The Taraba State Ministry of Transportation Development has announced the temporary closure of Danbaba Suntai Airport in Jalingo, the state capital.
The Commissioner, of Transportation Development, Yakubu Yakubu, made the announcement on Friday in a statement signed by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Kwantar Genesis.
He said the closure is in line with the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority’s, NCAA, approval
The closure, which he said, is scheduled to last until December 20, 2024, is to facilitate ongoing upgrade projects at the airport, which began in January 2024.
UEFA conducted the draw for the last stages of the 2024/2025
UEFA Nations League on Friday.
The competition has moved into the knockout phase after the
games during the November international break.
In the quarter-finals, Spain will face the Netherlands, in a
rematch of the 2010 World Cup final.
Italy and Germany will renew their historic rivalry. Germany
and Spain secured their places with two matches to spare in October, while
Portugal and France joined the lineup after advancing from their groups alongside
Italy and the Netherlands.
The Nigerian Customs Service, NCS on Friday said that it had
intercepted 849 kegs of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, worth over N30 million in
retail price from Whirlwind Operation.
The Comptroller of Customs, Hussein Ejibunu, made this known
during a news conference in Ikeja.
“Today, we have another seizure of 849 kegs of PMS
containing 25 litres each. This translates to 30,225 litres with duty paid
value at N30.225 million only at the NNPCL retail price.
“Today marks yet another success recorded by the operatives of Operation Whirlwind, Zone “A” Lagos/Ogun Axis.
Nollywood actress, Wumi Toriola has surpassed Toyin Abraham’s box office record.
This is coming a few days after Wumi Toriola emerged as the 2024 box office champion.
The actress was awarded the box office champion by the Federal Government through the National Film and Video Censors Board, NFVCB.
Toriola broke Abraham’s record with her latest movie ‘Queen Lateefah’, which has become one of the highest-grossing Nigerian film of all time.
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC Joe Igbokwe has said that President Bola Tinubu’s son Seyi Tinubu does not possess the required capacity to be the governor of Lagos State.
This comes amid reports urging the president’s son to run for governor in 2027.
Reacting to this development, Igbokwe in a Facebook post criticized those advocating for Seyi to be Lagos governor.
The APC chieftain described the calls as a distraction and an attempt to pull Tinubu down.
The Nigerian government has confirmed that it has stopped
the October monthly Federation Account Allocation Committee, FAAC revenue
payment to Rivers State amid the ongoing face-off between Governor Simi Fubara
and the Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Nyesome Wike.
The Spokesperson of the Office of the Accountant General of
the Federation, Bawa Mokwa, disclosed this exclusively on Friday.
This comes as the Nigerian Government on Wednesday announced
the approval for the disbursement of N1.1411 trillion as the October 2024
Federation Accounts Allocation Revenue to Federal, State, and local government
councils.
However, a report emerged that FAAC revenue in October was
not disbursed to Rivers State following a court stopping the Central Bank of
Nigeria and the Nigerian government from carrying out such action.
The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) says
Nigerians will have to pay for the new multipurpose national identity card due
to limited government revenue.
Peter Iwegbu, head of card management services at NIMC,
spoke on Thursday at a two-day press conference in Lagos.
Iwegbu said paying for the identity card would ensure it is
produced for only those who needed it.
He said the decision was made to avoid repeating the mistake
of past efforts to issue physical cards to Nigerians for free, which many did
not collect.
The United States, US President Joe Biden has said the arrest warrants issued against top Israeli leaders by the International Criminal Court are “outrageous”.
Recall that the ICC had issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant.
According to the court, the arrest warrants followed suspicion of war crimes and crimes against humanity by the Israeli leaders.
Reacting, Biden in a statement from the White House said “whatever the ICC might imply, there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas.
The former vice president and 2023 presidential candidate for the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar, has criticized the House of Representatives for rejecting the bill that proposed a six-year tenure for Nigerian presidents and governors.
He described the lawmakers’ decision as unfortunate, stating that they failed to recognize that Nigeria is at a critical juncture.
The bill, sponsored by Ikenga Ugochinyere and 33 others, was dismissed through a voice vote during Thursday’s plenary session.
This bill which suggested a single six-year term for elected presidents and governors across the nation, was also thrown out under Former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has
instructed electricity distribution companies to downgrade customers in Band A
if they lack sufficient capacity for supply.
NERC’s Commissioner for Licensing and Legal Affairs, Dafe
Akpeneye, disclosed this during an interview on Channels Television’s Morning
Brief on Friday.
He stated that if the distribution companies are unable to
provide the promised 20 hours of electricity to Band A customers, those
customers should be promptly downgraded to a level that the companies can
adequately supply.
“With regards to the migration order, it is not elective to
the instance of the customer. The disco needs to make an application and ensure
that they can supply power to customers in Band A.
The Speaker of the House of Representative, Abbas Tajudeen,
has cautioned lawmakers against distracting him during plenary session.
Abass accused Rep members of distraction by approaching him
unhindered during plenary sessions.
He made the comment while lamenting over the inability of
lawmakers to go through the proper communication channel.
In a viral video, Abass could be heard saying: “It’s not
good to be approaching the chair, it distracts me a lot. What happened was that
the Clerk read a long title and because I was engaged in another conversation,
I thought that it was supposed to go for secondment.
An All Progressives Council chieftain, Jesutega Onokpasa, has accused President Tinubu of stabbing his staunch supporters in their backs with his ‘ridiculous’ appointments.
In an interview with Arise News morning show on Thursday, Onokpasa criticized Daniel Bwala’s appointment as Special adviser on Media and Public Communication to the President.
The president has been receiving backlash over the appointment of Bwala, Atiku’s former aide and a strong critic of his administration.
Onokpasa noted that while other supporters are of the view that Bwala’s appointment is strategy, he describes it as ‘stupidity’.
The Supreme Court has nullified the National Lottery Act
2005 enacted by the National Assembly.
The judgment followed the suit filed in 2008 by Lagos and
some other states.
Ruling on the matter, the Apex Court in a unanimous
judgement consisting of seven members on Friday held that the National Assembly
lacked the powers to legislate on issues relating to lottery and games of
chance.
The lead judgment was delivered by Justice Mohammed Idris.
Atiku Abubakar, former vice-president of Nigeria, says loans
borrowed by the present Bola Tinubu administration are “bone-crushing to
Nigerians”.
The senate and the house of representatives approved a $2.2
billion loan request from Tinubu earlier on Thursday.
Reacting to the development in a statement, Abubakar said
Nigerians are being crushed by a blend of the administration’s “failed
trial-and-error policies and loan rackets”.
“These Tinubu’s loans are bone-crushing to Nigerians and
bringing insufferable pressure on the economy, especially when they are not
properly negotiated and utilized,” he said.
Former Senator Shehu Sani has said that it is unjust for
only four states to receive 70 percent of the Value Added Tax (VAT)
distribution.
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Chairman had told
the House of Representatives that only four states take 70 percent of VAT,
namely Lagos, Rivers, Oyo, and the FCT, citing an example of MTN paying most of
its VAT to Lagos while all the states consume its services.
Reacting to this, Sani, in a statement via X, admonished
critics of the Bill to remove their political lenses and read the document
thoroughly.
He also said the Bill should be supported to end the
prevailing tax injustice in the country.