ABUJA DAILY MAIL

A Retired Judge of FCT High Court, Justice Muda Balami has called for the inclusion of skills and vocational training in school curriculum towards combating unemployment in the country. Justice Balami made the call during the 2nd Annual Interhouse Sports Competition of Junior Secondary School, Sabon - Gari, Gwagwalada Abuja. Justice Balami who expressed concern over the rate of unemployment in the country said skills acquisition remain the best way of making students employers of labour after graduation. He stressed the need for Governent at all levels to always embark on programmes that would empower Nigerian youths towards contributing to national economic development. While commending the School for organising the Interhouse Sports Competition, Justice Balami advised students to always engage in positive ventures and be good ambassadors of their families. In a message, the Chairman of FCT Universal Education Board, UBEB, Dr Hassan Sule promised the Board's continuous support to ...

 The Minister of Works and Housing, and the former governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola have reacted after President Muhammadu Buhari defied the Supreme Court order on allowing the old notes to be legal tender for the next six months. The President who made a broadcast yesterday stated that the 200 naira old notes should be brought back into circulation for the next 60 days aside the new notes.  Fashola who didn't state his position clearly on the matter. He however pointed out that there is a violation of the rule of law by the Presidency which also inflicts pain on the people. He argued that the masses are the ones suffering from the extension of the court case. According to him, there is a need to stand by the people in this situation.  He said, ''Let me say that in a democracy, where there is a right to speak freely, there is bound to be a divergence of view as you have heard. But I think the principle about respecting and awaiting the outcome of a court decisio...

 NATIONAL BROADCAST BY HIS EXCELLENCY MUHAMMADU BUHARI, PRESIDENT, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA ON THE CHALLENGES OF THE CURRENCY SWAP AND STATE OF THE NATION, ON 16th FEBRUARY, 2023 My Dear Compatriots, ​I have found it necessary to address you today, on the state of the nation and to render account on the efforts of our administration to sustain and strengthen our economy, enhance the fight against corruption and sustain our gains in the fight against terrorism and insecurity which has, undoubtedly, been impacted by several internal and external factors 2.​ Particularly, I am addressing you, as your democratically elected President, to identify with you and express my sympathy, over the difficulties being experienced as we continue the implementation of new monetary policies, aimed at boosting our economy and tightening of the loopholes associated with money laundering. 3.​ Let me re-assure Nigerians, that strengthening our economy, enhancing security and blockage of leakages asso...

 With barely eleven days to the general elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has disclosed that Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) cashless policy may hinder the Commission’s ability to conduct the election.  INEC FCT Resident Electoral Commissioner, Yahaya Bello, made this known at the North-Central Stakeholders Roundtable on the 2023 General Elections which was organized by the the Centre for Transparency Advocacy (CTA) in Abuja, yesterday.   “As we are seated here, 99 percent of us are affected by the cashless policy. INEC is also affected. We have 2,822,000 polling units. Before the election day, we are going to employ the services of vehicle providers. We have had a lot of meetings with National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW). We have also brought in Maritime Workers Union. We have more than 12,000 adhoc staff in FCT that we are going to give cash for food and none of them will take a cheque, none of them will accept a transfer....

 The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has met with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. The meeting, which reportedly held at the Residence inside the Villa, held before the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting. And the meeting may be connected with issues of campaigns and other prevailing national issues. After the meeting, Buhari reportedly joined the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting. Another source disclosed that Buhari’s lateness to the FEC meeting, besides his meeting with Tinubu, must have been as a result of his decision to stay back to monitor the outcome of the Supreme Court’s case against the federal government and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the naira redesign policy, which was eventually adjourned to Wednesday, February 22.

The Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara State governments have filed a lawsuit against the Federal Government before the Supreme Court, seeking a restraining order to halt the full implementation of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s naira redesign policy. The lawsuit follows the chaos and hardship that Nigerians go through in efforts to meet the deadline for the new naira exchange. In a motion ex-parte filed on their behalf by their lawyer, AbdulHakeem Uthman Mustapha (SAN), the Northern States urged the Supreme Court to give them an interim injunction stopping the Nigerian Government either by itself or acting through the CBN, commercial banks or its agents from executing its plan of ending the timeframe within which the now older currencies of 200, 500 and 1000 denomination will cease to be legal tenders. The Plaintiffs in the suit are the three Attorneys-Generals and Commissioners of Justice of Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara while the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abu...

 President Muhammadu Buhari will lead the presidential campaign train of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to his native Katsina State today. Tomorrow, the campaign train will also roll into Ibadan, capital of Oyo State, run by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governor Seyi Makinde, who has shunned the opposition party’s presidential campaign. Makinde is among the Group of Five Governors protesting the lopsided distribution of offices in the PDP. On Thursday, the APC presidential rally will hold in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital. Governor Nyesom Wike, the arrowhead of the G-5 Governors, has also distanced himself from the Atiku/Okowa campaign. Katsina, apart from being President Buhari’s home state, is an APC stronghold in the Northwest. Governor Aminu Masari, who was elected on the APC platform in 2015, was reelected in 2019. The president, APC presidential candidate Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, APC National Chairman Abdullahi Adamu, Masari and other notable party leaders will addres...

 President Muhammadu Buhari calls Bola Tinubu, the presidential flagbearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the next president of Nigeria. On Saturday, during the party's campaign in Nasarawa, Buhari called the former governor of Lagos a "capable Nigerian" who would sacrifice everything for the nation. Bola Ahmed Tinubu will be the next president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and I'm extremely happy to be a part of this campaign for him, he added. He and I have been friends for more than 26 years. I'll keep running my Bola Tinubu campaign. He is a dedicated Nigerian, and I have faith that he would give everything he has to this nation and to all of you Nigerians. After Tinubu's outburst at the APC's presidential rally in Ogun, where he voiced his displeasure over the country's currency and petrol shortages, there have been rumours of strife inside the party following Buhari's statement. "What you wish will not happen, even if you ...

 Governors elected on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) have rejected the February 10 deadline set by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to end the legal tender status of the old N1000, N500 and N200 notes Credible sources close to the governors said they were worried Nigerians have been finding it difficult to live a normal life in the last few days and therefore resolved to meet President Muhammadu Buhari on the matter. The sources said the APC governors would tell the president most likely at 10am today that beyond whatever gains that would come with the naira swap, the wrong timing by the CBN is already hurting the economy, the wellbeing of the citizens and the security of the country. Out of the 36 state governors in Nigeria, 21 of them are members of the ruling APC. Before reaching the decision to meet the president, the governors had reportedly nominated Governors Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos), Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna), Mai Mala Buni (Yobe) and Dapo Abiod...

 The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has claimed that the Rivers State governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, had already directed his political appointees, local government council chairmen and PDP ward leaders, to work for the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu. This is as the party also said it was “appalling and highly preposterous” for Wike to assume that the PDP and the State chapter of APC could jointly hold an event in the same venue in Rivers State. The party spoke in a letter addressed to the governor, in response to a letter addressed to the Director-General of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, Rt. Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, revoking the approval given to the party to use Adokiye Amesiamaka Stadium, for its presidential campaign rally in Port Harcourt. The letter dated February 1, 20223, titled: ‘RE: Withdrawal of Use of Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium for our Presidential Campaign Rally’, was signed by the director-general of...

 A Political Analyst, Abu Hamisu, has stated that president Muhammadu Buhari's behavior has changed the mentality of the ruling party doing everything to ensure that it stays in power. Abu Hamisu went on to say that currently, president Muhammadu Buhari is behaving as if he is a member of the opposition party with the introduction of some policies that does not appear to promote APC's bid to retain power. Abu Hamisu said "specifically with the issue of new naira notes, I know it is a good policy but if you hear the huge amount that is used to maintain our currency is so alarming, and the people are trying to say that it is wrong. He went on to say that if you add the issue of fuel shortages and the unavailability of the naira notes in commercial banks, has further worsened the situation in the country and these situations has further strengthened the argument that president Muhammadu is acting like he is part of the opposition instead of part of the ruling party.

The Minister of Works and Housing Babatunde Fashola has affirmed President Muhammadu Buhari is strongly behind All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. He noted that the naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) “is hurting Nigerians” and needs to be reviewed. He said: “I saw the President, and I’m not one to tell you what I discussed with the President in private. I saw him and what he told me dispelled all rumors and I didn’t ask him. “We were just having a conversation, and he (Buhari) just said “I’ve to do this… This is very important for our campaign”…that’s much I’m going to say. That dispels all of these hearsays.” Fashola further stated that Tinubu was fighting for Nigerians when he expressed concerns about the scarcity of the new notes. “It is in the interest of the opposition to create or spin a criticism of a impact of a policy, and that’s the impact of policy. “Our candidate has not said don’t change the naira, but it is ...