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The Presiding Bishop of the Living Faith Church Worldwide, Dr David Oyedepo, has advised the Federal Government to expunge the part of the newly-signed amended Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020 that gives the supervising minister the power to remove the board of trustees of churches without recourse to the court.

The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), had on August 7 signed into law, the Companies and Allied Matters Bill, 2020.

The bill, recently passed by the National Assembly, replaced the 1990 CAMA.

Oyedepo gave this advice while delivering a sermon at the Faith Tabernacle, Ota in Ogun State during the first service on of the church after COVID-19 lockdown on Sunday.

Oyedepo said, “In the document, they said the registrar-general can remove the trustees without recourse to the court. Don’t try it. This must be from somebody who woke up from the wrong side of the bed after dreaming. The person must have drafted that aspect in the bill as their custom is.

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“I am 51 years old in this thing (Christianity), don’t try it. I have been with Jesus for some time and I am sent as a prophet to nations. That a minister can remove the trustees and close the accounts of the church is.

“You don’t know the strength of any man until you molest his wife. The cheapest way for a leader to lose respect is to insult the wife of his worker. He will tell you to take your job and insult you thoroughly.


“Please know that the church is the bride of Christ. We are returning home someday for the big marriage supper of the lamb. It is wisdom to quickly expunge that part that affects the religious body from that document. It is only safe to do that.


“In fact, they said they would appoint managers. So, they can appoint occultists to be managers of church affairs when we are alive. Don’t try it when this crude prophet is alive, when all the sons of the prophets are alive, don’t try it, this is a timely advice.”

PREGNANT women and children were on Sunday denied access to churches in some parts of Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, as they reopened for services after about four months closure.

Most of the churches visited were seen to have complied with COVID-19 protocols as they provided automated hand washing, hand sanitisers and infrared thermometers within the premises of churches.

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Many churches also displayed the bold inscription; ‘No Mask No Entry’ at entrances, with officials wearing face masks and taking the temperature of worshipers.

At Living Faith Church Worldwide (Winners Chapel) located at Quarry road in Abeokuta, three services were held with an impressive turn out of Christian faithful.

Security agents as well as members of the State Taskforce on COVID-19 were present in many churches to monitor compliance.

But pregnant women and children, who wanted to be part of the service, were turned back.

At the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Jesus Centre Family, Omida area of Abeokuta, there was, however, a low turnout of Christian faithful.

At St. Leo Catholic Church, Otun Abeokuta Diocese, only parishioners with face masks were allowed into the church to observe the holy mass.

In one of the churches visited by our correspondent, Grace and Truth Ministry of Reconciliation, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, it was observed that worshippers maintained physical distancing, wore a face mask and washed hand before entering the church.

The pastor of the church, John Nyamadi, who spoke with our correspondent, said, “We feel happy coming back to church because the word of God says, ‘in the presence of God, there’s fullness of joy.’ So, that is why many of our brethren came out today. We are happy that the government says we should open the church.”

Also, at The Redeemed Christian Church, Christ Ambassador Parish, Akintonde Street, Magboro, Ogun State, congregants’ temperatures were taking, using an infrared thermometer; washing of hands with water and soap as well as use of hand sanitiser and face mask were enforced.

It was a similar situation at RCCG, Amazing Favour Zonal Headquarters, Magboro road, where a handful of congregants sat far apart from each other in the large auditorium.



Service also held at the Apostolic Church Nigeria, Magboro Assembly, with a large turnout of worshippers with a strict adherence to COVID-19 protocols.

At Deeper Life Christian Centre, Cele Bus Stop, Magboro, also ensured that members wore face masks all through the service, while social distancing was maintained.

A member of the Living Faith Church, also know as Winners Chapel, who does not want her name in print, told our correspondent in a telephone interview that the church held three services on Sunday at its headquarters in Ota.

She said, “After the first service, the church auditorium and the surrounding were fumigated before the second service, the same thing was done before the third service commenced.”

In a related development, the Coordinator of Ekiti COVID-19 Response Taskforce, Prof. Bolaji Aluko, expressed satisfaction with the compliance level of churches as they reopened for service on Sunday after five months of closure.

He said, “The churches opened today (Sunday) and they all opened well. Most of them were seen to obey the rules. I think they don’t want an extension of the one-month delay we gave them to ensure compliance with the guidelines.”

Anambra oil magnate, Prince Arthur Eze, has vowed not to stop insisting that the state Governor, Willie Obiano, does the right thing.

Eze spoke at his Ukpo home in the Dunikofia Local Government Area of Anambra State, on Sunday.

He said “I’m not afraid of anybody. I have installed three African presidents. One of them gave me oil blocks in his country. I have assisted in enthroning many governors in Nigeria.


“I have given a governorship candidate N10bn to assist him prosecute his election. I didn’t know the candidate from Adam. He just approached me and told me about himself and his people; I empthatised with him and gave him the money.

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“Obiano is just a small fry. Even this Obiano, I have given him financial assistance as a person and as a governor several times. I have no personal problems with him. My grouse with him is that he is not doing the right things as a governor.


“Many people are suffering under his government. He is not paying the traditional rulers in the state their five per cent entitlement from the Local Government allocation.”

The oil mogul’s rift with the governor had led to the suspension of 13 traditional rulers suspected to be Eze’s loyalists.

In response, the Anambra State Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, C-Don Adinuba, said officials of the state government had decided to maintain “dignified silence” on comments by Eze.



Adinuba warned the mogul not to provoke the state government to start probing his abandoned contracts with the state “because we have his dossier.”

Adinuba said “What he is saying is not relevant and worth replying to. But I think the emergency activism of Arthur Eze baffles everybody and it’s funny. He’s not known for activism. I want to believe he has not forgiven Governor Obiano for beating him all-round in his Dunikofia Local Government Area in a recent election in the state.”

Nigerian traders in Ghana on Saturday decried the closure of their shops by the Ghanaian authorities.

It was gathered that the traders were also issued a 14-day ultimate to pay the sum of one million dollars business registration fees and taxes to the Ghana Investment Promotion Council.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria, the President of Nigerian Traders Union in Ghana, Chukwuemeka Nnaji, in a telephone interview, urged the Federal Government to intervene in the matter.


Nnaji said an Inter-Ministerial Task Task Force went round on August 10 to identify the shops owned by Nigerian traders and requested the registration of business taxes, resident permits, standard control, and the GIPC registration.

He said, “Most of our members do not have the GIPC registration, because it requires one million dollars cash or equity and they gave us 14 days within which to regularise.

“As of Thursday, they had moved to another area and started locking up shops of Nigerian traders.


“Nigerian life in Ghana matters. This is livelihood of Nigerians being destroyed by Ghanaian authorities. This is not being perpetrated by a trade union, but Ghanaian authorities.


“They also demanded that we must employ a minimum of 25 skilled Ghanaian workers and must not trade in commodities that Ghanaian traders have applied to trade in.

“The humiliation of Nigerians is getting out of hand. We are calling on the Nigerian government to come to our aid. We have legally registered our businesses and we pay taxes.”


When contacted, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ferdinand Nwonye, told The PUNCH in a telephone interview that though Nnaji informed him of the matter on Saturday but the ministry has not been formally notified by the Nigerian Embassy in Ghana.

He said the MFA Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, would be briefed and appropriate measures would be taken.

The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a passenger of a commercial bus for assaulting a policewoman controlling traffic at Shibiri bus stop, Ilemba Hausa area of the state while posing as a soldier.

The passenger, Yemi Aiyeni, was apprehended following a viral video of the assault which occurred last Sunday.

The police spokesperson in the state, SP Bala Elkana, in a statement on Friday tagged, ‘Police arrested man in a viral video assaulting a policewoman,’ said Aiyeni took on the policewoman, Inspector Martina Onyeacho, who arrested the bus for reportedly obstructing traffic flow.


He said, “Ilemba Hausa Police Station received a distress call that a female police officer, Inspector Martina Onyeacho, on traffic control at Shibiri bus stop is in distress. A patrol team was promptly deployed in the scene to rescue her. Her assailant, Yemi Ayeni, 32, was arrested while the policewoman was quickly taken to a hospital for treatment. She sustained various degrees of injury from beating she received from the suspect.

“According to eyewitness accounts, the suspect who presented himself as a soldier was a passenger in a commercial bus that obstructed traffic flow on the busy road, waiting for passengers. The suspect was angered by the order issued by the traffic policewoman to the driver to move his vehicle away from the main road to the pave way for free flow of traffic.


“He claimed that the policewoman did not accord him the respect he deserved as a soldier sitting in front of the bus and that she was wrong to have challenged the driver while he was there. He followed up with physical assault on her, beating her with sticks, punching and kicking her.”

Elkana said during questioning, the suspect stated that he had been posing as a soldier since he was dismissed from the Nigerian Army Depot Zaria in 2002 on mental health grounds after spending four months in training.



“Investigation is ongoing and the suspect will soon be changed,” he added.

me I suggest make dem erase election of a thing sef,
because after wen people don vote and kill themselves finish, dem go still go do secret election then bring out the people of their choice.

Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa State has sent the names of 24 commissioner-nominees to the state House of Assembly for confirmation as members of the state executive council.

Diri’s cabinet list is coming six months after he was sworn in as governor on February 14, following the Supreme Court judgment which nullified the election of David Lyon of the All Progressives Congress.

Among the nominees on the list sighted by our correspondent are five former commissioners who served in the administration of former Governor Seriake Dickson.

They are Mr Maxwell Ebibai, Mr Daniel Igali, Ms Faith Opene, Dr Igwele Newton and Mr Akpoebidei Alamieyeseigha.

From the list, however, three nominees are from the Brass Local Government Area; three from Ekeremor LGA; two from Diri’s LGA of Kolokuma/Opokuma and three from Nembe LGA; three from ex-President Goodluck Jonathan’s Ogbia LGA.

Also, three persons are nominated from Dickson’s council of Sagbama; four people nominated from Southern Ijaw LGA and three persons from Yenagoa LGA.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/punchng.com/five-dicksons-ex-aides-make-diris-cabinet-list/%3famp=1

Nigerians on Thursday lampooned the National Broadcasting Commission for imposing a fine of N5m on a radio station, Nigeria Info, over recent comments made by a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Dr Obadiah Mailaifa.

While some urged the radio station to approach the court and appeal the penalty, others noted that the singular action by the Federal Government and its agency is an attack on all media houses in Nigeria.

Last week, the NBC, while unveiling its Reviewed Broadcasting Code in Lagos, had raised the fine for hate speech from N500,000 to 5 million naira.

Mailaifa, on Monday, during a programme, Morning Cross Fire, on Nigeria Info 99.3 FM, had revealed that a sitting governor in the North-East region is a leader of the Boko Haram terrorist sect.

He was later invited by the Department of State Services in Jos on Wednesday and was grilled for six hours.

But in a statement signed by the NBC management on Thursday, the regulator blamed the radio station for the comments, noting that it flouted the NBC Reviewed Broadcasting Code which stipulates amongst other things that “broadcasting shall promote human dignity, therefore, hate speech is prohibited”.

The statement partly read, “Consequent on these provisions and in line with the amendment of the 6th edition of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code, Nigeria Info 99.3FM Lagos, has been fined the sum of N5,000,000.00 (Five Million Naira), only.

“This is expected to serve as a deterrent to all other broadcast stations in Nigeria who are quick to provide platform for subversive rhetoric and the expositions of spurious and unverifiable claims, to desist from such.

“The Commission wishes to put it on record that it will not hesitate to suspend the Broadcast Licence of broadcast stations that continue to breach the Code.”

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Nigerians have since taken to social media to lampoon the Commission for the move.

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A tweep, @NoahNwosu75, stated, “That is an attack on the media. Nigeria is supposedly in a democracy but actually in a dictatorship. The press must be free in Nigeria.”

@Humbleone001 wrote, “This is just to intimidate other media houses. Mind you, when they are done with them, they will definitely come for common individuals. I smell a big cover-up for something too huge to come in the future. It only takes a failed regime to be afraid of the media.”

@JamesOlukayode2 wrote, “Do you have to fine the radio station for this? Seems like a subtle attempt to suppress the truth. Why not investigate Mailafia’s claim and bring the accused persons to book and punished if found culpable? Please let’s run a free, fair and transparent system.”

@xstersy believed, “How can a piece of information that should gladden the government be considered hate speech, hate against who? A security report is not a threat to the unity of the country. NBC is just a puppet on strings.”

@frank_okeoma said, “If Mailafia’s utterances were not truthful, he would not have been released but have been in detention by now. As usual, the government in its efforts to gag the media fined the platform.”

@IkennaOkeh noted, “Every media houses should sue the National Broadcasting Commission for penalising a radio station for simply granting an interview to a man. This belittles free speech.”

@OB_HEXANE said, “Nigeria Info should challenge this fine in court. Freedom of information was signed into law. This is a callous attempt to bridle free speech.”

@nwa_anambra wrote, “I would have expected the Army, DSS, and security agencies in the North-East to work with Mailafia with the information he has. But rather, they are intimidating him into silence which has corroborated his claim that Boko Haram has a sophisticated network.”

@SenDonPius believed that “the media is gradually being silenced in this country.”

@Udehem2020 tweeted, “Truth is now hate speech? Nigeria is going down every day.”

@AyanfeOfGod concluded, “The fourth pillar of democracy is under threat.”

THE Peoples Democratic Party in Bauchi State has given the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, seven days to declare the seat of the former Speaker of the House, Yakubu Dogara, vacant for defecting to the All Progressives Congress.

The PUNCH had reported that Dogara, on July 24 defected from the PDP to the APC.

It was observed that the letter dated July 30th was written by S. Rabo Esq., J. S. Jihrin Esq., A. S. Idris Esq and H.S.Saraki Esq, and submitted on August 6.

The PDP, in the letter, prayed that Dogara, the member representing Dass/Tafawa Balewa/Bogoro Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, be removed.

“Our client has briefed us that it has been formally notified by Hon. Yakubu Dogara, the member representing Dass, Tafawa Balewa, Bogoro Federal Constituency in Bauchi State, that he has defected from PDP to APC.

“It is against the background of the foregoing that we demand your invocation of the provisions of Section 68 (1) (g) and (2) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended by declaring his seat vacant, consequent upon his said defection, within seven working days of the receipt of this notice,” the letter read in part.

Former Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has condemned ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo’s official statement on the death of ex-Senator Buruji Kashamu.

The PUNCH had earlier reported that Kashamu, a governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2019 election in Ogun State, died of COVID-19 complications on Saturday at the age of 62.

Kashamu, who also represented Ogun East Senatorial District between 2015 and 2019 at the National Assembly, will be buried on Sunday [today] in accordance with Islamic rites at his Ijebu-Igbo hometown.


The lawmaker had faced extradition to the United States for alleged drug trafficking until his death.

But in a message titled, ‘Letter of condolence,’ addressed to Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun, Obasanjo, who condoled with the family of the deceased and the state as a whole, also alleged that Kashamu used the instruments of law and politics to evade justice.

“The life and history of the departed have lessons for those of us on this side of the veil.


“Senator Esho Jinadu (Buruji Kashamu) in his lifetime used the manoeuvre of law and politics to escape from facing justice on alleged criminal offence in Nigeria and outside Nigeria.

“But no legal, political, cultural, social or even medical manoeuver could stop the cold hand of death when the creator of all of us decides that the time is up,” the former military head of state said, while praying that Allah forgive Kashamu’s sins.

See the letter:




Obasanjo had, in 2014, resigned his membership of the PDP when he wrote to the then chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Bamanga Tukur, that he would cease to be a member of the party unless the party dissociated

The COVID-19 has indeed become the most significant reality of the 21st century. Its incidence seemed to have swallowed every other event that had hitherto began to define human lives since this century commenced. And one of the most significant human endeavours to be affected by this pandemic is public administration, and the public service which connects or disconnects citizens from qualitative welfare and well-being. Government everywhere is defined by three classical functions—policy management, regulatory and service delivery functions. The three functions are correlated and complementary in the attempt by every government to achieve good governance that transforms the lives of the people. However, it is the service delivery function that represents the most visible dimension of government that connects them to the citizens. In other words, it is through the delivery of public services that the government could ever hope to undermine the infrastructural deficit that detract from making the lives of the people better.


Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic struck most governments and their public administration dynamics at this critical service delivery point. And the tragedy of the pandemic is that it caught the entire world at varying administrative stages and phases of the normal. This is even worse for the third world countries, and Africa especially. Let me illustrate with the Nigerian public service. Before the COVID-19 lockdown, the Nigerian public service system had been afflicted by a bureau-pathological protocol defined by collusion between what we all know as the “Nigerian factor” and some damaging systemic debilities. Nigeria inherited the British public service logic at independence. However, the introduction of the public service system and its frameworks and dynamics met a different cultural reality that had never been in sync. The inherited Weberian bureaucratic model rides on a one-model-fits-all service-wide standard operating framework encoded in the General Order that we now call the Public Service Rule.


This system, which Douglas McGregor calls “Theory X,” is founded on regulatory control, and the maintenance of law and order. Hence, it is easily suited for managing the “input-process” side of policy and programme implementation, but is essentially weak in managing the “output-outcome” results framework. Yet, since the emergence of the managerial revolution in the 1970s, the reform of the public service in most countries has been hinged around the modernisation of the system in a way that institutionalises performance management system, project management practices underpinned by monitoring and evaluation system, etc., and a pay structure that rewards performance and productivity and upgrades employees to strategic partners and assets in a whole value creation process managed through competency-based human resource management practices facilitated by professional HR managers. This is what McGregor calls “Theory Y” of public administration. It is therefore this move from Theory X to Theory Y that had been the focus of Nigeria’s public service reform efforts since independence. These efforts got to a head in 1974 when the Udoji Reform Commission was instituted to facilitate the modernisation of the system from the Weberian bureaucracy to a performance management system that efficiently ensure productivity and service delivery. The Udoji Report was essentially neglected, and the public service system has remained mired in a dysfunctional state that could only produce infrastructural deficits.


The bureaucratic model of the Nigerian public service has therefore turned it into a great tideline that is managed through damage control. Smart public servants and government functionaries working for high stakes and high-end achievements within the ambit of the system operate through task force and ad hoc parallel structures or front-end project implementation units, which are by and large contraptions designed to side track the rigidities of a command and control bureaucracy. Unfortunately, and due to weak action research function in government, there is no sufficient flexibility or change orientation and competences to mainstream the practices that work in task force arrangement as smart or good practices and innovations to improve MDAs internal operating systems. The system did not only erode competency-based HR practices, there is also a poor sensitivity to reskilling to address capacity deficits in the dynamics of programmes and project implementation. As a result of the one-size-fit-all service-wide single standards and centralised governance controls for recruitment, promotion, postings, etc. and indeed the entire career management value chain, there is no public manager that has the full latitude that CEOs have in corporate settings to manage embedded politically induced behaviour that limits performance effectiveness at the core of MDAs operations.


This exactly is the old administrative normal, and its inefficient dynamics, that the COVID-19 pandemic met Nigeria with. And the consequences for Nigerians have ranged from unmitigated disruption and economic recession to the loss of lives. The pandemic and the lockdown have effectively exposed the weaknesses and fault lines of the old administrative tradition that Nigeria, as well as some other countries in Africa, operates. Yet each country, like Nigeria, had to negotiate a governance path towards defeating the coronavirus, and safeguarding the lives and welfare of the citizens and each country has had varying degree of success. The damage control was founded on quick-thinking leadership and the heroic sacrifices of frontline health workers and other public servants who had to brave the terror of engaging with the virus without the full compliments of personal protective equipment.


And now, as the Nigerian economy and society gradually reopen, the fundamental challenge is to properly now gain an efficient foothold for the public service in the new administrative normal in Nigeria. Put properly, the challenge is that of how to make the administrative dynamics of Nigeria sufficiently preemptive to anticipate a future pandemic, and the trouble generated by the economic recession and deep fiscal crisis instigated by COVID-19. And so with the sudden transformation of the way we look at work and the workplace dynamics, the public service had to forcefully embrace what used to be the staple of administrative conferences and forecasting. The “accidental agility” of the public service during this pandemic has to translate into a deep-seated administrative efficiency that will take the lead in making governance good and effective in a post-COVID-19 dispensation. Ironically, therefore, the tragedy of the pandemic and of Nigeria’s unpreparedness for it has presented the public service system with a unique opportunity to reflect on and rethink its governance and administrative policies. And the question is simple: how does the Nigerian public service work in the new administrative normal and under the omnipresent threat of the coronavirus?


And since the entire world and their institutional frameworks have been left reeling by the COVID-19 pandemic, where will the road maps, models and benchmarks that will inform the transition to the new normal come from? A good way to answer these questions is that since several states have had distinct successes in certain significant institutional phases, a country like Nigeria will have to look inward and outward to generate a creative administrative response that will be uniquely Nigerian. Reform is not just about copying global best practices. On the contrary, it is about adoption and adaptation. I will identify several principles that should help foreground reform adaptation in a post-COVID-19 administrative era in Nigeria.


The first guiding principle for overcoming this period is “react today; think of tomorrow.” Countries that had been ravaged by the pandemic have had to call on some ingenious and creative means by which some temporary administrative reliefs could be achieved. This is commendable as a short-term measure to keep the coronavirus at bay. Yet, such measures must be undergirded by a more futurist situation analysis that generates alternative scenarios in anticipation of possibilities and uncertainties. This immediately speaks to the familiar four stages of “forming-storming-norming and performing” model of organisation formation that enables any institution and organisation to become efficiently formidable not only in dealing with a present challenge but also in anticipating future situations.


This gives birth to the second principle of strategic and scenario planning, together with strategic communication. While the former explores “what-if” and “then-what” involved in forecasting the administrative future, the latter entails utilising communication to help people understand the present crisis of the public service and its future possibilities by bringing them along on a journey grounded on data, evidence, action and impact, as a model of the future.

Thirdly, the new administrative normal requires a new professional skill and competency sets for navigating the administrative demands of a public service under the threat of a novel virus. This enables the public servants to bring multiple perspectives to policy challenges and public service delivery using foresight techniques to test different scenarios, and building resilience into policy design from potential shocks and unforeseen events.



Fashioning new professional skills set involves several other requirements. First, it demands a human resources management architecture around which a new professionalism will be built. Second, this affects the way we reflect on the workplace, work structure and work dynamics that will affect the performance and productivity Nigeria needs. And thirdly, the professionalism must be undergirded by new culture and value changes that enable the public servants to focus on the new enabling values and ethos as well as helping them to think outside of the administrative box.


Prof Olaopa is a directing staff, National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, Jos

Former President Goodluck Jonathan has cautioned politicians against playing politics with bitterness and violence.

He charged politicians to instead embrace peace and promote things that would promote nation-building.

Jonathan was quoted to have said this on Friday during a virtual meeting organised by the umbrella body of Ijaw cultural associations, known as the Ijaw Nation Development Group.

This was contained in a statement by his media aide, Ikechuckwu Eze, via an email.


The statement said, “Former President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, warned politicians against politics of bitterness and violence and charged them to forge a common agenda that would promote peace and sustainable development in the nation.

“The former president further urged them to put the interest of the nation first, adding that politics was not about dividing the people and fighting enemies.”

Jonathan was quoted to have said, “To the politicians among us, let us shun politics of bitterness and violence and pursue our common interest, regardless of party affiliations.


“Politics is not about creating and fighting enemies; it is not about dividing the people. Politics is about aspiring for a platform and the ability to utilise it to positively impact our people and develop the nation.

“Irrespective of party differences, let us forge a common agenda that will promote peace, unity and prosperity among our people.


“As a crusader for functional democracy and good governance in our country and continent, I would like to see our people play key roles in the emergence of who leads them and how they are led.


“Nothing drags a people and a nation back more than a social crisis occasioned by the struggle for leadership. We cannot pretend to love our people if we place our personal ambitions over and above everything else and allow it to frustrate the people’s will and our common good.”

The Niger Delta Development Commission has demanded refund of N2.5bn from Delta North Senator Peter Nwaoboshi for contracts his companies allegedly failed to execute.

However, the names of the errant firms were not disclosed in the letter addressed to the lawmaker.

The commission asked Nwaoboshi to refund the money within two weeks.


The letter dated July 5 signed by the Director, Legal Services of the NDDC, Peter Okoro, asked the senator to pay back the money meant for the supply of plastic chairs and desks for primary and secondary schools in the Niger Delta region in 2017.

It read, “Instead of supplying the chairs and desks to the Commission’s warehouse in Port Harcourt or to any of the NDDC offices in the nine Niger Delta states, the items were supplied to a warehouse described as Akuede Akwis’ located at Benin Expressway, Okpanam, before Wichetech Aluminum Company.”


According to the letter, the lawmaker’s firms were paid to supply the plastic chairs and desks to schools in Delta North Senatorial District, including desks and benches to selected schools in the Niger Delta.

The NDDC noted, “Despite having fully paid for the 2017 contracts for the production of chairs and desks, the items have not been supplied to the commission.

“The resultant effect is that the commission and the Niger Delta region have been deprived of the use of the desks and chairs.”


The NDDC spokesperson, Charles Odili, confirmed the authenticity of the letter.

Matter in court, unsigned letter not delivered to me –Nwaoboshi

But Nwaoboshi in a statement by his media aide, Awele Onokwai, on Friday, said the matter was already before a competent court of law and that he had yet to receive a copy of the letter purportedly addressed to him from the NDDC.

Nwaoboshi described the letter as fake as it was not officially addressed or signed.


He also said that the letter did not link him to any of the contracts.


The statement read in part, “Our attention has been drawn to the purported subject matter above, credited to one Peter Claver Okoro, Esq, posing as the Director, Legal Services of the Niger Delta Development Commission and we make bold to state the following:

“That the purported matter is sub judice as it is already before two law courts of competent jurisdiction in Nigeria, wherein, Distinguished Senator Peter Nwaoboshi sued the NDDC, Mr Charles Odili and relevant newspapers for defamation of character.


“The purported letter addressed to the Senator Peter Nwaoboshi was written on the 5th of July 2020 and as of today, 7th of August 2020, the said letter has not reached Senator Peter Nwaoboshi – either in person or office or by substitution.

“The purported letter, unlike any formal letter emanating from a recognized government Ministry, Agency or Department is not signed, therefore, can easily be denied.

“Nowhere in the contents of the purported letter was it stated that the contractor is directly linked to Distinguished Senator Peter Nwaoboshi.


“Nowhere in the purported letter was it stated that the warehouse, where the plastic chairs were domiciled, belongs to Distinguished Senator Peter Nwaoboshi.”

Nwabaoshi, his colleagues in the National Assembly and some former ex-governors have denied being contractors to the NDDC.

The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), is currently hosting the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Edo State, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The chairman of the party’s caretaker committee, Mai Mala Buni, led the candidate to the meeting.

The meeting is holding amidst heightened tension in the Edo State.

Details later…

Zoom not best technology for virtual court sitting – Osinbajo

Published August 6, 2020

     

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo on Thursday says the teleconferencing application, Zoom, is not the best for holding virtual court proceedings.

The vice-president said though Zoom has its own advantages, it is not completely suitable for virtual court proceedings as a lot of documents and evidence would need to be examined during hearings.

Osinbajo, who delivered a keynote address via Zoom during the Law Students Association of Nigeria’s national virtual town hall meeting 2020, advised lawyers in the country to be technology savvy.

According to him, a 21st century lawyer must be interdisciplinary, multi-tasking and digitally strong.

He noted that the coronavirus global pandemic has necessitated reduction of human contact.

The Supreme Court had, mid-July, ruled that virtual court sitting was not unconstitutional.



A seven-man panel of the apex court, led by Justice Olabode Rhodes-Vivour, said although the court had not declared it constitutional, the various practice directions issued by the heads of courts permitting their judges to adopt remote hearing in deserving situations “enjoyed the presumption of regularity.”

Members of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 on Wednesday briefed the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), on ongoing efforts to curtail further spread of coronavirus and the way forward.

They were led to the meeting that was held inside the Presidential Villa, Abuja by their chairman, Boss Mustapha, who is also the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

Others at the meeting are the PTF’s national coordinator, Sani Aliyu; the Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire; and the Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Chikwe Ihekweazu.


The meeting is coming ahead of Thursday’s announcement of new protocols by the task force

meanwhile;
Port Harcourt base youngest tech say's

From now to December I'm hoping God my automatic change over switch
will be saleable.

Think big and become great.

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NEWS
Ondo Assembly suspends fourth lawmaker in four weeks
Published August 4, 2020

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Peter Dada, Akure


The Ondo State House of Assembly has suspended the lawmaker representing Ondo West Constituency 1, Mr Tomide Akinribido, over alleged gross misconduct.

The suspension of the lawmaker came barely one month after three lawmakers were suspended for a similar offence.

Akinribido, who is a lawmaker of the Zenith Labour Party, was suspended for using vulgar words in the hallowed chamber during plenary.

Details later…

Two Katsina nurses arrested for newborn baby’s theft
Published August 4, 2020

Three women, including two nurses, have been arrested by the Katsina State Police Command for the alleged theft of a newborn baby girl abandoned in a private hospital in the state.

According to the police, one Shamsiya Sani of the Dandagoro Quarter, Katsina, was delivered of the baby on July 25, 2020.

The mother reportedly abandoned the baby shortly after delivery and left behind a handwritten note, which explained that she took the action because the baby was born out of wedlock.


The police said the two nurses at the hospital, Misira Tijani and Grace Ejigu, picked up the baby and allegedly sold her to one Eucharia Onyema.

The three women were paraded at the headquarters of the state police command on Monday.

The command’s spokesman, SP Gambo Isah, said the driver of a commercial tricycle hired by the three women took them to the Sabongarin Police Division after eavesdropping on their conversation.


“The baby is already receiving attention at the Social Welfare Department of the state Ministry of Youths and Social Development,” Isah added.

The nurses, however, denied selling the baby, insisting that they gave her to Eucharia Onyema on humanitarian grounds.


“We took the step on humanitarian grounds. We never sold the baby. The only mistake we made was not informing the hospital management before taking the action,” Tijani said.


Eucharia insisted that she did not buy the baby, adding that she collected her from the nurses with a view to taking care of her since she had no child of her own.

Pondei, others spent N5bn as medical allowances – Senate report

• NDDC incurs N808.9m as imprest during lockdown

The Senate report on the alleged financial recklessness in the Niger Delta Development Commission has revealed how the top management of the agency shared N4.9bn among themselves in the guise of medical checkup.

The document also showed that the management paid N114.9m as supplementary medical allowance to 26 staff member during the same period.

It stated that both disbursements were made when the nation was under lockdown to check COVID-19 spread.

The report was adopted and approved by the Senate shortly before it proceeded on its annual recess penultimate week.

A copy of the document obtained by our correspondent in Abuja on Monday, indicated that the monies were paid to the individual accounts in March and April this year.

The document indicated that the acting Managing Director, Daniel Pondei, and the two executive directors got N14.2m each.

The report noted that no such payment took place during the first Interim Management Committee led by Joi Nunieh.

It nonetheless, stated that available data showed that the allowance had been in existence even though it appeared to have no specific policy underpinning it.

The report stated, “The three members of the Interim Management Committee received the highest amount of N142m each.

“Two other people, namely Evan Caroline Nagbo and Ms Cecilia Akintomide, took N12,387,500 each, while Peter Uwa Edieya was paid N10,340,000.

The report further added that four other members of staff collected about N8m each while 140 others collected an average of N7m each.

The NDDC management also paid 75 others N6m each while 153 staff members were paid N5.5m.

Four other category of staff were paid between N4.1m and N4.8m while seven others got about N3m each.

The document further indicated that 804 staff members collected between N2.4m and N2.9m each.

Apart from these, the document showed that the management paid N114.9m as supplementary medical allowance to 26 staff members.

No fewer than 15 of them got N7m while one of them collected N5.2m.

The rest however collected between N375, 000 and N550, 000 each.

The report indicated that “payment to all the 1,401 staff who received the allowance was made on 16 March 2020.”

It added that the distribution of the payment category and number of staff did not suggest a regular hierarchical pattern and an absence of clear policy, which raised suspicion of arbitrariness.

The report also stated that the NDDC management used staff members for the distribution of Lassa Fever kits.

It explained that Personal Protective Kits were given to the 185 LGAs of the Niger Delta states through the NDDC staff.

The staff members, according to the document, were paid various amounts, ranging from N300,000 to N6,845,000, on April 15, 2020 for the distribution of the kits.

The report stated, “The total amount used for the distribution is N55,090,000.

“Twenty-nine employees were engaged in ‘Monitoring of the Emergency Response Programme on Lassa Fever Outbreak at a cost of N5,972,500’.

“NDDC did not provide any returns on the end-user beneficiaries which would have helped in evaluating the accountability and transparency of the programme. There was also no mention of the original target beneficiaries.

“NDDC management did not provide details of allocation of the Lassa fever Protective Kits per each state and LGA and how the distributors were assigned as well as the collated report on the distribution exercise.

“They should have justified the huge amount of money allocated for the exercise.”

The report further added that by its own record. NDDC spent N808.9m as imprest between October 29 2019 and May 23. 2020.

It stated that, “this covers a period of seven months during most of which the nation was on lockdown.

"Given that significant amount was also expended on travels, duty tour allowance during this period, payment of bills, it is difficult to justify this huge amount as imprest necessary for the services of the commission.”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/punchng.com/pondei-others-spent-n5bn-as-medical-allowances-senate-report/%3famp=1

I don't think schools in Nigeria will soon resumed now check all those things that we are hearing sef.

School reopening: Ogun cancels COVID-19 test requirement

Governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun, on Monday, cancelled the initially announced Covid-19 test requirement for resuming pupils in exiting classes.

There has been outrage by parents of pupils in private secondary schools in the state over the request of N25,000 COVID-19 test fee by the government.

But in a statement on Monday evening titled, “Ogun Makes COVID-19 Test Free For All Returning SS3 Boarding Students”, the governor stepped down COVID-19 test as a requirement for each graduating pupil to resume.

Abiodun also apologised for the “inconvenience and confusion” experienced by some protesting parents on Sunday.

The statement read, “After reviewing these developments, I have today immediately directed that the Government Laboratories carry out tests for all returning SS3 boarding students at no cost. I have also directed that all those who have paid for tests be refunded. The health of our children remains our utmost priority.

“However, in view of the total number of boarding students to be tested (5,340private and 500 public), and bearing in mind the limitation of our installed testing capacity of 500 tests per day, it may not be feasible for all boarding students to get tested and get their results prior to resumption or even exams which commence on 17th August 2020.

“Consequently, the State Government has, therefore, stepped down the COVID-19 test as a mandatory requirement for returning students in our exit classes.

“We, therefore, enjoin Private School owners to exercise their duty of care to their pupils. The admittance of students into boarding houses in private secondary schools will be at the discretion of the management and the Parents Teachers Association of such private schools.

“Ogun State Government recommends that students who do not have to stay in the boarding house should attend school from home, especially those with underlying health conditions.

“I have also directed the provision of face masks to all students in both private and public schools.

“The inconvenience and confusion experienced yesterday are highly regrettable and my sincere apologies to the parents and students so affected.

“The quality and standard of education and well being of our children are issues that are very dear to my heart.

“I appreciate the cooperation, support, resilience and understanding of all the people of Ogun State towards flattening the curve of COVID-19. It is my prayer that this phase will end soonest.”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/punchng.com/breaking-school-reopening-ogun-cancels-covid-19-test-requirement/%3famp=1

Parents protested against it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sm7Na7M6JHA

The Deputy Governor of Edo State , Mr Philip Shaibu , has accused a former governor of the state , Adams Oshiomhole, of wanting to covertly seek a third term in office as the governor of Edo State through his alleged surrogate , Osagie Ize - Iyamu.
Shaibu , in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media , Benjamin Atu , titled , ‘Oshiomhole seeking the third term as a governor through Ize -Iyamu,’ said the former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress was seeking a third term by proxy .
He said , “The truth is that Ize -Iyamu is merely a stooge . The real man seeking the governorship position is Adams Oshiomhole who has perfected the plan to betray democracy by seeking a third term in office . The price that Oshiomhole will pay for projecting Ize -Iyamu is an outright rejection.
“Oshiomhole is displaying blind compassion with a specific pledge to return the state to the path of backwardness with failed institutions where individuals will be more powerful than government institutions with an analogue system of operations . Technological development has since left Oshiomhole behind in the scheme of things .”
The deputy governor said the state had a choice between policies of the heart by Governor Godwin Obaseki and policies of the head as currently being propagated by enemies of the state .
“The people of Edo State subscribed voluntarily to the principle of Obaseki because they have seen these principles at work all over the state . We cannot risk the future of Edo State with a man ’s shrunken aspirations.
“Our campaign is based on the affirmation of what we have done and still capable of doing, by drawing our strength from the masses to deal with all our vulnerabilities ,” he said .
Reacting to Shaibu ’s statement , the Edo State Publicity Secretary of the APC , Chris Azebamwan, said the deputy governor was chasing a shadow .
Azebamwan said , “It is laughable to accuse Comrade Adams Oshiomhole of seeking a third term by proxy . He was governor for eight years and more recently , the National Chairman of the ruling party at both federal and Edo State until Godwin Obaseki betrayed the mandate freely given to him by the Edo people .
“The vision and the mission of Pastor Osagie Ize -Iyamu, the flag bearer of the All Progressives Congress , is lucidly spelt out in his manifesto which he tagged, SIMPLE agenda . Shaibu and his boss , Godwin Obaseki, know they cannot fault the document , and they don’ t have an agenda of their own to offer Edo people .
“In their cluelessness , they have resorted to name -calling and mudslinging. They believe they can distract and hoodwink Edo people by hinging their campaigns on persons, instead of issues . Perhaps they should be reminded that Comrade Adams Oshiomhole is not on the final list of candidates for Edo 2020 .
“With the emergence of Pastor Osagie Ize -Iyamu as the APC candidate , Edo people should not just expect a better life , they should prepare to live it.”
appealed for calm , saying a joint investigation team comprising the state government and the company that owned the facility had begun investigation into the cause of the spill .

This boy really need support from federal governments
I hope one day they drawn near to your aid.
kudos to you man.

illicit:
u mean he turned his certificate to that thing?

the knowledge he acquired from there

my name is Basoene Wokoma I am a proudly Rivers state son, I acquired this very gift of tech inventing from God Almighty from my childhood age, but I always sees my family background is the strongest challenges I'm having and that is my limitations for now,
I'm an SSCE holder for now the reason why I did not meet up to university levels is because my dad is late and my mom is not that capable enough to do that,
I'm begging our capable Nigerian rich men and women out there to please reach out to me one day.
07030657245/09077767165
I have the idea's on how to make an automatic change over switch for neppa and generator and TV power guard and security doors system and DC to AC inverter.
briefly explained;
the automatic change over switch it has also the automatic generator turn off&on system in it too.
you can follow me up on my Facebook account and confirmed well.
Basoenewokoma/Facebook.com

sageb:
A good initiative bro, i wish you will get the assistance you need.

Amen,

and thank you

the video is ready now Basoenewokoma@facebook.com

Sammy07:
Actually Lagos has it.

If you're talking about technology, solutions to your Electronics, phones, computer wares.

If you can get it anywhere, you'll always get it in Lagos.

abi?

my name is Basoene Wokoma I am a proudly Rivers state son, I acquired this very gift of tech inventing from God Almighty from my childhood age, but I always sees my family background is the strongest challenges I'm having and that is my limitations for now,
I'm an SSCE holder for now the reason why I did not meet up to university levels is because my dad is late and my mom is not that capable enough to do that,
I'm begging our capable Nigerian rich men and women out there to please reach out to me one day.
07030657245/09077767165
I have the idea's on how to make an automatic change over switch for neppa and generator and TV power guard and security doors system and DC to AC inverter.
briefly explained;
the automatic change over switch it has also the automatic generator turn off&on system in it too.
you can follow me up on my Facebook account and confirmed well.
Basoenewokoma/Facebook.com