By Abimbola Ogunnaike As part of measures to boost educational access and delivery at the tertiary level, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has signed the 2023 Student Loan Act into law. The bill was passed by the 9th National Assembly but assented to by Tinubu on Monday, 12 June, 2023 at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, the nation’s seat of power. The Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education, Andrew Adejo, and Dele Alake, a senior aide to the President, both explained that the Act will ensure indigent students access the loans to further their education. According to Alake, the loan…
Author: Olamide Obayemi
Struggles led by pro-democracy activists three decades ago for the enthronement of civilian government in Nigeria echoed from the past, as the nation marked National Democracy Day, on Monday. In Lagos, the commemoration coincided with a two-day summit held in honour of the late Chief Moshood Abiola — the presumed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election adjudged to be the freest and fairest process in the nation’s political history. The ceremony, which marked the 30th anniversary since the annulment of the historic June 12 election, was held in the main hall of St. Leo Catholic Church in Ikeja,…
By Abimbola Ogunnaike Tragedy struck on Monday, 12 June, 2023 as members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from Imo State, who were travelling to Abuja for the inauguration of the 10th National Assembly on Tuesday, 13 June, 2023 died in an auto crash. It was gathered that the bus they were travelling in had a head-on collision with another bus at Agbor in Delta State. Three persons in the bus had been confirmed dead, while others who sustained various degrees of injuries were rushed to hospitals. Two males from the Amaraku community in the Isiala Mbano Local Government Area…
By Abimbola Ogunnaike The Energy and Natural Resources subcommittees of the Advisory Council of President Bola Tinubu has revealed that Nigeria lost $46.16 billion to crude oil theft between 2009 and 2020, while it lost $10.7 billion annually to subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol. The summary of the amounts lost to oil theft and subsidy revealed that the country lost a total of $56.86bn, going by figures released in the Policy Advisory Council Report, dated May 2023, which was prepared when Tinubu was still President-elect. On highlights of economic and sector challenges in the report, the council…
By Abimbola Ogunnaike The Presidency on Sunday, 11 June, 2023 has given reasons that informed its decision to back a Christian as a Senate President. It explained that Nigeria could not afford to have a Muslim as a Senate President at this time having produced Muslims as President and the Vice-President. Vice-President Kashim Shettima, who said these at a dinner with lawmakers across party lines in Abuja on Saturday night, 10 June, 2023, noted that the party came up with the consensus ticket of Senator GodsWill Akpabio as Senate President and Jibrin Barau as Deputy in the interest of the…
By Abimbola Ogunnaike The Department of State Services has confiscated the passport of the suspended Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, just as it also set to search his home and office this week, The Punch reports. Recall that following his suspension on Friday, 9 June, 2023 as a result of the ongoing investigation of his office and the planned reforms in the financial sector, the service arrested Emefiele in Lagos and flew him to Abuja in a private jet on Saturday. The spokesperson for the service, Peter Afunanya, in a statement said Emefiele had been taken into custody and was under…
Kwara State Governor and Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq has congratulated Nigerians on the 30th anniversary of the June 12, 1993 Presidential Election, calling it a watershed event that birthed the current democratic dispensation. In a statement to commemorate the Democracy Day, the Governor said the best way to honour the heroes of democracy and sustain the gains of the era is to recommit to the ideals of democracy and join every effort to build a stronger country through patriotism and collective responsibility. AbdulRazaq also urged Nigerians to rally behind President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope…
Pays Glowing Tributes To Heroes Of Struggle Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, has declared that gateway state deserves the title of ‘Pillar of Democracy in Nigeria’ title. The Governor made the assertion while making his speech to commemorate this year’s Democracy Day and June 12, 1993 election, which was annulled by the military administration of Ibrahim Babangida. By the immeasurable contributions of the people of the State to the advancement and survival of democracy in the pre and post independence Nigeria, the Governor said Ogun State deserves special recognition Abiodun, described the June 12, 1993 election, which had being…
By Abimbola Ogunnaike The Jigawa State Police Command has confirmed that a 70-year-old man knocked down by a horse rider in Ringim area of the state of the state on Saturday,10 June has died. The State Police Spokesperson, DSP Lawal Jiisu, confirmed the development in a statement issued and made available to newsmen on Sunday, 11 June, 2023 in Dutse, the state capital. Jiisu said that on Saturday, June 10, 2023, one Muhammed Mustapha, 25, of Unguwar Maina, who was riding his horse within Ringim municipality, lost control of the horse and hit a cyclist. The 70-year-old cyclist identified as Umar…
By Abimbola Ogunnaike with agency report French authorities have confirmed that an 11-year-old British girl was shot dead and her father seriously wounded when their 71- year-old Dutch neighbour in northwestern France opened fire on them. According to the initial investigation, the family was in the garden of their home in the village of Saint-Herbot near Quimper in Brittany on Saturday night, 10 June, 2023, when their neighbour, a pensioner appeared with a firearm and shot them. Quimper public prosecutor, Carine Halley said in a statement on Sunday, 11 June, 2023 that around 10:00 pm (2000 GMT), law enforcement officials…