Telecommunications companies have been licensed to register people who do not have National Identity Numbers so as to reduce the large crowds at the offices of the National Identity Management Commission, the NIMC has said. Director-General, NIMC, Aliyu Aziz, said some other private and public organisations had also been licensed by the commission to provide NINs in order to address the crowds at commission’s offices. This came as workers of the commission told our correspondent on Tuesday that the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, had constituted a committee to address the demands of NIMC employees. NIMC workers…
Author: ACNN TV
The United States has said all soldiers from Eritrea should leave Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region “immediately.” A State Department spokesperson cited “credible reports of looting, sexual violence, assaults in refugee camps and other human rights abuses.” “There is also evidence of Eritrean soldiers forcibly returning Eritrean refugees from Tigray to Eritrea,” the spokesperson said. The statement reflects new pressure by the Biden administration on the government of Ethiopia, Africa’s second-most populous country with 114 million people and the anchor of the Horn of Africa, and other combatants as the deadly fighting in Tigray nears the three-month mark. Witnesses who fled…
Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde has deployed 200 operatives of the Western Nigeria Security Network, codenamed Amotekun, to Ibarapa local government area of the state with a mandate to rid the state’s forests of criminals. The governor’s order comes amidst increased security concerns in the southwestern state as well as the growing tension between residents and Fulani herders living in their community. Governor Makinde in a statement on Wednesday said asides the mandate of clearing the state’s forests of criminals, the operatives are expected to present daily reports of their activities to him “Following the meeting held with representatives of…
World football governing body FIFA has cleared President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Amaju Pinnick to contest for a seat on the body’s Council at the elections scheduled for Morocco on 12 March 2021. This appears to be Pinnick’s first hurdle that has now been scaled in his ambition to contest for a seat in the highly-exalted FIFA council. He was cleared by the FIFA Ethics Committee to contest following a lengthy and extensive scrutiny of his candidacy by the world football body. “FIFA has cleared @TheNFF President @PinnickAmaju to contest for a seat on the FIFA Council at…
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its World Economic Outlook (WEO) update relead on Tuesday has projected that the Nigerian economy will grow by 1.5% this year, slightly lower than the 1.7% it had predicted for the country in its previous forecast. The multilateral institution, in its latest WEO titled: ‘Policy Support and Vaccines Expected to Lift Activity,’ however, predicted that in sub-Saharan Africa, growth will strengthen to 3.2% in 2021 and 3.9% in 2022. It also expected oil prices to average above $50 per barrel in 2021, a more than 21% rise from 2020’s depressed level on the back…
Ghana’s former President and the country’s longest-serving leader, Jerry John Rawlings will be buried on Wednesday. His body has been lying in state since Monday and hundreds of people have taken the opportunity to pay their last respects. The funeral rituals are taking place with strict enforcement of coronavirus restrictions. Mr Rawlings died on 12 November at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in the capital, Accra, after a short illness. He was 73 years old. Credited with maintaining Ghana’s stability, Mr Rawlings led a military regime for over a decade before returning the country to multiparty democracy in 1992. He also…
Mali’s military junta which ousted former President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta five months ago has been officially dissolved, according to a government decree. The decree was signed by the transitional President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane. The junta, the National Committee for the Salvation of the People (CNSP), had still remained in place even after the transfer of power to an interim civilian government following the 18 August coup. Dissolution of the junta was among demands made by the regional bloc, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Senior military personnel still hold several key posts in a…
Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has signed the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Health Protection Regulations which makes the use of face masks in any public place compulsory, and an offence not to wear one. The move is aimed at curtailing the spread of the coronavirus disease. The Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, told journalists in Abuja on Wednesday that the President signed the document on Tuesday. With the President’s signing of the regulation, it is now an offence for anyone not to wear a face mask that properly covers the nose and mouth with state agencies also…
President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday injected fresh vigour into efforts by his administration to combat insurgency, banditry and other forms of criminality with the appointment of new service chiefs. The appointments were described by analysts as a sign of the president bowing to pressure to replace the previous service chiefs in a bid to combat insecurity. On its part, the presidency said the new appointments were carried out in a bid to inject fresh ideas into the system. Below a brief profile of each of the four new appointees. Lucky Irabor (Chief of Defence Staff) Maj. Gen. Lucky Eluonye Onyenuchea…
President Muhammadu Buhari has accepted the immediate resignation of the Service Chiefs, and their retirement from service. Those involved are the Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Olonisakin; Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Tukur Buratai; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok Ekwe Ibas; and Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar. President Buhari thanks the outgoing Service Chiefs for what he calls their “overwhelming achievements in our efforts at bringing enduring peace to our dear country,” wishing them well in their future endeavours. The new Service Chiefs are: Major-General Leo Irabor, Chief of Defence Staff; Major-General I. Attahiru,…