Headline

UNGA 78: Tinubu departs New York after first outing

Published

3 months ago

September 22, 2023

Shettima to represent Tinubu at G77 summit in Cuba

President Bola Tinubu on Thursday has departed New York after attending the 78th session high-level meetings of the UN General Assembly.

The UN correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that President Tinubu, while in New York, participated in some of the high-level events, including a bilateral meeting.

The Nigerian President who arrived New York on Sunday, was among the leaders that adopted the political declaration to accelerate the 17 goals on Monday at the SDG summit.

Ahead of the opening of the session, Tinubu met with his South African counterpart, Cyril Ramaphosa to discuss stronger economic and regional ties.

On Tuesday, the President attended the opening of the UN General Debate in the company of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Yusuf Tuggar and the Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the UN, Amb.Tijjani Muhammad-Bande and the Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila.

Still on Tuesday, Tinubu delivered Nigeria’s statement to the world leaders, affirming democratic governance as the best guarantor of the sovereign will and well-being of the people, saying military coups are wrong.

In his inaugural speech on behalf of Nigeria and Africa, he said Nigeria’s accord with the objectives and guiding principles of the world body: peace, security, human rights and development.

Tinubu, as Chairman of ECOWAS, solicited help to re-establish democratic governance in a manner that addresses the political and economic challenges confronting that nation, including the violent extremists who seek to foment instability in our region.

On Wednesday, he met with some Nigerians in the U.S., where he urged them to change their mindset to succeed.

Tinubu, at the Presidential Town Hall Meeting with Nigerians in the diaspora urged them to come back home, noting that Nigeria has arrived and that they should forget the frustration of the previous year’s leadership,

After his interaction with Nigerians, he met with the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, where he noted that African nations would start to take appropriate actions against actors that illicitly siphon and smuggle out the continent’s vast mineral resources.

The Nigerian leader told the UN chief that human rights had been used to deter actions against such actors that smuggle out African resources and bring in western-made weapons.

On Thursday, he rang the bell at the National Association of Securities Dealers Automatic Quotation System (NASDAQ), becoming the first African Head of Government to do so.

The president rang the bell at the world’s financial capital, New York and became the first African President to perform such task.

NAN reports that the Nigerian delegation participated in other high-level events such as High-level dialogue on Financing for Development; High-level meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response.

In addition, the delegation attended Climate Ambition Summit, convened by the Secretary-General; the Ministerial meeting of the Summit of the Future; High-level meeting of the Universal Health Coverage,.

Also, the delegation participated in High-level meeting of the on the fight Against Tuberculosis.

The delegation, made up of 16 ministers, seven governors, Chief of Staff and some heads of Ministries , Department and agencies(MDAs) also attended other events.

Similarly the First Lady, Mrs Oluremi Tinubu, spoke at the at the New York 2023 Nigeria Economic Growth and Trade Summit with the theme“ Stemming Migration Flows by Providing Basic Needs’’

In the summit organised by Nigeria Governors’ Wives Forum on the sidelines of the session, the First Lady called on the diasporas to contribute their quota to the “Renewed Hope Agenda” of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

She also called on Nigerian youths to have hope in the efforts of the current administration to deliver on the dividends of democracy and provide for their basic needs.

Mrs Tinubu also attended the First Ladies High Level Forum on the sidelines of the session to commemorate the 2023 United Nations Day of Peace.

The theme of the General Assembly is rebuilding trust and reigniting global solidarity, accelerating action on the 2030 Agenda and its sustainable development goals towards peace, prosperity, progress and sustainability for all.

Headline

Refineries Are Not Created To Reduce Fuel Price– Kyari

Published

6 hours ago

December 9, 2023

Desmond Ukafor

Forty eight hours after being summoned by the Senate, the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Mele Kyari, has now appeared before the joint committee on appropriations.

The Senate had issued a 24-hour ultimatum on Wednesday to the NNPCL boss after an observations that he had in previous occasions, shunned summons by the Senate to appear before its ad-committee probing over 11 trillion naira expenditure on turn around maintenance of refineries in the country between 2010 and 2023.

Responding to questions by the senate committee on appropriations on the potential drop in pump price of petroleum owing to the expected functionality of refineries, Kyari clarified his comment after he was interrogated again. He explained that it might be possible to have a reduction, but it is not the main objective of the refineries.

He buttressed that maintaining the energy security target has fostered the confidence that in 2024, Nigeria will become a net exporter of petroleum products.

The NNPCL boss affirmed that no subsidy is charged to the federation, adding that the NNPC has contributed 4.45 trillion naira as direct revenue into the federation in a combination of taxes, royalties and dividends and paid 406 billion naira as dividend to Federal Government’s account from July 2023.

According to him, Nigeria does not have credible data for PMS consumption in the country because of the absence of the instrument to measure.

The Chairman of the Senate Appropriation Committee, Senator Adeola Olamilekan, had on Wednesday, directed Kyari to appear before the committee in 24 hours.

Olamilekan, who asked Kyari to appear in company of the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), warned that failure to appear undermines the legislature and sabotages the process.

They are required to present the list of all individual companies operating with OML licenses in Nigeria as well as total production output approved on a daily basis.

The lawmaker expressed concerns that some of the revenues required to drive the 2024 budget was attributed to the NNPCL, which according to him, was owned by the Federal Government and responsible to it, and by extension the three arms of government.

Headline

DSS To Start Using Weapons Produced By Personnel – Bichi

Published

6 hours ago

December 9, 2023

Ifunaya Emeka

The Department of State Services (DSS) said on Saturday it will soon unveil weapons produced by its personnel.

This was disclosed by the DSS Director General, Yusuf Bichi, at the graduation ceremony of the Executive Intelligence Management Course (EIMC) 16 participants in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

According to him, the DSS will soon begin to “produce what it eats and eat what it produces.”

Among the weapons the Secret Service will soon unveil are Unmanned Aeriel Vehicles (UAVs), he stated.

Bichi also assured that the agency will continue to support the National Institute for Security Studies to succeed in its quest to impart knowledge that will enhance security in the country.

He charged the participants to utilise the skills they have acquired to develop the country, urging Nigerians to remain patriotic and shun those whom he described as warmongers who want to set the country on fire.

Also at the event is the Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima.

The Executive Intelligence Management Course (EIMC) 16 commenced in February 2023 with 89 participants drawn from 35 agencies across Nigeria and four other African countries, namely, Niger, The Gambia, Rwanda and Chad.

Three participants lost their lives during the period, leaving 86 participants who graduated on Saturday.