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Thursday, 25 January 2024 04:49

Insecurity prevents 1.3m children from attending school in Nigeria - UNICEF

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says the recent violent attacks in some parts of Nigeria have disrupted the learning of more than 1.3 million schoolchildren. In a statement to mark the International Day of Education, Cristian Munduate, UNICEF representative in Nigeria, said there is a need for collaborative efforts to improve school safety in Nigeria. Munduate said only 6,000 schools met 43 percent minimum standard of safety in learning environment in Nigeria. She said education is crucial to advancing social and economic growth, adding that many children in Nigeria do not have access to education. “A recent evaluation indicates that,…

Thursday, 25 January 2024 04:48

Russian troops deploy to Burkina Faso for presidential guard duties, to ‘patrol dangerous areas’

Russia bolstered its influence in the troubled Sahel region of West Africa with about 100 military personnel from the country arriving in Burkina Faso on Wednesday, the first large deployment in that nation. The troops, the initial contingent of a planned force three times that size, will provide security for Ibrahim Traoré, the president of the country’s military regime, and the Burkinabe people, the Russian Africa Corps said in a statement posted on its Telegram channel. The “military specialists” carrying equipment and weapons will train Burkinabe troops and patrol dangerous areas, The Africa Initiative, a pro-Russia group, said in a…

Wednesday, 24 January 2024 04:48

Naira weakens further, as gap between official and parallel markets’ rates widens

The Naira, on Tuesday, continued its downward spiral, dropping to N1,365 per dollar at the parallel section of the market. The figure represents a N35 or 2.63 percent depreciation compared to the N1,330 it traded on January 16, 2024. Currency traders, also known as Bureau De Change (BDC) operators, put the buying price of the dollar at N1,355 and the selling price at N1,365 — leaving a profit margin of N10. A BDC operator in Lagos, who identified as Aliyu, said demand for the greenback has continued to increase. “Demand is increasing for the dollar as we have been recording…

Wednesday, 24 January 2024 04:47

FAAC: FG, states, LGs share N1.13trn from December revenues

Federation Account Allocation Committee says it shared a total sum of N1.13 trillion of earnings in December 2023 with the Federal Government, States, and Local Government Councils. This is N50bn more than the N1.08trn shared to each state in November. The FAAC in a communique after its January 2024 meeting, chaired by the Accountant General of the Federation, Oluwatoyin Madein, said the N1.13trn total distributable revenue comprised distributable statutory revenue of N363.188 billion, distributable Value Added Tax revenue of N458.622 billion, Electronic Money Transfer Levy revenue of N17.855 billion and Exchange Difference revenue of N287.743 billion. Madein, who was quoted…

Wednesday, 24 January 2024 04:46

Plateau imposes 24-hour curfew on LG after renewed violence in several communities

Plateau State Governor, Caleb Mutfwang, has declared a 24-hour curfew on the Mangu Local Government Area of the state with immediate effect. The development was confirmed in a statement issued on Tuesday by the governor’s Director of Press and Public Affairs, Gyang Bere. He said the decision followed the deteriorating security situation in the area. The statement read in part, “Governor Mutfwang took the decision after consultations with the relevant security agencies. “He stated that only persons on essential duties are allowed to move within the local government area until further notice. “He urged all citizens, especially residents of Mangu…

Tuesday, 23 January 2024 04:56

Canada slashes foreign student visas by 35 percent

The Canadian government has announced a two-year cap on study permits to limit its number of international students. Marc Miller, the minister of immigration, on Monday, disclosed what he described as principal measures to improve programme integrity and maintain a sustainable level of presence among international students coming into the North American country. He said the Canadian government will cap the number of student visas to be granted over the next two years. Miller said Canada will approve 364,000 undergraduate study permits in 2024, a reduction of 35 percent from 2023. He said each province and territory will be allotted…

Monday, 22 January 2024 04:50

FG’s new online passport issuance system cumbersome, not working, Nigerians cry out

The newly introduced passport automation applicants’ processes may have created more problems for Nigerians willing to obtain fresh passports or even renew their expired international passports, THISDAY’s investigation has revealed. Most affected are Nigerians in the Diaspora who returned for the Yuletide but cannot use the opportunity to renew their international passports. Some of them who spoke to our correspondents at the weekend, cried out to President Bola Tinubu to wade into what they described as an an “ill-advised and ill-timed” passport automation process recently introduced by the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo. It was further gathered that in some…

Sunday, 21 January 2024 04:46

Internet usage increases wage employment by 8%, reduces poverty by 7% in Nigeria, Tanzania - World Bank

Improved exposure to Internet and other online materials led to a reduction of poverty rate in Nigeria and Tanzania by 7 per cent, the World Bank has said. The World Bank stated this in a new brief titled, “Digital transformation drives development in Africa,” noting that the exposure also led to an increase of 8 per cent in labour force participation and wage employment. According to the bank, “In 2023, a World Bank flagship report found that in Nigeria and Tanzania, extreme poverty declined by about seven per cent after three or more years of exposure to internet coverage, while…

Saturday, 20 January 2024 04:59

Kidnappers are wreaking havoc in Nigeria; yet Tinubu’s security plan is worryingly like his predecessor’s - The Economist

How much politicians in Nigeria care about national insecurity has long been correlated with how close it gets to their mansions in Abuja, the capital. On its outskirts on January 2nd a father and his six daughters were kidnapped, prompting a rare outcry on high. A crowdfunding effort to pay the ransom was even backed by a former minister. But the kidnappers instead killed one of the girls and demanded more cash. The wife of President Bola Tinubu publicly lamented a “devastating loss”. Yet such horrors are still appallingly frequent—and largely ignored by politicians. In one incident last week in…

Friday, 19 January 2024 04:51

CBN doesn’t have the forex, can’t quickly clear backlogs - Fitch

Central Bank of Nigeria still lacks the foreign exchange to clear the backlog of demand, and the country's high interest payment to revenue ratio weighs on its sovereign credit rating, Fitch said on Thursday. Africa's largest economy has thus far cleared just $2 billion of a backlog of some $7 billion in forex forwards revealed after President Bola Tinubu took office last year. Tinubu took quick action on key fiscal reforms - including slashing petrol subsidies and loosening controls on the naira to narrow the gap between official and parallel rates. But Gaimin Nonyane, director of Middle East and Africa…

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Friday, 19 January 2024 04:51

‘Craze for gratification, bribes by some of our investigators too embarrassing’, EFCC chair laments in memo to staff

Ola Olukoyede, chairman of the Economic And Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), says the quest for bribes by the agency’s investigators has become “too embarrassing”. In his New Year address to the staff of the commission on Thursday, Olukoyede said the “major objective” of the war against corruption and financial crimes globally is to drive economic development and create job opportunities for the populace. He said there is no government agency as crucial to the nation’s quest for growth and development as the EFCC. “We have all it takes to bring up the profile and developmental index of our nation. I…

Thursday, 18 January 2024 04:35

FG mulls sweeping forex in domiciliary accounts to settle backlog, stabilize Naira

Nigeria still operates an official exchange rate and provides dollars via the central bank to customers at that level. But a lack of dollars in the domestic market means there’s a backlog of demand from companies who want to convert naira into the US currency to repatriate profits and pay bills. That’s pushed activity into the unofficial market, where the naira changes hands at much weaker levels against the dollar. Minister of Finance Wale Edun said the central bank puts the current backlog at about $5 billion, following efforts to pay it down, and he voiced confidence that it could…

Thursday, 18 January 2024 04:34

Court nullifies NBC Code, removes power to impose fines on broadcast stations

A Federal High Court in Abuja has declared as null and void the provisions of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code authorizing the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to impose fines on broadcast stations who allegedly breach the Code. Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia, quashed the said code on the grounds that the NBC as an administrative and regulatory bodies could not exercise judicial powers. She made the declaration on Wednesday while delivering judgment in the suit filed by the Media Rights Agenda (MRA) against the NBC. The suit was sequel to the Commission’s imposition of fines of N5 million each on a television station and…

Thursday, 18 January 2024 04:33

Victims of Ibadan explosion narrate ordeal, count losses

Following the massive explosion at Dejo Oyelese street in Bodija, Ibadan, on Tuesday, some of the victims have been counting their losses, with most of them rendered homeless. Some of them, interviewed on Wednesday by our correspondent, described the incident as tragic. Emmanuel Danladi said he was surprised when the loud noise sounded and the explosion happened. He said he and other people in his compound had to jump a close-by fence before crossing a river to escape from the explosion. Danladi, who was seen moving away with his box, said the destruction was massive. ‘We jumped the fence, entered…

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