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Nigerian government tasks universities on best practices for impact as panel visits FUPRE
Nigerian universities have been charged to always comply with global best practices in terms of corporate governance, operations, benchmark, quality assurance and judicious application of resources for impact. The Chairman of the federal government Visitation panel to the Federal University of Petroleum Resources (FUPRE), Effurun, Prof. Ikenna Onyido, stated this yesterday at the institution. Onyido argued that it was important for the federal government to at interval check the books of the various universities owned by it to ascertain compliance to the various regulations and assess their development in line with available regulations overtime. The Emeritus Professor and former Vice-Chancellor of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike, who led a seven-member team to FUPRE, stre...
Senate passes amended AMCON bill, empowers agency to seize debtors’ assets
The Senate Wednesday passed the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria Amendment bill after considering the report of its Committee on Banking, Insurance, and Other Financial Institutions. The amendment bill passed by the upper chamber empowers the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria to, among others, take possession, manage or sell all properties traced to debtors, whether or not such assets or property is used as security/collateral for obtaining the loan in particular. It also empowers the corporation to access the Special Tribunal established by the BOFIA, 2020 for dealing with financial related matters. Presenting the report, Chairman of the Committee, Senator Uba Sani (APC, Kaduna Central) said the Committee engaged with stakeholders such as AMCON, Federal Ministry of Finance, ...
Report: Nigerian politicians own 800 assets worth $400 million in London, Dubai
File Photo An Associate Fellow of Chatham House, London, Mr. Matthew Page, said yesterday that 800 property worth $400 million and owned by Politically Exposed Persons (PEP) in Nigeria were located in London and Dubai. The revelation is coming as the Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Prof. Bolaji Owasanonye, said it dragged about 2,000 corporate entities into the country’s tax net. A statement issued by ICPC said Page made the disclosure in his paper presentation titled: “IFFs through the Real Estate and Education Sectors: Implications for Investigators,” at an event organised by the agency in Abuja. He urged the investigators of the ICPC to pay attention to real estate and education sectors-linked illicit financial flows. He noted ...
NCDMB sets up $20 million loan support for women in business
The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has announced the setting up of a $20million loan scheme to support women in business especially in the oil and gas sector. Executive Secretary of the Board, Engr. Simbi Wabote, stated this at a virtual roundtable by the Diversity Sectoral Working Group (SWG) of the Nigerian Content Consultative Forum (NCCF). In his remarks, Wabote stated that the mandate of the Board has always been the need to promote local content in every sphere of the oil and gas sector. Quoting Section 57 of the NCDMB Act, he said the role of the Nigerian Content Consultative Forum is to provide a platform for information sharing and support in order to chart way for local content development in Nigeria. According to Wabote, “The basic aim of the NCCF is t...
Angry mob kills five ‘armed robbers’ in Abuja
Five suspected armed robbers met their Waterloo on Tuesday in Apo area of Abuja as angry traders fished them out and killed them instantly in what could best be described as jungle justice. Newsmen gathered that the heavily armed robbers robbed PoS operators and traders around Apo Mechanic Village successfully. Luck, however, ran out on them when one of the traders recognised one of them and led traders to his house. It was gathered that after the operation, the traders and residents mobilised in their numbers to the house of the robbers and killed two of them on the spot at Apo area. They later traced three others to Kabusa and Waru areas where they dragged them out and killed them too. As at the time of filling this report, the FCT Command Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Mariam Yusu...
US Senators urge Joe Biden to impose more sanctions on Myanmar junta
A bipartisan group of U.S. senators on Tuesday urged the Biden administration to slap more sanctions on the military junta in Myanmar, including choking revenues to a state energy company, in response to its coup and violent crackdown on protesters. Senators Jeff Merkley, a Democrat, and Marco Rubio, a Republican, and four others urged Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in a letter to “explore new avenues to support the people of Burma in their ongoing struggle for democracy in the face of escalating crimes against humanity.” They want the Biden administration to stop royalties flowing from businesses including U.S. energy major Chevron to Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise, or MOGE, an agency within the energy ministry, that provides financial support to mil...
Senator Saraki urges Nigerian government to seek help over escalating insecurity
Former President of the Senate, Sen. Bukola Saraki, has advised the Federal Government to seek help wherever it could to address the escalating insecurity in the country. Saraki, in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday, said that calling for help in the present situation of the country was not a sign of weakness. He said he was worried over cases of violence, kidnapping and terrorism recorded on Monday in Anambra, Kaduna, Yobe, Niger, Lagos states and many parts of the country. The ex-senate president reiterated the need for President Muhammadu Buhari to convene meeting of all those who could help in finding solutions to the problem at hand. ”The people include former presidents and heads of state, serving and former chief justices, serving and former presiding officers of the National Assembly...
Katsina: Gunmen kill six in three communities
Gunmen suspected to be bandits have in the wee hours of Monday killed no fewer than six persons in three communities in Sabuwa Local Government Area of the state. A source in the area told newsmen that the incident happened when the bandits heavily armed were passing by and clashed with the persons along the road. The source said the bandits who shot sporadically leading to the death of the persons. According to the source, the bandits shot at four persons in Sayau Kasuwa, one in Unguwa Nakaba and the other person in Sayau Malamai. “The incident happened in the midnight around 00:40 am when the bandits were passing by with their guns and suddenly clashed with the persons on the way. They shot sporadically killing four persons in Sayau kasuwa. They shot one in Unguwa Nakaba and another in S...
EKSU: SSANU urges Ekiti governor to intervene over proscription of staff unions
File Photo The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Western Zone, has called on the Governor of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi, to as a matter of urgency, intervene in the crisis rocking the Ekiti State University, following the proscription of staff unions by the Governing Council of the university led by Prof. Tale Omole. Staff unions proscribed by the Governing Council are the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) of the university. While addressing journalists at a press conference on Monday at the University of Ibadan, the National Vice President of SSANU, ...
Delta governor: We inherited N100 billion unpaid pension under compulsory pension scheme
Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta on Sunday said his administration inherited about N100 billion unpaid pensions under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS). Okowa disclosed this at the third session of the 8th Synod of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Ughelli Diocese. The session was held at Bishop Agori-Iwe Memorial Church, Ughelli. Okowa said that the financial burden forced 18 state governments out of 26 that enlisted on the scheme to withdraw, leaving only eight state governments, including Delta, in the Programme. The governor explained that the major challenge which forced the states to withdraw and others not to enrol in the scheme, was the huge backlog running into billions of naira. He said that his administration was up-to-date with payment of pensioners in the old scheme. ...
Ekiti: Police arrest five ‘cultists’ during rituals of initiatgion
Operatives of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of the Ekiti State police command have arrested five students suspected to be members of BLACK AXE (AIYE) secret confraternity during rituals of initiation in the state. The state’s commissioner of police, Tunde Mobayo, in a statement signed by the command’s Public Relations Officer, Sunday Abutu, to Daily Sun on Sunday in Ado-Ekiti, disclosed that the five suspected cultists who are all males, claimed to be students of Ekiti State University (EKSU), Ado-Ekiti, were arrested during an initiation ceremony behind the institution’s campus on Sunday, while others are at large. The statement read, “On 25th April, 2021 at about 0130hrs, information was received by the Police Rapid Response Squad (RRS), Ekiti State Command, that some members of the BLA...
ASP killed, three policemen injured in Adamawa mob attack
A mob has killed an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and injured three other policemen during an attack in Adamawa State. The ASP, Ibrahim Abdullahi, and his three other colleagues were said to be on duty when they were attacked. Adamawa Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Sulaiman Nguroje, said in a statement the incident took place around 1 am on Saturday in Lafiya, Lamurde Local Government Area. He stated: “On 24/4/2021 between the hours of 12 to 1 am the command’s operatives attached to Numan Division, while in Lafiya to effect an arrest in a case of criminal conspiracy and theft that is under investigation, were attacked by hoodlums numbering about 60 and armed with dangerous weapons. ”Following the attack, one officer, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, Ibrahim Abdullahi...
