The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has suspended an Assistant Superintendent of Immigration II (ASI II) for allegedly soliciting financial gratification from a traveller.

NIS’s Comptroller General, Kemi Nandap, made this known in a statement issued by the Service Public Relations Officer, Mr Kenneth Udo, on Thursday in Abuja.

According to Nandap, the officer’s conduct, captured in a video circulating on social media, does not reflect the values and ethics of professionalism upheld by the NIS.

She condemned the alleged misconduct in the strongest terms, saying that it undermined the ongoing reforms aimed at enhancing service standards.

She, however, assured that the officer had been indefinitely suspended pending the outcome of disciplinary procedures, in accordance with the law and Public Service Rules.

She said NIS received a video currently circulating on social media titled “This is how immigration officers treat tourists in Nigeria,” showing one of its officers soliciting financial gratification from a traveller.

“This disgraceful act is not a representation of our commitment to hospitality, reception, and courtesy.

“As a result, the officer in question has been indefinitely suspended pending the outcome of disciplinary procedures,” she said.

The NIS boss reiterated the NIS’s commitment to identifying and removing corrupt elements within its ranks, in line with its zero-tolerance for corruption policy. 

The comptroller general also assured that the NIS would continue to strive for excellence in service delivery, in alignment with the ‘Renewed Hope Agenda’ of the Federal Government.

Nandap added that electronic gates (e-gates) were being installed at all international airports to facilitate smoother travel for passengers and prevent incidents like the one involving the suspended officer.

She urged the public to report any form of misconduct or corruption by its officers to the appropriate authorities. (NAN)

The Department of States Service (DSS) has denied allegations suggesting that its personnel conducted a raid on the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) headquarters in Abuja.

Naija News reports that this statement follows claims made by the NLC on Wednesday, which asserted that secret police operatives had invaded their office and whisked away certain documents.

The union reported that the operatives arrived at the Labour House at approximately 8:30 PM.

“The security operatives, some from the Nigeria Police Force, some wearing black tee-shirts presumably from the Department of State Services (DSS), and others on outright mufti swooped on the 10th Floor of the NLC and arrested the security operative on duty and then commandeered him to the second floor where he was asked to produce the keys to the offices.

“When he told them that he had no such keys on him, they broke into the floor and ransacked the bookshop on the 2nd floor, carting away hundreds of books and other publications. The invading troop claimed that they were looking for seditious materials used for the#EndBadGoveranance Protests.

“The Nigeria Labour Congress condemns in its entirety this new low in security operations in Nigeria. The armed security operatives showed no legal document permitting them to invade the premises of the Nigeria Labour Congress in the ungodly hours of the night.

“Even in the dark days of military rule, NLC secretariats were never invaded and ransacked by security agents. Today is indeed a very sad day for our democracy,” said a statement by the NLC’s head of Media and Public Relations, Benson Upah.

The NLC indicated that it could not quickly determine the full extent of items removed from its offices.

Nevertheless, in a statement issued on Thursday, the DSS spokesperson, Peter Afunanya, clarified that its personnel were not involved in the disruption of the labour union’s office.

“Good morning dear friends. Pls kindly note that the Service (DSS) did not carry out any operation at the NLC office in Abuja,” Afunanya said in a terse statement on the agency’s X handle.

The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, has said it will be hard for Nigeria’s economy if any administration tries to reverse the fuel subsidy removal after President Bola Tinubu’s government.

Wale Edun added that any plan by other administrations to reverse forex subsidy will have to deal with the gains recorded from the two policies.

Edun said with the removal of fuel and forex subsidy the federal government has been able to reduce the percentage Nigeria was spending on service debt from her revenue from 98 percent to 61 percent.

He said such administration would have to borrow money to run every responsibility of government, including payment of salaries, or even to construct a kilometer road

Edun’s statement was posted by Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, on his X handle, on Thursday.

The Minister of Finance also explained that the federal government took the best decision by removing the fuel and forex subsidy.

He said, “Let me be very frank here if any president will come up and dare to return to payment of petrol subsidy or forex subsidy, he will have to deal with reversing the gains we have attained with reduction of percentage of what we were spending out of all our revenue to service debt, which we have reduced from 98% to 67%.

“Then, he will need to borrow to run virtually every other responsibilities of government, including to pay salaries or even to construct a kilometer of road.

“With this, more debts are incurred and debt servicing will now exceed all our revenue thereby leading to bankruptcy and a total collapse of every facets of the governance system.”

In what appears a major shift from previous clam by the Dangote Refinery company, the Group Chief Strategy Officer, Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals Company, Aliyu Suleiman on Wednesday, stated that 60 per cent of the crude supplied to the refinery was done by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL.

Aliyu made the submission during an interactive session organised by the Senate Ad-hoc committee to investigate alleged sabotage in the Nigerian petroleum industry.

This supersedes the position of the Group Chief Commercial Officer, Dangote Industries Limited, Rabiu A. Umar, who had claimed that the NNPC has been supplying insufficient crude oil for its production demand.

Umar had said that NNPC supplies only 33 per cent of crude to the refinery, disclosing that it had to look elsewhere to source the remaining 67 per cent to meet its production capacity.

He added that the refinery, which has the capacity of refining 650,000 per day, could not depend on short supply from Nigeria’s oil company.

But during his presentation, Aliyu Suleiman stated that out of the five million barrels of crude oil they got in recent time, “NNPC gave them 60 per cent, 20 per cent was imported, and 20 per cent was purchased”.

Aliyu expressed gratitude for the strong partnership between the Dangote Refinery and the NNPC Ltd, and for making the huge supply to Dangote.

He described the refinery as a baby that should be supported by all relevant stakeholders “in order to grow and not die”.

Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman says challenges and protest against government policies are not peculiar to Nigeria.

Ganduje reacted to the ongoing protest on Wednesday in Abuja, when he played host to some leaders of the party from the United States of America. 

The APC national chairman, who said even developed economies have their challenges, assured that whatever challenges that was being faced in Nigeria currently, would soon be over.

“There is no doubt, as a developing country, even the so called developed economies have their turbulence in one way or the other.

“So, it is not surprising that Nigeria is having its own share of the problem. This is not the first time.

“You will recall that whenever there is a reform agenda, obstacles must be on the way, as a result, people must suffer in one way or the other.

“But, in the long run, everything will be according to the plan,” the APC national chairman assured Nigerians.

He also emphasised that President Bola Tinubu came into power with the intention to introduce reforms that would secure the country’s future.

He explained that the country’s institutions were weak, adding that strong institutions were needed to implement whatever good policies the government had.

Ganduje assured the people that President Tinubu was doing all he needed to secure the country’s future in the interest of all.

He expressed optimism that in a matter of time, the country would come out from its current challenges because Tinubu was working very hard on the economy.

Ganduje, who said that positive results would be achieved soon, described the visit of the party’s U.S. leaders as historic and a day that would not be forgotten in a hurry.

“Today they came from one of the farthest places in the world, from the U.S. to show commitment, love and loyalty that they are truly Nigerians serving abroad and we are highly delighted with that.

“From history, we have checked, since the time of military politics down to today, some of you have been in such associations that led into political parties.

“So, there is no doubt that you are committed party men and women, and we appreciate your coming,” Ganduje said.

Prof. Adesegun Ladejo, who led the delegation, said they were in the party’s secretariat to show support for its leadership and the Tinubu-led administration in spite of the challenges.

This, he said, was even with the discouragement they got from some Nigerians in the diaspora, adding that their visit was to also harmonise their relationship with the party’s national leadership.

“In spite of the discouragement, we insisted on coming, in the face of all the turmoil that they projected will happen or is happening,

“We are here to support our President and Ganduje, our party’s national chairman and our country’s leaders,” he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the delegation includes Mr Oyakhilome Bello, APC U.S. National Youth Leader, Alhaji Sama’ila Maigyara, National Publicity Secretary and Alhaja Khirat Ajiboye, Deputy National publicity Secretary.

• Nigeria lose 74-88 to USA

The D’Tigress bowed out of the Paris 2024  Women’s Basketball event but not without a fight as they lost  a closely fought encounter  74-88  to Team USA.

The coach Rena Wakama-led side  only on Sunday  became the first African side – male or female – to reach the quarter-finals of an Olympic Games after beating Canada in their final group game.

Last night, the Americans raced in front  in the first quarter with  26 to 19 points and followed up with an identical  26 points as against the D’Tigress  16 in a pulsating gritty encounter in the second quarter.

Ezinne Kanu  and Murijanatu Musa  proved pivotal to Nigeria’s aspirations  yet the D’Tigress  were back on the back foot in the third  quarter  losing  15-24. 

Remarkably, the D’Tigress  showed  their  strength in depth  in the last quarter with an amazing  26 points as against America’s 12.

But  it was a case of too little, too late as the Americans  won the encounter  88-74.

 Defeat notwithstanding, the D’Tigress  can be proud of their achievement at this Paris 2024  Olympics  as they earned  huge salutation  for their gusty performance  against the Americans who progressed to the semi-finals. 

House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu has received another set of 600 defectors from four political parties into All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abia State.

The defectors dumped the ruling Labour Party (LP) in the state, as well as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Young Progressives Party (YPP) and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) to embrace the APC.;

They were received into the APC during Kalu’s tour of electoral wards in his Bende Federal Constituency of Abia State.

Kalu is currently on a “thank you” and mobilisation tour of the 13 electoral wards in his constituency to show gratitude to the people and ask about their immediate needs.

A statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Levinus Nwabughiogu, said the Deputy Speaker had visited five wards covering Item Wards A, B, and C; Ugwueke/Ezeukwu and Itumbauzo Wards and received several defectors into the APC.

Amongst the defectors are former PDP councillors from Alayi Ward A, Enoch Elekwa and Chukwu Udensi; former LP ward chairman, Jonah Chukwu; YPP ward vice chairman, Ekeoma Sylvester Eze; and former APGA local government chairman, Ndubuisi Sunday Agu.

Also, over 100 defectors publicly dumped the PDP and other political parties and joined APC when Kalu visited Umuhu Ezechi Ward on Tuesday.

During the tour, a former commissioner and Bende Local Government Area’s erstwhile chairman, who handed over to Kalu as council chairman 22 years ago, Paul Chikezie Mba, said the performance of the Deputy Speaker at the National Assembly attracted him and other defectors to APC.

Mba expressed gratitude to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for signing the South East Development Commission (SEDC) Bill into law and hailed Kalu for attracting many projects to the ward.

Receiving the defectors, Kalu said he was at Umuhu Ezechi to show gratitude to the people for voting him in last year’s general election.

He urged the people to continue to support President Tinubu who graciously signed the SEDC Bill.

During his visit to Ozuitem Ward, the Deputy Speaker received over 100 defectors from LP, PDP, APGA, and YPP to APC.

They included Chief John Ihueze and Sunday Kalu Iroham, who were hitherto chieftains of PDP; Adighije Okoronkwo, from APGA, and a host of others from YPP.

The monthly salary of a member of the House of Representatives is N600,000 and not the N900,000 that is being speculated, House spokesman Akin Rotimi has said.

In a statement yesterday in Abuja, Rotimi reaffirmed the commitment of the Green Chamber to the 50 per cent deduction in the salary of its members to reduce hardship.

“The House of Representatives has been inundated by some media outlets reporting claims of discrepancies in the salaries of members, suggesting that we received 100 per cent of our July salaries. The report claimed that our salary amounted to N936,979.

“We wish to clarify that the actual monthly salary for members is N600,000, after deductions for advances, such as housing, which are paid at the commencement of the tenure,” Rotimi said.

The House spokesman explained that the member who displayed his salary on a TV programme was an exceptional case because he assumed office through a court decision many months after the on-boarding process had been concluded.

He said the House remained committed to the resolution passed on July 18, which stipulated a 50 per cent reduction in the salaries of members for six months.

“We acknowledge and regret that this resolution was not implemented by the bureaucracy, as intended, for the month of July.

“Resolutions of the House are ratified when the votes and proceedings of plenary are adopted on the next legislative day. Consequently, the bureaucracy was only formally instructed on July 23,” Rotimi said.

According to him, the delay in the implementation is due to necessary administrative procedures and coordination with financial institutions.

The House spokesman added that instructions for adjusting members’ salaries had been issued and would be enforced, moving forward, to ensure that its pledge is fully implemented.

“There is nothing to investigate, as some media houses reported. The House’s position on this matter had been provided to some journalists who had reached out for clarification,” he said.

Rotimi called for patience among members of the public, assuring of the House’s steadfast adherence to its pledge and sustained efforts to earn the trust and confidence of all Nigerians.