Popular Nigerian rapper Ice Prince, has stated that he is not ready for a committed relationship, contrary to Moet Abebe’s assertion that they have been dating for 12 years.

Recalls that on-air personality Moet Abebe had claimed during an interview that she and Ice Prince have been in a relationship for 12 years.

This statement came amid dating rumors after they both stepped out in matching outfits.

However, in a viral interview with The DateBizz, the rapper contradicted her claims, stating that finding love has been challenging for him.

He said, “Recently, it’s been hard for me to get love. Not because I don’t want to, but my mind has not been in the right place for a relationship. And I don’t want to have a girl suffering with me. I needed time to put certain things together, especially my music and finances.

“I don’t go around with holes. If you see me with a woman, she’s probably someone that I so much respect, somebody that we have mutual understanding. Any woman that you see me with or having sex with is someone I respect.

“As to a committed relationship, I wouldn’t say that I’m in one right now. I should get married soon, hopefully. I don’t want to go past 40 years before getting married. So I’m searching.”

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Popular Nigerian filmmaker, Patrick Doyle has claimed that the entertainment industry is being controlled by satan.

The actor stated this while reacting to singer Tems’ recent BET award.

Recall that Tems, a secular musician won the best gospel award at the 2024 BET Awards held on Monday, at the Peacock Theater in Downtown Los Angeles, United States.

Tems win left the mainstream gospel musicians who felt betrayed in shock.

Reacting to the controversies in a Facebook post, Doyle cautioned gospel singers to stop seeking validation from the entertainment industry mafia

He wrote, “I feel the pain of mainstream gospel artists who feel slighted that an evidently secular musician, Tems was awarded for best gospel song.

“That said, I believe it is about time that committed Christians should stop seeking validation from fickle institutions like the entertainment industry mafia which by the way is in the grip of Satan.”

Ex-BBNaija star Kiddwaya on Tuesday opened up about an incident of robbery that occurred in his villa in ‘Ibiza’, Spain, where he claimed he was robbed of 70,000 euros and a Birkin bag.

Kiddwaya, in a video post on Instagram, said, “What’s up, guys? So something crazy happened last night. For the second time, I was robbed in Ibiza at the villa I was staying in.”

The reality TV star further revealed that the robbery occurred around 3:00 am local time, with the perpetrators reportedly gaining access to his room and conducting the theft. 

Kiddwaya advised fellow Nigerians travelling to Europe, especially those staying in villas, to exercise caution.

He said, “All my rich Nigerians, when you travel to these places, be careful with all these villas.”

He suggested having additional security personnel and private drivers to avoid potential risks associated with local services.

“Make sure you have bouncers and people walking on the property day and night. Don’t get a regular taxi; always have a private driver,” he cautioned.

Kiddwaya also highlighted concerns about internal threats and called for vigilance.

“Be careful with your maid; she is the one who goes into the room and knows where the money is and where everything is kept.”

The Enugu State chapter of the Labour Party has denounced what it termed the politically-motivated detention of its candidate for Enugu South Urban State Constituency, Bright Ngene, saying he was tried on trumped-up charges.

Ngene was sentenced to seven years in prison by the Enugu South Magisterial District on June 28, 2024.

The party condemned the judgment in a statement issued and signed by the State Chairman, Casimir Agbo, and the Publicity Secretary, Onuora Odo, in Enugu, on Tuesday.

It asked the National Judicial Commission to intervene and prevent further disgrace to the legal profession by officials compromised by political pressures. 

It alleged that the magistrate, E. D. Onwu, acted under external influences to expedite the long-pending case.

The party also accused him of disregarding community protests and a pending petition to the NJC regarding his visible bias.

“We, the undersigned, strongly condemn the unjust and politically motivated detention of Hon. Bright Ngene, the Labour Party’s candidate for Enugu South Urban State Constituency, during the March 18, 2023 election, which he won and was sworn in as a member of Enugu House of Assembly.

“You would recall that Honourable Bright Ngene defeated his closest rival, Sam Ngene, during the elections. However, the PDP candidate went to the tribunal praying it to declare that the election was inconclusive.

“Consequently, the tribunal ordered a rerun in eight polling units. Unfortunately, the said rerun didn’t hold on two occasions as the PDP candidate was unprepared for the elections but was only plotting with the Independent National Electoral Commission to rig the election.

“The PDP-led government is in cahoots with the INEC to manipulate the election in favour of Sam Ngene,” the statement read.

The party said on two occasions that the rerun could not be held because the masses came out to reject any form of manipulation and imposition.

“It’s on the strength of the stiff resistance being mounted by the Labour Party candidate that the PDP-led government strategised and came up with arm-twisting tactics geared towards stopping Bright at all costs

“In total execution of their grand scheme, the PDP-led government went and resurrected a land-related matter involving Bright and two others, pending before the court since 2017.

“In a scenario that looked more dramatic than court proceedings, the presiding magistrate, Onwu, apparently acting under instructions, hurriedly and haphazardly heard the case on June 28, 2024, without adoption of addresses by parties, and sent Hon. Bright to prison for seven years without the option of fine on a trumped-up charge,” the party added.

The party condemned the detention of its candidate and described it as an attempt to silence and prevent him from participating in the upcoming rerun.

“We consider this detention a grave violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms, particularly given the pending petition before the National Judicial Council on the matter. The presiding magistrate’s decision was tainted by manifest bias, amounting to political intimidation.

“We urge the NJC, human rights organisations, and the international community to condemn this injustice and advocate for Hon Bright’s freedom,” the party said.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio has hailed President Bola Tinubu for appointing Nyesom Wike as the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.

Akpabio spoke during the flag-off of the construction of the Kugbo Bus and Taxi Terminal in the Karu District of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.

He said the decision to construct bus terminals has also shown the minister’s desire to not only construct roads but also provide services that will make life more comfortable for FCT residents.

He said the terminal will serve as a hub that will facilitate the efficient movement of people, ensure traffic decongestion and improve the overall quality of life for FCT residents.

“The development of this bus terminal is more than just a construction project. It is a testament to the good works and commitment of you (FCT Minister) and the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” Akpabio said.

The Senate President said Tinubu’s picking of Wike as the FCT Minister was the right choice.

He said: “This bus terminal you are talking about, I looked at the picture, and I saw where they are going to be seated, waiting for their bus to come and it is almost as if they are inside a major terminal at the airport.

“This is for me, another major wonder of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration. This is the way to cater for a city of this nature. This is a way to take care of the people of the Area Councils and also the FCT residents and visitors alike.

“So, I believe that your appointment is a square peg in a square hole and I must thank the President for having the eyes to pinpoint those who can perform and bring them in. He did this in Lagos and today Lagos is one of the best, one of the largest economies in the whole of Africa, when we are talking about cities.”

As concerns mount over the lack of domestic crude oil to the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and other indigenous refiners, the Independent Petroleum Producers Group has called on President Bola Tinubu to consider declaring a state of emergency on crude oil production in Nigeria following the lingering crisis associated with this.

IPPG is an association of Nigerian indigenous upstream exploration production companies that engages the government and other industry stakeholders on issues affecting the sector. It has 28 members including Oando Plc, Aiteo, Seplat, Energia, Eroton, First E&P, Frontier Oil, Green Energy, among others.

The oil producers also expressed fears that the 2024 budget might be implemented partially due to the low production of crude in Nigeria lately.

This came as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited announced that it had declared war on the challenges confronting oil production across the country, adding that it was currently engaging its partners including International Oil Companies.

However, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, charged the oil producers to increase their investments in the upstream arm of the business, as this would also help to grow oil output.

They all spoke at the ongoing Nigeria Oil and Gas conference in Abuja on Tuesday.

Nigeria’s oil production has been dropping since this year, falling from over 1.4 million barrels per day (excluding condensates) in January to about 1.2mbpd in April. 

Oil producers believe that Nigeria should be producing about 2mbpd in order to meet the demand of local refineries as well as export.

Dangote refinery as well as operators of modular refineries have continued to raise concern over the poor crude oil supply from IOCs and NNPC. However, industry experts say most of the crude volumes by the IOCs and NNPC have been contracted out to dealers already, amid the low production in-country.

Presenting the industry keynote address at the conference, the Chairman, IPPG, Abdulrazaq Isa, pointed out that the industry was in dire need of extraordinary focus to mitigate the genuine concerns on its long-term sustainability.

He stressed that “as a matter of national importance, Nigeria must act fast and hasten the pace of recovery across the entire industry, even if it means Mr President declaring a state of emergency in the oil and gas sector! We must be seen to do everything possible to unleash the industry.

“Unlocking this incremental production is achievable only through collaboration and commitment between the industry regulators (NUPRC and NMDPRA) and industry operators (NNPC, OPTS and IPPG) and this must be done for the sake of our country.”

Isa said despite Nigeria’s world class hydrocarbon resource base, with over 37 billion barrels of proven crude oil reserves and 207 tcf (trillion cubic feet) and 600 tcf of proven and contingent gas reserves respectively, the country finds itself in a situation where its daily production has significantly dropped and lies at about 1.3 million barrels of oil and 8.5 bcf (billion cubic feet) of gas today.

“This is way below our capacity as a nation and by all globally acceptable standards, this reserves to production ratio is extremely low and a clear indicator that the industry is in a dire situation. In addition, we now run the risk of partial implementation of our national budget considering an estimated deficit of 400,000bpd from the forecasted 1.78 million bpd. 

“This trend in production portends another frightening dimension when we consider that in the not-too-distant future our overall installed domestic refining capacity, currently closing in on about 1.2 million barrels per day, may soon outstrip our current crude oil production level with the risk of Nigeria finding itself in a position where it is unable to meet its domestic refinery crude demand or even become a net importer of crude oil, God forbid!,” he stated.

The oil producers chairman noted that it was against this scary backdrop that the IPPG was calling for urgent measures to be undertaken by all relevant stakeholders to immediately arrest this dwindling production level and under-investment by focusing on some priority areas.

Outlining the priority areas, he said, “The immediate conclusion of all pending IOC divestment transactions: IPPG strongly advocates that our member companies – Seplat, the Renaissance Consortium and Oando – have the proven track record to successfully take over and manage these onshore and shallow water assets to realise incremental production in the region of 100,000 – 200,000 barrels of oil and over 1.5bcf of gas per day within 24 months and well over 500,000 barrels of oil per day in the long term.

“IPPG believes the timely approval of these IOC divestment transactions will also be a clear signal capable of restoring global investor confidence in Nigeria in an era of competing global investment destinations in Africa and very limited access to capital.

“The urgent need to address deepwater developmental and production: Untangling issues around deepwater development, particularly in terms of competitive fiscal regime being negotiated with Shell, Total Energies, ExxonMobil and Chevron, has the potential to unlock incremental production of 700,000 barrels per day from this terrain in the short to medium term.”

Isa also stated that enabling deepwater development would attract significant economic benefits as Nigeria has one of the world’s largest untapped deepwater resource base.

“The adoption of a national value-retention strategy: Nigeria’s domestic crude oil refining and petrochemical capacity must be sustained primarily from our domestic crude oil and gas production in order to transform our country into a net exporter of refined petroleum and petrochemical products that will lay a strong foundation for the rapid industrialisation of the Nigerian economy. 

“It is therefore imperative to grow our daily production to 2.5 million barrels of oil and 10 bcf of gas in the near to long term to ensure we are able to meet our domestic refinery and petrochemical demands and export commitments to generate the much needed foreign exchange earnings for macro-economic stability.

“The development of Nigeria’s gas resources to catalyse economic growth and complement decarbonisation drive: Nigeria’s vast gas resources must be exploited with immediate focus placed on restoring production to existing installed LNG capacity and expanding production (FLNG),” he stated.

In addition, the IPPG chairman said “we must expand domestic gas utilisation (gas-to-power; gas-based industries) by investing heavily to address the gas infrastructure deficit facing us today. The International Oil Companies will lead the charge on export gas while IPPG members will drive the domestic gas agenda led by NNPC

“These priority areas provide the most realistic and sustainable pathway towards meeting our national long term production aspiration of four million barrels of oil per day and 13 billion cubic feet of gas per day.”

NNPC reacts

 Also speaking at the conference, the Group Chief Executive Officer NNPC, Mele Kyari, said in order ro increase Nigeria’s crude oil production and grow its reserves, NNPC has declared a state of emergency on production in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.

 “We have decided to stop the debate. We have declared war on the challenges affecting our crude oil production. War means war. We have the right tools. We know what to fight. We know what we have to do at the level of assets. We have engaged our partners. And we will work together to improve the situation,” he declared. 

According to him, a detailed analysis of assets revealed that Nigeria can conveniently produce two million barrels of crude oil per day without deploying new rigs, but the major impediment to achieving that remains the inability of players to act in a timely manner.

He said the “war” would help NNPC and its partners to speedily clear all identified obstacles to effective and efficient production such as delays in procurement processes, which have become a challenge in the industry.

Oil sector principalities

Kyari described some players in the sector as principalities, but stated that the President had made orders to tackle such individuals.

 “There are delays in procurement and this is because all of us the producing companies have converted procurement to business. It is not just NNPC, everyone of us. And I’ve said this to all our partners that within your companies you have principalities who will not let you complete your procurement, who will add cost to your costs.

 “And now what Mr President has done is to take out all the principalities and if you do, it is your choice. But for us as a company we are moving to another level. We are going to cap the cost of production. You can call your wife to do the contract, no problem, provided you produce the oil at $20/barrel or so.

 “We’re getting there so that we can take out those procurement people who have stopped us from developing as an industry and a country. This is what Mr President’s executive order has done, to take out those principalities so that we can move.” 

 On medium to long-term measures aimed at boosting and sustaining production, Kyari said NNPC would replace all the old crude oil pipelines built over four decades ago and also introduce a rig sharing programme with its partners to ensure that production rigs stay in the country for between four and five years which is the standard practice in most climes.

 He called on all players in the industry to collaborate towards reducing the cost of production and boosting production to target levels.

 He expressed the company’s commitment to investing in critical midstream gas infrastructure such as the Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben, known as OB3, and the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipelines to boost domestic gas production and supply for power generation, industrial development and economic prosperity of the country.

 On Compressed Natural Gas, Kyari observed that NNPC has since keyed into the Presidential CNG drive, adding that in conjunction with partners such as NIPCO Gas, NNPC has built a number of CNG stations, 12 of which will be inaugurated on Thursday in Lagos and Abuja.

 Meanwhile, the oil minister, Lokpobiri, charged the IPPG to increase its investments in the oil sector by ramping up its production of crude, stressing that if the 28 members of the association could produce at least 5,000 barrels daily, this would go a long way in raising Nigeria’s oil output.

Bose Ogulu, the mother and manager of Grammy-winning singer, Burna Boy, took to her Instastories to celebrate him as he turned 33.

She wrote, “Wishing the happiest of birthdays to this living legend. May your day be filled with love, laughter, and all the joy you bring to others every day.”

This milestone birthday comes on the heels of Burna Boy’s electrifying performance at a sold-out London stadium concert on Saturday, showcasing his remarkable talent and dedication to his craft.

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Abdulsamad Dasuki, a member of the House of Representatives, has called on President Bola Tinubu to sack all his appointees in the security sector, saying they have failed to meet the expectations of Nigerians.

The lawmaker made the call on Tuesday while speaking at a debate on a motion condemning the recent suicide bombing in Borno State.

New Telegraph had earlier reported that Ahmed Jaha sponsored the motion during Tuesday’s plenary.

In his remarks, Dasuki said the President appointed several northerners into the security sector so that they can take care of insecurity in the North, however, they have not been able to do that.

According to him, the country needs a scapegoat, adding that the House should urge the President to sack all his political appointees in the security sector.

“In the last year that we have been inaugurated, no one has been sacked. It is high time we hold people responsible. It is high time we find a scapegoat, which is justifiable.

“These guys have not lived up to expectations. The president has said that he gave these positions to northerners to defend their people. That is what he said practically.

“Every day, we have two or three security-related issues. We can call on the president to sack all security political appointees. All of them have been in the position for ten months. Political appointees-security wise can go,” he said.

Some of the northern political appointees include the Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru, the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, the Minister of Police, Ibrahim Gaidam, the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu and others.

Also speaking on the motion, the Chairman of the House Committee on Navy, Yusuf Gagdi, opposed the argument that the security sector was handed to northerners, stating that the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun and the Chief of Army Staff, Taoreed Lagbaja, were southerners.

Following the debate, the House resolved to condemn the bombing and asked the Committee on National Security and Intelligence to investigate the development

The European Union, EU has confirmed that the Nigerian Federal Government has cleared an outstanding debt amounting to $850 million owed European airlines.

The confirmation was given on Tuesday.

Samuela Isopi, the EU Ambassador to Nigeria and the ECOWAS, disclosed this at the 9th edition of the Nigeria-EU Business Forum in Abuja.

Isopi noted that a key condition for any foreign investor is the ability to repatriate profits.

“A year ago, these funds amounted to $850m, with a big chunk being owned to European airlines. Today more than 98 percent of arrears have been cleared. This is a major achievement,” Isopi said.

The ambassador also commended the decision of the Federal Government to remove foreign exchange restrictions for the import of 43 items.

According to him, “Investor confidence takes time to build up, but resolving these issues was a top priority.”

The ambassador described the business forum as a platform for dialogue and engagement between the public and the private sectors and highlighted the importance of the role of the government in supporting business, the private sector and private investments, as a driver for a truly inclusive and sustainable economic development.

Recall that the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria had, in January 2024, said the bank had concluded the payment of the foreign exchange backlog to foreign airlines.