The Lagosian

  Former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (rtd), has denied the fraud allegation levelled against by a member of the United Kingdom parliament, Tom Tugend. The Briton, during a debate on a petition relating to the #EndSARS crisis, had accused the elder statesman of looting half of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and depositing the proceeds abroad during his reign. He alleged: “We know that today, even now, in this great city of ours, there are, sadly, some people who have taken from the Nigerian people and hid their ill-gotten gains here. “Some people will remember when General Gowon left Nigeria with half of the Central Bank.” But, in an interview with the Btritish Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Gowon described the claim as “rubbish.” His words: “What the MP said is rubbish. I don’t know where he got that rubbish from. I served Nigeria diligently, and my records are there for all to see.” He added: “I did not want to speak on this issue because people that know me, k

  •Govt denies requesting additional fund •We are constructing railways to Nigeria for job creation – Amaechi The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has announced that commercial activities will begin on the Lagos-Ibadan Railway on December 7. This was disclosed when the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, visited for his monthly inspection of the ongoing work. The Minister was accompanied by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr. Magdalene Ajani and Managing Director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Fidet Okhiria. At the Agege substation, the Minister expressed dismay at what he called the slow pace of work, even as he told the personnel of the contractor, the China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC) that he would return on-site on December 19 to ascertain the progress of work. He also debunked media reports which suggested that the government is requesting an additional $650million for the completion of the project. The Federal Government ha

  The nation’s land borders that have been closed since August 2019 may be reopened soon. The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, gave this indication during an interview with newsmen on Wednesday. Ahmed said the presidential committee set up on the matter has completed its job and has recommended the reopening of the borders. She said the committee would soon submit its report to the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), following which a formal pronouncement would be made on the matter. The minister did not, however, disclose when the report will be submitted and how soon the land borders will be reopened. Nigeria had in August 2019 closed its land borders to curtail illegal importation of drugs, small arms and agricultural products into country from neighbouring West African nations.  

  Self-acclaimed African giant, Burna Boy, has been nominated for the 2021 Grammy awards scheduled to hold on January 31, 2021. His recent album, Twice As Tall, has been nominated in the Best Global Music Album category at the 63rd annual Grammy Awards. His previous album, African Giant, was also nominated at the 62nd Grammy Awards ceremony but Angélique Kidjo went home with the award. Also, South-African comedian, Trevor Noah, has been penned down as the host for the award ceremony. The 63rd annual Grammy Awards will be broadcast by CBS from Los Angeles on Sunday, Jan. 31, 2021. However, not much is known about the ceremony. After 40 years, the show’s longtime producer, Ken Ehrlich, has retired from the awards, but Ben Winston (known for his work on James Corden’s late-night show and “Carpool Karaoke”) will be taking over. To be eligible for the 2021 awards, albums and songs must have been released between Sept. 1, 2019, and Aug. 31, 2020. And there were a few tweaks t

  The Nigerian Youths and Student Coalition (NYSC), the Central Bank of Nigeria and some state governments are planning to raise about N100 billion to empower about 70 million youths across the country.    The programme termed the ‘Nigerian Youth Empowerment Project’ will explore the capital market, CBN intervention funds, and other international partners to raise the funds which will empower youths in the development of affordable homes and agricultural expansion.    The project support by FHT Ventures Pl, a real estate firm, would see to the training and empowerment of 1000 youth entrepreneurs across the 36 states and the FCT in the first phase of the project, running from November 2020 to November 2021    The Executive Chairman, FHT Ventures Plc, Olubunmi Adewa-Faboro, said in Abuja that the firm and its partners are reaching out to state governments for the provision of land as project sites. He added that the Central Bank was being approached for an intervention fund.

  Abubakar Luggerewo, representing Akko Central, has been sworn in as the 7th speaker of the Gombe State House of Assembly, replacing Ibrahim Abubakar of the All Progressives Congress. Our correspondent gathered on Tuesday that this was done through voice votes by 16 members out of 24 members of the House of Assembly, comprising 20 APC and 4 Peoples Democratic Party members. Luggerewo, aged 36 years, was sworn in by deputy speaker, Siddi Buba, from Kwami West constituency. A former deputy speaker, Shuaibu Adamu, announced the names of the 16 members and the motion of the impeachment which was moved by Saddam Bello, representing Funakaye constituency. According to Buba, a member representing Balanga North, the decision to impeach Ibrahim Abubakar is a collective one. He said, “The former Speaker of the house was removed due to lack of confidence. We lost confidence in his leadership; and as a house, we are at liberty to change leadership. Once you lack confidence in some

  The US embassy in Nigeria has celebrated Onyema Ogbuagbu, a Nigerian-born researcher and medical doctor, for his role in the development of a COVID-19 vaccine. Pfizer and BioNTech had announced that the first vaccine they developed against COVID-19 could prevent more than 90 percent of people from getting infected. The vaccine has been tested on 43,500 people in six countries and no safety concerns have been raised. Pfizer was quoted as saying it would be able to supply 50 million doses by the end of 2020, and around 1.3 billion by the end of 2021. Leading Pfizer research for a COVID-19 vaccine is Ogbuagu with years of medical research experience. In a tweet on Monday, the US embassy commended the Nigerian-born doctor for helping “the drug company Pfizer develop the first effective COVID-19 vaccine in the United States”. “Nigerians contribute to the world in so many ways. Our hats off to Dr. Onyema Ogbuagbu at Yale who helped develop a COVID-19 vaccine,” the tweet reads. The US embas

  Three people on trial for the alleged murder of a 400-level Lagos State University (LASU) student, Favour Daley-Oladele, have been remanded in prison. The trio – a prophet, Segun Philip; a woman, Bola Adeeko; and her son, Owolabi Adeeko – were on Friday arraigned before an Osun State High Court sitting in Osogbo, the Osun State capital over the murder. The prosecutor from the Ministry of Justice, Kemi Bello, had brought the suspects before the court on two counts of conspiracy and murder. The charge was not read for the three accused persons and they did not have counsel. The presiding Judge, Justice Grace Onibokun adjourned the matter to March 3rd and 10th, 2021 for hearing and ordered they should be remanded in a Correctional Facility. The Ogun State Police Command arrested the self-acclaimed prophet alongside Owolabi over the killing of Daley-Oladele a final year Sociology student at the Lagos State University. After the arrest, Owolabi narrated how he used his girlfriend to prepa

     FG exempts ASUU from IPPIS, offers N65bn to end strike  0 The Federal Government on Friday agreed to exempt the Academic Staff Union of Universities(ASUU) from the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System pending when the university lecturers will complete the development of its own payment platform- the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS). The government also agreed to ASUU’s demand to pay their members’ salary arrears from February to June through the old salary payment platform – the Government Integrated Financial and Management Information System. After weeks of negotiations and foot – dragging, the government offered to raise the Earned Academic Allowances to university staff from N30bn to N35bn and the revitalisation fund from N20bn to N25bn. Cumulatively, the government, through the Accountant – General of the Federation, offered the lectures N65 billion to call off their eight – month old strike. The government also shifted grounds on a n