According to Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara, who is a true Ijaw son, the Opobo people in the state played a significant role in the history of the Ijaw struggle. Fubara made this statement on Friday during a meeting at Government House, Port Harcourt, with the Regent and additional Kalabari Se Kobiri representatives. Fubara refuted claims made in some places that he was not an Ijaw, claiming that people who made such claims were ignorant of the history of the struggle that elevated the Ijaw to a respectable social class. This was said in a statement made by Boniface Onyedi,…
Author: Mathew Aremu
The appointment of eight new permanent secretaries to the Federal Civil Service was approved by President Bola Tinubu on Friday. According to a statement signed by President Tinubu’s Special Advisor on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, the appointment comes after “the recently concluded selection process by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation,” which was announced on Friday. “President Tinubu appoints eight new permanent secretaries,” reads the statement. Ngelale claims that Ndakayo-Aishetu Gogo, Adeoye Ayodeji, Rimi Abba, and Bako Deborah Odoh are among the new appointees. Ella Agbo, Watti Tinuke, Ahmed Umar, and Omachi Omenka…
In real terms, Nigeria’s GDP increased by 2.54% year over year in the third quarter of 2023, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics. This growth rate is higher than both the 2.25 percent growth in Q2 2022 and the 2.51 percent growth in Q2 2023. The growth in the quarter was attributed to the service sector. “The performance of the GDP in the third quarter of 2023 was driven mainly by the Services sector, which recorded a growth of 3.99 per cent and contributed 52.70 per cent to the aggregate GDP,” the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics…
3,234 workers in the state public service have been found to be receiving salaries illegally by the Kano State Government. Similarly, among the ineligible workers hired by the former administration of former Governor Abdullahi Ganduje are students from primary and secondary schools, a 13-year-old girl, and National Youth Service Corps members, the government has discovered. In an interview with reporters regarding the findings of the committee the state government formed to look into illegal recruitment, Secretary to the State Government Dr. Abdullahi Bichi revealed these. Over 10,000 public employees who were hired toward the end of the previous governor’s administration…
In order to prevent anomalies and unpleasant outcomes, Nigerians traveling overseas are advised to have the appropriate documentation, according to Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission. When Dabiri-Erewa visited some Nigerians in one of the shelters in Brampton, Canada, she made this statement. Because the “situation is getting tougher in many countries,” Dabiri-Erewa advised Nigerians who intended to travel to Canada—either without the necessary documentation or to seek asylum—to change their minds. The information was made public on Thursday through the commission’s X account. Abdur-Rahman Balogun, the Director of NIDCOM’s Media, Public Relations, and Protocols Unit, signed…
A former managing director of the Kano Agricultural Supply Company, Bala Muhammad, and his son, Bala Jnr., who are on trial for allegedly diverting N4 billion in state funds, were granted bail by a Kano High Court on Thursday. Muhammad was charged with criminal breach of trust, making false statements or returns, and official corruption after the Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission looked into the allegations. Muhammad was then brought before Justice Hafsat Sani. On November 2, 2023, after the charges were read to him, he entered a not guilty plea to all of them and was remanded…
The National Broadcasting Commission filed an application to have its judgment prohibiting it from fining broadcast stations across the nation set aside, but it was denied by an Abuja Federal High Court. The Media Rights Agenda filed a lawsuit against NBC on March 1, 2019, alleging that the company had fined Channels, TVC, AIT, and forty-two other parties N500,000 apiece for violating the Nigerian broadcasting code. According to MRA, the commission’s actions violated both Article 7 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (ratification and Enforcement) Act and Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which guarantees…
The reason why the police invited actor John Okafor, also known as Mr. Ibu, and his two sons, Daniel and Val, as well as his adopted daughter Jasmine, has been revealed by Emeka Chochoo, the actor’s former manager. It was revealed on Wednesday night that after weeks of back-and-forth on social media about who signed the actor’s account, Mr. Ibu’s wife Stella Maris had ordered their arrests. The actor’s sons and Jasmine were reportedly arrested and held at the Force Criminal Investigation Department Annex, Alagbon, Lagos, according to Nollywood actress Doris Ogala, who posted the news on Instagram. It was…
On Thursday, the Senate passed a bill proposing the creation of a Bitumen Development Commission, paving the way for Nigeria to join the $147 billion global bitumen market. Senator Jimoh Ibrahim (APC Ondo South) sponsored the bill. He told the Senate that over 80 percent of the resources are in Nigeria, Venezuela, the United States of America, and Canada. He bemoaned the fact that, in contrast to other nations endowed with natural resources, Nigeria lacks the necessary legal frameworks to explore its resources, which results in missed opportunities and significant market losses. He stated, “The Bill’s objectives include the need…
Some BRT users have beseeched the government for more buses, lamenting the lack of buses and the lengthy lines they encounter on a daily basis. According to some commuters who spoke with PUNCH Metro on Monday, the majority of commuters in Lagos State use the Bus Rapid Transit because transportation costs have increased in the state. Additionally, they asserted that the cost of BRT transit was less expensive than that of commercial buses, pointing out that the long lines seemed to go on forever due to the high demand. PUNK According to Metro, LAMATA said in a statement that Governor…
The Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation has come under fire from the Senate Committee on Finance for its failure to furnish financial information spanning from 2021 and 2022 to the third quarter of 2023. Members of the committee expressed regret over the lack of receipts to support NAIC expenditures from revenue claims during an interactive meeting on Monday in Abuja. The committee, which is chaired by Senator Sani Musa of the APC in Niger South, also ordered NAIC to produce comprehensive receipts for remittances purportedly made with 2023’s excess revenue. The MD/CEO of NAIC, Folashade Joseph, presented the committee with the…
Signs point to the possibility of a shortage of foreign-owned cars, or tokunbo cars, in the nation as dealers lament import challenges. Speaking with The PUNCH in Lagos on Monday, auto dealers attributed the most recent development to the high exchange rate, which had an impact on the duty rate among other things. Olaniran Adelana, the state secretary of the Lagos State Motor Dealers Association, stated that it was challenging to sell the older vehicles since they were unsure of receiving new ones. We are finding it more difficult to buy cars the way we used to—from Europe—due to the…
The second stage of the N1 billion .grant to micro and small businesses has been started by the Ogun State Government. The initiative’s goals are to reduce poverty and lessen COVID-19’s negative effects on the state’s businesses. Governor Dapo Abiodun has ordered that the second phase of the grant disbursement process begin immediately, according to a statement released on Monday by Mr. Adebola Sofela, Commissioner for Industry, Trade, and Investment and member of the Ogun State COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus Steering Committee. The statement claims that the state government gave more than N120 million to more than 1,000…
The Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike, extended the deadline for payment of unpaid ground rents in Abuja to December 14, 2023, after the previous deadline had expired. According to The PUNCH, the FCT Administration released land titles of private citizens, businesses, and governmental entities in September along with a reminder that they must pay ground rent on January 1 of each year in accordance with the terms of their Certificates of Occupancy. The FCTA Permanent Secretary, Olusade Adesola, signed the publication advising the debtors to make payments “within two weeks from the date of publication, failure of which such…
According to Dr. Bosun Tijani, Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, projects like a Starlink certified installer/maintenance program and partnerships with hardware startups to manufacture repeater boxes locally have the potential to generate thousands of jobs. The minister said on X (previously Twitter) that he discussed it with Ryan Goodnight, Senior Director of Global Licensing and Activation of SpaceX, during their Sunday meeting outside the International Telecommunication Union-World Radio Communication Conference, which is currently taking place in Dubai. Tijani revealed that Nigeria was currently Starlink’s largest market in Africa and that he had a conversation with the director of…
One Kolajo Damilare was found guilty of stealing household items belonging to Razaq Salaudeen in the Abeokuta area of the state and will serve a six-month jail sentence, according to the Ogun State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps. David Ojelabi, the state commandant of the NSCDC, affirmed this over the phone with PUNCH Metro on Sunday. Ojelabi claims that the prisoner was taken into custody by NSCDC officers at Opeji Division on Wednesday, November 15, 2023, at approximately 11 a.m., while the officers were conducting a routine surveillance patrol in the Bode Olude area. He added…
According to the Ogun State Police Command, two suspected rapists are being sought after for allegedly defiling two minors on Thursday in the Ifo Local Government Area of the state’s Olambe area and the Isabo area of Abeokuta. PUNK Metro has learned that a man who has not yet been identified is suspected of defiling a 12-year-old student at Reverend Kuti Memorial Grammar School in Abeokuta. The girl and her sister were reportedly found wandering the streets after their parents had allegedly sent them away for an unspecified offense, according to a police source that our correspondent spoke with. As…
Jackson Clinton was charged by the Lagos State Police Command on Friday in a Yaba, Lagos State, magistrate’s court for allegedly breaking into and taking his employer’s property in the Gbagada neighborhood of the state. The defendant, 24, was brought before Magistrate Linda Balogun on two counts that bordered on stealing and breaking and entering. In addition to other items, the defendant was accused of stealing his employer’s horsepower air conditioner, which was valued at N300,000, ten schoolbags, three clothing bags, three stabilisers, four compressors, expensive wines, and other items totaling N35,500. In a brief for Haruna Magaji, the…
Four adult males have suffered serious injuries in an accident involving a Lexus vehicle on Liasu Road in the Lagos State neighborhood of Idimu. PUNK Metro discovered that the event occurred on Sunday at roughly five in the morning. When the car lost control, veered off the road, and crashed into a store in front of a nearby Catholic church, it was reportedly traveling at top speed. Some of the people who were still asleep in the building behind the shop were impacted by the damage caused by the crash. Our correspondent was informed by eyewitnesses that the occupants suffered…
Leader of the All Progressives Congress Maj. Gen. Charles Airhiavbere (retd), who announced his plan to run for governor of Edo State, stated that the state needs a capable governor regardless of where they are from. He stated that the state needed a governor who will uphold and respect the Benin monarchy, even as he expressed interest in meeting with members of Oredo Ward 1 at his Benin mansion on Monday. He also ruled out zoning the governorship ticket to any of the three senatorial zones. “I have always maintained that Edo State should be led by a party that…