NUPRC’s Gbenga Komolafe Cancels 60th Birthday Celebration Amid Calls for Sack

By Bliss Okperan Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of Kano State has presented another supplementary budget to the Kano State House of Assembly. Recall that about two months ago, the Governor presented a supplementary budget of N58 billion to the state legislative arm of government. On Tuesday, he approached the parliament for approval for another supplementary budget of N24 billion, noting that the funds would be used for the settlement of gratuity and personnel costs. According to him, the payment of gratuity will gulp N20 billion, while N4 billion is for personnel costs. The first and second supplementary budgets under Mr

By Modupe Gbadeyanka A key suspect in the Dangote Cement price slash scam, Mr Benjamin Ezeukwe, has been arraigned in court by the police in Lagos State. A statement issued by the spokesman of the Lagos Command of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), Mr Benjamin Hundeyin, disclosed that the accused person was taken to court for prosecution after he was arrested in Rivers State. The Police Public Relations Officer, who is a Superintendent of Police (SP), disclosed that Mr Ezeukwe was picked up by police operatives on Thursday, October 19, 2023, in the Rumuolumeni area of Obio/Akpor local government area

By Adedapo Adesanya The Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on National Planning and Economic Affairs, Mr Isiaka Ibrahim, has said the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) must be insulated from political interference to perform more effectively. Mr Ibrahim said this at a Public Lecture to mark the 2023 African Statistics Day celebration in Abuja on Wednesday themed Modernising Data Ecosystems to Accelerate the Implementation of the AfCFTA: The Role of Official Statistics and Big Data in the Economic Transformation and Sustainable Development of Africa. He said the reliability of data from the stats office would be questioned if

The mining industry in Ghana and the entire West African Sub region will soon receive a major boost following the establishment of a world-class Geochemical Laboratory at Tarkwa in the Western region of Ghana by SGS Ghana Limited. The facility will complement the existing facilities available in the country by ensuring that clients receive full scale geochemical analytical services at the highest quality and promptness that is required. The Client Liaison Manager of SGS Ghana at Tarkwa, Wilfred Appiah who made the announcement at the just ended maiden edition of the Ghana Gold Expo held in Takoradi said, the facility

By Adedapo Adesanya The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange closed lower for the third straight session when it lost 0.27 per cent Thursday on the back of a price drop in the shares of FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc. The milk-producing company closed the day as the only price loser as its share value went down by N1.58 to N69.92 per unit from the previous day’s N71.50 per unit. This brought down the value of the unlisted securities market by N2.74 billion to N1.002 trillion from the N1.004 trillion it closed in the preceding session. Following the same trend was the

By Raheem Akingbolu In its new Television Commercial, First Bank tells a story that reflects the beginning of modern banking and how the bank has consistently grown with Nigeria’s enterprises through partnership and innovation. When the promoters said First Bank was “truly the first,” many grudgingly agreed. But deep inside its competitors – the possible grudging camp – is the truth regarding the extreme distance the bank has given others in performance and people relevance of its operations! They knew the bank was not bluffing. Not only has it rediscovered itself, but the ability to shed its ancient mindset in

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Nigeria’s (B1 stable) dollar liquidity constraints are likely to persist for the foreseeable future, despite the recent improvements in foreign exchange earnings and availability, Moody’s Investors Service said in a report today. This was disclosed in a report titled ‘Government of Nigeria FAQ On Exchange Rate Policy, Balance of Payments Position and Growth Outlook.’ “Despite the recent improvement in foreign exchange liquidity, dollar usage in Nigeria is unlikely to return to previous levels,” said Aurélien Mali, a Moody’s Vice President, Senior Credit Officer and co-author of the report. “Oil prices are highly unlikely to return to the

By Adedapo Adesanya The co-founder and CEO of Drugstoc, Mr Chibuzo Opara, has been crowned winner of the Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa (CEMEA) edition of the Visa Everywhere Initiative (VEI), a global open innovation program and competition for start-ups and fintech companies. The helmsman of the startup that leverages technology, supply chain management, financial solutions, and product knowledge to enhance access to healthcare in emerging markets will take home the $20,000 prize. Mr Opara will now compete against the other regional champions from North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific at the VEI Global Finals, which

SWIFT says it will begin piloting an integrated pre-validation gpi payments service, focussing on enabling the speedy identification and elimination of errors and omissions in payment messages. The pilot is the first stage in the roll-out of the ambitious gpi validation programme. The goal of the pilot is to build the foundation of a new integrated and interactive service that will significantly improve efficiencies in the payments process and which will ultimately be made available to all 10,000 banks across the SWIFT network. Fully integrated with gpi payments, the service will facilitate real time dynamic bank-to-bank interaction using APIs to

By Modupe Gbadeyanka A total of 106 new buses would be purchased with the sum of N9.4 billion for the Oyo State’s mass transit scheme, Mr Taiwo Adisa, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Seyi Makinde, has disclosed. Mr Adisa, in a statement on Wednesday, noted that the purchase of the buses will greatly assist the development of intra-city transportation in Ibadan and other parts of the state and also boost the economic development of the state. It was disclosed that the decision to pay N9.6 billion for the purchase of the vehicles was reached at the Oyo State executive

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has claimed it has no knowledge of any alleged link between Mr Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Mafab Communications Limited. On Monday, the NCC conducted an auction for the 3.5 gigahertz (GHz) spectrum for the offering of the new 5G services in the country. The trio MTN Nigeria, Airtel Nigeria and Mafab jostled for the two available slots and along the line, Airtel pulled out when it could not go beyond what it was ready to pay. However, some members of the public raised eyebrows when it was discovered that Mafab, one of