Author: TheScrutinyNG

The Ondo State House of Assembly has passed N96billion 2024 supplementary budget. Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa recently forwarded to the lawmakers, a bill for a supplementary appropriation, increasing the initial N395billion 2024 budget to N487 billion. Aiyedatiwa had anchored his request for a supplementary budget on the effects of petrol subsidy removal and to enable implementation of N73, 000 minimum wage recently announced for the state’s workforce. The House of the Assembly in its discretion increased the governor’s proposal to N492billion, amounting to increase of N96billion. Speaking after submitting the report of the House’s Committee on Finance and Appropriation, Mr Oluwole…

Ijaw youths, under the auspices of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), have called on the Federal Government to approve more funds for the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) to enable it to perform optimally for sustainable peace of the Niger Delta. The IYC President, Jonathan Lokpobiri, commented while speaking with journalists shortly after he led a council delegation on a courtesy visit to the Administrator of PAP, Dr Dennis Otuaro, in Abuja. A statement signed by the spokesperson for the IYC, Princewill Binebai and made available to newsmen on Wednesday, quoted Lokpobiri as stating that the scope of the PAP was…

Mallam Shehu Dikko, former Vice President of the Nigeria Football Federation under the time of Amaju Pinnick, has been appointed the Director General of the now reinstated National Sports Commission (NSC). Dikko was appointed after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu scrapped the Ministry of Sports Development and replaced it with the National Sports Commission.

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has scrapped the ministry of Niger Delta and the ministry of sports development. Bayo Onanuga, special adviser on information and strategy to the president, announced the development in a statement on Wednesday. He said the decision was made during the council meeting presided over by President Bola Tinubu at the State House in Abuja. The presidential spokesperson said the National Sports Commission (NSC) will take over the responsibility of the sports ministry. A newly established ministry of regional development is expected to oversee all the regional development commissions. The commissions include the Niger Delta Development…

Iranian authorities executed four persons on Wednesday for their involvement in selling contaminated bootleg alcohol that led to the deaths of 17 people last year. The executions took place at Karaj Central Prison, as confirmed by the judiciary’s Mizan news agency. The four defendants had been sentenced to death in September 2023 after being found guilty of distributing the tainted alcohol, which not only claimed lives but also resulted in over 190 hospitalisations in the province of Alborz, located west of Tehran. Al Arabiya News reports that Iran ranks second globally in annual executions, following China, as noted by human…

The House of Representatives Constitution Review Committee (CRC) has set up seven subcommittees to manage the review. The subcommittees, comprising lawmakers and consultants, are responsible for overseeing the various thematic areas into which the constitution has been divided. Premium Times reports that the Deputy Speaker and Chairman of the CRC, Ben Kalu, announced the division of the constitution into seven thematic areas during the committee’s meeting on Tuesday. The areas are local government matters, the judiciary, electoral matters, security architecture, gender issues, devolution of power, and human rights. The subcommittees are to work on bills related to their thematic areas…

Liverpool manager, Arne Slot, has revealed he could be without at least five players this week. The Reds travel to RB Leipzig in the Champions League on Wednesday. Their injury issues continue to mount with forward Diogo Jota added to an already lengthy list of absentees. Jota was forced off after 30 minutes of their 2-1 victory over Chelsea. Right-back Conor Bradley missed the game entirely due to injury. Liverpool were already without goalkeeper Alisson Becker, forward Federico Chiesa and midfielder Harvey Elliott through injury, none of whom have travelled to Germany for Wednesday’s match. It now appears all these…

Ola Olukoyede, the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has raised the alarm over the dangers of cybercrime in Nigeria. Olukayede, while speaking on Tuesday at a National Cybercrime Summit organised by the anti-graft agency, said Nigeria lost over $500 million to cybercrime in 2022. “Projections by multiple sources show that the global loss to cybercrimes may reach a staggering $10.5 trillion,” the EFCC chief said in Abuja. “As a matter of fact, the research I did earlier this year confirmed that cybercrime has become the third-largest GDP in the world with approximately 2,328 cases occurring daily.…

Shakirat Moshood’s 89th minute goal following a strike from 24 yards out helped Nigeria’s Flamingos to a 1-0 defeat of Dominican Republic, the hosts of FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup late Tuesday in Santo Domingo. The win in the final match of Group A at the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup ensured that Nigeria will face Group B runners-up U.S in the quarter-finals on Saturday. The Flamingos found the going tough under driving rain against the determined hosts and could not make their overwhelming ball possession count for long. But with a minute left on the clock Moshood, now with…

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has attributed Nigeria’s poor growth and development to regionalism, saying it has continued to plague the country, describing it as the root of Nigeria’s problems. Obasanjo said this when the League of Northern Democrats visited him, noting that the principle of regionalism which was adopted at Nigeria’s independence in 1960 was still being craved for today. “Where a leader hails from does not matter. Rather, what he brings to the table in terms of development and governance should matter,” he told the group led by former Kano state governor, Ibrahim Shekarau. Obasanjo faulted the name of…