Author: Amina Mohammed

The House of Representatives Committee on Basic Examination Bodies on Tuesday grilled the Head of National Office of the West African Examination Council Nigeria, Josiah Dangut, over a N6bn deficit the agency incurred in 2023 during an investigative hearing. Dangut was accompanied by the Registrar, Angus Okeleze; Senior Deputy Registrar, Victor Odu; Acting Director of Finance, Segun Jerumeh; and Deputy Director of Finance, WAEC. The Committee also questioned the examination body regarding a N5bn loan it obtained in 2022 for the purchase of customized calculators. Dangut presented the agency’s cashbook to the Committee, but they rejected it, insisting on the…

The APC candidate in the Edo State September 21 governorship election, Monday Okpebholo, has advised the flagbearer of the Peoples Democratic Party, Asue Ighodalo, to withdraw from the race due to his alleged failure as the Economic Adviser to Governor Godwin Obaseki. The APC governorship candidate gave the advice on Tuesday during a meeting with the Edo State chapter of All Farmers Association of Nigeria in Benin. He said, “I told myself that if I were Asue Ighodalo, I would not bother contesting the governorship election because the government I am the economic adviser to has failed.” “Where I come…

The death toll from a mountain of garbage that collapsed in Kampala has risen to 25 with no hope of finding survivors, a minister said Tuesday. The huge mound in the Ugandan capital’s northern district of Kiteezi collapsed on Saturday, burying people and livestock. “By late yesterday evening, we had recovered 25 bodies and no survivors found,” said Lillian Aber, Uganda’s state minister for disaster preparedness and relief. “We don’t expect more survivors,” she told AFP. It was not immediately clear how many people were unaccounted for. The Ugandan prime minister’s office said three children whose parents were still missing…

President Bola Tinubu has signed the Judicial Office Holders Salaries and Allowances Bill into law. The Special Adviser to the President on Senate Matters, Senator Basheer Lado, disclosed this in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday. The National Assembly had in June approved a bill that grants a 300 per cent salary increase for judicial officers at the federal and state levels. This followed the consideration and adoption of an executive bill transmitted by the President which sought to prescribe improved salaries and allowances as well as other fringe benefits for judicial officers and workers. The executive bill forwarded by…

Donald Trump has criticised the European Union and his Democratic opponents during a delayed, two-hour conversation with Elon Musk on X. The interview which was due for 1.00a.m on Tuesday (0000 GMT), was put back by more than 40 minutes by technical problems with X owner Musk blaming a cyber attack on the platform. He made no mention of his disagreement with Prime Minister Keir Starmer over Britain’s riots and free speech. But he however did raise the open letter posted by EU internal market boss Thierry Breton’s asking him not to spread disinformation when interviewing the former president. Trump…

The Gombe State Commissioner of Health, Dr. Habu Dahiru, has announced that the state’s Public Health Emergency Operations Centre is on alert due to confirmed and suspected cases of diphtheria in Herwagana Ward, Gombe. Diphtheria, caused by the bacterium Corynebacterium diphtheriae, is a vaccine-preventable disease known for severe throat and respiratory infections that can be fatal if untreated. Dr. Dahiru reported that the state has identified three suspected cases and one confirmed case of diphtheria. He emphasized that vaccines for preventing diphtheria, particularly for children, are available at Primary Health Centres throughout Gombe State. Dr. Dahiru urged parents and guardians…

President Bola Tinubu is currently chairing the meeting of the Council of State at the Council Chambers of the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja. Former Presidents Goodluck Jonathan and Muhamamdu Buhari are onsite for the inaugural meeting convened by President Tinubu. Former Heads of State, General Yakubu Gowon (retd.) and General Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd.) joined the meeting virtually alongside the governors of Abia, Adamawa, and Akwa Ibom State. The meeting began at 12:35 pm (local time) with an opening ceremony where attendees sang and recited the national anthem and national pledge, respectively. It comes 18 months after the council last met…

An Israeli strike killed 10 members of a Gaza family in the territory’s southern district of Khan Yunis Tuesday, leaving only one survivor — a three-month-old girl, a medic told AFP. “Ten members of the Abu Haya family were killed in an Israeli strike on Abassan in east Khan Yunis,” the medic from Nasser Hospital told AFP on condition of anonymity. “There is only one survivor from the family, a baby girl named Rim. She is just three months old,” he said, identifying the 10 other members of the family — two parents and their eight children. The girl, wrapped…

President Bola Tinubu will, on Wednesday, August 14, depart Abuja for Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, on a three-day official visit to honour the invitation of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.  This was made known via a statement issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Chief Ajuri Ngelale. According to the statement, President Tinubu will meet with the Equatorial Guinean President at the Presidential Villa on arrival, where meetings will be held between the two leaders and agreements, particularly on oil and gas and security, signed. The President will be accompanied on the trip by the Minister…

The Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, has met with key stakeholders in the oil and gas industry, following President Bola Tinubu’s directive for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), to sell crude oil to local refineries in naira. Those in attendance included the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, Mele Kyari, Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Dr Zacch Adedeji, and the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Lydia Jafiya. Disclosing this in a post on its official X page, the Finance Ministry said the meeting…