Lawmakers, state commissioners and other critical stakeholders have expressed concern over dwindling allocation to states from the Federation Account. The stakeholders spoke at the end of a three day workshop on Sunday. The workshop, which was organised by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through its State2State Project for six focal states, focused on exploring robust Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) strategies. The Commissioner, Budget and Planning, Sokoto State, Mai Nasara Ahmed, called on states to work towards boosting their internal revenue, saying there might not be much money to share at the federal level in future. He stressed…
Author: Abdallah el-Kurebe
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has recovered N53 billion from a real estate developer for the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria. The Chairman of ICPC, Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye disclosed this during a meeting with the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee Investigating the Operations of Real Estate Developers in FCT. Owasanoye said that the developer took the money without providing houses for its subscribers. He stressed that the Commission would always deploy its mandates against developers who took public funds with the promise to provide houses for public or civil servants without doing so. The ICPC…
The federal government has postponed the Nigeria at 60 Jubilee Special Award ceremony, scheduled earlier to hold on September 3. Chief Adeniyi Adebayo, the Minister for Industry, Trade and Investment, made this known in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Mr Ifedayo Sayo, on Sunday in Abuja. Adebayo said that the Nigeria @60 Award ceremony, was planned as part of Jubilee celebrations of Nigeria’s Independence to honour 60 notable Nigerians, who had made immense contributions to the nation’s growth. The minister regretted any inconveniences the postponement might have caused stakeholders and the general public. Adebayo, however, said that…
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted a drug kingpin, Mr Ibeh Ejike, at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, (NAIA) Abuja with ingested 87 wraps of cocaine. The NDLEA spokesperson, Mr Femi Babafemi said this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja. Babafemi said the 41-year-old suspect was arrested on Wednesday, August 25, upon his arrival on board an Ethiopian Airline flight 911 from Kigali via Addis Ababa. He said the suspect was taken in for secondary check during which he tested positive to ingestion of illicit substance. “While under observation, he excreted 87 pellets of cocaine weighing 1.884…
Bose Omolayo’s best lift of 141 kg on Sunday was good enough to win gold medal for Nigeria in the women’s power lifting -79kg in the ongoing 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo. Omolayo recorded the best lift of 141 kg to take the first position in her category. Nataliia Oliinyk from Ukraine placed second with a lift of 133 kg, while Vera Muratova from Russian Federation lifted 132 Kg to win bronze to take. The 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo, Japan, which started on August 24 is expected to end on September 5.
The Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) has announced October 21 and 22 as the dates for its 17th Annual All Nigerian Editors’ Conference (ANEC) billed for Abuja. The guild, in a statement jointly signed by Mustapha Isah and Iyobosa Uwugiaren, President and Secretary General, respectively on Sunday, said the conference has as its theme: “Media in times of crisis: Resolving conflict, achieving consensus”. The guild said the scheduling of the annual conference was one of the decisions reached at a meeting of its Standing Committee during the week in Dutse, the Jigawa capital. It added that the guild also took…
AATF in partnership with the Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR) and the National Agricultural Seeds Council of Nigeria, NASC, trained 20 seed certification officers of the Council and 15 technical staff of seed companies on seed production, sampling techniques and certification as the country’s farmers begin planting genetically modified cowpea known as SAMPEA 20-T. SAMPEA 20-T, a new cowpea variety, is the second genetically modified crop approved for planting in the country following the approval granted for Bt Cotton in 2019. The training is the second by the partnership in efforts to bring the nation’s seed certification officers up to…
The way things are happening at almost the speed of light in Nigeria is alarming. Most of them trace their roots to injustice and the inability of our leaders to address it. Once you hear of something, before you chew it over, swallow and digest it, another thing comes up. Nothing gets settled, and in more cases than one, settled matters do not get foreclosed through due process, but by our collective amnesia. Circumstances have made us deliberately amnesic. Why will you not choose to forget what you have no power over? Why should you keep in mind what you…
A total of 820 Nigerian farmers selected from 36 states across the country will participate in a nation-wide demonstration of the recently released SAMPEA 20-T by planting it on their plots to create awareness about the variety. The planned demonstration which is organized by the National Agricultural Extension Research and Liaison Services, NAERLS, the Institute for Agricultural Research, IAR, and African Agricultural Technology Foundation, AATF, draws from the pool of over 1200 farmers trained through an elaborate programme supervised by NAERLS. The demonstration, according to Dr Issoufou Kollo, AATF Regional Representative for West Africa is to allow farmers who have…
The federal government has commenced the disbursement of monthly stipend of N5,000 under the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programme to poor and vulnerable persons in Sokoto state. The National Project Accountant, Mr Jafar Ibrahim-Yabo, who represented the National Programme Coordinator and the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster management, flagged off the disbursement in Tambuwal local government area of Sokoto state. Ibrahim-Yabo said 3,165 beneficiaries from six local government areas would obtain the payment in the present circle of disbursement. He added that in the next circle, no fewer than 75,000 beneficiaries will be targeted. Ibrahim-Yabo reiterated the federal government’s…