So many have hope in this country. It tells u that alot believe in NIGERIA. May the Almighty God not fail us. May our sacrifices not be in vain!!

Archbishop Emeritus of Abuja Catholic Archdiocese, John Cardinal Onaiyekan on Thursday expressed hope that he would see the anticipated new Nigeria before he dies.

Speaking on Channels Television’s programme on Thursday, Onaiyekan, who was reacting to the 2023 presidential poll, said the election was rigged, stressing that those involved in manipulating the outcome of the elections know themselves.

The 80-year-old clergy who expressed sadness over the inability of the election tribunal to decide on the petitions filed by opposition parties before the May 29 handover, said God knows those that rigged the election.

He said, “I am 80, so I am not going anywhere. I am still dreaming that before I go to paradise, I should see a better Nigeria, and I believe it is possible.

“Those who rigged the election know they did it. Those who refused to allow the people’s will to prevail, they know. And the wonderful thing is that God himself knows them.

“Even the court may not know, but God knows them. And they know themselves.

“The more we mention God is the more we should be on guard not to be using the name of God in vain.

“There are countries that did not want to mention God, but they are running their affairs well.

“But if we decide to keep mentioning God, then we must run our affairs according to the will of God”.

The court had fixed May 8 for the hearing of the petitions challenging the victory of the president-elect, Bola Tinubu.

The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar, and his Labour Party counterpart, Peter Obi, had approached the tribunal to upturn Tinubu’s victory, alleging that their mandates were stolen by the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.


Cc: Mynd44

Meaning be careful how u treat people on ur way up the ladder of success, u might meet them on ur way down.

New Zealander-Nigerian mixed martial artist, Israel Adesanya, has revealed why he mocked his Brazilian rival, Alex Pereira’s son after he knocked him out at UFC 287.

DAILY POST recalls that he mocked Pereira’s son after defeating him via knock out at UFC 287 on April 9, 2023, to reclaim the UFC Middleweight title he lost to him last year.

His action didn’t sit well with some critics who berated him for taking a swipe at the little boy after beating his father.

But in a recent interview with XcellentMMA, Adesanya said he did that to teach the boy a life lesson.

He said the little boy had previously mocked him after his dad defeated him to emerge Middleweight champion.

He said, “The guy [Pereira] knocked me out in his home country. And then you see your kid doing that [mocking me] and you don’t have the discipline to scold him.

“If you are not going to teach your kid manners and respect, I will. So, I did him a favour. I did that kid a favour. Now he has a life lesson that he can hold on to forever. I’m glad I did it.”

Cc: Honeric01

What a day for Napoli fans after 33years of waiting. Congratulations to them and a big congratulations to Victor Osimhen for his heroic goals and contribution. Indeed he is a man on the lips of so many today both in Italy and beyond...

Napoli have won their first Scudetto since 1990 after Victor Osimhen’s second-half goal secured a 1-1 draw at Udinese on Thursday night.

They came within six minutes of securing the title on Sunday, but drew with Salernitana, meaning that Lazio had a mathematical chance to overtake the runaway leaders. That chance has now disappeared, with Napoli’s lead now at 16 points with just five games remaining in the season.

Sandi Lovrić’s clinical finish from inside the penalty area on 13 minutes rocked Luciano Spalletti’s side, who struggled to create chances at the other end, although Osimhen threatened with a couple of first-half headers.

But when the Nigeria striker pounced 12 minutes after half-time, calmly side-footing in a rebound, it sparked celebrations among thousands of travelling Napoli supporters.

“I’m happy for all Napoli fans worldwide,” Osimhen said. “No one deserves the Scudetto more than Neapolitans — more than us. I don’t care who scored, I just wanted to get the Scudetto.”

“I want to enjoy this moment for the rest of my life. Then after the season my other dreams can come,” Osimhen continued. “But for now it’s not a time to talk about my other dreams. I wanted to win this.”

“Napoli, this is for you,” coach Spalletti said. ”There are people here who will be able to get through difficult moments in their lives because they remember this moment. These people deserve all the joy.”

Cc: Honeric01

They emphasis should not be on the region but on the person who can be a servant leader of the people in general.

Although the ruling All Progressives Congress keeps reiterating that it was yet to zone the principal offices in the National Assembly for the 10th Senate, indications are rife that Northern Nigeria despite keeping the position of the Senate President in the past 16 years is still keen on retaining it in the 10th Assembly.

Although insinuations are rife that it is the turn of the South to produce the next Senate President, underground scheming in the polity may well make it elusive for southern politicians, going by what Daily Times gathered.

Those pushing for the North to clinch it are basing their rationale on the fact that it was their votes that helped APC to win the presidential election, even though the opposition parties have called the election ‘a flawed one’.

A source told the newspaper that the latest push for the north to get the position may not be unconnected with the fact that there is need to let the region have an eye on whet the President is doing in order to protect their interest. According to him, “Senate Presidency and Presidency should ideally not be in the same region because both are the engine room of the government.

While one controls the executive arm the other controls the legislative arm. Since the South has the President, it will be good to let the North have the Senate President.

The office of the Vice Presidency is actually not powerful and can only perform assignments delegated by the President. In this respect, it will be good for the North to have it, while the south gets Speaker of the House of Reps.”

Part of the scheme being used according to the source would be for the party to throw open the contest, which would polarize southern interests to jump into the fray as a divided house. The source also hinted that the senators are looking in the direction of the NW for a candidate, since the NC has produced the likes of Senator David Mark and Bukola Saraki.

So far the southern candidates in hot contest for the position include Orji Uzor Kalu, Osita Izunaso and Senator Godswill Akpabio.


Cc: Seun
Mynd44

This can really help people start having their own shelter. Very key to longer life all things being equal.

The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has explained how workers can use their retirement savings to obtain a residential mortgage.

A mortgage is a type of loan used to purchase or maintain a home, land, or other types of real estate.

Last year, PenCom issued guidelines on accessing retirement savings account (RSA) balance towards payment of equity contribution for a residential mortgage, but in its recent statement, the commission said many employees desire to own residential homes before exiting active employment.

Although, facts have emerged that a significant constraint for most employees is their inability to provide equity contribution to access a mortgage loan to own a house.

To proffer a solution to the challenge faced by employees, the commission said the Pension Reform Act 2014 (PRA 2014) made provision for RSA holders to use part of their retirement savings as equity contributions for residential mortgages.

PenCom said RSA holders must go through various application, documentation and remittance processes in order to access their accounts to pay equity contributions for residential mortgages.

The processes are as follows: Obtaining an Offer Letter; Request for RSA Statement; Issuance of Mortgage Offer Letter; Verification by Mortgage Lender; Issuance of Mortgage Offer Letter; Review of Application by PenCom and Remittance of Approved Amount to Mortgage Lender.

Obtaining an Offer Letter

According to PenCom, the first step is for an interested applicant to obtain an offer letter for the property from the owner or approved agent and approach a mortgage lender to fill out an application form.

The commission said the mortgage lender must review the application form and verify the genuineness of the property offer.

READ ALSO: Group collaborates with FRSC, NDLEA to tackle drug…

“The burden of due diligence is on the Mortgage Lender (The Mortgage Lender is a Commercial Bank or Primary Mortgage Bank licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria to provide residential mortgages) to ensure that the property is genuine and has a valid valuation report,” PenCom said.

Request for RSA Statement

The commission said after the property offer letter is confirmed, applicants are required to approach their pension fund administrator (PFA) and request their RSA statement in order to access the 25 percent of their RSA balance for payment of equity contribution.

PenCom said couples are allowed to apply if they both meet the eligibility criteria jointly. But in such a case, each party shall apply to their respective PFAs with copies of the verified property offer letter.

At this stage, the PFA is required to issue a duly endorsed RSA statement to the applicant, which the applicant forwards to the mortgage lender.

Verification by Mortgage Lender

PenCom said after receiving the RSA statement, the mortgage lender has to verify if 25 percent of the applicant’s RSA balance will be sufficient as an equity contribution.

In cases where 25 per cent of the RSA balance is acceptable as equity contribution, the commission said the mortgage lender would issue a mortgage offer letter to the applicant.

If, on the other hand, 25 percent of the RSA balance is insufficient, the mortgage lender is required to request the payment of supplementary equity contribution from the applicant.

Upon confirmation of the additional equity contribution payment and meeting other requirements, the mortgage lender shall offer a mortgage loan to the applicant, PenCom said.

Issuance of Mortgage Offer Letter

PenCom said within two working days of issuing the mortgage offer letter to the applicant, the mortgage lender must forward to the applicant’s PFA copies of the mortgage offer letter, the mortgage application form, and the verified property offer letter.

The commission said additional information required includes the loan amount, equity contribution required, bank account details of the mortgage lender and indemnity by the mortgage lender to the PFA on the use of the equity contribution.

In addition, the mortgage lender is also required to provide evidence of payment of difference where 25 per cent of RSA cannot cover the needed equity.

“On receiving a mortgage offer letter, the applicant must approach his PFAs to request payment of his equity contribution,” the agency said.

“The applicant shall obtain and fill out an application form for 25 per cent of his RSA balance and provide an indemnity to the PFA.

“The PFA also computes and validates that the requested amount is not more than 25% of the RSA balance. In a joint application, each party shall apply to their respective PFA with a copy of the mortgage offer letter.

“The PFA shall forward all applications that pass its review to the commission within two working days of successful review and validation.

“If the PFA identifies any exceptions or discrepancies during the documentation review, the PFA shall communicate the exceptions to the mortgage lender within two working days.”

Review of Application by PenCom

PenCom said it would review all applications submitted by PFAs and approve or reject the applications.

Where the commission declines to approve an application, it said it would communicate the reason(s) for its decision to the PFA.

Remittance of Approved Amount to Mortgage Lender

Upon receiving the commission’s approval, the PFA is required to issue payment instruction to its pension fund custodian (PFC) to remit the approved amount to the mortgage lender within two working days.

The commission said the PFC must pay the approved amount for equity contribution to the mortgage lender within two working days of receiving the PFA’s instruction.

“Primarily, PFAs are obligated to ensure that all applications for equity contribution by RSA holders meet the requirement of the guidelines,” PenCom said.



Cc: Seun

I noticed the delay is deliberate. The delay and frustrate the system and do it by themselves by collecting higher amount from individuals.
Mine took about 4 or 5 months and I paid N45k for normal duration or so, while my friend paid N120k for emergency which took about 3 or 4 days or so for his son. All these 2 were renewals.

Senate has directed its committee on Interior to urgently investigate the circumstances leading to the delay of issuance and renewal of Nigeria International Passport by the Nigerian Immigration Services(NIS).

It also mandated the committee to investigate the contract award for the production of international passport turn in the report of the investigation within two weeks.

The Senate’s resolution followed the adoption of a motion on the ” Delay on issuance , renewal of Nigeria International Passport “by the Nigerian Immigration Services at Plenary on Tuesday and was sponsored by Senator Ekwunife Lilian Uche representing Anambra Central.

Senator Ekwunife in her lead debate said the delay for the renewal of Nigeria international passport by the Nigerian Immigration Service was resulting in untold hardships for Nigerians, who need to travel out of the country or return to the country.

She said the international passport was an official identity document, issued to Nigerians for the purpose of traveling out and into the country in exercise of their rights to personal liberty and freedom of movement.

She said many Nigerians were still facing challenge with passport processing, despite the six weeks time line of processing passport, given by the Federal Government barely a year ago .

According to her, presently, new applicants and those who want their passports renewed spend between three to six months processing their international passport applications at the offices of the Nigerian Immigration Services and Nigeria embassies outside the country.

Ekwunife said getting appointment for biometric capturing at the passport offices now takes between five to eight weeks, while it takes , many applicants four months waiting for their passports to be ready for collection after the biometric exercise.

She said that it has also become extremely difficult for passport to be processed across the entire Nigeria immigration offices in different states, especially Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt .

This, she noted was forcing the applicants to travel to various locations to get their passports renewed.

“The international students are also finding it very difficult to renew their passports to enable them travel back to reunite with their families,”She said.

Sen.Gershom Bassey (PDP-Cross-River), who seconded the motion said issuance of passport was a right of every Nigerian.

He expressed concern that the idea of delay on issuance of passport that was almost becoming a controversy was not in the best interest of Nigerians.

Collaborating, Sen.Biodun Olujumi (PDP-Ekiti) said the motion was timely, saying that it was important to resolve the issue as that was not the situation in the past when passport were issued within two to three days.

She said it was embarrassing to Nigerians that applicants would need to waite six to eight months for passport to be issued .

Sen.Muhammad Adamu Bulkachuwa (PDP-Bauchi) however, said the motion had come too late as the matter should have been presented earlier before the senate.

Bulkachuwa said he had experienced a similar delay when he applied for a renewal of his passport as Chairman Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs.

According to him, it took five weeks for him to be issued his passport after his biometric exercise.

Senate also in its other resolution on the motion mandated its committee to investigate the contract award for the printing of Nigerian passport

The Interior Committee was directed to report back the outcome of its investigation within two weeks.

Cc: Mynd44

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has blacklisted six online trading platforms in its latest crackdown on illegal and unregistered firms.

In a circular by the Commission on Monday in Abuja, SEC said the platforms were purporting to offer investment and finance services and products.

The circular said the platforms were not registered by the SEC, and the financial services offered by them were also not authorised.

The Commission in the circular listed the companies to include, Prime Invest and “Primeinv.co, FXBoxed, New Finance LLC and New Fx Limited, Axi24, Evolve Consulting LCC and Trust Fund- Mining Global Pty Limited.

“’The Commission’s attention has been drawn to the under listed e-commerce companies and their websites offering online trading platforms to the investing public.

“Members of the public are advised to adopt the greatest diligence in making investment choices.

”In view of the above, the general public is hereby warned that any person dealing with the above mentioned e-commerce websites is doing so at his or her own risk,” the SEC said.

The SEC had earlier warned against patronising a set of firms blacklisted by Italy’s securities regulator, Commissione Nazionale per le Soecieta’ e la Borsa (CONSOB)

#SEC

https://dailytimesng.com/tag/sec/

Cc: Mynd44