Alhaja Bejide, wife of a former Deputy Governor of Ondo State, Alhaji Ali Olanusi, is dead.
It was gathered that she died at 77 on Tuesday after complaining of stress.
She died ahead of her husband’s planned birthday celebration.
Olanusi, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was the deputy to the former Governor Olusegun Mimiko between 2009 and 2015.
Meanwhile, the state APC has commiserated with the former deputy governor over his wife’s demise.
A statement by the party’s Publicity Secretary Alex Kalejaye said that “Chief (Mrs.) Olanusi died today (Tuesday) in Akure, had complained of stress yesterday, and was taken to a hospital. She died ahead of her husband’s planned birthday celebration.”
The State Chairman of the party, Engr. Ade Adetimehin described sad development as ill-timed, shocking and unfortunate. He said Alhaja was a strong pillar behind the husband’s political success story.
“The party chairman urged baba Olanusi, the bereaved families, and the entire Supare community in Akoko South West to take solace in that the departed lived a worthy and fulfilled life.
Kalejaye called on the bereaved families, particularly the children to ensure that mama’s name is immortalised.
The International Monetary Fund has called on the Federal Government to further increase the Value Added Tax rate to tackle the current revenue challenges being faced by the country.
The Federal Government had in 2020 raised the rate of Value Added Tax from five per cent to 7.5 per cent to raise revenue.
Nigeria currently has one of the lowest VAT rate in Sub Saharan Africa.
The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is currently battling revenue underperformance and had resulted to borrowing to finance the annual Federal Government budget.
The Federal Government is to spend N3.61trn servicing Nigeria’s debt burden in the 2022 fiscal period.
The N3.61trn to be used to service the nation’s debt represents about 34 per cent of the 2022 projected revenue of the Federal Government.
Nigeria is experiencing a worsening debt level as the country’s indebtedness rose by N2.5trn between July to September last year.
The country’s debt burden as revealed by the Debt Management Office hit a record N38trn or $92.626bn as of the end of September 30, 2021.
In the second quarter of 2020, Nigeria’s debt was N35.4trn.
The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari was recently under attack on the country’s rising debt levels
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Nigeria’s debt service to Gross Domestic Product ratio had hit 73 per cent based on figures released by the Finance Minister, Mrs Zainab Ahmed.
But the IMF, in a statement at the end of its Article IV consultation with Nigeria, said despite the recovery in oil prices, the general government fiscal deficit was projected to widen in 2021 to 5.9 per cent of GDP, reflecting implicit fuel subsidies and higher security spending.
It also called for urgent fiscal reforms to stop fuel subsidy and tackle the vulnerabilities of the exchange rate market.
The Federal Government had on January 24 suspended its plan to remove fuel subsidy this year. It also proposed to extend the subsidy removal implementation period by 18 months, saying it would engage the legislature for the amendment of the Petroleum Industry Act.
The IMF Executive Directors said in the statement that the country’s outlook remained subject to significant risks, including from the pandemic trajectory, oil price uncertainty, and security challenges.
The statement said, “Directors highlighted the urgency of fiscal consolidation to create policy space and reduce debt sustainability risks.
“In this regard, they called for significant domestic revenue mobilisation, including by further increasing the value-added tax rate, improving tax compliance, and rationalizing tax incentives.
“Directors also urged the removal of untargeted fuel subsidies, with compensatory measures for the poor and transparent use of saved resources. They stressed the importance of further strengthening social safety nets.
The IMF Directors said it considered it appropriate to maintain a supportive monetary policy in the near term, with continued vigilance against inflation and balance of payments risks.
They encouraged the authorities to stand ready to adjust the monetary stance if inflationary pressures increase.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has said maintained it will soon embark on the indefinite strike should the federal government fail to meet its demands.
A communique made available to newsmen on Monday evening revealed that the academic union and the National Executive Council will meet at the University of Lagos on February 12 and 13.
ASUU is demanding that the Federal Government implement the Memorandum of Action it signed with the union last year.
According to the Chairman of the Kwara State University branch, Malete, Dr Salau Sheu, the federal government is shying away from its responsibility by asking ministers to oversee the implementation of the MoA.
The academician faulted President Muhammadu Buhari for assigning two ministers to oversee the implementation of the Memorandum of Action signed last year with ASUU.
ASUU said: “First, the assigned ministers are not part of the agreement. Only the ministers of Finance and Education were part of the agreement.
“ASUU is having its National Executive Council meeting at the University of Lagos on February 12 and 13.
“If nothing is done by the government between now and then, the lecturers may go on strike.”
Naija News reports that ASUU had earlier declared Monday, February 7, 2022, as a lecture-free day.
This is as the academic union maintained its energy towards embarking on another industrial action following its lingering loggerhead with the federal government.
The Monday lecture-free day Naija News understands is to help the varsity association to sensitize members of the public on its disagreement with the government.
The Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, on Monday disclosed that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government and the United States government are discussing the possible extradition of the suspended head of the Intelligence Response Team, DCP Abba Kyari.
Abba Kyari is being probed over his alleged role in a $1m scam allegedly perpetrated by disgraced internet fraudster Ramon Abbas, popularly known as Hushpuppi and five others.
According to Malami, some reasonable grounds for suspicion have been established against Kyari.
The minister disclosed this on Monday while speaking during an interview on Channels TV.
Malami said, “It is an issue that has international and national dimensions. Actions have been taken, it is a work-in-process locally and internationally and we are doing whatever it takes to ensure justice is done within the context of the law regardless of the personalities that are involved.
“When criminality is involved, Nigeria and US naturally work together when there are elements of the offences that have taken place in the diverse jurisdictions. So, Nigeria is doing the needful by way of supporting what America is doing for the purpose of ensuring that the cases are tried accordingly within the context of the American context of it. And then, eventually, if there is need for local prosecution, nothing stops it.”
The Minister when asked about the probe of Kyari said, “There are a lot of issues that are ongoing inclusive of the possibility of consideration for extradition. That is where the collaboration element of it comes into play.”
Asked if a request for Kyari’s extradition had been made by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, he said, “There could be a need or perhaps the possibility of making such request.
“As far as I am concerned, the parties are discussing, the parties are collaborating, there are exchanges of correspondence from the perspective of investigation, from the perspective of extradition, and associated things.
“Reasonable grounds for suspicion have been established and that will eventually translate to the possibility of prosecution and conviction if indeed one is adjudged guilty by the law.”
The wife of the Vice-Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party in Gwargwada Ward, Kuje Area Council, Asabe Mohmmed Koriya has been kidnapped by gunmen.
Koriya was kidnapped on Friday at about 5 pm alongside ten others.
A relation of one of the victims identified as Salihu Ibrahim disclosed that they were abducted along Gwargwada-Gwombe junction near the Rubochi community.
According to Ibrahim, the victims were abducted while returning to Gwombe and Pesu villages after attending a political function at the neighbouring Gwargwada village.
He further stated that the kidnappers who were more than 30 in number, barricaded the road with logs of wood, flagged down motorcycles and whisked the victims into the bush.
Ibrahim said, “But two other persons who were on a motorcycle escaped. Upon sighting the kidnappers, they abandoned the motorcycle and fled into the bush but the kidnappers set the motorcycle ablaze.”
The Agabe of Gwargwada-Ugbada, Hussaini Agabi Mam, confirmed the abduction of 11 people, including the wife of the PDP ward chairman of the area.
He said, “Three of the victims are from my place, four from Pesu while the remaining victims are from the neighbouring Gwombe village.”
The monarch disclosed that the kidnappers called at about 9 am on Monday to inform them that the victims are in their den.
He added that they demanded twenty-five million Naira ransom before the victims will be set free.
The monarch noted that one of the victims told the kidnappers that no one among the victims can afford one hundred thousand Naira not to talk of raising a million naira.
He noted that the kidnappers had since stopped picking calls.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities has urged concerned Nigerians and lovers of education to prevail on the Federal Government to implement the agreements it reached with the union in order to avert another round of industrial action.
The union said its members were already tired of the alleged insincerity of the Federal Government over the agreements.
The Chairman of ASUU in Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Dr Biodun Olaniran and Secretary, Dr Toyin Abegunrin, said this in a statement issued after the congress of the union which was held on Monday.
The union said it had resolved to embark on an indefinite strike should the Federal Government failed to implement the agreements within a specific period of time.
While asking “Nigerians to prevail on the Federal Government to avert the impending strike’, the union said its decision to give the government enough time to implement the agreements reached with it since 2009 had portrayed it as a toothless bulldog.
The statement read, “Our Union, ASUU, is using this medium to call upon the Federal Government (FG) of Nigeria once again to implement the agreement it (FG) has signed with ASUU. It is unfortunate to mention that the FG signed agreement with the ASUU since 2009 but the agreement is not implemented till date.
” The agreement was renegotiated in the name of peace. But to our dismay, the government has refused to sign the renegotiated agreement. In order to make the implementation of the agreement easy for the FG, the union has limited its demand to only three:
Signing/implementation of the renegotiated agreement of 2009. Adoption of the University Transparency and Accountability Software (UTAS) instead of the controversial IPPIS.
“Conclusions on these matters have been reached with the government several months ago but yet, the FG is avoiding the final stage of signing the agreement. All the FG was doing is promising all the time. The FG has taken the union for a toothless bulldog that can only bark but cannot bite. We, as a union have taken time to pull the long rope with the government until our patience is completely exhausted.
“Our union is tired of the merry-go-round approach devised by the government about the same issues. We can no longer tolerate the swinging pendulum (with a declining amplitude) attitude the government set for us.
“We have endured enough with such insincerity. We have resolved to embark on indefinite strike action if government failed to yield to our demands within a specified period of time. The union therefore, is using this medium to call on the well-meaning Nigerians and the general public to call the FG to order in this respect, and that it (government) should respect its agreement with ASUU.”
Joe Igbokwe, a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), on Monday condemned Omoyele Sowore, a former presidential candidate, for ‘wasting his precious gift of time on acrimony and division, pull him Down syndrome, armchair criticism, unsubstantiated allegations’ against oppositions.
Igbokwe was reacting to Sowore’s latest criticism of Bola Tinubu, the APC National Leader, who just returned from the United Kingdom (UK).
In photos circulating on the internet, Tinubu, 69, had appeared in a stylish wear, looking youthful.
Sowore took to his verified Facebook page to quote: “You can fool some people sometimes, but you can’t fool all the people all the time #WeCantContinueLikeThis,” to which Igbokwe responded: “it is not good to continue to waste your precious gift of time on acrimony and division, pull him Down syndrome, armchair criticism, unsubstantiated allegations etc.”
The former Lagos governor arrived the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos on Sunday.
Recall this newspaper had reported how Tinubu jetted out of the country in January after weeks of consultations across the country over his 2023 presidential ambition.
He was rumoured to have visited the European country to rest and undergo medical checkup, while a source in his camp said he went to visit his family in the UK.
Tunde Rahman, Tinubu’s media aide, later said his principal went to the UK for “meetings and consultations”.
While in London, he had meetings with the UK chapter of the APC.
In January, Tinubu visited President Muhammadu Buhari during which he announced his intention to contest the presidency in 2023.
I am not a polygamist, Odegbami debunks Newspaper headline interview
The owner of Eagle-7 Radio, Segun Odegbami has clarified some information about the interview granted to The Nation newspaper and published on February 5, 2022 which presents aspects of misinterpretation.
The publication which was titled “I’ve no scandals, polygamy is part of Egbaman’s life” gives the impression that the former Nigerian footballer who is from Egba, Ogun State consents to polygamy as a common practice of his people, “This is completely misleading, and it depicts a negative impression of the true state of affairs in my life, ” he stated.
Mr. Segun Odegbami clearly indicates that the title was structured from his conversation between his father which explains the position of his father regarding how a family should be, “I had a discussion with my father 30 years ago on how I was living in Nigeria alone when my ex-wife and family were living abroad. He suggested it was not healthy and that I should either join them abroad, make them return, or marry another wife, it was his practical suggestion, what his Egba people would have done and I didn’t follow the counsel.”
The former candidate for governor in Ogun disapproved of the headline, indicating that he is not polygamous: “To put the records straight: I am not a polygamist. I don’t practice it. I have nothing against those that do. I am a monogamist, ” he said.
Mr. Odegbami who is a former Super Eagles player and the winner of 1980 African Cup of Nation appealed to friends and family who are deeply shocked by the publication, “I have hurt sensibilities and sincerely apologize to my immediate family and to my Egba kinsmen for this unfortunate and erroneous misrepresentation
‘Africans, Nigerians must drive towards excellence’ – Sierra Leone Boardroom Chief, Sally Khatumal
Barrister Sally Hamilton Vinod-Khatumal is the Chairman, NP Sierra Leone, the West African country’s largest oil trade and marketing company. She is also the country’s acting Chairman, Ecobank – the transnational bank that straps the continent like a colossus.
Khatumal is on two weeks personal visit to Nigeria, a part of which she spent as the lead speaker on excellence and the need for Nigerians, and indeed all Africans to eschew mediocre mind sets in politics, parenting, academics, religion, corporate governance and personal living.
Speaking at the annual Celestial Showers 10XBetter Convention in Yaba, Lagos at the behest of the Celestial Church of Christ, PraiseVille on Saturday January 29, Khatumal said, “My intention is to encourage the spirit of excellence in us as Africans, so as to inspire everyone, regardless of your faith or what part of the African continent you may come from. We must all strive to be the best at whatever we do right.
“Excellence is actually work in progress and when you become the best, you cannot be complacent for that breeds mediocrity, which is the enemy of excellence. Young Africans must strive to be the best in academics, their careers, in business, sports, entertainment and different professions. But we should also know that the road to being the best can be hard, painful and sacrificial” said Khatumal.
Mrs. Vinod-Khatumal is also the Founder and Managing Partner, IVY Law Chambers, Sierra Leone and Law Tutor, Council of Legal Education Sierra Leone Law School.
Also speaking at the 2022 Convention, which is its fourth edition, were Ms. Toyosi Ogunseye and Prof. Temitope Jaiyeola. Ogunseye is the new Head of News and Commissioning of the BBC World Service, London. She’s a Mandela Washington Fellow, two-time CNN African Journalist of the Year and Nigeria’s most decorated journalist with over 35 professional awards.
From left Dr. Kunle Hamilton, Mrs. Sally Hamilton Vinod-Khatumal, Ms. Toyosi Ogunseye and Prof. Temitope Jaiyeola at the Celestial Showers 10XBetter Convention 4.0 hosted by CCC PraiseVille, Lagos, recently
Jaiyeola is a Professor of Mathematics at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife and Head, Nigerian Branch of the Neutrosophic Science International Association, University of New Mexico, USA. He won the 2022 Chebyshev Grant for the International Congress of Mathematicians, Russia. He is the Staff Adviser to the Celestial Church of Christ Students’ Parish, OAU.
Song ministers at the Convention 4.0 were Qhemmy Onasanya, CCC PraiseVille Echoes with Aaretivity Toba and the Seyifunmi Olakiigbe-led CCC Ikorodu Central Choir.
The all-day Celestial Showers 10XBetter Convention 4.0 was hosted by the Shepherd-in-Charge, CCC PraiseVille, Dr. Kunle Hamilton over the weekend. In his opening remarks, the veteran media practitioner and life coach said, “All Christians around the world would be wise to see what is special about Year 2022. It is a year of supernatural return into the divine favours of the biblical Garden of Eden.
“The secret lies in the configuration of this year, where the sum of 2+0+2+2 is 6 and the bible records 6 as the number of mankind for man was created on Day 6 when God described His own feat as ‘very good.’ Therefore, for all believers, 2022 is our ‘Year of Goodness’ or if you prefer, our ‘Return to the Goodness of Eden.’
“It is upon this premise of goodness that our wonderful guests from England, Ms. Toyosi Ogunseye and Ms. Yetunde Odebiyi, Prof. Temitope Jaiyeola from Ile-Ife, and our lead speaker from Sierra Leone, Mrs. Sally Hamilton Vinod-Khatumal crafted their thematic spectrum of the superlatives ‘From Good to Better to Best’ and their delivery was impeccably brilliant as our YouTube videos and viral clips show” Hamilton said.
Collective Responsibility can end HIV Transmission – Wigwe
From left: Chairman, Shell Group of Companies in Nigeria, Mr Osagie Okunbor; Chairman, Dangote Group of Companies, Alhaji Aliko Dangote; CEO Access Bank Plc, Dr Herbert Wigwe, during the launch of the HIV Trust Fund of Nigeria at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Tuesday
Dr Herbert Wigwe, Group Managing Director, Access Bank Plc says ending HIV in Nigeria is possible when Nigerians take responsibility collectively.
He urged the private sector to rise up to the occasion by working in collaboration with government in area of ownership in sustaining the HIV response.
“However, the original emergency Plan to fight AIDS must transform into a Sustained Response that prevents new infections and ensures those on treatment stay on treatment.
“The era of sustainability demands that Africans take responsibility and ownership for the end of AIDS in Africa,” he said.
Wigwe who said that Nigeria currently had the third largest HIV epidemic statistics worldwide, said over 80 per cent of the funding had been mainly from international donors.
According to him, the Nigerian private sector currently contributes about 2% of total funds allocated to HIV.
He urged the private sector to collectively join hands in the ownership of the funding to eradicate HIV in Nigeria, asserting the readiness of Access bank to supporting improved health system.
“Access Bank is not known for complacency. We are known for our drive for financial and economic growth, for leadership in national health issues.
“Particularly the national response to COVID, and we are known for our commitment to sustainability, especially relating to strengthening our national health system.
“With less than half of people living with HIV have access to treatment or adequate care, Access Bank partnered with other private sector organizations here from the Nigerian Business Coalition Against AIDS (NiBUCAA)
“To educate our staff, raise public awareness and support individuals living with HIV/AIDS.”
Wigwe explained that the bank had also conceived of this national HIV Trustfund, as a N50 billion private sector-led mechanism to pool our resources to provide significant sustainable inputs required to scale up the impact of the AIDS response in Nigeria.
He expressed the commitment of Access bank and other private sectors to ensuring that mothers were tested and drugs provided to end mother to child transmission.
Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Chairman of Dangote Group said that it was a collective responsibility of all to bring the number of persons living with the virus to zero.
Dangote said that the money to be realised in the launch would be channeled to getting all pregnant tested and treated.
He called on the private sector to work with the public sector at equal frequency in to end HIV in Nigeria.
Mr Osagie Okunbor, Managing Director, Shell pledged commitment of Shell to the funding to ending the virus in Nigeria. (NAN)
From left: Managing Director, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, Dr Lars Richter; Director General National Agency for the Control AIDS, Dr Gambo Aliyu; US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Leonard; Chairman, Shell Group of Companies in Nigeria, Mr Osagie Okunbor; Chairman, Dangote Group of Companies, Alhaji Aliko Dangote; CEO Access Bank Plc, Dr Herbert Wigwe and CEO Total Energies, Mr Mike Sangster during the launch of the HIV Trust Fund of Nigeria at the Presidential Villa in Abuja
