Senator
Senator Ngige: Suspended NSITF chief awarded N4.448 billion contracts in one day
The Minister for Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, on Tuesday, shocked the members of the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee investigating the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) when he alleged that the suspended MD awarded about 332 different contracts worth about N4.448 billion in one day. Senator Ngige who appeared on the second day of the investigative hearing being Chaired by Hon Miriam Onuoha further revealed that the controversial contracts were awarded just two days after he left office as Minister in 2019. The two times Minister of Labour and Employment also informed the Committee that the suspended management committed about 74 different infractions for which they were suspended. Senator Ngige who insisted that the action taken so far against the affecte...
Kidnapped ex-Taraba senator cries out to governor for help
Kidnapped former Senator, representing Taraba North, Zik Ambonu Sunday, has cried out from his abductors’ den, calling on Governor Darius Ishaku to pay the fifty million naira ransom being demanded so that he could regain his freedom. The ex-senator was kidnapped in his Bachama village, Karim-Lamido local government area of Taraba at about 1.30 am last Saturday, according to police spokesman, David Misal. Zik Ambonu Sunday was senator from 2003 to 2007. The abductee has also called on the federal House of Representatives member from Karim–Lamido/Ardo-Kola, Danladi Baido, to assist in making up the ransom cash. His abductors had initially demanded N100 million as ransom. But a few minutes ago -after spending a week with him, they reduced the ransom cash to N50 million, after series of negot...
South-South Governors support audit of NDDC
The South-South Governors Forum on Thursday declared wholehearted support for a forensic audit of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari. It deplored, with great concern, the crisis rocking the commission and said that it was convinced and expecting that the audit would serve to put the NDDC on a sound corporate governance footing and reposition it to better deliver on its mandate. In a statement by Chairman of the Forum and Governor of Delta, Senator (Dr) Ifeanyi Okowa, the governors also gave full backing to the ongoing investigation of the commission by the Senate. According to it, we believe the Senate is operating within its oversight functions through the ad hoc committee set up for that purpose. “It behoves us to respect the Senate oversight ...
Lagos assemblymen go for coronavirus tests, fumigate complex
Pool Photo The Lagos State House of Assembly has directed all lawmakers to go for COVID-19 test following the death of the Chairman, House Committee on Information, Strategy and Security, Tunde Braimoh. Newsmen also gathered that the Assembly has been closed for fumigation. Braimoh, who represented Kosofe Constituency, died last Friday after a brief illness and was buried at the Ikoyi Cemetery. He was said to be close to the late Senator representing Lagos East, Bayo Osinowo, who died on June 15 of suspected COVID-19. The lawmaker representing Ifako Ijaiye, Temitope Adewale, in a statement on Tuesday, said he had gone for the test, adding his result returned negative. “As directed by the leadership of the Lagos State House of Assembly on Sunday, July 12, 2020, I went and submitted myself f...
Domestic flights resume July 15 across Nigeria
The Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, on Saturday in Kano State, said that domestic flights would resume operations across the nation’s airports on July 15, noting that those that are not ready will be given enough time in order not to risk people’s lives. Sirika disclosed this while leading a team from the aviation industry and the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19 from the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja to Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport Kano on a simulation exercise with MaxAir, VM1644. He said the purpose of the exercise was to see that the airport was opened in accordance with the protocols established by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 and to assess whether the airport was safe to operate According to him, “I am very glad and I think the civil a...
Lagos, Abuja, Kano airports ready for operations
Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters The Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, says that Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos and Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano, are ready for recommencement of domestic flights. The minister said during the daily Presidential Task Force briefing on Monday in Abuja that Lagos, Abuja and Kano airports would recommence domestic flights on Wednesday. He urged all passengers and crews to obey the COVID-19 protocols to ensure safety of the airports and airplanes against the virus. Sirika said that five countries in Africa and over one hundred countries across the globe have already started domestic air service. On the preparation on the airplanes, the minister stated that the last row of the aircraf...
Ayo Fayose: Senators Ojudu, Adeyeye not welcome to PDP
A former Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, on Thursday said the Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, and a former Minister of Works, Senator Adedayo Adeyeye, have no electoral value and they were not welcome into the Peoples Democratic Party. Fayose said although the two All Progressives Congress chieftains had problems with Governor Kayode Fayemi, the PDP was not ready to accommodate people that would not add any value to it. The two APC chieftains and others are locked in a battle of wits with Fayemi, who they alleged was dictatorial. They also accused him of victimising perceived critics of his government. The former governor, who spoke through his media aide, Lere Olayinka, in a statement, said, “Apart from not having electoral value, they ...
Senator Sirika: I don’t control airfares
The Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, on Thursday, said he was not in a position to regulate airfares for airlines. Sirika stated this when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Aviation to brief senators on the level of the sector’s preparedness to begin flight operations on July 8. He said, “Price is not in my hand but from what we put in place, I do not think that anything significant will happen to affect the propensity to fly.” The minister, however, said necessary protocols have been put in place to ensure social distancing within the airport premises and inside the aircraft. He said, “There is nothing like rush hour again. People have to stay safe before anything happens. “So I’m sure that as civil aviation we are responsible to ensure that everybody remains safe. So t...
Mississippi governor signs bill removing confederate symbol from flag
The Republican governor of the southern US state of Mississippi signed a bill Tuesday removing the Confederate battle standard from the state flag, after nationwide protests drew renewed attention to symbols of the United States’ racist past. “This is not a political moment, it is a solemn occasion to come together as a Mississippi family, reconcile, and move forward together,” Governor Tate Reeves wrote on Facebook. Mississippi is the only American state to incorporate the Confederate standard on its official flag, after nearby Georgia dropped it in 2003. Tate said a commission on the flag would “begin the process of selecting a new one — emblazoned with the words ‘In God We Trust.’” The swift signing comes after state lawmakers voted Sunday to remove the emblem in a 91-23 majority vote i...
Governor Mohammed: PDP has learnt from past mistakes
Senator Bala Mohammed, governor of Bauchi State and Chairman, Edo governorship Primary Election Committee on Thursday declared in Benin, the Edo state capital that the Peoples Democratic Party has learnt in a hard way from their past mistakes and would not allow history to repeat itself. Speaking at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin while presiding over the party’s governorship primary, Gov. Bala said ‘today, the party wants to prove to the world that the PDP is the only party that they can trust”. He said the primary would be conducted in a free, fair, credible and transparent way to prove a point that the party is the only one that can do that. While describing Governor Obaseki as a role model in Governor’s forum, Bala said Obaseki is one person who is a very resourceful, noting that g...
Junaid Muhammad: President Buhari, governors lack political will to address security
File Photo The Second Republic lawmaker, Dr. Junaid Muhammed, has backed the Northern Elders Forum claims that President Muhammadu Buhari and the Northern Governors have lost control of security, saying whosoever it is saddled with the responsibility to secure the country is not in charge. This was as he said the government lacks the political will to deal decisively and flush out the bandits and terrorists to end the attacks and address the security challenges faced by the nation. Dr. Junaid who spoke in a telephone interview also claimed that the bandit’s identities were known but nothing has been done in that regard. In his words, “Whoever is supposed to be in charge of security of this country clearly is not in charge of security. And nobody seems to know who is in charge of security. ...
NDDC HQ shut over ‘coronavirus outbreak’
The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has ordered the immediate shutdown of the headquarters of the Niger Delta Development Commission in Port Harcourt following the sudden death of the Commission’s Executive Director, Finance and Administration, Chief Ibanga Etang. Chief Etang, whose death occurred in the early hours of Thursday at the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital in Port Harcourt, was suspected to have died from complications arising from coronavirus disease. To this ends, Senator Akpabio has directed all staff of the Commission currently exhibiting symptoms not to panic but to report to the nearest NCDC centre in Port Harcourt for evaluation. The ministry in a statement by its Director, Press & PR, Mrs Deworitshe Patricia said the “Minister of N...
