HelloSamson's Blog

The All Progressives Congress on Tuesday asked the Kogi State government to go and sort itself out with the Central Bank instead of trying to blame the party for its inability to access bailout. It described allegations by the Kogi State governor, Capt. Idris Wada, that political interference is responsible for his administration’s inability to access the bailout as cheap blackmail.   This was contained in a statement signed by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in Abuja. The APC was reacting to a statement credited to the state governor and the Peoples Democratic Party Governors’ Forum. The Kogi State government and the PDP Governors’ Forum accused the APC-led Federal Government of playing politics with the bailout. According to the APC, allegations by the Kogi State government and the PDP Governors’ Forum were at best, an attempt to blackmail it. The statement partly read, “This accusation is in line with the new-found prope...

The wife of the President, Aisha Buhari, has appealed to the governing All Progressives Congress not to renege on their electoral promises to Nigerians. Specifically, Mrs. Buhari called on the party to ensure that it fulfiled its promises of paying N5,000 to 25 million unemployed Nigerians and giving school children one free meal a day. Her call was contained in a three-paragraph statement made available to journalists on Tuesday by her media aide, Adebisi Olumide Ajayi. The call came on the heels of the decision of the Senate to shut down a motion asking President Muhammadu Buhari to fulfil the party’s promise of paying unemployed Nigerians. The President’s wife also asked Nigerians to be patient with the APC government. She assured them that the change they had been yearning for had come to stay. The statement read, “The wife of the President, Her Excellency Aisha Buhari, has appealed to the ruling party All Progressives Congress, APC not to renege on t...

Telecommunication company, MTN, has reportedly agreed to pay the N1.04 trillion fine slammed on it by the Nigerian Communications Commission NCC for flouting the regulatory body's directive on SIM deactivation. MTN is reportedly pleading for a staggered payment plan to pay-up the fine. Vanguard quoted a source as saying that the agreement to employ the staggered payment model followed a series of meetings between top executives of MTN Nigeria and South Africa with VP, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo. “There have been series of meeting at the Presidency between Vice President Osinbajo and MTN team both from South Africa and the Nigerian arm. MTN wanted a waiver considering their level of investments in the country, but government did not buy the idea of waiver. Instead, I think there will be concession, but certainly not a waiver. At the conclusion of the meeting, the MTN people negotiated on how to stagger the payment. The Presidency is even angry because MTN was a signatory to ...

SEOUL, South Korea –   he U.S. and South Korea are pledging to strengthen their combined defenses against what they call threats by North Korea, but announced no specific new steps toward a long-delayed transfer of wartime control of South Korean forces from the U.S. military to the South Korean government. U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the two countries agreed that transfer of wartime control would happen after the South develops a stronger capability to counter the North's artillery force and after it improves its command and control of military forces and its intelligence capabilities. But further details were not made public. Carter called North Korea an "up-close, dangerous and continuing threat." Carter appeared at a news conference with his South Korean counterpart, Han Min-koo, who said his country would not tolerate further military provocations by the North. In a joint written statement issued after closed-door meetings, they co...

Abuja – The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), on Monday said that it would issue new telecom spectrum licences in 2016, to create robust internet infrastructure in all the 36 states in the country. Prof Umar Danbatta , the Acting Executive Vice Chairman, NCC, made this known in an interview in Abuja. He said that the commission was focussed on providing a level playing field for all telecom companies and investors to maximise their investments in the sector. Danbatta said this would increase investments, expand broadband services and drive economic growth and development in the country. The NCC boss said the overall target was raise the sector’s contribution to Nigeria’s GDP to 25 per cent from the present 10 per cent. “We shall continue to provide the enabling environment to attain the prediction of 25 per cent by 2025. “The commission is currently engaging the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) with a view to removing the barriers to infrastructure deploymen...

Akpabio said the PDP caucus staged a walk-out during the confirmation of a former Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, and 17 others because they did not want to participate in illegality Senators elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party on Wednesday said they never supported emergence of the President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki. They said the luck Saraki had was that he was returned unopposed as Senate president. The Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio, made this known on Thursday. Akpabio said the PDP caucus staged a walk-out during the confirmation of a former Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, and 17 others because they did not want to participate in illegality. He added that the PDP senators decided not to participate i‎n what he described as a “charade confirmation” because they have responsibilities to Nigerians. According to him: “We never supported Saraki during the election because he was returned unopposed. “We...

Bank customers that are unable to obtain their bank verification numbers (BVNs) before the close of business this Friday would not be able to operate such accounts as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has ruled out another extension of the deadline, which expires this Friday. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in collaboration with the Bankers’ Committee had introduced the BVN on February 14, 2014. The initiative was aimed at ensuring unique identity for all bank customers and other users of financial services in the country by the use of the customers’ biometrics as means of identification. At the expiration of the initial estimated 18 months after the launch, a good number of bank customers were reluctant in registering, which led to commotion and stampede in banking halls across the country towards the end of the previous deadline. That confusion necessitated the call for the extension of the registration dateline by four months to October 31. Data from the Nigeria Int...