Author: David Great

The National Bureau of Statistics has disclosed that Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 2.54 percent year-on-year in real terms in the third quarter of 2023. The rate according to the NBS is higher than the 2.25 percent recorded in Q2, 2022, and higher than the second quarter 2023 growth of 2.51 percent. The service industry was responsible for the growth in the quarter.  The NBS in its ‘Nigerian Gross Domestic Product Report (Q3, 2023),’ released on Thursday said, “The performance of the GDP in the third quarter of 2023 was driven mainly by the Services sector, which recorded…

Nyesom Wike, Nigeria’s Minister of the Federal Capital Territory accused Governor Sim Fubara of Rivers State of burning down the State House of Assembly. In a television interview with some journalists, Wike claimed that Fubara burnt the Rivers State House of Assembly to stall his impeachment as governor. Wike, the immediate past governor of Rivers, accused his successor of being an “ingrate”,  stressing that, he should have maintained the structure that made him governor. Asked if he was regretting the decision to handpick Fubara as his successor, he said, “Difficult question. If you ask me truly, within what was available…

Almost half a million people are fleeing fighting between government troops and rebels in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The UN Human Rights Commissioner (UNHCR) reported in Geneva on Friday that the situation was deteriorating in North Kivu Province, which borders Uganda and Rwanda and has long been in crisis. Government forces seek to assert control over the region, which is rich in resources. The UNHCR put the numbers fleeing the fighting at 450,000 and said at least 200,000 of the internally displaced people had been cut off from humanitarian aid. It said human rights violations…

Forward Operating Base (FOB) of the Nigerian Navy, Badagry, Lagos State, on Friday, handed over nine and a half sacks of seized cannabis sativa worth N15.2 million to the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Badagry. Lt. Empire Okorie, the base intelligence officer, representing FOB Commanding, Navy Capt. Aiwuyor Adams-Aliu, said operatives seized the cannabis on Thursday in the Moba community in Badagry. He said the navy acted after an intelligence tip-off about suspected smuggling activities within its area of operation. “Consequently, the Base Quick Response Team, led by Lt Cdr Kelly Umoru, the base operations officer, and myself,…

A 52-year-old electrician, Obidike Dimkpa, have been arraigned by the police before an Ogudu magistrates’ court  on Friday for alleged N300, 000 fraud. The police slammed a three-count charge on Dimkpa, bordering on obtaining money by false pretences and stealing, to which he pleaded not guilty. The prosecutor, Inspector Bassey Sunday, told the court that the defendant committed the offences in 2021, at Praiseville Estate, Phase 3, Ogudu, Lagos, but was apprehended in 2023. Sunday said that the defendant collected N300,000 as part payment to repair Mr Michael Ebube’s 75 inch LG plasma television, but failed to fix it. “The…

By Emeka Arinze Dr. Olusola Odusanya resumed duty as Director General/Chief Executive Officer of the National Centre for Technology Management (NACETEM) (arguably) on the 1st of May, 2023 and since then, he has run the Agency like his personal business, jettisoning virtually all extant rules guiding the operations of public sector organisations in Nigeria. Dr. Odusanya repeatedly commits administrative blunders, financial impropriety and procurement recklessness which portend grave danger for the research institute and its teeming workforce. Odusanya’s appointment was bedevilled by a widely publicized and elongated antagonism from the then-Governing Board as well as the non-academic staff union of…

The Defence Headquarters, on Thursday, said men of the Nigerian Army in separate operations arrested gunrunners supplying weapons to bandit leader, Bello Turji. The three suspects, whose identities were not disclosed by the military high command, were arrested in Kaduna in operations conducted between November 14 and 17, 2023. Addressing members of the press in Abuja, the Director, Defence Media Operations, Maj. Gen. Edward Buba, said the suspects were on their way to supply arms and ammunition to the bandit leader in Zamfara when they were arrested by troops. “Between November 14 and 17 2023, troops in separate operations arrested…

Prof. Charles Soludo, Governor of Anambra State, has declared that the President Bola Tinubu government inherited a dead economy from its predecessors. Soludo made this claim on Thursday while commenting on the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) policy on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme. “This economy inherited a dead economy. From a macroeconomic point of view, this government inherited a dead horse that was still standing and people didn’t know it was dead,” the former CBN governor stressed. “Because you can’t pour water on a rock and not expect the rock not to be wet, there are humungous challenges and…

A Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, has been asked to commit the former Speaker, Rivers House of Assembly, Hon. Martin Chike Amaewhule and former deputy, Rt. Hon. Dumle Maol to prison over an alleged refusal to obey an order of the court. The new Speaker, Rt. Hon. (Barr) Ehie Ogerenye Edison filed Form 48, which is a notice of consequence of disobedience of the court order against the former speaker and former deputy. The applicants in the suit are the Rivers State House of Assembly, and the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Edison, while the defendants are Rt.…

President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of Ambassador Desmond Akawor to serve as a Federal Commissioner of the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC). The appointment of the former PDP chairman in Rivers State is pending the confirmation of the Nigerian Senate, a statement by Ajuri Ngelale, President Tinubu’s spokesperson said. Akawor, who represents Rivers State, was appointed following the tragic demise of the immediate past RMAFC Federal Commissioner from Rivers State, Hon. Asondu Wenah Temple earlier this month. Akawor has served as Nigeria’s Ambassador to South Korea; Minister of State of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT); Sole…