Slider1
Slider2
Slider3
Slider4
previous arrow
next arrow

News

Tinubu Vows to Restore Nigeria’s Squandered Unborn Generations’ Wealth


President Bola Tinubu has revealed the motivation behind his administration’s efforts to recover Nigeria’s squandered wealth through strategic economic reforms to safeguard the interests of future generations.

“For 50 years, Nigeria was spending money of generations yet unborn and servicing the West coast of our subregion with fuel. It was getting difficult to plan for our children’s future”, he saidm

The President’s comments came during a meeting with former National Assembly colleagues from the aborted third Republic at the State House in Abuja on Thursday.

Tinubu reflected on the daunting challenges faced by his administration, particularly economic and social issues, and expressed gratitude for the delegation’s support in addressing these difficulties.

“We faced serious headwinds when I took over, very challenging times. Nigeria would have been bankrupt if we had not taken the actions that we took, and we had to prevent the economy’s collapse”, Tinubu said.

Despite these obstacles, the President declared that his administration has made significant strides in stabilizing the economy.

“Today, we are sitting pretty on a good foundation. We have reversed the problem, the Exchange rate is stabilizing. Food prices are coming down, especially during Ramadan. We will have light at the end of the tunnel”.

He also underscored the importance of adhering to democratic principles as the key to achieving economic, social, and political development.

Sen. Emmanuel Nwaka, who spoke on behalf of the delegation, praised the Tinubu administration’s initiatives, particularly the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) and the Nigerian Consumer Credit Corporation (CREDICORP).

“I appreciate you for what you are giving to students… I have spoken with many of them, and many have benefited from it”, Nwaka said.

Nwaka also commended the CREDICORP initiative, describing it as a significant step in combating corruption.

South Asia erupts in colour for vibrant Holi celebrations

Millions of people in South Asia celebrated Holi, the Hindu festival of colours, by smearing each other with brightly coloured powder, dancing to festive music and feasting on traditional sweets prepared for the occasion.

The raucous spring festival sees Hindus take part in a kaleidoscopic celebration of the end of winter and the triumph of good over evil. The festival is a national holiday in India, while in Nepal it’s a two-day event that began on Thursday. It’s also observed in other South Asian countries as well as among the Indian diaspora.

Holi has its origins in Hindu mythology and celebrates the divine love between the Hindu god Krishna and his consort Radha, signifying a time of rebirth and rejuvenation.

Across the country, people dressed mostly in all-white clothes celebrated the festival by hurling coloured powder at each other. Children, perched on rooftops and balconies, flung water balloons filled with coloured pigments at passersby.

Groups of young men also used water guns to chase people down in public parks and on the roads, while others danced on the streets to music blaring from speakers.

In some places, people hurled marigolds, roses and jasmine petals instead of coloured powder.

Fubara Writes Rivers Assembly Again, Proposes Wednesday For 2025 Budget Presentation

https://www.youtube.com/embed/qIEKIXCCK7M

Siminalayi Fubara, the governor of Rivers State, has once more written to the House of Assembly to suggest that the 2025 state budget be presented on Wednesday, March 19, 2025.

Rt. 1 in a letter to the Assembly’s Speaker. Hon. Governor Fubara’s earlier attempt to present the budget on March 12 was unsuccessful because he was denied entry to the Assembly building.

He claimed that he and his entourage were locked out despite receiving a soft copy notice prior to the event and making attempts to submit a hard copy through the clerk.

Read more about the Ijaw Youth Congress’s alleged plot to remove Fubara from power here.

The governor emphasized that his attempt was made in accordance with a Supreme Court decision, which, he noted, also gave the Assembly authority to carry out its duties within the meaning of the Constitution.

He also made a note to the Speaker that the House had previously issued a 48-hour deadline for the budget’s presentation, even before he received a certified copy of the judgment and enrolled orders.

Despite the state’s political crisis, Governor Fubara reaffirmed his commitment to good governance.

He urged all branches of government to carry out their responsibilities in accordance with the law and the constitution in order to advance the common good of the people.

We think the needs of the state and the people should be prioritized over political conflicts, he said, regardless of how much of our differences are.

The Speaker was officially informed by the letter that he would present the budget on March 19 at 11:00 a.m. or whenever the House would like.

Governor Fubara ended his remarks by expressing his hope that the Assembly would consider his request favorably.

Following the Supreme Court’s order to the governor to give the 2025 budget to the State Assembly led by Amaewhule, there has been conflict between the Fubara and the lawmakers.

Governor Siminalayi Fubara arrived at the Rivers State House of Assembly Quarters on Wednesday, but the gate was locked, making a dramatic turn.

When the governor’s convoy arrived, security personnel at the quarters had locked the gates.

The security personnel’s actions were influenced by the assumption that the governor and the Assembly had no official communication. The governor, however, resisted coming and telling the lawmakers.

Consider Rivers People.

Governor Siminalayi Fubara made an appeal to the House of Assembly of the Rivers State on Thursday to take the state’s citizens’ interests into account and support peace in order to end the political stalemate in the state.

Fubara commissioned some projects in the state’s Okrika Local Government Area, saying it is crucial that we all embrace peace at this time.

The governor urged all disgruntled political actors in the state to put everything that had happened behind and pledge to follow the Supreme Court’s recommendations from February 28 to February 28. The governor also called on all disgruntled political actors to support the state’s well-governing system.

We have reached our decision after the Supreme Court’s decision, and we have already begun the process by God’s special grace.

Consider the interests of Rivers State as we make an appeal to other parties. Peace and development are the only things we owe this state.

Europe’s Measles Cases Double In 2024 To 25-Year High — WHO

The World Health Organization noted on Thursday that vaccinations are crucial to halting the spread of the disease, with the number of cases of measles in Europe reaching a 25-year high in 2024.

In the WHO’s European region, which includes 53 nations and includes central Asia, 127, 350 measles cases, and 38 deaths were reported last year.

The most affected nations, Romania and Kazakhstan, reported 30, 692 and 28, 147 cases, respectively.

According to the WHO, 40% of cases involved children under the age of five and required hospitalization in half of Europe.

Read more about the EU’s announcement to invest in South Africa’s €4.7 billion package.

“Measles is back, and it’s a wake-up call. Without high vaccination rates, “there is no health security,” according to WHO Europe director Hans Kluge.

He urged authorities to increase their efforts to protect under- and unvaccinated communities.

500, 000 children in the area received their first dose of the vaccine in 2023.

There is no health security without high vaccination rates, according to Kluge.

Measles spreads through respiratory droplets, which can last up to two hours in the air after an infected person leaves an area.

A rash, fever, and other respiratory symptoms can be brought on by the illness, but severe complications, such as pneumonia, brain inflammation, and death can also result.

In 2024, Europe was the source of a third of the measles cases worldwide.

Measles has sharply decreased in Europe after reporting 216, 000 cases in 1997, dropping to 4, 440 cases in 2016.

After the Covid-19 pandemic caused a backsliding of vaccinations, the illness rebounded in 2018 and 2019 and has since grown exponentially since 2023.

Trump Takes US Birthright Citizenship To Supreme Court

https://www.channelstv.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/American-Flag-US-Unted-Staes-Flag__TopshotUsVotePoliticsHarris.jpg

President Donald Trump took his contentious bid to end birthright citizenship in the United States to the Supreme Court on Thursday.

Trump’s executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship, which he signed on his first day in office, was blocked by federal district courts in Maryland, Massachusetts and Washington state.

Birthright citizenship is enshrined in the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, which decrees that anyone born on American soil is a citizen, and Trump’s order seeks to end it for children whose parents are in the country illegally.

In an emergency application with the Supreme Court, the Justice Department sought to narrow the scope of the nationwide lower court injunctions to the individual plaintiffs in the three cases.

File photo of the US flag. (Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP)

The department’s acting solicitor general Sarah Harris described it as a “modest” request and she notably did not seek a ruling from the Supreme Court at this time as to whether eliminating birthright citizenship is constitutional or not.

READ ALSO: US Judge Orders Federal Agencies To Rehire Fired Workers

“Those universal injunctions prohibit a Day 1 Executive Order from being enforced anywhere in the country”, Harris wrote.

“While the parties litigate weighty merits questions, the Court should ‘ restrict the scope ‘ of multiple preliminary injunctions that ‘ purport to cover every person in the country, ‘ limiting those injunctions to parties actually within the courts ‘ power”, she said.

The US Supreme Court in Washington, DC, on April 19, 2023. Stefani Reynolds / AFP)

Trump has been facing legal pushback in courts across the country as he attempts to stem illegal immigration, slash the government budget and reduce the federal workforce.

In his latest setback, a district judge in California on Thursday ordered six federal agencies to rehire thousands of probationary workers who had been fired.

&nbsp, ‘Epidemic proportions ‘

Harris, in her brief with the Supreme Court, also took issue with the number of injunctions on Trump administration moves being issued by district court judges.

“Universal injunctions have reached epidemic proportions”, she said, and are preventing “the Executive Branch from performing its constitutional functions”.

Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship was due to come into effect by February 19.

The 14th Amendment says, in part: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside”.

Trump’s order was premised on the idea that anyone in the United States illegally, or on a visa, was not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the country, and therefore excluded from this category.

Judge John Coughenour, who heard the birthright case in Washington state, described the president’s executive order as “blatantly unconstitutional”.

“I’ve been on the bench for over four decades, I can’t remember another case where the question presented is as clear as this one is”, said Coughenour, who was appointed by a Republican president, Ronald Reagan.

The conservative-dominated Supreme Court, which includes three justices nominated by Trump, is primed to play a significant role as the president tests the limits of his executive power and the judiciary pushes back.

Renaissance Energy Completes Acquisition Of SPDC

Renaissance Africa Energy has completed the “acquisition of the entire (100%)” equity holding in Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC).

This is according to a statement on Thursday by the spokesman of Renaissance Africa Energy Holdings Tony Okonedo who said the acquisition was completed on the same day.

“This follows the signing of a sale and purchase agreement with Shell in January 2024, and obtaining all regulatory approvals required for the transaction. Going forward, SPDC will be renamed as ‘ Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited”, the statement added.

READ ALSO: NNPCL Woos Global Investors, Boasts Of Robust Reforms

“We are extremely proud to have completed this strategic acquisition. The Renaissance vision is to be ‘ Africa’s leading oil and gas company, enabling energy security and industrialisation in a sustainable manner. ‘ We and our shareholder companies are therefore pleased that the Federal Government has given the green light for this milestone acquisition in line with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act”, said the Managing Director/CEO of Renaissance Tony Attah.

He added: “We extend our appreciation to the Honourable Minister of Petroleum Resources, the CEO of the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), and the GCEO of Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) for their foresight and belief, paving the way for the rapid development of Nigeria’s vast oil and gas resources as a strategic accelerator for the country’s industrial development”.

READ STATEMENT BELOW: &nbsp,

RENAISSANCE COMPLETES ACQUISITION OF SHELL PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT COMPANY OF NIGERIA (SPDC)

Lagos: 13 February 2025

Renaissance Africa Energy Holdings today announced that it has successfully completed the landmark transaction between itself and Shell for the acquisition of the entire (100%) equity holding in the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC). This follows the signing of a sale and purchase agreement with Shell in January 2024, and obtaining all regulatory approvals required for the transaction. Going forward, SPDC will be renamed as ‘ Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited.

Renaissance Africa Energy Holdings is a consortium consisting of four successful Nigerian independent oil and gas companies: ND Western Limited, Aradel Holdings Plc. FIRST Exploration and Petroleum&nbsp, Development Company Limited and the Waltersmith Group, each with considerable operations experience in the Niger Delta, and Petrolin, an international energy company with global trading experience and a pan African outlook.

“We are extremely proud to have completed this strategic acquisition. The Renaissance vision is to be&nbsp”,Africa’s leading oil and gas company, enabling energy security and industrialisation in a sustainable manner. “We and our&nbsp, shareholder companies are therefore pleased that the Federal Government has given the green light for this milestone acquisition in line with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act” said Tony Attah, Managing Director/CEO of Renaissance who added that: