Author: Adejuyigbe Francis

The Naira depreciated against the United States Dollar in the first trading session of the week, its first major decline across the foreign exchange (FX) market segments since the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) commenced the clearance of forex backlogs last week. In the official market, which is the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), the local currency lost 4.2 per cent or N32.88 against the greenback to settle at N809.02/$1 compared with last Friday’s rate of N776.14/$1. The domestic currency suffered the loss as the supply of FX to the spot market went down by 11.3 per cent or…

A 37-year-old auxiliary nurse, Fisayo Ogedengbe arrested by the police in connection with the death of popular singer, Ilerioluwa Aloba, also known as Mohbad, has been sent to custody by the Lagos State Magistrates’ Court in Yaba. There are claims that the nurse gave the late singer some injections that resulted in his death. The magistrate, Adeola Olatunbosun, also ordered that Mohbad’s friend, Ayobani Sadiq, also being held as a suspect in the case, should be returned to police custody. The magistrate, however, granted bail in the sum of N20m to each of Mohbad’s ex-boss, Azeez Fashola, also known as Naira…

Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, has said Nigerians will soon be able to monitor and track the implementation of Federal Government projects. The Minister stated this during a parley with senior media editors and executives on Monday, November 6, 2023, in Abuja. While speaking on the recently concluded retreat for Ministers and other senior government officials, he said it was aimed at showcasing and fine-tuning strategies for achieving the overall objectives of the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. “The President directed that cutting-edge digital technology be deployed to empower Nigerians to monitor and…

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…