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Nigeria loses at least 700,000 barrels of crude oil to thieves daily, minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, said in Effurun, Delta on Saturday. He revealed this at the 2002 graduation of students of Petroleum Training Institute, PTI. The minister, who was represented by Gabriel Aduda, permanent secretary, Ministry of Petroleum Resources said the Federal Government was making concerted efforts to curtail the menace, however. He said crude oil theft had impacted negatively on the nation’s foreign exchange inflow. “Oil theft has denied the country of an estimated 700,000 barrels of crude oil per day. The adverse effect…

Governors of the South-east states are currently meeting behind closed doors at the Enugu Government House. As at the time of filing this report, it is not clear what the main agenda for discussion is, but sources claim it might not be unconnected with the recent security crisis bedeviling the region. Among those in attendance are Enugu State Governor, Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State, and Ebonyi State Governor/Chairman of Southeast Governors’ Forum, Engr. David Umahi. Others are Governors of Anambra and Imo states, Prof. Charles Soludo and Senator Hope Uzodinma, both of whom are being…

Nigeria’s Minister of Fnance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, has kicked against plans by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to redesign some naira notes. She said the ministry was not aware of the plans and only knew about it through the media. She said this on Friday when she appeared before the Senate Committee on Finance for the ministry’s budget defence session. Her comments come barely 48 hours after the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, announced the plan to redesign the 100, 200, 500 and 1,000 notes and will go into circulation in December. The plan is to redesign…

A Federal High Court sitting in Umuahia, has struck out a suit seeking the nullification of the nomination of Ibe Okwara Osonwa as the candidate of the Labour Party for Arochukwu/Ohafia Federal Constituency seat in the 2023 general election. The case which had the People's Democratic Party (PDP) as Plaintiff was on Thursday struck out for lack of merit. In a chat with THE WHISPERER on Friday evening while reacting to the court judgement, Osonwa said: "As I said then, this was maliciously manipulated and facilitated by an Ohafia individual who is afraid of fair competition at the polls. The…

The Court of Appeal on Friday upheld the Federal Government’s application for stay of execution of the October 13 judgment which set Nnamdi Kanu free. According to Channels Television, Justice Haruna Tsammani also ordered that the result of the ruling be forwarded to the Supreme Court within seven day for expeditious hearing. This means Mr Kanu, the self-styled leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, is expected to remain in the custody of the Department of State Services pending when the Supreme Court hears the case. The Court of Appeal on October 13 had discharged Kanu who is being prosecuted…

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has reversed the March 8 judgment by Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja sacking Ebonyi State governor, David Umahi and his deputy for defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC). Justice Ekwo in March said the move from the PDP to the APC was illegal and unconstitutional. The judgment followed suits marked FHC/ABJ/CS/ 920/21 and FHC/ABJ/CS/ 1041/21, filed by the PDP seeking the removal of the governor and his deputy from office for abandoning the party. Justice Ekwo said the depositions of the 3rd and…

The chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Mahmoud Yakubu, has revealed that there are only 120 days to the commencement of the 2023 General Elections. Mr Yakubu made the revelation on Thursday during a quarterly consultative meeting with the media at the commission headquarters in Abuja. Ruling out the possibility of using an incident form during the 2023 elections, Mr Yakubu insisted that the voters would only be accredited through the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS. The INEC boss noted that the deployment of technology has significantly improved the credibility of the election and electoral process. He, therefore,…

Naira fell significantly against the U.S. dollar at the parallel market on Thursday, a day after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said it will withdraw higher notes to check fraud, inflation and insecurity. Black market exchange rates across states showed the naira exchanged hands with the greenback at N775.00 and above for a dollar, and sold at N781.00 in Abuja. This implies a 2.64 per cent devaluation from N760.00 it traded in the previous session on Wednesday. Likewise, currency dealers at the Uyo Udi street market said the hard currency was exchanged at N766.00 and sold at N775.00 to…

Ben Ayade, Governor of Cross River State on Thursday presented a budget of 330 billion appropriation bill of 2023 to the State House of Assembly, christened budget of Quantum infinitum. According to Ayade 130 billion naira would be for recurrent expenditure while 200 billion naira would be for Capital expenditure. Governor Ayade who walked into the floor of the Assembly at exactly 1:10 pm presented a budget size of N330billion, saying the 2023 budget is a citizen’s budget focused mainly in the people. According to him the budget which will focus on deeper agro-industrialization will also see to the finalisation…

The management of the popular Jabi Lake Mall in Abuja, FCT, has shut down its operations amidst security threats in the Federal Capital Territory. This was disclosed on Thursday in a post on the mall’s social media page @jabilakemallnigeria. The management said it was reviewing the security situation with appropriate authorities and that it would be reopened soon. The announcement is coming against the backdrop of security reports by the United States and other western countries that there is a high risk of terror attacks in Abuja FCT. The warnings said attack would be aimed at government buildings and other…