NAN
Easter: Abuja airport records high traffic
The Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on Friday witnessed increased traffic due to huge number of passengers travelling to different parts of the country to celebrate Easter. According to NAN reports, flights from Abuja to other routes were fully booked before Thursday. Also, booking and check-in counters of many airlines were crowded with travelers rushing to board their flights. Many of the airline officials who spoke with NAN in separate interviews said there was upsurge in traffic, but ticket fare still remained same. The Max Air Station Manager, Kehinde Ogunyale, said that more people had chosen to fly home for the Easter celebration than the previous years. Ogunyele further said that Max Air also possibly experienced unique increase in passengers due to reduction in flight...
NSF: Edo government pledges better welfare to volunteers
The Edo Government has pledged to do its best to take care of the volunteers who will help in the hosting of the 20th National Sports Festival (NSF) in Benin. The State Deputy Governor, Mr Philips Shaibu, made the pledge on Friday while addressing the volunteers at the Games village, located in the University of Benin. Shaibu, who also is the Chairman of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the festival, assured the volunteers that the state would welcome collaboration and cooperation of the team to ensure the success of the sporting fiesta. “This address is to assure you that we will collaborate and cooperate with you to ensure that the game is successful. “Your role as volunteers to help us guide and control our athletes as they come is paramount to the success of the games. “From th...
Nasarawa committed to sports development – governor
Gov. Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa has reiterated his administration’s commitment to sports development in order to positively engage youths in the state. Sule stated this when he hosted members of National Super Bike Clubs’ Association of Nigeria who paid him a courtesy call in his office, on Friday in Lafia. The governor, represented by the Commissioner for Youths and Sports Development, Alhaji Othman Bala-Adam, thanked members of the association for the visit, assuring them of a fruitful stay in the state. “My administration remains committed to harnessing youths’ sporting potentials and tackling restiveness in the state. “I appreciate your decision to choose Lafia for your maiden Super Bikes Clubs competition and assure you of my support. “This is a timely initiative and a call for invest...
Bayelsa: We won’t retrench workforce amid dwindling revenues – official
The Bayelsa state government has assured civil servants in the state that it had no plans to downsize the workforce, amidst dwindling revenue. The government said on Thursday that although it was contending with an unwieldy wage bill, it would seek alternative sources of revenue to shore up its finances. The Commissioner for Finance, Maxwell Ebibai, gave the assurance at the transparency briefing for the months of January and February 2021, in Yenagoa, the state capital. Newsmen report that under the state’s Bayelsa Transparency Law, it had become mandatory for the government to make public its income and expenditures on a monthly basis. Ebibai, said the state government received N6.8 billion for February, 2021, as net receipts from the Federation Account, after first line deductions, as a...
Official: Why CCB denies Nigerians access to public officers’ assets information
The Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) on Wednesday explained why it denies Nigerians access to the details of the assets declared by public officers. The chair person of the bureau, Muhammad Isah, also disclosed that assets declaration would soon become online-based. Mr Isah, represented by his special assistant, Mustapha Musa, spoke in Lagos at a meeting on ‘Promoting Transparency and Accountability in Asset Declaration by High-Ranking Public Officers’. Newsmen report that the meeting was organised by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP). On access to public officers’ assets information, the CCB chair said the bureau never honoured citizens’ requests for such information because the National Assembly had yet to give the guidelines for such public disclosure. He said the...
Nigerian government begs resident doctors to shelve planned strike
The Federal Government has appealed to Resident Doctors to shelve their threat of embarking on a nationwide strike in the country. The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, made the appeal at a conciliatory meeting with the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) on Wednesday in Abuja. Newsmen recall that NARD had threatened to shut public health care facilities beginning from April 1, over unpaid salaries and other welfare packages. Ngige said that majority of the welfare issues under contention were almost resolved even before the letter of compliant and notification of a planned strike action was delivered at the ministry ”We are here because we have started solving your issues. We put up proposals with given timelines on how to deal with them. “We will look at thos...
NSF: UNIBEN orders students to vacate halls of residence
Ahead of the 20th National Sports Festival (Edo 2020), the Senate of the University of Benin (UniBen) has ordered students to vacate its Halls of Residence from April 1. The university hall of residence have been earmarked for the use of contingents coming for the festival holding in Benin between April 2 and April 14. A statement issued on Wednesday in Benin by the Public Relations Officer of the institution, Dr Benedicta Ehanire, said the UniBen management had provided holding facilities for students who may need to keep their luggage. She said that the luggage must be tagged and dropped under strict security supervision while their mid-session break lasted. “Following the directive by the Senate of the University of Benin for students to vacate the Halls of Residence on April 1, the Man...
NSF: Borno to participate in 13 sports – official
Borno is to participate in 13 sports in the coming National Sports Festival (NSF) scheduled for April 2 in Benin. The Information Officer of Borno Sports Council, Mr Ibrahim Tukur, made this known on Wednesday in an interview with newsmen in Maiduguri. Tukur said the sports comprised football, handball, badminton, tennis, cycling, volleyball, taekwondo, wrestling, Kunfu, Karate and traditional sports like langa, local wrestling and dambe. Tukur said that the state is sending a contingent of 150 people, including sportsmen and officials. “In compliance with directive, samples have just been taken from all those going to for the Festival including the Commissioner for Sports for COVID-19 test,” Tukur said. Get more stories like this on Twitter You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are look...
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...
LOC: Nigerian government yet to release funds for 20th National Sports Festival
The Federal Government is yet to release the funds it promised Edo for the hosting of the 2020 National Sports Festival (NSF) with less than a week to its commencement. Musa Ebomhiana, a Project Manager in the Media and Communications Sub-Committee of the festival’s Local Organising Committee (LOC), disclosed this on Sunday in Benin. He told newsmen however that, while the Edo State Government still remained hopeful the fund would be released, an early release would be better. “This will ensure smooth planning for the nation’s number one sports fiesta,” he said. Ebomhiana pointed out that the need to have a smooth planning was the reason the state’s Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu, had last week appealed for the funds’ early release. “We are taking seriously the promise by the Minister of Y...
Firms get N1 million fine for breaking sanitation law in Kano
The Kano State Environmental Mobile Court on Saturday ordered two factories to pay N1 million fine for violation of the monthly environmental sanitation exercise in the state. Newsmen report that the affected factories are GP Tank and JP Company. Chief Magistrate, Auwal Yusuf-Suleiman, gave the order during an inspection exercise at the Sharada Industrial Area in Kano metropolis. Yusuf-Suleiman said the factories were found guilty of operating within the stipulated hours of the sanitation exercise contrary to Sections 61 and 104 of the National Environmental Laws. He, therefore, ordered each of the factories to pay N500,000 fine. Dr Kabiru Ibrahim-Getso, the State Commissioner for Environment, while reacting to the fine said the affected companies were not among those exempted from partici...
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...
