The Super Eagles pocketed a whopping $30,000 each for getting past the group stage of the ongoing 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire.

Jose Peseiro’s side finished second in Group A behind the Nzalang Nacional of Equatorial Guinea.

The previous arrangement, according to SCORENigeria, was for each player to be paid a $5,000-a-match bonus to the final.

It has since been jettisoned with a lump sum payment for each round of the competition.

The team will get an additional bonus for the Round of 16 victory against the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon.

Jose Peseiro’s side will take on the Black Antelopes of Angola in a quarter-final fixture at the Felix Houphouet-Boigny Stadium, Abidjan, on Friday.

[DailyPost]

Ahead of the 2024 orientation exercise, the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has said it would carry out COVID-19 tests on prospective corps members, including camp officials.

The organisation said the decision was based on advice from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

According to the Director-General of the NYSC, Brig Gen Yusha’u Ahmed, this was a result of the resurgence of COVID-19 in some countries and the need to prevent the re-occurrence of any variant transmission in Nigeria.

Ahmed said this during the 2024 pre-orientation course workshop in Abuja on Wednesday, January 31.

The DG said: “The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has advised that COVID-19 testing should recommence in the Orientation Camps. This is a result of the resurgence of COVID-19 in some countries and the need to prevent the re-occurrence of any variant transmission in Nigeria.

“Therefore, it becomes necessary to ensure regular surveillance in all our Orientation Camps. While the testing will not be made compulsory this time, corps members will be sensitized on the need to confirm their health status. The modalities for this will be communicated in due course.”

The director-general also said the registration process in camp would be reviewed and strengthened to checkmate the activities of fake or unqualified graduates from participating in the exercise.

The DG said: “These include fake graduates appearing as Prospective Corps Members and persons, who, having served previously or issued with Exemption Certificate, attempt to present themselves again for the National Service. The registration process in Camp must, therefore, be reviewed and strengthened to checkmate the activities of these fraudulent elements.

“Like we have warned previously at various forums, any unqualified person caught and those aiding them will be handed over to the law enforcement agencies for prosecution.” 

The director-general urged state coordinators to take proactive measures to ensure the safety of corps members in camp.

He also warned corps members against night journeys.

The DG said: “No doubt, there has been a tremendous improvement in this area. However, security remains a matter of priority in all aspects of our operation, especially during the Orientation Course. Proactive measures must be taken by State Coordinators and other stakeholders to evaluate the security situations in all Camp locations. There should be proper surveillance of the Camps and adjoining areas before and during the exercise.

“We are not relenting in our efforts to check this problem that has become a nightmare for the Scheme in view of the perilous consequences such as road accidents and abduction of Prospective Corps Members on their way to States of deployment.

“I, therefore, enjoin everyone to ensure that measures put in place to curtail this negative trend are followed to the letter. In line with a recent decision of the management, state coordinators are expected to continue to take the campaign against night journeys to motor parks, transport companies, and other relevant stakeholders before the commencement of the orientation course.”

[TheNation]

The raging disagreements between Nigerian owned telecoms giant, GLOBACOM, and the near-monopolistic South African behemoth, MTN, seems to have reached a crescendo.

According to impeccable industry sources, MTN had tried to intimidate and blackmail GLOBACOM on its own soil but the telecoms company stood its ground by challenging MTN to proof whatever case it had instead of engaging in cheap blackmail. It turned out to be a fight worth fighting.

From experience, GLOBACOM was used to being harassed by those who failed to realise that its promoters built its business conglomerates in an organic fashion and never through the surreptitious processes.

MTN had slammed a whopping sum of over N7.05 billion on GLOBABOM, covering interconnect charges of N1.6 billion (which was already paid before the controversial publication), VAT of N1.7 billion allegedly paid on behalf of GLOBACOM and a compounded interest of N3.6 billion, which GLOBACOM considered preposterous since it is the absolute prerogative of companies to pay its own interests and never through proxies.

Thus it was bizarre that MTN paid VAT on its behalf when it was already an established fact that GLOBACOM met all its obligations to FIRS. To establish that GLOBACOM was not short of funds but only fighting for its fundamental rights and integrity in the industry, the company posted a payment guarantee of N3,489,961,881.48 and also issued seven bank cheques each of N500m making a total of N3.5b. but MTN later opted for the bank guarantee.

GLOBACOM then requested for the commencement of a reconciliation exercise. The earlier threat to disconnect GLO was obviously in bad faith and poor taste since it had even paid the N1.6 billion before the publication and was only seeking transparency in the MTN claims. After the parties sat down for due diligence with the Regulators at NCC offices in Lagos, it was clearly established that contrary to the MTN insistence on claiming the earlier published sums, the interest element of the interconnect debt due from GLOBACOM to MTN stands at N2,368,290,400.81.

In view of this painstaking reconciliation, MTN can now go ahead to call up the First Bank payment guarantee dated 17th January 2024. This shall represent the full and final payment.
GLOBACOM insists that MTN should never have been pampered to the extent that it wields the power of life and death over home grown competitors. According to checks on MTN operations elsewhere, this is the same modus operandi that led to several major telecoms companies collapsing and fleeing from Ghana...

The All Progressives Congress, APC, and its candidate in the March 18, 2023 governorship election in Adamawa State, Senator Aisha Dahiru Binani on Wednesday failed in their bid to unseat Governor Ahmadu Fintiri at the Supreme Court.

The apex court, in its final judgment on the Adamawa gubernatorial legal battle, dismissed Binani’s petition in its entirety for lacking evidence and substance.

In a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice John Inyang Okoro, the Supreme Court held that the Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, who pronounced Binani winner of the governorship election, engaged in a serious act of criminality and irresponsibility.

Justice Okoro said that Binani engaged in self deceit by hanging to the unlawful and unconstitutional acts of the REC to hold herself out as winner of the governorship poll.

The apex court emphatically held that the REC had no power under any known law to declare election results as he did in the Adamawa governorship election.

Justice Okoro maintained that the only person vested with the powers to make declaration on elections is the Returning Officer.

He warned public officers to always act within the law in the discharge of responsibilities and not get carried away by greed.

Justice Okoro subsequently dismissed Binani’s petition and upheld the concurrent findings of the Adamawa State Election Petitions Tribunal and the Court of Appeal which had earlier dismissed the petition by Binani and the APC.

Amid the free fall of the Naira in the foreign exchange market, the Central Bank of Nigeria has issued fresh guidelines to commercial banks against currency speculation and hoarding.

CBN disclosed this on Wednesday in the circular titled, ‘Harmonisation of Reporting Requirements on Foreign Currency Exposures of Banks, signed by Directors of Trade and Banking Supervision Hassan Mahmud and Rita Sike.

According to CBN, some commercial banks hoard foreign currency to make a profit when there is a Naira depreciation in the forex market.

However, the new guideline will help curb the Nigerian banking sector’s foreign currency hoarding and speculation.

It noted the guideline is necessary concerning the growth in foreign currency exposures of banks through their Net Open Position, NOP.

“The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has noted with concern the growth in foreign currency exposures of banks through their Net Open Position (NOP). This has incentivized banks to hold excess long foreign currency positions, which exposes banks to foreign exchange and other risks. Therefore, the CBN issues the following prudential requirements to ensure these risks are well managed and avoid losses that could pose material systemic challenges.”

“For example, a bank borrows or buys $ 1 million worth of forex but then holds half of it in its position instead of lending it or using it to finance purchases for its clients immediately.

“What this means is that banks can profit from currency depreciation if they buy the forex low and sell high”, it stated.

Also, the CBN added that “banks with current NOPs exceeding these limits must adjust their positions to comply with the new regulations by February 1, 2024.

“Additionally, banks must calculate their daily and monthly NOP and Foreign Currency Trading Position (FCT) using specific templates provided by the CBN”.

DAILY POST reports that the Naira woes worsened on Tuesday, crashing 42 per cent against the US dollar in the foreign exchange market in the last two days.

traces N7bn fraud to another 

Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ola Olukoyede, says the anti-graft agency has uncovered a religious sect laundering money for terrorists.

Olukoyede, who made the revelation at dialogue on ‘Youth, Religion, and the Fight against Corruption’, on Wednesday in Abuja, also said N7 billion fraud proceeds was traced to another religious organisation.

He noted that the EFCC had found religious organisations, institutions, sects and bodies culpable of money laundering in the country.

Olukoyede said one of such religious bodies dragged the Commission to court to protect its leader after laundered money was traced to its bank account.

The EFCC boss said the religious body got a court injunction restraining the Commission from inviting, arresting or prosecuting its leader.

However, Olukoyede did not name the concerned religious organisations.

“We will not give up on recovering the stolen funds,” Olukoyede said.

“It is so sad that as I stand before the eminent audience today, that our experience in fighting corruption has to do with the religious leaders and even traditional rulers.

“As I stand before you there is a matter we are handling of over N30 billion fleeced from Nigeria, and we were able to trace N7 billion to a particular religious body.

“As we wrote a letter to the leader, the next thing we saw was a restraining order, stopping us from inviting them, stopping us from recovering the money.”

The labour union has proposed a minimum wage of $300 (N436,500) for Nigerian workers ahead of negotiations on the new national minimum wage.

Chairman, Trade Union Side, Joint Meeting of the National Public Service Negotiating Council (JNPSNC), Comrade Benjamin Anthony, made this proposal at the 2023 meetings of the Separate and Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council held in Goshen City, Nasarawa State, on Tuesday.

The union argued that the current minimum wage of N30,000 has since been eroded by the high exchange rate coupled with the abrupt removal of fuel subsidy which has translated into the high cost of living in the country, hence the demand for a new wage.

Anthony, who was represented by the Secretary of the Union, Comrade Boma Mohammed, also frowned at the recent delays in the payment of salaries by the Federal Government to workers, saying the trend must be stopped and avert the repeat of such things as the suffering in the land, which is already unbearable.

He said, “In light of the above, Labour has proposed a Living Wage of $300 (N436,500) for Nigerian Workers. This is due to the fall in the value of our currency, today if you carry N100,000 to the market you will come back with a leather bag of items.

“We call on Government to immediately pay the arrears of the N35,000 wage award along with the current and expedited action on the process of getting a new living wage to bring succour to the working class people,” he added.

Meanwhile, the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, said most governors of the 37-member Tripartite Committee on Minimum Wage are not complying with the proposed base pay structure.

Ajaero stated this in an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday.

Recall that Vice President Kashim Shettima inaugurated the committee in Abuja earlier on Tuesday, saying the decision was aimed at ensuring a decent living wage and in compliance with the existing National Minimum Wage Act of 2019, which will expire in a few months.

He said, ”Most of the governors in the minimum wage committee are those who are not paying minimum wage or paying them in breaches.”

”The governors who are in full compliance with the minimum wage are not adequately represented, so whatever made the Federal Government bring in those who are not compliant or compliant in breaches to form the bulk of the membership of the minimum wage committee from the state government that will unfold with time,” he added.

It’s on gov Aiyedatiwa’s order – Amotekun boss

The Ondo security outfit codenamed, Amotekun, has deployed 100 of it’s personnel to the neighboring Ekiti state to aid the release of the five pupils of Apostolic Faith Group of Schools, Emure Ekiti, and four staff members abducted on Monday.

Amotekun commander in the state, Chief Adetunji Adeleye,said in Akure, that th security outfit was acting on the order of the Ondo state governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa.

Adeleye said this while parading 31 suspected criminals arrested in the state.

According to him ” The governor of our dear state, Hon Lucky Aiyedatiwa has ordered that we deploy Amotekun personnel to work with their counterpart in Ekiti to secure the release of the pupils and arrest the killers of the monarchs,

“A couple of hours ago, we had an unfortunate incident in Ekiti and the governor of Ondo State directed we moved in the interest of brotherliness to assist in the security situation in Ekiti State. We deployed 100 personnel to assist Ekiti command.

“We’ve been there in the last 48 hours. Some arrest have been made and we will continue until the perpetrators of such dastardly act are arrested.”

Adeleye assured residents of Ondo State that Amotekun will continue to everything possible to ensure that lives and property are protected.

He said that “You will recall that in the last three months, we’ve been on this. We want to reassure the people of Ondo that the state, security -wise is intact.

“We will continue with our 24 hours patrol, we will continue to track all criminals from the cities to the forestry reserves and ensure that travelers can move unmolested.

“So, I want to assure the good people of Ondo State that there is no problem. The state is safe. But, they have a duty to report any suspicious movement in their environment to us on time, so that we could be proactive and ensure that before it gets out of hand, this is nipped in the bud.

“We have a sudden upsurge of visitors coming in from different parts of the country, in the name of hunting. The state government had made it clear that anybody that will carry out any activity in the forestry reserves must take permission”.

Speaking on the suspected criminals, the Amotekun boss said that “Across board, we have suspected kidnappers, those we arrested for illegal possession of firearms, especially those arrested in the forest reserve.

“We have those that specializes in breaking shops and houses. What we had assured the public is that the Ondo State Security Network Agency will not relent in its efforts in getting raid of criminals from our societies.

“The governor of Ondo State, Lucky Aiyedatiwa has directed that to the last criminal in Ondo State must be checked out.

“This is because the government is resolute in its determination to ensure that investors, farmers, residents, commuters carry out their businesses without molestation”.

Adeleye noted that, “a cross section of the suspected criminals we have here today will show that there is a serious decline in the number of suspected kidnappers in the state.

“However, until the last of them is arrested and face the full wrath of the law, all security agencies in the state will not relent.

“I want to also let you know that all this efforts being achieved are due to collaboration of Amotekun with the police, DSS, the Army, and the Civil Defense.”

Speaking on how the current wave of crimes across the federation could be tackled checked, Adeleye called on the federal government to approve creation of state police.

According to him decentralisation of the security system in the country, will allow states adequately manage their own security affairs.

He said that State police as the only panacea to Nigeria’s security challenges.