Nelson Ugwuagbo

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.

Adamawa State government has approved N836 million for the construction of the 42km Damare- Borong Road to facilitate human and vehicular movement.

The road links the permanent National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Orientation Camp in Girei local government area of the state.

The project which was made known after the State Executive Council (SEC) meeting yesterday in Yola, links Girei and Demsa local government areas.

The commissioner for education, Dr Umar Garba Pella, told journalists that the project was awarded to Hydro Source and Resource Nigeria Limited and has the completion period of 12 months.

Pella said the council also approved over N117 million variation for the construction of modern laboratory at Specialist Hospital, Yola.

He said the project was initially awarded at over N578 million, adding that the variation was to cover the cost of increased price of building materials.

A gas plant located in the Rumukurusi axis of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, went up in flames early on Tuesday, causing panic among residents and business owners in the area.

It was gathered that the incident occurred at about 5 am when most people were still asleep.

Residents said they woke after hearing people shouting from the location of the gas facility owned by Hydropet Oil Services Limited.

A shop owner in the area who simply gave her name as Grace, said she saw the fire when she woke up around 5:20 am

She stated, “So I quickly came out to the road leading to Eneka, lo and behold it was Hydropet gas plant that was on fire. The fire was huge. I was so afraid because My shop is close to that place.”

Leading Reporters learnt that it was the Shell fire service that extinguished the fire which lasted for about four hours.

“Imagine from Artillery to Eleme Junction there is no fire station. Even when the Federal Fire Service came within a short time they ran out of water.

“Thank God for the Shell Fire Services because we don’t know maybe the tank would have exploded.”

Meanwhile, many residents and business owners thronged out to catch a glimpse of the fire, while some expressed worry over a possible explosion.

Scores of policemen and the fire service team cordoned off the area with red lights and prevented vehicles from further accessing the road.

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer in the State, Grace Iringe-Koko, said she would find out from the police division and get back to our correspondent.

She had yet to do so as of the time of filing this report on Tuesday morning.