The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Breaking News

  • FG saves N17b from foreign trips, souvenirs-Lai Mohammed

    The Federal Government says in an effort to fight corruption, it has saved over N17 billion from foreign trips, sitting allowances and souvenir gifts usually shared during events.

    Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture, disclosed this at the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) forum on Tuesday in Abuja.

    Mohammed said that the present administration introduced an efficiency unit in the Ministry of Finance to ensure that the resources of government were not frittered on trivialised grants.

    According to him, the fight against corruption must not be based on the number of people that are jailed or prosecuted, but on efforts made to curtail corruption.

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    “We promised that we are going to fight corruption; people keep asking us what is your score card in corruption?

    “Our score card in corruption must not be looked at just from the view point of how many people have been arrested; how many have been prosecuted and how many have been jailed.

    “In addition to whatever achievement we must have made in that respect, I think what is most important for the main time is the efforts this government has put in place to ensure that there is transparency in governance.

    “This is to ensure that the resources of government actually go to government account and to ensure that it is actually used for the purpose of what it’s meant for.

    “And I will start with the TSA; the Treasury Single Account we did not invent it; we met it,’’ he said.

    Mohammed further said that before the present administration took over power, TSA was haphazardly implemented to the extent that about 22,000s of various government accounts were in various banks.

    “ And we were paying heavy charges to banks; not that alone, we could not know exactly how much money we had to allocate it.

    He also said that another thing the administration had done in fighting corruption was the whistle blowing policy.

    According to him, the whistle blowing policy has lead to recoveries of N13.8 billion in tax evassion; N7.8 billion, 378 million dollars; 27,200 pounds from public officials who have been targeted by the whistle blowing policy.

    “Another thing this government has achieved is that we introduced what is called an efficiency unit in the ministry of finance to ensure that the resources of government are not frittered on trivialised grants and excuses and today we saved about N17 billion from travels, souvenirs and sitting allowances.

    He noted that before now government revenue generating agencies were not remitting so much money.

  • Deputy Senate President escapes assassination

    The Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu in the early hours of Tuesday escaped assassination attempt alongside his wife and one of his sons.

    But one of the assassins was overpowered and arrested.

    The suspect has been handed over to Apo Police Station for investigation.

    The incident was confirmed in a statement by Uche Anichukwu, who is the Special Adviser on Media to Ekweremadu.

    The statement said: “The Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, his wife, and son escaped an assassination attempt at about 4am on Tuesday.

    “The armed men discreetly evaded the security at Ekweremadu’s Apo Quarters residence, to gain entry into his house.

    ” The attackers, who could not immediately shoot in order not to attract the attention of the security personnel on duty, took hold of his son, and commanded him to lead them to the Senator’s bedroom.

    ” It was in the ensuing struggle in the Senator’s bedroom that security was alerted, leading to the arrest of one of the assailants with dangerous weapons and housebreaking devices, while the rest managed to escape.

    “The arrested member of the gang has, however, refused to divulge any information on the operation and has been handed over to the police.

    “Ekweremadu, his wife, and one of his sons were in the house at the time of the attack.

    “It could be recalled that the lawmaker narrowly escaped an attempt on his life in Abuja on November 17, 2015.

    “Although the 2015 incident was reported to the security agencies, nothing has been heard about the matter till date.”

  • FG, governors yet to agree on minimum wage

    The Federal Government and State governors are yet to agree on a common figure as the minimum wage.

    The Economic Management Team (EMT), chaired by the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo met with representatives of the governors on Monday towards taking position on the new minimum wage which the organised labour is insisting on N30,000.

    The governors at the meeting on Monday had requested to meet on Tuesday under the platform of the Nigeria’s Governors Forum (NGF) in order to critically analyse the memo from the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, and finally take a common stand.

    But there was indication on Monday that the governors were not in agreement with the Federal Government over the figure for the new minimum wage.

    Stressing that state governments are willing to pay any amount demanded by the workers as minimum wage, the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum and Zamfara State Governor, Abdulaziz Yari, while speaking with State House correspondents, said that their main challenge could be the capacity to pay.

    According to him, the meeting was for the government side to look at the bottleneck on the minimum wage with the organised labour.

    He said, “The position of the governors is not very clear to some of you. We are willing to pay any amount but the issue is the capacity to pay.”

    The meeting, he said, discussed the proposal made by the organised labour and the figure proposed by the Federal Government, adding that “the governors still haven’t come out with any figure.”

    Read Also: Osinbajo, governors meet over minimum wage

    “So by Tuesday, we are going to discuss with our governors on the bill by the Minister of Labour and Employment to the NGF Secretariat.

    “We will digest it and come up with our own positions as governors because we are critical stakeholders on this issue.” he said

    A reliable source from the meeting said that the governors were not comfortable with the N24,000 proposal by the Federal Government and would likely come up with their own figure after meeting today.

    According to him, the governors were furious with the N24,000 being proposed when some governors were unable to pay the current N18,000.

    The Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige said the meeting had a fruitful deliberation.

    He said, “We held a meeting for us to bring out modalities for us to respond to the emerging problems thrown up by the National Minimum wage Committee and we have very fruitful meeting which necessitated in governors having further meeting on Tuesday.

    “We will reconvene on Tuesday to brief the Economic Management Team and the Vice president and we take it up from there.

    “The governors will meet to take a position and brief the Economic Management Team. This meeting is only for the Tripartite Committee of the government side.” he said

  • Why Buhari deserves second term – Lai Mohammed

    The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has said that President Muhammadu Buhari deserved second term election because, in the past three and half years, he has impacted positively in the lives of Nigerians.

    The minister who was a guest on Channels Television programme “Politics Today” on Sunday night said the President had leveraged his legendary integrity and acumen in managing resources both human and materials to reinvent governance.

    He stressed that Buhari had delivered on the three campaign promises he made which were, fighting corruption, tackling insecurity and revamping the economy.

    “Today, under President Buhari, Nigerians can dream and hope because he has rebranded governance and put the country on the path of sustainable growth and development.

    “He is investing in infrastructure and reinventing the most ambitious social programme in the history of the nation.

    “The President is ensuring that the people do not loot the common resources and ensuring that Nigeria is self sufficient in food production

    “Above all, he has brought honour and respect back to the country and fighting all sorts of insecurity in the country,” he said.

    Reacting to the allegation of non submission of the President’s certificate to INEC, the minister said it was “a non issue and a mere distraction”

    “We have moved beyond that. Let me quote what former President Olusegun Obasanjo said in 2015 during this saga of the President’s certificate.

    “Obasanjo said that it is an insult on a man, who rose to the echelon in Nigeria Army, attended the War College in the US and Staff College in Nigeria, for anyone to start asking whether he has a certificate or not.

    “I think I want to rest this case on that because it is a non issue,” the minister said.

    Speaking on the President’s health, Mohammed said that the President had fully recovered and fit to discharge his duties.

    The minister also said they were not worried by the endorsement of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the PDP presidential candidate, by Obasanjo because “it is Nigerians that will decide who will govern them”.

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    “It is Nigerians that are going to vote at the 2019 elections.

    “They will make a choice between going back to the era of inefficiency, looting, decay in infrastructure and the era of integrity, when the economy is being revived and insurgency is being tackled.

    “It is not what Obasanjo says that matters because I am sure Nigerians will make the right choice,” he said.

    The minister also denied the allegation that the government was intimidating the opposition .

    He expressed the confidence that President Buhari would be reelected in 2019 because of his track record.

  • Ekweremadu, Umahi mourn Anenih

    Deputy President of the Senate Ike Ekweremadu has expressed grief over the demise of former Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih.

    Ekweremadu in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Uche Anichukwu described Anenih, who died at 85, as a pan-Nigerian and patriot.

    He said: “Chief Anineh contributed so much to deepening our democracy and setting the nation on the path of progress at the end of many decades of military rule.

    “He was a humble leader, fine public administrator, political kingmaker, a colossus, master strategist, and a political oracle, who was very vast in political engineering.

    “Iyasele was a courageous man, and a man of few words, who meant whatever he said and said only what he meant. He will be sorely missed.”

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    Similarly, the Chairman South East Governors Forum, Gov. David Umahi of Ebonyi, expressed sadness over the death of Anenih.

    Umahi, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Emmanuel Uzor described Anenih as not just a patriot but a political encyclopedia, a man who contributed immensely to the development of democracy in Nigeria.

    He said Nigeria has lost a great icon and a foremost politician, whose love and contribution towards the sustenance of democracy was total and unequalled.

    Umahi added that Nigeria, Edo state and the PDP have lost a great icon.

  • Ethiopia’s parliament approves first female president

    Ethiopia’s parliament has approved senior diplomat Sahle-Work Zewde as the country’s first female president, proceedings on state television showed, cementing another shift in the country’s political system from Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

    Zewde is at present UN under-Secretary-General and special representative of its Secretary General to the African Union.

    She replaces Mulatu Wirtu, who tendered his resignation to parliament earlier on Wednesday.

    The president’s post is a ceremonial one in Ethiopia. The prime minister, who is the head of state, holds executive power.

    “In a historic move, the two Houses has elected Amb. Shalework Zewde as the next President of Ethiopia.

    “She is the first female head of state in modern Ethiopia,” Fitsum Arega, Abiy’s chief of staff, said on Twitter.

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    “In a patriarchal society such as ours, the appointment of a female head of state not only sets the standard for the future but also normalizes women as decision-makers in public life.”

    Recently, when the prime minister reshuffled his cabinet, he appointed 10 female ministers, making Ethiopia the third country in Africa, after Rwanda and Seychelles, to achieve gender parity in their cabinets.

    “When there is no peace in the country, mothers will be frustrated. Therefore, we need to work on peace for the sake of our mothers,” Zewde told parliament after her approval.

    Wirtu, who had held the office for five years, departed one year ahead of his term ending, saying he wanted to be part of change and reforms.

    Zewde became the fourth president since the ruling EPRDF coalition came to power.

    Since his appointment in April, Abiy has presided over a raft of reforms that have turned the region’s politics on its head, including the pardoning of dissidents long outlawed by the government.

    Earlier, the Ethiopian parliament’s two houses in a joint extraordinary session on Thursday approved the resignation request by Ethiopia’s President Mulatu Teshome.

    Teshome, who has been the East African country’s head of state since October 2013, on Wednesday submitted his letter of resignation as the Ethiopian parliament’s two houses are scheduled to consider his resignation.