Author: Chronicle Editor

The Comptroller-General of Customs, retired Col. Hameed Ali, has announced that HND holders on salary Grade Level GL 07 in the service are automatically moved to GL0 8 while a supplementary budget will be made for their salary arrears. Ali said this during the decoration of the newly promoted senior customs officers on Monday in Abuja. He said that officers in the inspectorate cadre on salary GL 08 and above were to align to the appropriate rank in the superintendent cadre. “This is expected to boost the morale of officers and eliminate confusion in the seniority of officers,” Ali said.…

Former Nigerian First Lady, Patience Jonathan, on Monday visited the Maitama branch of the Skyebank in Abuja to withdraw part of her $5.9million recently unfrozen by a Lagos High Court. But she met a brickwall. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had procured a stay-of-execution of the judgement and also simultaneously filed an appeal against the judgment given last week on 6 April by Justice Mojisola Olatoregun, News spread quickly that she visited the bank on Monday, following another visit on Friday 7 April. Unconfirmed reports said that she wanted to withdraw as much as $1million, but was given $100,000…

Gov. Mohammed Abubakar of Bauchi State on Monday offered Efe (Ejeba Michael Efe), winner of Big Brother Naija 2017 (#BBnaija), some relaxation time at the famous Yankari Game Reserve. Efe who had been tipped as the show’s favourite, raked in about 57.61 per cent of the over 26 million votes that the show recorded in the last week. He carted home the cash prize of N25 million and a KIA Sorrento SUV. The 24-year-old Delta State indigene won the competition out of the top five housemates including Bisola, Tboss, Debie-Rise and Marvis. The information was shared via the governor’s official…

The Nigerian military has released 593 detainees after they had been cleared of any association with the Boko Haram terrorists. The Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, Lucky Irabor, handed over the detainees to officials of the Borno Government at a ceremony in Maiduguri on Monday. Mr. Irabor, represented by Abdulrahman Kuluya, a brigadier general, said the release was based on the directives of the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai. “The military have made several efforts at ensuring that peace returns to the North-East by conducting different operations. “Lots of efforts have been made to get us where we…

An Ondo State High Court sitting in Akure on Monday sentenced seven herdsmen to life imprisonment for kidnapping Chief Olu Falae, a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, (SGF) and presidential candidate. The herdsmen had on Sept.21, 2015, allegedly invaded Falae’s farm, attacked his workers and kidnapped him to an unknown destination. The seven convicted persons are: Abubakar Auta, Bello Jannu, Umaru Ibarahim, Masahudu Muhammed, Idris Lawal, Abdulkadir Umar and Babawuro Kato The court presided over by Justice Williams Olamide held that the suspects were guilty of the kidnap charge brought against them by the Ondo State Government.…

Oil majors Royal Dutch Shell and Eni reiterated on Monday that neither they nor their personnel had been involved in any wrongdoing in Nigeria, including improper payments to Nigerian officials. The comments follow media reports alleging how hundreds of millions of dollars from the two companies were used for illicit payments. A joint investigation by BuzzFeed News and Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore on Sunday claims to show transactions worth $1.3 billion made in 2010-2011 that Shell and Eni paid to acquire an exploration licence for an offshore oil block known as OPL 245. The money was paid to…

For obvious reasons, Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man adorned the pages of Nigerian newspapers as he celebrated his 60th birthday. The international businessman, who started business modestly trading in sugar in the late 70s and early 80s, now presides over an industrial octopus, with interest in agriculture, oil, cement, oil, fruit juice, noodles and many others. Many prominent Nigerians have sent him congratulatory messages, with President Muhammadu Buhari, fittingly taking the lead. President Muhammadu Buhari in a statement Sunday joined the business world, Dangote’s friends and family in congratulating the Forbes’ rated richest African and black man for reaching the…

Two female suicide bombers detonated explosives on the edge of a university campus in northeast Nigeria on Monday, blowing themselves up but causing no other casualties, disasters agency NEMA said. The bombers detonated their vests close to the perimeter fence of the University of Maiduguri at around 04:00 a.m. (0300 GMT), a NEMA spokesman said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Maiduguri is the city that has been worst hit by an eight-year-old Islamist insurgency by the Boko Haram group. It was the second suicide bombing there in three days. Two female bombers blew themselves up on Saturday at…

West Africa’s fully integrated telecommunications service provider, Globacom, has expressed eagerness to leverage its massive telecommunications infrastructure and international partnerships to connect tertiary institutions in Africa. Globacom’s Enterprise Group Commercial Coordinator, Mr. Folu Aderibigbe, disclosed this at the third Annual Conference and fourth Annual General Meeting of the West and Central African Research and Educational Network (WACREN) in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire recently. Addressing the gathering of policy and decision makers, scientists, researchers, network managers, identity and access management experts, and connectivity and equipment providers from across the world, Mr. Aderibigbe said Globacom is in the forefront of delivering connectivity to…

Tokunbo Idowu also known as Tboss in the 2017 Reality TV show Big Brother Naija has emerged winner of the Payporte Game challenge. Her prize was N500,000. She was declared winner after taking part in Friday night arena Payporte Game challenge in the 10th week of the show. She said she plans to have a talk show on radio, but now she is thinking of television too. Tboss who was controversial during the show had said she was not in the game for money. She said she could spend N25m in a week. The Nigerian-Romanian had also boasted that wealthy…