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The Federal Government has declared Monday and Tuesday, December 25 and 26, 2023, and Monday, January 1, 2024, as public holidays to mark Christmas and New Year’s Day celebrations, respectively.

This was disclosed by the Hon. Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, who made the declaration on behalf of the Federal Government.

He felicitated with Christians and all Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora on this occasion.

Dr Tunji-Ojo urged Christians to emulate the life of Jesus Christ in his practice and teachings of humility, service, compassion, and patience.

He stressed that peace and security are critical prerequisites for economic development and prosperity.

The Supreme Court has affirmed the election of Peter Mbah of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the governor of Enugu state.

A five-member panel of the court unanimously dismissed two appeals filed by the Labour Party (LP) and its candidate, Jonathan Edeoga.

Justice Mohammed Garba, in the lead judgment, held that the appellants failed to prove their case and proceeded to uphold the judgment of the Court of Appeal, which equally affirmed the decision of the trial tribunal, dismissing the petition by the LP and Edeoga.

The Special Investigator on the Central Bank of Nigeria and Related Entities, Jim Obaze, has exposed another massive corruption under the embattled former CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele.

According to to the final report tagged, ‘Report of the Special Investigation on CBN and Related Entities (Chargeable offences) to President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday, Emefiele, illegally lodged billions of naira in at least 593 bank accounts in the United States, United Kingdom, and China without the approval of the apex bank’s board of directors and the CBN Investment Committee.

Obaze and his team found found that the ex-CBN governor lodged £543, 482,213 in fixed deposits in UK banks alone without any form of authorisation.

The investigator found that Buhari “didn’t approve” of the naira redesign. According to the report, it was Tunde Sabiu, his nephew, who first told Emefiele in September 2022 to consider the redesign of the naira.

According the report, on October 6, 2022, Emefiele wrote to Buhari that he wanted to redesign and reconfigure N1000, N500 and N200 notes.

“The former President tagged along but did not approve the redesign as required by law. Buhari merely approved that the currency be printed in Nigeria. The redesign was only mentioned to the board of the CBN on December 15, 2022, after Emefiele had awarded the contract to the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc on October 31, 2022,’’ the documents noted.

Emefiele was said to have contracted the redesign of the naira to De La Rue of the UK for £205, 000 pounds under the vote head of the Currency Operations Department after the NSPM said it could not deliver the contract within a short timeframe.

The special investigator found that N61.5bn was earmarked for the printing of the new notes out of which N31.79bn had been paid.

As of August 9, 2023, findings revealed that N769bn of the new notes were in circulation.

The probe of the CBN also revealed the fraudulent use of N26.627tn Ways and Means of the Apex Bank as well as the misuse of the COVID-19 intervention fund.

For instance, the CBN under Emefiele at its 661st meeting held on October 27, 2020, approved that the Consolidated Revenue Fund Account should be debited with the sum of N124.860bn, and the decision was implemented on October 9.

Similarly, the Committee of Governors at its 670th meeting held on December 9, 2020, granted anticipatory approval ‘’pending receipt of a formal request by Mr President and ratification by the board of directors the payment of the sum of N250bn only to the Federal Government of Nigeria to address challenges as a result of low revenue inflow and the payment of salaries.

The CBN investigator discovered that the CBN Ways and Means was abused under the Buhari administration.

The document further said, “In an instance, they (senior CBN and government officials) padded what the former President Muhammadu Buhari approved with N198,963,162, 187. There are instances where no approvals are received from the former president and yet, N500bn is taken and debited to Ways and Means.

“There are more shocking instances where the erstwhile CBN governor and his four deputy governors connived to steal outright in order to balance the books of the CBN.

“This was by violently taking money from the Consolidated Revenue account and then charging it to Ways and Means. It was a total of N124.860bn. They even created the narration as a presidential subsidy and expanded the ways and Means portfolio to accommodate crime.

The CBN officers and even the then acting CBN governor could not produce the Presidential Approval of most of the expenses described as ‘Ways and Means.’ When confronted, to provide the breakdown of the supposed N22.7trn that was presented to the 9th National Assembly to illegally securitise as ‘Ways and Means’ financing, they were only able to partially explain a total of N9.063 trn or N9.2trn depending on which official you are considering his submission and an unreasonable attribution of non-negotiated interest element of N6.5tn.

“This shows that this was the point where the officers of the immediate past administration as well as the erstwhile CBN governor and his four deputy governors connived, defrauded, and stole from the commonwealth of our country with the aid of civil servants.’’

Continuing, the report said, “The true position of the Ways and Means as documented from the reconciliation between the CBN and the Ministry of Finance at the time is N4,449,149,411,584.54.

“This may have been the main reason the past administration hurriedly sought that the advances of N22.7trn be securitised by the 9th National Assembly on December 19, 2022, which they also hurriedly did despite the fact that it contravenes section 38 of the CBN Act, 2007.”

“N1.325bn was stolen pre-incorporation and the money funnelled to four companies, including a legal firm which got N300mn.’’

Between 2015 and 2021, an investment company was said to have collected unlawfully a total of N4.89bn.

A breakdown indicated that the firm received N262mn in 2015, N464mn in 2016, N550mn in 2017, N726mn in 2018, N762 in 2019, N684 in 2020 and N1.44bn in 2021, totalling N4.89bn.

Emefiele also allegedly paid N17.2bn to 14 deposit money banks participating in the Nigerian Electricity Market Stabilisation Facility.

“A total of 14 DMBs engaged in the manipulation by unlawfully arranging and collecting 1.9535 per cent of the total disbursements paid to the DMBs participating in the Nigerian Electricity Market Stabilisation Facility.

The fees are paid to the banks in the ratio of their contributions to the NEMSF disbursement, according to External Auditor’s Notes to the Financial Statement of NESI Stabilisation Strategy Limited.

“The CBN also went further by authorising the issuance of debenture for the NESI SPV, starting with N64.8bn in 2015. By 2021, N952bn debenture had been issued. The investigator said the money was diverted from public funds,’’ the document further stated.

Meanwhile, the investigation has uncovered the strange illegal withdrawal/theft of $6.23mn from the CBN vault by two persons who used a forged presidential letter.

When contacted, counsel for Emefiele, Mathew Bukkaa, SAN, was unavailable for comments on the allegations.

President Bola Tinubu has approved the payment of backlog of arrears to 400,000 N-power beneficiaries across the country.

The payment commencement was sequel to a verification exercise initiated and concluded by the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.

Announcing the release of funds, the minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Betta Edu, appreciated President Tinubu for the gesture.

Ms Edu said President Tinubu’s interest in Nigeria youths is evidenced in his numerous policies and programmes of his administration largely tailored toward providing opportunities for them.

”I stayed awake with the N-power team till 3am at the office to ensure N-power beneficiaries get paid before Christmas in line with the directive of the President

“Now, I can confirm to you the payment of N-Power beneficiaries have commenced and the evidence is in their account Merry Christmas” the minister said.

The Federal Government has expressed commitment to return 15 million out-of-school children back to the classroom by 2027.

The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, disclosed this in Abuja on Thursday at a one-day retreat on Quick Wins in the Ministerial Deliverables (2023-2027).

Mamman explained that the learning crisis had also been a major issue which he said was a bad product of the out-of-school menace, hence, must be taken seriously.

He said  having robust policies in place was not enough to tackle the challenges but delivering on the policies would go a long way in addressing the problems of out-of-school children.

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“The Federal Ministry of Education has further distilled the implementation of the ministerial deliverables to a more detailed implementation with turnaround strategies that would be measurable and capable of providing results that would be very visible to the Nigerian public.

“On out-of-school menace, we would be paying particular attention to this unacceptable phenomenon and in line with President Bola Tinubu’s commitment, would work towards returning 15 million out-of-school children to the classrooms by the year 2027,” he said.

The minister said Tinubu had approved the reintroduction and implementation of school feeding across basic educational levels.

Scores of demonstrators comprising students, youths, civil society organizations, labour unions, and members of the Hausa community have gathered at the Government House, Port Harcourt, in Rivers State, staging a significant protest in support of Governor Siminilayi Fubara amidst the political crisis in Rivers state.

The protest commenced early in the morning along Azikiwe Road, with demonstrators rallying against an alleged presidential intervention in the state’s affairs.

As of the latest report filing, the protesters remain assembled, erecting canopies at the Government House entrance.

The widespread unrest signifies a growing wave of discontentment or disagreement over the reported involvement of President Bola Tinubu in the crisis.

Before now, Rivers elders had berated the president for intervening in the situation, saying his resolution favours the minister of FCT and former governor of the state, Nyesom Wike.

A Nigerian missionary priest serving in Gambia, Rev Fr Kelvin Ugwu has claimed that the devil would only need to destroy the Catholic church in order to wipe Christianity off the earth.

The Catholic priest stated this in a post on his verified Facebook page while reacting to the controversial document endorsed by Pope Francis regarding same-sex marriage.

Leading Reporters recalls that report emerged earlier in the week, indicating that the Vatican approved blessings for same-sex couples.

This development has stirred controversies across the world, as many Christians, including some Catholic bishops distanced themselves from the document.

Some unbelievers have also taken to social media to ridicule Christians over the development.

But Fr Kelvin in his reaction, urged his followers to steer clear of posts and discussions mocking the Christian faith.

He said, “This is not the time for mockery. Don’t join those who have been looking for this opportunity to ridicule our faith in Christ.

“For Christians all over the world, I say this, if the devil wants to scatter this Christian faith kpatakpata, all he needs to do is to destroy the Catholic church. You may not see it, but I don’t pray you see it ever.”

The priest lamented the ambiguity in the document issued by the Vatican, stressing that the undetailed content birthed the controversies.

“A document that almost every Bishop had to explain and clarify to their diocesan people, the Catholic Bishops conferences had to explain, and priests had to explain to their parishioners both online and offline, is not a good document.

“Yes, the document did not say much or make any clear stipulations, and that is basically the problem with the document. What it did not say is more devastating than what it was trying to say”, he added.

The Federal Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development Thursday appointed Mr. Horatius Egwa and 46 others as directors in the ministry’s agencies. Eqwa was appointed directed, special duties at the Nigerian Civil Aviation Agency (NCAA).

The agencies are Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET, Nigerian Civil Aviation Agency (NCAA), Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Nigerian Sefety Investigation Bureau (NSIB), and Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).

The appointments were announced in a statement by Odutayo Oluseyi.

Oluseyi said in the statement: “In line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Honourable Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo SAN, CON, FCIArb. (U.K), has released the list of newly appointed Directors of the Agencies under the Ministry as follows:

MetrowatchXtra

Home EXECUTIVE
FULL LIST | Festus Keyamo Appoints Horatius Egwa, 46 Others as Directors in Aviation Sector | METROWATCH
MetrowatchXtra by MetrowatchXtra December 21, 2023
•Festus Keyamo
•Festus Keyamo

By METROWATCH

The Federal Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development Thursday appointed Mr. Horatius Egwa and 46 others as directors in the ministry’s agencies. Eqwa was appointed directed, special duties at the Nigerian Civil Aviation Agency (NCAA).

The agencies are Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET, Nigerian Civil Aviation Agency (NCAA), Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Nigerian Sefety Investigation Bureau (NSIB), and Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).

The appointments were announced in a statement by Odutayo Oluseyi.

Oluseyi said in the statement: “In line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Honourable Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo SAN, CON, FCIArb. (U.K), has released the list of newly appointed Directors of the Agencies under the Ministry as follows:

Full List…

Nigerian Meteorological Agency

Prof Vincent Ezikornwor Weli, Director, Weather Services
Prof Odjugo Peter Akpodiogaga Ovuyovwiroye, Director, Research And Training
Onyegbule Glory Amarachi, Director, Applied Meteorological Services
Abdulkareem Hamid Olayinka, Director, Engineering And Technical Services
Funke Adebayo Arowojobe, Director, Public Affairs And Consumer Protection
Shola Gabriel Director, Legal Services/Company Secretary
Nasiru Sani Director, Human Resources And Administration
Alex Akoji Yusuf, Director, Finance And Accounts
Airiohuodion Henry Omonzojie, Director, Corporate Services.

Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority

Engr Balang Godwin, Director, Aerodrome And Airspace Standards
Yinka Boboye Director, Air Transport Regulations
Capt. Donald Spiff Director, Operations, Licensing And Training
Michael Achimugu Director, Public Affairs And Consumer Protection
Omogo Bernard Onwe Chinedu Director, Avsec Regulation
Barr Mary Tufano Director, Legal Services/ Company Secretary
Anastasia Gbem Director, Human Resources And Administration
Horatius Egwa Director, Special Duties
Rebecca Eyiuche Aghadinazu, Director, Corporate Services

Nigerian Airspace Management Agency

Muonemeh Ndubuisi Lotenna, Director, Finance And Accounts
John Tayo Director, Operations
Abimbola Ladipo Director, Human Resources And Administration
Engr Ijeoma Ihenachor, Director, Safety Electronic And Engineering Services
Rita Isemiuhonmon Egbadon, Director, Legal Services/Company Secretary
Abdulahi Musa Director, Public Affairs and Consumer Protection
Abba Ahmad Director, Special Duties
Ibrahim Aliyu, Director Corporate Services.

Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau

Engr Abdulahi Babanya Director, Engineering Services
Odita Francis Isioma Director, Operations
Engr Nwobu Patrick Director, Transport Investigation
Esosa Eremwanarua Director, Legal Services/ Company Secretary
Engr Lawal Abdulmumin Director, Human Resources
Mrs Bimbo Olawunmi Oladeji Director, Public Affairs And Consumer Protection
Dr Mrs Okundaye-Oke Itohan Folake Director, Finance And Accounts
Baro Henry Minabowanre Director, Corporate Services

Federal Airports Authority Of Nigeria

Engr. Muniru Adejare Abiola Director, Engineering Services
Capt. Abdullahi Mohmood Director, Airport Operations
Ayodele Olatiregun Director, Finance And Accounts
Luqman Olatubosun Eniola Director, Human Resources And Administration
Igbafe Afegbai Director, Aviation Security Services

Mrs Bridget Gold Director, Legal Services/ Company Secretary
Jensen Asaba Director, Corporate Services
Obiageli Orah Director, Public Affairs And Consumer Protection
Henry Agbebire Director, Special Duties
Adebola Joy Agunbiade Director, Commercial and Business Development
To Be Appointed Shortly Director, Cargo Services.

The statement read in part, “All the newly appointed Directors are to get in touch with the Director, Human Resource Department of the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development to collect their letters of appointment as the appointment is with immediate effect.”

“Also, a new directorate called the Cargo Services has been created at the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria to ameliorate issues besetting the sector.”