Nigeria's state oil firm NNPC Ltd said on Sunday it had restored 275,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil production at its joint venture unit with Total Energies after negotiating an end to industrial action by workers. NNPC said in a statement that an agreement to suspend the action had been signed between TotalEnergies, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association and the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, which represent senior and junior workers in the industry. "The unions have agreed to suspend ongoing industrial action leading to immediate restoration of 275,000 barrels of oil per…

Pope Francis has dismissed Bishop Joseph E. Strickland of Tyler, Texas, one of his fiercest critics among U.S. Roman Catholic conservatives, a Vatican statement said on Saturday. It is very rare for a bishop to be relieved of his duties outright. Usually bishops in trouble with the Vatican are asked to resign before submitting a resignation, which the pope accepts. Popes make such moves, considered drastic, when a bishop refuses a request to resign. Strickland is 65, 10 years shy of the usual retirement age for bishops. Strickland had said earlier this year that he would refuse to resign if…

Federal Government says it will start charging owners of completed unoccupied houses triple ground rents instead of the single rate normally charged from three months after completion.Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Ahmed Dangiwa, said this in an interview with journalists during his continuation to site visits of housing projects constructed by the government and its agencies on Friday in Abuja. The projects inspected are the Suleja (Dikko) Prototype, Public-Private Partnerships Cooperative, Gwagwalada National Housing Programme and Guzape Federal Housing Authority (FHA) under the PPP arrangement. Dangiwa affirmed that the issue of completed unoccupied properties was prevalent in the FCT…

Commercial activities in border communities of Katsina, Sokoto, Borno and Zamfara states have collapsed following closure of the country’s borders with Niger Republic in the wake of the military takeover of power in the Francophone country on August 3. Checks by our correspondents on the border communities in Katsina, Sokoto, Borno, and Zamfara within the week revealed that commercial activities in the communities have been paralysed with long lines of trucks loaded with goods still stranded at the borders. However, despite the heavy presence of security operatives, smuggling thrives across illegal borders in the states. In the Jibia Local Government…