Author: darelasisi@gmail.com

Shell companies on Friday won the Industry Achievement Award at the 2019 awards night of the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN), the umbrella body of indigenous technical oilfield service companies in the upstream and downstream sectors of the Nigerian oil and gas industry. Managing Director, The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC), Osagie Okunbor, was also honoured at the event with the Aret Adams Award for Excellence for leading a formidable team in Shell to deliver value to its partners, stakeholders and particularly the country. PETAN President, Bank-Anthony Okoroafor, said the Industry Achievement Award was in recognition…

A northern youth group has faulted denial by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), that it had dropped the criminal charges against Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, a former Minister of Petroleum Resources and four other persons. The anti-graft agency had reacted swiftly to media reports that it had withdrawn a 14-count money laundering charge filed against the former Minister and four others at the Federal high court, Lagos. She was charged alongside four others namely: Mr Dauda Lawal, former Executive Director of First Bank, Managing Director of Fidelity Bank, Nnamdi Okonkwo, the former Executive Director of Sterling Bank, Lanre Adesanya…

The Oyo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described members of the sacked local government chairmen under the aegis of Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) as mere noisemakers who want to keep benefiting from illegal conducts. The PDP in a statement by its State Publicity Secretary, Engineer Akeem Olatunji said that the ALGON members who were raising issues about Governor Seyi Mankinde’s proposed composition of the Local Governments leadership as swimming against the tide of public opinion in the state. According to the PDP, there is every need to reconstitute the leadership in the Local…

The Presidency has reacted to the statement credited to a former Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Alexander Ogomudia (rtd) who submitted that ‘Nigeria may be restructured violently.’ Senior Presidential Media Aide, Garba Shehu, says “This vituperation, coming from a former military Chief speaks volumes about the mindset of groups of citizens who have yet to accept democracy as a form of government.” Shehu states further: “It is very important to stress that we as a nation, are a constitutional democracy and changes to the country in structure, its systems, policy and politics must abide by the norms of democracy, otherwise…

Protocols: Before I go into my speech proper, may I please appeal to you all to rise and observe a minute of silence with me in honour of my late Assistant and dear friend, Mallam Umaru Njidda Pariya. Inna Lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un Mallam Pariya was the definition of loyalty and competence. I will never be able to fill the void he left behind. We cannot grow Nigeria if we do not invest in education. This is such a notorious fact that it is almost a cliché. When philosophers say that an investment in education yields the most interest,…

No fewer than 70 houses built on unapproved sites within the Lekki-Ajah axis will be pulled down, Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, pronounced on Saturday. The affected structures, most of which have been completed by their owners, are built on the right of way of tertiary canals and access roads. Sanwo-Olu led the Deputy Governor, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, and members of the State Executive Council on an inspection of regional roads and waterfronts in Lekki and Victoria Garden City (VGC), saying that the developers of the properties on the inspected areas recklessly built their structures on unapproved sites and…

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has filed a lawsuit against Mrs Zainab Ahmed, Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning over failure to “disclose information and specific documents on the total amount of money paid to contractors from the $460 million loan obtained in 2010 from China to fund the apparently failed Abuja Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) project, and failure to name the contractors involved and explain why the government has continued to re-pay the loan.” In the suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/1447/2019 filed last week at the Federal High Court, Abuja, SERAP is seeking “an order for leave to apply for…

The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Ogun Command, on Sunday confirmed the accident along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, which claimed the lives of five persons and injured nine others. Mr Clement Oladele, the FRSC Sector Commander in the state, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ota, Ogun, that the accident occurred at 9.10 p.m. around Danco Petrol Station, near Sagamu, on Saturday. Oladele blamed the lone accident, which involved a white Toyota Hiace bus, with registration number LSR 642XB, on speed violation. He said that 14 persons, 10 males, and four females, were involved in the crash. “The corpse of…

The Federal Government on Sunday opened the Kara Bridge section of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway to traffic,  after completing repair works on a 600-metre stretch, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports. NAN reports that the section between Kara Bridge and Isheri Junction inbound Lagos was partially closed on Sept. 2, for reconstruction, resulting in traffic diversion. When a  NAN correspondent visited the site, traffic regulatory agencies, law enforcement agencies and official of  Federal Ministry of Works, Power and Housing  officials were supervising removal of barricades by construction workers. Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) personnel closed the Kara end of the…

Popular Ghanaian gospel singer, Stella Aba Seal said that men should be allowed to marry 2 wives as long as they can take care of them. Stella said this during an interview with Becky, on E with Becks, she said a polygamous marriage will help reduce the high rate of adultery on the part of men and women. ”If a married man is responsible and I’m his first wife and he wants to marry [another wife] and he can take care of both of us…I don’t have a problem with that,” Stella Seal said. “If you think you love the woman enough,…