Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed, on Wednesday, announced that Nigeria has received $800 million from the World Bank to expand its national social programme before petrol subsidies are removed in June. This year, the government allocated N3.36 trillion for petrol subsidies until mid-2023, but did not make budgetary provisions for the expense after that. The cost of these subsidies is greater than the spending on healthcare and education combined. Ahmed explained that the government is looking into cash transfers and mass transit buses for workers to mitigate the impact of subsidy removal on the most vulnerable segment of the population. She…

At a workshop with heads of beneficiary institutions in Abuja on Wednesday, Sonny Echono, executive secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), announced that President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the disbursement of N320.3 billion as intervention funds for public tertiary institutions in the country. Under the 2023 intervention cycle, each university will receive N1,154,732,133.00, while each polytechnic and college of education will get N699,344,867.00 and N800,862,602 respectively. Echono added that this figure represents the highest disbursement to each beneficiary institution since the inception of TETFund. He also noted that the allocation to the tertiary education sector has increased significantly…

Under the Federal Government Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme (Executive Order 7), BUA Group has received approval from the Federal Government to construct four major roads worth N330 billion. This approval follows the recent commencement of the N115 billion expansion and dualization of the 132km Kano-Kazaure-Kongolam highway, linking Kano, Jigawa and Katsina States under the same scheme. The four major roads set to be constructed are the Kosubosu-Kaiama-Bode Saadu highway (130km), Bacita-Shonga-Lafiagi highway (83km), Eyenkorin-Afon-Offa-Odo Ottin highway (49km), and Okuta-Bukuro Road which connects to Benin Republic (32km), costing approximately N330 billion. BUA Group will fund the entire project, demonstrating its commitment…

A former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, has written a letter to the Chief Clerk of the Central Criminal Court in London, UK, concerning the case of former Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu and his wife Beatrice, who were found guilty of organ trafficking. The letter, dated April 3, 2023, implores the court and the UK government to show leniency towards the Ekweremadus, who are at risk of being sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in accordance with the Modern Slavery Act 2015. The couple was remanded in custody following the guilty verdicts and are awaiting sentencing on May 5. Obasanjo…