Foreign scholars under the Federal Government’s Bilateral Educational Agreement Scholarship, on Wednesday, lamented the sudden deduction in allowances by the Federal Scholarship Board. Some of the affected scholars and parents who spoke to our correspondent in Abuja lamented the government’s decision. The scholars noted that the government had failed to release their allowances for over 13 months, leaving them to source for their means of survival in foreign countries. The BEA scholarship is for the purpose of education exchange between Nigeria and the partnering countries. The Federal Scholarship Board is supervising the scholarship under the Federal Ministry of Education. The…
Author: UZDO Media
The Federal Government, on Tuesday, offered N150,000 grants to outstanding Micro Small and Medium Enterprises in Jigawa. Vice-President Kashim Shettima announced the offer while launching the 4th edition of the Expanded National Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Clinic, in Dutse, Jigawa. The expanded National MSME Clinics is one of the federal government’s strategies for ease of doing business in Nigeria. This will be achieved through a series of business forums organised nationwide to provide on-the-spot solutions to challenges confronting MSMEs. The first, second, and third editions were launched earlier this year in Benue, Ogun, and Ekiti States. Shettima, who reiterated…
Senate President Godswill Akpabio has announced that the newly approved minimum wage applies to all workers across both public and private sectors, including maids and other domestic staff. Akpabio stated this during the plenary session on Tuesday. The bill was speedily passed by both chambers of the National Assembly just after it was transmitted by President Bola Tinubu. Speaking during the plenary, the Senate President said, “If you are a tailor and you employ additional hands, you cannot pay them below N70,000. If you are a mother with a newborn child and you want to hire a housemaid to look…
The Federal Government has announced that it is deploying reinforced concrete technology on the long-delayed East-West road, which spans the South-south region of Nigeria. This move comes after threats of protests from the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People and former agitators in the Niger Delta over the uncompleted axis of the road. In a statement on Wednesday in Abuja by the Minister of Works, David Umahi’s spokesman, Uchenna Orji stated that the government is committed to ensuring that segments of the road do not fail again. He explained that the use of reinforced concrete technology would end pavement…
The Nigeria Labour Congress has denied reports that it has withdrawn from the planned nationwide protest against economic hardship scheduled for August 1. The NLC President, Joe Ajaero, said the union cannot withdraw from a protest that it did not organise. This was contained in a Tuesday press release signed by Ajaero titled, ‘The Nigeria Labour Congress cannot withdraw from a protest that it did not organise.’ “A news report of the withdrawal of the Nigeria Labour Congress from the widely discussed national protest has been brought to our attention. The Nigeria Labour Congress debunks such a story as patently…
The United Kingdom Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, faces his first House of Commons grilling on Wednesday after suspending seven of his own Labour MPs for rebelling over a controversial welfare policy. Starmer suspended the Labour rebels late Tuesday after they backed a motion demanding the removal of the contentious two-child limit on benefits introduced by the previous Conservative government. Their votes supporting ending the cap — introduced in 2015 and which restricts payments to the first two children born to most families — is an early test of Starmer’s authority. The new UK leader has warned there is “no silver…
The Acting Governor of Katsina State, Faruk Umar, on Tuesday, inaugurated a committee to investigate a viral video on social media showing the alleged torture of some individuals by the personnel of Hisbah. Activities of Katsina State Hisbah Board were recently tagged by residents as anti-social and infringement of rights of people across the State. Investigations by PUNCH Online revealed that on May 5, 2024, in the Katsina metropolis, a joint operation by Hisbah and Community Watch Corps at a wedding ceremony turned violent. The security forces fired shots into the crowd, resulting in the tragic death of Mallam Gambo…
Taiwan closed schools, suspended the stock market, and declared a typhoon holiday Wednesday as Gaemi barrelled towards the island, bringing torrential rains and whipping winds to its northeast. Typhoon Gaemi, packing sustained wind speeds of 190 kilometres (118 miles) per hour, also affected Japan and the Philippines — which announced government offices would close for the day. It is expected to make landfall in northeast Taiwan by 10 pm (1400 GMT), and President Lai Ching-te urged everyone to “put safety first” during a morning emergency briefing. “Gaemi is this year’s first typhoon to make landfall in Taiwan,” Lai said. “I…
The National Bureau of Statistics, says prices of Beans, Tomatoes, Irish potatoes, Garri, Yam and other food items witnessed significant price increases in June 2024. The NBS said this in its Selected Food Prices Watch report for June 2024 released in Abuja on Tuesday. The report said that the average price of 1kg of brown beans increased by 252.13 per cent from N651.12 recorded in June 2023 N2,292.76 in June 2024. “On a month-on-month basis, 1kg of brown beans increased by 14.11 per cent in June from the N2,009.23 recorded in May 2024,” the report stated. It said that the…
The Peoples Democratic Party Governors’ Forum has expressed strong concerns over the All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government’s mismanagement of the economy. In a communiqué issued at the end of their meeting in Enugu on Wednesday, the 13 governors of the main opposition party condemned the government’s economic policies, which they believe have led to widespread hardship among Nigerians. Chairman of the forum and Governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed, presented the communiqué after the four-hour meeting. The governors declared their support for the Nigeria Labour Congress in its advocacy for a new minimum wage, emphasising the need for a more…