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The Chairman of the House Committee on Youth Development Hon. Segun Adekola has criticised the low budgetary allocation to the Ministry of Youth Development and the National Youth Service Corps scheme. The member who represents Ekiti South West/Ikere/Ise/Orun Federal Constituency Ekiti State said the money allocated to skill acquisition under the ministry was too paltry and cannot acheive any purpose in solving the issue of youth restiveness which has plagued the country especially in recent times. The member said the National Youth Service Corps programme may run into a hitch if the government fails to accommodate prospective corpers who will be graduating from various Universities this year. In his words, "there is a massive shortfall of almost forty billion naira in the budget estimate. This is not good for the Youth Service scheme. It is not good that we will be  graduating students every year and fail to incorporate them into the scheme as at when due. This ...

From 1999 to date with the inception of the present democracy in the country, Nigeria has witnessed the emergence of different first ladies with some especially the most recent occupant’s attitude triggering calls in quarters for the scrapping of the office of the first lady of the federation. President Muhammadu Buhari in coming into office had also expressed same position. The recent news of the visit of the wife of the President Mrs. Aisha Buhari to Nigerian soldiers injured on the line of duty while fighting the dreaded Boko Haram insurgents has raised issues concerning the role first ladies are expected to play in the administrations of their husbands. Since the present occupant Mrs Aisha Buhari came on board, she has in her every day action shown that there is more to the office of the First Lady than what some citizens calling for its scrapping failed to observe. Her every move as the softer side of her husband has been very positive and commendable to say the least. ...

THE Supreme Court, yesterday, explained why it has not accorded any probative value on reports from Card Reader Machines that were deployed by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, during the 2015 general elections. The apex court, yesterday, maintained that though the use of the Electronic Card Reader Machine for accreditation of voters was provided for in the Approved Guidelines and Regulations for the conduct of the 2015 general elections, it said the device was never “intended to supplant, displace or supersede” the Voters’ Register. It observed that the issue had resulted to various Divisions of the Court of Appeal, giving divergent interpretations on election disputes that were brought before them by appellants. “True, indeed, the Card Reader Machine traces its paternity to the above Guidelines and Regulations. Regrettably, its probative pedestal in the vocabulary of electoral jurisprudence has generated conflicting interpretations from Their Lordships ...

We would not relent in our battle against corruption, the Federal Government has said. The Minister of Inform ation and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, made the remark yesterday in Lagos during a courtesy visit to the headquarters of Vintage Press Limited, publishers of   The Nation Newspaper. Debunking allegations that the Buhari administration does not have respect for the rule of law, the minister said: “In this Administration’s battle against corruption, we have also been accused of not respecting the rule of law. I make bold to say that this is not true. The mere fact that those who have been accused of corruption are having their day in court is a reflection of our respect for the rule of law. We will continue to ensure a strict adherence to the rule of law in our anti-corruption effort and, indeed in all aspects of governance. “But make no mistake about it, this government will not relent in its battle against corruption, and within the confines of the law, irrespecti...

Governor  Adams Oshiomhole has said that no one is more deserving of the  tag of emperor which former President Olusegun Obasanjo sought to hang on state governors recently than Obasanjo himself. Oshiomhole, reacting to a statement by the former president that state governors live like emperors and hinder the local governments from performing their staturoty functions, said the allegations do not apply to him (Oshiohole) or his administration. Governor Oshiomhole said perhaps Obasanjo was referring to governors that ruled between 1999 and 2007 when he was in power. Several other governors also denied the Obasanjo allegations. Oshiomhole said  Obasanjo exhibited traits of an emperor during his tenures as  military head of state and civilian president. Speaking through the State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Prince Kassim Agbua, the Edo governor said that he has been able to manage the meager resources in the state...

National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, has said that he did not call for the probe of Supreme Court judges over their verdict in favour of Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike. Odigie-Oyegun made the clarification in an interview with Saturday Vanguard in Abuja on Friday, said there was no need to do so since the apex court had not given any reason for its verdicts. The chairman said: “I did not at any time call for the probe of the judges of the Supreme Court because we do not know what informed the court’s decision in respect of Rivers, Akwa Ibom and others. “It would be out of place for me to have made such a call when the apex court was to come out with the details of its judgment. “In any case, what is there to probe when we don’t even know what informed their decisions?” he asked rhetorically. The chairman noted that although the apex court judgment in the case of Rivers and Akwa Ibom were very “astonishing”, the p...

Justice Iyabo Akinkugbe of a Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja, was Friday told that parties in the N150 billion libel suit filed by APC leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu against Daar Communications PLC, owners of Africa Independent Television (AIT) have agreed to settle out of court based on certain terms of settlement. The terms of settlement are: “That the defendant hereby makes a public and unequivocal retraction of the said documentary titled ‘Lion of Bourdilon’, which was broadcast on its television station (AIT), and shall further make the retraction, three times, once daily, on AIT. “That the defendant hereby tenders an unreserved apology to the claimant for the broadcast of the documentary on its television station, AIT, and shall further tender an apology to the claimant on its television station, three times, once daily, on AIT. “That the claimant and the defendant hereby wholly and completely withdraw their respective claims from the court. ” That the claimant and the ...

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Mr. Ibe Kachikwu, has stated that staff of the NNPC would not be sacked in the ongoing reforms of the corporation. The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, disclosed this to labour union leaders in the oil and gas sector in Abuja, explained that the Federal Government will expand the operations of the NNPC so as to make it competitive, instead of reducing its workforce. Speaking in the same vein, Deputy President, Nigeria Labour Congress, Mr. Achese Igwe, said some concessions had been reached with the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources on the issue. He said, “We are going to vehemently resist any attempt to sack workers. We have advised service companies and multinational firms that are in the act of outsourcing and contracting that this will portend the loss of jobs for Nigerians. We say no ...

The Niger Delta Renaissance Organisation has urged Nigerians from all sectors not to use the five day vacation of President Muhammadu  Buhari to overheat the polity. The group said it is important that Nigerians wish him the best in his vacation. The group hailed his decision to hand over power to his vice pending his return to power. In a press statement made available to newsmen in Port Harcourt and signed by its National Director of Mobilisation  Comrade Benjamin Etuk, the group said it will be wrong for Nigerians to make unnecessary speculations surrounding the health of Mr. President during the course of his five day vacation. The group said even if there are any insinuations to that regard, Nigerians owe it as a point of patriotism to pray for their leaders no matter the circumstance  they find themselves. The group said though it may have deferred with the President on certain issues based on principles, but the progress made by the present administration ...

The Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP in Rivers State Bro. Felix Obuah has thanked religious leaders and faithful in the state for their support and prayers during the course of the legal battle of the Rivers State Governor Barr. Nyesom Ezebunwo Wike. The PDP Chairman made this known during the Annual Vigil Night of the Church of God (Seventh Day) 36 Gambia Street   Port Harcourt Branch over the weekend. He said despite the plan to turn Rivers State into a militarized zone by the enemies of the state,  the God  Almighty through the prayers of his children did a great miracle by revising the man made judgments of the lower courts by giving Rivers people justice through the apex court of the land. Bro. Obuah popularly known as Go Round said the administration of Barr. Nyesom Wike is poised towards ensuring that the people of Rivers state reap the dividends of democracy while promising that men of God in the state will not be left out also. He said t...

Itsekiri leader and chair, Itsekiri Regional Devlopment Council, IRDC, Warri, Delta State, Chief Ayiri Emami, has said that he had no personal score to settle with former leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, High Chief Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo.  Chief Emami, who spoke to Saturday Vanguard on phone, said, “I must also note that no amount of blackmail by pockets of sponsored persons from Gbaramatu or threat to my life will intimidate me.”The IRDC chair, who was reacting to the request by an Ijaw group to the Olu of Warri, HRM Ikenwoli I, to call him to order, asserted, “It amazes me how sometimes some group of persons make statements as if they have monopoly of violence, mistaking Nigeria to be a banana republic.” His words, “The President Muhammadu Buhari administration has shown the capacity to crush any form of insurrection, sabotage and lawlessness as experienced in the battle against Shii’tes , IPOB and Boko Haram. As wha...

ABUJA — AHEAD of the national convention of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, slated for March this year, strong indications have emerged that the alleged endorsement of Governor Ibrahim Dankwabo of Gombe State as the Presidential candidate of the party was at the moment causing strong division in the party, especially in the North East geo-political zone of the country. A source told Vanguard that following the recommendation of the PDP post-election assessment committee headed by Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, recommending that the north should produce the Presidential candidate for 2019, which was immediately endorsed by the National Working Committee, NWC, some powerful stakeholders of the party with Dankwabo were said to be pushing for the north, especially the North East, not getting the position of national chairman. According to a source, Dankwabo may be pushing for the Deputy National Chairman and acting National Chairman of the party, Prince Uche Secondu...

The management of Leadership Holdings Limited, publishers of Leadership newspapers, has returned the N9 million it received from the Presidency through the Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria as compensation for the seizure of its publications in 2014. In a letter dated January 29 and addressed to the General Secretary of NPAN, the company said it decided to return the money after some senior officials had gone behind to direct their organisations to refund the compensation received from the government even though it was agreed that they committed no offence by receiving the compensation. It specifically alleged that the chairman of Daily Trust newspaper, Kabiru Yusuf, went behind the association and directed his newspaper to refund the money. The letter entitled Re: Compensation for illegal seizure of newspapers was signed by the Group Managing Director of Leadership Newspapers Group Limited, Mike Okpere. The letter obtained by PREMIUM TIMES on Friday said, ...