Nigeria Air Will Fly Before May 29 – Aviation Minister, Haidi Sirika

 Despite controversies surrounding the establishment of the national carrier, Nigeria Air, the Federal Government through the Ministry of Aviation has revealed that local and international flights will commence soon.

The minister of aviation, Hadi Sirika, made this revelation at the ongoing National Aviation Stakeholders Forum 2023 in Abuja on Thursday.

“Negotiation meeting with the Ethiopian Airlines Group Consortium and the Federal Government of Nigeria ongoing.

“Next step: Federal Executive Council approval of the Full Business Case.

“Operation of local and international flights will commence soon. Before the end of this administration, before May 29, we will fly,” the minister said.

Speaking further, the minister said the benefits Nigeria stands to derive from the establishment of the national carrier are reduced capital flight from Nigeria; gain the optimal benefit of BASA and SAATM and develop an aviation hub.

Also, the National carrier will contribute to the GDP; facilitate hospitality and tourism; facilitate growth and development of the Nigerian Agricultural Sector and create jobs around the Agro-Cargo Terminals.

Buhari: "I Am Eager To Leave Office, I Want To Focus On My Farms"

 President Muhammadu Buhari says he is eager to hand over power and go back home to focus on his farms and tend to his cattle in Daura, Katsina state.

Buhari spoke on Tuesday at a farewell meeting with  Mary Beth Leonard, the outgoing United States ambassador, at the State House in Abuja.

“I plan to be a big landlord back at home, working on my farms and tending to more than 300 animals. I am eager to go,” he said.

Speaking on the elections, the president said the conduct of the February 25 and March 18 polls have shown that Nigerians have proved to be capable of choosing who leads them without anyone telling them what to do.

He said he was quite impressed with the passion for democracy exhibited by Nigerians which was reflected in the choices they made during the elections.Buhari said Nigeria’s democracy has truly matured.

“The people are realising their power. Given the chance of a free and fair vote, nobody can tell them what to do,” he said.

But I am unhappy that some candidates lost in the election. I am inspired by the fact that voters were able to make their own decision, to decide who won and who lost. With the currency change, there was no money to spread around but even then, I told voters to take the money and vote according to their consciences.”

Buhari said he was happy with his own role in the election process by staying above board, without meddlesomeness or any form of interference.

He lauded the outgoing ambassador for the enormous achievements recorded in Nigeria-US relations in the three-and-half years she had been in the country.

The American ambassador said she was impressed with the progress made in Nigeria-US relations. She cited the recent institution of a five-year visa regime between the two countries; active collaboration in security and the supply of military hardware including warplanes and the soon-to-come fighter helicopters; and also cooperation in the health sector to fight HIV and COVID response.

No Healing Without Justice — Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour Replies Tinubu

 Governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in Lagos, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour says Nigerians can't heal from the violence and bigotry until victims of electoral violence in the country get justice, IGBERETV reports.

Gbadebo lost to Babajide Sanwo-Olu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Lagos state gubernatorial election that had widespread reports of electoral violence, voter suppression and ethnic bigotry.

On Tuesday, Nigeria's president-elect, Bola Tinubu, condemned the electoral violence and said his government would start the healing process by embracing the opponents.

But Rhodes-Vivour speaking during a press conference in Lagos on Wednesday, March 22, said the electoral violence must be treated before the healing process could start.

He called on residents of Lagos to be vocal against a “new type of democracy” that is being imposed on them.

“Yesterday, Bola Tinubu called for healing but healing cannot happen without justice. There was an attempt to make this seems like the violence was a Yoruba versus Igbo. But it was widespread across the state. Everybody was affected and disenfranchised,” the LP candidate said.

“And we also saw a lot of violence and intimidation but it was nothing compared to the militia attack unleashed on Lagos on Saturday.

“What we are complaining about is not numbers, it is the new type of democracy these people are trying to impose. The topic of conversation is that well-meaning Lagosians should stand up and show that they are disdained.”

Rhodes-Vivour also announced the launch of a website where victims of electoral violence can upload their evidence and get their medical bills handled by his team.

“Today, we launched a platform called GRVCares2023.com. Please, anyone that is a victim of electoral violence can log onto this website and upload the evidence of this violence, hospital bill, and police report if you have it,” he said.

“We will offset your bills. Because empathy and love are not just lip service but actions. And for people that came out, we are going to show that we stand by you.”

Mechanic Returns N10.8m Mistakenly Sent To His Account, Gets Rewarded With N50k

 A Nigerian auto mechanic identified as Timothy has been rewarded with N50k for returning N10.8m mistakenly sent to his bank account, IGBERETV reports.

One of Timothy's customers, Chinonso Ndukwe, disclosed this on Facebook, saying that Timothy narrated the story to him when he met him on Tuesday.

Sharing a photo he took with Timothy, Chinonso wrote;

“Before going on TV i went to my mechanic to ask him about what I saw all over the Internet yesterday. He has been serving me very well. So when I read that he returned 10.8 million to one of his customers i was impressed. Today when I saw him he was quite ill . He said he is having headache. The man that he returned his money gave him N50,000.00. People can be really unimaginable. Behold!"

CBN To Release Old Naira Notes To Banks Over NLC Protest

 The Central Bank of Nigeria has finally concluded plans to release all N1,000, N500 and N200 notes in its custody to Deposit Money Banks, The PUNCH can report authoritatively.

This decision is expected to end months of hardships and pains Nigerians have been going through following a controversial CBN naira redesign policy that has caused a severe shortage of old and new naira notes across the country.

The CBN’s latest decision came several weeks after the Supreme Court ordered that old N1,000, N500 and N200 notes should remain legal tender until December 31, 2023.

On Wednesday night, top officials of the CBN and commercial banks confirmed to The PUNCH that the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, had directed the DMBs to begin the disbursement of old N1,000, N500 and N200 notes to members of the public effective Thursday (today).

According to him, the CBN will also start releasing old notes to commercial banks from Thursday.

The PUNCH learnt Emefiele met with the chief executive officers of the DMBs on Wednesday evening where he told them that the central bank would start releasing all old notes in its custody to commercial banks effective Thursday (today).

Sources at the meeting said the CBN would also be cancelling all the controversial cash withdrawal limits it put in place in recent months.

Also, it was learnt the CBN would start by releasing crisp old notes to DMBS after which the ones deposited by commercial banks will also be released.

Furthermore, the CBN stated at the meeting that bank customers would no longer be required to generate any code before depositing their old notes.

One of the bank CEOs at the meeting, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, “The CBN governor met with bank CEOs this evening virtually. It was a short meeting that lasted for just about 15 minutes. The governor said all old N1,000, N500 and N200 notes will be released to commercial banks beginning from Thursday. The CBN will start with crisp old notes after which the ones deposited by DMBs will be returned. The plan is to flood the economy with cash and ameliorate the challenges Nigerians have been passing through.“

The top bank chief added, “Also, the CBN will be cancelling cash withdrawal limits it put in place recently. This means that individuals can now withdraw up to N500,000 across the counter while corporate bodies can do N5m. The CBN is expected to release a circular to this effect later tonight or tomorrow morning (today). But effectively, things should be back to normal as far the cashless policy is concerned.”

Further findings by The PUNCH confirmed the CBN would begin to release the old notes into circulation by Thursday. It was also gathered that banks would begin to pay their customers the old notes immediately to ensure the cash circulate across the country.

According to reliable sources in the CBN, banks have been also been directed to report to the old offices to collect the old naira notes they deposited with the apex bank.

They noted that before the end of the week, the country would be awash with naira notes.

Meanwhile, a top source close to the CBN said the apex bank took the decision to avert the planned picketing of the CBN offices nationwide by supporters and leaders of the Nigeria Labour Congress.

NLC protests

Earlier, The PUNCH had gathered that the NLC would on Wednesday picket the CBN headquarters and state offices in protest against the lingering naira crisis and fuel scarcity in the country.

The NLC President, Joe Ajaero, who disclosed this at a press conference on Wednesday, lamented that people’s hardships over the naira crisis had worsened.

The union had penultimate Monday issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to address the scarcity of naira notes and fuel which had compounded the hardships being faced by Nigerians.

Though the CBN said then that it had complied with the Supreme Court judgment which directed that the old N200, N500 and N1000 notes should remain legal tender till December 31, banks have continued to ration the amount of cash issued to customers, indicating that they have not received cash supplies from the apex bank.

The three states of Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara which sued the Federal Government over the naira redesign policy had threatened to file contempt charges against the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, SAN and the CBN governor, Emefiele for not fully complying with the Supreme Court judgment.

Speaking at a press briefing in Abuja on Wednesday, Ajaero said the planned picketing of CBN offices became imperative following the apex bank’s failure to comply with the one-week ultimatum given to it to make cash available for Nigerians.

Ajaero explained that the union took the decision when it noticed that the situation appeared to be getting worse despite the Supreme Court order allowing the old N500 and N1000 notes to circulate with the new notes till December 31.

He directed all NLC’s affiliate unions and their state councils to begin mobilisation on Friday for the nationwide mass action, saying the Federal Government and the CBN have not shown any commitment to address the situation.

Giving an update about the ultimatum at the briefing which was held at Labour House, Ajaero said workers could no longer access cash to pay fares to their respective workplaces or buy food for their families.

He said, “Last week at the end of our CWC (Central Working Committee) meeting, we gave a one-week ultimatum for the Federal Government to address immediately, among other issues, the issue of cash crunch that was caused by the policy. As of this morning when the CWC met again to review the situation, we discovered that not much improvement has been made.

“The situation is still almost the same. People are still buying our currency with our currencies. People no longer have access to the currency and the government seems to be very adamant about this. No moves have been made to reduce the suffering of Nigerians.

One-week notice

“Consequently, the CWC-in-session resolved to go into the process of actualising the one-week notice. From Friday, there will be a mobilisation of all state councils through a NEC meeting. All unions have already been directed to mobilise all their organs and their branches.

“By Wednesday, next week, all Central Bank of Nigeria offices nationwide will be picketed. All central banks from the CBN headquarters will be shut till further notice. Workers are directed to stay at home and join in the picketing exercise.

“We call on Nigerians to understand the circumstances we are operating in. People will be telling you about the political situation. The political situation is self-inflicted and the economic situation is worse than the political situation because people cannot eat.”

The labour leader described the proposed demonstration as “total”, saying the workers have been pushed to the wall.

He added, “Workers can no longer go to the office and nothing is happening. So, we have been pushed to the wall having given one week (ultimatum) and we thought they could address the situation which is not addressed.

“We have decided to take our destiny into our hands. So, comrades, the mobilisation commences immediately and when we talk of action from Wednesday, it’s total; until further notice.’’

AFCON 2023 'NEPA' Messes Up Nigeria's Schedule As Super Eagles Train In Darkness

 It was an embarrassing and disappointing sight as the Super Eagles' preparation for the Guinea-Bissau clash suffered a setback

Nigeria's Super Eagles trained in darkness on Tuesday ahead of the crucial AFCONQ2023 clash against Guinea-Bissau this Friday in Abuja.

Nigeria Super Eagles opened camp on Sunday for the encounter with almsot a full house by Tuesday night.

Samuel Chukwueze, Moses Simon and Calvin Bassey were the latest to arrive, taking the number of players in camp to 21 heading into the night session on Tuesday.

Super Eagles suffer blackout

Peseiro chasing Rohr’s feat as the Super Eagles resume campaign

However, on arrival at the Moshood Abiola international stadium to continue their preparation, the Super Eagles were met with a blackout.

The team went on to the pitch to train in peach darkness as coach Jose Peseiro and his team out the players through their paces.

Nigeria will host Guinea-Bissau on Friday before travelling to Guinea-Bissau for the second leg slated on Monday.

Super Eagles News: Nigeria vs Guinea-Bissau

The Nigeria Super Eagles are top of the group with six points and will be looking to seal progress with another six points in the double-header against Guinea-Bissau.

Super Eagles form
Meanwhile, Jose Peseiro and his men will go into this encounter looking to return to winning ways after a poor run of form.

Nigeria Super Eagles are on a run of four matches without a win, with the team only scoring one goal in that time.

The Eagles suffered an embarrassing 4-0 defeat to Portugal ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar and will know they cannot afford further slip-ups.

Nigeria's last appearance at the MKO Abiola international in Abuja was the in-famous 1-1 draw with Ghana which ended the team's World Cup dreams and Peseiro will look to afford a repeat of that performance on Friday.

Source: Pulse Sports Nigeria

I Never Told Anyone That I Will Die Soon - Odumeje

 Controversial Anambra-based fiery pastor, Chukwuemeka Ohanaemere, popularly known as Odumeje has dismissed the rumour saying that he declared he would die soon.

Report had emerged that Odumeje, during Sunday service at Mountain of Holy Ghost Intervention and Deliverance Ministry, Onitsha, said he had completed his assignments on earth and was time to go.

The reports also alleged that the death announcement might not be unconnected with the demolition of part of his church recently by the State Government.

According to the reports, while the news came to some members of the congregation as surprise, others wept, saying they don’t want him to leave them soon.

But speaking on phone, Okoye described such news as untrue, saying the prophet never instructed his son, David to take care of his house after his death.

She said, is not true (that prophet Odumeje said during Church service last Sunday that he will die soon).

You know that some people when they want to destroy someone's image, they will write something with your name and put it in a YouTube and say that you said it.

The prophet never instructed his son, David to take care of his house and that he will die soon.