Author: Chronicle Editor

Chairman of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT), which upheld President Muhammadu Buhari’s second term election, Justice Mohammed L. Garba, has been elevated to the Supreme Court. Justice Garba (from the North-West geo-political zone), who is currently of the Court of Appeal, is among the four Justices of the court the National Judicial Council (NJC), at its meeting on August 11 and 12 August this year, recommended to President Buhari for appointment as Justices of the Supreme Court. The other three are Justice Tijjani Abubakar (from the North-East Zone); Justice Abdu Aboki (North-West Zone) and Justice Mohammed M. Saulawa (North-west…

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says 21.7 million Nigerians are unemployed, this is more than a quarter of Nigeria’s workers. The NBS, in Nigeria’s first unemployment data published since 2018 said the unemployment rate stood at 27.1% in the second quarter. It stood at 23.1% in the previous report, which dates back to the third quarter of 2018. Second-quarter unemployment among young people aged 15-34 was the highest at 34.9%. FG, States debt portfolio hits N28.63trn – NBS Nigeria has been hard-hit by the fallout from the new coronavirus pandemic, grappling not only with its own outbreak, but also…

Chairman of the Board of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Alhaji Ikra Aliyu Bilbis, has described the 6th National Broadcasting Code as an illegality perpetrated by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, and acting Director-General of the Commission, Professor Armstrong Idachaba. Bilbis made this known at a press briefing held Thursday at Reno Hotel, Abuja. According to Bilbis, the actions of Mohammed and Armstrong Idachaba, amounted to usurpation of the powers of Commission. The Chairman said Mohammed went beyond schedule of his legal responsibility by amending the code in a manner that threatens to destroy investments and…

Arsenal have signed Brazil midfielder Willian on a three-year deal after the 32-year-old’s contract with Chelsea expired. ???? New club. New colours. New beginnings. ???? Welcome to The Arsenal, @WillianBorges88! ???? pic.twitter.com/B7Tl01BXLe — Arsenal (@Arsenal) August 14, 2020 A statement on the Arsenal website says the 32-year-old forward has a wealth of experience and has made more than 600 club appearances in a career spanning 13 seasons. Willian started at Brazilian side Corinthians, before joining Shakhtar Donetsk in August 2007. In his six years there, he won four Ukrainian Premier League titles and the Uefa Cup in 2009. Four years…

Nigeria risks slipping into recession — the second in four years — unless there is a strong third quarter economic performance, the Federal Government has warned. It explained that another recession will come with grave consequences. The government also warned that Nigeria faces significant medium-term fiscal challenges, especially in revenue generation, which if not immediately addressed, could snowball into a debt sustainability crisis. Minister of State for Finance, Budget and National Planning, Clement Agba spoke yesterday at an interactive session organised by the House of Representatives Joint Committees on Finance, Appropriation, Budget and Economic Development as well as Loans and…

Israel and the United Arab Emirates have reached a deal to normalise relations, with Israel agreeing to suspend its controversial plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank. In a surprise statement by US President Donald Trump, who helped broker it, the countries called the accord “historic” and a breakthrough toward peace. Until now Israel has had no diplomatic relations with Gulf Arab countries. But shared worries over Iran have led to unofficial contacts between them. Palestinian leaders were reportedly taken by surprise. A spokesman for President Mahmoud Abbas said the deal amounted to “treason”, and the Palestinian ambassador…

President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday said overturning a US ban on Nigerians seeking immigrant visas will take “enormous resources”, but the nation is making progress. Nigeria was among six countries in an expanded version of US President Donald Trump’s travel ban, announced in January, which blocked their citizens from obtaining U.S. visas that can lead to permanent residency. U.S. officials cited issues such as sub-par passport technology and failure to sufficiently exchange information on terrorism suspects and criminals. Nigerian Interior Minister Ogbeni Aregbesola asked the US ambassador in Abuja to drop the ban, but also chaired a committee to address…

Business Day newspaper has apologised to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo after it discovered that it published a fake news against him in an online publication. The newspaper also said it had sent a letter of apology to the Vice President after it pulled down the story from its website. Business Day said, “On 9th August 2020, businessday.ng published a story titled “Ex APC spokesman asks Buhari to probe Osinbajo, AuGF over alleged N10bn withdrawal from TSA.” “That story failed to meet the editorial standards of Business Day Newspaper, as we have since discovered that the story was baseless, unfounded and…

Premier League winners Liverpool have made contact with German champions Bayern Munich over a deal for Spain midfielder Thiago Alcantara, 29. (Bild, in German – subscription required). However, the Reds have no interest in Vasco da Gama’s Brazilian forward Talles Magno, despite reports in Brazil linking the 18-year-old with a move to Anfield. (Standard) Borussia Dortmund’s head of football operations, Sebastian Kehl, has reiterated that 20-year-old England forward Jadon Sancho will definitely be staying at the club despite interest from Manchester United. (MEN) United are set to rival Chelsea in the race to sign Leicester City’s England left-back Ben Chilwell, 23, with the Blues unwilling to meet the Foxes’ £80m valuation. (Mirror) Atletico Madrid’s 27-year-old Slovenia goalkeeper Jan…

The Premier League has scrapped its winter break for the 2020-21 season because of fixture congestion resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. The upcoming campaign will be five weeks shorter than a standard season because of the late end to 2019-20. Last season, each team had one weekend and one full midweek off in February. When the break was brought in, the Football Association said it would “greatly benefit club and country” before England’s Euro 2020 campaign. But the tournament was postponed until 2021 because of the Covid-19 outbreak. Any hope of a similar break before the rescheduled Euros has been…