Chidoka’s Criticism of COVID19 Taskforce Angers APC

By Bliss Okperan A helicopter operated by the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) on Friday crash-landed and exploded at the NAF Base, Port Harcourt, Rivers State. The NAF Director of Public Relations and Information, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, confirmed the incident in a statement, noting that the NAF-35p had taken off on an operation against oil thieves in Rivers State before the unfortunate incident. He said five persons on board survived the air mishap with minor injuries. “A Nigerian Air Force (NAF) MI-35P helicopter crashed at Port Harcourt today, December 1, 2023. The unfortunate incident occurred at about 7.45 am shortly

By Adedapo Adesanya A Federal Capital Territory High Court, Abuja, has adjourned an alleged procurement fraud case involving ex-Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, to January 18 and 19, 2024, for continuation of trial. Mr Emefiele is standing trial on a six-count amended charge on alleged procurement of vehicles to the tune of N1.6 billion. He had pleaded not guilty to the charges. He was granted bail on November 17, 2023, to the tune of N300 million, and two sureties and remanded at the Kuje Correctional Centre, pending when he meets his bail conditions. However,

By Dipo Olowookere President Bola Tinubu has arrived at the National Assembly to present the 2024 Appropriation Bill to the federal lawmakers. The President got to the parliament at about a few minutes past 11 am on Wednesday, November 29, 2023, and was accompanied by the Vice President, Mr Kashim Shettima; his Chief of Staff, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila; the National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Abdullahi Gandoje; and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr George Akume; among others. He is expected to present the 2024 budget of N27.5 trillion to a joint

By Dipo Olowookere There was apprehension on Thursday in the Asade Mangoro area of Lagos State when a train has derailed from its track. Information reaching us revealed that the derailed train hit some vehicles in the area, leaving some undisclosed number of persons wounded. It is still not certain if any life was lost during the unfortunate incident, which has caused traffic gridlock in the area. Some passers-by, residents and those doing business within the area were seen around the scene of the incident. Business Post reports that the derailed train was carrying some passengers when the incident happened

By Modupe Gbadeyanka A memorandum of understanding has been signed between Equatorial Guinea and Burkina Faso for the supply of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and construction of critical infrastructure to import, store and transport gas. The initial three-year agreement compels both sides to negotiate and sign an LNG sales and purchase agreement (SPA) and a terminal use agreement (TUA) that will be the basis for their first LNG exchange. The MoU also calls for Equatorial Guinea to explore and produce oil and gas in Burkina Faso. “We are very pleased to strike this agreement and be given the opportunity to

By Adedapo Adesanya Oil prices bounced back on Thursday, supported by supply risks brought about by last weekend’s drone attacks on Saudi oil petrol plants. Another reason was a cut in US interest rates which also drove prices up on Thursday. Brent crude oil gained $1.04 to $63.70 per barrel, while US benchmark, West Texas Intermediate crude settled up 61 cents at $58.65 per barrel The attacks brought down more than half of Saudi Arabia’s crude production and limited the country’s spare capacity. Saudi Arabia further disclosed that it has set out a timeline for the resumption of full operations,

By Dipo Olowookere Chief Product Officer at Facebook, Mr Chris Cox, says he would be taking feedback and inspiration from the developer and content creator communities back to California following his visits to Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal recently. Mr Cox was in West Africa to find out how the region’s creatives, developers and entrepreneurs were using Facebook and Instagram to bring their passions to life. Mr Chris said: “It’s been an inspiring week meeting with some of the top artists, publishers, entrepreneurs, developers, and social media stars across the region. “This is a region that creates some of the most

By Ebitonye Akpodigha The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Godwin Obaseki, as winner of the Wednesday governorship election in Edo State. Mr Obaseki defeated his closest rival, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to win the race. At the end of collation of results on Thursday, September 29, 2016, INEC’s Returning Officer for the exercise, Professor Kayode Soremilekun, declared Mr Obaseki as the Edo State Governor-elect. Prof Soremilekun announced that the APC candidate polled a total of 319,483 votes, while his opponent, Mr Ize-Iyamu managed to

By Dipo Olowookere Activities at the local bourse finished bearish again on Thursday as result of losses recorded by counters in the banking sector. Late Wednesday, UBA and Access Bank finally released their much-awaited half year earnings and despite the impressive results churned out by the former, investors chose to react to the not-too impressive numbers of the latter. At the close of transactions on Thursday, the banking index lost 1.77 percent as a result of losses recorded by the big players as well as the mid-level lenders in the sector. On Wednesday evening, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Africa’s biggest mobile phone operator, MTN Group, has expressed its intention to double its sales in Nigeria as it plans to review its operations in all 22 of its markets across Africa and the Middle East. MTN’s Chief Financial Officer, Mr Ralph Mupita, disclosed in an interview last Thursday that it has no plan to leave Nigeria, its biggest market, despite having run-ins with the Nigerian government, which led to it being fined $1 billion for missing a deadline to disconnect unregistered users. The telco said it expects double-digit Nigeria sales growth in the medium term, above

By Adedapo Adesanya The Tokyo Olympics, which was initially scheduled to hold this year but was postponed to 2021 because of coronavirus, will cost at least 1.64 trillion yen ($15.9 billion). The amount was unveiled at a final budget conference on Tuesday, with the organisers saying that the amount was increased due to the pandemic induced measures. The extra costs, up 294 billion yen ($2.8 billion) from figures released a year ago, come as officials work to build enthusiasm as some participants are already losing interest because of COVID-19. According to reports, a poll last week showed that majority of