Mr
EFCC hands over recovered N67.5 million to victim in Enugu
YouTube The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has restituted the sum of N67,523,000 to one Mr. Emmanuel Onyekachukwu Onah, a trader based in Onitsha, Anambra State. EFCC spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, said Onah’s ordeal started sometime in 2019 when he transferred the sum of N75,760,540.00 to the duo of Tega Esinone and Obiajulu Umeagukwu for onward transmission to his business partner, Crecedor Industrial Co. Ltd in Hong Kong. The suspects converted the money to their own use. After efforts to recover his money from the suspects failed, Onah petitioned the EFCC. The commission in the course of investigating the scam, initiated a non-conviction based forfeiture process which culminated in a December 1, 2020 ruling by Justice I.N Buba of the Federal High Court, Enugu, orderin...
Damasak attack: EU calls for safe passage of people caught in web of violence
The European Union (EU) has called on all parties in the ongoing North-east crisis to allow people caught in violence to move freely to safe places and facilitate unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for civilians in need. A statement issued on Thursday by the EU Commissioner for Crisis Management, Mr. Janez Lenarčič, on the latest terror attacks on Damasak, Borno State, said: “The EU is following with deep concern the recurrent violent attacks by non-state armed groups against the people of the town of Damasak, Northeast Nigeria.” The statement lamented that the life and security of civilians is in danger and that humanitarian premises have been destroyed with humanitarian workers deliberately targeted. It said because of the recent increase of violence in North-east Nigeria, hundreds...
Ex-President Obasanjo urges Ogun government to partner stakeholders on waste management
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has urged Ogun government to partner stakeholders in the waste management sector to enable the state to achieve a cleaner environment. Obasanjo stated this when the Ogun State Waste Management Authority (OGWAMA) team visited him at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), on Thursday in Abeokuta. He commended Gov. Dapo Abiodun for establishing the agency for proper sanitation, saying that this was a demonstration of his determination to ensure a cleaner environment in the state. “I am advising the governor and his administration to partner with the various stakeholders in the waste management sector. “This will help the state to reap its efforts at making the environment clean, which is the main reason for establishing the agency,” Obasanjo said...
CSOs threaten to occupy National Assembly over Electoral Act amendment
A coalition of Civil Society Organisations has threatened to occupy the National Assembly after Ramadan fasting, if the lawmakers fail to pass the Bill for an amendment of the Electoral Act. The CSOs which include Center For Liberty, Concerned Nigeria, The Electoral Hub, and Raising New Voices Initiative, issued the threat at a joint news conference on Thursday in Abuja. The Co-convener, Centre for Liberty, Mr Dare Ariyo-Atoye, who read the joint speech of the CSOs, said they were worried that the 9th National Assembly was yet to pass the bill. According to him the passage of the bill could have given them lasting legacies and written their names in gold. Ariyo-Atoye said that in the last 15 months, CSOs had consistently engaged lawmakers and appealed to the NASS to make the passage of a n...
Payroll fraud: Gombe approves N1.49 billion for biometric system installation
The Gombe State Government has approved the sum of N1.499 billion for the supply and installation of biometric attendance system to check payroll fraud in the state’s civil service. Muhammad Magaji, the state’s Commissioner of Finance and Economic Development, stated this, on Wednesday, while addressing newsmen after the 12th State’s Executive Council meeting. Magaji said the initiative tagged “Gombe state Integrated Payroll Payment Gateway and Human Resource Management Information System’’ would help to reduce, if not eliminate, payroll fraud. According to him, when installed, the system would increase transparency in the payment of salaries and pensions, as well as effectively manage the state’s human resource capacities at both state and local government levels. He stated that the initi...
Rivers governor: I haven’t touched one kobo of council funds
Rivers Governor Nyesom Wike has boasted his administration has not touched one kobo belonging to the local government areas. Wike insisted since the council chairmen had their allocations and other revenue in full, they had no reason not to perform. The Governor said his administration had vigorously addressed security challenges in the state to enable all council chairmen deliver dividends of democracy to people at the grassroots. He spoke at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Local Government election grand finale rally in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area at Oginigba Primary School Field on Tuesday. He said: “The state government has provided the enabling environment for every local chairman in the State to perform. Since the inception of this administration, the State government has not...
Minister: Rail transportation awakening giant to help run government
Nairaland Mr Rotimi Amaechi, Minister of Transportation, on Tuesday described the rail mode of transportation as the awakening giant that would run government. He made the disclosure at the virtual National African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) Implementation Engagement Series for the Rail sub-sector of Transportation. Amaechi, who was represented by Mr Ibrahim Mohammed, a Deputy Director at the Federal Ministry of Transportation (FMOT), noted that the Federal Government had invested heavily on the rail sub-sector of transportation to help facilitate trade. “The rail sub-sector needs consistent opening for the country to further tap into the agreement that AfCFTA creates. “This is why government has embarked on many projects, developing the narrow gauges and establishing standa...
Analysts: Printing currency could hurt economy
Analysts have expressed concerns over a recent claim that the federal government resorted to printing money to augment the monthly allocation to the three tiers of government, warning that it could heighten inflationary pressure with dire consequences for the country’s exchange rate and economy. The analysts, in separate interviews with newsmen, warned that a sustained policy of printing the currency, if not well managed, would hurt the economy. The concern came on the heels of recent revelation by Governor of Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, that due to the dwindling revenue in the face of declining oil revenue arising from the growing sources of alternative sustainable energy, the federal government had to print money to augment the amount available for sharing by the federal, state and lo...
MSF: Maiduguri, environs record 1,158 cases of measles
Médecins Sans Frontières Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) known as Doctors Without Borders said that 1,158 cases of measles were recorded within Maiduguri and environs within the past five months. A statement on Monday by Mr Abdulkareem Yakubu, Borno Field Communication Officer of MSF, said that the cases were recorded from December 2020 to April 3, 2021. According to the statement, Zabarmari, a village near Maiduguri, has the highest cases. “So far a total of 1,158 children with measles have been recorded in Gwange Paediatric Hospital in Maiduguri. “In response, MSF strengthened the hospitalisation capacity in both Gwange and Fori health facilities, increasing the number of beds from 65 to 105 in Gwange. “MSF has also launched activities in partnership with the authorities in the town of Za...
Ondo governor dissolves OSOPADEC board
Gov. Rotimi Akeredolu has approved the dissolution of Ondo State Oil Producing Area Development Commission (OSOPADEC) board. This is contained in a statement by the state Acting Governor, Mr Lucky Aiyedatiwa, on Monday in Akure. He directed the most senior officer to take charge of the commission with effect from April 12, pending the reconstitution of the board. “The erstwhile members of the board are hereby directed to hand over all government property in their possession to the secretary of the commission who is the most senior officer,” he said. The governor while appreciating the board members for their services and contributions to the development of the oil producing areas and the state at large, wished them well in their future endeavours. Get more stories like this on Twitter You ...
House speaker: Local council autonomy not for National Assembly to address
Speaker of House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has said that the issue of local government autonomy is not for the National Assembly to address. Gbajabiamila said this during a two-day leadership capacity training, organised by the Minority Leader of the House, Mr Ndudi Elumelu, for ward councillors from Delta, on Monday in Abuja. He said that since the process of constitutional amendment was ongoing and the areas of possible amendments thrown open, it was for Nigerians to decide whether to have local government autonomy or not. “We did it the last time but when we went back to the states, we could not get the required two-thirds. So it is a process and we have followed the process. “While we were working on constitutional amendment, two-thirds of the states did not agree with us....
OPC berates ex-COAS for equating group with Boko Haram
The Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) yesterday berated a former Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau, for comparing the group with the terrorist organisation, Boko Haram. In a statement, the group’s newly-elected President, Mr. Wasiu Afolabi, said the former army chief displayed a dangerous level of mischief, prejudice and narrow-mindedness by equating what it termed a pro-democracy group like the OPC with a world-acclaimed terrorist organisation. Afolabi maintained that the comments by Dambazzau were an attempt to give a dog a bad name in order to hang it, insisting that the move will not work. “We shall not succumb to this cheap attempt at blackmail and negative profiling. OPC is not, has never been and will never be a terrorist organisation. Nobody should link us or lik...