FRSC to Stop Vehicle Registration Without NIN from April

By Adedapo Adesanya The federal government has given fresh reassurance that the reconstruction work on the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano highway will be completed by the first quarter of 2024. The Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, Mr Mahmuda Mamman, gave the assurance on Friday during an inspection of the road and other ongoing federal road projects in Kaduna State. Mr Mamman took a tour of the 375.9 km of the dual carriageway way beginning from the Abuja end through Kaduna to Zaria and extending further to Kano, all in the North-West zone. During the inspection tour, the Permanent

By Adedapo Adesanya The House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee is investigating the failure of Federal Mass Transit schemes in the country since 1999 as lawmakers have decried the serial mismanagement of public funds in Urban Mass Transit Schemes without results. The Chairman of the Committee, Mr Afam Victor Ogene, in a statement in Abuja recently, warned that the committee will get to the root of the mismanagement of the funds that run into billions of Naira. The lawmaker expressed displeasure at the seeming reluctance of ministries and agencies to release documents relating to public funds expended on previous Mass Transit

By Adedapo Adesanya The Nigerian Automobile Technicians Association (NATA) Lagos State chapter has lauded Hyde Energy following an assessment of the quality of lubricants produced and distributed in the Nigerian market as well as adherence to international best practices by Hyde Energy Lubricant business. This came as the executive members of the association visited the energy trading company’s lubricant blending plant located in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State. The lubricant plant, one of the largest lubricant manufacturing facilities in Nigeria, has the capacity to blend 30,000 litres of lubricant per day. The lubricants produced at the Hyde Energy blending plant undergo stringent

By Bliss Okperan An accident on Friday caused by the failed portion of the Odumodu Junction by Nteje, along the Onitsha-Awka Expressway, Anambra State, has left five persons dead. According to reports, the unfortunate incident happened at about 7:30 am when the container-laden truck fell on a commercial bus, whose driver was navigating through the failed portion of the road. The two vehicles involved in the road mishap were a Mitsubishi L300 commercial bus with registration number XE245AWK and a commercial Daf/Leyland truck with registration number T-19094LA. The acting Sector Public Education Officer for the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC),

By Dipo Olowookere Pan-African telecommunications group with operations in Nigeria, Uganda, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Smile Telecoms, has announced the appointments of Mr Ahmad Farroukh as its Group Chief Executive Officer and Ms Irene Charnley as Deputy Chairman, respectively, effective June 1, 2019. Mr Farroukh, who currently serves as Smile’s Group Executive Director Operations, is a seasoned and experienced telecoms executive with a distinguished record of commercial and operational success. His vast experience extends to executive management positions at Investcom Holdings and the MTN Group (where he served as CEO of MTN Nigeria, MTN South Africa

By Adedapo Adesanya The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has decried its inability to physically verify pension-qualified employees of Treasury Funded Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the federal government. The pension sector regulator said that the development is coming considering that these beneficiaries, due to retire from service between January and December 2021, won’t be duly verified because of implications brought about by the coronavirus pandemic. The commission, however, noted that it was putting an automated process in place that would ensure seamless conduct of the annual verification/enrolment exercise. In a statement, the agency said, “This is to inform employees

By Dipo Olowookere The Executive Director and Production Manager of ExxonMobil Nigeria, Mr Richard Laing, has firmly debunked reports that the oil firm was planning to exit the country. Mr Laing reacted to the exit rumour when Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, visited the ERHA FPSO operated by ExxonMobil Nigeria. The ExxonMobil executive said the ERHA field is located in Oil Mining Lease (OML) 133 and ExxonMobil Nigeria holds a 56.25 percent participating interest while Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO) holds the remaining 43.75 percent share. The Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO)

By Adedapo Adesanya The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) said no fewer than 144 transporters have been arrested for overloading during this coronavirus period across 16 states of the federation. Corps Public Education Officer of the agency, Mr Bisi Kazeem, said in a statement that The highest number of arrests was recorded in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) where a total of 52 overloaded vehicles were impounded, followed by Lagos State with a total of 17 arrests. Others include Plateau State with 14, Delta 13, Benue nine, Adamawa and Katsina with six arrests each. He stated that Nasarawa and Ogun

By Jerome-Mario Chijioke Utomi It is pedestrian information that while Nigerians were waiting for the commencement of governance, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on the day of his inauguration, precisely on Monday, May 29, 2023, announced the removal of fuel subsidy without putting palliatives in place to assist ameliorate the harsh impact of such policy reversal. Also newsy is that before the dust raised by such a decision could settle, another was up, as the Federal Government again implemented a coordinated but thoughtless hike in fees paid by students of most of the tertiary institutions of higher learning in the country.

Nigeria’s aspiration for wheat production self-sufficiency is being pursued on diverse fronts by stakeholders in the value chain including government, policymakers, farmers, researchers, scientists, institutions, millers, etc. under different aegis and initiatives. For the Flour Milling Association of Nigeria (FMAN), that initiative would be its Wheat Development Programme (WDP). Under the auspices of the FMAN WDP, millers have continued to invest over N500 million annually to support local smallholder wheat farmers amongst other activities aimed at boosting local wheat production in Nigeria. This intervention included a scaled out-grower programme that provided the high-yielding seed for smallholder wheat farmers in the

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Some experts in the oil and gas industry have been lined up for the Africa Oil Week (AOW) virtual conference taking place between October 7 and 8, 2020. A statement from the organisers said Somalia’s Minister of Petroleum & Mineral Resources, Mr Abdirashid Mohamed Ahmed, is one of the speakers for the event. He will be joined by the CEO of Somali Petroleum Authority, Ibrahim Ali Hussein; the Regional Director (Africa) of Castor Vali, Phil McDonald; the Senior Business Development Manager AME at TGS, Dr Alessio Checconi; the co-founder & Director Exploration of Ventura International Energy, Scot

By Dipo Olowookere PotNetwork Holding Inc says its subsidiary, Diamond CBD, has entered into an agreement to deliver and distribute its premium cannabidiol (CBD) product line into the thriving China industry, one of the largest consumer markets in the world. PotNetwork has partnered with a US-based company that provides international business and consulting services, and sources and distributes industrial commodities in China and the Americas. The company provides a platform to support, develop, and nurture these international businesses opportunities which will play a vital role in the ongoing globalization of economic activity. It possesses a unique ability to identify emerging