Nation
Abia government begs teachers to resume classes
Nigeria Union of Teachers Abia State Government has called on members of the state chapter of Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) to return to classes in the interest of their students and pupils. Teachers in the state schools system had penultimate week given the government one week to clear areas of salaries and other entitlements owed them, failure which they would embark on industrial action. In a statement by the state Commissioner for Information, Chief John Okiyi Kalu, government said primary and junior secondary school teachers have received salary up to November 2020, leaving only December as outstanding. He said the state government paid three months salary to secondary school teachers in December 2020 as part of efforts to clear backlogs owed them with a promise to pay at least anot...
Dangote completes Nigeria’s longest concrete road
Makamba Online The Dangote Group has completed Nigeria’s longest rigid pavement located in Kogi State. It is the first of its kind, top engineers say. The 43KM Obajana-Kabba road constructed by Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), has been described by motorists as the country’s most strategic highway that is aiding travellers between the North and the South. Olatunbosun Kalejaiye, the Project Director, said he was excited that the Corporate Social Responsibility Project is being delivered for use by Nigerians, adding that while the rigid pavement has been completed, the company was dressing the shoulders. Site Engineer Samuel Obosi assured that the dual carriage way will be durable and less susceptible to potholes and repairs like asphalt road, adding that it would crash the rate of road acc...
Niger debunks plan to recruit youths to fight bandits
Niger state government has debunked reports making round in the state that the government is planning to engage youths to fight against banditry in the state. Newsmen learnt that a social media post has been making rounds across the state on Saturday morning that the state government has concluded plans to recruit about 4,000 youths across the 25 local government areas of the state to fight the security challenge in the state. The Commissioner for Local Government, Community Development and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mallam Abdulmalik Sarkin Daji stated this in a statement made available to newsmen in Minna on Saturday. He said that although the state is faced with serious security challenges, the government has no immediate plan to engage the youths in the fight against armed bandits. According...
PDP: Presidency’s ‘wait on God’ remark on insecurity admission of President Buhari’s failure
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has observed that the dismissive statement by the Presidency that Nigerians should ‘wait on God’ for solutions to the insecurity in the country is a direct admission of failure by President Muhammadu Buhari. Making this assertion in a statement issued by Kola Ologbondiyan, National Publicity Secretary, in Abuja on Saturday, the party noted that the remark has “shown clearly that the Buhari administration is completely helpless and has come to its wits end in governance; a development, which validates the position of majority of Nigerians that President Buhari is grossly incompetent and should step aside.” The PDP maintained that the presidency’s statement further goes to confirm that the Buhari’s administration has “outlived its usefulness, if it had any,...
Coronavirus takes toll on federal roads’ construction in Lagos
The ravaging effect of Coronavirus (COVID-19) was, perhaps, the biggest challenge faced by stakeholders in the road sub sector of the construction industry in 2020. As the virus gained ground, several contractors soon abandoned work and shut their operations, consequently, many hitherto gainfully employed Nigerians were thrown into the labour market. Even when the government later introduced partial lockdown measures, the number of workers on site was scaled down by many contractors in line with COVID-19 protocols, which slowed down progress of work. Virtually all road projects in Lagos State suffered the effect of the pandemic, with every project having its own peculiar challenge. The reconstruction of 46km Agbara-Seme section of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway project awarded to CGC Nigeria...
Bishop Kukah: Nigeria has not recovered from civil war
Catholic News Agency Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Rev Matthew Kukah, has said Nigeria has not recovered from wounds of the civil war, 51 years after the unfortunate event. He also lamented the leaders have not learnt instructive lessons from the 30-month war. The activist-cleric, who spoke at the second edition of the ‘Never Again Conference” said the country has failed to adopt resolutions meant to heal the wounds of the war. The theme of the virtual conference was:’51 years after the Nigerian-Biafran civil war.’ It was chaired by Afenifere chieftain Chief Ayo Adebanjo. The ‘Never Again Conference’ is the brainchild of Nzuko Umunna, a pan-Igbo socio-cultural organisation, which organised the first edition in Lagos last year. Kukah said some of the neglected resolutions were re-echoe...
Benue governor: Quit notice to Bishop Kukah a recipe for disintegration
Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom has warned that the quit notice by a muslim group demanding the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Mathew Kukah to tender an unreserved apology over his Christmas Day message or leave Sokoto State, is capable of causing the disintegration of the country. The Governor however enjoined all Nigerians, irrespective of religious and political inclinations, to uphold unity, peace and dialogue as panacea for the myriad of problems confronting the country. Reacting to the statement, the Governor who spoke through his Chief Press Secretary Terver Akase said the group’s statement was a contradiction of provisions of the Constitution which gives Nigerians the right to live freely in any part of the country. Ortom added that the statement of the group directing...
Ex-President Obasanjo: Bolu Akin-Olugbade was passionate about Nigeria’s unity
Former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, on Thursday, described the late billionaire businessman, Bolu Akin-Olugbade, as passionate in his defence of Nigerian unity and was devoted to his roots. Akin-Olugbade was reported to have died of COVID-19-related complications, as a passionate Nigerian. Obasanjo said this in a condolence letter addressed to his wife, Chief (Mrs.) Oladunni Akin-Olugbade. Obasanjo remarked that Bolu would be greatly missed by his community, Local Government Area, State, and the nation in general, saying that all Owu people have lost a great son. The former President is the Balogun (Prime Minister) of Owu, where the late billionaire hails from. Obasanjo in the letter issued by his Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Akinyemi, said in spite of his privileged backgrou...
PDP raps President Buhari over performance claims
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, yesterday berated President Muhammadu Buhari over his stewardship in the past five years, saying he has failed to justify the confidence reposed in him by Nigerians. This is even as the party noted Mr. President’s “illusory self-assessment” has validated its position that “he has since abandoned governance for the luxury and pleasures of Aso Presidential villa, having lost sync with the reality of the devastation his incompetent administration has brought to our nation in the last five years.” In a statement signed by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP insisted “that every fair criticism of Buhari’s administration only reveals a litany of failures and a reversal of fortune for our country in the last five years,” adding that, “it is unfortunate tha...
Abuja chamber welcomes FCT tax harmonisation
Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) has welcomed the plan by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Alhaji Muhammad Bello to harmonise tax policies within the territory in order end multiple taxations on by businesses in the territory. The President of ACCI, Alhaji Abubakar, in a statement yesterday, commended the minister for acknowledging the challenges faced by businesses within the territory due to series of levies, charges and taxes from Federal, FCTA and Area Councils. “Multiple taxations within the FCT and the larger national economy has imposed crippling consequences on businesses. “The fallout has been many failed businesses, the rising level of inflation, the non-thriving of existing ones and the lack of capacity to engage many unemployed youths. “We want ...
Joe Biden receives second dose of coronavirus vaccine on camera
Joe Biden on Monday received the second dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine on camera, as part of an effort by the President-elect’s incoming administration to reassure the country of the safety of the vaccines. Biden was administered the shot in his left arm by Ric Cuming, chief nurse executive at ChristianaCare’s Christiana Hospital in Newark, Delaware, according to Biden’s transition team. The President-elect said he would be announcing his plan to “get the entire Covid operation up and running,” including the necessary costs, on Thursday. Biden said he had a meeting with members of his team later Monday afternoon. Biden said he was “not afraid of taking the oath outside,” and that his team has been getting briefed, when asked if he had any fears about taking the oath of office...
Minister: Tests on NYSC members confirm coronavirus is everywhere in Nigeria
The Federal Government says it has further confirmed from results of tests conducted on prospective National Youth Service Corps members confirmed that no part of the country was free of COVID-19. The Minister of State for Health, Sen. Olorunnimbe Mamora, made the disclosure on Monday in Abuja at a briefing by the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19. “We safely and comfortably drew this conclusion because corps members are mobilised from all the states of the country for each of the orientation camps,”the Minister said while warning that increasing cases of COVID-19 are imposing enormous burden on the nation’s health facilities. He said that the 18,699 active COVID-19 cases were stretching health facilities. “With the increased number of confirmed cases, the number of active cases ha...
