Almost 40 per cent of the $312 million Niger spent on defence procurement contracts, over the last three years, was lost through inflated costs or materiel that was not delivered, according to a government audit of military contracts seen by Reuters. The deals for military vehicles, ammunition and attack helicopters were mainly signed with local contractors who then sourced from firms abroad, including Ukraine, France, Russia and China. Niger, an ally for France and the U.S. in the fight against Islamic State and al Qaeda-linked extremists in the Sahel, is one of the world’s poorest countries but has ramped up…
Author: Prompt News
The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has fined three stations over broadcast of invariable content on COVID-19 and also sanctioned 28 others for other violations against the Nigeria Broadcasting Code The Acting Director-General of NBC, Prof. Armstrong Idachaba, made this known at a press briefing in Abuja on Wednesday. Idachaba said the three stations fined were Adaba FM and Breeze FM, all in Akure, as well as Albarka FM, Ilorin. He said that the stations were fined N250,000 each for broadcasting invariable claims and misleading information about the COVID-19 pandemic. The NBC boss further stated that 28 other stations were sanctioned…
Gombe State Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (CPR) has risen from 4.7 per cent to 17 per cent in five years, says an official. Mrs Rejoice Molta, Gombe State Coordinator, Child Spacing, State Primary Health Care Development Agency (GSPCDA), disclosed this during an interactive session with newsmen on Wednesday. The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines contraceptive prevalence as the percentage of women who are currently using, or whose sexual partner is currently using, at least one method of contraception, regardless of the method used. It is usually reported for married or in-union women aged 15 years to 49 years. Molta said that…
Mrs Harriet Thompson, British Deputy High Commissioner in Nigeria, says the UK government will continue to provide technical assistance to the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) in Nigeria. The British envoy said this during a Webinar organised by the Nigerian-British Chambers of Commerce. The theme of the Webinar was: ‘Nigerian- British Bilateral Relationship Post COVID-19.” She noted that UK was excited to see a set of very strong commitment from the Nigerian government through its letter of intent to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). She said the letter of intent revolved round removing fuel subsidy, taxing Forex regime and…
Borussia Dortmund coach Lucien Favre denied on Wednesday that he wants to resign after speculation had been sparked by cryptic comments in the wake of the 1-0 defeat to Bayern Munich. Bayern Munich’s win in Dortmund pushed them seven points clear of their rivals at the top of the Bundesliga with six games left. “I am not thinking of giving up. Yesterday (On Tuesday) we were all disappointed, but my words in the interview directly after the game seem to have been misunderstood in many cases,” he said. “What I had only wanted to say was that now is not…
reports that the EFCC had, on March 23, charged Oyo-Ita and eight with 18-counts of money laundering to the tune of N570 million.Those arraigned alongside the former HOS were Frontline Ace Global Services Limited; Asanaya Projects Limited; Garba Umar and his companies: Slopes International Limited; Good Deal Investments Limited; Ubong Okon Effiok and his own company, U & U Global Services Limited and Prince Mega Logistics Limited.The defendants were accused of fraud in relation to duty tour allowances (DTA); estacode; conference fees fraud and receiving kickbacks on contracts.According to the anti-corruption agency, investigations revealed that Oyo-Ita, in her roles in…
The Nigeria Police on Wednesday inaugurated Police Mobile Force 72 Squadron at Ago-Are in Atisbo Local Government Area of Oyo state. Mr Abubakar Adamu, Inspector General of Police (IGP) said at the event that the squadron was the first to start operation with full support of Gov. Seyi Makinde. ”The squadron is one of the 16 newly created squadrons,” Adamu said. The I-GP, who was represented by the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Abdulmojid Ali, said the 16 squadrons were in addition to the existing 68 in the country. He said that Squadron 72 was set up at the request…
By Udo Akam-Alo, ABAKALIKI A resident of Aniekwena street in Abakaliki metropolis, Mr. Charles Nnanna, whose nine (9) months old baby was rescued from kidnappers has called on the police to prosecute three of the kidnappers that were arrested and handed over to them. Nnanna narrated how his baby was kidnapped but eventually rescued. According to him, “On Sunday, unknown persons came into my house around 1:30 in the afternoon and took my little daughter of nine months and ran away. They blew their guns and afterwards hurried away. I followed them with my vehicle. “Along the line, they threw…
By Harry Awurumibe, Editor, Abuja Bureau Apparently to avoid a spike in Coronavirus (Covid-19) disease when schools restart, the Federal Government may opt for gradual reopening but not before some stringent measures have been put in place to safeguard the health of pupils and students in Nigerian schools.This much was disclosed on Wednesday in Abuja by the Minister of State for Education, Hon. Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba while giving an update on the plans to reopen schools in Nigeria at the daily press briefing of the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19 Pandemic.Nwajiuba revealed that the Federal Ministry of Education is considering many…
The Kano State Joint Action Committee of the organised labour has issued a two weeks ultimatum to the State Government to stop deduction on workers’ salaries or face strike.Mr Kabiru Ado, the state’s Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), stated this at a joint news conference, on Wednesday in Kano.Ado said that the organised labour had deliberated over recent slashing of worker’s salaries and other topical issues affecting their welfare in the state amid COVID-19 pandemic.He said that the unions decided to reject the slashing of workers’ salaries and called on the government to stop the action or face…