A prosecution witness, Okunrinboye Titus, on Tuesday, alleged that he transferred various sums of money to some beneficiaries without formal documentation to back the payments. Titus made this known while giving his evidence-in-chief in the ongoing trial of former Minister, Taminu Turaki, before Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja. Turaki, the Minister of Special Duties and Inter-governmental Affairs between 2013 and 2015, is charged with alleged laundering of N854 million. He also served as the supervising Minister of Labour from 2014 to 2015 in President Jonathan-led administration, and as chairman, Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution.…
Author: Editor
Lagos State is to repeal public officers’ pension law that allows all former governors and deputy governors in the state to be paid pension and other benefits. Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu made the promise during a budget estimate presentation to the Lagos State House of Assembly in Lagos on Tuesday. “We will be sending an executive bill in a couple of weeks to this honourable house to repeal the pension law. “This pension law is for pension paid to former public officers such as the former governors and former deputy governors “The repeal of the act is due to the dwindling…
At the start of the 20th century, German chemists Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch developed a method for taking nitrogen from the air and melding it with hydrogen. It would prove to be one of the great scientific advances of the century. Combined, the two elements made liquid ammonia, a key ingredient in synthetic fertilizers, which would drive an unprecedented agricultural expansion and help feed a fast-growing world. But there has been a downside. During the last 100 years, the amount of man-made nitrogen compounds in water, soil and the air has doubled – an increase driven in large part by the…
U.S. Attorney General, William Barr, has directed federal prosecutors across the country to examine allegations of fraud in the Nov. 3 general elections. Barr’s directive is contained in a Nov. 9 memo titled, “Post-Voting Election Irregularity Inquiries” addressed to relevant divisions in the Department of Justice. It came two days after the projection of former Vice President and Democratic candidate, Joe Biden, as winner of the keenly-contested presidential election. The Republican incumbent President Donald Trump has not conceded, and is alleging that the election was stolen by the Democrats especially in battleground states. His campaign organisation has filed lawsuits in key…
The Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, on Monday drilled officials of the Ministry of Justice over N2 billion it proposed to spend on legal services in 2021. The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, Solicitor-General of the Federation, Dayo Akpata, and other officials of the ministry appeared before the committee to defend their 2021 budget proposal. In the document submitted to the committee, the ministry under overhead cost proposed that the sum of N2 billion would be used to pay for legal services. It listed the legal services to include civil litigation,…
The Nigeria Centre For Disease Control (NCDC) has confirmed 94 new cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19) infections in the country. The centre made this known via its verified website on Monday. According to the NCDC, 937 of the 58,795 people who were tested for COVID-19 between Nov. 1 and Nov. 8 tested positive. It said that the 937 cases recorded in the first week of November were slightly higher than the 923 recorded between Oct. 25 and Oct. 31. The NCDC data indicated that a total of 58,795 samples were collected for testing between Oct. 25 and Oct. 31, compared to the 20,165…
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has congratulated Americans for “a vibrant exercise of democracy” in the November 3 U.S. general elections. In a statement by his spokesman, Mr Stephane Dujarric, on Monday, Gurerres also congratulated the President-elect Joe Biden and the Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. He said the partnership between the U.S. and the UN “is an essential pillar of the international cooperation needed to address the dramatic challenges facing the world today”. The UN was created after World War II at the instance of the U.S., which provides the largest financial contribution to the organisation’s overall budget. But the partnership…
U.S. President Donald Trump has sacked the country’s Secretary of Defence, Mr Mark Esper, after reports of recent clashes between the two over several issues. Trump, who announced the decision on Twitter on Monday, named Mr Christopher Miller, Director of the National Counterterrorism Centre, as Acting Secretary of Defence. “Mark Esper has been terminated. I would like to thank him for his service. “I am pleased to announce that Christopher C. Miller, the highly respected Director of the National Counterterrorism Center (unanimously confirmed by the Senate), will be Acting Secretary of Defense, effective immediately. “Chris will do a GREAT job!”,…
The World Bank on Monday published a guide to help public debt managers improve their engagement with investors on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) topics. According to a statement issued by the World Bank in Washington D. C., the guide is titled: “Engaging with Investors on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Issues – A World Bank Guide for Sovereign Debt Managers”. The guide is expected to help bridge the communication gap on ESG issues between sovereign issuers and investors. It also outlines how sovereign debt investors use ESG information in their investment strategies, how debt managers engage with them and how…
The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has postponed the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for private candidates, 2020 Second Series. This is contained in a statement issued to newsman on Monday in Lagos by the council’s Acting Head, Public Affairs, Mr Damianus Ojijeogu. According to Ojijeogu, the examination, which was initially scheduled to commence on Saturday, Nov. 14, will no longer hold as planned, due to circumstances beyond the council’s control. ”The West African Examinations Council (WAEC), Nigeria, wishes to inform all registered candidates for the WASSCE (Private candidates, 2020 Second Series) and the general public that there…