A youth organisation called Anambra Ekunie has flayed what it termed imposition of governors in the state over the years and said the era was over as the state prepares for the 2021 governorship election. The group also warned politicians using a purported zoning gimmicks to fan the embers of disunity in the state to desist henceforth. President of the organisation, Dr. Ifeanyi Achusi made the disclosures in a statement on Wednesday in Enugu. Achusi said that the popular position among the various sections of the state was that zoning of the governorship seat ended with the emergence of Gov. Willie Obiano. He said that the insistence that the successor of the incumbent governor must come from a particular zone was against democratic tenets and hence unacceptable. Achusi said that the group...
The Senate and the House of Representatives yesterday urged President Muhammadu Buhari to suspend the implementation of the plan to recruit 774,000 Nigerians for Special Public Works across the country. The position of both chambers of the National Assembly followed a sharp disagreement between the National Assembly Joint Committee on Labour, Employee and Productivity and the Minister for State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, SAN, over the modalities for appointing the 20-member Selection Committee for the programme. Keyamo who had appeared at an interactive session organized by the joint committee opposed a resolution of the Joint Committee to resolve into a closed door session. The Minister said he rejected the lawmakers decision to quiz him behind closed doors because of the n...
AHA Taxis Nigeria’s first professor of the Capital Market and former Imo State Finance Commissioner, Prof Uche Uwaleke, on Wednesday described the hike in petrol price from N123.50k/litre to a price band of N140.80 to N143.80 as an indication that the Federal Government was ready to gradually exit the fuel subsidy regime. The Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), in a memo to oil marketers on Wednesday, said that the upward review of petrol price stemmed from existing market realities which were taken into consideration before the new pump price was released. Prof Uwaleke told newsmen that exiting the subsidy regime was necessary in view of plummeting government revenue and the pressure on government finances occasioned by COVID-19. ‘Fortunately for the Nigerian economy...
Governor Abubakar Bello of Niger on Tuesday ordered a 30 per cent slash in the salaries and allowances of all political officers in the state. Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Ahmed Matane, in a statement in Minna, said that the directive was “with immediate effect”.“Those to be affected by the order include the governor, his deputy, commissioners, special advisers and all other political appointees,” the statement said. It said that the “temporary” slash was in view of the economic situation occasioned by the Coronavirus pandemic. “Government will transparently resume full payment of salaries and allowances when the economic situation improves,” the statement stated and quoted the governor as regretting the inconvenience the reduction might cause affected persons. Get more storie...
Brazil education minister resigns over plagiarism, CV ‘lies’
Brazil’s education minister resigned Tuesday only five days after he was appointed, amid accusations that he lied over his academic record. Carlos Alberto Decotelli was the first black person to be appointed to the government of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro. Decotelli handed in his resignation to Bolsonaro in Brasilia, said a spokesman, Paulo Roberto, capping several days of controversy. Bolsonaro named Decotelli last week as replacement for Abraham Weintraub, who resigned in mid-June after becoming embroiled in a series of controversies, including making racist anti-Chinese comments on Twitter. Decotelli had claimed he held a Master’s degree from Brazil’s Getulio Vargas Foundation, a doctorate from Argentina’s University of Rosario and a post-doctorate from Germany’s Wuppertal Unive...