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Wednesday, 17 May 2023 04:39

Profiles of the 5 justices of Presidential Election Petition Court who’ll decide actual winner

About 24 million voters gathered in February at over 176,000 voting points across the country to choose Nigeria’s next president, but only five persons will cast crucial votes at the first of two court stages in a conference room in Abuja in September. The fate of the president-elect, Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), will continue to hang in the balance months after he would have been inaugurated as Nigeria’s president on 29 May. His stay in office will still be steeped in uncertainties until the handful of judges that will hear the cases challenging his victory hand…

Wednesday, 17 May 2023 04:38

Senate sends Independent Candidacy Bill to Buhari for assent

Senate, on Tuesday, directed Clerk of the National Assembly to transmit to President Muhammadu Buhari a bill seeking to provide for independent candidacy in elections from local government to the national level. The bill proposes that for any Nigerian national to contest presidential election as independent candidate, he or she must obtain the verified signatures of at least 20 per cent of registered voters from each of the 36 states of the federation, “provided that a registered voter shall not sign for more than one independent candidate in respect of the same office.” For governorship election, the independent candidate must…

Tuesday, 16 May 2023 04:23

Inflation rises still as food prices push up CPI to 22.22 percent - NBS

The consumer price index (CPI), which measures the rate of change in prices of goods and services, rose to 22.22 percent in April 2023, up from 22.04 percent in the previous month. The inflation rate data is contained in the latest CPI report released on Monday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The April increase comes across as the fourth consecutive surge in the country’s inflation figure since the year began. “Looking at the movement, the April 2023 inflation rate showed an increase of 0.18% points when compared to March 2023 headline inflation rate,” the report reads. “Similarly, on…

Tuesday, 16 May 2023 04:22

CBN pushes financial inclusion with launch of SabiMoniI

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has launched its Financial Literacy e-Learning Platform, called “SabiMoni” in its efforts to upscale Financial Inclusion in the country. According to the CBN Governor, Godwing Emefiele, who launched the platform in Abuja on Monday, the apex bank was determined to achieve the 95 percent Financial Inclusion target next year. He said that the “SabiMoni” would significantly impact the drive as more members of the Nigerian public key into the platform. Emefiele promised that the CBN would urgently resolve the squabble between Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) and telecommunication companies over the sharing of Unstructured Supplementary Service…

Tuesday, 16 May 2023 04:18

Resident doctors declare five-day warning strike over pay increase, arrears

Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has declared a five-day warning strike following failure of the Federal Government to meet its demands. This was made known after an extraordinary National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held virtually on Monday. According to the doctors, the strike will begin on Wednesday, May 17, and end on Monday, May 22. On April 29, NARD issued a two-week ultimatum to the Federal Government to implement the agreements or face industrial action. The ultimatum, however, ended on Saturday, May 13, 2023. The doctors are demanding an immediate increment in the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure to the…

Tuesday, 16 May 2023 04:17

US says religious freedom violations more severe in Nigeria in 2022

The United States of America has accused Nigeria of severe violations of religious freedom. This was contained in the Annual Report of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom published in April 2023 and obtained by our correspondent on Monday. The commission stated that criminal activity and violent armed group incidents impacting religious freedom worsened. The commission cited instances, such as “A Shari’a court sentencing Sheikh Kabara to death for blasphemy. Judicial authorities sentenced humanist leader Mubarak Bala to 24 years in prison for blasphemy and other charges,” among others. According to USA, “in 2022, religious freedom conditions in Nigeria…

Tuesday, 16 May 2023 04:16

20 killed in tribal clashes over chieftaincy issues in Taraba

No fewer than twenty persons have been reported killed following a clash between two ethnic groups over kingship in Taraba State. This development comes on the heels of a coronation held for the traditional ruler of Wurkun Chiefdom. Sources reveal that the ceremony which was put together by Governor Darius Ishaku, turned out to be a decision that was not welcomed by other tribes. Houses, vehicles and farmlands were not spared in the carnage that ensued. Prior to the clashes, Governor Ishaku had said that the essence of creating the chiefdom was to bring government closer to the people, and…

Monday, 15 May 2023 14:18

US imposes visa ban on Nigerians who engaged in violence, issued threats, manipulated vote results in 2023 elections

The United States on Monday announced that it had taken steps to impose visa bans on persons who disrupted the recent general elections in Nigeria. In a statement on the US State Department website, Secretary of State Antony Binken said “the United States is committed to supporting and advancing democracy in Nigeria and around the world. Today, I am announcing that we have taken steps to impose visa restrictions on specific individuals in Nigeria for undermining the democratic process during Nigeria’s 2023 elections cycle.” He clarified that the visa ban is specific to certain individuals and is not directed at…

Monday, 15 May 2023 04:04

Party calls for cancellation of presidential election, Tinubu’s inauguration

Barely 15 days before the inauguration of the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, the DA-Democratic Alternative, a political party, has urged Nigerians to rise against the inauguration, alleging that the process that produced Tinubu was characterised by irregularities and fraud. Presidential candidate of the DA, Victor Vishnay, who made the call in Abuja on Saturday during a press briefing, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to cancel the 2023 polls on grounds that it did not meet acceptable international standards. “I enjoin Nigerians to call on the president to cancel the 2023 general election, especially the presidential election”, because of corrupt practices. “We…

Sunday, 14 May 2023 03:38

Investors shun developing Nigeria’s vast gas reserves for this key reason

The lingering subsidy regime of the Federal Government on Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, has stalled investments in the development of Nigeria’s gas sector, major and independent oil marketers stated on Friday. About two years ago, the Federal Government declared 2021 to 2030 as the ‘Decade of Gas’, and called for gas investments to deepen domestic gas usage. Nigeria has a proven gas reserve base of 208.62 trillion standard cubic feet (as at January 1, 2022), and is working to increase its reserves volumes to 220TCF in 10 years, according to data obtained from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory…

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Saturday, 13 May 2023 04:12

Musk takes new roles at Twitter as female CEO announced

NBCUniversal advertising chief Linda Yaccarino is taking the helm at Twitter, where she will confront an exodus of marketers who have left the social-media platform since Elon Musk took over. “I am excited to welcome Linda Yaccarino as the new CEO of Twitter!” Musk posted in a tweet Friday after NBCUniversal announced her departure. “Looking forward to working with Linda to transform this platform into X, the everything app.” The billionaire said he will become chief technology officer and executive chairman. Yaccarino may be in a unique position to deal with the fallout from Musk’s takeover of Twitter last year.…

Friday, 12 May 2023 04:18

Nigeria currently produces 1m bpd oil lower than allocated quota - FG

Nigeria’s oil production fell below the one million mark in April 2023. The production figure fell to 998,602 barrels per day (bpd), a 21.26 percent decline compared to March, when output was 1,268,202 bpd. The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) disclosed this in its latest crude oil and condensate production data for April 2023. The volume of production is at its lowest point in the last seven months. In the previous year, oil production fell below one million bpd in August and September owing to several issues, including oil theft. According to the NUPRC report, oil production decreased from…

Friday, 12 May 2023 04:16

Nigeria’s external debt servicing grows steadily, hits $112m monthly - Report

The Federal Government spent $112.35m servicing external debt in January 2023. Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Weekly International Payments showed that the amount spent in January was 146.17 per cent higher than the $45.64m spent in December 2022. This occurred as the Federal Government struggled to boost its revenue base despite its revenue generation efforts. The Federation Account Allocation Committee shared N750.17bn among the three tiers of government in January 2023. The figure represents a decrease of N240.02bn compared to the N990.19bn shared in December 2022. In 2022, Nigeria spent $2.4bn to service its external debt, which was…

Thursday, 11 May 2023 04:33

‘Once a country’s debt service ratio exceeds 30%, that country is in trouble. Nigeria is pushing towards 100%’ - Budget Office

Director General, Budget Office of the Federation, Ben Akabueze has said Nigeria is fast exceeding its limited borrowing space. Akabueze stated this at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, during the induction of newly-elected lawmakers of the 10th National Assembly, on Wednesday. He said: “While the size of the FG budget for 2023 created some excitement, the aggregate budgets of all governments in the country amount to about 30 trillion Naira. That is less than 15 percent in terms of ratio to GDP. “Even on the African continent, the ratio of spending is about 20 percent. South Africa is about 30…

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