Big Stories

President Bola Tinubu has at last agreed that a federal judge in the United States of America should give only his university certificate to his political opponent, Atiku Abubakar. The president, however, pleaded with Judge Nancy Maldonado to block all other details, especially the gender and admission records, among others...

…target to lift 16.5m out of poverty  The House of Representatives is working on a framework that will ensure that over 14 million out-of-school Nigerian children are back to schools. The framework, which is in form of an intervention through the House Committee on Alternative Education, chaired by Rep. Almustapha...

A group, the Centre for Reform and Public Advocacy (CRPA) has unveiled why President Joe Biden of the United States of America failed to honour a scheduled meeting with his Nigerian counterpart, President Bola Tinubu at the end of the United Nations General Assembly session in New York last week....

The leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has been accused of a grand plot to destabilise the country through protests. The Civil Society Situation Room on Good Governance in Nigeria (CSSR-GGN) in collaboration with other civil society groups raised the alarm at a press conference on Sunday. In a...

…Says detractors envious of a trailblazer A pro-democracy group under the aegis of The Natives has defended recent appointments made by President Bola Tinubu, saying the President has been fair, just and implementing the era of Renewed Hope he promised the Nation. The Natives, comprises of 371 ethnic, religious and...

The South-East Pro-Democracy Advocacy Group (SPAG), Wednesday, held a rally at the office of the Chief Justice of Nigeria over an alleged plot to compromise the Appeal Court. The group said some powerful and desperate individuals from the Southeast are on a vicious mission to truncate the will of the...

The scandal surrounding the Upper Benue River Basin Authority’s assistant director for finance, Abubakar Tela Suleiman, who used the Integrated Payroll Personnel Information System (IPPS) to steal from the organization’s staff members’ salaries accounts, continued to cause a lot of tension in Yola, Adamawa State. You might remember that a few weeks ago, two worried Nigerians, Habib Garba and Amos Douglas, petitioned the EFCC and the ICPC to stop corruption and accused Tela of exploiting the IPPS for illegal activities and enormous money laundering involving all of the agency’s employees. In a statement, the petitioners also made the startling admission that Tela, Assistant Director (Finance), and Union leader Mal. Mustapha Salihu were also victims of the salary arrears scheme. They claim that Tela has been providing him with services through the employee’s diverted IPPS deductions, which is one of the reasons Salihu (the chief administrative officer) is so determined to fight for the rights of the personnel. They conducted a thorough check of his salary account in relation to the amounts that were provided to him as padding for salary arrears on January 21, 2022. The amount he received in comparison to his actual legitimate salary amount will be shown by a simple check to the reference provided by petitioners Garba and Douglas. They claim that Salihu, the union leader, was caught secretly calling committee members looking into the case and discouraging them that there is no staff tension at UBRBDA, despite the fact that there is rising tension that could lead to serious enmity in the entire Ministry. They accused Salihu in the statement of being an accomplice who is doing everything in his power to shield them due to his involvement in the fraudulent conduct. “Abubakar Tela Suleiman, the ringleader of the IPPS scandals, is currently giving our Union leader instructions on what to do on behalf of the Staff,” reads the statement. The declaration read The UBRBDA Managing Director, Engr. Abubakar Muazu, has also been charged by Garba and Douglas in the statement of lying to the Ministry and shielding Mr. Tela Abubakar Suleiman because he has benefited from the salary from the IPPS frauds that were transferred. They called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to intervene and send independent Auditors to investigate Federal Government agencies, Ministry and parastatals because of the Directors in Finance Department have being using IPPS to defraud Staffs. They also called on...

The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC)’s actions in Abia, an oil-producing State, were rated below average by Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu. When the Ukwa People’s Consultative Council (UPCC) delegation, led by Sir Don Ubani, paid him a courtesy visit on Wednesday in Abuja, Kalu stated the opinion. The oil-producing region in Abia State is Ukwa. The delegation said during their presentation that NDDC had fallen short of the community’s expectations and that oil drilling in the area had caused environmental damage and infrastructure decay. In his remarks, the Deputy Speaker praised the populace for adopting a calm attitude. “I totally agree with you that, relative to other oil-producing states and members of NDDC, what we have in Abia is below average in terms of developmental interventions,” he added. There is no doubt that the stakeholders’ request for change is the right call. “The House Leadership genuinely applauds this level of engagement. A jaw-jaw is preferable to a war-war. We can engage in this way and offer solutions for less money. This method of resolving disputes is less complicated, more economical, more peaceful. Therefore, I applaud the Ukwa community’s leadership for holding on to their kids and for maintaining peace while allowing all the IOCs to do their activities in those communities peacefully, despite the fact that development interventions have been below average. “I urge you to continue upholding the peace in Ukwa, Abia State, and the Niger Delta. We’ll advance if there is peace. We will be more united if there is peace. Your visit was a positive move, and I want to reassure you that your request has once again shone a spotlight on the NDDC Committee’s supervision responsibilities for the organization’s operations in the nine states, and particularly right now in Abia State.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives Rt. Hon. Abbas Tajudeen Ph.D, has said that lifting Nigerians out of poverty caused by the myriad of economic challenges would require a paradigm shift. Speaker Abbas, while addressing a delegation from the Civil Society Leaders Forum on Social Protection, which paid him...

Federal Government has appealed to Nigerians especially the organised labour to sheath their sword as there was no need for embarking on a strike action adding, “the government means well for the workers.” The Nigerian Labour Congress has announced that it will hold a nationwide strike following the hardship workers...