General
Alake Threatens to Sanction Resources Committee for Underperformance
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Mr Dele Alake, has given the Mineral Resources and Environmental Management Committee (MIREMCO) a 90-day ultimatum to improve its performance or face severe sanctions from the federal government.
Speaking at the 2024 Annual General Meeting (AGM) of MIREMCO Chairmen, the Minister expressed dissatisfaction with the agency’s current performance, emphasising that it is its core responsibility to interface between sub-nationals, local communities, operators, and the federal government to minimise cases of conflict.
”The federal government is supposed to rely on your reports on the activities or inactivity of operators and whether they comply with environmental regulations and all other sundry regulations governing the sector.
“We are not impressed by the execution of that mandate, and we will not hesitate to wield the big stick if, after 90 days, the committee fails to turn a new leaf, “the Minister asserted.
Mr Alake stressed that the provisions of the act have not been effectively executed by the committee and cited the Nigeria Minerals And Mining Act (NMMA) 2007, Section 19, sub-section 3g, which makes it mandatory for MIREMCO to act as a liaison between the subnational authorities, the local governments, the communities and the operators.
According to the minister, “If MIREMCO had effected provisions of the act, the spate of interference that we witness by the subnational, in some instance, local governments shutting down Mines, making policy pronouncements that are outrightly unconstitutional would have been minimal. It is the failure of this body that has given rise to states dabbling into areas that are beyond their constitutional purview. ”
He emphasised the role of subnational authorities in MIREMCO’s operations, clarifying that the chairmen and five out of ten (10) committee members are nominated by state governments, ensuring their interests are already represented under the committee’s statutes.
The minister then charged the chairmen to rally their members and improve their performance, failure of which the federal government will be left with no other option than to act appropriately to restore effective management of the nation’s mineral resources and its attendant environmental concerns.
Responding to issues raised, Mr Alake assured of periodic engagements with the committee whilst also promising to push for improved funding for the agency in the 2025 fiscal year to bolster its capacity to effectively fulfil its mandate.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Federal Ministry of Youth Development has expressed its readiness to support 150,000 young Nigerians with N110 billion.
The Director-General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mr Lanre Issa-Onilu, disclosed this on Thursday in Kano at the launch of the five nationwide enlightenment campaigns on government policies, national values and identities, security awareness and disaster preparedness.
He said over 600,000 students have so far benefited from the N59 million disbursed under the Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) scheme.
The director general, who was represented by Mr Williams Dogo, Director, Legal Services of the agency, said that NELFUND was available to all qualified Nigerians in public tertiary institutions, noting that the sensitisation programme, with the theme Nationwide Sensitisation on Five Thematic Areas, was designed to deepen citizens’ knowledge of government initiatives.
The NOA boss explained that the campaign would highlight the presidential directive on flood mitigation, which provided for the release of N3 billion to each state in 2024 for drainage clearance and relocation of vulnerable communities.
He said that 700 schools had been renovated nationwide as an intervention to improve learning facilities in rural areas, stating that more than 15,000 new security personnel had been deployed nationwide to address diverse security challenges.
“It is our intention to carry out security awareness campaigns reaching no fewer than three million Nigerians in each state through media engagements, advocacy visits to traditional and religious leaders, rallies at markets and motor parks, as well as town hall meetings,” he said.
On national values, he said that reorientation campaign would focus on patriotism, unity and campaigns against extreme graduation practices that contradict cultural norms, adding that the campaign would also familiarise Nigerians with the current national anthem, which was changed by President Bola Tinubu.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Nigerians will have to cough out more money to obtain their international passports because the Nigeria Immigration Service has increased the fees.
In a statement signed on Thursday by the Public Relations Officer of the agency, ACI AS Akinlabi, it was disclosed that the new fees would take effect from Monday, September 1, 2025.
It was disclosed that the 32-page passport with a validity of five years will now to for N100,000 and the 64-page 10-year passport is now N200,000.
The immigration explained that the upward review of the prices was “to uphold the quality and integrity of the Nigerian passport.”
“The review which only affect passport application fees made in Nigeria,” it stressed, adding that, “Nigerian passport application fees made by Nigerians in the Diaspora remain unchanged at $150 for 32-page with 5-year validity and $230 for 64-page with 10-year validity.”
“The service reiterates its commitment to balancing quality service delivery with the need to ensure Passport services are accessible to all Nigerians,” the statement concluded.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
President Bola Tinubu on Thursday returned to Nigeria after travelling to Japan and Brazil for official functions.
He landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja in the early hours of today almost two weeks after he left the country through same route.
He was received by senior government officials, including the Minister of the FCT, Mr Nyesom Wike; the National Security Adviser (NSA), Mr Nuhu Ribadu; the Governor of Kaduna State, Mr Uba Sani; the Governor of Imo State, Mr Hope Uzodinma; and the Deputy Senate President, Mr Barau Jibrin; among others.
Before heading to Japan for the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD9) in Yokohama from August 20 to 22, the President, according to a statement by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Mr Bayo Onanuga, he had a stopover in Dubai.
Mr Tinubu precisely travelled out of Nigeria on Thursday, August 14, 2024, for the two-nation trip to Japan and Brazil.
After leaving Japan, he zoomed to Brazil to woo investors and held talks with the Brazilian leader, Mr Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
He was able to convince the country’s petroleum firm, Petrobras, to return to Nigeria after it left a few years ago. He also helped to enable a direct flight from Brazil to Nigeria.
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