Author: Chief Editor

The Department of State Services has refused to obey court orders granting Nnamdi Kanu maximum comfort in detention, change of clothing, amongst others, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, lead counsel for the embattled Indigenous People of Biafra leader has said. The lawyer, in a statement on Tuesday, kicked that the detaining agency has “unrepentantly continued to treat the orders of the court with greatest disdain”. The PUNCH had earlier reported that Justice Binta Nyako of a Federal High Court in Abuja ordered on December 2, 2021 that the secessionist leader should not be discriminated against in the custody of the secret police. The presiding…

•Says Nigeria better off together A former Minister of Information and Culture, Professor Jerry Gana, has described the failure of President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to implement the 2014 National Conference report “as a terrible mistake”. Gana, who said the non-implementation of the confab report was largely responsible for some of the growing agitations and disunity across the country, however, said Nigerians were better off together as a people and country. Gana, who spoke on Sunday in Uvwiamuge, Agbarho, Delta State, during the thanksgiving service to conclude activities marking the 90th anniversary of the Urhobo Progress Union (UPU) Worldwide, said there…

•FG fumes, insists ban discriminatory, unfair •UN Condemns Britain, others for ‘travel apartheid,’ says ban targeted at poor countries •Country’s High Commissioner to United Kingdom kicks against restriction, calls for global collaboration •NARD: New variant not as deadly to warrant flight restrictions •CACOVID harps on mass vaccination to prevent virus spread •Biden’s medical Adviser urges Nigerians to take booster jabs As global outrage continues to trail recent travel ban placed on Nigeria and some other African countries by the United Kingdom (UK), a development which has been described as racist and discriminatory, Nigeria’s federal government yesterday officially condemned the decision…

Says FG borrows to pay salaries I will make my position known on presidency after consultations Contrary to widely held opinion that the North does not want restructuring of the federation, Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State, who is the Vice Chairman of Nigerian Governors Forum and Chairman of governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said that Nigeria’s advancement as a nation depends on “restructuring and devolution of powers,” while arguing that the Federal Government must “shed weight and devolve more powers to the sub-nationals.” Addressing a team of journalists in Sokoto on the…

‘Nigeria is in difficult situation with coach, whose contract is taboo’ The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) may find it difficult to sack Super Eagles Head Coach, Gernot Rohr, even if they are inclined to do so, a member of the NFF Technical Committee, Elder Paul Bassey, has said. Bassey, who is also chairman of Nigerian Professional Football League’s (NPFL) reigning champions, Akwa United, said, yesterday, that the NFF has put itself into such a difficult situation that sacking Rohr will come at so much cost to the country and its football. Speaking in a Brila FM programme monitored in Lagos…

The National Assembly is to make resources available in the 2022 budget for the war against COVID-19, even as it would prioritise judicious deployment of the funds. President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, dropped the hint yesterday while opening a national summit on the virus with the theme, “End the Pandemic and Build Back Better,” organised by the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on COVID-19. He told the participants that, “in the 2022 appropriation, whatever is necessary will be provided for Nigeria to continue to fight the pandemic. But there is a caveat – that those who will be given those…

Shubham Chaudhuri, the World Bank’s Country Director for Nigeria, grew up in India, his country of origin, and served in Indonesia before taking up his new role in Nigeria. The three countries had a lot of socio-economic similarities in the 1970s and early 1980s but there have been much divergence in recent times, manifesting in their recent economic prosperities and developmental strides. Chaudhuri, in this interview with Business Editor, Femi Adekoya and Asst. Business Editor, Geoff Iyatse, shares his experiences across the three countries, highlighting how they have charted different routes to progress. He also spoke on touchy issues around…

Outrage, anger, and disgust were some of the responses of security experts and civil society organisations (CSOs) at the weekend following a report by the Inter-governmental Action Group on Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) that the terror group, Islamic State’s West Africa Province (ISWAP) moved a whooping N18 billion annual revenue through the Nigerian financial system to fund its activities. The federal government was criticised for its failure to track the movement of funds by the terrorist groups, Boko Haram and ISWAP, through the country’s financial system. This was despite the trial and conviction of terror sponsors from Nigeria…

The All Progressives Congress (APC) and the main opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party PDP(PDP) have engaged each other in war of words over the visit of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to Niger state last weekend. Professor Osibanjo was in Bida as a special guest at the turbanning of four illustrious sons of the emirate by the Etsu Nupe and Chairman of the Niger State Council of Traditional Rulers Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar. However, the PDP in a statement said the ruling APC government in the state did not make a hype of the visit because it had no project that the…

President Muhammadu Buhari has charged universities of technology in the country to improve their ingenuity on research to enable them proffer solutions and achieve breakthroughs in the nation’s innovation space. President Buhari, who was represented by Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, gave the charge, at the weekend, during the 33rd convocation ceremony of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO). Buhari disclosed that the Federal Government approved N8 billion for the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETfund), under the National Research Fund (NRF) Scheme and urged the affected institutions to take advantage of the fund. He also informed that…