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Student Loan to Start With Federal Institutions — Nigerian Govt

The Federal Government has revealed where the student loan scheme will begin.
FG said the student loan scheme would be rolled out in phases, beginning with the federal institutions.

The Managing Director, Nigerian Education Loan Fund, Akintunde Swayerr, who made this disclosure in an interview with Arise Television on Friday said the student loan application portal will be opened on the 24th of May for loan applications.
He further said the government is currently “in the midst of a sensitization campaign to inform Nigerians how the scheme will work.”
Swayerr explained that the loan scheme seeks to bridge the financing gap for students in Nigeria, enabling them to become more resourceful, and eventually aiding the country.
“On the 3rd of April 2024, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu signed into law a monumental act that seeks to bridge the financing gap for applicants who want to get a higher education that is tertiary level.
 
“…and who wants to get vocational training to get proper qualifications that enables them to be more marketable and useful to the Nigerian society.
 
“The fund covers 100 percent of all the fees of tertiary institutions. There’s also upkeep for the student,” he said.
Swayerr noted that this plan will be rolled out in schemes, the first being the public institutions because of the large number of students in that sector requiring financial aid.
“We’re going to roll this plan out in phases. The first phase will be with federal institutions then to others. It’s going to be the public sector at the beginning because that’s where we find the bulk of students who perhaps need the financing cover and are most vulnerable.
 
“We have a system that hopefully makes this have a national spread and some degree of equal opportunities for those who have the desire, capacity, eligibility to engage in this scheme,” he said.
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News

Fuel Price: Subsidy Removal Now Looking Like A Scam – CUPP Slams Tinubu Govt

The Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) has reacted to the new increase in price of petrol.
CUPP while slamming President Bola Tinubu‘s government, said the subsidy removal is now looking like a scam.
The price of petrol shot up from N540 to N617 per litre on Tuesday following an announcement by the federal government through the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.
The NNPCL Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, in a subsequent statement, attributed the recent rise in petrol pump prices to market forces.
Kyari offered this explanation shortly after a meeting with Vice President Kashim Shettima at the Aso Villa.
Reacting, however, to the hardship brought upon Nigerians as a result of the latest development, CUPP said fuel subsidy removal by President Tinubu’s administration is now looking like a scam to the citizens.
CUPP criticized the ‘crazy and unending fuel price hikes’ which, according to it is driving inflation to the rooftops and making life increasingly unbearable for Nigerians generally.
In a press release signed by the group’s national co-spokesperson, Mark Adebayo, on Wednesday, CUPP frowned at the sudden increase barely a month after the fuel price was hiked over 300% on May 29th this year.
The press release reads: “It has come to the attention of the CUPP the sudden and surreptitious increase yet again in the pump prices of petrol by NNPCL which has immediately started having negative domino effects on all other commodities and services in the country and further drowning most Nigerians into excruciating poverty and unprecedented economic woes.
 
“This subsidy removal scheme is increasingly looking like a scam to cage Nigerians inside a preprogrammed regime of socioeconomic slavery dictated by leadership insensitivity. This is not about opposition Parties. The opposition actually felt that the president had something better to offer Nigerians after the subsidy removal but what we are witnessing now is a double negative impact on Nigerians in every way imaginable.
 
“The way NNPCL is behaving now suggests that there is a hidden agenda of crazy and unending fuel price hikes that will be driving inflation to the rooftops and making life increasingly unbearable for Nigerians generally.
 
“No purposeful government would recklessly abandon its citizens to the unpredictable and inhumane market forces that are essentially atrocious and callous in nature without a robust intervention to protect the citizens. Such a policy is not only antisocial but also outrageously iniquitous. Nigerians have shown enough understanding of the subsidy removal; this administration should not push them to the wall and thereby instigate unmanageable mass crises that could further jeopardize the life of the common man.
 
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu must immediately show himself as a compassionate leader by ensuring that the NNPCL is not hijacked by the same forces that stole the fuel subsidy monies leading to its removal and finding a backdoor to continue claiming the subsidy by other means and making Nigerians bear the brunt of their economic terrorism. We demand the immediate removal of the NNPCL GMD, Mele Kyari, to allow for a breath of fresh air in the organization and for his tenure to be forensically investigated and all discovered infractions to be comprehensively prosecuted before the NNPCL is turned into the terrorist arm of the economic cabal.”
CUPP urged the federal government to, without further hesitation, do something to reverse the recent fuel price hikes and stop any future plans to clandestinely increase the pump prices with the predictable value of increasing the sufferings of Nigerians.
 
“When will Nigerians be free from the wickedness of their governments?”, CUPP asked.
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News

FG Reappoints UCH CMD For Another Four Years

President Muhammadu Buhari has given approval for the reappointment of Jesse Otegbayo to serve another four-year term as the Chief Medical Director of University College Hospital, Ibadan, Oyo State.
Buhari had approved the appointment of Otegbayo as the CMD in January 2019.
The Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, announced this on Monday in Ibadan, the state capital.
Ehanire had also handed over his letter of reappointment to him at the board room of the teaching hospital in Ibadan.
It will be recalled that Otegbayo took over from Temitope Alonge, who completed his tenure as the CMD.
He hails from Otan-Ile in Obokun Local Government in Ijesaland, Osun State. He graduated from the University of Ibadan College of Medicine in 1989.
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Uncategorized

Almost Two Million Nigerians Have Been Receiving N5K Allowance Monthly – FG

The Buhari-led federal government disclosed yesterday that 1,940,004 vulnerable Nigerians are currently receiving N5K cash allowance monthly.

Speaking on Thursday in Abuja at a One-Day Stakeholders’ Retreat On National Social Investment (Establishment) Bill organized by Senator Yusuf Yusuf, APC, Taraba Central led Senate Committee on Special Duties, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajia Sadiya Umar Farouq explained that the objective of the National Social Investment Programme Establishment Bill is to provide a statutory and institutional framework for the implementation of the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP).

Represented by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr. Nasir Sani Gwarzo, Farouq who noted that the NSIP was created in 2016 by President Muhammadu Buhari to address social and economic inequalities and alleviate poverty among Nigerians, said that there are four social support programs that are meant to empower the poorest and most vulnerable Nigerians to enable them to attain an acceptable standard of living.

She said:

“Since the inception of the NSIP in 2015, one million youths have been empowered through the N-Power Programme and additional 500,000 others are currently undergoing various trainings under the program as approved by the President.

The cash transfer has enrolled 1,975,381 poor and vulnerable households from the National Social Register into a National Beneficiary Register. The NBR alone has 9,841,700 household individuals in the 36 states of the federation.

The Cash Transfer support the poor and vulnerable to improve consumption and develop savings skills to reduce poverty line and building their resilience to withstand shocks. A total of 1,940,004 beneficiaries are currently receiving cash transfer each monthly.”

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2023 Elections

INEC declares Bola Tinubu winner of 2023 presidential election

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Bola Tinubu as the winner of the 2023 presidential election.

INEC chairman Yakubu Mahmood declared Tinubu the winner of the election and president-elect Wednesday morning at the International Conference Centre, Abuja.

A total of 18 presidential candidates contested the election held across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, on Saturday.

The election was postponed till Sunday in some polling units in different states due to violence, logistical problems, theft of BVAS and other issues.

After collation at state INEC collation centres, the election results were presented by state collation officers for the presidential election (SCOPs) before the INEC chairman at the National Collation Centre.

Mahmood announced that Tinubu, a former Lagos State governor and the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) won the election with the majority of votes cast in 36 states of Nigeria and the FCT.

The APC candidate polled 8,794,726 votes to defeat fellow contenders – Atiku Abubakar of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) who polled 6,984,520 votes, Labour Party’s Peter Obi had 6,101,533 votes to come third and candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) Rabiu Kwankwaso with 1,496,687 votes.

Of the 36 states and FCT, Tinubu, Obi, and Atiku won 12 states each while Kwankwaso won only Kano State.

The 12 states won by Tinubu are Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Kwara, Benue, Rivers, Borno, Zamfara, Jigawa, Ondo, Kogi and Niger State.

Atiku of the PDP won Taraba, Osun, Akwa Ibom, Adamawa, Kaduna, Sokoto, Yobe, Bayelsa, Kebbi, Bauchi, Gombe and Katsina.

Obi won the following states; Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo, Anambra, Abia, Delta, Edo, FCT, Plateau, Nasarawa, Lagos and Cross River.

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Social Commentary & World Business

FG lifts ban on Emirates Airline

The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika confirmed the Federal Government have lifted the ban on Emirates Airline,10 months after the airline company and the government had issues over Covid-19 travel requirements on Nigerian passengers.

fly emirates
fly emirates

He sad;

hadi sirika
hadi sirika

“Today, we received communications from Emirates removing some of the conditions for travelling for which we had concerns,” he said.

Having done that, it is necessary to lift the ban on Emirates.

This subsequent lifting of the ban is a product of lengthy negotiations between us and them.”he said