News
Lawmakers call for suspension of Farouk Ahmed pending investigation
The House of Representatives has called for the suspension of the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Farouk Ahmed pending the conclusion of investigations into allegations against the Authority.
It followed the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance moved by Hon. Esosa Iyawe, on the recent fuel quality outage as a result of some unguarded comments made by the NMDPRA CEO.
He said fuel quality is what would not kill an engine hardware, so ultra-low sulfur diesel would be recommended for use. This is because the damage to the engines and environmental pollution were some of the factors against its use. He said that SO2 is serious environmental and health hazard, causing respiratory and cancer problems, amongst others, and so there is a global regulation to cut the emission of this gas.
The NMDPRA permits the production of diesel with sulfur content as high as 650 parts per million by local refiners up until January 2025, with ECOWAS’ approval. The latter cited that the Dangote refinery produces diesel with high sulfur levels of between 650 and 1,200 ppm, inferior to the imported ones, from recent claims reported by the chief executive officer of NMDPRA.
On the heels of this, Dangote demanded an analysis monitored by members of the House, which returned that Dangote’s diesel was 87.6 ppm in sulfur content, while the imported diesel samples stood at over 1,800 ppm and 2,000 ppm, amounting to a disapproval of the CEO’s claims against the NMDPRA.
He further alleged that the NMDPRA had continued to grant licenses to traders importing high-sulfur diesel, which is injurious to health and cost-intensive to Nigerians. He lambasted the unverified statements by the CEO as very unprofessional and unpatriotic, inciting members of the public and accusing it of economic sabotage.
The House demanded the suspension of the CEO to ensure an in-depth investigation into the allegations and to restore confidence in the regulatory authority.
News
Nigerian Man Nabbed For Stabbing Fellow National To Death In France
A 27-year-old Nigerian man, identified only as Popori, has been arrested in Grenoble, France, for allegedly stabbing a fellow citizen, Monday, to death.
It was gathered that the incident occurred on the evening of Friday, November 22, when a fight broke out between two men during an altercation in a grocery store in Grenoble, Isère, France.
DayFR reports that, according to Grenoble Prosecutor Eric Vaillant, who confirmed information from Dauphiné Libéré, the incident occurred around 8:30pm.
The two men were inside an exotic grocery store when an argument broke out, quickly escalating into a violent altercation.
One of the individuals suddenly stabbed the other in the chest, for reasons still unclear.
Emergency services arrived on the scene but were unable to revive the victim.
On Saturday, the Grenoble public prosecutor announced that a 27-year-old Nigerian man had been taken into police custody at 12:30pm as part of an investigation initiated by the local judicial police service.
News
Longest serving monarch dies at 111
Alhaji Muhammadu Inuwa, the longest serving traditional ruler in Bauchi State, is dead.
Inuwa, the village Head of Beli (Sarkin Beli) in Shira Local Government Area of Bauchi, passed away at the Federal Medical Center Azare, Katagum Local Government Area of the state.
The monarch who was 111-year-old spent 91 years on the throne.
Chief Imam of Beli, Liman Musa Abubakar, confirmed the death of monarch which he described as a great loss to the entire people of Northern Nigeria.
During one of the interviews with Daily Trust in his lifetime, the late monarch had said, “Their grandfather was appointed as village head of Beli. He spent 12 years on the throne. He died and our father was appointed the village head. He spent 17 years. After that, I was appointed to the throne when I was 19 years old. This means that by my calculation, I was born around 19 12 or 1913. I was appointed to the throne around 1933 by the Emir of Katagum, AbdulQadir.”
The monarch lived and worked with four different first class Emirs of Katagum.
“We lived with the Emir of Katagum Abdulqadir who appointed me for 12 years before he left the throne and died six months later. Emir Umaru Faruqu was appointed. We spent 35 years with him.
When he died, his son, Muhammadu Kabiru was appointed. We spent 38 years with Emir Kabiru before he died, Again, after Muhammadu Kabiru, the present Emir of Katagum, Umaru Faruq II, was appointed. We lived with him for Six years.
Late Inuwa had said, “I am almost 91 years old on the throne. Alhamdulillahi, we live in peace with the people. And I gave birth to 11 people. Some of them died, but there are seven of them alive – four men and three women.
Many people interviewed said he was a peaceful ruler who [had] listening ears and worked for the peace of the land.”
News
Katsina gov presents N682bn 2025 budget to State Assembly
Governor Dikko Radda of Katsina State on Monday presented the State’s 2025 Budget Proposal to the state House of Assembly.
This is the second full year budget the governor is presenting to the House, which is in the sum of N682,244,449,513.87, covering Recurrent Revenue and Expenditure.
The Budget’s Recurrent Expenditure stands at the sum of N157,967,755,024.36 representing 23.15% while, Capital Expenditure stands at N524,274,694,489.51 representing 76.85%.
The Governor in his speech, announced that, the total of this budget when compared with that of the 2024, has an increase of N200,535,619,501.61, representing 40% increase.
The Governor, at the beginning of his speech, assured the House that his administration has achieved many of its goals and is on course to meet and exceed its targets.
He insisted that his administration has successfully reversed the tide of insecurity which severely threatened the peaceful co-existence of people in the State.
“Many of our local governments have been restored to normalcy while pushing the bandits to the fringes of the forests and, Insha-Allah, to the end of their existence.
“We have expended a lot of resources in fighting insecurity, and we shall continue to do all we can to protect lives and livelihoods in our dear state. I thank the Honourable Members for your support and dedication to ultimate victory,” he said.
The Governor while ranking MDAs by allocations, revealed that the Economic Sector got N302,246,140,569.76 representing 44.3%, followed by the Education Sector with 95,995,873,044.70 representing 14%.
In the same vein, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development got 81,840,275,739.70 representing 12% while the Ministry of Rural and Social Development got 58,728,146,293.72 representing 9%.
Other sectors such as the Ministry of Water Resources, 53,832,219,322.46 representing 8%, Ministry of Environment, 49,835,521,799.25 representing 7%, Ministry of Health, 43,881,752,172.75 representing 6%, Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs 18,938,508,746.95 representing 3%, Ministry of Works, Housing and Transport 9,684,806,758.56 representing 10%.
Other sectors he said are in the sum of 230,759,902,908.71 representing 31% of the total proposed budget
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