Author: Khadijah Olowode

A Federal lawmaker, Tolulope Akande-Sadipe and a NGO, Speak Out Africa, have reinforced the need for the pending bill on the validity of United Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) to be made top priority in the 10th Assembly. This came to the fore during an online seminar, held on Monday, where the Lawmaker argued that the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, JAMB, should not be a revenue generating agency for the government. She argued further that UTME, supervised by JAMB, should not be an examination that will be conducted every year. The Lawmaker, who represents Oluyole Federal Constituency reiterated that JAMB…

The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio; the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt Honourable Tajudeen Abbas on Tuesday, 4 July, 2023, announced the names of the Principal Officers of the two Legislative Chambers. Speaking during plenary sessions of the two Chambers, the duo announced the names and designation of the new Principal Officers. For the Senate, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele emerged as the Majority Leader while Senator Simon Mwadkon emerged as the Minority Leader. For the House of Representatives, Honourable (Professor) Julius Ihonvbere was named the Majority Leader while Honourable Kingsley Chinda was named the Minority Leader. Below is the full…

Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, has taken significant steps to enhance the healthcare delivery system in the state by procuring an additional 21 ambulances for rural hospitals across the local government areas.  These ambulances, Toyota Hiace high roof buses, come equipped with various features such as patient and driver cabin intercom, oxygen supply system, portable and rechargeable suction machines, first aid boxes with emergency drugs, fire extinguishers, and wash hand basins. The buses are also equipped with electrical systems, vinyl flooring, wall-mounted sphygmomanometers, and flexible examination lights.  During an inspection of the Basic Life-Support Ambulances, Governor Bello urged citizens and…

By Abimbola Ogunnaike President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has categorically told the newly appointed heads of security and intelligence agencies that they have to deliver on their mandates as there are tasks for them to execute to secure lives and properties of Nigerians. The National Security Adviser, Malam Nuhu Ribadu, briefed State House newsmen after the president had his maiden meeting with new service chiefs and the Acting Inspector-General of Police (IGP), at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja. Recall that President Tinubu had approved their appointments on June 19, 2023. Speaking after the meeting, Ribadu said the president also told…

By Abimbola Ogunnaike A former commissioner and four other people that served under the immediate past Governor of Kano State, Umar Ganduje, have been arrested by the State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission over allegations of N1 billion fraud. Recall that the reinstated anti graft czar in the State, Barr Muhyi Magaji Rimin Gado had promised that all those accused of bribery and corruption would pay for their sins. This has now resulted in the arrest and detention of the former Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Engr Idris Wada Saleh and five others over allegations of N1 billion fraud. The…

Oyo State governor, ‘Seyi Makinde, has approved the appointment of the immediate past Commissioner for Environment, Mr. Abiodun Oni, as the Director-General of the Mineral Development Agency of Oyo State and Executive Chairman of the Pacesetter Mineral Development Company. This was just as the Governor approved the appointments of four more media aides. The Governor, through a letter signed by the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Otunba Segun Ogunwuyi, indicated that Mr. Olorundare Olamide Wilson has been appointed as Senior Special Assistant on New Media, while Oluwadare Daniel Aleshinloye, has been reappointed as Special Assistant on Photography. The duo…

The Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has reappointed Mr. Gboyega Akosile, as his Chief Press Secretary (CPS). The appointment was announced in a statement issued on Monday, 3 July, 2023 by the state Head of Service, Mr. Hakeem Muri-Okunola. The appointment according to the Head of Service takes immediate effect. Before his reappointment, Akosile had served as the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Sanwo-Olu during his first term. He was also the Media Adviser to the Governor since the inception of the second term of Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration on May 29, 2023. ReplyForward

By Abimbola Ogunnaike Popular singer, Simisola Kosoko, simply known as Simi, has disclosed that her husband, singer Adekunle Gold’s persistence and niceness made her consider dating him during the early days of their careers. Simi , who disclosed this in an interview with The Beat 99.9 FM, Lagos, said AG, as he is fondly called, has been messaging her via Facebook for a long time but she didn’t notice until they started dating. According to Simi, they eventually met at one of her concerts and how Gold’s “niceness” made her accept dating him months later. Simi said they dated for five…

Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, on Monday, 3 July, 2023, disclosed that the E-mobility and Gas Mobility Programme of the state will take off in the first week of August. The Governor also said that his administration would take advantage of the newly signed electricity bill that regulates the power sector by establishing a company that would generate and distribute power supply in the Gateway State. Prince Abiodun spoke when he received participants of the Senior Executive Course 45, Group 1, of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Jos, who came on a courtesy call…

The Ag. Head, Department of Microbiology in the Faculty of Science of the Lagos State University (LASU), Dr. AbdulAzeez Anjorin, who is currently on a short course in the United States of America has done himself and the Lagos State University proud by winning the Global Virology Network (GVN) 2023 Training Scholarship/Award for a short course in Basic and Translational Virology at the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health Baltimore, USA. The award-winning researcher has also been selected among the Bacterial and Viral Bioinformatics Resource Center (BV-BRC) 2023 Trainee at the Argonne National Laboratory, Chicago,…

By Abimbola Ogunnaike Anthony Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn has disclosed that the British-Nigerian boxer will earn staggering N45.5bn in his clash with Deontay Wilder in Saudi Arabia this December. When Skills Challenge Promotions first disclosed their interest in staging Joshua vs Wilder over in Saudi Arabia they promised that all parties involved would receive a ‘premium price’ for their services. For Joshua that ‘premium price’ will be £47.3 million (N45.5 billion), according to his promoter and Matchroom Boxing CEO Hearn. Hearn dropped the figure in an interview with Froch on Fighting while discussing the ongoing negotiations for Joshua’s rematch with Dillian…

By Abimbola Ogunnaike Manchester City are close to a deal for Chelsea target, Josko Gvardiol from German Bundesliga side, RB Leipzig over a huge £86 million deal. Pep Guardiola is said to be a strong admirer of the young defender and the Cityzens are in advanced talks to bring him to Etihad Stadium That sum of money would be a world record transfer for a defender. Those in charge at Leipzig have already admitted that the Croatia international wants to join the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League winners. The club’s sporting director, Max Eberl told German outlet LVZ:…

By Abimbola Ogunnaike Farmers in Gombe Central Senatorial District were in a happy mood on Sunday, 2 July, 2023 as the Senator representing the District, Muhammad Danjuma Goje, flagged off the distribution of 7, 800 bags of NPK fertiliser. Goje flagged off the distribution of the commodity worth over N200 million at his Gombe residence, free of charge to people of his Senatorial District. The Senator explained that the beneficiaries include stakeholders at zonal, local governments, wards, 869 political units, religious leaders, women and youths’ groups, as well as farmers from across Akko and Yamaltu/Deba local government areas of the…

By Abimbola Ogunnaike The Head of the Nigerian medical team for the 2023 pilgrimage to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Dr Usman Galadima, has disclosed that 13 Nigerian pilgrims died during the hajj exercise just as 41,632 others were treated for one sickness or the other. Galadima, who made this known late on the night of Sunday, 2 July, 2023 in Makkah during post-Arafat review session, added that his team made consultations for 25,772 pilgrims during the Muna-Arafat period in addition to the 15,680 treated in Madinah and Makkah during the pre-Arafat period. Galadima recalled that seven pilgrims had died during the…

Sometimes in May, we alerted the nation, through a press statement, to the plan by a continental multi-lateral institution to discredit the 2023 general elections conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission. The main target was the presidential election, clearly and fairly won by the then candidate of All Progressives Congress, Bola Ahmed Tinubu. While we did not mention the name of the organisation in the said statement, we made it abundantly clear to Nigerians how this foreign institution had been unrelenting in its assault on the credibility of the electoral process, the sovereignty of our country and on our…

An Engineer with Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NNRA), Engineer Ibrahim Abdulmajeed has bagged the Early Career Scientist Award at the 2023 Science and Technology Conference in Vienna, Austria. NNRA is the government entity responsible for nuclear safety and radiological protection regulation in Nigeria. The award was presented to Abdulmajeed at the end of the Science and Technology conference series, SnT2023 hosted by the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO). Abdulmajeed who also made a paper presentation on “Efforts, Challenges and Way Forward for the CTBT Entering into Force” is a graduate of Mechanical Engineering from Ahmadu Bello University Zaria. The bi-annual…

The Acting Inspector-General of Police, Olukayode Adeolu Egbetokun, has ordered the resuscitation of the Awards and Commendation system for the Nigeria Police Force, implemented under the guidance of his administration, to enhance motivation and encouragement among Police Officers. This renewed commendation system represents a significant advancement from the past, as it now covers all officers involved in every major case, moving away from solely focusing on arresting officers or commanders. The new system is in line with the provisions of Section 92 of the Police Act 2020, and Order 68 of the Force Orders and Instructions, and will be a…

The attention of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board(JAMB) has been drawn to several publications in both print and online media celebrating certain candidates for being high scorers in the 2023 UTME. The Board is constrained to set the records straight and wishes to state unequivocally that many of the results which many of these candidates are parading are fake. In many instances, some of these candidates had actually obtained far lower scores than they are claiming and had used some funny software packages to manipulate their results to deceive unsuspecting members of the public. The most pathetic of them…

The cessation of abduction incidents and other violence perpetrated by terrorist groups on the Abuja-Kaduna highway is due to the efforts of a security panel raised by the immediate-past Chief of Defence Staff, CDS, General Leo Irabor, PRNigeria can authoritatively report. Recalled that armed bandits and Boko Haram had for some years turned the highway into their ‘horror den’, where they kidnapped several road passengers for ransom, with the attack on a Kaduna-Abuja train on March 28, 2022, eliciting global condemnation. But after the attack and rescue of the last set of train passengers (held captive for almost six months)…

Governor of Oyo State, ‘Seyi Makinde, has declared that the Ibadan Dry Port Project may likely come on stream quicker than expected because the present leadership of the country under President Bola Tinubu, understands “the benefits of developing the economic value chain.” He said that the dry port project will also benefit hugely because his administration will collaborate with the Federal Government more than ever before, stating that the recent change of government at the federal level would not affect the project negatively. Governor Makinde stated this at the weekend, when he inspected several ongoing projects, including the Ibadan Inland…