… Nigeria, Chad, Niger, Cameroon officials attend By Babagana Wakil, Maiduguri Borno state governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum on Tuesday, addressed multinationals from Lake Chad countries and development partners from the UK and other countries at an ongoing conference hosted by UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development office. The conference tagged “Lake Chad Basin: Key Steps Towards Comprehensive Regional Solutions” with focus on how to effectively manage mass surrenders by Boko Haram and ISWAP fighters through Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR), is taking place at Wilton Park, located at Winston House in Sussex, United Kingdom. The conference has participants drawn from…
Author: Newsdesk
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba gave warned those negotiating with Russia not to eat or drink with them. This followed report about poisoning of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich and Ukrainian negotiators. “I advise anyone going through negotiations with the Russian Federation not to eat or drink anything. “Preferably avoid touching any surface,” Kuleba said. It comes as discussions between Ukrainian and Russian delegations are set to continue in Turkey on Tuesday. In more than a month of war, negotiators from Ukraine and Russia have met three times in the border region of Belarus, talks then shifted online. On Sunday, the…
The Nigerian Army says troops of 82 Division have dislodged the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its armed affiliate, Eastern Security Network (ESN) from their hideout in Anambra The Director, Army Public Relations, Brig.-Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu, in a statement, said the clearance operation took place on Monday at Orsumoghu, Ihiala Local Government Area of the state. Nwachukwu said the notorious groups had serially launched attacks on defenceless civilians and security targets from the hideout. He said troops were met with stiff resistance from the dissident elements, as they closed in on their enclave during the operations along Imo-Anambra border…
Brazilian President, Jair Bolsonaro, has been hospitalised again, according to local media reports. Bolsonaro, 67, was on his way to a party event in Brasilia. He did not appear there, however, he made his way to a military hospital with stomach pain, Fabio Faria, government spokesman, said. His wife Michelle said he was fine. Bolsonaro was taken to hospital in Sao Paulo in January for treatment of an intestinal blockage. The populist president was also treated in hospital for an intestinal blockage in July 2021. He said the problems were as the result of wounds he sustained from a knife…
Oil revenue deductions by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited in the first quarter of 2022, have increased by 40.45 percent Quarter-on-Quarter (QoQ) to N883.45 billion from N629.07 billion in the preceding quarter of Q4’21, findings from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) have revealed. This has resulted in financial pressure on the federal, stats and local governments. According to the indices by FAAC, the deduction effected in March stood at N266.52 billion while other deductions in the past months were February 2022 (N228.52 billion), January 2022 (388.52 billion), December 2021 (N194.11 billion), November 2021 (N284.01 billion), and October…
Data collated from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disclosed that the Nigerian government’s total borrowing through Ways and Means Advances has risen by 96.54 per cent or N8.92tn in two years. Ways and Means Advances is a loan facility through which the CBN finances the government’s budget’s shortfalls. According to a year-on-year analysis of the data, the borrowing rose from N9.24tn as of January 2020 to N18.16tn as of January 2022. The Debt Management Office (DMO) however says that N18.16tn owed by the federal government to the apex bank is not part of the country’s total public debt…
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disclosed that citizens spent a total of $39.66bn on foreign education and healthcare-related services between 2010 and 2020. According to CBN’s Balance of Payments, Nigerian parents and guardians paid about $28.65bn for their wards to study abroad during the period under review. The BoP report also revealed that Nigerians paid $11.01bn for healthcare-related services in foreign countries. The amount spent on these foreign services is almost equivalent to the current value of the country’s foreign reserves which stood at $39.51bn as of March 23, highlighting its high cost. These statistics and their impacts…
Kaduna state government says the military has secured the Kaduna bound train from Abuja trapped by terrorists. A statement by the Commissioner, Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan Tuesday morning said the state government “received multiple reports of an attack on the Abuja-Kaduna train service at around Kateri-Rijana general areas. “Relevant action agencies were urgently contacted, and robust deployments of personnel were swiftly made to the area to secure the passengers on board. “Efforts are ongoing to convey the passengers from the location and others that sustained injuries have been rushed to hospitals for urgent medical attention.…
The Office of the Auditor General for the Federation (AUGF) has issued 50 audit queries against the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), for alleged mismanagement of N87 billion without the necessary approvals or evidence of such expenditures. It also queried alleged undue ministerial interference in the management of the finances of the Fund in violation of government circular number ECD/P/230 of 18th October, 1996 which prohibits supervising ministries from interfering in the finances of parastatals under her. Recall that a former chairperson of the Fund, Ngozi Olejime is currently being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)…
Following terrorists’ attack on the Kaduna International Airport and killing of a staff of the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) on Saturday, Azman Airline has suspended its operation to Kaduna. The airline on its Twitter handle @AzmanAir, confirmed on Monday that it suspended operation, however leaving many passengers stranded at the airport due to limited flight connectivity in and out of Kaduna. “The Management of Azman Air will like to inform the general public that we will be halting our operations into Kaduna Airport for a few days. “We understand the security situation around the airport has been handled and…