TCN Absolves Self from Epileptic Power Supply

By Adedapo Adesanya President Bola Tinubu has increased the initially proposed monthly allowance for federal civil servants from N25,000 to N35,000. The money is still to be paid monthly for six months. The increment was announced in a statement by the Minister of Information, Mr Mohammed Idris. This development came less than 24 hours after Mr Tinubu on his first Independence Day broadcast on Sunday morning announced the monthly payment of N25,000 allowance to junior civil servants to cushion the effect of the impact of petrol subsidy removal. He said the allowance would be paid for six months. However, after

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The Vice President, Mr Kashim Shettima, has charged the National Assembly to continue to cooperate with the executive arm of government, noting that governance is a collective responsibility and not a personal endeavour. He said this at the retreat for the leadership of the 10th National Assembly last Friday at the Four Points by Sheraton, Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State. Mr Shettima said the administration of President Ahmed Tinubu was committed to safeguarding Nigeria’s democracy and maintaining the fraternal bond between the two arms of government. He described the composition of the federal government as well as

By Bliss Okperan The Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) has announced the immediate closure of the popular spare parts market, Ladipo Market, over an “unhygienic environment.” In a statement on Friday, the waste management agency said it shut down the market due to the unwholesome environmental practices by traders who refused to pay for waste services alongside the poor waste management. The Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources in Lagos, Mr Tokunbo Wahab, said the market would remain closed until the mandatory conditions of redress have been met by traders and market stakeholders. “It is imperative that markets in

By Adedapo Adesanya Nigeria faces a crippling fertiliser shortage as 34,000 metric tonnes of Russian Fertiliser meant for Nigeria is stuck at ports in the European Union (EU) as a result of continued war in Ukraine. Russia’s Foreign Minister, Mr Sergey Lavrov, confirmed this development on Saturday at the 78th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, noting that 260,000 metric tonnes of Russian fertilisers have been stranded in EU ports since 2022. According to Russian News Agency, TASS, Mr Lavrov informed reporters that, “We are ready to give these fertilisers to African countries for free. It took six

By Adedapo Adesanya The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said that contributions from private sector players under the Private Sector Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID) has reached  N25.8 billion. The relief fund was set up by the apex bank in order to get backing to efforts by the government in fighting the pandemic in nineteen states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). According to CBN Director of Corporate Communications, Mr Isaac Okoroafor, in a statement in Lagos, the donations were from 107 donors, including individuals, banks and other corporate bodies. “The coalition hereby conveys its gratitude to all the institutions

By Ahmed Rahma, Adedapo Adesanya After closing flat against the Dollar at the parallel market for days, the Naira finally succumbed to pressure on Friday, depreciating by N2. Business Post reports that the value of the local currency went down to N475/$1 at the close of transactions yesterday from the previous day’s N477/$1. However, the Nigerian currency still maintained its stability against Pound Sterling and the Euro at the same unregulated segment of the foreign exchange market on Friday, trading at N648/£1 and N580/€1 respectively. At the Investors & Exporters (I&E) window yesterday, the Naira equally suffered a fall against

On Friday, June 14, 2019, about 91 top performing students from 46 schools in Nigeria received 125 Outstanding Cambridge Learner Awards following their outstanding performance in the November 2017 and June 2018 Cambridge exams series. The event, which took place at the Civic Centre in Lagos, was hosted by Cambridge International and the British Council. The awards covered various subjects taken in Cambridge IGCSEs, Cambridge O Levels and Cambridge International AS & A Levels. The top achievers included three ‘Top in World’ category winners: Omoshemi Favour Oloriegbe from The Childville Senior for Cambridge IGCSE Sociology in the June 2018 exam

By Dipo Olowookere In demonstration of its commitment to promote and support the growth and development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) in Nigeria, Keystone Bank Limited, has empowered 10 Nigerian entrepreneurs in the maiden edition of its “Growing in Love with MSMEs Challenge” scheme. According to the lender, the initiative, which is open to all MSMEs across Nigeria (not necessarily Keystone Bank customers), is a core component of the bank’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The scheme enables each of the businesses that presents outstanding performance to receive N50,000 grant that would be injected into their respective operations for

By Adedapo Adesanya The World Bank has disclosed that the total external debts of Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI)-eligible countries increased within 12 months by 9.5 per cent to $744 billion in 2019. This was disclosed in the latest International Debt Statistics 2021 released by the Bretton Wood Institution, noting that the figure was equivalent to one-third of the countries’ combined gross national income. The DSSI was intended to help developing countries with the overwhelming debt they owed to bilateral lenders. “Lending from private creditors was the fastest-growing component of the external debt of DSSI-eligible borrowers, up five-fold since 2010.

By Adedapo Adesanya President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the disbursement of 30,000 tons of maize from the national reserves to tackle the high cost of poultry production amongst animal feed producers. The Nigerian President made the disclosure on Thursday in a statement via his official Twitter handle. He also expressed worry over the high prices of food items in the country, blaming some middlemen for this. He promised to work with the different producers of food in the country on ways to address the issue. “We are very mindful of the challenge of high food prices, at a time when

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Niger State Governor, Mr Abubakar Sani Bello, has tasked the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) to partner with his administration in the fight against drug abuse and sales of expired drugs in the state. Governor Bello threw the challenge when he played host to the National President of the society, Mr Ahmad Ibrahim Yakasai, who led members of his executive council who were in Minna, the state capital for the 89th annual conference of the society to Government House. The Governor expressed deep concern that the effect of drug abuse is gradually taking deep root in the

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Results of the half-year review of the market indices have been announced by the management of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). According to a statement issued by the NSE, the review has led to the entry and exit of some companies from some indices with effect from Wednesday, July 1, 2020. The indicators reviewed by the exchange were the NSE 30 Index, NSE Lotus Islamic Index, NSE Pension Index, Corporate Governance Index, Afrinvest Bank Value Index, Afrinvest Dividend Yield Index, Meristem Growth Index, Meristem Value Index; and the five Sectoral Indices of The Exchange–NSE Banking, NSE Insurance,