The House of Representatives has commenced investigation into the N200 billion meant for the suspended 2023 Population and Housing Census.

On Thursday, the House mandated its committee on population to invite the director-general of the National Population Commission, NPC, to give an account of how the N200 billion was expended.

This followed the adoption of a motion titled, “Need to Investigate N200 Billion Spent on the Suspended 2023 Population and Housing Census”, moved by Hon Clement Akanni during the House plenary in Abuja.

Adopting the motion, the House noted that census is a process of systematically collecting, compiling, and analysing demographic, social and economic data of a population within a specific region.

The lawmakers also noted that governments conduct censuses to gather accurate and comprehensive information such as age, sex, marital status, education, occupation, housing, and other relevant demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of a country.

The House said it was aware that the last census that was conducted in 2006 by the National Population Commission gave a population figure of 140 million.

It said it was also aware that the immediate-past administration of former President, Muhammadu Buhari planned to conduct another census in 2022, but the programme was later postponed to 2023.

The House recalled that earlier in March 2023 the former Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Clem Agba, said a total of N869 Billion would be required for the exercise, including Post-Census-Activities.

It also recalled that the National Population Commission, NPC, said it has spent about 200 Billion to prepare for the 2023 population and housing census.

The House was disturbed that the exercise was, however, suspended indefinitely by former President Muhammadu Buhari a few days before leaving office.

The House referred the matter to the committee on population to report back for further deliberation.

A chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr Salihu Lukman has said that President Bola Tinubu was failing in the task of governing the country.

Lukman, who resigned his position recently as the National Vice Chairman (Northwest) of the APC, said the President has been toeing the same line of failure as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that led to the “wasted years”.

Lukman noted that virtually every Nigerian leader, with probably, negligible exceptions, are self-centred.

According to him, they have limited engagements with President Tinubu to only what they can get from him in terms of appointments into his government.

The former Director General of the Progressives Governors’ Forum, (PGF) conveyed his message in an open letter on Wednesday.

Lukman, in his letter, entitled, ‘Burden of Leadership,’ said, “Already, with the way former President Buhari had managed the country for eight years, in the same political orientation PDP ran the country for sixteen years, President Tinubu is justifiably, continuing that path.

“Our leaders who led the merger negotiation to produce APC in 2013, owe it to Nigerians, to call President Tinubu to order and get him to recover whatever is left of his democratic and progressive credentials.

“APC leaders and President Tinubu must resist the temptation of toeing the path of self-destruction by continuing to operate as a closed government.

“Achieving that will require readiness on the part of all APC leaders to make all the sacrifices to regain their respect back, based on which they emerged as leaders and not bosses.

“Although, being a self-acclaimed Awoist and progressive, not coming from a military background like former President Buhari, the expectation of many is that he will at least, be more democratic.

“This should connote more consultations, based on which perhaps, the structures of the APC as a political party would be made more functional.”

He however observed that Tinubu passed the first test with the zoning of the leadership positions of the 10th National Assembly and by extension, the present government.

“Confronted with a hostile party leadership under Senator Abdullahi Adamu who was decidedly anti-zoning, to be fair to President Asiwaju Tinubu, he was able to handle the situation to the best of his ability, based on which he produced a balanced leadership for the 10th National Assembly.

“Unfortunately, most of our APC leaders from the North, for whatever reasons, were speculated to have worked at variance with the initiatives of President Tinubu to produce a balanced leadership.

“That could have been partly, responsible for the complete lack of attempt to forge a united front with President Tinubu and party leaders from the North, to ensure that the successor to Senator Adamu as APC National Chairman is produced through consultations.”

Dr Lukman berated political office holders in the Tinubu administration, accusing them of accumulating financial resources for the 2027 general election.

He said, “Our leaders occupying political offices are busy accumulating financial resources, legitimately or otherwise for future elections.

“We must caution our leaders, as things are, they are on the verge of self-destruction. It is very clear that President Tinubu’s respect for political leaders in the country is weak, largely because of the failure to act as leaders.

“Virtually, all APC leaders are behaving more like bosses. Accordingly, this is now a source of threat with the potential danger of leaders completely losing relevance and unable to command the respect of citizens.”

Lukman said the least will be for APC and President Tinubu to lose elections in 2027, pointing to threats of rebellion against the leadership in the country.

“Given all these, any conclusion about APC shortchanging Nigerians can hardly be dismissed.

“Making APC a functional party is about ensuring that all organs of the party are allowed to operate as provided in the party’s constitution. Anything short of that will only contribute to destroying democracy in Nigeria,” he added.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has further moved to curb inflation and stabilise the exchange rate, thereby fostering a more balanced economic environment, through the completion of another round of Treasury Bills (T-Bills) auction, offloading about N1.3 trillion at a striking 21.490 per cent.

The auction, which took place on March 6, 2024, saw the bills being offered across three different tenors.

According to the Summary of Auction Result, the highest interest, or stop rate, was recorded for the 364-day tenor at a striking 21.490 per cent.

This maturity date is slated for March 6, 2025, and it had an offer of over N312 billion, with subscriptions skyrocketing to nearly N1.54 trillion.

The CBN has successfully allotted the same amount as the initial offer, showing a robust appetite from investors, which has continued to soar in recent times.

In comparison, the shorter tenor T-Bills drew a more modest interest rate, with the 91-day bills closing at a stop rate of 17.240% and the 182-day bills at 18.000%.

The 91-day bills, maturing on June 6, 2024, saw an offer of N14.4 billion and received an oversubscribed interest of over N66 billion.

All the offered amount was allotted to bidders. Similarly, the 182-day bills had an offer of N10.5 billion and were subscribed to over N51 billion. The maturity date for these bills is set for September 5, 2024.

The range of bids for the different tenors varied, with the 91-day bills having a bid range of 15.9000% – 22.0000%, the 182-day bills slightly narrower at 14.0000% – 22.0000%, and the 364-day bills having bids placed between 17.0000% and 27.0000%.

These results highlight the CBN’s continuous efforts to regulate liquidity and control inflation by issuing treasury bills. The high stop rate of 21.490% on the 364-day tenor indicates an aggressive stance by the CBN in curbing excess liquidity, which could be seen as a move to attract more investors to government securities.

The decision to significantly raise the volume of treasury bills auctioned, especially for the 364-day tenure, underscores the CBN’s commitment to addressing the liquidity surplus in the economy.

Bandits, Thursday morning, stormed LGEA Primary School, Kuriga (1), Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State and kidnapped scores of pupils and teachers.

DAILY POST gathered that the incident happened at about 8:20 am immediately after the morning assembly.

Locals said the Headteacher of the school and some other staff were among the victims.

A former Kaduna senator, Shehu Sani, expressed displeasure on the incident, expressing optimism that they would be free.

‘’It’s tragic to hear that 232 students have just been kidnapped in Kuriga village, Chikun LG in Kaduna State.

“It’s the same village where a school principal, Idris Sufyan was killed and his wife kidnapped over a month ago. However, I’m optimistic their freedom will be secured,’’ he said.

The junior and secondary schools relocated to the school building inside the Kuriga town a few years ago due to insecurity concerns, abandoning their former school building located outside the town.

A resident, Shitu, confirmed the incident, saying most of the pupils ran out of their classes when they sighted the bandits on the school premises.

Another resident, Lawal Kuriga, also said that the abducted victims were marched into the forest.

As of the time of filing this report, there was no official reaction from the state government or the police.

The figure released by the former senator has also not been confirmed by the police.

Wunmi Aloba, the wife of late musician Oladimeji Aloba, known as Mohbad, has served a pre-action notice to her father-in-law, Joseph Aloba.

The pre-action notice demands an apology from Joseph Aloba for defamatory, insulting and libelous social media and newspaper posts and publications about her.

Wunmi Aloba, who served the notice through her lawyers, claimed that her father-in-law lately resorted to defaming her through name-calling and also dragging her image into the mud.

Part of the notice reads:

“…through newspaper campaign of calumny, character assassination, name-calling, defamation of characters against her and use of reckless language to portray her image and personality to gain cheap attention and sympathy from unsuspecting members of the public”.

The letter read:

“We have been consulted, briefed, and our services retained by Mrs. Aloba Cynthia Omowunmi, hereinafter referred to as “Our Client” and at her behest, we write you in respect of the above subject.

“Our Client’s brief reveals that you have recently resorted to a newspaper campaign of calumny, character assassination, name-calling, defamation of characters against her, and use of reckless language to portray the image and personality of our client to gain cheap attention and sympathy from the unsuspecting members of the public.”

“…If, however, you fail, refuse or neglect to hearken to this subtle demand, we will be left with no choice than to commence legal proceedings against you to assert our client’s rights and claim 50 million naira damages in that respect.”

The letter highlighted an interview Mohbad’s father made with Westo Adejumo Adekunle on African television, in which he was quoted as saying he hated his late son’s widow.

Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has stated that no sacrifice is too big for him to pay for the success of the state.

He added that he could give up his position to bring peace to Rivers State.

The governor stated this in an interview with AIT on Thursday.

Fubara further stated that there are things he could have done that would have resulted in a “total crisis”. However, his ability to restrain even when he has the power is maturity.

During the interview, Fubara said, “No sacrifice will be too big for me to pay for the success of this administration.

“And the reason is very simple, it’s not political love, it’s not because I want to gain any favour from anybody, my interest and love for our dear state is genuine.

I’m not trying to say I want to be one man who will be there to decide the fate of all but let Rivers State remain.

“My burden was not the issue of all the drama, it’s the millions of Rivers people who had made sacrifices and it looks as if their hopes are being dashed. They were the ones I was worried about. What will be their fate? It’s not about me.

“If leaving this position is what I need or what is needed to bring more peace to the state, I can even tell you people to come and take it. It’s not about me. People should understand that definitely I will go but Rivers State will still remain.

“I am the governor, no matter what it is, there are things I could have done and there would have been a total crisis. But your ability to restrain in the face of crisis even when you have the power to do things is maturity.”

A forensic analyst has told a federal capital territory (FCT) high court in Maitama that the documents used to request the payment of $6.2 million for foreign election observers were forged.

Bamaiyi Meriga, the forensic analyst, said this on Thursday while giving evidence as a witness in the trial of Godwin Emefiele, former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Emefiele is standing trial on a 20-count amended criminal charge preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The amended charges border on alleged breach of trust, forgery, conspiracy to commit forgery, procurement fraud and conspiracy to commit a felony

The Presiding Pastor of Livingspring Chapel Int’l, Pastor Femi Emmanuel, encourages his congregation to “japa” if they can.

This was said during one of the church’s services at the Ibadan headquarters.

The pastor, explaining the worrisome state of the country, says the enemies of Nigeria are the MDs of banks. “The MDs of banks are the destroyers of this system.”

Admonishing the church members that if they have the opportunity to leave the country, they should, because the country’s future is dicey.

“This country cannot go on like this, okay? I was talking about those who migrated. I don’t blame those who want to japa. You know, initially, I was saying don’t japa. Do you hear me saying that again?

”Japa if you want to japa, ooo. Because you look at the country and you say, ‘What future?'”

He tells his congregation to tell Asiwaju to restructure Nigeria. “The next thing he should do, tell him, if you know him, is to restructure this country.”

He further said, “Nigeria is a fraud”, one tribe is pressing the whole nation,” referring to the central bank’s motion of moving the operational department to Lagos, and the Northerners are not in support of this.

“One particular tribe is pressing the whole of us. Did you hear what the central bank governor wants to do? Just a department, the operational department of the central bank, to be moved back to Lagos where you have 99% of the headquarters of banks. The North is not in support. Don’t take Abuja back to Lagos.”

Femi mentioned that he knows how governance functions, recalling that he was once the deputy speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly before he went into ministry. “I talk like no other pastor talks because I have seen into governance. I have seen into the church. I know where the problem is in this country.”

The leader of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, Primate Elijah Ayodele, on Thursday warned President Bola Tinubu to reduce his trips and seek the face of God concerning his health.

He explained that Tinubu has so much burden on himself, adding that there is still so much to do for the country’s economic stability.

In a statement signed by his Media Aide, Oluwatosin Osho, Ayodele urged Nigerians to pray for the success of the present government and the president.

‘’Nigerians should pray for the government and President Tinubu’s good health so he will be able to do all that is needful. The president is carrying so much; he needs prayers to be sustained.

‘’The president should also reduce his trips; he needs to seek the face of God and pray for his health because there is still so much to do for the country,” he said.

Ayodele also made it known that he doesn’t see any hope yet except the government listens to useful advice.

Primate Ayodele advised the government not to tackle the economic crisis from the aspect of the dollar exchange rate but to look into the nation’s mineral resources to restructure the economy.