Author: darelasisi@gmail.com

By Tony Obiechina, Abuja The Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) has shared a total of N702.058 billion to the three tiers of government for the month of October 2019. This was announced in a communique after the FAAC meeting chaired by the Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, in Abuja on Wednesday. According to the communiqué, the N702.058 billion comprised revenue from Value Added Tax (VAT), Exchange Gain and Gross Statutory Revenue, while the balance in the Excess Crude Account was put at $ 324 million. The gross statutory revenue for the month of October 2019 was N596.041billion. It…

By Tony Obiechina, Abuja The need to explore the non-oil sectors especially the capital market in Nigeria’s quest to attaining its full potentials has again been emphasized. This was stated by the Chairman of the Board of the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, Mr. Olufemi Lijadu while speaking at a breakfast meeting between the board and stakeholders in the capital market in Lagos, Wednesday. According to Lijadu, “We all love our country and we need to develop our country. We have potentials and it’s time we start taking steps to realize the potentials. “We need money to develop our economy…

Heritage Bank Plc, Nigeria’s Most Innovative Banking Service Provider celebrated International Men’s Day 2019 themed: “Making a difference for Men and Boys”, with event held at every Experience Centres- ECs (branches) of the bank across the country. The financial institution leveraged on this theme and coined a personal theme, which is “Break the Ice; Inspire another Man”. To help chart a path that will champion gender parity in grand style, the male staff had engaging activities which include a men’s bonding/mentorship session with various appealing subject of discussions in the ECs, where the senior colleagues initiated the talks alongside other male…

Youths from across the 11 local government areas of Ibadan, on Wednesday, declared their support for the Oyo State Governor, Engineer Seyi Makinde, following the judgment of the Court of Appeal, which affirmed his victory in the March 9, 2019 governorship election. The youths, under the aegis of a group known as the Ibadan Youth Progressive Indigenes Association (IYPIA), maintained that no one could bring down the government of Governor Makinde, who they said was massively voted into office by the people. The youths declared that Makinde’s mandate was a product of the majority of Oyo State residents, whom they…

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) caucus in the Senate, on Wednesday, rejected the Bayelsa and Kogi Governorship election results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The senators, led by the Minority Leader of the Senate, Sen. Enyinnaya Abaribe, made the rejection at a news conference in Abuja. reports that INEC had declared the candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC), David Lyon and Yahaya Bello winners of the gubernatorial elections. “We want to call the attention of Nigerians. We are very disturbed by the elections that were held last weekend in Bayelsa and Kogi. “We totally reject the…

Gov. Nasiru El-Rufai has appointed eight more aides including Ahmed Maiyaki, the spokesman of former Gov. Mukhtar Ramalan-Yero, A statement signed by Muyiwa Adekeye, Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Communication, made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Kaduna, said Maiyaki is now Senior Special Assistant (SSA) Community Relations. Also appointed is Mrs Saude Atoyebi, a former Personal Secretary to the governor, as Kaduna State Focal Person on the National Social Investment Programme. Others were Umar Yaro, Special Assistant, Social Investment Programme; Mubarak Abdulkadir, Special Assistant, ICT; Rebecca Padonu, Special Assistant, Social Investment…

Of all the Chief Executives of the Nigerian Customs Service to date, none has been more powerful than Colonel Hameed Ibrahim Alli (rtd.), the sixty-four-year-old post-graduate criminologist, from Dass Local Government Area of Bauchi State. On November 21, 1994, General Sani Abacha, GCFR, appointed him along with Justice Ibrahim Nadhi Auta, a Federal High Court Judge in Lagos and Justice Etowa Enyong Arikpo, a Judge in the Cross Rivers state High Court to try Ken Saro- Wiwa, Ledun Mitee, Barinom Kiobel, John Kpaniene and Baribor Berai in the aftermath of the Ogoni crisis in Rivers state. On August 22, 1996,…

In early 1983, I made it possible for Nuri and Bah to get the Nigerian Defence Academy admission forms. It wasn’t difficult at the time. To fill the forms, however, became a problem. They were not interested in a military career. They wanted to go to the University of Maiduguri. I made them to keep the forms and think over it. They did, reluctantly. After a week Bah came. As he stretched his hand to give back the form to me, he said: “Me I will not join the Army.” Ok, Bah, I said, as I tried to suppress my…

Senate President Ahmad Lawan on Tuesday said that the Senate would release new strategies on corruption fight to the public in the next few weeks. Lawan disclosed this at the two-day National Summit on Diminishing Corruption in the Public Sector in Abuja. The event is organized by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) in collaboration with the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF). Lawan, who was represented by Sen. Suleiman Kwari, said that the senate just discovered that the anti-graft war was far from over, hence the need for the action.…

ENERGY giant, the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) has outlined re-orientating the thinking of undergraduates in Nigerian universities as one of the critical actions to challenge them on the use of emerging technologies to enable innovation and allow Nigeria to actualize the National Association of Petroleum Explorationists’ (NAPE) 37th Annual International Conference and Exhibition’s aspiration of expanding Nigeria’s petroleum landscape through digitalization, innovation and emerging technologies. Country Chairman of Shell Companies in Nigeria, and Managing Director, SPDC, Mr. Osagie Okunbor, said, “Shell has collaborations with the academia in Nigeria and now has two successful centres of excellence that…