Author: Chief Editor

Mandates committee to probe incidents The Senate on Tuesday resolved to summon the Minister of Interior, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola; the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami; and the Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Correctional Service, Haliru Nababa, over the recurring incidents of jailbreaks in different parts of the country. It also mandated its Committee on Interior to carry out a full scale investigation into the causes of jailbreaks in some correctional centres across the country. The invitation of the two ministers and DG of NCS by the Red Chamber is also aimed at determining the…

 Passes bill seeking stiffer penalties for unregistered teachers The House of Representatives at plenary Tuesday passed for second reading a Bill seeking to repeal the customs and excise management act to overhaul the operations of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) and make it more effective. The proposed legislation titled ‘Bill for an Act to Repeal the Customs and Excise Management Act, Cap.C45, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 and Enact the Nigeria Customs Service (Establishment) Bill; and for Related Matters’, is sponsored by the Chairman, House Committee on Customs, Hon. Leke Abejide. Leading the debate on its general principle,…

Accuses labour ministry, UCH of illegal recruitment of staff The Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye, has disclosed that the Agency has uncovered 257 duplicated projects worth N20.138 billion in the 2021 budget currently being implemented. He also accused the Federal Ministry of Labour and the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan and other parastatals of engaging in illegal recruitment of workers. The ICPC boss, who spoke Tuesday at the 3rd National Summit on Diminishing Corruption in Public Sector, held at the State House Conference Hall in Abuja, said the Commission’s review…

Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo has hit back at a “disrespectful” claim that his only remaining ambition is to win the Ballon d’Or more times than Lionel Messi. Paris Saint-Germain forward Messi won the prestigious award for a seventh time on Monday. Ronaldo, who finished sixth in this year’s voting, has earned the Ballon d’Or five times. The Ballon d’Or, given to the best male and female footballers of the year, is voted on by 180 journalists and presented by France Football. Pascal Ferre, the editor in chief of France Football, was quoted in the New York Times recently saying…

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the 2021 Electoral Act Amendment Bill into law. The NLC President, Mr Ayuba Wabba, said this in a statement titled: ”Time to Strengthen Democracy in Nigeria” on Monday in Abuja. Wabba recalled that on Nov. 9, the House of Representatives and the Senate the two chambers passed into law amendments to the Electoral Act. He said that the most topical items of the amendment included the adoption of direct primaries for internal political parties’ contestants. Wabba said that the other was the accommodation of the use of technology…

The World Health Organization warned Monday the new Covid-19 Omicron variant poses a “very high” risk globally, despite uncertainties about the danger and contagion levels of the new strain. The UN health agency said the Covid strain first discovered in southern Africa was a “highly divergent variant with a high number of mutations… some of which are concerning and may be associated with immune escape potential and higher transmissibility.” “The likelihood of potential further spread of Omicron at the global level is high,” WHO cautioned in a technical note. To date, no deaths connected with the Omicron variant have been…

The Kaduna State Government has said it will soon commence transition to a four-day working week for civil servants in the state. It however said in the interim, civil servants are expected to work from home for one day per week before the full implementation of the policy. This was contained in a statement issued on Monday by Muyiwa Adekeye, the Special Adviser on Media and Communication to Governor Nasir El-Rufai. The statement said the measure is designed to help boost productivity, improve work-life balance and enable workers to have more time for their families, for rest and for agriculture.…

Justice Binta Mohammed of a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Apo, Abuja, on Monday faulted the arraignment of the spokesperson of the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), before a Wuse Magistrate’s Court, Abuja over alleged defamation charge. Justice Mohammed, who faulted the arraignment on the grounds that the magistrate’s court lacked the jurisdiction to take the suit, subsequently made an order quashing the entire proceedings made by the magistrate’s court as regarding the suit. The police had on June 22, 2020 arraigned Ugochinyere at a Wuse Zone 2 Chief Magistrate’s Court in Charge No. CR/12/2020…

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Federal Emergency Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA), Gershom Bassey, has disclosed that it would require about N400 billion to repair and maintain all federal roads in the country. Bassey, who is the representative of Cross River South senatorial district in the National Assembly, stated this in a statement made available to THISDAY in Calabar yesterday. According to him, “We are oversighting FERMA…and in order to maintain our roads in Nigeria, FERMA had told us that it needs at least N400 billion every year to keep the roads in a good state.” Bassey said the N82 billion…

The Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) has declared that for the sake of fairness, justice and equity, whoever should emerge as president of Nigeria in 2023 should be a Christian. Speaking at the end of the quarterly meeting of the National Executive Council of the Fellowship in Lagos at the weekend, the National President of the PFN, Bishop Francis Wale Oke, said: “We do not think it is right to have another Muslim president in 2023. A Muslim president would have governed for eight years by 2023. The Church has been fully supportive of him. We prayed and supported him.…