Author: Tahir Ahmed

No leadership vacuum in presidency –Onanuga By NEXTER Special Adviser to President Ahmed Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, says there is no leadership vacuum despite the absence of the president and Vice President Kashim Shettima from the country. Recall that President Tinubu on October 3 travelled for a two-week working vacation while Vice President Shettima travelled to Sweden for an official engagement. Onanuga said all state organs are functioning normally, with the Senate President, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, ministers, and Service chiefs carrying out their duties as usual. “Following enquiries by journalists as to…

109 Jigawa tanker explosion victims buried By NEXTER Victims of the Jigawa tanker explosion have been given mass burial in Majia, Taura Local Government Area of the state. The police had earlier confirmed 94 deaths in the explosion which occurred late Tuesday. However, the casualties later rose to 109 according to reports on the incident. The state governor, Umar Namadi, attended the mass burial in Majia on Wednesday. Speaking after the funeral prayer, Governor Malam Umar Namadi extended his condolences to the immediate families of the deceased and the entire people of the state. “In this critical time, we have…

Boat Mishaps: N-HYPPADEC deploys fiberglass boats on waterways By NEXTER The National Hydro-Electric Power Producing Areas Development Commission (N-HYPPADEC) says it has put a mechanism in place to gradually stop the use of wooden boats in waterways across member states. The managing director, Abubakar Yelwa, LEADERSHIP in Lafia, Nasarawa State. Mr. Yelwa said the move will put an end to incessant boat mishaps resulting in loss of lives and properties recorded especially during wet season yearly. He explained that most of the accidents on the waterways occurred because of the inability of the wooden boats to withstand the pressure from…

Jigawa tanker explosion claims 90 lives – Police The police in Jigawa State said 90 people lost their lives following a petrol tanker explosion in Majiya, Taura Local Government Area of the state. The state police command’s public relations officer, Mr Shi’isu Adam, confirmed the development in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday. He said that 50 persons were hospitalised for varying degrees of injury due to the explosion. ”At about 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday in Majia Town, Taura local government area of Jigawa, the tanker driver lost control near Khadija University and it exploded.…

N’Assembly gets executive bill seeking to raise VAT to 10% by 2025 By NEXTER The National Assembly is considering a bill which proposed an increase in the value-added tax (VAT) from 7.5 percent to 10 percent. According to a report by TheCable, the bill is seeking to raise the tax rate to 10 percent by 2025. The bill also seek to increase the VAT to 12.5 percent by 2026 through 2029, according to the document obtained by the newspaper. The bill also proposed a reduction in the corporate income tax (CIT) to 27.5 percent by 2025 — down from 30…

FG justifies petrol price hike, blames market volatility for action By Ahmed Tahir Ajobe The Federal Government has defended the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) for the recent hike in the pump price of petrol. It blamed the prevailing circumstances in the energy industry for the NNPCL’s action. Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, made the clarification in an interview with Daily Trust in Abuja. The minister, however, said the federal government has no hand in the NNPCL’s action, explaining that government can no longer fix prices of petroleum products in line with the provisions of the…

Fixing pump prices by NNPCL an aberration –NLC By NEXTER The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), has said it is an aberration for the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), to fix the pump price of petroleum products in the country. The congress in a statement on Wednesday, contended that the NNPCL as a private company cannot determine how much the product should be sold in the open market. It, therefore, called on the federal government to immediately reverse the latest hike, which pegged the petrol price at N1030 from N898. The NLC’s position was contained in the statement which was…

5 die of cholera outbreak in Niger By Aideloje Ojo, Minna The outbreak of cholera has claimed five lives in Katcha Local Government Area of Niger State. NEXTER gathered from a health personnel that the disease has also spread to Paiko town in neighbouring Paikoro Local Government Area of the state. The health worker who spoke to our reporter in confidence said four new cases were reported in a hospital in Paiko. He attribute the outbreak of the disease to lack of potable drinking water, adding that, ” there no water in our facility for the use of the patients.…

NNPCL adjusts fuel price to N1,030 per litre in Abuja, N998 in Lagos Filling stations operated by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited have increased the pump price of fuel again. According to a survey by Nairametrics, the product, which previously sold for N897 per liter in Abuja, now sells for N1,030. At NNPC stations in Gwagwalada, Wuse, and Lugbe, in Abuja, motorists queued as they waited for attendants to commence fuel sales. In Lagos, the fuel price has increased from N885 per liter to N998, with long queues observed at the stations. This adjustment follows reports of a…

Secure Rivers, Tinubu Tells Police as violence erupts By NEXTER President Bola Tinubu has directed the Police to secure lives and properties in Rivers state amid violence over the outcome of the Saturday local government election in the state. The president gave the directive through a statement by his spokesman, Bayo Onanuga on Monday, in Abuja. NEXTER reports that violent clashes broke out in some local government areas hours after the police withdrew its men deployed to secure the 23 local government areas of the state. The withdrawal came after the conclusion of the local government election in the state…