Month: September 2020

Nigeria’s Ogun State fixes September 21 for Primary, Secondary Schools’ reopening

ADEOLA YUSUF

  Nigeria’s Ogun State has announced Monday, 21 September, 2020 for the reopening of primary and secondary schools for the first term of 2020/2021 session. This, which is in addition to the earlier resumption of students in SS3 who are currently writing the West African School Certificate Examination, however come with new schedule of staggered time frame for academic activities. Governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun, in a statement signed his Chief Press Secretary, Kunle Somorin, stated that the second phase of the reopening of schools is extended to all…

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China fixes $73 price per dose for home-grown COVID-19 vaccine

ADEOLA YUSUF

  China has publicly presented its homegrown covid-19 vaccines for the first time, as the country where the virus was first discovered, looks to shape the narrative surrounding the pandemic with a price tag of bow $146 for 2 doses if the vaccine. A lot of high hopes hang on the vaccine candidates produced by Chinese companies, Sinovac Biotech and Sinopharm which are on display at a Beijing trade fair this week. Although none of these vaccine candidates has hit the market, the drugmakers hope that they will be approved…

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Number of Petrol Stations in Nigeria hits 33,333 – DPR’s forensic audit reveals

ADEOLA YUSUF

  Nigeria’s oil industry regulator, Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has concluded the forensic audit of petrol retail outlets across the country, declaring that the official number is now 33,333. The agency, which confirmed this in a statementswnt to Platforms Africa, added that it has ordered 9,000 petrol stations, being the 27 per cent of the total units uncovered through the audit across the country to immediately commence the upgrade of their facilities to allow them dispense gas to vehicles for transportation. This is in furtherance of the Federal Government’s…

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Court slams N5m damages on Access bank, indicts lender of customer’s relationship breach

ADEOLA YUSUF

  A High Court sotting in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, has slammed a N5 million damages on Access Bank to be paid to its customers, Blaid Construction Limited and Blaid Properties, over a breach of bank-customer relationship. The Court also declared, according to a report by Premium Times, that a post-no-debit alert action by the bank and continued denial of the customers’ rights to access and operate their accounts since 2015 were unlawful, illegal and void except within the periods between July and September, 2016. “Justice I.O Harrison of the…

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How Oil firms burnt $787.7m worth of Nigerian gas, polluted air in 7 months

ADEOLA YUSUF

International Oil Companies (IOCs) and their local counterparts have burnt $787.7 million worth of Nigerian gas from different oilfields in the country’s Niger Delta. Through Gas flaring in Nigeria’s oil fields, the companies burnt 225.1 billion standard cubic feet of gas, (bscf) between January and July 2020, checks by Platforms  Africa showed. The monetary value of the burnt gas in the international market is $787.7 million (about N299.33 billion). This is a surge from the data of flare given by National Environmental Economic and Development Study, NEEDS, which reads that…

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Saudi triples VAT, ambargoes monthly allowance for citizens

ADEOLA YUSUF

  Saudi Arabia’s finance minister on Monday said the kingdom will triple its Value Added Tax and halt monthly handout payments to citizens in new austerity measures amid record low oil prices and a coronavirus-led economic slump. The measures, which could stir public resentment with the cost of living rising, come as the petro-state steps up emergency plans to slash government spending to deal with the twin economic blow. “It has been decided the cost of living allowance will be halted from June 2020 and VAT will be raised from…

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NNPC denies AKK project’s $1.527bn inflation allegation

ADEOLA YUSUF

  The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has dismissed, in its entirety, the allegation that the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) Gas Pipeline Project was inflated to the tune of $1.527billion, describing the accusation by an online medium against the National Oil Company as false, baseless and unfounded. A release in Abuja by the Corporation’s Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs, Dr. Kennie Obateru, stated that the NNPC was considering instituting legal actions against the medium and her collaborators. NNPC stated in the release that the corporation brought the unfounded accusation to the…

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No strike, protest over fuel price, power tarrif hike – Nigerian oil workers union, NUPENG declares 

ADEOLA YUSUF

  Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas workers (NUPENG) has declared that there would be no industrial action or protest over recent hike in price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also known as petrol and the electricity tariff increase in the Africa’s biggest economy. National President of NUPENG, Comrade Wiliams Akporeha, and South West Chairman of the union, Tayo Aboyeji, who declared this in separate phone interviews with Platforms  Africa, stated that at no time did the oil workers union issue any threat to go on strike over the…

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MD NNPC Shipping, Inuwa Waya’s choice as Nigeria’s Kano Governorship candidate stirs debate

ADEOLA YUSUF

  The Kano Youth Support Group, a non-partisan assembly of young Nigerians in the commercial City, has raised the alarm over what it described as clandestine social media attacks on Mr. Inuwa Waya, a prominent indigene of the state and Managing Director of NNPC Shipping, by some people apparently threatened by his rising profile ahead of the 2023 state governorship election. Mr. Balarebe Yakub Jeje, Chairman of KYSG in a statement made available to journalists, explained that though Waya has not indicated his interest to join the race to succeed…

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BBNaija’s Erica Disqualified + Laycon, Nengi’s connection

ADEOLA YUSUF

  Big Brotther Naija (BBNaija) Lockdown housemate, Erica has been disqualified. She has hours before her disqualification apologised to Laycon and other housemates for verbal attacks on them. Erica who has been given two strikes, particularly apologised to Laycon for insulting him and making threats to kill him after the show. She also apologised to Nengi and housemates she had an altercation with last night. Recall that Erica confronted Nengi during Saturday night party for being close to her lover, Kiddwaya. Nengi, who was not pleased with her statement, told…

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