THE BENUE State House of Assembly on Thursday recommended the suspension of the Chairman, Kwande LGA, Mr Vitalis Neji, for three months over allegations of gross misconduct and abuse of office. The recommendation followed consideration of the report of an ad hoc committee constituted by the house to investigate the allegations against the council chairman. Presenting the report during the plenary, the Majority Leader and Chairman of the committee, Mr Peter Ipusu, said that Neji appeared before the committee but was unable to satisfactorily defend himself against the allegations levelled against him. Following the presentation and debate on the report,…
Author: National Record
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BY OWEI LAKEMFA IT APPEARS the re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of world oil passed before the US–Iran war, was one of the most urgent tasks of humanity. The United States has, for six months, been unable to re-open this vital artery, which handled 100–140 commercial ships daily. Then, like magic, Oman and Iran reached a consensus to reopen the strait. Oman, a tiny country of 5.4 million people spread over a 309,500 square kilometre area, is one of the closest allies of the US. It was the first Arab nation in the Arabian Peninsula to…
BY LAWAN MUSA DANLAMI NIGERIA’s democracy is facing a subtle but increasingly disturbing challenge: the growing tendency of political power to follow elections into every corner of the country. The recent warning by former President Goodluck Jonathan over the presence of serving governors, senior political office holders and party leaders in states conducting off-cycle elections should therefore not be dismissed as another episode in Nigeria’s familiar partisan exchanges. It raises a much deeper question about the nature, quality and future of democratic competition in the country. Jonathan’s intervention followed the Osun State governorship election and similar developments witnessed during recent…
THE CENTRE for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has urged workers to remain hopeful and continue pursuing their rights through legitimate channels, warning that suppressing peaceful avenues for expressing grievances could push people towards unlawful means. Executive Director of CITAD, Engr. Y.Z. Ya’u, gave the advice while speaking at the second phase of the Kano Labour Institute, a three-day labour education training organised by the organisation in Kano. Ya’u urged workers not to abandon their struggles simply because immediate support or mobilisation was not visible, stressing the importance of maintaining legitimate efforts to demand their rights. “My advice, please don’t…
Search Continues For Missing Passengers AT LEAST 41 people, many of them children, have died after an overloaded boat capsized on the Goronyo River in Sokoto State, while rescue teams continue searching for those still missing. The incident occurred near Gorau Community in Goronyo LGA as passengers were travelling to rice farms for the harvest. The National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) said the boat was carrying about 82 people, including a community leader, when it overturned. NIWA’s Sokoto Area Manager, Abdulkadir Yusuf, told the News Agency of Nigeria on Thursday that 11 people had been rescued and reunited with their…
A MAJOR Russian airstrike killed 16 people and injured more than 40 in Kyiv and the surrounding region on Thursday as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said a failure by Ukraine’s allies to replenish its stock of air defence missiles was costing lives. Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched dozens of cruise missiles, as well as ballistic and hypersonic ones, and 168 drones, in the massive overnight attack. The air force said that nearly 90% of the drones and most of the cruise missiles were downed. It did not specify how many ballistic missiles were launched and whether any were intercepted. Zelenskiy…
THE FOUNDER of China Evergrande Group, the world’s most-indebted property developer, was sentenced to life in prison by a Chinese court on Thursday, five years after the firm’s collapse shook the nation’s economy and financial markets. Hui Ka Yan, once Asia’s richest man, pleaded guilty in April to eight charges, including misuse of funds, fundraising fraud, illegally taking public deposits, illegally extending loans, fraudulently issuing securities and bribery. Evergrande, once China’s premier developer, has defaulted on most of its $300 billion in liabilities, its troubles symbolising a crisis in the property sector that has long dragged on the world’s second-biggest…
By Our Reporter, With Agency Reports THE COALITION for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) has committed $4.17 million dollars to fund four studies testing whether existing or previously licensed Ebola vaccines can provide protection against Bundibugyo ebolavirus, which is driving a rapidly escalating outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The studies will analyse thousands of stored blood samples from people previously vaccinated against Zaire Ebola virus to determine whether vaccines such as Ervebo can trigger immune responses capable of recognising the Bundibugyo virus. This is contained in a statement CEPI and made available to newsmen on Thursday in Abuja.…
SHELL has reiterated its commitment to maintaining the highest safety standards across its operations in Nigeria, as it hosted chief executives of contracting companies at its annual Leadership and Contractor CEO Conference in Lagos on August 18. The conference, themed “Learn. Adapt. Improve.”, brought together Shell leadership and senior executives from contracting companies to strengthen collaboration around safe operations and reinforce a shared commitment to people, performance and safety. Speaking at the event, Shell’s Executive Vice President and Country Chair, Nigeria, Elohor Aiboni, said the company was pursuing an extensive portfolio of projects and operations aimed at supporting Nigeria’s growing…
THE UNITED Nations has called for increased humanitarian funding and stronger protection for aid workers as millions of people in Nigeria continue to face worsening food insecurity, malnutrition, disease outbreaks and other humanitarian challenges. The appeal was made by the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Mohamed Malick Fall, to mark World Humanitarian Day. Fall, alongside members of the United Nations and Humanitarian Country Teams, visited nutrition and cholera treatment centres in Maiduguri, Borno State, where they met government health workers, humanitarian personnel, caregivers and patients. The delegation observed first-hand the humanitarian response in Nigeria’s northeast, which reached…