Gov. Mai Mala-Buni of Yobe on Tuesday said his administration has no plan to retrench civil servants in spite of the state’s meagre resources. Mala-Buni gave the assurance in Damaturu on the sidelines of the swearing-in ceremony of newly appointed permanent secretaries and board members. He said he would continue to attract investments to Yobe from both state and non-state actors in order to meet the financial obligations of the state. “People accuse me of frequenting Abuja; the truth is, if I remain in Damaturu, we cannot pay even our salary bills. “And that means we will have to join the league of states that are retrenching workers; we don’t have such plan. “You are aware of the projects we started, including the four modern markets we are building, the ongoing 3,600 houses, the over 87...
Dangote Cement Plc has announced the successful issuance of N50 billion series 1 fixed rate senior unsecured bonds, under its new N300 billion multi-instrument issuance programme. In a statement on Tuesday, the cement producer said the bonds were issued on May 26, 2021 at coupon rates of 11.25 percent, 12.50 percent and 13.50 percent for the three, five and seven-year tranches respectively. The bonds will be listed on the Nigerian Exchange Limited and FMDQ Securities Exchange. Dangote Cement said that the proceeds of the bond issuance will be deployed for the company’s expansion projects, short-term debt refinancing and working capital requirements. “Aside from this first issuance of a traditional bond under the new Multi-Instruments Programme, Dangote Cement has registered a programme ena...
The Chairman of Shongom Local Government Area in Gombe State, Yohanna Nahari, has said eight persons were killed in a land tussle in the area. Nahari made this revelation during the weekend, in an interview with our correspondent shortly after a peace parley organised by the Federal Lawmaker, representing Kaltungo/Shongom constituency in the House of Representatives, Simon Karu. The council boss, while appealing to residents to ensure that the land tussle is not revisited, commended the concern of the federal lawmaker in mitigating possible reoccurrence of the violence, adding that justice is a panacea. Recall that crisis erupted in some parts of the local government where 50 houses and a woman were burnt due to a land tussle. When asked the number of people killed during the crisis, Nahar...
The Federal Government has directed members of the striking Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) and the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN) to “urgently” call off their over-two-month-old strike. The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, gave the directive in a statement on Tuesday, threatening that the government might be forced to invoke “sections of the Trade Disputes Acts” if the strike persisted longer. The threat is a government’s familiar warning of possible introduction of “no-work-no-pay” policy to break adamant striking workers. “The ministry will not be happy to be pushed into invoking sections of the Trade Disputes Acts capable of eroding all the gains made so far in the negotiations since May 6, 2021,” the statement signed by the ministry of Labou...
A member of the House of Representatives, Bede Eke, has said men of the Nigerian Army and the police are carrying out extrajudicial killings and displacement of people in Imo State following the recent killing of a former presidential aide, Ahmed Gulak. Mr Gulak, a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), was killed by unknown gunmen on May 30 while on his way to Sam Mbakwe Airport, Owerri, en route Abuja. According to the Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, Mr Gulak was consulting for the Senate Committee on Constitutional Review, which he (Omo-Agege) heads. The police said Mr Gulak’s killers were subsequently killed in a gun battle. Speaking with journalists in Abuja on Thursday, Mr Eke, who represents Mbaise/Ngor-Okpala Federal Constituency of Imo State, alleged tha...
The Women Political Participation Technical Working Group (WPP-TWG) has called for the review of the 1999 Constitution to accommodate more women in government. The position by the group was presented during the House of Representatives Committee on Constitution Amendment organised by the National Assembly in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom state capital. Making the disclosure was Mrs. Glory Ekaso, Director, National Issues/Welfare, WPP-TWG, who briefed newsmen in Uyo on Thursday to intimate the public on the women’s position as presented during the just-concluded Constitution amendment committee meetings. Ekaso said the WPP-TWG comprised 26 women’s groups across the country with a common mission to ensure equitable representation in government. She said that women political representation in the 2019 e...
Ebonyi State governor David Umahi has urged the people of the state to ignore the sit-at-home order by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and go about their normal activities. He stated this on Saturday in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State capital. He said: “I have been getting voices from certain agitators that tomorrow there will be no movement, this is foolishness. If there is no movement in the southeast, is there no movement in the whole country? What an Ebonyi man will never accept is to go into second slavery under any guise. “We know the Biafra we need is to have enough money so that we cleanse up the toga of the slavery that our brothers and sisters subjected us into when we were under what they want us to be under. “We need money, if you love Ebonyi state, bring money, come up and put ...