The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, inspection team that went to Nangere, Yobe, on Friday to track a borehole that was supposed to have been sunk under lawmaker’s constituency projects found none in existence. The borehole was purportedly sunk at Sabongari area of Nengere local government area of Yobe. The team noted that there is a hole and a stand for an overhead tank, but there were no other components. Mr Laban Emmanuel, ICPC Team B leader in the state, listed components of the project contract awarded in 2019 to include overhead tank, filter, motorised borehole,…
Author: Abdallah el-Kurebe
Africa is likely to miss the urgent global goal of vaccinating the most vulnerable 10 per cent of each country’s population against the Coronavirus (COVID-19) by the end of September, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The WHO Regional Office for Africa in a statement released on Thursday said that 42 of Africa’s 54 nations (nearly 80 per cent) are set to miss the target with the current pace of vaccine deliveries and vaccinations. Nine African countries, including South Africa, Morocco, and Tunisia, have already reached the global target set in May by the World Health Assembly, the world’s…
By Kalmana Afsa, Bauchi Health Reporters in Bauchi have expressed commitment to disseminate correct and accurate information about COVID-19 vaccine in order to curb hesitancy. They made the commitment on Tuesday during a one-day media orientation meeting on COVID-19 phase 2 vaccination exercise organized by the State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, SPHCDA, with support from the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, NPHCDA. The meeting aimed at empowering the media with correct information about COVID-19 so that the populace will be guided on vaccine hesitancy. The chairman of the agency, Dr Rilwanu Mohammed urged reporters to be vanguards of the truth,…
The book I have been waiting for has arrived. It is called: “Formation: The Making of Nigeria From Jihad to Amalgamation”, written by Fola Fagbule and Feyi Fawehinmi and was published by Cassava Republic in 2021. They discovered a magical formula, that the writing of history is too serious an agenda to leave in the hands of historians. These young professionals, both of them in the financial sector, decided to read history books written about the Nigeria land area and write a compelling narrative which, in a sense, is about the inevitability of the emergence of Nigeria as a Nation.…
The United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, on Thursday condemned the recent abduction of 100 students and a teacher of Government Day Secondary School Kaya in Maradun local government area of Zamfara state, north-west Nigeria, which happened on Wednesday. Peter Hawkins, UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, also described the attack as horrific. “We strongly condemn this attack, which has happened just a few days after kidnapped students of a school in Niger State, north-central Nigeria, were freed. “We call on the authorities to take expedited action to rescue these students and reunite them with their families. “We reiterate that attacks on schools…
The Transition Monitoring Group, TMG, has set a four year agenda and announced its renewed commitment to reform and re-engineer the group. The new chairperson of the group, Auwal Rafsanjani made this known at a press conference addressed by him on Thursday. He also assured that TMG would “do our best to advocate for electoral transparency and accountability by mobilizing Nigerians to demand positive change in our electoral process.” Rafsanjani noted that “Nigerians are increasingly losing confidence in our electoral system, which is full of forms of malpractice, manipulation, violence, commercialization and privatization of political parties and political offices for…
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has explained that concerted efforts by the Corporation and some Federal agencies to combat the menace of smuggling of petroleum products have been largely hampered by existing arbitrage fueled by the prevailing huge price differentials in pump price of petrol in Nigeria and neighbouring countries. In a presentation at an interactive session by the Joint Senate Committee on the 2022-2024 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP), Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari, said with a price difference of over N100 per litre between what is sold in…
The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Sen. Godswill Akpabio on Thursday while submitting the Forensic Audit Report on the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) says 13,000 projects abandoned in the Region. Akpabio submitted the report to Mr President through the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami, SAN, in Abuja. “The report of the audit committee showed that there are over 13,000 abandoned projects in the Niger Delta and even before the submission of the report some contractors have returned to site on their own and completed about 77 road projects. “Although the exercise had…
A Nigerian creative artist, Yemi Akinyemi-Dele, has made the list of the first 20 shortlisted applicants for a trip around the moon. The Japanese billionaire, Yusaku Maezawa had announced on March 2 that he would choose eight members of the public to join him on the trip. Maezawa’s mission, tagged “Dear Moon,” is scheduled to fly on SpaceX’s Starship rocket in 2023. The dear moon project is a mission organised by Elon Musk’s SpaceX and funded by the billionaire and founder of E-Shop in Zozo town with a passionate love for creative artists. The space mission project, which was open for creative…
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) declared in Lagos on Thursday that 27.4 million Nigerians earn below N100,000 per annum. It said the figure represented 48.9 per cent of persons living in poverty in the country. It made the declarations at the launch of a report entitled: “The Ignored Pandemic: How Corruption in the Health, Education and Water Sectors is Plunging Nigerians into Poverty.’’ Presenting the report, Dr Elijah Okebukola, Senior Research Fellow at the Anti-Corruption Academy of Nigeria, an arm of the ICPC said the report’s survey covered the six geopolitical zones of the country. The report states…