Nelson Ugwuagbo

The Cross River State government says it will establish a establish a Disability Commission aimed at addressing issues affecting persons living with disabilities.

The state governor, at an event organised in Calabar by his wife, Eyoanwan Bassey Otu said he was excited that the people do not see their disability as a challenge , adding that his administration has set aside three appointments for PWDs.

Stressing his “People First” Mantra, governor Otu said his administration will touch all segments of the society.
For the proposed Disability Commission, governor Otu said three persons with disabilities will be appointed together with other persons to run the affairs of the commission.

On her part, the First Lady of Cross River State, Eyoanwan Bassey Otu, urged persons with disabilities to be ready to acquire skills that will enable them contribute meaningfully to society.

She also presented wheelchairs, crutches, cash and other essential commodities to persons with disabilities present.

The court asked the senior lawyer to pay the fine to four respondents in a suit he filed on the Imo governorship tussle.

The Supreme Court, on Tuesday, imposed a fine of N40 million on human rights activists and constitutional lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, for filing a “frivolous” motion before the court regarding the Imo governorship tussle, which was decided in 2019.

In a ruling by Justice Tijani Abubakar, the court ordered the senior lawyer to pay the N40 million fine to the four respondents he had sued.

Justice Abubakar held in the ruling that the request was strange, frivolous, baseless, unwarranted, vexatious and irritating.

He further held that the motion was a calculated design to demonise the Supreme Court.

Mr Ozekhome, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, was called to the Nigerian Bar over 42 years ago. The fine was for bringing a motion before the Supreme Court, seeking to re-validate the suit that removed Emeka Ihedioha as governor of Imo State in 2019.

Those to be paid are the Action Peoples Party, Uche Nnadi, Uche Nwosu and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

In the motion, Mr Ozekhome had asked the court for a consequential order to compel INEC to issue a fresh Certificate of Return to Mr Ihedioha to enable him to spend a four-year tenure as the Imo governor.

His grouse was that the incumbent governor, Hope Uzodinma “unlawfully” spent the four years which Mr Ihedioha ought to spend.

Among others, Mr Ozekhome in the motion claimed that the All Progressives Congress (APC) had no candidate in the 2019 Imo governorship election, hence, Mr Uzodinma ought not to have been made a governor on the platform of the APC.

The Supreme Court, however, dismissed the motion on the grounds that it had no jurisdiction to entertain it.

Governor Hon Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State has sworn in interim transition committee chairmen for its 17 Local Government Areas.

The governor, who disclosed this during the swearing in ceremony of the 17 chairmen at the banquet hall of Government House Damaturu, said that the exercise was necessary to ensure that no vacuum existed in his administration.

According to him, these appointments were necessitated by the expiration of the tenure of the last elected local government councils.

Buni told the caretaker chairmen to intensify efforts on local revenue generation to support the financing of development projects in their respective areas for the betterment of the people.

The governor described that their appointments were made on the bases of their hard work, loyalty, experience and zeal to deliver more selfless services to the people of the grassroots.

He urged them to pay more attention to farmers/herders’ relationship during the period of farm harvest as well as the migration of herdsmen.

Buni said the government will not condone any act capable of breaching peace among farmers and grazers in the rural communities.

He said “Grazers are advised not to trespass on farmland that are yet to be harvested; on the other hand, farmers should not block the cattle routes to hamper the free movement of livestock.”

He advised the Local Government chairmen to imbibe the principles of accountability, transparency and due process to be on the same page with the present administration and with commitment to the execution of people oriented policies and programmes to improve the lives of the people.

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, has disclosed that 422 out of Nigeria’s 1,411 delegation to ongoing, COP28, holding in Dubai were funded by the Federal Government.

The minister disclosed this as outrage continues to trail the large number of delegates attending the conference from Nigeria.

He said his clarification was hinged on the need to provide clarity in line with a standing pledge by the government to conduct itself with transparency and accessibility regarding public information.

The 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference or Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC, more commonly referred to as COP28, is the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference, being held from November 30 to December 12, 2023 at Expo City, Dubai.

The minister said Nigeria’s representation at the conference was in line with the nation’s status as Africa’s leading sovereign voice and player in climate action.

Contingents at the conference comprised private sector players, such as businesspeople, civil society organisations and delegates from Nigeria’s oil-producing Niger Delta region.

The social media space had went uproar over the significant presence of Nigerian delegates at the ongoing United Nations Climate Conference in Dubai.

Nigerians on social media had slammed Nigeria’s large delegation to COP28, PUNCH Online reports

A statement signed by President Bola Tinubu’s Senior Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, on Sunday, said only a handful of the 1,411 Nigerian delegates who registered to attend the COP28 Climate Summit were sponsored by the federal government.

“It is important to state here that delegates from all countries, whether from government, private sector, media and civil society groups, attend COP summits and conferences as parties and the number of attendees are registered against their countries of origin. This does not mean they are sponsored or funded by the government,”

“It is important to state here that delegates from all countries whether from government, private sector, media and civil society groups attend COP summits and conferences as parties and the number of attendees is registered against their countries of origin.

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“This does not mean that they are sponsored or funded by the government. It must be said also that the fact that people registered to attend a conference does not mean everyone who registered is physically present.

“As the biggest country in Africa, the biggest economy and one with a bigger stake in climate action as a country with a huge extractive economy, it is a no-brainer that delegates from Nigeria will be more than any other country in Africa,” Ajayi said.

Corroborating Ajayi, Idris stated that “the Federal Government-funded delegation is made up of a total of 422 persons.”

The delegation funded by the federal government, according to the minister, are National Council on Climate Change -32 delegates; Federal Ministry of Environment -34; all ministries -167; Presidency -67; Office of the Vice President -9, National Assembly – 40, and federal parastatals/agencies -73

Successes recorded so far

The minister added that Nigeria is currently enjoying its participation in the summit.

According to him, “Nigeria and Germany signed an accelerated performance agreement to expedite the implementation of the Presidential Power Initiative to improve Nigeria’s electricity supply. The agreement was signed by Mr. Kenny Anuwe, the Managing Director and Chief Exective Officer of FGN Power Company, and Ms. Nadja Haakansson, Siemens Energy’s Senior Vice President and Managing Director for Africa, at a ceremony witnessed by President Tinubu and Chancellor Scholz.”

Also, he said President Bola Tinubu hosted a high-level meeting with stakeholders and investors on the Nigeria Carbon Market and the Electric Buses Rollout Programme on the margins of the COP28 climate summit as the nation stands to benefit from the Loss and Damage Fund established during COP-27 in Egypt and formally operationalized at the opening plenary of COP-28 in Dubai.

“The fund will provide substantial non-debt financing to support countries most affected by the impact of climate change. Hundreds of millions of dollars have already been pledged as contributions to the fund,” Idris added.

According to him, Tinubu also met the President of the United Arab Emirates to concretise engagements between the two countries.

Following the clarification that the Federal Government only funded 422 delegates to the summit, Idris concluded in the releas that, “President Tinubu and other officials on the Federal Government delegation are in Dubai for serious business, not a jamboree.”

The President of the ECOWAS Commission, Mr Omar Alieu Touray paid a courtesy visit to General Yakubu Gowon

Nigeria’s former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (rtd), has said he is concerned over the coup in Niger Republic and its impact on neighbouring countries.

Gowon spoke when the President of ECOWAS Commission, Mr Omar Alieu Touray, paid him a courtesy visit at his Abuja residence

Gowon, according to a statement from ECOWAS on Monday, “expressed his concerns over the coup in Niger and its impact on the subregion,” describing it as one of political instability in the region.

The general applauded the Chairman of ECOWAS, Excellency Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and the Authority of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government “for showing restraint and exploring other diplomatic avenues of restoring constitutional rule to Niger.”

Recall that on 26 July 2023, some soldiers carried out a coup d’état in Niger leading to the removal and detention of President Mohamed Bazoum.

General Gowon however, expressed hope that the political impasse in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, and Niger will be resolved, and the countries will be reintegrated fully to ECOWAS.

“He appreciated the visit and recalled the early days of ECOWAS, noting that the regional body has grown in leaps and bounds, progressing beyond the basic protocol at its inception,” the ECOWAS statement partly read.

Touray acknowledged General Gowon’s exemplary leadership and support for ECOWAS and his role in fostering political stability in West Africa.

The ASUU Zonal body revealed that it was compiling records of students who would likely be dropping out of school because of arbitrary fee hikes at the end of the current academic session.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Bauchi State zone, has rejected student loans in favour of grants to fund their education.

The ASUU Zonal body revealed that it was compiling records of students who would likely be dropping out of school because of arbitrary fee hikes at the end of the current academic session.

The zonal coordinator, associate Professor Lazarus Maigoro, who disclosed this during the award of scholarships to 19 indigent undergraduates in the zone at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi, Leading Reporters learnt that the aim of collecting the students’ data was to use it engage the government to review its decision on the issue of the loans and replace them with grants.

Maigoro said, “The question is: who will pay the loan? What is the fate of those who cannot access it? The psychological trauma the students will be subjected to due to the loan while still in their studies will affect their performance negatively.

“The thought that they would graduate with a loan of N4million and above without the capacity to pay back is another psychological torture on them.”

Also speaking at the occasion, the ATBU branch Chairman of ASUU, Ibrahim Inuwa, assured that the union would continue to act as a socially responsible organisation by fighting for the collective interest of quality tertiary education.

He revealed that the scholarship award, a yearly event would always seek out brilliant but indigent students for the recognition and award.

A member representing the Ibadan North Federal constituency in the House of Assembly, Adewale Akinremi, has assured Nigerians of the speedy passage of the 2024 Appropriation Bill submitted by President Bola Tinubu last week.

Akinremi described the budget as “well-detailed and realistic” in a statement he signed and made available to news corespondants Online on Monday in Abuja.

He said, “We at the National Assembly will work with relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government to ensure that the budget is passed as early as possible for ordinary Nigerians to benefit.

“It is because of Nigerians that President Tinubu has taken into consideration areas of security, local job creation, macro-economic stability, investment environment optimisation, human capital development, poverty reduction and social security in the 2024 budget of renewed hope.”

The lawmaker also insisted that the President didn’t submit an empty box during the budget presentation last week and called on opposition parties to “stop misleading Nigerians.”

He described what he tagged as allegations of the President submitting an empty box as “childish and misrepresentation of facts.”

“President Tinubu’s analysis of the budget is well detailed, the first of its kind in recent times. What people don’t know is that Mr. President had earlier submitted a flash drive as a soft copy of the 2024 Budget, which is now being printed out in hard copies.

“As an old, experienced member, I fully understand the due process for submitting the budget, whether hard or soft copies. It is important that we allow the house to do their jobs in partnership with the relevant agencies,” he said.

On the allegations by a member of the opposition New Nigeria Peoples Party, Yusuf Galambi, who alleged on BBC Hausa last Friday that Tinubu only provided an empty document during his Wednesday budget presentation speech before the National Assembly, Akinyemi said, “Yes, there is right to criticise the government, but deliberately misinforming the public in the name of criticism is wrong, and we must discourage that as leaders in order not to heat the polity.”

The Board of Immigration, Civil Defence, Fire and Correctional Services has approved the promotion of 32,361 personnel from the four services.

Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed details of the promotions through the NSCDC Commandant General, Dr Ahmed Audi, on Friday in Abuja.

A total of 4, 498 of those promoted were personnel of the Nigerian Correctional Service out of the 7,000 wardens who sat for the promotion examination.

Also, 4, 598 Immigration officers out of 6,544 were promoted while 1,680 out of 1,698 fire service personnel who sat for the promotion examinations were elevated.

The majority of those promoted were, however, from the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) which had 21,385 out of its 25,951 that sat for the promotion examinations coming out successful.

The minister said it was the first time in the history of the board that such a huge number of officers were promoted.

Tunji-Ojo charged the beneficiaries to commit themselves to the service of the nation.

“You should see this promotion as a new frontier in the way and manner you carry out your responsibilities; promotions come with enormous responsibilities and to whom much is given, much is expected,” he added.