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But in a statement obtained by newsmen, the Minister of State for Petroleum, Chief Timipre Sylva, stated: “Once again, it has become necessary to assure Nigerians that despite the burden of under-recovery, the Federal Government is not in a hurry to increase the price of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) to reflect current market realities.

“The current price of petrol will be retained in the month of June until the ongoing engagement with organized labour is concluded.

“This clarification becomes necessary in the light of recent reports regarding the resolution of the Nigeria Governors Forum to increase the pump price of petrol.”

He added: “In this regard, I would like to strongly urge petroleum products marketers not to engage in any activities that could jeopardize the seamless supply and distribution system in place while calling on members of the public to avoid panic buying because the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has enough stock of petroleum products to keep the nation wet.”

Vanguard

The Nigeria Labour Congress will today (Friday) come up with its position on the recommendation by governors that the price of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, be raised from N162/litre to N408.5/litre.

A committee set up by the Nigeria Governor’s Forum had on Wednesday called for immediate removal of petrol subsidy. It recommended a petrol price of between and N380/litre and N408.5/litre.

When contacted by newsmen for the position of the NLC on the latest recommendation of the governors as touching petrol price, the Deputy President, Joe Ajaero, replied, “Congress will come up with a position latest tomorrow (Friday).”

Officials of both the NLC and the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas workers in separate exclusive interviews had last week argued that the continued imports of petrol by the NNPC was at the detriment of Nigeria’s refineries.

Commenting on the matter, the President, ACCI, Dr Al-Mujtaba Abubakar, said in an interview that it would be painful to raise petrol price to N408/litre this time and called for gradual increment.

He said, “The subsidy removal can be staggered. They (government) can stagger it by either removing about 25 per cent in the first three months, another 25 per cent next, and so on. They can stagger it.

“But as they remove the subsidy people will also want to see the benefits coming.”

Punch

The regulatory body said this in the commission’s Revised National Identity Policy for SIM Card Registration.

The NCC’s move to start the implementation of the Device Management System (a Centralised Equipment Identity Register) is backed by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).

A portion of the policy said, “Accordingly, His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, has directed that the Device Management System should be implemented within three months.”

The NCC said, “With the aim to curtail the counterfeit mobile phone market, discourage mobile phone theft, enhance National Security, protect consumer interest, increase revenue generation for the government, reduce the rate of kidnapping, mitigate the use of stolen phones for crime, and facilitate blocking or tracing of stolen mobile phones and other smart devices, one of the means to achieve this is through the deployment of Device Management System.

“The implementation of a Centralised Equipment Identity Register otherwise known as Device Management System will serve as a repository for keeping records of all registered mobile phones’ International Mobile Equipment Identity and owners of such devices.

“IMEIs that have been reported as either stolen or illegal will be shared through the DMS to all the operators and service providers.”

The IMEI number is the mobile phone’s fingerprint. It is a 15-digit number unique to each phone. With the IMEI number, a phone can be tracked and located irrespective of the cellular number in it.

Punch

Its chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, stated this at the commission’s meeting in Abuja with the Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) for the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Yakubu said the commission was working to update its registration software to accommodate the newly established polling units to enable prospective voters to register.

“However, more work still lies ahead.

“Apart from the CVR, we shall continue our preparations for two bye-elections scheduled for June 19 in Sabon Gari State Constituency in Kaduna State and Gwaram Federal Constituency in Jigawa State,” he said.

TheNation

The Nigeria Labour Congress has suspended the five-day warning strike in Kaduna State to pave way for negotiations as requested by the Federal Government.

The Chairman, Kaduna chapter of NLC, Ayuba Suleiman, had asked workers to ground all activities for five days as directed by its national leadership to serve as a warning, following the sacking of no fewer than 4,000 state workers in April.

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, had said that the Federal Government would intervene to bring the labour crisis rocking Kaduna State to a peaceful end.

Mohammed said that the Federal Government was disturbed about the sudden turn of events in Kaduna State, stressing that the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, is already working to broker a truce between the opposing sides.

He said, “The Federal Government is not folding its arms and already, the Minister of Labour and Employment has waded in and he is in touch with both the government of Kaduna State and the Labour.

“In addition, the security apparatus all over the country have also taken pre-emptive measures to ensure that hoodlums don’t take advantage of this situation.

“At the end of the day, all the parties have to come back to the drawing table to agree and hammer out concessions and agreements”.

Punch

The Senate has asked the Federal Government to suspend plans to deploy the 5G network technology in Nigeria till further notice.

The red chamber has equally directed the Nigerian Communications Commission, and the Mobile Network Operators to put the exercise on hold, for now, to enable them to study the trend of 5G deployment across the world.

The Senate took the decision when it considered and passed the report of its Joint Committee on Science and Technology, ICT, Cyber Crime, and Primary Health chaired by Senator Oluremi Tinubu.

The development followed a motion by Senator Uche Ekwunife.

The committee recommended that Nigeria should still observe the trend of 5G deployment around the globe and engage in extensive sensitisation of the public through all channels before the commencement of commercial deployments in the country.

The Chairman of the joint committee, while presenting the report, said the overwhelming aggregate opinions from the majority of stakeholders was that it is appropriate for Nigeria to join the comity of nations that are engaged in the deployments of 5G for all its inherent gains.

The committee urged the NCC in collaboration with the Mobile Network Operators Federal Ministry of Health, Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, Federal Ministry of Environment, and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, among others to locally conduct a scientific experimental study over a period of about 6 months to ascertain if a correlation exists between 5G networks and public health.

Although the Senate said it could not establish any evidence linking 5G technology to Covid-19, it asked the MNOs to halt their plans to deploy the 5G network for the next six months.

Punch