Author: Adejuyigbe Francis

Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, has appointed a former director of corporate communication of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mr. Ugochukwu Okoroafor, as his Special Adviser on Monitoring and Evaluation. In a statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Kazie Uko, Otti also appointed the Director General of his campaign council, Hon Iheanacho Obioma, as his Special Adviser on Political Affairs and ex Super Eagles player, Kanu Nwankwo, as the Chairman of the Enyimba International Football Club of Aba. He also appointed former Eaglets coach, John Sam Obuh, as Chairman of Abia Warriors FC…

Wale Adeniyi, acting comptroller-general of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), says not all borders in the country have been reopened.  He made the clarification on Tuesday while speaking to state house correspondents after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the Aso Villa. Former President Muhammadu Buhari had, in August 2019, shut all land borders in the country as part of efforts to curtail smuggling and boost local production of rice. On December 6, 2020, Buhari ordered the immediate reopening of four land borders. Speaking on the issue, Adeniyi said while selected strategic borders were reopened in 2022, a review is…

FIFA has sanctioned Cristiano Ronaldo’s Saudi Arabian club, Al-Nassr, because of an issue involving Super Eagles captain, Ahmed Musa. The world football governing body has now banned the club from registering any new signing going into the new Saudi Pro League. Al-Nassr have failed to pay Leicester City the money they owe them over Musa’s transfer. Musa signed for the Saudi Arabian Pro League side in a €16.50m deal in 2018, shortly after impressing at the World Cup in Russia. While the Knights of Naja have paid the transfer fee, they are yet to pay the add-ons, despite The Court…

Judge Robert Gettleman of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago has sentenced Jacob Olalekan Ponle, also known as Woodberry, to eight years and three months in prison for his coordination of a multimillion-dollar fraud. The infamous fraudster was sentenced by the federal judge on July 11. Recall that Woodberry was arrested on June 10, 2020, alongside Ramon ‘Hushpuppi’ Abbas, who was jailed late last year for 11 years in the U.S. for internet fraud. “The defendant is hereby committed to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons to be imprisoned for a…

Yemi Osinbajo, former vice president of Nigeria, has been appointed as global advisor for the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP). Simon Harford, GEAPP head, said Osinbajo’s appointment as a global advisor, will help in promoting the organisation’s mission of accelerating clean energy development in developing countries. “For many years, his excellency Prof. Yemi Osinbajo has been a respected role model of public service at the forefront of policy formulation and implementation on crucial developmental issues relating to national planning, climate change, enabling the business and investment environment, governance, and social investment,” Harford said. “His professional expertise and…

The Chairman, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Brigadier General, Buba Marwa (retd), has ordered a nationwide clampdown on the sale and use of nitrous oxide also known as ”laughing gas.” Nitrous oxide, also called “N20″ is a colourless gas used for sedation and pain relief by dentists and medical professionals to sedate patients undergoing minor medical procedures. However, Marwa said the order was in response to the gas being used for recreational purposes as a drug by some fun seekers, adding that the demand for the substance had spiked. In a statement issued on Tuesday, the agency spokesperson, Femi Babafemi…

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has vowed to prosecute drug hawkers nationwide, saying such drugs are dangerous to the health. The Director-General of the agency, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, made this known at the launch of NAFDAC Media Sensitisation Workshop On Dangers of Drug Hawking in Abuja on Tuesday. Adeyeye also reiterated the agency’s readiness to increase surveillance on those using artificial methods in ripening of fruits, and to further prosecute them if caught. She, however, solicited the cooperation of law enforcement agencies to help in the surveillance to rid the country of dangerous practices.…

Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, on Tuesday, announced some standing committees in the upper chamber and their respective chairpersons. The Senate President, who made the announcement during the plenary, named the committees as Appropriations, Ethics and Public, Petitions, Establishment and Public Accounts. According to him, the Appropriations Committee would be chaired by Senator Solomon Adeola, while Senator Ahmed Wadada is to chair the Public Accounts Committee. Below are the committees and their chairpersons Rules and Business — Titus Zam (chairman), Opeyemi Bamidele (deputy) Ethics and Public Petitions — Okechukwu Ezea (chairman), Khalid Ibrahim Mustapha (deputy) Senate Services — Sunday Karimi (chairman),…

Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo has offered a scholarship to Miss Nkechinyere Umeh, who emerged best performing candidate in the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations. Soludo said the gesture followed the recent JAMB declaration of Umeh from Anambra State as the highest scorer with a cumulative mark of 360 in the examination. The governor congratulated the remarkable student for doing the state proud with her exceptional performance. This is contained in a statement issued by Mr Christian Aburime, Soludo’s Press Secretary on Tuesday. The statement read, “Following the recent JAMB declaration of Miss Nkechinyere Umeh from Anambra State as…

Ogun State government, on Tuesday, announced its readiness to hold the 2024 National Sports Festival (NSF) in fulfilment of an earlier promise made by the Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, as it unveiled leading professionals in Nigeria’s sports sector as Local Organizing Committee (LOC) members. It would be recalled that the state government, earlier in May, had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Federal Government, through the Federal Ministry of Sports and Youth Development. During that occasion, Governor Abiodun had told the Federal Government delegation led by the then Minister of Sports, Mr Sunday Dare, that Ogun State, being…

Senator Olurermi Tinubu, wife of President Bola Tinubu has debunked reports that she closed the Aso Rock Chapel. Reports had emerged over the weekend that Remi ordered the closure of the chapel because some members of the congregation did not support her husband. Reacting in a statement issued by her aide, Busola Kukoyi, she said the chapel is open and holds weekly fellowship. She added that President Tinubu is yet to appoint a Chaplain for the chapel. ”We wish to state categorically that this is a fabrication and totally false representation of the true situation, as the First Lady at…

Aviation workers, under the aegis of the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), have called on the “owners” of Arik Air to cooperate with its receiver-manager appointed by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON). This is contained in a statement issued by Ocheme Aba, general secretary, NUATE. The airline was created in 2004 by Joseph Arumemi-Ikhide, a businessman. In February 2017, Arik Air was taken over by the federal government via AMCON due to the company’s huge debt profile, which was over N300 billion. The government immediately dissolved the airline’s management team, and appointed a receiver manager. Last month, media reports had said the…