General
Agreement With Niger Delta Avengers Not Breached—FG
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Federal Government has said it has not in any way breached any agreement it had with the notorious Niger Delta Avengers (NDA).
Last week, the militant group threatened to resume hostilities in the oil rich region over the failure of government to honour its agreements with them.
But while address Political Editors in Lagos yesterday, Minister of Information and Culture, Mr Lai Mohammed, refuted the claims by the group, saying it is totally not true.
The Minister admitted that the threat was unsettling the Federal Government because of its effect on the nation’s economy; he however appealed for calm from the group.
“We are very worried about it (threat) because if the Avengers should start destroying our oil installations, it is going to bring the country back to its knees.
“And that is why we are appealing to them. We have not breached any agreement with them and we will rather appeal to them to understand that there is more to gain by all sides in engaging than in going back to the trenches.
“Even power has improved in the Niger Delta as well as infrastructure. Contractors can now go and work there.
“We are talking of University of Maritime Technology in the Niger Delta, Second Niger bridge and East- West road. I think what they are fighting for will be achieved much more if there is peace and we will continue our engagements with them because it will not be in the interest of anybody to have crisis,” Mr Mohammed told journalists.
Reacting to a question on how Nigerians doubt statements attributed to him, the Minister, who was the spokesman of the then opposition party now the ruling party, said, “I have two burdens. The first is that I happen to be the face of the opposition and PDP has not forgiven me and they will never forgive me.
“I think they look at the magnitude of what has happened to them and they hold me solely responsible; which is not fair.
“But, I did my beat. Now, becoming the face of government again, it is automatic that whatever comes from Lai Mohammed, we must shoot it down as fake news and a lie. Unfortunately, my father gave me the name Lai also.
“So, it makes it very easy for them. But, what I challenge them every time is, please, give me one thing I said that is not true.
“Emotionally, you may not agree with me, but in terms of facts and figures, I have never said anything which they can dispute. You don’t have to like them, but you can’t deny that they are facts.”
On the 2019 polls, the Minister warned Nigerians never to return the PDP to power.
“As to whether we are afraid of whether we are afraid of the PDP staging a comeback, I can confidently tell you that we are not even contemplating it. It will be a tragedy for Nigeria to fall back into the hands of PDP.
“They dropped us in hell and we are taking people out of hell. How can Nigeria now go back to Egypt? It is not about APC or President Buhari. With the kind of revelation that is coming out, the kind of rot, you want those people to come back and preside over the affairs of Nigeria again? What will happen to the investigations that were carried out if the PDP should win elections again? It will be swept under the carpet.
“This is the first time in the history of this country that we are making real recoveries. Just recently, we signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Swiss government to return $321 million that was stolen from the country. This is the first time this country is actually looking at our problems from a realistic and pragmatic viewpoint.
“We are not talking of what we are going to achieve in two years or three years. We are talking about laying a solid foundation for a Nigeria that our children will be able to thrive. Unfortunately, the reform agenda is always longer than the political agenda. In many parts of the world, they plan for 10, 15, 20 years. Nobody plans for four years.
“When you look at our Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), we are talking about 2020, even though we know that there may be a change of administration depending on the outcome of the presidential election. But, you do not think in the short term. Nigerians should never pray for PDP to come back.
“When we negotiated with the Swiss government to return late General Sani Abacha’s loot, they gave us some conditions; one of which is that we must identify what programme we want to use the money for and that the World Bank will supervise what we are using the money for.
“When we argued that we are a sovereign country and that they can’t dictate to us how we are going to spend money that was stolen from our country, which they are returning, they said ‘yes, but when we returned part of it to your country under Goodluck Jonathan, you relooted it,’ and that is true.”
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The Senate on Wednesday passed the bill to amend the Electoral Act of 2022 after delays, which almost pitched the institution against several Nigerians.
Last week, the upper chamber of the National Assembly headed by the Senate President, Mr Godswill Akpabio, set up a panel to look into the matter, with the directive to submit its report yesterday, Tuesday, February 3, 2026.
However, after the report was submitted yesterday, the red chamber of the parliament said it was going to take an action on it on Wednesday.
At the midweek plenary, the Senate eventually passed the Bill for an Act to Repeal the Electoral Act No. 13, 2022 and Enact the Electoral Act, 2025.
However, some critical clauses were rejected, including the proposed amendment to make is mandatory for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to transmission election results electronically from polling units to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal.
The clause was to strengthen transparency and reduce electoral malpractice through technology-driven result management.
It also rejected a proposed amendment under Clause 47 that would have allowed voters to present electronically-generated voter identification, including a downloadable voter card with a unique QR code, as a valid means of accreditation.
The Senate voted to retain the existing 2022 provisions requiring voters to present their Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC) for accreditation at polling units, and upheld the provision mandating the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) or any other technological device prescribed by the electoral umpire for voter verification and authentication, rather than allowing alternative digital identification methods as proposed in the new bill.
The Senate also reduced the notice of election from 360 days to 180 days, with the timeline for publishing list of candidates by INEC dropped from 150 days to 60 days.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has completed its timetable and schedule of activities for the 2027 general election, despite pending amendments to the Electoral Act by the National Assembly.
INEC Chairman, Mr Joash Amupitan, disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja during a consultative meeting with civil society organisations.
Mr Amupitan said the commission had already submitted its recommendations and proposed changes to lawmakers, noting that aspects of the election calendar might still be adjusted depending on when the amended Electoral Act is passed.
He, however, stressed that the electoral umpire must continue preparations using the existing legal framework pending the conclusion of the legislative process and presidential assent to the revised law.
According to him, the commission cannot delay critical preparatory activities given the scale and complexity involved in conducting nationwide elections.
The development highlights INEC’s commitment to early planning for the 2027 polls, even as stakeholders await legislative clarity that could shape parts of the electoral process.
Yesterday, the Senate again failed to conclude deliberations on the proposed amendment to the Electoral Act after several hours in a closed-door executive session. The closed session lasted about five hours.
Lawmakers dissolved into the executive session shortly after plenary commenced, to consider the report of an ad hoc committee set up to harmonise senators’ inputs on the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.
When plenary resumed, the Senate President, Mr Godswill Akpabio, did not disclose details of the discussions on the bill.
Despite repeated executive sessions, the upper chamber has yet to pass the bill, marking the third unsuccessful attempt in two weeks.
The Senate, however, said it will not rush the bill, citing the volume of post-election litigation after the 2023 polls and the need for careful legislative scrutiny.
Last week, the red chamber of the federal parliament constituted a seven-member ad hoc committee after an earlier three-hour executive session to further scrutinise the proposed amendments.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Managing Director of the Rural Electrification Agency, (REA), Mr Abba Aliyu, is poised to attract an estimated $1.1 billion in additional private-sector investment to further achieve the agency’s targets.
He said that the organisation has received a $750 million funding in 2024 through the World Bank funded Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up (DARES) project.
He added that this capital is specifically intended to act as a springboard to attract an estimated $1.1 billion in additional private-sector investment, with the ultimate goal of providing electricity access to roughly 17.5 million Nigerians through 1,350 new mini grids.
Mr Aliyu also said that the Nigeria Electrification Project (NEP) has already led to the electrification of 1.1 million households across more than 200 mini grids and the delivery of hybrid power solutions to 15 federal institutions.
According to a statement, this followed Mr Aliyu’s high-level inspection of Vsolaris facilities in Lagos, adding that the visit also served as a platform for the REA to highlight its decentralized electrification strategy, which relies on partnering with firms capable of managing local assembly and highefficiency project execution.
The federal government, through the REA, underscored the critical role the partnership with the private sector plays in achieving Nigeria’s ambitious off-grid energy targets and ending energy poverty.
Mr Aliyu emphasized that while public funds serve as a catalyst, the long-term sustainability of Nigeria’s power sector rests on credible private developers who are willing to invest their own resources.
He noted that public funds are intentionally deployed as catalytic grants to ensure that the private sector maintains skin in the game which he believes is the only way to guarantee true accountability and the survival of these projects over time.
-
Feature/OPED6 years agoDavos was Different this year
-
Travel/Tourism9 years ago
Lagos Seals Western Lodge Hotel In Ikorodu
-
Showbiz3 years agoEstranged Lover Releases Videos of Empress Njamah Bathing
-
Banking8 years agoSort Codes of GTBank Branches in Nigeria
-
Economy3 years agoSubsidy Removal: CNG at N130 Per Litre Cheaper Than Petrol—IPMAN
-
Banking3 years agoSort Codes of UBA Branches in Nigeria
-
Banking3 years agoFirst Bank Announces Planned Downtime
-
Sports3 years agoHighest Paid Nigerian Footballer – How Much Do Nigerian Footballers Earn