The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency has announced a new pump price band of N121 . 50 to N123 . 50 per litre for Premium Motor Spirit , also known as petrol .
The PPPRA, which is an agency of the Federal Government, disclosed this in a circular to fuel marketers which was obtained by news correspondent .
The sharp drop in crude oil prices on the back of the spread of coronavirus saw the landing cost of petrol hitting a record low in March , wiping off subsidy on the product .
The pump price of petrol , which is still being regulated by the Federal Government, was reduced to N125 per litre from N 145 per litre on March 18 , 2020 , effective March 19 .
The PPPRA further announced on March 31 a price band of N 123. 50 to N125 per litre, effective April 1 .
In a bid to curb the high rate of unemployment in the country, the Federal Government has rolled out a scheme which will see unemployed youths in rural areas earning N20 , 000 per month , according to reports .
The youths will be engaged in the clearing of drainages , sweeping markets , road maintenance, traffic control , and cleaning of public infrastructures like health centres and schools .
The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Mr Festus Keyamo ( SAN ) , said this at a news conference .
Keyamo said the scheme targeted 1 , 000 youths each from the 774 local governments across the country.
The minister said the programme is one of the biggest social intervention schemes to be carried out within a short period of time by any government in the history of Nigeria .
The minister ’ s speech read in part, “ The pilot programme earlier approved by Mr . President was designed to mitigate lack of job opportunities in the rural areas through a short- term engagement of 1 , 000 unemployed persons per local government area for a period of three months.
“ It is a dry season /off- season transient job programme and was originally designed for the rehabilitation /maintenance of public and social infrastructure. Participants were to be paid an allowance of N20 , 000 monthly and were to be recruited largely from the pool of unskilled persons resident in those rural areas .
“ This pilot scheme was approved to be implemented in five local government areas in eight states namely: Adamawa , Borno , Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti , Jigawa , Katsina and Kwara. Beneficiaries are engaged in : drainage digging and clearance , irrigation canals clearance , rural feeder road maintenance , maintenance of the Great Green Wall nurseries and orchards in Borno , Jigawa and Katsina states ; traffic control, street cleaning , cleaning of public infrastructure like health centres , schools and the likes . A total of 40 , 000 direct transient jobs were expected to be created in the eight pilot states . ”
Keyamo said the Special Public Works in the Rural Areas is an employment – intensive technique acquired and adapted by the National Directorate of Employment from one of the capacity -building collaborations with the International Labour Organisation in the late 1980 s to the middle of the 1990 ’ s .
The minister said for the purpose of transparency and accountability in the process , the President has approved the use of select banks to register and collate data of the beneficiaries.
“ The banks will open accounts for all beneficiaries and in the process obtain Bank Verification Numbers for those without accounts.
The Federal Government said the President , Major General Muhammadu Buhari ( retd . ), has put the country on an irreversible road to development in the last one year .
It said the country had never witnessed such positive steps in a short time.
The Minister of Information and Culture , Alhaji Lai Mohammed, stated these in Abuja at a press conference to mark the first year of Buhari ’ s second term in office .
He said , “ The past one year has been momentous for Nigeria , as the President has taken some actions , mostly bold and highly visionary , that have now put Nigeria on an irreversible road to sustainable development.
“ Never in the history of Nigeria have so many positive steps been taken in so short a time as Mr . President has done in the past one year . ”
The minister listed some of the gains of the administration as power supply, food sufficiency , enhanced security , increased revenue , infrastructural development among others.
Electricity distribution companies have dragged the Federal Government to court to restrain it from further interfering in the corporate business activities of the power firms .
According to the firms , the government , through the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission and other agencies , had been interfering in the corporate activities of the Discos, a development , they claimed, had hampered their smooth operations .
Senior officials of some of the power firms told our correspondent in Abuja that the Discos resolved to take the matter to the court .
Nigeria ’ s power distribution firms include Abuja , Benin , Eko , Enugu , Ibadan , Ikeja , Jos, Kaduna , Kano and Port Harcourt Discos.
“ We cannot continue to fold our arms and watch how the government through its agencies sustain their undue interference in our corporate business activities, ” an impeccable source with one of the Discos stated .
The official added , “ The NERC , TCN ( Transmission Company of Nigeria ) and even NEC (National Economic Council ) are often interfering in Discos’ activities, and we need to ask the court to call them to order. ”
It was gathered that the Discos were asking the court to restrain the affected agencies from interfering in their businesses unless the boards of the power firms were duly consulted .
Officials of the Discos told our correspondent that the court order had been served on the affected agencies , adding that the power firms were also asking the court to NERC from sending forensic auditors to their firms .
The Ogun State Governor , Dapo Abiodun , has eased lockdown in the state except on weekends .
The Governor stated this while addressing newsmen on the update of COVID- 19 held at his Oke- Mosan office .
Abiodun said henceforth , there would not be restriction of movement between Mondays and Fridays except on Saturdays and Sundays.
He added that the Federal Government’ s order on curfew which begins between 8 :pm and ends 6 : am daily is still in place.
He also said the ban on interstate travelling and religious activities is also still in force .
Abiodun said the state recorded 59 new positive cases, an increase of 32 per cent , bringing the total number of positive cases to date to 242 .
The Governor said , “ This second phase has two major elements of further relaxation of the restrictions and expansion in the number of days.
“ In contrast to the current three days of Monday , Wednesday , and Friday, this new phase opens up all the five working days in the week i . e Monday to Friday, with only Saturday and Sunday as lockdown days .
“ In addition , there will be no time restriction from Monday to Friday, with the exception of the curfew period from 8 . 00 pm or as may be directed by the President .
“ Let no one make a mistake . COVID- 19 is neither over nor the curve of the spread flattened . From all available data and simulations, we are yet to reach our peak . Consequently , the further easing of the lockdown is not a license to believe the worst is over .
“ For the avoidance of doubt, all the existing guidelines to combat COVID- 19 in the state remain in place. In addition , specific guidelines to guide the operations of industries have been issued and must be fully complied with by all industries , as part of preparations for full operations .
“ The curfew from 8 . 00 pm to 6 . 00 am as directed by the President is still in place.
The Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, has urged the Federal Government to call Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State to order over his claims that there were no cases of COVID-19 in the state.
NMA also challenged Kogi State Government to show Nigerians evidence that the state was actually free from COVID-19, rather than downgrading the results released by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, which listed the state among those with confirmed cases.
Recall that Kogi State government had earlier reacted to the publication by NCDC, that two positive cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in the state on May 27.
A statement by the state’s Commissioner for Health, Dr. Saka Audu, described it as a “fallacy,” Insisting That Kogi Was Free From COVID-19 .
According to the statement, “we have also continued to insist that we will not be a party to any fictitious COVID-19 claims, which is why we do not recognise any COVID-19 test conducted by any Kogite outside the boundaries of the state, except those initiated by us.
“Any attempt to force us to announce a case of COVID-19 will be vehemently rejected.”
However, in a chat with Vanguard, the President of NMA, Dr. Francis Faduyile said: “The state government should show its own evidence. The people that did the laboratory tests have shown theirs.
“It is expected that the state government should give Nigerians evidence that they have tested hundreds of people and could not find a case of coronavirus.”
Faduyile, who warned that the pandemic was not politics, said: “This problem has nothing to do with politics, because it is science. So it is not about what the state accepts or what they do not accept.
“I call on the Federal Government to call Governor Yahaya Bello to order. We have been talking about this and asking the governor for his understanding.
“We don’t live in a world which one man rules. We live in a world where we are governed by scientific evidence. There is something we call reproducibility. If he is not convinced, let us reproduce it again. But not on the state government’s terms. Let us take the samples and do it again.
“We want the Federal Government to ensure that the right thing is done.”
The President , Major General Muhammadu Buhari ( retd . ) , abruptly lost connection while address a United Nations event .
The virtual meeting tagged “ High -Level Event on Financing for Development in the Era of COVID- 19 and Beyond” , was at the instance of the United Nations Secretary – General , António Guterres .
Canadian Prime Minister , Justin Trudeau and his Jamaican counterpart , Andrew Holness , co -hosted the high – level discussions, with over 50 world leaders participating.
Buhari ’ s connection from Abuja had hitches right from the start , as he went on and off for seconds before the video connection went off completely .
The organisers quickly called on the Prime Minister of Thailand, Prayut Chan- o – cha , to make his own presentation.
Chan- o – cha too seemed to have connection issues , but he substituted his presentation with a pre – recorded video speech .
A number of connections from other leaders also had brief hitches .
Before his connection went off, Buhari had highlighted the impact of COVID – 19 on African countries , particularly their loss of revenues , making it difficult for them to fund their 2020 budget .
For Nigeria , he said it was hard – hit by the crash in oil revenue , the mainstay of its monolithic economy .
However , Buhari informed his co -participants that his regime had introduced measures , including retooling the economy through “ home- grown strategies ” to ensure that Nigeria survived the pandemic now and beyond .
US President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order after threatening to shutter social media platforms following Twitter ’ s move to label two of his tweets misleading .
After long resisting calls to censure Trump over his truth- defying posts , Twitter on Tuesday accused the president of the first time of making false claims .
Trump had tweeted — without any evidence — that more mail- in voting would lead to what he called a “ Rigged Election ” this November .
Twitter ’ s slap on the wrist was enough to drive Trump into a tirade — on Twitter — in which he claimed that the political right in the United States was being censored.
Trump would sign an executive order “ pertaining to social media ” his aides said , without offering any details .
But an undated draft version of the order obtained by The Washington Post on Wednesday said : “ we cannot allow a limited number of online platforms to hand – pick the speech that Americans may access and convey online. ”
The order would make it easier for federal regulators to argue that the companies are “suppressing free speech when they move to suspend users or delete posts , ” The New York Times reported , citing two senior administration officials .
Both newspapers also reported that the order , which they said had not yet been finalized, could see tech companies such as Twitter, Facebook and Google held legally responsible for content posted on their platforms .
Twitter ’ s move to tag the president ’ s tweets comes after years of being accused of ignoring the president ’ s violation of platform rules with his daily , often hourly barrages of personal insults and inaccurate information sent to more than 80 million followers .
Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg waded into the row , telling Fox News that his social network — still the biggest in the world — has a different policy .
“ I just believe strongly that Facebook should not be the arbiter of truth of everything that people say online, ” Zuckerberg said in a snippet of the interview posted online Wednesday by Fox .
“ I think, in general , private companies , especially these platform companies , shouldn ’ t be in the position of doing that . ”
Twitter founder and CEO Jack Dorsey fired back on Wednesday night , saying that his platform ’ s effort to point out misinformation did not make it an “ arbiter of truth. ”
The Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria has reduced the Monetary Policy Rate , also known as main interest rate, to 12 . 5 per cent from 13 . 5 per cent.
The CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, disclosed this while announcing the decision of the MPC at its meeting .
He said the committee also decided to retain the Cash Reserves Ratio at 22 . 7 per cent and the liquidity ratio at 30 per cent .
The central bank had held the MPR at 13 . 5 per cent since March 26 , 2019 when it was reduced from 14 per cent. The MPR is used to determine bank lending rates and the cost of credit for borrowers.
Early this month , the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress , Asiwaju Bola Tinubu , called on the CBN to seize the opportunity of the coronavirus crisis to lower interest rates in a bid to boost the nation’ s economy .
He said the country must retreat from high interest rates “ if we want investment borrowing to attain levels that actually increase private – sector growth and job creation” .
According to Tinubu , high interest rates , along with an unreliable power supply, combine to form a steep obstacle to sufficient real – sector investment , growth and productivity .
“ The economic fallout from the coronavirus may present the best , most pressing case for revising the CBN’ s high interest rate policy . The undue rates penalise domestic investment and consumer borrowing, ” he said .
The Inspector General of Police , Mohammed Adamu, has ordered the redeployment of Edo, Ondo and Oyo State Commissioners of Police .
Eight other CPs were also redeployed in various Commands and Formations , according to a press statement by the Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba .
The statement said , “ The IGP has ordered the immediate posting /redeployment of the following Commissioners of Police to Commands / Formations as follows: Edo State , CP Johnson Babatunde Kokumo ; Osun State , CP Undie J. Adie ; Bauchi State CP Lawal Jimeta Tanko ; Ebonyi State , CP Philip Sule Maku ; Gombe State , CP Ahmed Maikudi Shehu ; Ondo State , CP Bolaji Amidu Salami; Oyo State , CP Joe Nwachukwu Enwonwu; Eastern Port, CP Evelyn T. Peterside ; Explosive Ordinance Device ( EOD ), CP Okon Etim Ene ; Airport Command , CP Bello Maikwashi ; and Anti – Fraud Unit ( FCID Annex Lagos ), CP Olukolu Tairu Shina . ”
The statement also quoted the IGP as urging the newly deployed CPs to prioritise community policing , crime prevention , public security , public safety , and general crime – fighting among others.
“ The IGP also enjoins the citizens of the affected states to cooperate with the Commissioners of Police to enable them to succeed in their new areas of responsibilities.
“ The IGP charges the newly posted officers to ensure they consolidate and advance the gains of their predecessors particularly in the implementation of community policing , crime prevention , public security , public safety , and general crime – fighting. ”
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