Author: Adejuyigbe Francis

The Senate on Monday convened an emergency plenary session to gazette the N2 trillion 2023 Supplementary Budget passed last Thursday. Also, the Red Chamber gazetted the screening and confirmation of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) nominees. Without approving the votes and proceedings of last week Thursday, the passed supplementary budget and confirmed RECs are of no effect. The usual plenary days of the Red Chamber are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, which align with its standing rules. With the approval of the votes and proceedings of Thursday, a clean copy of the budget can be transmitted to…

Federal government has begun implementation of a 40 percent automatic deduction from internally generated revenues of federal universities and other partially-funded institutions. The policy of 40 percent auto-deduction of gross IGR is in line with the Finance Circular with reference number FMFBNP/OTHERS/IGR/CRF/12/2021 dated December 20, 2021. The circular limits the annual budgetary expenditure from IGR of the partially funded federal government. The information was contained in a letter that was issued by the accountant-general of the federation, Mrs. Oluwatoyin Madein, to the universities titled ‘Implementation of 40% automatic deduction from internally generated revenue of partially funded federal government institutions.’ The…

Federal Government, on Monday, revealed that more than N4.3tn worth of crude oil was stolen in 7,143 pipeline vandalism cases within a period of five years. It disclosed this at the Nigeria International Pipeline Technology and Security Conference in Abuja, with the theme, ‘Bolstering Regulations, Technology and Security for Growth.’ The conference was organised by the Pipeline Professionals Association of Nigeria. The Executive Secretary, NEITI, Ogbonnaya Orji, said oil theft was an emergency that posed serious threat to oil exploration and exploitation with huge negative consequences on economic growth, business prospects and profit earnings by oil companies. Providing data from…

Chelsea came from behind to beat nine-man Spurs 4-1 in a frenzied game on Mauricio Pochettino’s return to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Nicolas Jackson fired a hat-trick in a final crazy 20 minutes to cap a breath-taking game that will go down as one of the most eventful to be played in the Premier League, with five goals disallowed, multiple VAR checks and two red cards shown. The drama arrived just six minutes into this thrilling encounter when Dejan Kulusevski’s deflected effort gave the hosts the lead. On a busy night for technology, Son Heung-min’s goal was chalked off for…

President Bola Tinubu has mourned the victims of the fire incident which occurred at the Canadian High Commission in Abuja on Monday, November 6, 2023. Tinubu’s sympathy was conveyed in a statement by Ajuri Ngelale, his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity. Earlier on Monday, a fire incident occurred at the High Commission of Canada to Nigeria in the Central Business District of Abuja. In the statement, Ngelale said, “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu sympathises with the Canadian government, the diplomatic community, and all persons affected by a fire incident which occurred on Monday at the Canadian High Commission in Abuja.…

The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has advised Nigerians to report incidents of extortion or harassment during enrolment for National Identification Number (NIN) to its offices. The NIMC acting Director-General, Mrs Abisoye Coker-Odusote, said this in a statement on Monday in Abuja. “NIMC has been made aware of specific reports involving some Front End Partners (FEPs) who were allegedly extorting money from members of the public for NIN enrollment. Even as they are currently being subjected to a revalidation process. “You can reach out to our official channels, including our website, social media platforms, or our helpline, to report such…

Police will not tolerate electoral violence in Bayelsa State during the off-cycle governorship election scheduled for Saturday. Inspector-General of Police Kayode Egbetokun issued the warning in Yenagoa on Monday during a courtesy visit to Governor Douye Diri. Egbetokun said that the police and other security agencies are fully prepared and duty-bound to ensure free and fair polls. He stressed that troublemakers would have the law to contend with. The IGP also assured that the police and other security agencies would be neutral before, during and after the exercise and enjoined Bayelsa people to have confidence in them. According to him,…

The Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos, on Monday, nullified the election of Stainless Nwodo, a member representing Igbo-Etiti/Uzo-Uwani federal constituency of Enugu State in the House of Representatives. The appellate court declared that Rt. Hon. Martins Oke of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, won the February election. The National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal, sitting in Enugu had, on September 8, upheld the election of the LP candidate. The candidate of the PDP, Oke, and his All Progressives Congress, APC, counterpart, Samuel Ekwueme, had challenged Nwodo’s victory at the tribunal. The duo asked the tribunal to sack the LP candidate…

The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, on Monday held a press conference on the outcome of his appeal before the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court struck out the appeal filed by Obi against President Bola Tinubu. The apex court affirmed the declaration of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the February 25, 2023 election. Obi, during the press conference, vowed to work for the betterment of the country despite his defeat. The full text of the press conference reads: “Fellow countrymen and women. Gentlemen of the Media, Good day and welcome to this press conference. Kindly…

Justice Olukayode Adeniyi of an FCT High Court has again ordered the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) to either produce or release the embattled former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, on November 8. Justice Adeniyi gave the the first order on Friday after hearing an ex parte motion, on fundamental right marked M/122/2023 in a Motion on Notice with the number, FCT/HC/CV/040/2023, filed by Emefiele. Unfortunately, the EFCC could not obey the order at the resumed sitting on Monday as the EFCC counsel, Farouk Abdullahai, told the court that the order was not understood. He…

The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the February 25th, 2023 election, Peter Obi, has reacted to the ruling of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court affirmed President Bola Tinubu as the winner of the 2023 presidential election. The apex court, however, struck out the appeal of Obi seeking to be declared as the winner of the electoral process. Obi had condemned and appealed the earlier ruling of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) which affirmed the declaration of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The LP presidential candidate speaking during a press conference on Monday described the Supreme…

There was a major fire outbreak at the High Commission of Canada in Nigeria’s capital city on Monday. Parts of the building situated at 13010G, Palm Close, Diplomatic Drive, Central Business District in Abuja was affected. The fire, which broke out on Monday morning, led to evacuation of staff from the building. Details of the incident were sketchy as of this time but the Head of Operations of the FCT Fire Service, Amiola Adebayo, said no fewer than three other victims had been rushed to the hospital. “We have two fatally injured and the others in the hospital, either three…