Wednesday, November 27

News

CBT: Mutfwang advocates partnership to expand infrastructures
News

CBT: Mutfwang advocates partnership to expand infrastructures

By Collins Yakubu-Hammer, NEWS AGENCY OF NIGERIA Gov. Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau has called for partnership among government, Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Faith Base Organisations (FBOs), Corporate Organisations and wealthy individuals to expand Computer Based Test (CBT) infrastructures. Mutfwang made the call at the roundabout on Athena/Educare Free Nationwide Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) Preparatory CBT launch on Monday in Abuja. The event was organised by the Athena Centre for Policy and Leadership in collaboration with Educare to mainstream CBT into school’s curriculum. According to Mutfwang, Plateau as a state has only 21 CBT platforms which are not enough to cover the local government areas of the state. He added that most of the 21 CBT Centers ...
Wike Orders Closure Of International Conference Centre
News

Wike Orders Closure Of International Conference Centre

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has suspended all events at the International Conference Centre, Abuja. After inspecting the centre on Monday, Mr Wike explained that the suspension was to enable Julius Berger to carry out a rehabilitation on the facility. The minister had terminated the contract of Messrs Integrated Facility Management Services Ltd., assigned to manage the centre. Anthony Ogunleye, the minister’s spokesperson, who announced the development on April 4, added that Julius Berger had been contracted for the immediate renovation of the centre. After going around the facility, the minister described it as a mere conference centre, stating, “There is nothing international about the centre.” “When we came here for the ECOWAS inaugu...
Obaseki Appoints 38-Year-Old Engineer As New Edo Deputy Gov
News

Obaseki Appoints 38-Year-Old Engineer As New Edo Deputy Gov

Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, has appointed a 38-year-old engineer, Omobayo Godwin, as his new deputy. This was coming on the heels of the impeachment of the former deputy governor, Philip Shaibu, by the state House of Assembly on Monday. According to the panel set up for the impeachment proceedings of the former deputy gov, Shuaibu was sacked for leaking the state government’s secrets. Omobayo hails from Akoko Edo Local Government Area of the state and was born on July 19, 1986. He holds a B.Eng degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering and an MSc in Public Administration from the University of Benin. He is a registered member of the Nigerian Society of Engineers and the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria. Before his new appointment, he se...
Survivors Of Kogi Attack Seek Governments’ Support To Return Home
News

Survivors Of Kogi Attack Seek Governments’ Support To Return Home

Displaced people of Agojeju-Odo community in Omala Local Government Area of Kogi have pleaded with the federal and state governments to assist them to return home after Thursday’s bandits attack. The bandits had launched an attack on the quiet and peaceful Agojeju-Odo community, killing 25 persons, injuring some and displacing the community. Some of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) made the appeal to journalists who visited them at Bagaji-Odo community on Saturday. Patience Akauwu, a 67-year-old woman, said that life had become tough and hard for them, having lost their farm produce to the attackers. “We have been displaced and suffering here in Bagaji-Odo due to a lack of food and a conducive place to stay. “All we are asking for is the federal and state governments...
NCoS To Address Overcrowding In Custodial Centres
News

NCoS To Address Overcrowding In Custodial Centres

The Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) is adopting multidimensional approaches to addressing overcrowding in custodial centres across the country, its spokesman, Abubakar Umar, said on Sunday. Umar told journalists in Abuja that one was to achieve this was through the construction of mega custodial facilities in the six geopolitical zones of the country. “Presently, we are constructing 3000-capacity mega custodial centres in each of 4the six geopolitical zones of the country. The one located in the North-West zone has been inaugurated and fully functional now. In no distant time, others will come once stream. “Secondly, we are diversifying to the use of non-custodial measures, which does not require the offender to serve imprisonment; this measure is used for offenders with ...
GBV: Foundation builds capacity of community members to check menace
News

GBV: Foundation builds capacity of community members to check menace

By Collins Yakubu-Hammer The Tabitha Cumi Foundation (TCF), a non-governmental organisation, has built the capacity of no fewer than 35 members of various communities in Abuja, Nasarawa and Niger State to address Gender-Based Violence (GBV). The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the capacity building is part of the Flashlight Actions on Girls’ Safety (FLAGS), a GBV prevention and response project. The Executive Director, TCF, Mrs Tayo Erinle, on Thursday said that the foundation works basically to support survivors. Erinle, who was represented by the Programme Manager, Mrs Nendirmwa Ohah, explained that the programme which is in the last phase, started in 2021. According to her, the capacity building is to ensure sustainability of the programme at the community leve...
NGO decries state govt. disregard to account for 9bn palliative disbursement
News

NGO decries state govt. disregard to account for 9bn palliative disbursement

By Perpetua OnuegbuConnected Development, an NGO has decried the disregard of state governments to the call for accountability to the nine billion palliative disbursement by the Federal Government to them to cushion the effect fuel subsidy removal.Mr Hamzat Lawal, Executive Director of the group expressed this displeasure in a statement he signed .on Thursday in Abuja.According to him, there is increasing concerns regarding transparency and accountability in governance to address the worrisome lack of response from state to governors to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests about the disbursement of allocated funds."On September 1, 2023, the Finance Minister announced a partial release of 2 billion naira perstate from five billion naira earmarked for palliative measures following the fuel...
Court Fixes Monday For Ruling As Binance Executive Gambaryan Challenges Money Laundering Charge
News

Court Fixes Monday For Ruling As Binance Executive Gambaryan Challenges Money Laundering Charge

On Thursday, the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court fixed April 8 for ruling on an objection raised by Tigran Gambaryan, a Binance Holdings Limited executive, challenging the competence of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)’s charge. Mr Gambaryan, through his lawyer, Mark Mordi, opposed the move to be arraigned before Justice Emeka Nwite, insisting that the EFCC, having not served Binance, listed as 1st defendant in the charge, cannot arraign him. The anti-graft agency had filed a money laundering charge against Binance, Mr Gambaryan, and Nadeem Anjarwalla (now at large) as the first and third defendants. Mr Anjarwalla was said to have fled Nigeria after he escaped from custody on March 22. The anti-graft commission filed a five-count charge on March 28,...
Police Kill Alleged Kidnapper In Nasarawa
News

Police Kill Alleged Kidnapper In Nasarawa

The police command in Nasarawa says it killed a suspected kidnapper operating on Nasarawa-Keffi highway. The command’s spokesman, Ramhan Nansel, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday. Mr Nansel said on Wednesday, the command received a distress call that some hoodlums had blocked the Nasarawa-Keffi highway to kidnap unsuspecting road users. Our personnel in collaboration with the military swiftly went to the scene of the operation. On sighting the joint operatives, the criminals opened fire and a gun duel ensued and in the process, one of the hoodlums was fatally wounded and apprehended. ”On realising that one of them had been shut, the others abandoned their mission and scampered for safety due to the superior firepower of the joint security forces,” the statement said. ...
Sheik Muhideen Bello Appeals To Muslims To Imbibe Lessons Of Ramadan
News

Sheik Muhideen Bello Appeals To Muslims To Imbibe Lessons Of Ramadan

A popular cleric, Sheik Muhideen Ajani Bello has urged Muslims all over the world to imbibe the lessons learnt during the ongoing Ramadan in order to seek the face and forgiveness of Almigthy Allah even after the end of the Holy Month. Sheik Bello who stated this while delivering a lecture at the annual Ramadan lecture of Oodua Peoples Congress, OPC New Era, Oluyole Local Government, urged all Muslims all over the world to use the lessons of Ramadan in their day to day activities. According to Sheik Bello, Ramadan period is characterised by total submission to God, self denial as well as abstinence from sin and other vices. He however stressed the need for every Muslim to sustain the abstinence from sins and other vices while upholding the teachings of Holy Prophet Mohammed. I...
Tinubu signs Students Loan Bill into law
News

Tinubu signs Students Loan Bill into law

President Bola Tinubu has signed the Students Loan Bill into law. At the signing on Wednesday in Abuja, President Tinubu commended the efforts of members of the National Assembly for the expeditious handling of the bill. Sharpedgenews reports that the loan is part of the government's implementation of Access to Higher Education Act, 2023. The Act seeks to provide loans for indigent Nigerian students to pay fees in Nigerian tertiary institutions. The President said that his administration would continue to prioritise and encourage education among Nigerian youths as a tool to fight poverty. "We are determined to ensure that education is given the proper attention necessary for the country (to develop), including skills development programmes. "This is to ensure that no one...
Olukoyede: EFCC Won’t Spare ‘Mega Thieves’ In Anti-Corruption War
News

Olukoyede: EFCC Won’t Spare ‘Mega Thieves’ In Anti-Corruption War

The EFCC chairman, Ola Olukoyede, has assured of leading a broad-based and holistic anti-graft war that would not spare anyone linked with economic or financial crime. We will not spare anyone. We will not spare the mega thieves. As we are doing the mega, we will also do those at the lower end,” Mr Olukoyede said in a statement on Monday by EFCC spokesperson Dele Oyewale. The EFCC boss gave the assurance in Abuja at an anti-corruption concert organised to create greater awareness and public involvement in the fight against internet crimes. “In the last two months, we have arraigned two former governors. So, it is not true that we are only focused on internet fraudsters. “Of course, internet fraud is bad enough, but our focus is on every form of economic and financial crime,” h...
Tinubu To Attend Faye’s Inauguration As Senegal’s New President
News

Tinubu To Attend Faye’s Inauguration As Senegal’s New President

President Bola Tinubu is set to attend the inauguration of Senegal’s president-elect, Bassirou Faye, as substantive president in Dakar on Tuesday at the invitation of the West African country. His spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, stated on Monday in Abuja that the president would leave Abuja for Dakar on Tuesday. Mr Tinubu, chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Governments, will join other regional leaders at the event. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, and other senior government officials will accompany him. Mr Ngelale stated that the president is expected to return to Nigeria after the conclusion of the inauguration.
NGO urges govt. to provide more support systems for women
News

NGO urges govt. to provide more support systems for women

Breaking the Barriers (BB), a Non-governmental organisation (NGO) has urged the Federal Government to provide support systems that would enable women to thrive in their undertakings. Miss Lolade Ipele, Project Lead, BB made this call at a one-day capacity building workshop for women and girls on Friday in Abuja. The theme of the workshop was: Breaking the Barriers, Active Participation of Women in Leadership and Civic Engagement. Ipele said the federal government should be more involved in building the capacity of Nigerians, especially women and girls. “We are saying that the government should provide a support system for women to enable them to build on their potential. “…systems, that create capacity building programmes, trainings to sensitise them on how they can take up...
Police Arrest 8 Suspects Over Killing Of Six Officers In Delta
News

Police Arrest 8 Suspects Over Killing Of Six Officers In Delta

The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) says it has arrested eight suspects in connection with the murder of its officers who were on a fact-finding mission in the Ughelli area of Delta state. In January, gunmen abducted three mobile police officers who were responding to a distress call, at the Ohoro community in the Ughelli north LGA of the state. A few weeks after the incident, some police officers mobilised to rescue their abducted colleagues, were ambushed and killed around the Ohoro forest in Ughelli LGA. In a statement on March 23, Muyiwa Adejobi, force spokesperson, confirmed that six police officers were slain in the incident, adding that the bodies had been recovered while the search for another six was ongoing. Giving an update on the development on Saturday, Adejobi said po...
Easter: We’Ve Embarked On Journey Of Transformation In FCT-Wike
News

Easter: We’Ve Embarked On Journey Of Transformation In FCT-Wike

The minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, says the FCT Administration has embarked on a journey of transformation in the capital territory. Wike, who stated this in his Easter message to residents of FCT in Abuja on Saturday, urged the residents to contribute to the realisation of the vision for a better Nigeria. He explained that the efforts to transform the FCT were driven by a renewed sense of hope and optimism under the “Renewed Hope” agenda of President Bola Tinubu. “As residents of the FCT, let us keep faith with President Tinubu and his administration, and let us actively contribute to the realisation of his vision for a better Nigeria. “On our part, the FCT Administration remains deeply committed to ensuring the welfare and well-being of all res...
FG Approves N25 Billion For Healthcare Infrastructure Enhancement
News

FG Approves N25 Billion For Healthcare Infrastructure Enhancement

The federal government has approved the disbursement of N25 billion through the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) to bolster healthcare infrastructure in states. Prof. Muhammed Pate, the coordinating minister of health and social welfare, made this known on Saturday in Abuja at the sixth meeting of the BHCPF ministerial oversight committee. Mr Pate said that the funds were designated for direct facility financing and workforce incentives across states. The minister said that the initiative was in line with President Bola Tinubu’s agenda and commitment to improving healthcare outcomes for Nigerian women, children, and vulnerable populations. He said that the disbursement would be facilitated through gateways, including the National Primary Health Care Development Agency ...
VON, energy commission to enlighten Nigerians on Sustainable Cooling Project
News

VON, energy commission to enlighten Nigerians on Sustainable Cooling Project

The Voice of Nigeria (VON), in collaboration with the Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN) is ready to enlighten citizens on the Nigerian Sustainable Cooling Project to reduce energy consumption by air conditioners. VON Director-General, Jibrin Baba-Ndace, revealed this when he received the National Coordinator of the Project, Mr Samaila Zaku, on a courtesy visit on Thursday in Abuja. Ndace said that climate change was causing serious environmental challenges with the heat remaining intense even when the air conditioners are put on. He added that the kind of turbulence during flights as a result of global warming was so scary that it could discourage people from travelling by air. “I am happy that ECN has seen us as a partner to achieve the Nigerian Sustainable Cooling Project. ...
MoU:Refugees’ Commission partners state varsity on migration issues
News

MoU:Refugees’ Commission partners state varsity on migration issues

The Federal Commissioner, NCFRMI, Alhaji Tijani Ahmed, signing a Memorandum of Understanding with Nasarawa State University on migration studies in Keffi . By Jacinta Nwachukwu National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Nasarawa State University, Keffi (NSUK) to establish a centre to address migration issues. Addressing journalists in Keffi, the Federal Commissioner, NCFRMI, Alhaji Tijani Ahmed explained that the principal purpose of the MoU was to establish an International Centre of Excellence for Migration and Humanitarian Development Studies (ICEMIDS). Ahmed said that the Centre would be a vehicular instrument for facilitating strategic collaboration between the Parties in the are...
Organisation hold MMA event to promote peace, unity in Nigeria
News

Organisation hold MMA event to promote peace, unity in Nigeria

By Victor Okoye Ebere Benard, the Youth Director, Nigerian Mixed Martial Arts Federation (NMMAF) says they are organising an International Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) event to promote peace and unity in the country. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event would witness 16 professional martial artists trade blows and kicks against each other in eight blockbuster, intense bouts on Saturday at the Mo Arena in Abuja. Benard who doubles as the CEO, Akalaka Spirit of the Warrior, an MMA Organisation and sponsors of the event said it was geared towards promoting peace and safety of lives and property in the country through sports, dialogue and entertainment. He said the Abuja MMA Fight Night tagged "The Battle of Paikokun Mountain" was inspired by one of the mountains l...