Reports
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...
US accuses Nigeria of significant human rights abuses
US Embassy in South Africa The United States has accusesd Nigeria of significant human rights abuses in its latest ‘’Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2020’’, released Wednesday by the Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour. In the report titled ‘’’Nigeria 2020 Human Rights Report, Executive Summary’’, the US accused Nigeria of ‘’significant’’ human rights abuses, which include: unlawful and arbitrary killings by both government and non-state actors; forced disappearances by the government, terrorists, and criminal groups; torture and cases of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by the government and terrorist groups; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions. The 102-page report also accused the federal government of ‘’arbitrary d...
Suez Canal reopens after stranded ship is freed
Traffic has resumed in Egypt’s Suez Canal after a stranded container ship blocking it for nearly a week was finally freed by salvage crews. Tug boats honked their horns in celebration as the 400m-long (1,300ft) Ever Given was dislodged on Monday with the help of dredgers. Hundreds of ships are waiting to pass through the canal which links the Mediterranean to the Red Sea. It is one of the world’s busiest trade routes. Peter Berdowski, CEO of Dutch salvage company Boskalis, said the Ever Given had been refloated at 15:05 (13:05 GMT) on Monday, “thereby making free passage through the Suez Canal possible again”. Egyptian officials say the backlog of ships waiting to transit through should be cleared in around three days, but experts believe the knock-on effect on global shipping could take w...
Traffic in Suez Canal resumes after stranded ship refloated
Shipping traffic through Egypt’s Suez Canal resumed on Monday after a giant container ship which had been blocking the busy waterway for almost a week was refloated, the canal authority said. The 400-metre (430-yard) long Ever Given became jammed diagonally across a southern section of the canal in high winds early last Tuesday, halting traffic on the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia. Live footage on a local television station showed the ship surrounded by tug boats moving slowly in the centre of the canal on Monday afternoon. The station, ExtraNews, said the ship was moving at a speed of 1.5 knots. “Admiral Osama Rabie, the Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority (SCA), announces the resumption of maritime traffic in the Suez Canal after the Authority successfully rescues and ...
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...
Abia: Senator Kalu scores successors very low, wants Aba declared a disaster area
Sen. Orji Kalu, the Chief Whip of the Senate, has advocated for declaration of Aba, the economic hub of Abia State, a disaster area so that the Federal Government can take extra-ordinary measures to fix the town. Kalu, who was governor of Abia state from 1999 to 2007 said this on Thursday when he hosted some clergymen in the state to a breakfast meeting in Aba, according to a statement from his office. The meeting was in furtherance of the campaign for his younger brother, Mascot, who is All Progressive Congress, APC’s candidate for Saturday’s bye-election for Aba North/Aba South Federal Constituency. Kalu scored successive administrations after his very low in terms of infrastructure development in Aba. He said, “I am disappointed that since I left office in 2007, nothing tangible has bee...
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...
Abia governor promises delivery of more road projects
Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia on Tuesday expressed the readiness of his administration to facilitate the delivery of more road projects in Aba and the state. Ikpeazu said this while inspecting the ongoing reconstruction of Port Harcourt Road, as part of the resumption of a statewide-project-inspection programme, tagged “Kinetic Abia Project Tour” in Aba. He said that the government would deliver high quality roads as part of its efforts to rebuild Aba and improve the wellbeing of its residents. He appealed to the residents to support the government to achieve its goal of transforming Aba by assisting the contractors handling the projects and protecting the infrastructure. The governor said that he would remain irrevocably committed to changing the narratives of Aba in the area of infrastruct...
