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Gov. Seyi Makinde of Oyo State on Wednesday presented a N208.8 billion Appropriation Bill for the 2020 fiscal year to the State House of Assembly. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the budget presented by Makinde was N77 billion lower than the N285.2 billion 2019 budget presented in 2018 by his predecessor, Abiola Ajimobi. The N208,802,972,878 billion total budget proposal has N100,142,690,046 earmarked for capital expenditure and representing 47.9 per cent of the total budget estimate. This was an increase of 20 per cent when compared to the 2019 budget. Also, the total recurrent expenditure for 2020 financial…

The Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) has called on African leaders to remain committed to peacebuilding in their respective countries. The Director General of the Institute, Dr. Bakut T. Bakut made the call on Tuesday 26th November, 2019 in Abuja while speaking at the opening ceremony of a three-day Conference on Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution in Africa with the theme, “Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution in Africa: A Cross-Disciplinary Perspective Towards African Development.” The Conference was organized by IPCR in Conjunction with the Institute for Dispute Resolution in Africa (IDRA) of the University of South Africa. IPCR…

It was celebration galore as the Lagos Yacht Club held its Harbour Race competition at the Magazine Point, Marina Lagos. Known as the “TMS Harbour Race” and sponsored by Technical Mechanical Service, a global company that specialises in the supply of heavy duty spare parts, the carnival-like race attracted top personalities from all spheres of life. Sailors have participated from two classes – Hobbie and Mono Hull – with winners rewarded for their spirit of sportsmanship. In Hobbie class, Elie Avy and Tunde Mustapha finished the race in 2 hours 10:53 minutes, Jay Smulders and Natacha Smulders recorded 2 hours…

We, the undersigned organizations, write to express our concern over the increasing trend of draft legislation on hate speech and “fake news” in the region. Many African governments have begun to draft legislation on these issues without regard to their obligations to Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to protect the right of everyone to freedom of opinion and expression. Article 19 includes the right to receive and impart, regardless of frontiers, information, and ideas through any media whatsoever. It is our position that the ongoing attempts to regulate the use of social media through overarching draft…

By Tony Obiechina, Abuja The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) at its 270th meeting on Tuesday, retained the Banking Rate otherwise known as  (MPR) at 13.5 per cent. CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, who announced the decision of the committee while briefing journalists at the end of its two-day meeting held at the apex bank’s headquarters in Abuja, said the upward movement in inflation was expected. Nigeria’s annual inflation rate increased to 11.61 percent in October 2019 from 11.24 percent in the previous month, reaching the highest since May of 2018. The Governor explained that the…

President Muhammadu Buhari has ratified the Protocol to Amend the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft (Hague Convention of 1971) (Beijing Protocol 2010). Malam Garba Shehu, the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, confirmed this development in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday. He said the President also ratified the Protocol to Amend the Convention on the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against Safety of Civil Aviation (The Montreal Convention of 1971) (Beijing Protocol 2010). ”The instruments were ratified by President Buhari on November 22, 2019,” he maintained. According to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO),…

Former governors, deputy governors, and other political office holders in Zamfara State will no longer enjoy the payment of pension and other entitlements. This development comes on the heels of outright repeal of the law that approves such payment by members of the Zamfara State House of Assembly. The lawmakers abolished the law on Tuesday following a bill laid on the floor on the legislative chamber of the Assembly complex in Gusau, the state capital. Presenting the bill, House Leader Faruk Dosara (PDP Maradun I) urged his collogues to as a matter of urgency consider the complete repeal of the…

With increasing speculation on the tenure of office of the Acting Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu, the commission has recently been sending out mixed signals on its treatment of several persons accused of financial crimes under the Goodluck Jonathan Administration. While there have always been concerns about the selective prosecution of accused persons by the EFCC, some recent actions by the EFCC have buttressed this perception, fueling the belief that the Commission may be acting a script aimed at persecuting some persons who are believed not to be in the good books of the…

The Senate on Tuesday unanimously condemned electoral violence, particularly killings in the Kogi and Bayelsa states’ elections, following consideration of two motions during the plenary. The upper chamber, while calling on the Inspector-General of Police to arrest and prosecute the killers of the Women Leader of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Kogi State, Mrs. Salome Abu, held a minute silence in honour of the deceased. In one of the motions titled “Curbing Electoral Violence”, its sponsor, Senator George Thompson Sekibo (PDP, Rivers East), quoting the National Human Rights Commission said about 58 people were killed in 61 incidents of…

Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has said that the state will release N500 million to offset part of the debt owing the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso. Makinde made this known on Tuesday during a stakeholders’ meeting on the challenges confronting the institution, held at the university, in Ogbomoso. The governor said that he would not shy away from taking up responsibilities in charting the way forward for the institution. He stressed that Oyo State could shoulder the responsibility of sole ownership of the institution. Makinde further disclosed that he had proposed 20 percent for education in…