General
Awosika, Adeola for Youth Convention in Abeokuta
By Dipo Olowookere
The Ogun State government has concluded plans to host a Youth Convention between February 7 and 8, 2017.
The programme, scheduled to hold at the June 12 Cultural Centre, Kuto, Abeokuta is being organized by the state government in collaboration with the organized private sector, civil society and international agencies.
With the theme, ‘Ogun Youths: Exploring New Frontiers’, the convention is a direct response of the Governor Ibikunle Amosun-led administration to the challenge of youth unemployment and under-employment.
The 2016 National Youth Survey Report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) indicates that approximately 56 percent of youths, defined as between the ages 15 and 34 are unemployed.
The implication of this statistics is that 70 million out of Nigeria’s population of 165 million are either unemployed or under-employed.
To effectively tackle this challenge, the Mr Amosun-led administration seeks to use the platform of the Youth Convention to expose the teeming youth population of the State to opportunities in various vocations as well as employment and entrepreneurship initiatives.
Participants were drawn from the 20 Local Government Areas (LGAs) and 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) of the State.
The convention, which comes at no cost to the participants promises to open Ogun State youths to life-changing trainings and mentorship from the likes of the Founder, SOKOA Chair Centre and Chairman, First Bank Plc, Mrs Ibukun Awosika; Founder, FATE Foundation, Mr Fola Adeola and Acting Managing Director, Bank of Industry (BoI), Mr Waheed Olagunju among others.
Breakout sessions are to be held on Agriculture, Technical Vocation, Sports, Entertainment and Entrepreneurship.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The office of the president-elect has confirmed that Mr Bola Tinubu has jetted out of Nigeria for a rest in the United Kingdom and France ahead of his swearing-in ceremony slated for May 29, 2023.
An online platform on Wednesday reported that the winner of the February 25 presidential election travelled to Europe for urgent medical attention.
But in a statement issued by one of his aides, Mr Tunde Rahman, it was emphasized that the former Governor of Lagos State only left the country to have a rest in London and Paris before going to Saudi Arabia for lesser hajj.
It was disclosed that Mr Tinubu travelled out of Nigeria on Tuesday night via the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) Ikeja Lagos.
“After a very exhaustive campaign and election season, President-elect, Asíwájú Bola Tinubu, has travelled abroad to rest and plan his transition programme ahead of May 29, 2023 inauguration.
“The President-elect left the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja, for Europe on Tuesday night.
“The President-elect decided to take a break after the hectic campaign and election season to rest in Paris and London, preparatory to going to Saudi Arabia for Umrah (Lesser Hajj) and the Ramadan Fasting that begins Thursday.
“While away, the President-elect will also use the opportunity to plan his transition programme.
“He is expected back in the country soon.
“We enjoin the media to stop publishing rumours and unsubstantiated claims and to always seek clarifications from our office,” the statement said.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The candidate of the Labour Party in the governorship election in Abia State, Mr Alex Otti, has been declared as the winner of the exercise by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The former banker polled a total of 175,467 votes to defeat his closest rival in the poll, Mr Okey Ahiwe of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who garnered 88,529 votes.
The Abia State governorship election was earlier declared inconclusive by the electoral umpire due to issues arising from over-voting. The collation centre had to be moved to Abuja from Umuahia, the state capital.
The governor-elect, in a short post via his verified Twitter handle, reacted to the development by saying, “See what the Lord has done.”
Mr Otti left the banking industry a few years ago after serving as the managing director of the defunct Diamond Bank, which merged with Access Bank. He left his office in the bank to pursue his political ambition in 2015, but he failed until he succeeded in 2023.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has directed public sector workers in the country to embark on strike beginning from Wednesday, March 29, 2023.
President of the union, Mr Joe Ajaero, gave this directive at a media briefing at Labour House in Abuja on Wednesday, March 22.
He also directed affiliate unions of the NLC to be on standby for a picketing exercise across all branches of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) nationwide.
The union leader said the directive became imperative following the expiration of a one-week ultimatum given to the apex bank to make cash available for Nigerians.
The scarcity has heightened with plans by the central bank to mop up the old Naira in circulation. The apex bank recently said it had removed N2.3 trillion from circulation between October 2022 and February 2023 while printing fewer new notes.
Business Post reported that between October last year and February 2023, the cash in circulation dropped to N982.09 billion from N3.29 trillion.
This is one of the factors that has extended the scarcity of the Naira and have also prolonged it into March.
Despite the Supreme Court judgement on March 3, 2023, that the old Naira remain legal until December 31, 2023, new notes have not reached many households with the old notes and new notes difficult to acquire.
With the cash in circulation dropping and the currency in commercial banks’ vaults or that of the CBN rising, Nigerians still find it difficult to access the money deposited in their accounts despite the ruling that the new and old notes should co-exist for 10 months.
