The Federal Ministry of Education has announced the postponement of the inauguration and retreat for pro-chancellors, chairmen and members of Governing councils of federal tertiary institutions, earlier scheduled for Thursday, May 30 and Friday, May 31, 2024.

This was contained in a statement, signed by the ministry’s Director of Press, Folasade Biriowo.

Biriowo said the postponement was to ensure a comprehensive review of the list as directed by the Presidency.

“This is as a result of the presidential directive, as conveyed by the State House press release dated May 23, 2024, for a comprehensive review of the membership of the governing councils of federal tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

“We regret any inconveniences this may cause.

“Further updates will be communicated in due course,” the statement said.

Recall that President Bola Tinubu had ordered a total and comprehensive review of the recently announced governing boards of tertiary institutions.

A statement by Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga disclosed that the review will be effected before the inauguration and retreat being planned for the nominees.

The ministry had released names of nominees for chairmen, Pro-Chancellors, and members of the boards and councils of universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education following threats by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to embark on strike over the alleged delays in constituting councils.

However, ASUU had refused to accept the newly constituted council, urging for the return of the disbanded council.

The Union alleged that the tenure of the former councils had not elapsed before they were removed from office adding that the action of the government was illegal.

There was also an outcry from the public that the nominations did not reflect the Federal Character principle.

Onanuga in the statement concurred that the reaction from the public showed that the nomination did not reflect the federal character of the country as some states got just one nomination while some others got many.

He further stated that the President acknowledged the feedback across the country and is committed to ensuring strict compliance with the principle of Federal Character as entrenched in the Constitution.

“The review will also take into consideration national spread and ensure every part of the country is adequately represented,” he had said.

Super Eagles striker, Victor Osimhen has been named in the Serie A team of the 2023-24 season following his impressive performances for Napoli .

This is the second consecutive season Osimhen will be named in the team of the year after he played a pivotal role in Napoli’s title-winning campaign in the 2022-23 season.

He scored 26 goals in 32 Serie A appearances to win the league’s top scorer award.

Osimhen was included in the 23-man list announced on Serie A’s social media accounts on Sunday.

Despite Napoli’s poor defence of the Serie A title, Osimhen has distinguished himself with a series of match-winning performances.

Osimhen’s season has been blighted by injuries and he also missed one month of action due to his participation in the African Cup of Nations, where he led the Super Eagles to a silver medal finish in Ivory Coast.

The 26-year-old has scored 15 goals and recorded three assists in 24 Serie A appearances for Napoli this season.

He is currently the third highest goal scorer in the league behind Lautaro Martinez and Dusan Vlahovic, who have scored 24 and 16 goals respectively.

Napoli have endured a poor 2023-24 season, finishing 10th on the table which made them miss out on European competition.

The Deputy Governor of Kano State, Malam Aminu Gwarzo, on Monday, tendered an unreserved apology to the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Gwarzo, in a brief video interview at the Emir’s palace in Gidan Rumfa on Saturday, accused the NSA of arranging the return of the deposed 15th Emir of Kano, Aminu Bayero, to Kano.

Gwarzo made the apology while addressing newsmen at the Government House in Kano on Monday morning.

The deputy governor acknowledged that he was misled into making the allegation and expressed regrets for any embarrassment or inconvenience caused to the NSA and his office.

”We were shocked to hear the NSA’s name mentioned in the plot to impose a deposed Emir in Kano, knowing his integrity and pedigree.

“We are human and can err at any time,” the deputy governor said.

“On behalf of myself and the Governor of Kano State, I assure the NSA of our continued support and cooperation in discharging his duties.”

The deputy governor called on President Bola Tinubu to conduct a thorough investigation into the happenings in Kano to ensure peace and stability in the state.

NAN reports that the NSA had threatened to take legal action against Gwarzo, for defamation in the ongoing Emirship dispute in Kano.“The National Security Adviser provided two jets to bring the dethroned emir to Kano and to take him to the palace. We have not understood their intention,” Gwarzo said.

In spite of denying the allegation through his spokesperson on Saturday, the NSA, in a letter by his lawyers, Aliyu & Musa Chambers, demanded an apology from Gwarzo.

The lawyers said that Ribadu had been inundated with “a barrage of telephone calls both within and outside Nigeria” over the “false accusation.”

Nigerians are experiencing more pain as the prices of prepaid electricity meters have gone up after seven weeks of the electricity tariff hike on April 3.

This comes after the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission announced the deregulation of Meter Asset Provider.

Recall that on April 30, NERC, in a statement signed by its Chairman, Sanusi Garba, and Commissioner of Legal, Licensing, and Compliance, Dafe Akpeneye, removed electricity meter price capping.

Before NERC announced the meter price deregulation, electricity distribution companies sold single and three-phased meters at a capped price of N81,975.16 and N143,836.16. However, a recent meter price announcement by Discos showed that the price of single and three meters have surged to as high as N135,240.01 and N241,875.00, depending on the vendor company.

DAILY POST gathered that the Abuja Electricity Company quoted between N91,835.10 and N135,240.01 for single-phased metres by different metre vendors. Also, AEDC said the price of a three-phase metre is between N160,646.93 and N241,875.00.

Eko Electricity Distribution Company’s new meter prices increased from N122,337.76 to N167,700 for a single-phase meter. Also, the phase meter rose to N206.737.42 and N258,000.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, said in a ministerial briefing in Abuja last week that Nigerians’ experience following the electricity tariff hike is temporary.

Meanwhile, outside of rising energy costs, Nigerians have continued to groan over the untamed rise in the cost of food, as food inflation increased to 40.53 percent in April 2024.

The bill seeking to raise the retirement age of members of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) on Tuesday, passed second reading in the House of Representatives.

Tajudeen Abbas, speaker of the house, and Abubakar Yalleman from Jigawa, sponsored the bill which proposes to raise the retirement age of members of the NPF from 60 to 65, and from 35 to 40 years in service.

The bill proposes to amend section 18 of the Nigeria Police Act 2020.

It also seeks to review the service years of police personnel in order to “improve the experience and expertise of the police workforce to retain experienced personnel, and reduce the cost of training and recruiting new officers, improve the morale performance and job satisfaction, and to address the shortage of experienced police personnel”.

In his lead debate during plenary on Tuesday, May 21, Yalleman, who chairs the house committee on police, said the amendment is needed to retain the experience of officers “who have been trained and have served for considerable years”.

“This experience is needed especially in this time of insecurity when experienced police officers are needed to help tackle insecurity in the country,” he said.

First Lady of Nigeria, Oluremi Tinubu has assured Nigerians, particularly the youth, to keep believing in the country, saying that Nigeria will witness the rebirth of a new nation that would take its rightful place among the comity of Nations.

She gave this assurance at an event tagged, “Honouring the Youth of Our Nation,” with the theme: “Becoming: Pathway to Success,” in commemoration of the first anniversary of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, held at the State House Conference Center, Abuja.

The First Lady said that the government will continue to do its best to provide an enabling environment to foster and support the young ones as active participants in national development and in re-writing Nigeria’s story for good.

She said purpose, passion, determination and resilience are necessary for achieving success in life.

The First Lady, who emphasized the importance of education to attain great heights, assured that her pet project, the Renewed Hope Initiative, RHI, is geared towards complementing the efforts of President Tinubu, in the areas of education, agriculture, social investment and economic empowerment.

She said, “Stay in school, finish school because we are a developing country. When you stay and finish your education, you will have more options.

“We will continue to do our best to provide an enabling environment to foster and support you as active participants in national development and in re-writing Nigeria’s story for good.

“I urge us to keep believing in Nigeria, by the special grace of God, we will witness the rebirth of a new nation that will take its rightful place among the comity of Nations.“

...Says Unity Must Serve Greater Good Of Nigeria

Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi, has given conditions that would make him accept any merger between his party and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the 2027 elections.

Reacting to a statement by the presidential candidate of the PDP and former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, on the likelihood of a merger between both parties, the former Anambra State governor said during an interview with NoireTV at the weekend, that he would enter into a merger agreement with any party or individual only if it serves the greater good of Nigeria.

He commended Atiku’s willingness to support him if it benefits the southeastern region of the country and emphasised the need for any merger or alliance to be focused on improving governance and helping the poor, not just winning elections or for state capture.

“I commend Atiku for his statement especially where he said he will support me if it goes to the South East. On the issue of a merger and the coming together of parties, I have always said that as long as any merger or any coming together is to better Nigeria and for governing properly, I am for it. If it is just a merger for election or state capture, I’m not for it. I am not desperate to be president, I am desperate to see Nigeria work, especially for the poor, because we have a lot of potential.

“So, if the merger is to be able to govern Nigeria properly on all those things that will make Nigeria a better place, I am for it. If the merger is to be able to govern Nigeria properly and work for all those things that would make Nigeria become a better place, I am for it. It might be at the party level, it might be at the individual level or at any level, we must come together to be able to build a better Nigeria.”

In an interview with BBC Hausa, Atiku has been engaging Obi to discuss the possibility of a merger and that he would support anyone chosen to represent the PDP in 2027 — even if the candidate is from the south-east.

Veteran Nollywood actor, Zack Orji, has revealed that he was suspended by his pastor after starring in the popular film, ‘Glamour Girls’ of the 1990s.

Naija News reports that the thespian shot a nude scene with co-star, Eucharia Anunobi.

He, however, stated that the scene had a negative impact on his marital life.

The multiple award-winning actor said a lot of people were feeding his wife’s mind with negative stories against him which led to his pastor suspending him.

Orji made these disclosures while featuring on a podcast tagged ‘Nollywood Hardcore: The Legend’s Untold Story.’

The 1994 Glamour Girls, a two-part film, was about independent single women embarking on their independence within Nigeria’s traditionally patriarchal society through escorting.

Directed by Chika Onukwufor, the story revealed young women engaging in prostitution, as they battled between accomplishing their dreams and maintaining societal norms.

Recounting the impact of the movie on his life, Orji told Emmanuel Ehumadu, host of the Podcast who is popularly known as Labista, that his pastor called him that he had received many disturbing reports about the matter.

When asked about the impact of the film, Orji said, “Back then, we were talking about the 90s before the 2000s. I was married, yes.”

On whether he had issues with his wife, the actor said, “I did. Even though she’s an actress, so they were putting a lot of things in her mind.

“I remember after the movie was released, my pastor invited me and said that he had been receiving too many calls. (He said) How can Zack go and do this kind of thing? He said he called me because he wanted to suspend me. But he wanted to inform me first of all before suspending me.

“And he said well, he was not going to tell anybody that it was just between us. While this happened, I was on another set, we were filming in Ikeja GRA. There was this guy called Alex who was very well-known in the industry back then.

“He worked with Punch Newspapers, he came to the set where I was filming and said,” I just want to confirm from you before going to the press: is it true that you have been suspended by your church? I said who told you that?”

Nollywood film actress Bukky Wright is one of the most celebrated actresses out of the country. Sadly, she made a departure from Nollywood for a long time, but is now back.

In a fresh interview with The Nigerian Tribune, Bukky Wright explained that she had to leave the movie industry for the sake of her children.

Stating that she lives for them, the thespian said they needed her more at the time, so she chose them over her career.

The popular actress also revealed that during her hiatus, she wasn’t just functioning as a mother, but she became a cyber security analyst. In Bukky Wright’s words:

“I just felt like doing something else for myself. I decided to go back to school and, you know, put my hands into something else. I’m happy I did. Now, I can boast that I’m a cyber security analyst. I’m certified in information security in the US. It felt good to at least try something out and go out of my comfort zone. I’ve always been somebody who would always go out of her comfort zone. I don’t believe in impossibilities.

“At the time that I left, I had to leave because my children needed me more. I’m a mother and I would always say that I live for my children. My children needed me and I had to be at their beck call. You know there is always a time in the life of a mother that your children need you the most. And when they need you the most, you have to show up for them. That was what I did, and I did not want to waste that time doing nothing, career-wise. So, I challenged myself. I challenged my children as well. Sometimes they’re like, ‘Mommy, do you want to be a professor or what?’”

Speaking on why she’s returned to the industry, Bukky Wright who recently had her Ramadan birthday prayer said:

“I feel there’s still something in me to give to the entertainment industry in Nigeria. It actually hits to the core of my fans anytime I post anything on Instagram, they’ll be like, ‘You need to come back’. My sons also kept encouraging me, they said, ‘It’s time you go back again and do something in the movie industry in Nigeria.’ Right now, I’m here for Nora Awolowo. She brought me in for ‘Red Circle’.

“It feels really good and I’m so happy about the warm welcome from everybody. I’m happy to be back. Did I miss the industry? Yes, I did.”

Popular social media personality Saida Boj has delved into her past, revealing insights and regrets concerning her relationship with a married man.

Saida Boj shared insights into her personal experiences, opening up on the emotional and financial toll of being in a relationship with a married partner.

In a recent interview, Saida Boj addressed her personal missteps, openly admitting to dating a married man in 2023.

She expressed deep regret for this decision, citing the significant financial strain it imposed on her life.

Saida Boj went on to reveal that her regrets stemmed not only from the moral implications of being involved with a married individual but also from the practical consequences of the relationship.

She expressed disappointment at not receiving financial support from her partner, which left her in a precarious financial situation.

Furthermore, she revealed that her major reason for regretting the relationship with the married man was her sympathy for his wife.

In her words;

In her words, “I was with this guy last year and he used me; he had money but didn’t give and he was a married man. I regret it so bad because I always feel pity for married women.”

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