Author: Chronicle Editor

Mr Chibuike Amaechi, the Minister of Transportation said on Thursday that negotiations for the possible construction of the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri rail line were ongoing. The minister said this in a statement issued by Mr Israel Ibeleme, his media aide. According to Amaechi, the Federal Government and the Chinese Government are still negotiating on the project. The minister also said that the Federal Government would also continue its negotiations with Russians for the commencement of the Lagos-Calabar rail project. “The six geo-political zones are all covered, Port Harcourt –Maiduguri covers Port Harcourt, Aba, Owerri, Umuahia, Enugu, Abakaliki, Awka, Makurdi, Lafia, Akwanga,…

A High Court sitting in Kano state on Thursday nullified the appointment and creation of four additional emirates by Kano state government. Justice Usman Na’abba, who is the presiding judge, ruled that due process was not followed in the creation of the Emirates. In May 2019, Kano State Governor Abdullahi Ganduje had assented the bill seeking the establishment of four additional first-class Emirates – Rano, Gaya, Karaya and Bichi – in Kano State. Ganduje assented the bill following its passage by the Kano State House of Assembly. With reports ascribing the governor’s decision as a result of rift with Emir…

The Chairman, House Committee on Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Rep. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo (APC-Ondo) has said that the Commission had been spending illegally and without appropriation for 11 months. This is even as he said that the NDDC had been running foul of the appropriation laws for the past 14 months as it had yet to submit any budget proposal to the National Assembly for approval since Sept. 2018. He said that since the expiration of the approved 2018 Budget, the commission had been spending without approval. Speaking in an interview with newsmen, in Abuja, Tunji-Ojo said that the commission…

A Magistrates’ Court in Gombe on Wednesday ordered Kabiru Abdullahi, 40, who pleaded guilty to sodomising his neighbour’s son, 14, be remanded in a correctional facility, pending sentencing. Abdullahi pleaded guilty and begged the court for leniency. Chief Magistrate Babayo Usamatu, who gave the order, adjourned the case until November 28, for sentencing. Google to restrict political adverts worldwide Earlier in the First Information Report (FIR), the Police Prosecutor, Insp. Bako Shekari told the court that the defendant, who resides in Tashan Magarya in Kumo, Akko LGA, Gombe State, committed the offence in October. The offence, he said, contravened the…

Google will no longer allow political campaigns to target advertising at people based on their supposed political leanings. Campaigns will also be unable to match their own database of prospective voters against Google’s user base, to target individuals across platforms such as YouTube and Google search. The policy will begin in the UK “within a week”, with other regions later. Campaigns will still be able to target based on age, gender and location. Google added it would also take action on obviously misleading statements in ads, putting it at odds with Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg said his social network would not fact-check…

The Industrial Training Fund (ITF) and its governing council has dragged Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) and its Board before a Federal High Court in Lagos, Southwest Nigeria for failure to pay N1,090,628 522.00 contribution to ITF. In an affidavit sworn to by ITF accountant, Mr Adeleke Joseph Oyelola, the deponent averred that the defendant have more than five employees and a turnover of N50 million in its establishments and notwithstanding its statutory obligation, failed to comply with the statutory obligation of contributing to the fund. ITF states that the defendant has never paid its statutory 1% levy of…

The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) has advised the National Assembly to hold public hearing on the hate speech bill before it to ensure that views of Nigerians were captured in the passage of the bill. NGF Vice Chairman and Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal gave the advice while fielding questions from newsmen at the end of the forum meeting held on Wednesday night in Abuja. He advised the federal lawmakers to respect the views of Nigerians on the bill. “I am not sure I have heard any governor come out to say he is in support of death penalty…

President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday signed Executive Order 009 entitled, The Open Defecation-Free Nigeria by 2025 and Other Related Matters Order.  The Order declares as follows:   1.      That by this Order, Nigeria is committed to being open defecation free by 2025.  2.      That the National Open Defecation Free (ODF) Roadmap developed by the Federal Ministry of Water Resources with support from other key sector players across Nigeria be put into effect.  3.      a.      There is established in the Federal Ministry of Water Resources a National Secretariat called “Clean Nigeria Campaign Secretariat”.            b.      The Secretariat is authorized on behalf of the President to implement this Order…

The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has set aside N26 million to replace a corps member’s amputated limbs in Kano State.

The Senate on Tuesday began consideration of a bill to amend Nigeria’s Electoral Act. The Bill which scaled Second Reading is For an Act to Amend the Electoral Act (No.6), 2010. According to the Sponsors, Senators Ovie Omo-Agege (APC, Delta Central) and Abubakar Kyari (APC, Borno North), the bill which has 26 clauses seeks to amend the Electoral Act to strengthen and protect Nigeria’s democracy, as well as “cure specific mischiefs plaguing our (Nigeria’s) elections and electoral processes.” Leading the debate on the bill, Omo-Agege said though the process under the eighth Senate was fraught with mutual suspicions and bitterness, electoral…