Category: News

Immigration to increase International passport fee

topnews

Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS, yesterday, said it has commenced the process to review charges of processing an International passport. According to the service, it is no longer possible to produce the passports at the current rates. Comptroller-General of the NIS, Mr. Muhammad Babandede, disclosed this at the flagging off ceremony for the capacity building programme on Information Communication Technology, ICT, for Immigration officers, organized in conjunction with Huawei Technologies Company, in Abuja. The ICT training programme, according to Managing Director, Abuja Office of Huawei Technologies, Mr. Tank Liteng, is part…

Read More

UN wants Jammeh to go when term ends

topnews

UN official has been quoted as saying that Jammeh would face “strong sanctions if he clings to power.” President Yahya Jammeh of Gambia will not be allowed to remain head of state if he refuses to go after his elected term ends next month, the top United Nations official in West Africa has said on Wednesday. Jammeh, who took power in a coup in 1994, initially conceded defeat in the December 1 election to Adama Barrow, raising the prospect of an end to 22 years of autocratic rule tainted by…

Read More

Aviation fuel scarcity bites harder nationwide, passengers stranded

topnews

Nigerian Air passengers on Tuesday were stranded at airports nationwide, as airline operators jostle for aviation fuel, amidst scarcity that is getting worse. The passengers, some of whom were on transit, waited endlessly at the departure hall. While few were lucky to later travel, others were later informed that their scheduled flights had been cancelled. Aviation fuel, otherwise called Jet-A1, is a specialised type of petroleum-based fuel used to power aircraft and normally accounts for over 30 per cent of operation cost of an airline. Jet-A1 is 100 per cent…

Read More

Lagos Government set to prosecute contractors of Lekki Gardens collapsed building

topnews

The prosecution of suspects linked to the collapse of a five-storey building on Tuesday, March 8, 2016, in Lekki, Lagos which caused the death of 30 persons is set to commence. A statement signed by the State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Adeniji Kazeem, yesterday stated that the government has concluded all legal preparations to prosecute the nine suspects deemed culpable in the building’s collapse. The statement read in part: “Following the conclusion of investigation by the Nigeria Police Force and technical reports of relevant experts, the Office of…

Read More

Ex-senator Okon to pay damages for slapping newspaper vendor

topnews

Former senator from Akwa Ibom State, Anietie Okon, has been ordered by a High Court in Uyo, to pay N100,000 as damages to a newspaper vendor, Ndifreke Etim, whom he assaulted last year in Uyo. Etim, who walks around the city of Uyo, hawking newspapers, had told the court that Okon slapped him multiple times inside Government House, Uyo, in September last year. The assault occurred around the state banquet hall where the vendor had gone with the hope of making quick sales during the swearing-in of a new chairman…

Read More

ASUU accuses Buhari of showing ‘hatred’ for education in the 2017 budget

topnews

Mixed reactions have begin to trail the 2017 budget presented by President Buhari. The budget statement that no provision was made for Joint Venture, JV, cash calls from January, 2017, Chambers Oyibo, former Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, said it is in line with what the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, earlier stated about having alternative funding. Oyibo, who is also Chairman, Prime Energy Resources Limited, said: “It is in line with what the Minister of State said earlier that there should…

Read More

Kwara State: Gov Ahmed Approves Release of N1b to LGs

topnews

In a bid to assist bring succour to the civil servants in the sixteen local government councils in Kwara State, Governor Abdul Fatah Ahmed has approved the sum of N1b to augment their allocation for the payment of November 2016 salaries and pensions. This was the outcome of the governor’s meeting with labour leaders in the State in his office on Tuesday, 13 December. The meeting was attended by leaders of the NULGE, NLC, NUT, TUC, and JNC in the state as well as state government officials including the Secretary…

Read More

Pay Falcons Immediately, Buhari orders

topnews

The immediate payment of benefits accrued to the Super Falcons who won the just-concluded CAF African Women Cup of Nations in Cameroon, has been ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday. The Chief of Staff to the President, Mr. Abba Kyari, disclosed this to State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Kyari, who just returned from a medical trip said he had conveyed the President’s directive to the players who staged a protest to the gate of the Presidential Villa earlier in the day. He said the Minister of…

Read More

Shoprite to partner South Africa’s Steinhoff to form retail giant

topnews

Shoprite and South African retail giants Steinhoff International on Wednesday said they were in talks to merge their African operations to form a single company worth over $14 billion. The companies said in a statement they had initiated talks “regarding the potential combination of their respective African retail businesses” with an objective of creating what could be regarded as “the retail champion of Africa”. The new venture to be called Retail Africa would have annual revenues of about 200 billion rand ($14.6 billion). The companies said the proposition of this…

Read More

World Finance Names Access Bank Best Sustainable Bank 2016

topnews

Access Bank has won the World Finance Award for the ‘Best Sustainable Bank of the Year 2016’. The award was received by the Bank at the London Stock Exchange in the United Kingdom. The award focuses on the role of commercial and investment banks in sustainable development examining recent trends in banking and sustainable development, innovative banking practices, and events that have shaped the role of the banking sector in sustainable development. Group Managing Director/CEO of Access Bank, Herbert Wigwe said, “Winning this award for the third year in a…

Read More