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Wednesday, 14 February 2024 04:49

Protests against hardship spread to Sokoto

Residents of Sokoto on Monday protested the high cost of living in Nigeria. The protesters marched from Tudun Wada area of the state capital to the front of Government House. Some of the protesters held placards, chanting “Beans is expensive”, “Maize is expensive” “Fuel is expensive” among others. Nigerians are grappling with inflation and economic hardship that were exacerbated by the removal of fuel subsidies in May last year. Prices of foodstuffs and other commodities have been soaring, which has led to the worsening of the already fragile economy of the country. The country’s currency, the naira, has been witnessing…

Wednesday, 14 February 2024 04:48

FG, NLC meeting deadlocked over strike notice, others

A meeting between the Federal Government and organised Labour to stave off the planned strike by the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress deadlocked on Monday night. Minister of State Labour and Employment, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, who hosted the parley in Abuja, could not convince the unions to suspend the strike slated for February 23. NLC and TUC on February 8 issued a 14-day nationwide strike notice to the Federal Government over the failure of the Bola Tinubu-led government to implement the agreements reached on October 2, 2023, following the removal of the subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit known as…

Tuesday, 13 February 2024 04:51

Kano Emir to Oluremi Tinubu: ‘Please tell your husband that hunger and starvation have become more alarming in the country’

Emir of Kano, Aminu Ado Bayero, has urged Nigeria’s First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu, to convey the message of the teeming populace about the hunger and starvation in the country to the President, saying the hardship is more alarming. The Emir made the call when the first lady paid him a courtesy visit at his palace on Monday. Mrs Tinubu visited Kano to attend the opening of a Faculty of Law building at Maryam Abacha American University named after her. The emir said, “Although we have several means of communicating to the government on our needs and request, your way and…

Tuesday, 13 February 2024 04:50

CBN raises Naira exchange rate for Customs duties calculation by 235% - Report

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has jacked up the exchange rate payable on importation six times in the last eight months. This has created tension among importers as their imports, especially vehicles, are now stuck at the ports. The exchange rate rose from N422.30 per $1 in June 2023 to N1,413 per 1$ in February 2024, rising by 234.8 percent in the period under review. The first shock came in June 2023 when CBN adjusted the exchange rate from N422.30 per $1 to N589 per $1. But as importers were trying to adjust to the reality on ground, the apex…

Monday, 12 February 2024 04:53

Economic downturn: Less than 50% of Nigeria’s Hajj slots taken up as payment closes today

Nigeria may not be able to fill all the 95,000 hajj seats allocated to it for this year’s pilgrimage as many intending pilgrims are yet to either deposit the fare or pay the balance. The depreciation of the Nigerian currency, Naira, has jacked up the hajj fare to N4.9 million for this year’s intending pilgrims from the initial minimum N4.5 million pegged by the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON). Sequel to an adjustment in the methodology for setting the exchange rate, the naira slid to a record low on January 30, 2024 selling for 1,413 against the dollar at…

Monday, 12 February 2024 04:51

Federal civil servants lament as January salaries get delayed as in December

Federal civil servants in about 90 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) are yet to receive their January salaries. The affected MDAs include the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (OHoCSF), Ministry of Information and National Orientation, Ministry of Education, National Population Commission, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Voice of Nigeria, among others. In separate interviews with Daily Trust and Premium Times, the workers lamented and said their December 2023 salary delay experience ought not to have been repeated. “As I am talking to you, myself and three of my colleagues have not been paid. The situation…

Monday, 12 February 2024 04:49

Electricity Distribution companies overbill 7.1m customers – Report

Power distribution companies overbilled about 7.1 million unmetered electricity consumers between January and September 2023, an analysis of the latest monthly number of overbilled customers showed. In the various Regulatory Interventions for Non-Compliance with the Order on Capping of Estimated Billing to Unmetered Customers, issued to the 11 Discos by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, an agency of the Federal Government, it was established that the power distributors raked over N105bn as a result of over-billing. Figures computed by our correspondent indicated that Yola Disco overbilled about 42,902 customers to the tune of N541.9m during the review period, while Abuja…

Sunday, 11 February 2024 04:58

Access Bank CEO Wigwe, wife, son’s death in helicopter crash: Here’s what we know so far

A helicopter carrying six people, including the co-founder of Nigeria’s biggest bank by assets, crashed in a Southern California desert near the Mojave National Preserve, authorities said. Herbert Wigwe, 57, co-founder of Access Bank, was among the victims, family members from his home village of Isiokpo said. Abimbola Ogunbanjo, 61, who was president of the National Council of the Nigeria Stock Exchange from 2017 to 2021, and served as the group chairman of the Nigerian Exchange Group Plc from 2021 to 2022, was confirmed dead by a family member in Lagos. The Federal Aviation Administration said a Eurocopter EC helicopter…

Saturday, 10 February 2024 04:45

Shell supplies 450,000 barrels of crude to Port Harcourt refinery ahead of restart

Shell Plc's Nigeria unit said on Friday it has resumed supply of crude oil from its Bonny export terminal to the state-owned refinery in Port Harcourt which is expected to start operations in the first quarter of this year, the company said on Friday. The dual-unit plant, which is undergoing a revamp and almost set for a restart, will begin by processing 60,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil, before ramping up to its full capacity of 210,000 bpd later this year. A total of 475,000 barrels of oil was delivered to the Port Harcourt refinery on January 18, Shell's…

Saturday, 10 February 2024 04:44

Tinubu signs Electricity Amendment Bill

President Bola Tinubu signed the Electricity Act (Amendment) Bill, 2024, into law on Friday after it was passed by the house of representatives and the senate. The bill, sponsored by Babajimi Benson, representative of Ikorodu federal constituency of Lagos state, was passed by the house of representatives on July 27, 2023, and by the senate on November 14, 2023. In a statement by Ajuri Ngelale, special adviser to the president on media and publicity, the bill seeks to address the development and environmental concerns of host communities. Ngelale said it also sets aside five percent of the actual annual operating…

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Friday, 09 February 2024 04:35

NLC, TUC issue ultimatum to FG over failure to honour agreements, increasing hardship

Nigerian Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress have given the federal government two weeks to commence the implementation of policies that will reduce the impact of the government’s economic policies on citizens. Nigerians have continued to lament the impact of government policies such as the removal of the petrol subsidy and the devaluation of the naira, both of which have led to an astronomical increase in the prices of goods and services. In a joint statement, the NLC and TUC said they are concerned about the “non-implementation of the 16-point agreement reached with the Federal Government on October 2,…

Friday, 09 February 2024 04:33

Tinubu authorises release of 42,000 tons of food items from Reserve to alleviate mass hunger

President Bola Tinubu has ordered the immediate release of food items from the strategic reserve to cushion the effect of hardship in the country. Nigerians have been lamenting the rising cost of living, mounting pressure on the Federal Government to reverse the trend. On Thursday, Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, announced that the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security is to release about 42,000 metric tons of maize, millet, garri and other commodities in their strategic reserve. Idris, told State House correspondents after a series of meetings of the Special Presidential Committee on Emergency Food Intervention at…

Thursday, 08 February 2024 04:47

Naira redesign boosts cashless payments 55% to N611trn - Report

Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System on Wednesday said cashless transactions in Nigeria increased to N611.06trn in 2023. It said the payments grew to N611.06trn from N395.38trn as of the end of 2022 indicating a 54.55 per cent year-on-year growth. The NIBSS Instant Payments is an account-number-based, online real-time Inter-Bank payment solution developed in the year 2011 by NIBSS. It is the Nigerian financial industry’s preferred funds transfer platform that guarantees instant value to the beneficiary. According to NIBSS, over the years, Nigerian banks have exposed NIP through their various channels, that is, internet banking, bank branches, Kiosks, mobile apps, Unstructured Supplementary…

Thursday, 08 February 2024 04:46

Police arrest 25 for protesting against hardship in Niger state

Niger State Police Command has arrested a 30-year-old woman, Aisha Jibrin, who led women and young people in a mass protest on Monday over the high cost of living in Minna. Aisha was arrested alongside two other women: 57-year-old Fatima Aliyu and 43-year-old Fatima Isyaku; and 22 others. Spokesman for the Niger State Police Command, Abiodun Wasiu, who disclosed the arrest in a statement on Wednesday, said an investigation was ongoing after which the protesters would be taken to court and arraigned. According to Wasiu, the protesters acted violently and illegally. On Tuesday, the ruling All Progressives Congress alleged that…

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