NewsReports

*…as Nigeria’s Barkindo expresses optimism in new leadership The Deputy Managing Director for International Marketing at Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), Haitham Al-Ghais, has emerged the next Secretary-General of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC. He was named as the next Secretary-General at a Special Meeting of the Conference of OPEC held via videoconference on Monday, January 3. The meeting …

President Muhammadu Buhari has justified his signing of the 2022 budget despite what he described as ‘worrisome changes‘ made by lawmakers to the finance law. He said signing the budget was necessary to save important projects, programmes and policies. Mr Buhari also said that had he declined assent to the budget, the lawmakers would exercise their powers and override his …

Russia hopes a pledge it signed Monday with four other global nuclear powers to prevent atomic weapons spreading will reduce world tensions, while saying a summit of permanent Security Council members remains necessary. “We hope that, in the current difficult conditions of international security, the approval of such a political statement will help reduce the level of international tensions,” Moscow’s …

Suspected Fulani herdsman, armed and dressed in military uniform, on Sunday reportedly invaded a farming community, 2nd Abumere Ojigbelu Camp in the Ovia Northeast Local Government Area of Edo State. The marauders were said to have chased the villagers away taking over their farms, homes and properties. Some of the villagers who escaped are now taking refuge in other communities …

Sends 4-man delegation to condole Kano gov President Muhammadu Buhari has mourned the candidate of the defunct National Republican Convention (NRC) in the 1993 presidential election, Alhaji Bashir Tofa. The President while leading the nation in mourning Tofa, described him as a politician of note, who was also a promoter of Islamic culture and civilization. In a tribute to the …

*Ex-Lagos governor brushes aside roadblock against direct primary *He will contest – Support Group Irrespective of the roadblock against  the compulsory direct primary option in the selection of political party candidates for the 2023 general elections, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu will contest the All Progressives Congress, APC, presidential primary, multiple sources within and outside his camp have disclosed. However, his efforts …

Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, ordered the arrest of private security guards at Brooks Estate, Magodo, Isheri for allegedly delaying and denying him entrance into the estate. It was gathered that the police boss had gone to the estate in his convoy to meet a “strategic partner at a function” on Saturday when the incident happened, according report …

Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has said the N30bn Revitalisation Fund and N22.5bn Earned Academic Allowance totalling N52.5bn released by the Federal Government is not enough to deal with the challenges facing the university system. The ASUU President, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, noted in an interview with Sunday PUNCH that there was a possibility that the union would still go …

No fewer than seven traditional rulers and their family members have been abducted in the past two weeks, Sunday PUNCH findings have revealed. Checks by our correspondent indicated that between December 15 and 31, gunmen attacked  traditional leaders in different parts of the country, including the South-East and South-West, after a security advisory by the Department of State Services. While …

Ahead of the 2023 general elections, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige has expressed strong support for the emergence of a President of Southern extraction in line with the rotation and zoning convention guiding the composition of government at various levels in Nigeria. Ngige, who is a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) argued that …