Niger State House House Committee on Education, Science and Technology has said, only N58.8 million out of the N840.516 million allocated to education sector in the state’s 2019 budget was accessed by the education ministry. Malam Suleiman Gambo, Chairman of the Committee, and Member Representing Paiko Constituency, disclosed this during the presentation of a report at a plenary in Minna on Wednesday. The House had last month, mandated the committee to perform oversight function by interfacing with stakeholders; and visit affected schools to ascertain the level of dilapidation. Gambo disclosed that the committee discovered that out of…
Author: Abdallah el-Kurebe
The Minister of State for Power, Mr Goddy Agba, has disclosed that the Federal government plans to spend $2.3 billion on the first phase of the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI) projects, aimed at increasing the nation’s power transmission capacity to 7,000MW. The Minister disclosed this during the Nigerian Energy Forum (NEF 2020) Webinar in Lagos, tagged “Energy Solution for Sustainable Recovery” on Thursday. According to Agba, the various interventions are grouped into phases with the near term objective being to increase the transmission capacity from the current level of just over 5,000MW to 7,000MW. “The PPI is…
Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, has said that the Federal government of Nigeria is not considering any possibility of negotiations with P&ID. This is contained in a statement signed by Dr. Umar Jibrilu Gwandu, Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations Office of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice and made available to Ashenewsonline on Thursday. “There will be no negotiation or talk of settlement with P&ID or any related party by or on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria. “The recent judgment of the English Commercial Court confirmed our view that…
A Nigerian, Dr Olufemi Lalude, the first Managing Director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company, SNEPCO, that rejected $6 million bribe has been honoured by Akinjide Adeosun Foundation, AAF. Dr. Lalude was conferred with the Foundation’s 2020 Leadership Award, during its 5th annual colloquium with the theme: “Integrity – A Sine Qua Non to Building a Prosperous Nation’’. Speaking at the event which held virtually, Mr Akinjide Adeosun, AAF’s Founder and Chief Executive Officer of St. Rachael’s Pharmaceutical Nigeria Ltd., said the recognition of Lalude is in line with the core mandate of the foundation. The…
The Protem Chairman of the newly formed North Central People’s Forum, Arc Gabriel Aduku has enumerated reasons why notable personalities in the North Central zone of Nigeria, came together to form the body. He said that in spite of the zone’s enormous solid, liquid mineral and natural endowment, commercial fishing farming and agro-allied activities as well as massive intellectual human resources, it had become a sleeping giant. Aduku made the remark on Wednesday in Abuja, at the launch of the Forum, which was attended by notable elder statesmen and elites from Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau states…
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved $27.33 million in grants to boost the African Union’s efforts to mobilise a continental response to curb the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a statement from the AfDB, the approval is made by the organisation’s Board of Directors on Wednesday. The approval followed a meeting of the extended Bureau of the Conference of Heads of State and Government with Africa’s private sector on April 22 April. The meeting was chaired by President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa who is also the chairperson of the AU. The meeting called for contributions to the AU’s COVID-19…
The Jigawa state command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, has arrested a 40-year old Usman Isma’il, for allegedly killing his 17-month-old step son, Adamu Gambo, in Miga local government area of the state. The spokesperson, SC Adamu Shehu, confirmed in Dutse on Thursday that the suspect, a resident of Tsakuwama village, was arrested by the Command’s operatives on September 3. According to Shehu, the suspect allegedly took the deceased to a farm on August 14 and strangled him to death. “The operatives of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in Miga, arrested one Usman Sama’ila of…
President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday presided over the meeting of the National Food Security Council with six State Governors, Chief of Staff to the President, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari and some ministers in attendance. The meeting would deliberate on recent hike in prices of foodstuff in the country. President Buhari had on Sept. 2 via a statement by one of his spokesmen, Malam Garba Shehu, expressed the concern of his administration about the sudden spiral of food prices. The president assured Nigerians that the situation is transient, saying his administration has already begun looking and putting in place measures to ameliorate…
The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) on Thursday launched a network of laboratories to reinforce genome sequencing of the virus that causes Covid-19. WHO Regional Director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, said this Cape Town. Twelve reference laboratories in various African countries will provide sequencing, data analysis and technical support services to the rest of the continent, the two organisations announced in a joint statement. “As we continue to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic in Africa, being able to not only track its evolution, but also assess the possible mutation of the…
By Abdul Musa Chinua Achebe’s postulations on the trouble with Nigeria as simply and squarely a failure of leadership captured succinctly our greatest challenge as a nation. This terrible anemia has blighted our progression to true nationhood despite ample endowments in size, population and other potentials that make a country great. Since independence, this space called Nigeria wallows in a yoke of stagnations, underdevelopment and mired in myriads challenges. This notwithstanding, providence has however continued to smile at us with the blessing of an emerging fresh class of leaders, in the fashion of the mythological Phoenix that regenerates from the…