The Sokoto State Government has approved N950 million for the completion of a 38-megawatt Independent Power Project (IPP) started in 2008. The Commissioner for Information and Culture, Sambo Danchadi, disclosed this after the State Executive Council (SEC) meeting on Wednesday in Sokoto. Danchadi said the IPP project, started by former Governor Aliyu Wammako’s administration in 2008, aimed at providing 24-hour electricity to the state. He said the project would generate 38 megawatts of electricity when completed, assuring that the project would no doubt rejuvenate social and economic activities across the state. ”The present administration considers it paramount to complete the…
Author: Abdoulaye Kay
The Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC), has shared N1.411 trillion among the Federal Government, States and Local Government Councils (LGCs) for October. This is according to a communiqué from FAAC made available by Mr Bawa Mokwa, the Director, Press and Public Relations, Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation on Wednesday in Abuja. The communiqué said that the revenue was shared at the November meeting of FAAC held in Bauchi State and chaired by the Accountant-General of the Federation. Oluwatoyin Madein. The FAAC meeting was held after the 2024 National Council on Finance and Economic Development (NACOFED) hosted by the…
Barely 24 hours after Daniel Bwala had announced himself as the new presidential spokesman, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga issued a statement denying that there was no “presidential spokesman” in that sense. Onanuga announced the re-designation of Bwala as special adviser on policy communication to the president — a position that means the latest addition to President Bola Tinubu’s media team will now operate away from the presidential villa. It all happened in a day’s job — on Monday, November 18. Bwala was announced as the special adviser to media and public communication…
In a significant ruling on November 12, the Bombay High Court affirmed that a man engaging in sexual intercourse with his wife under the age of 18 constitutes rape, irrespective of her consent. The court reiterated that the age of consent in India is 18, and any sexual act with a girl below this age, married or not, is a criminal offence. A single-judge bench, led by Justice Govind Sanap, was hearing a criminal appeal filed by a man challenging a September 9, 2021 trial court verdict in Wardha district. The trial court had convicted him under charges of rape…
The Dangote Petroleum Refinery has commenced the export of refined petroleum products to neighbouring West African nations, signalling its readiness to impact regional fuel markets significantly. A Bloomberg report on Tuesday, citing data from Vortexa, Kpler, Precise Intelligence, port records, and ship-tracking platforms, confirmed that a shipment of gasoline from the Dangote Refinery was transported to waters off Togo’s coast. The tanker, CL Jane Austen, loaded over 300,000 barrels of gasoline from the refinery and sailed west. Regional interest in Dangote’s output Ghana has already expressed interest in sourcing petroleum products from the Dangote Refinery to reduce reliance on expensive…
The fourth edition of the Zenith Bank Tech Fair tagged “Future Forward 4.0: Embedded Finance, Cybersecurity & Growth Imperatives – The Impact of AI” is set to be held on Thursday, November 21, 2024, at the Eko Convention Centre, Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos from 8.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. The fair will showcase leading technological innovations that cut across artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, risk management, compliance, financial intelligence, cloud computing and communication technologies among others. The event will also feature a start-up pitch competition – Zecathon – to identify innovative startups, panel discussions, masterclasses and exhibitions. Among the…
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has dismissed allegations that he was barred from entering the Aso Rock Presidential Villa due to drunken behaviour. The claims, made by journalist Jackson Ude on his X (formerly Twitter) handle, alleged that Wike was intoxicated while receiving Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on Saturday. Ude further alleged, citing an anonymous security source, that Wike was denied access to the Presidential Villa during Modi’s visit to President Bola Tinubu. In a statement on Tuesday, Wike’s media aide, Lere Olayinka, described the allegations…
President Bola Tinubu has formally requested the National Assembly’s approval for a new external loan of N1.767 trillion ($2.209 billion) to finance part of the N9.7 trillion deficit in the 2024 budget. The president’s letter was read during the Assembly’s plenary session on Tuesday. In addition to the loan request, Tinubu also forwarded the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF/FSP) for 2025-2027 to the Assembly. The National Social Investment Programme Establishment Amendment Bill was also submitted, aiming to institutionalize the social register as the primary tool for implementing federal welfare programs. Rising debt obligations Nigeria’s foreign debt servicing…
The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) has revealed that over N135,540,905,308.92 billion in matching grants has not been accessed by states between 2020 and 2024. The Executive Secretary of UBEC, Dr. Hamid Bobboyi, disclosed this during his presentation of the 2023 and 2024 budget implementation report to the Senate Committee on Basic and Secondary Education on Monday in Abuja. Bobboyi clarified that the current year’s budget (2024) would be disbursed in the following year, which means that the allocated funds did not usually lapse, unlike funds allocated to other organisations. He, however, expressed concern that many states had failed to meet…
The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) has commended Nigeria’s Supreme Court for its landmark ruling affirming the legitimacy and prosecutorial powers of the country’s key anti-corruption agencies, including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU). In a unanimous decision delivered on Friday, a seven-member panel of the apex court, led by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji, dismissed a suit filed by several state governments, led by Kogi State, challenging the authority of these federal agencies. The court ruled that the suit lacked merit, emphasizing…