to back labour migration in order to engender national development. Abuo made the call at the Cross River State Migration Summit held in Calabar, the state capital on Saturday. The DG, who also represented the state governor, Prof. Ben Ayade, at the summit, pointed out that several solutions by both federal and state governments have been given to address the issue of unemployment in order to curb the challenge, but the way forward is to tackle the menace was through labour migration. According to him, Cross River Migration Control Agency was exploring and advancing for opportunities for citizens of the State who are at home and in the Diaspora under a work study p...
Saudi Arabia donates $1.2 million food items to Zamfara disaster victims
The Saudi Arabia based King Salman Humanitarian and Relief Center has donated food items worth 1.2 million dollars to victims of armed banditry in Zamfara. Retired AVM Muhammadu Muhammed, Director-General, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said at a news conference in Gusau on Friday. Muhammed said that the food items would be distributed to 8,725 households. “Each household will receive a package weighing 59.8kg; comprising rice, beans and a condiment of tomato paste, maggi cube, cooking oil, salt and masa flour. “The donors expect the items to immediately reach the beneficiaries in order to give them some relief in this fasting period,” he said. The NEMA boss commended the centre for the items, noting that Nigeria would remain grateful for such donations which was also made to ...
FIFA chief to break silence as Super League plunges Europe into crisis
FIFA president Gianni Infantino is expected to deliver his verdict on the European Super League on Tuesday after the widely condemned breakaway competition triggered threats of legal action and punitive measures. European body UEFA will look to support from the world football chief at its congress in Switzerland as it attempts to quash an initiative that threatens its prized Champions League and the health of domestic competitions such as England’s Premier League. Twelve powerful clubs – six from England, and three each from Spain and Italy – have signed up for the Super League, which offers guaranteed spots for its founding members and billions of dollars in payments. Currently, clubs have to qualify for the Champions League each year through their national competitions, and face a length...
US company mistakenly deposits $1.2 million into woman’s account
It’s not quite the nearly $1 billion blunder that Citigroup Inc. made last summer, but Charles Schwab Corp. said it accidentally sent more than $1 million dollars to the Fidelity Brokerage Services account of a woman in Louisiana. Schwab blamed an “issue created by a software enhancement” for erroneously transferring $1.2 million in February to the Fidelity account of Kelyn Spadoni, rather than the $82.56 she had requested, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court in New Orleans last month. When the company realized the mistake and attempted to take the money back, it was gone and Spadoni wasn’t answering her phone, the bank said. Spadoni, 33, of Harvey, Louisiana, was arrested earlier this week and fired from her job as a 911 dispatcher, nola.com and WVUE-TV reported, citing the Jeff...
Namibian president caught in new fishing corruption allegations
Informante The president of Namibia has been implicated in new allegations of corruption involving the country’s lucrative fishing industry by an investigation released by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and The Namibian newspaper. According to a lawyer who allegedly arranged the deal, President Hage Geingob instructed his close associates to embezzle millions of dollars from a state-run fishing enterprise in order to bribe electors at the 2017 congress of the ruling SWAPO (South West Africa People’s Organization) party, reports the new investigation released on Friday. The lawyer, who is not named by the OCCRP, claims that Hage Geingob – elected as President of Namibia in 2014 and re-elected in 2019 – allegedly asked James Hatuikulipi, then chairman of the sta...
Coronavirus: Nigeria gets $15 million grant for safe school reopening
The Federal Ministry of Education says Nigeria has received 15 million dollars response grant from the Global Partnership on Education (GPE) for COVID-19 safe school reopening across the country. Hajia Binta Abdulkadir, Director, Basic and Secondary Education in the ministry, said this on Wednesday in Bauchi, at a Cluster Mobilisation and Sensitisation Meetings on COVID-19 Protocols, Surveillance and Safe School Reopening Readiness. Abdulkadir was represented on the occasion by Mr Achede Owoicho, Deputy Director, Basic and Secondary Education and the Focal person for the GPE. The workshop is initiated with the support of the United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF). Abdulkadir noted that through the grants, UNICEF had sent WASH and ICT materials to 16 states for preparation of digit...
NBS: Nigerian government, states’ debt profile rise to N32.92 trillion
Nigeria’s total public debt portfolio as at December 31, 2020, stood at N32.92 trillion, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reveals. It made the revelation in its Nigerian Domestic and Foreign Debt report for Quarter Four, 2020, obtained from its website on Monday in Abuja. It added that the debt profile was for the States and the Federal Government. According to the bureau, Nigeria’s total public debt showed that N12.71 trillion or 38.60 per cent of the debt was external, while N20.21 trillion or 61.40 per cent of the debt was domestic. “Further disaggregation of Nigeria’s foreign debt showed that 17.93 billion dollars of the debt was multilateral, 4.06 billion dollars was bilateral from the African Development Bank (AfDB), Exim Bank of China, Japan International Cooperation Agency (...
Nigerian government tenders foreign currency in ‘money laundering’ trial of ex-NAF chief
The Federal Government, on Thursday, tendered before the Federal High Court, Abuja, different currencies of dollars stashed in three bags as evidence in the money laundering charge against Air Commodore Umar Mohammed (rtd.) Counsel to the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Magaji Labaran, tendered the bags of money before Justice Inyang Ekwo while leading the only witness in the case, Stephen Olatubosun, in evidence. Newsmen report that Mohammed (1st defendant) and his company, Easy Jet Integrated Service Ltd (2nd defendant), are being charged with three counts bordering on money laundering, illegal possession of firearms and possession of classified documents without lawful authority. The retired air officer and his company are alleged to have received the sum of one million, thirt...
TUC opposes sale of Port Harcourt refinery
File Photo The Trade Union Congress (TUC) is opposed to the sale of the Port Harcourt Refinery as canvassed by many Nigerians, its secretary-general, Musa Lawan, has said. The Federal Executive Council last week approved $1.5 billion (about N600 billion) for the rehabilitation of the 210,000 barrels per day refinery. The FEC approved the amount at its virtual meeting presided by President Muhammadu Buhari. The approval came amidst a controversial price increase in the pump price of petrol that was later reversed. Although Nigeria has four refineries, all government-owned, it currently imports virtually all its refined petroleum products. The approval for the Port Harcourt Refinery was greeted with mixed feelings as the country in the past spent billions of dollars on refinery maintenance w...
Bayelsa governor: 2.5% revenue for host communities ‘unacceptable’ to Niger Delta
Gov. Douye Diri of Bayelsa on Tuesday proposed that 10 per cent of derived oil revenue be provided in the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) for the host communities. Mr Diri, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Daniel Alabrah, said this on Tuesday during a townhall meeting on the bill with members of the National Assembly in Yenagoa. The governor said the 2.5 per cent revenue proposed for the host communities in the PIB was grossly inadequate and unacceptable to the people of the Niger Delta. He argued that if the National Assembly members saw firsthand the level of environmental degradation and its attendant effects on the people, they would not hesitate to increase it from 10 per cent. Mr Diri stressed that the PIB was critical in addressing issues such as unemployment, lack of tran...
Nigerian lady convicted in US for online fraud
Oyindamola Akinrinola, 23, a Nigerian resident of Lawrence, Kansas, has pleaded guilty in federal court for her role in online fraud schemes that targeted victims in the United States. U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister announced her conviction Monday night, saying she will now face time in federal prison for her crime. “Akinrinola and her co-conspirator in Nigeria victimised individuals, several elderly, through a variety of online scams,” he said. “We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to prioritise the investigation and prosecution of fraud schemes like these, no matter where they originate. “I also take this conviction as an opportunity to reiterate to all Kansans the vulnerability of our senior citizens to scams and con artists, who prey upon them. “We must all be v...
Nigerian lady convicted in US for online fraud
Oyindamola Akinrinola, 23, a Nigerian resident of Lawrence, Kansas, has pleaded guilty in federal court for her role in online fraud schemes that targeted victims in the United States. U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister announced her conviction Monday night, saying she will now face time in federal prison for her crime. “Akinrinola and her co-conspirator in Nigeria victimised individuals, several elderly, through a variety of online scams,” he said. “We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to prioritise the investigation and prosecution of fraud schemes like these, no matter where they originate. “I also take this conviction as an opportunity to reiterate to all Kansans the vulnerability of our senior citizens to scams and con artists, who prey upon them. “We must all be v...
