Nigeria today

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, has  departed Abuja for the United States of America early Wednesday morning, seeking global partnerships and support for Nigeria’s recently launched Energy Transition Plan. Prof. Osinbajo is leading Nigeria’s Energy Transition Implementation Working Group (ETWG) on the US mission with meetings starting from Thursday, September 1 to promote the plan and secure global support from the US government, the private sector, and other development partners. According to a statement by Osinbajo’s media aide, Laolu Akande, he said the ETWG, which is chaired by the VP comprises relevant ministers and other top government officials. Nigeria’s Energy Transition Plan officially launched last week at a global virtual event is a homegrown, data-backed and multi-pronged strategy developed for the attainment of 2060 net-zero emissions commitment in five critical sectors – Power, Cooking, Oil & Gas, Transport & Industry. Nigeria needs $410 billion to deliver t...

A high level panel of eminent African Jurists has arrived  in Kenya to observe the proceedings of the 2022 Presidential election petition, according to a statement issued by Kenya’s Communications yesterday. Recall that the Kenya’s Independent Electoral and Boundary Commission (IEBC) declared Deputy President William  Ruto winner of the keenly contested Kenya’s Presidential election beating his closest rival, Raila Odinga. Not satisfied with the results, Odinga,77, headed to the court with his petition challenging  the results after raising issues of irregularities. The judges are members of the African Judges  and Jurists Forum(AJJF). The 2022 Trial Observation Mission is headed by the Rtd Chief Justice of the Republic of Tanzania, Hon Justice Mohammed Chande Othman. Other members of the delegation include Hon. Justice Lilian Tibatemwa Ekirikubinza of the Supreme Court of Uganda,Hon. Lady Justice Kamanga from the Supreme Court of Appeal of Malawi, Justice Moses...

The fear of dollar shortage has driven manufacturers and local investors to front-load their inventory requirements with panic buying as manufacturing activities slumped with weak supply chains and unavailability of raw materials. The spike in dollar scarcity has created tensions, panic buying amongst local investors and manufacturers as this is expected to create supply side effects, inflationary pressures and the influx of substandard goods. This was disclosed in the Financial Derivatives recently released by Economics Bulletin for Q2 2022. The Nigerian economy has been expanding for seven straight quarters since the third quarter of 2020, when the covid-19-induced recession was first noted. The Nigerian manufacturers lament difficulty in accessing dollars at official rates as central bank urges manufacturers to approach development financing institutions for loans. Purchasing Managers Index also reports that one of the most efficient predictors of cyclical trends, has been osci...

The management of Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc has resolved to significantly reduce the importation of sugar into the country by 40 per cent, thus paving the way for the employment of over 30,000 youths. President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote explained recently in a chat with newsmen that it was embarking on Phase II of its Sugar project, which will then cover over 100,000ha to make the sugar plant, the largest in Africa. Dangote said that the integrated sugar complex to be located in Tunga, Awe Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, comprises 60,000ha sugar plantation and two sugar factories with the capacity to produce 430,000 tonnes of refined white sugar per annum. Meanwhile, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA)’s shipping data revealed that Auarius Honor and Ocean Crown would be at Greenview Development Nigeria Limited (GDNL), a subsidiary of Dangote Group to offload 45,850 tonnes and 46,750 tonnes respectively. Following high demand in the food and drinks sector, GDNL took de...

FMDQ Exchange has approved the registration of C & I Leasing Plc’s N50 billion Commercial Paper (CP) Programme on its platform. Corporate institutions have continued to successfully tap the Nigerian debt markets to access stable finance to fund key activities in their organisations. The commercial paper market, as administered by FMDQ Securities Exchange Limited continues to provide issuers renewed opportunities to grow their businesses and maintain the much-needed restored confidence of investors, whilst contributing to the overall growth of the Nigerian economy. Meanwhile, C & I Leasing Plc is a diversified, leasing and business service conglomerate providing support services to various indigenous and multinational organisations in West Africa along three lines: Fleet Management, Personnel Outsourcing, and Marine Service. The company provides transportation logistics solutions in the form of car and marine vessel rental, fleet management and automobile distribution throug...

All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State has threatened to expel a  governorship aspirant of the party in 2019 governorship election Chief Adeniyi Akintola (SAN) for allegedly involving in anti-party activities and de-marketing party’s governorship candidate in 2023 election, Senator Teslim Kolawole Folarin. The party also accused Akintola of allegedly making unguarded statements against the party and its candidate. The politician, who hails from Ido Local Government Area of the state, while featuring on a radio programme in Ibadan allegedly made some statements which discredited the party’s candidate. The APC had therefore said it would expel Akintola if he continues to de-market the party ahead of 2023. The party’s chairman in Ward 9 Ido local government area, Hon. Ismail Babatunde, alleged that the politician was making an attempt to cause disunity in the party. He also alleged that Akintola’s utterances has shown that he was working for the ruling Peoples Democratic Pa...

The first phase of Gbugbu International Market in Edu local government area of Kwara State is ready for use.   The first phase of the project comprises 200 open stores and 22 lock-up shops — complete with electrical fittings and water, sanitation and hygiene facilities to maintain a healthier trading environment.   Gbugbu is an historic trade melting pot, bringing together people from across West Africa sub-region.   Kwara State governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, during an inspection visit to the market on Sunday, said the delivery of the project was satisfactory.   AbdulRazaq said that the next two phases will include abattoir, police station, fire station, car park, administrative office, among others.   He said all the phases of the project will gulp N1.5bn according to government’s design, adding that the market will have multiplier effects on the local economy.   “Gbugbu is known for trade from its inception. It is a resilient community. Peo...

The inspector-general of police (IGP) Intelligence Response Team (IRT) of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has arrested members of a kidnap-for-ransom syndicate who abducted the wife and two children of a serving lawmaker, Hon Ibrahim Aminu in Katsina State. The key suspects, Muttaka Ibrahim, Suleiman Rabiu, and Surajo all males and natives of Bakori LGA were arrested for allegedly supplying the information that led to the assault on the lawmaker where his family members were taken into captivity. The police said during investigation, Ibrahim confessed to the crime, saying that he and other gang members were informants to Sanni Tukur, aka, Abacha, who is responsible for terrorising people in villages and towns in Katsina and Zamfara states. They were said to have volunteered information to the bandit leader leading to the kidnapping of Hon Ibrahim Aminu’s wife and six other natives. Other victims of the syndicate include Buhari Usman, also known as Fedeco, Nazaradeen Ibrahim, Amandal...

Federal Capital Territory Administration FCTA) said apart from prosecuting defaulting property owners, all property developers in the nation’s capital, must show evidence of ground rent payment before the Department of Development Control considers and approves any building plan application. In a statement signed by the director, information and communication, FCT / chairman, media, and publicity sub-committee, Muhammad Hazat Sule, the FCTA said the decision was taken because of the huge debt of over N29 billion owed the administration by property owners, who have refused to pay their outstanding debt, despite several warnings and appeals. He stressed that property owners in the FCT are indebted to the FCTA and are refusing to pay their ground rent and other land-related charges, forcing the FCT Administration to constitute a Coordinating Committee on the Recovery of Outstanding N29 billion Ground Rents, which government needs to implement its programmes and provide basic social serv...

Three suspected armed robbers allegedly terrorising residents of Ughelli North and South local government areas of Delta State have been set ablaze at Ekiugbo community in Ughelli North.   It was gathered the robbers with sophisticated weapons had earlier robbed residents of Iwhrekan community in Ughelli South after overpowering vigilantes from Edjorphe and Iwhrekan communities.   At Ughelli, the robbers who came with a Keke and a motorcycle, they were apprehended and set ablaze at about 5.am on Wednesday when they were robbing their victims at Panama layout in Ekiugbo community.   from Leadership News https://ift.tt/l8jTF0i

“For us Christians in the North, the Muslim-Muslim ticket is existential. It is designed to oppress, kill and eliminate us from the political and economic system”- Dr. Babachir Lawal, former Secretary to the Federal Government of Nigeria.    I am very fond of Dr. Babachir Lawal and I have great respect and affection for him but I beg to differ with him on this issue.   What he has said is simply not true and those that espouse and share the views that he has expressed are playing a dangerous and divisive game.   Unlike him I do not see a Muslim/Muslim ticket but rather a Tinubu/Shettima ticket.   They are both human beings and Nigerians before being Muslims. We should at least accord them that consideration and respect.   I believe that one of the most mischevous, cruel, illogical and uncharitable things we can do is to measure a man’s worth by his religious faith alone and refuse to see anything in him other than that.   Asiwaju Bola Tinub...

Amid the alarm raised in socio-linguistic circles that over 90 per cent of the world’s major languages are likely to go into extinction in the next century, LoveWorld Publishing Ltd, publishers of The Rhapsody of Realities on Friday revealed that the publication has now been translated into 7,000 languages worldwide to tackle the problem. Speaking at a world press conference in Lagos, the Director of Operations, LoveWorld Publishing, Pastor (Mrs.) Lola Aisida said 520 of these languages were Nigeria alone. “Never in the history of the world, and in all the record books of Guinness Book of World Records, has any literary material – be it document, film, writing, book, or any piece of historical or modern parchment – been translated into 7,000 languages. “The meteoric rise of the Rhapsody of Realities devotional to the most-coveted spot as the world’s No 1 daily devotional and now Most Translated Book in the world began with the first edition published in the English Language by LoveW...

Yakubu Maikyau was yesterday sworn in as the 31st president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) following the expiration of the Olumide Akpata-led administration. Maikyau, who won the election held on July 16 with 38,000 electoral votes, called on the federal government to show commitment to the protection of lives and properties in the country. In his inaugural speech, he noted that the Nigerian state was passing through a perilous time and insecurity challenge and the situation appears so overwhelming. He said, “There has been no time that Nigerians have looked towards the bar more than now. “Nigerians have been so terrorized, pauperized and what is left of this country is the voice of the legal profession. This voice must speak against the terror in the land and this is the charge that my administration will spare no one. “I commend the security personnel for doing so much with apparently so little. “The legal practitioners must do all that is within our ability to serve the...

The Parent Teachers Association of Nigeria (PTA) has debunked reports on social media that parents would contribute N10, 000 each to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to enable them to call off their six months strike. A president of PTAN, Alhaji Haruna Danjuma, said; “We are not involved  in any statement related to donating money to ASUU to call-off strike. “Our stand since the inception of the strike is for both ASUU and the federal government to come to an agreement to end the strike, but not to contribute money to pay them. “PTA still insists on negotiation between the federal government and ASUU to end the strike  that is affecting the quality of education in the country.” Danjuma reiterated the need for the government and ASUU to as a matter of urgency come together and dialogue in order to end the strike. He pleaded with the government to rescue all kidnapped secondary school students across the country. Danjuma also urged parents to always monitor ...

Governor Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State has approved the appointment of 12 permanent secretaries to fill existing vacancies. The state’s head of civil service, Bappayo Yahaya, who announced the approval in a press release, said the appointments were in line with the present administration’s commitment towards reinvigorating the civil service and the resolve to ensure that deserving civil servants attain the peak of their career before retirement. According to him, the permanent secretaries were appointed based on their outstanding performances at the promotion examinations and interviews in each local government area. He said other factors considered included suitability in terms of credentials, experience, hard work and seniority. “With this development, each local government will now have at least two permanent secretaries based on the existing vacancies, making them 22. The new permanent secretaries are: Yambiyu  Idris Buba –Balanga local government, Dr Danladi Molta – Billiri...

The Kaduna South (Zone 3) Zonal Woman Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kaduna State, Hon. Racheal Averik, has felicitated with the Kaduna State deputy governor, Dr. Hadiza Balarabe, on the occasion her 56th birthday anniversary on August 26, 2022.   In a statement she personally signed and issued to journalists in Kaduna on Friday, Averik said that Dr. Balarabe’s life underscored the importance of professionalism, vision, tenacity, courage and wisdom in leadership.   She said the attributes had propelled the deputy governor’s for outstanding success that she’s recording in every role she’s playing in the State.   The zonal APC woman leader noted that words may fail her if she has to describe the personality and leadership style of Dr. Hadiza Balarabe.   “Today I am registering my sincere appreciation to God Almighty for adding another successful year to my principal as well as my mother, my mentor, my leader and a rare gem, Her Excellency Dr. ...

After completing his one-month jail term slammed on him by the Chief Judge (CJ) of Akwa Ibom State, Justice Ekaette Obot, for alleged contempt of court, lawyer and human rights activist, Mr. Inibehe Effiong, has regained his freedom.   Effiong was released alongside 18 other inmates, remanded wrongly at the Uyo Custodial Centre in Akwa Ibom State. Addressing journalists shortly after stepping out of the custodial facility, Effiong maintained his innocence, saying he was wrongly incarcerated for raising two objections concerning the presence of two armed Mobile Policemen inside the courtroom and opposing the CJ’s decision to evict a journalist from the courtroom. Speaking on his one-month stay in prison, Effiong said his Bible and other legal books were his main companions, adding that the period gave him the opportunity to take a break from his usual busy schedules, to sleep and interact with inmates to ascertain their offenses. Lamenting that the criminal justice system has b...

At a time when Nigeria is suffering from infrastructural deficits in almost all sectors of the country, the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) is setting a commendable example with its Smart School programme at the cost of N21.6bn which is about to take off across the country.   The programme entails building and equipping the schools across the country with modern instructional and vocational materials.   Executive Secretary of UBEC, Dr. Hamid Bobboyi, made this known, said the Commission has commenced the development of course outline and contents for the training of Education Managers, teachers, technical support personnel and other stakeholders for the schools and e-learning programmes.   The Smart Schools initiative, he said, will take care of Information, Communication and Telecommunication gabs in the training of school children and will be located at zonal, state and senatorial levels all over the country.   He added that the programme will e...

There was pandemonium in Kubwa village in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) when a two-storey building collapsed in the area, trapping unspecified number of people.   An eye-witness, who identified himself as Gideon Danjuma, who lives very close to the scene of the incident, explained that the building collapsed at about 11pm on Thursday night.   According to him, they were outside their house discussing when they heard a loud sound, and that was when they realised that the building had collapsed.   “Immediately, we rushed to the collapsed building because we knew that there are people inside that would need help. When we got there, we heard people shouting for help inside the collapsed building.   “We started digging to rescue those we could rescue. We dug for up to six hours before we could rescue one person at about 5.30am (Friday morning) and some people are still trapped inside the building.   “The security man of the building and some other peo...

The Chief Missioner of Nasrul-Lahi-l-Fatih Society (NASFAT), Imam Abdul-Azeez Onike, has condemned the murder of an Islamic cleric, Sheikh Goni Aisami, in Yobe State on Friday, August 19, 2022, describing it as a clear demonstration of man’s inhumanity to man and deprivation of Muslims of Islamic scholarship which the murdered scholar was reputed to have been endowed with. According to Onike, the sacredness of life can be attested to by Allah’s statement in Quran 5:32, “…. he who slays a soul unless it be (in punishment) for murder or for spreading mischief on earth shall be as if he had slain all mankind; and he who saves a life shall be as if he had given life to all mankind.” He noted that Aisami’s death was more painful if someone considers the vacuum and the negative consequences of snuffing life out of the innocent scholar. Imam Onike quoted the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) as saying, “Verily, Allah does not withhold knowledge by snat...

The Federal Government and the Institute CAMOES IP of the European Union (EU), have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the donation of two additional Rigid Hull Inflatable Boats (RHIBS) to Nigeria to boost the fight against maritime insecurity in Nigeria’s inland waterways and the Gulf of Guinea.   The virtual MoU was signed on Tuesday by Nigeria’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Zubairu Dada on behalf of the Federal Government in Abuja, while the President of Institute CAMOES IP, Jao Ribero de Almeida, signed on behalf of the Institute in far away Portugal.   Ambassador Dada in his remarks, commended the EU for being a very strategic and reliable partner to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and for donating 30 RHIBS and the forensic equipment valued at 5.4 million Euros to 12 ECOWAS Coastal member-states under the EU Project to aupport West Africa Integrated Maritime Security (SWAIMS).   He also commended the ECOWAS...

Nigerian writers have been urged by the Lagos State chapter of the Christian Writers Association of Nigeria (CWAN) to use their writing prowess to address the country’s present security challenges. Speaking at an event to mark the 7th anniversary of the Lagos State chapter of CWAN, with the theme, “The Christian Writer as a Contributor to National Security and Sustainable Growth’, the president of Citizens Right and Empowerment Advocacy Initiative, Dr Kex Kennedy Saltlove, said the country is bedeviled by terrorists under various names and guises, and even though the country is blessed, getting a lasting solution to the problem is still a major concern to the government and Nigerians. “When human lives are threatened, combined with climate factors like desert encroachment and security concern, it is difficult to attain growth, how much more its sustainability,” he said. He continued by saying that the gospel and objective of Christian writers should not only be for the salvation of ...

Founder and general superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry, Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi, on Wednesday, said the next Nigeria’s president has been determined by God.   Kumuyi, who said nothing would change God’s plan for the country in 2023, noted that God controls everything that happens in the world.   At the palace of Osemawe of Ondo, Oba Victor Adesimbo Kiladejo when he paid a homage to the monarch ahead of the Global Crusade for Kumuyi, GCK, scheduled to start in Ondo town on Thursday, the Cleric expressed the confidence that God will answer the prayers of ‘conscientious People’ who had been praying for President Buhari’s successor.   Kumuyi said, “As to next year, 2023, about the election, everything is in the hand of God. I want to tell you, that no pin drops anywhere in the world without God’s knowledge and nobody goes ahead without God’s control. “He controls everything that happens in the world. Will there be an election, or will there n...

Outgoing president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Olumide Apata has expressed concern over the refusal of the National Judicial Council (NJC) to approve the appointment of senior lawyers to the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal.   Apata, who expressed this concern at the ongoing Annual General Conference of the association, said the failure of the NJC to implement the recommendations of a body it set up to screen and shortlist suitable senior lawyers to the appellate courts is ill-advised.   The NBA president disclosed that his administration wrote the former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Muhammed Tanko, and the current one, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, on the matter and that nothing concrete had come out of the efforts.   He, however, expressed optimism that with constant dialogue, the NJC may change its mind and that the association could still take the matter to the National Assembly for legislative intervention.   Apata maintained that having se...

Coronation Insurance Plc has paid N3.17 billion as total claims for its policyholders who suffered insured risks in the first half of the new year ended as at June 2022. In its unaudited interim financial results for the year 2022 second quarter (Q2) ended 30th June 2022, signed by the group’s chairman, Mutiu Sunmonu and managing director/CEO, Olamide Olajolo, as well as executive director, Finance and Strategy, Oluwole Onasanya and made public, the claims paid increased when compared to N2.86 billion paid as at June 2021. Similarly, its net claims expenses reduced to N1.43 billion compared to N2.89 billion paid in the same period of 2021. While it posted N11.51 billion gross premium written (GPW) within the first six months of 2022 as against N8.31 billion achieved in 2021, the group’s gross premium income rose to N9.29 billion as against N6.99 billion in the second quarter of 2021.. Its net premium income grew to N5.71 billion in Q2 2022 from N4.61 billion posted in the same peri...

Yobe State commissioner of health and human services, Dr Mohammed Gana, has said the state University Teaching Hospital (YSUTH), Damaturu, would soon commence kidney transplant. In an interaction with LEADERSHIP in his office, Gana said the hospital would conduct the operation in partnership with the Urology and Nephrology Centre, Mansoura University, Egypt. Gana said Governor Mai Mala Buni decided to provide kidney transplanting equipment to YSUTH, since the hospital has the manpower to use them with good training. He said the partnership would see doctors from the centre visiting YSUTH to conduct kidney transplant and YSUTH doctors receiving advanced training in nephrology at the centre in Egypt. He said the ultimate management of renal impairment is kidney transplantation which is expensive and difficult to access, adding that all these are aimed at bringing down the cost of renal treatment and bringing succour to the people. Gana said kidney disease is prevalent in Yobe State,...

The Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI), has condemned in strong terms the killing of Sheikh Muhammad Goni Aisami, and called for quick dispensation of justice to serve as a deterrent to others. Sheikh Aisami who was based in Gashua, Bade local government area of Yobe State was shot dead recently in Karasuwa local government area while on his way from Kano State. However, JNI, accused two security personnel of killing the Sheikh. It lamented that the gruesome killing of Sheikh Aisami clearly demonstrates that crime has permeated all fabric of Nigerian society and to some extent even security agencies. In a statement issued by JNI secretary-general, Dr Khalid  Abubakar Aliyu, it said the killing of Sheikh Aisami and other repeated killings should not be swept under the carpet. JNI said, “JNI received with utmost shock the reported assassination of Sheikh Muhammad Goni Aisami and theft of his car. To say the least, the Sheikh’s murder was dastardly, reprehensible, and stands condemned, g...

Painted taxi drivers in Abuja have endorsed the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) candidate, Mubarak Tijjani for senate ahead of the February 2023 senatorial election in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). President of the drivers’ union which operates under the Painted Abuja Taxi Nigeria Limited, Comrade Shehu  Yar Adua expressed confidence that Tijjani would protect the interest of the union if voted into office. He said the union would mobilize over 8000 members in its database to campaign and ensure the victory of NNPP in the FCT senatorial poll. Yar Adua decried the attitude of past and incumbent FCT senators, who sought the union’s support while seeking for votes and abandoned it when elected, stating that it was the reason its members defected from their various political parties including the All Progressives Congress which he belonged to join the New Nigeria People’s Party for a breath of fresh air and dividends of democracy which had eluded them since 1999 when Nigeri...

Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has demolished several illegal structures of suspected criminal elements, restaurants, car wash among others in Gwarinpa District of the territory. The senior special assistant on monitoring, inspection and enforcement to FCT minister, Ikharo Attah who led the team lamented that the administration is concerned about the way people spend hard earned money to build illegal structures on road corridors. He said the demolition is part of their ongoing cleanup in Gwarinpa district, that there are so much illegalities, ungoverned space, inappropriate development, criminal hideouts and activities in the area. “This is part of reclaiming road 69 and we are discovering more and more things we have never seen. Nobody would ever believe people are living here. We also discovered that every single one whose house are close to this road corridor are blocking their windows so that people cannot come into their houses, many are increasing the height ...

Federal government has moved to end the dominance of foreign publications in the nation’s higher education institutions as it unveiled 10 new textbooks sponsored by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund). Speaking at the public presentation of the books in Abuja, the minister of education, Malam Adamu Adamu, said the dependence on foreign academic publications portends great danger to the nation’s education sector, adding that boosting indigenous authorship would address the problem. He said the paucity of indigenously authored and produced tertiary level textbooks and related academic publications in the nation’s tertiary education institutions is a known fact overtime. Adamu, who was represented by the minister of state for education, Goodluck Opiah, said Nigeria’s tertiary education institutions became dependent on books published outside the country with the attendant consequences of the pressure on the demand for foreign exchange. He said: “It is equally worrisome that th...

Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared that results uploaded from polling units during elections cannot be manipulated. The commission also lamented the ongoing political campaigns on social media but regretted that it was handicapped to take action because it’s beyond its jurisdiction. This came as Yiaga Africa urged the commission to subject the Bi-modal Voters Accreditation System (BIVAS) to a stress test ahead of the 2023 general election. INEC stated this during a workshop for political parties, civil society organisations, the media and other stakeholders titled: “The role and impact of digital technologies in facilitating peaceful elections in Nigeria.” The two-day programme in Abuja was organised by the National Peace Committee (NPC) in collaboration with the Kofi Annan Foundation and the Kukah Centre. Speaking as a panellist during one of the sessions, the special adviser to the INEC chairman, Prof Mohammad Kuna, who reacted to fears over the electr...

Farmers in the 16 local government areas and the two special development areas of Taraba State have recorded low food production in the 2022 farming season due to the worsening insecurity in the state. Investigation by LEADERSHIP showed that most yam markets in the state have converted to timber shades because there are no yams to sell or display in such places. Consequently, yam sellers have abandoned the markets for timber dealers, who are having a field day. It was gathered at the hitherto yam markets that farm produce, especially yams, which used to be in abundance are now poorly supplied because farmers can no longer access their farms as bandits have taken over their farms and routes. When our correspondent visited Zing, Pupule, Pantisawa, Abare and Maraban Zing in the northern part of the state where buyers used to troop to buy yams, the commodity was in short supply, which has forced up the price. Some traders told LEADERSHIP that they could not afford the high prices becau...

The National Secretariat of Association of Senior Civil Servants (ASCSN) has sealed off by the police as aggrieved invaded the secretariat to located in Yaba area of the state to protest against alleged fraudulent practices of the leaders. The leadership of association while explaining the reason why police sealed the national secretariat in Lagos said they invited the police to avert total breakdown of law and order. The ASCSN secretary-general, Comrade Alade Bashir Lawal, who made this known said the aggrieved expelled members led by the former President Comrade Bola-Audu Innocent with some aggrieved members tried to force their ways into the secretariat with their hired hoodlums that came with various charms and other dangerous weapons. “So, the police was invited to help prevent confrontation with them and also to help restore law and order. “Expelled members besiege National Secretariat of ASCSN in Lagos. Following attempt to forcefully invade the National Secretariat of Assoc...

Igbo youth leaders have condemned the festering insecurity in the South East region, especially kidnapping for ransom. The president-general of the Coalition of South East Youth Leaders, COSEYL, Hon Goodluck Ibem described the series of Christian leaders so far abducted in parts of South East zone and indeed other parts of the country including in the North as a clear “declaration of war against Christians” in the country. Ibem who spoke while reacting to the recent kidnap of Reverend Sisters of the Catholic Church namely: Johannes Nwodo, Christabel Echemazu, Liberata Mbamelu and Benita Agu in Umulolo area of Okigwe along Okigwe-Enugu Expressway; kidnap of the Prelate of Methodist Church, His Eminence Rev. Samuel Kanu Uche along the same axis who paid N100million ransom to regain his freedom and other clerics kidnapped in the North, said this can no longer to be tolerated. Ibem decried particularly the kidnap of a Catholic priest, Rev. Fr. Christopher Odia in Edo State who was later...

An Abuja-based businessman, Dr Maurice Ibe has petitioned the inspector-general of police (IGP), Alkali Baba, over an alleged threat to his life by Ebonyi State governor Dave Umahi. Ibe, who is a financial consultant, through his counsel, Charles Ude of Charles Ude and Co, in the petition (Ref No. CU/01/EB/2022) to the IGP, appealed to the IGP to forestall the “Illegal and unlawful attempt to abduct and harass him by the governor.” He urged the IGP to proactively take steps to halt the alleged move by the governor and some police officers he has engaged for the nefarious activity against him. But in a swift reaction, the Ebonyi State government said the governor does not know any Ibe and has no business with him whatsoever. In a statement signed by the special assistant to the governor on media and strategy, Mr Chooks Okoh, he said it was clear to all Nigerians how the Paris Club Refund to states were achieved, adding that Ebonyi is not different from other states. Okoh noted that...

The Kauran Katsina and District Head of Rimi (Hakimin Rimi) in Katsina State, Alhaji Nuhu Abdulkadir, is dead.   The traditional ruler died after a brief illness at his residence in Rimi local government area of the State.   A member of the family, Alhaji Aminu Nuhu Abdulkadir, confirmed the traditional ruler’s death in the early hours of Tuesday.   He would be buried later in the day according to Islamic rites as arrangements were in top gear for the funeral rites.   Before his demise, Hakimin Rimi was among the 40 Kingmakers of the Katsina Emirate Council.   LEADERSHIP reports that the traditional ruler recently celebrated his 40th anniversary on the throne of Rimi. from Leadership News https://ift.tt/8AoQ6Vg

The chief executive officer (CEO) of Lognetics, Light Ihesiulo, has stated that with the right support from the government, Nigerian tech start-ups can implement great ideas. Speaking in a chat with journalists in Abuja, yesterday, Ihesiulo said Nigeria is blessed with brilliant young tech people that are facing the major challenge of funding. He called on government to support tech start-ups to grow the economy. He also lamented that a lack of access to finance has made it difficult for start-up businesses in the tech sector to grow. “Most of the challenges of start-up businesses in the tech industry is funding. I have friends who have brilliant ideas but don’t have the finance to power those ideas,” he revealed. The CEO shared an experience of how his company, Lognetics Company, a tech brand agency, also struggled for survival at the infancy level but was able to over due to strong determination. “Lack of commitment from the government is affecting the rate at which start-ups in th...