Author: Amina Mohammed

In a display of cultural flair, Farooq Oreagba, a businessman and cultural enthusiast, has been named an Honorary Ambassador for the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC) following his remarkable appearance at the 2024 Ojude Oba Festival. Oreagba’s striking outfit, featuring a flamboyant green and yellow Aso Oke Agbada, red coral beads, and a gold crossbody chain, made him the highlight of the festival. His grand entrance on horseback, adorned with bold tattoos, a large tobacco pipe, an Apple wristwatch, and stylish sunglasses, earned him the title of the “King of Steeze.” Despite a decade-long battle with terminal cancer,…

The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has announced a 3.75% increase in Australia’s minimum and award wages. This adjustment will raise the national minimum wage to $24.10 per hour, equating to $915.91 per week for a full-time, 38-hour working week. This increase translates to an additional $33 per week for those earning the minimum wage, impacting approximately 2.6 million workers, which is about 20.7% of the national workforce. Overall, the FWC estimates that around a quarter of all Australian employees will be affected by this change. “The increase of 3.75% which we have determined is broadly in line with forecast wages…

Former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, on Tuesday, once again took his successor, Governor Uba Sani, to the cleaners, chastising him for concocting financial figures to indict him and his administration with the dubious claim that his administration diverted a whooping sum of N423,115,028,072.88. The former governor, who spoke through his former commissioners at a press conference in Abuja, dismissed the purported financial report indicting them, saying that the so-called report lacked merit and was deliberately and mischievously orchestrated by Uba Sani and his team to discredit him and his administration. The commissioners, who served with El-Rufai between 2015 and…

Rivers state governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has challenged the police to take action on the suspect behind the attempted detonation of explosive device in Port Harcourt during the protester for elongation of former chairmen of local government councils. The governor maintained that if such act was done by supporters linked to him, the police would have successfully slammed terrorism charges on them. Fubara spoke shortly after inaugurating Emmanuel Onengiye-ofori Frank-Fubara as the new Commissioner for Finance at the Executive Chambers of Government House in Port Harcourt on Monday. The governor in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Nelson…

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has created the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development. No minister has been announced yet for the new ministry. The President announced the creation of the ministry on Tuesday, July 9, at the State House, while inaugurating the Renewed Hope livestock Reform Implementation Committee. Present at the Inauguration were the Vice President, Kashim Shettima, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila amongst cabinet members. Recall that President Tinubu on 15th September, 2023, approved the establishment of the Presidential Committee dedicated to the reform of the…

The House of Representatives, on Tuesday, urged the Federal Government to suspend the implementation of the Samoa Agreement over the alleged Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender clause. This is as the legislative chamber directed its Committee on National Planning to investigate the agreement within four weeks and report back for further legislative action. The House resolution was sequel to a motion of urgent public importance brought on the floor of the green chamber by the Minority Leader, Aliyu Madaki, and 87 others during plenary on Tuesday. The Samoa Agreement is the overarching legal framework for the European Union’s relations with…

The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has proposed an aggregate expenditure of N1.911 trillion for the 2024 budget, tagged “Budget of Renewed Hope”. The Managing Director of NDDC, Samuel Ogbuku, presented the budget before the House of Representatives Committee on NDDC in Abuja on Tuesday. He said that the primary objective in preparing the budget was to achieve the sustainable economic development for which the commission was founded. Ogbuku said, “A critical focus of this budget is the present management commitment to a greater future.” The managing director said that the commission’s actual aggregate revenue in inflows in April 30…

Political parties that are to participate in the July 13 local government elections in Delta State, yesterday, signed a peace accord. The peace accord was signed at the headquarters of the Delta State Independent Electoral Commission, DSIEC, in the presence of the state Commissioner of Police, Abaniwonda Olufemi; representatives of other law enforcement agencies in the state and the Inter-Party Advisory Council, IPAC. The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP; All Progressives Congress, APC; Labour Party and other political parties and chairmanship candidates took part in the exercise. In his remarks during the exercise, DSIEC Chairman, Dr. Jerry Agbaike, said: “So far,…

South Korean tech giant Samsung said Tuesday that production was not being disrupted despite a three-day general strike by thousands of workers. More than 5,000 National Samsung Electronic Union members stopped working Monday, the organisation said, as part of a long-running battle over pay and benefits. The union has more than 30,000 members — more than a fifth of the company’s total workforce. “There has been no disruption to production,” local media quoted Samsung as saying. Park Seol, a senior member of the union, told AFP Tuesday that production was being affected. “But more importantly, the company should understand that…

The Edo State House of Assembly yesterday expressed concern over the menace of indiscriminate dumping of refuse on major roads and drainages in the state which it said is a precursor to cholera. The Deputy Speaker, Maria Oligbi-Edeko raised the concern under matters of public importance and noted that the indiscriminate dumping of refuse on roads and drains constituted health hazard. The motion was co-sponsored by the deputy speaker and 10 other lawmakers. Oligbi-Edeko said that the waste was emitting “offensive odour, constituting eyesore and reducing the aesthetic value of towns and cities in the state” noting that “The dumping…