In 2019, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) released a report on how federal lawmakers, in connivance with executing agencies, have perfected fraudulent means of pocketing billions of naira under the guise of constituency projects. The report fingered Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria…

In what it called "illegal and unconstitutional," the House of Representatives, on Tuesday, faulted the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari that the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company Limited (NBET) be moved from the Ministry of Power to the Ministry of Finance. Emmanuel Bello, the spokesperson to the power minister, had,…

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday charged Nigerians to be united in their resolve to fight terrorism and ensure peace reigns in the country. The president also said that citizens must ensure they do not subscribe to the terrorists' message of division, adding that doing the contrary would embolden what the…

Dozens of people died in a stampede that erupted when hundreds of thousands of mourners thronged the Iranian city of Kerman at a funeral procession in honour of Qassem Soleimani, a top Iranian general who was killed in an air strike in Baghdad by the United States. Over 200 others…

The presidency on Monday replied popular cleric, Tunde Bakare, who advised President Muhammadu Buhari to pick his successor for the 2023 presidential election. President Buhari's spokesperson, Femi Adesina, said the president though interested in who would succeed him, "will not pick a successor." PREMIUM TIMES reported how Mr Bakare on Sunday advised…

The Senior Pastor of Latter Rain Assembly, Tunde Bakare, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to sustain his legacy by picking a successor before 2023. The cleric in a live broadcast in his church on Sunday explained that by institutionalizing a system of succession, Mr Buhari would join the league of…

While hundreds of NDDC projects remain abandoned and uncompleted across the oil-producing states, partly due to non-release of funds, the agency ‘abandoned’ $70 million in a bank for over a decade, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, said. A series of investigations by PREMIUM TIMES on the status…

Bamidele Salam, the House of Representatives member representing Ede North/Ede South/Egbedore/Ejigbo Federal Constituency, in this interview with Yusuf Akinpelu, says the ₦37 billion intended to be used for NASS renovation is a misplaced priority. Mr Salam also speaks on what he would do to stop the move. He also speaks…

A Nigerian lawmaker, Bamidele Salam, has called for a massive cut in the cost of running the Nigerian government. Part of his recommendation is that federal lawmakers, who are currently about 469, be reduced by about two-thirds. Mr Salam, who represents Ede North/Ede South/Egbedore/Ejigbo Federal Constituency, said this can be…

The Federal Commissioner of the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants, and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI), Basheer Mohammed, has highlighted the agency's plan to tackle irregular migration and reintegration of displaced persons in the country. Mr Mohammed made this known during a courtesy call to President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, according…

President Muhammadu Buhari, in commemoration of the new year, reaffirmed his commitment to fight insecurity, diversify the economy, tackle corruption and strengthen the electoral process. The president also pledged to reinforce the security outfits in the country with modern weaponry, and improve staffing and training. He added that all that…

As a kid, he had a big dream and this was to become a master of words and letters. However, because he always led his class, his teacher had another dream for him, and whatever the then young Adelowo Shamsudeen had in his young mind wouldn’t matter. But all hope…

In what appears to be at odds with the current administration's sworn mandate to tackle corruption, it has been 123 days since Bashir Magashi, Nigeria's current defence minister, was exposed as having been indicted for stealing and shipping abroad about $550,000 from the nation's treasury. Yet, President Muhammadu Buhari has…

Following the release of activist, Omoyele Sowore, and ex-National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, from illegal detention of the State Security Service, a coalition of 12 civil society groups have asked the federal and state governments to release other illegally detained persons across the country. The coalition, Freedom Rally Group, made…

The verification of ₦1.36 billion worth of capital spending by the National Assembly was unsuccessful as auditors were reportedly denied access to financial records, an audit report has revealed. The said unaudited amount was found in the account of the Senate. This is contained in the Auditor-General’s annual report of…

In October, when President Muhammadu Buhari presented the 2020 Appropriation Bill before a joint session of the upper and lower Houses of the National Assembly, his proposal was an aggregate of ₦10.3 trillion. However, when he signed the bill into law in December, after the National Assembly's perusal, the new…

The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, has asked Nigerians to embrace peace, love, tolerance and self-sacrifice, which were the hallmark of the teachings of Jesus Christ. In a Christmas message he released on Tuesday, he said beyond religion, the messages brought by Christ are important in nation-building and development.…

While the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) across camps in the country are going hungry daily, officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) were seen on Sunday sharing food items to the agency's staff. An August, 2019 report of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, titled “Monitoring…

Before the Senate adjourned next year for the Christmas and New Year break, it confirmed Muhammad Nami and Edward Adamu as the heads of FIRS and AMCON respectively. There was also the reintroduction of the Peace Corps Bill by Senator Ali Ndume among the main issues on the floor of…

The Kano Civil Society Forum (KCSF) has said its members are not part of the civil society organisations (CSOs) in the state that allegedly called for the dethronement of the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi. The KCSF described itself as the umbrella body of over 183 different civil society organisations…

Residents of Ndokwa community of Delta State have registered their displeasure over the delay in the passage of the bill to establish the Federal Polytechnic, Kwale, Delta State. The residents, in a letter forwarded to the leadership of both the upper and lower chambers of the National Assembly, complained that…

The Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Millennium Development Goals (OSSAP-MDGs) has said it does not determine the amount allocated for projects in its budget. The office said this in response to a PREMIUM TIMES report on how some controversial projects were inserted into the budgets of some…

The House of Representatives on Wednesday urged the Federal Capital Territory transport secretariat and the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) to ban the use of unpainted and unlicensed taxis in Abuja metropolis. The House followed this by directing the transport authorities to commence the registration, regulation and licensing of all…

As it stands, Nigeria is poised to spend more on renovating the National Assembly complex in Abuja than it would on repairing federal roads across the country. In the 2020 budget signed on Tuesday by President Muhammadu Buhari, the renovation of the National Assembly complex is set to gulp ₦37…

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has said the National Assembly would task its committees to ensure proper implementation of the 2020 budget. President Muhammadu Buhari signed the 2020 Appropriation Bill into law Tuesday, "We have a year to monitor, from January to December. Just as we…