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Friday, 06 January 2023 05:52

NFIU bans cash withdrawals from FG, states, LGs’ accounts - with only one exception

Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) has banned cash withdrawal from all federal, state and local government accounts. Modibo Tukur, NFIU director-general, spoke to journalists at a conference in Abuja on Thursday. Tukur said the ban would take effect on March 1, 2023. He said the agency will launch investigations against any public officials engaged in cash transactions after the end of February this year. According to Tukur, the NFIU will collaborate with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), and the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) to investigate government officials that withdraw cash from public…

Friday, 06 January 2023 05:48

Gridlock on Lagos-Ibadan expressway as construction resumes on inbound Lagos end

Motorists and commuters, yesterday, appealed to the Federal Government to adopt more measures to reduce gridlock along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway as contractors returned to site after the festive season to resume construction works. Work on the OPIC axis, which resulted in traffic snarls and hardship to road users in the area, was suspended in December for the festive season to ease movement of travellers, bringing relief to motorists. A News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Correspondent who took a trip on Section One of the highway, yesterday, reports that work men who returned to site on Tuesday were seen between Kara…

Friday, 06 January 2023 05:47

What to know after Day 317 of Russia-Ukraine war

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE Putin assures Erdogan of Russia’s openness to dialogue on Ukraine Russian President Vladimir Putin told his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a phone conversation on Thursday about the destructive role the West has been playing by pumping Ukraine with arms and assigning targets to it, according to the Kremlin. The two leaders "discussed the situation around Ukraine. Russia laid an emphasis on the destructive role of Western countries who have been pumping the Kiev regime with weapons and military hardware as well as providing it with operational information and assigning targets to it," the Kremlin said in…

Thursday, 05 January 2023 06:09

Debt servicing gulped 81% of FG’s revenues in 11 months; to borrow fresh N11trn to fund 2023 budget - Minister

Zainab Ahmed, minister of finance, budget and national planning, says the federal government spent a total of N5.24 trillion on debt servicing between January and November 2022, out of its N6.5 trillion retained revenue for the same period. Ahmed said this in Abuja on Wednesday during the public presentation and breakdown of the approved 2023 budget. The minister put the country’s debt service-to-revenue ratio at 80.6 percent for the period under review — a figure far above World Bank’s suggested 22.5 percent for low-income countries like Nigeria. Speaking at the event, Ahmed said the federal government’s share of oil revenues…

Thursday, 05 January 2023 06:08

Ezekwesili: ‘2023 budget has deficit larger than revenue by almost N12trn

A former Minister of Education, Obiageli Ezekwesili, has raised concerns over the 2023 National budget, describing it as “hopeless”. President Muhammadu Buhari signed the 2023 transition budget Tuesday morning at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, in the presence of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Senate President Ahmad Lawan, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, and other members of the Federal Executive Council. Speaking at the event, the President said his regime would speed up critical infrastructure projects nationwide as it raced toward the finish line on May 29, 2023. He noted that the budget is N21.83…

Thursday, 05 January 2023 06:06

Petrol subsidy to continue till Buhari leaves office, to cost N3.36trn - FG

Nigeria will keep its costly but popular petrol subsidy until mid-2023 and has set aside N3.36 trillion ($7.5 bln) to spend on it, Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed said on Wednesday. Africa's biggest economy spent 2.91 trillion naira ($7 billion) towards a petrol subsidy between January and September 2022, state-owned firm NNPC said, a cost the government has blamed for dwindling public finances. President Muhammadu Buhari signed the 2023 budget of N21.83 trillion ($49 billion) into law on Tuesday after lawmakers increased the size by 6.4% and raised the oil price assumption. "Petrol subsidy will remain up to mid-2023 based on…

Thursday, 05 January 2023 06:02

Nigeria lacks resources to combat illegal mining, FG admits

Lekan Adegbite, minister of mines and steel development, says the federal government does not have the resources to preempt all illegal minerals miners’ activities because the country is vast. Adegbite, speaking on ARISE TV on Tuesday, said even though the country cannot forestall illegal mining operators, those caught will be dealt with according to the law. He also said the federal government had begun to organise the so-called illegal miners into cooperatives to ensure thorough monitoring, adding that so many foreign nationals were being arrested and prosecuted for breaking the law. “As for illegal mining, that’s a problem because Nigeria…

Thursday, 05 January 2023 05:58

Lawyers to pay N1m ‘processing fee’ for application to be SAN

Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee has opened invitations for lawyers to apply for the 2023 award for the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria at N1m, per applicant. The LPPC, in a notice issued by its Secretary/Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court, Hajo Bello, stated that the purchase of the application which began on January 1, will end on March 31, 2023. In the notice, it stated that the invitation was in accordance with the provisions of Section 5(2) of the Legal Practitioners Act, Cap L11 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 and Regulation 10 (1) (4) of the Guidelines…

Thursday, 05 January 2023 05:57

What to know after Day 316 of Russia-Ukraine war

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE Ukraine to get more armoured vehicles but presses for tanks to fight Russia Western allies moved toward supplying armoured battle vehicles to Ukraine but not the heavier tanks it has requested to fight Russia, while Washington predicted intense combat would continue for months on the eastern frontline. French President Emmanuel Macron told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy his government would send light AMX-10 RC armoured combat vehicles to help its war effort, a French official said on Wednesday after a phone call between them. While the official said these would be the first Western armoured vehicles delivered to Ukraine,…

Wednesday, 04 January 2023 05:59

FG will pay N1.8trn extra in 2023 if N’Assembly rejects loan-bond swap - Buhari

Nigeria will pay N1.8 trillion ($4 billion) extra interest in 2023 if National Assembly rejects a loan-to-bond swap request on the central bank's overdrafts to the government, President Muhammadu Buhari said on Tuesday after signing the 2023 budget into law. The Senate last week delayed a decision on the president's request to convert $53 billion worth of central bank overdrafts to the government into 40-year bonds after some lawmakers questioned the plan. In a speech on Tuesday, Buhari said the government currently pays a 3% margin above the central bank's lending rate of 16.5% but his administration has negotiated a…

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Wednesday, 04 January 2023 05:57

Buhari promises to help Burundi overcome fuel scarcity amid shortages in Nigeria

President Muhammadu Buhari has assured that Nigeria will support Republic of Burundi in diverse ways as necessary in the spirit of African solidarity and brotherliness. The President gave the assurance Tuesday at State House, Abuja, while receiving the Special Envoy of President Evariste Ndayishimiye, who came with a message. On request for assistance in the area of energy provision, particularly fuel, by the Burundi leader, Buhari said he knows what it feels like for a country to suffer from energy shortage, and promised that he would get the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited to look into the request. Burundi’s request…

Wednesday, 04 January 2023 05:55

‘Not true; I never had altercations with Obasanjo’, Obi of Onitsha refutes Presidency’s claim

Nnaemeka Achebe, the Obi of Onitsha, says he did not have any disagreement with former President Olusegun Obasanjo over the Second Niger Bridge. The monarch’s position was contained in a statement issued on Tuesday by Chinyelugo Anionwu, chief of staff to the Onitsha traditional council. In a statement on Monday, Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman, had criticised Obasanjo over the latter’s recent remarks criticising the present administration under President Muhammadu Buhari. Shehu had also said Obasanjo deceived the southeast during the flag-off for the construction of the Second Niger Bridge, adding that the Obi of Onitsha had some altercation with the…

Wednesday, 04 January 2023 05:53

What to know after Day 315 of Russia-Ukraine war

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE Russian military issues update on deadly Ukrainian strike Nearly 90 troops were killed by a Ukrainian missile strike that hit a temporary housing area used by the Russian forces in the city of Makeyevka in Donetsk People’s Republic just after midnight on January 1, the Defense Ministry announced on Wednesday. The death toll has grown to 89 people, including the unit’s deputy commander, the ministry said, as more bodies were pulled from the rubble of a vocational school where the troops were stationed on New Year’s night. The facility was targeted by six missiles from a US-supplied HIMARS…

Tuesday, 03 January 2023 05:36

What to know after Day 314 of Russia-Ukraine war

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE Dozens dead in Ukrainian strike on Russian troops More than 60 Russian troops have been killed in a Ukrainian missile strike, Moscow confirmed on Monday. The attack hit a temporary housing area used by the Russian forces in Donbass. The facility in the city of Makeyevka in Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic was targeted by six missiles from US-supplied HIMARS multiple rocket launchers, the Defense ministry said. Two projectiles were intercepted by air defenses, but four made it through, the statement added. "As a result of a strike by four missiles with high-explosive warheads on a temporary deployment point,…

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