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Senate summons minister, service chiefs over Kankara kidnapping
The Senate, on Tuesday, invited the Minister of Defence, Maj. Gen. Bashir Magashi (rtd.), service chiefs and heads of other security agencies to brief it on measure being taken to rescue the abducted students of Government Science School, Kankara Katsina State. This followed a motion by Senator Bello Mandiya (APC, Katsina South), who noted that the abduction is coming on the heels of yet to be resolved abduction of 270 girls at Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State in 2014, and abduction of about 100 school girls at Government Girls Science and Technical School, Dapchi, Yobe State in 2018. He expressed concern that like the other incidents of school children abduction that took place in Chibok and Dapchi, if no immediate action was taken to rescue Kankara School boys, their fate...
ABU trains 500 head teachers of Kaduna public primary schools
The Institute of Education, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, on Monday began a five-day training to develop the managerial capacities of 500 head teachers and other officials on basic education in Kaduna State. Tijjani Abdullahi, the Executive Chairman of the Kaduna State Universal Basic Education Board, in his address, said that the training was funded by the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC). Mr. Abdullahi, represented by the Director of School Services, Aliyu Idris, said that the trainings were taking place simultaneously in Zaria, Kaduna and Kafanchan. He said the goal is to equip the head teachers with the necessary skills for effective and efficient management of basic education in the state. “This is part of Gov. Nasri El-Rufai-led administration’s efforts to improve ...
NBS: N319.99 trillion e-payments recorded in Q3 2020
A total volume of 2,781,526,188 transactions valued at N319.99trn was recorded in the third quarter of this year based on data on electronic payment channels in the Nigeria banking sector, the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics has said. It disclosed this in its latest Selected Banking Sector Data which focused on sectorial breakdown of credit, e-payment channels and staff strength of Deposit Money Banks. The bureau said Real Time Gross Settlement transfers dominated the volume of transactions recorded. RTGS systems are specialist funds transfer systems where the transfer of money or securities takes place from one bank to any other bank on a real-time and on a gross basis. The NBS said 1,799,199 volume of online transfer transactions valued at N116.06trn were recorded in Q3 2020. In terms of c...
WAFU B Cup: Ghana fall to Cote d’Ivoire but book Niger date
Ghana have ended their group stage campaign at the ongoing Wafu B Cup of Nations in Benin with a 1-0 loss to Ivory Coast but will still progress to the next round of the competition courtesy of a 1-0 victory over Nigeria on the last matchday. Kossi Nguessan’s second-half free-kick proved the separating factor at Stade de Gaules in Porto Novo on Saturday. The Black Satellites ultimately finished second in a three-team group, setting up a semi-final date with Niger. The 2009 world champions had already booked the qualification to the next round of the championship before Saturday’s last group game, having amassed vital three points in their first game against archrivals Nigeria. Ghana coach Abdul Karim Zito made five changes to his starting line-up for Saturday’s game, bringing on Alhassan U...
Pastor Adigun: I went against sexual purity I preach
Pastor Timi Adigun of The Ark Church and the coordinator of MINE Teenage Ministry has admitted being involved in ‘inappropriate behaviour’ with females in his church over a couple of years. Adigun who apologized on his social media page 48 hours after the sexual allegations went viral, however, said he had ‘no sexual intercourse’ with any of the ladies and none of them was underaged. Mr Adigun, 35, is the editor of MINE Magazine – a free Christian teenage magazine that preaches sexual purity. Several posts surfaced online accusing Mr Adigun of sexcapades with teenage girls under his mentorship and tutelage. In his apology, the clergyman admitted that he behaved in an appropriate manner with some of the females whom he has apologized to. He wrote: “My name is Timi Adigun. I have been called...
Minister presents draft national biosecurity policy to stakeholders
The Minister of State for Environment, Sharon Ikeazor, formally presented zero draft National Biosecurity Policy to stakeholders. The Minister, who made the presentation in Abuja today, said the Zero draft National Biosecurity Policy has been developed with the full recognition of Biosecurity as a multi sectoral discipline, with all efforts geared towards a one health approach, collaborative approach and an understanding of the responsibilities of various sectors which include governments, NGOs, CSOs, communities and individuals. The honourable Minister said ” to maintain Biosecurity, significant attention should be paid to strategies for the prevention and early detection of, as well as rapid response to, harmful and potentially harmful organisms. She noted that to afford true protection,...
Neymar: No place for racism
Paris Saint-Germain and Istanbul Basaksehir played their Champions League match to a conclusion on Wednesday, 24 hours after it had been suspended, with Neymar scoring a hat-trick before saying both teams had felt compelled to make a stand against racism in what was an unprecedented protest over an alleged comment by an official. PSG won the game 5-1 after it restarted where it had stopped the previous day, in the 14th minute, following a touchline argument over accusations the Romanian fourth official, Sebastian Coltescu, had described Basaksehir’s Cameroonian assistant coach Pierre Webo as “black”, or “negru” in Romanian. “Sometimes in extreme circumstances these things need to be done to see if the world can change a little,” said Neymar, who together with other players and the new team...
Canada approves Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine
Canadian health officials have authorised the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, hailing the development as a “critical milestone” and paving the way for the inoculant to be administered across the country. The authorisation on Wednesday comes a day after the United Kingdom became the first country to begin giving the vaccine to the public. Emergency use authorisation (EUA) is also pending in the United States, with officials saying the first doses could be administered as early as next week. The US Food and Drug Administration is scheduled to consider its EUA on Thursday. Bahrain has also authorised the vaccine for public use. “Canadians can feel confident that the review process was rigorous and that we have strong monitoring systems in place,” Health Canada, the department responsible fo...
House of Reps summons auditor-general over $36.1 million World Bank loan
The House of Representatives has summoned the acting Auditor General of the Federation, Mr Aghughu Adolphus, over a $36.1m facility under the Fiscal Governance and Institutions Project of the World Bank, to the office. The House Committee on Public Accounts issued the summons at its public hearing in Abuja on Tuesday. Adolphus, who had earlier been invited by the committee, had failed to show up on Tuesday. His representatives led by a Deputy Director, Mr Babalola Olanrewaju, could not explain to the lawmakers the rationale behind taking the loan. Chairman of the committee, Mr Wole Oke, said, “We want to know what the loan was meant for before going to sign for it. What was your procurement plan before arriving at that figure? Or is it a reward? We need to know the programme plan, how you ...
APC: PDP pushing Nigeria into one-party state
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of pushing the country into a one-party state. The ruling party said this in a reaction to a statement credited to the opposition party. PDP had asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister APC and declare seats of its lawmakers vacant following its decision to dissolve all organs of the party. In a statement on Tuesday, Yekini Nabena, APC deputy spokesman, described PDP’s call as a “beer parlour rant”. “If the PDP assumes this as its standard of opposition politics, then our democracy is in danger. It is now clear that the PDP’s disillusion following their rejection by Nigerians in the 2015 and 2019 general election has degenerated into senility,” Nabena said. “With the PDP as th...
Stock market gains N138 billion despite profit taking
The stock market posted positive performance last week despite profit taking by some investors, as it sustained the growth recorded in the previous week. Precisely, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index (ASI) rose 0.7 per cent to close at 35,137.99, while market capitalisation gained N137.5 billion to print at N18.365 trillion. Apart from the NSE ASI index that appreciated, NSE Insurance, NSE ASeM and NSE Oil/Gas indices also went up by 2.61 per cent, 1.56 per cent, 0.19 per cent and 1.71 per cent respectively. Although the gains recorded in the market in November was expected to propel profit taking, some market analysts are still upbeat that the bulls would remain in control till the end of the year. “With the low yield environment in the fixed income space and investors’ cor...
PDP wins Enugu bye-election
File Photo The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on Sunday, declared Amaka Ugwueze, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), winner of Isi-Uzo State Constituency bye-election in Enugu State. Declaring the results at Isi-Uzo council headquarters in Ikem, INEC Collation Officer for the bye-election, Chukwuemeka Nwachukwu, said that Mrs Ugwueze polled 11,041 votes to defeat her close rival, Ejiofor Okwor, candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), who polled 2,293 votes. Mr Nwachukwu said that the rest of the other seven political parties that contested in the bye-election scored less than 70 votes each. The Isi-Uzo Constituency bye-election took place on Saturday, December 5, in the 11 political wards within Isi-Uzo Local Government Area of Enugu State. He note...
