News

Sunday, 22 September 2019 05:53

Sowore: Charged for ‘insulting Buhari’? This is an ‘unprecedented level of paranoia’ - Soyinka

Nobel laureate, Mr Wole Soyinka, has sternly rebuked the Buhari administration after it filed charges of treason against the detained publisher of Sahara Reporters, Mr Omoyele Sowore. Soyinka said the government “has indeed attained an unprecedented level of paranoia” over the “improbable” charges that include “insulting” President Muhammadu Buhari. Charges against the activist became public on Friday, more than a month after Sowore was detained by the State Security Service for planning the #RevolutionNow protest. SSS obtained a court order authorising Sowore be held for 45 days in the first instance. Last week, security forces laid a siege to the…

Sunday, 22 September 2019 05:47

Pregnant women who take paracetamol risk a child with behavioral problems

Women who take paracetamol while pregnant risk having children with behaviour problems, a study suggests. Scientists found a link between expectant mothers using the painkiller and their youngsters being hyperactive and having emotional issues. Paracetamol is the world's most popular painkiller and is the only one deemed safe to take during pregnancy. But a growing body of research suggests it could damage the development of children in the womb, with studies linking it with asthma, infertility and autism. In the latest research, carried out by the University of Bristol, scientists examined data from 14,000 children between the ages of six…

Saturday, 21 September 2019 06:09

Ipokia Obaship tussle: Stakeholders petition police, others over threat to life

Ogun state Police command and other security agencies have been petitioned by the Iwaye Dodo Ruling House of Ipokia, to save its family members and properties from one Bashir Olubi-Sodiq (aka Saolas) and others who allegedly have been threatening to assassinate and unleash terror on them. The petition which was contained in a 'save our soul' letter to the police Command and also addressed to State Security Service (SSS), and Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), was coming on the heels of a ruling barring Mr Yisa Olusola Olaniyan from parading himself as the Oba-Elect in the chieftaincy tussle…

Saturday, 21 September 2019 05:57

Oil attacks: US to send troops to Saudi Arabia

The US has announced plans to send forces to Saudi Arabia in the wake of attacks against the country's oil infrastructure. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper told reporters the deployment would be "defensive in nature". Total troop numbers have not yet been decided. Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels have claimed responsibility for the attacks against two oil facilities last week. But the US and Saudi Arabia have both blamed Iran itself. Earlier on Friday however, President Trump announced "highest level" sanctions against Iran while signalling he wanted to avoid military conflict. "I think the strong person approach, and the thing that…

Friday, 20 September 2019 05:50

Despite foreign debt of $25.6bn, domestic debt of $55.6bn, FG begs World Bank for another $2.5bn loan

World Bank vice-president for Africa, Mr Hafez Ghanem, has revealed that the lender is currently in talks with Federal Government for a $2.5 billion concessionary loan. Ghanem made this known in an interview on Wednesday in Abuja. This was as he recalled that Nigeria received $2.4 billion from the bank in 2018. “We’re talking about a new set of programmes of about the same amount, it should be about $2.5 billion,” Bloomberg quoted him to have said. “It’s important to resolve the problems of the power sector in Nigeria to bring in more investments, because you need to bring down…

Friday, 20 September 2019 05:48

$9.6bn judgment debt: P&ID disowns officials as court orders firm’s wind up

Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday convicted and subsequently ordered the winding up of Process and Industrial Developments Limited and its Nigerian affiliate, P&ID Nigeria Limited. Mr Inyang Ekwo made the orders after the two firms, through their representatives, pleaded guilty to the 11 counts of fraud, money laundering, tax evasion and other sundry charges in connection with a year 2010 contract leading to the recent controversial judgment of a British court empowering the P&ID to seize about $9.6bn worth of Nigerian assets. In his judgment on Thursday, Ekwo also ordered the forfeiture of “the assets and properties” of…

Friday, 20 September 2019 05:47

NEC approves N100bn proposal for National Livestock Transformation Plan

National Economic Council (NEC) presided over by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo Thursday in Abuja approved N100 billion proposal to support the take-off of National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP). The plan was conceived by the council to serve as a panacea to the protracted crisis between farmers and herders in different parts of the country. Briefing journalists at the State House after the meeting, Ebonyi State Governor and Chairman of the Sub-committee on Herders-Farmers Crisis, Mr David Umahi, said the committee briefed NEC on the N100 billion proposal to support the project. According to the governor, 80 per cent of the amount…

Friday, 20 September 2019 05:46

FAAC: FG, states, LGs share N740.880bn for August

Rising from the Federal Account Allocation Committee, federal government, states and local government councils have shared N740.880 billion as federal allocation for August 2019. According to the communique released at the end of the meeting, Federal Government received N301.804 billion, representing 52.68 per cent; the states, N188.925 billion, representing 26.72 per cent and local government councils, N142.654 billion, representing 20.60 per cent; while oil producing states received N43.513 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue. However, cost of collection/Transfers/ FIRS, refund stood at N43.984 billion. Daily Trust

Friday, 20 September 2019 05:45

N614bn bailout: Govs give condition for loan repayment

Governors have demanded an audit of the N614 billion bailout funds from the Federal Government as a condition for the repayment of the loan. Chairman, Nigerian Governors Forum and Governor of Ekiti State, Mr Kayode Fayemi, said in Abuja on Wednesday night that it was important that an audit and reconciliation of accounts on the bailout fund is carried out between federal and state governments as a pre-condition for repayment. Reading a communiqué issued after the over three-hour meeting between the governors and Federal Government’s finance team, he said: “Governors have never been averse to payment of loans, and we…

Friday, 20 September 2019 05:44

Boko Haram, ISWAP fighters fleeing to North, Central Africa - Army

Boko Haram fighters are fleeing to neighbouring countries as well as North and Central African nations, following military bombardments of their strongholds in Northeast, Nigerian Army said yesterday. A statement by its spokesman, Mr Sagir Musa, a colonel, said the concerted efforts of troops of Operation Lafiya Dole and the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) had led to the death of scores of Boko Haram fighters, and their remnants are in mass exodus to border towns outside Nigeria. Musa said: “Nigerian Army wishes to inform the public that due to the combined onslaught on the identified hideouts of elements of…

More...

Friday, 20 September 2019 05:43

Nigerian army accuses NGO of aiding terrorists, forces it to close office

The army in northeastern Nigeria forced non-profit Action Against Hunger to close its office in the region, accusing it on Thursday of aiding terrorist groups such as Boko Haram and Islamic State. The international aid agency said it was ordered by soldiers to close its main office in Maiduguri, Borno state, on Wednesday. Mr Ado Isa, a colonel and deputy director of army public relations, said Action Against Hunger was warned several times that it was “aiding and abetting terrorists” by supplying food and drugs. “Consequently, AAH has been declared persona (non) grata,” Isa said. The humanitarian group, which focuses…

Friday, 20 September 2019 05:42

Xenophobia: Nigerians shun trips to South Africa

There are strong indications that many Nigerians have been shunning trips to South Africa in the last two weeks. It was gathered on Thursday that since the latest xenophobic attacks on Nigerians by South Africans, many travellers had been boycotting trips to the former apartheid enclave. A number of travel agents told one of our correspondents that Nigerians were not buying tickets to South Africa, except for special reasons. I haven’t sold tickets to Johannesburg for two weeks– Agent “I have not booked a single ticket to Johannesburg in the last two weeks,” a travel agent, who did not want…

Thursday, 19 September 2019 05:51

Buhari sacks Head of Service, Oyo-Ita; appoints replacement

PRESS RELEASE President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of Mrs Folashade Yemi-Esan as Acting Head of Civil Service of the Federation with immediate effect. Yemi-Esan, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum Resources takes over from Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita, who has been directed to proceed on an indefinite leave to allow conclusion of the investigation being carried out by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. The President has also approved the extension of the tenure of seven (7) retiring Permanent Secretaries for a period of one calendar year with effect from 1st October, 2019 to ensure stability in Federal Civil Service and…

Thursday, 19 September 2019 05:50

Senate to Nigerians: It’s an insult to say N5.5bn is too much to buy vehicles for ourselves

Senate, on Wednesday, described the public condemnation of its planned purchase of Sport Utility Vehicles amounting to N5.5 billion for senators as an insult. Senate Leader, Mr Yahaya Abdullahi, stated this in an interview with journalists in his office in Abuja. Abdullahi said the status of a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is not undeserving of an SUV. He said each of the 109 senators in the upper chamber would get one SUV, which would be paid for at the end of their four-year legislative tenure. He said the burden on the shoulders of a senator was not…

Page 493 of 832

News

More...

Search

Most Read

Editorial

News

Business

Politics

Opinion

Features

Strangely

Crime

Wars

SCIENCE & TECH

SPECIAL REPORTS

Sports

VIDEOS