News

Tuesday, 24 May 2022 06:37

Nigeria’s Q1 GDP growth slows ahead of CBN’s rates decision

Nigerian GDP grew 3.11% in the first quarter, slower than in the previous quarter as a fall in oil production hit the rest of the economy, the national statistics office said on Monday ahead of a central bank interest rate decision on Tuesday. It was the sixth consecutive quarter of growth, with non-oil sectors helping Nigeria bounce back from a severe recession caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The full-year GDP figure for 2021 showed the fastest growth in seven years. Gross domestic product grew by 3.98% in the fourth quarter of 2021. In the first three months of last year,…

Tuesday, 24 May 2022 06:36

Governors lose suit to maintain control over LG funds

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Monday, asked the 36 State governors in the country to comply with a directive issued by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) restraining them from withdrawing funds from local government accounts. The anti-graft agency had in 2019 issued a directive and guidelines on the withdrawal of funds allocated to the 774 Local Government Areas recognized by the country’s 1999 constitution. NFIU’s director, Modibbo Tukur, while issuing the guidelines, had explained that the directive was aimed at curbing crime vulnerabilities created by cash withdrawals from local government accounts by state governments. Tukur stressed…

Tuesday, 24 May 2022 06:35

Kaduna airport reopens for flight operations two months after terrorist attack

Kaduna airport has resumed flight operations two months after shutting down over an attack by gunmen. Faithful Hope-Ivbaze, acting general manager, corporate affairs, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria confirmed this on Monday. Hope-Ivbaze said flight operations commenced today. “Flight operations to Kaduna airport have commenced today with Azman Air,” she said. It would be recalled that about two months ago, gunmen attacked the airport and killed a security guard. On its official Twitter account, Azman Air announced the resumption of flights to the Kaduna airport, making it the first airline to resume operations on the route since the incident. The…

Tuesday, 24 May 2022 06:34

China expresses outrage at Biden’s comments that US would defend Taiwan

China on Monday expressed outrage at President Joe Biden’s apparent break from America’s prior policy of “strategic ambiguity” regarding Taiwan, blasting his assertion that the U.S. would militarily defend the island nation if Beijing invaded. No country should underestimate China’s “firm resolve, staunch will and strong ability” to protect its sovereign and territorial interests, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters on Monday in response to Biden’s comments. “On issues that bear on China's sovereignty, territorial integrity and other core interests, no one shall expect China to make any compromise or trade-offs,” Wang said. Other Chinese Communist Party insiders…

Tuesday, 24 May 2022 06:33

What to know after Day 89 of Russia-Ukraine war

The European Union will likely agree an embargo on Russian oil imports "within days", according to its biggest member Germany, as Moscow said it saw its economic ties growing with China after being isolated by the West over its invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told global business leaders in Davos on Monday that the world must increase sanctions against Russia to deter other countries from using "brute force" to achieve their aims. Many of the EU's 27 member states are heavily reliant on Russian energy, prompting criticism from Kyiv that the bloc has not moved quickly enough to…

Monday, 23 May 2022 06:26

FG imposes 9 percent tax on phone calls to fund healthcare

Federal Government has slammed a new tax on phone calls in the nation to fund free healthcare for the Vulnerable Group in Nigeria. This is despite recent moves by telecommunication companies to increase the price of their services as a result of an unfavourable operating climate. The telecom tax in the equivalent of a minimum of one kobo per second for phone calls is part of the sources of funds required to finance free healthcare for the Vulnerable Group in Nigeria. This is contained in the National Health Insurance Authority Bill 2021 signed by President Muhammadu Buhari last week. The…

Monday, 23 May 2022 06:25

FG appoints acting AGF amid Ahmed Idris’ N80bn fraud probe

The federal government has approved the appointment of Anamekwe Nwabuoku to oversee the office of the accountant-general of the federation (OAGF). The appointment was announced in a statement issued on Sunday by Yunusa Abdullahi, spokesperson to Zainab Ahmed, the minister of finance. Nwabuoku’s appointment comes amid a probe into allegations of N80 billion fraud linked to Ahmed Idris, accountant-general of the federation. Idris was arrested by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on May 16 — the anti-graft agency said he had refused to honour invitations to answer questions on the fraud allegations. The accountant-general general was subsequently suspended by…

Monday, 23 May 2022 06:23

What to know after Day 88 of Russia-Ukraine war

Ukraine ruled out a ceasefire or any territorial concessions to Moscow as Russia stepped up its attack in the eastern and southern parts of the country, pounding the Donbas and Mykolaiv regions with air strikes and artillery fire. Kyiv's stance has become increasingly uncompromising in recent weeks as Russia experienced military setbacks while Ukrainian officials grew worried they might be pressured to sacrifice land for a peace deal. "The war must end with the complete restoration of Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty," Andriy Yermak, Ukraine's presidential chief of staff said in a Twitter post on Sunday. Polish President Andrzej Duda…

Sunday, 22 May 2022 06:38

New law signed by Buhari imposes N1m daily fine on banks, others which fail to report suspicious transactions

As part of its fresh move against money laundering, the Federal Government has enforced a fine of N1m per day for any financial institution or non-financial business and profession that fails to report any suspicious transaction. This is according to the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Bill, 2022, which President Muhammadu Buhari recently assented to and passed into law. In Section 7 of the Act, which was titled ‘Suspicious transaction reporting’, it was stated that a suspicious transaction could be any transaction that involves an unjustifiable or unreasonable frequency. It also involves any transaction surrounded by conditions of unusual or…

Sunday, 22 May 2022 06:35

Two killed in another building collapse in Lagos

Two persons have been confirmed dead while three persons sustained injuries in a fresh building collapse on Alayaki Lane, Lagos Island. It was learnt that the three storey building which was under construction came down during a heavy rainfall in the area. The Lagos Terrorial Head of National Emergency Management Agency, Ibrahim Farinloye, confirmed the incident. “Three rescued alive and two died. Responders are on the way,” he said. Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Olufemi Oke-Osanyitolu, said preliminary investigation revealed that the building was being constructed in violation of the safety protocols. He said, “The agency responded to…

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Sunday, 22 May 2022 06:34

What to know after Day 87 of Russia-Ukraine war

Ukraine ruled out a ceasefire or concessions to Moscow on Saturday as Russia intensified an offensive in the eastern Donbas region and stopped providing gas to Finland. After ending weeks of resistance by the last Ukrainian fighters in the strategic southeastern city of Mariupol, Russia is waging what appears to be a major offensive in Luhansk, one of two provinces in Donbas. Russian-backed separatists already controlled swathes of territory in Luhansk and the neighbouring Donetsk province before the Feb. 24 invasion, but Moscow wants to seize the last remaining Ukrainian-held territory in Donbas. "The situation in Donbas is extremely difficult,"…

Saturday, 21 May 2022 07:03

Akinwunmi Adesina is again being accused of gross misconducts. Here are details of the fresh allegations against president of African Devt Bank

In the middle of July 2020, Roland Michelitsch slipped out of his home in Ivory Coast, taking almost nothing with him. He quietly got into an armoured Land Rover and drove to a boatyard where he abandoned the vehicle. And then he disappeared. Michelitsch was not a spy or criminal mastermind. He was a banker of the least glamorous sort—the independent evaluator general of the African Development Bank (afdb). Yet he had !ed the country fearing for his life. The afdb is the most important African development institution in a region with about 70% of the world’s extremely poor people.…

Saturday, 21 May 2022 07:01

Buhari appoints new Statistician-General, DG NISER

President Muhammadu Buhari, on Friday, approved the appointment of Semiu Adeniran as the substantive Statistician-General of the Federation and Chief Executive Officer of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). This was contained in a statement issued by Sufuyan Ojeifo, special assistant (media) to the Minister of State, Budget and National Planning, Clem Agba. The new appointment follows the demise of the former Statistician-General of the Federation, Simon Harry, on April 13, 2022. The statement said that Adeniran is a professional statistician of repute with a bias for Demography and Social Statistics. He has over three decades of statistical hands-on experience…

Saturday, 21 May 2022 06:57

WHO calls emergency meeting as monkeypox cases top 100 in Europe

The World Health Organization was holding an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss the recent outbreak of monkeypox, a viral infection more common to west and central Africa, after over 100 cases were confirmed or suspected in Europe. In what Germany described as the largest outbreak in Europe ever, cases have been reported in at least nine countries – Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom - as well as the United States, Canada and Australia. Spain reported 24 new cases on Friday, mainly in the Madrid region where the regional government closed a…

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