The Harbingerngr News

From left: President Bola Ahmed Tinubu; Vice President Kashim Shettima and FCT, Minister Nyesom Wike, during the Presidential flag-off of the commercial operation of Abuja Light Rail. •Tinubu declares 7 months free train ride PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu yesterday declared seven months free train ride for passengers as he performed the presidential flag-off of commercial operation of Phase 1 of  Abuja light rail service, also known as Abuja metro rail, till December. The flag-off was among the activities mapped out by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, to mark the one year anniversary of President Tinubu in office. Recall that on Tuesday the President commissioned the Southern Parkway, which was among the legacy projects completed within the one year of his administration. The Abuja Metro Station was commissioned in 2018 by President Muhammadu Buhari. The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, had earlier announced free train rides for t...

....Says it'll boost Lagos economy LAGOS State governor Babajide Sanwo-Oluhas assured intending passengers that the newly launched 15 locally-built commercial ferries will not only boost the economy of the state, but will also enhance accessibility and provide convenience by decongesting the road networks further. Sanwo-Olu, who said this at Badore Ferry Terminal, in Ajah area of the state, stated that the ferries will equally boost water transportation.  According to him: "We have diligently revitalized our water transport infrastructure through strategic investments in modern ferries and upgraded terminals.  “Today marks a momentous occasion as we commemorate the first year of my second term in office. I am honoured to stand before you at the Badore Terminal to unveil 15 newly acquired ferries, a significant milestone in our quest to revolutionize transportation in Lagos State. “By introducing these 15 new ferries, we are not only saving countless hours otherwise lost in tra...

•Gives reasons why Tinubu’s one year rule hasn’t yielded desired fruits •Says trial- and-error economic policies won’t work Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has listed six actions President Bola Tinubu must take if he was desirous of making a success of the responsibility of the office he currently occupies. Atiku, who was the presidential candidate of  Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, offered the advice in a statement made public in Abuja yesterday. He said:  “First, pause and reflect. It is important that the government understands what reforms must be undertaken and in what sequence. A framework is needed with clearly stated reform objectives and strategies. “Second, undertake a comprehensive review of the 2024 budget within the new reform framework. The 2024 FGN budget, the exact size of which remains a mystery, is not designed to address the structural defects of the Nigerian economy or the cost-of-living crisis. It will neither create prosperity nor promote opportuni...

*Organized Labour’s N497,000 demand unrealistic — Presidency *Adds affordability key to arriving at any figure PRESIDENT of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Mr. Joe Ajaero, and Managing Director of Financial Derivatives Company, Mr. Bismarck Rewane, at this year’s annual Vanguard Economic Discourse, traded words over Organised Labour’s N615,000 minimum wage demand which has been reduced to N497,000. While Mr Rewane contended that the minimum wage being demanded by Labour was not feasible, Ajaero insisted that the demand is in line with the socio-economic realities of Nigeria at the moment. This came as the Presidency yesterday said the N497,000 demand by Labour as new minimum wage was unrealistic and advised labour to be serious in its demand. Speaking in his opening remarks at the summit, Ajaero, who was a panelist at the discourse, posited that the prices of most essential items and other services from transportation, electricity to food had skyrocketed. He said:  “From all that...

*FG, other states should emulate Edo — NLC chairman THE Edo State government, yesterday, said it has paid the N70,000 new minimum wage to workers in the state, in fulfillment of the promise to increase the minimum wage from May 2024. Recall that Obaseeki had during the commissioning of the Labour House in Benin City announced the increase of the minimum wage for workers in the state from N40,000 to N70,000, to reflect the current economic realities of the country and cushion the impacts of the harsh economy on the people of the state. A statement by the state Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Chris Nehikhare, said the payment of the N70,000 minimum wage to the workers further demonstrates the commitment of the Governor Godwin Obaseki-led administration to the welfare of Edo workers. According to him, “The Edo State government has paid the May salaries of workers in the state, reflecting the implementation of the N70,000 new minimum wage. “This is in fulfilment of the prom...

•Mgt expels culprits SOME students of the Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo, in Oyo State, have allegedly clubbed one of their colleagues to death inside a hostel. According to information gathered, the incident happened at the Shepherd Inn, which is situated within the premises of the institution. The deceased student was alleged to have stolen a phone and, suspecting him, the students pounced on him and beat him to stupor. It was further gathered that the victim had been allegedly tortured by the attackers.  Before giving him a serious beating, the student also had his hair shaved to humiliate him. A source, who is resident in Ogbomoso, told Vanguard that the victim was beaten for several hours, on Saturday. He later succumbed to the life-threatening injuries he sustained. Mgt expel culprits Meanwhile, before inviting the police to take up the matter, the management of the school expelled the affected students involved in the fracas. The institution, in a statement, said: “The unive...

THE Federal Government has instituted a legal action against governors of the 36 states of the federation at the Supreme Court over alleged misconduct in the administration of local government areas. FG, in the suit marked: SC/CV/343/2024, which was filed by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, is seeking full autonomy for all LGAs in the country as the third tier of government. It specifically prayed the apex court to issue an order prohibiting state governors from embarking on unilateral, arbitrary and unlawful dissolution of democratically elected local government leaders. The government also prayed for an order permitting the funds standing in the credits of local governments to be directly channelled to them from the federation account, in line with the provisions of the constitution, against the alleged unlawful joint accounts created by governors. Besides, FG prayed the Supreme Court for an order stopping governors from furt...

TRAGEDY strucked, as a 12-year-old girl identified as Haneefah Nurudeen and her friend, as well as another young person, were confirmed dead when a mosque building collapsed on Yusuf Street, Papa Ajao, Mushin.  Residents attributed the collapse to alleged carelessness of the engineers constructing a nearby road. Meanwhile, four persons who sustained injuries were rushed to the hospital, while four others were treated and discharged at the scene. According to an eyewitness, the incident occurred when an excavator clearing silt evacuated from drainages along the road recklessly hit the mosque and it collapsed on worshippers as prayer was about to commence. The incident threw the entire area into chaos as sympathizers and emergency responders embarked on rescue mission of trapped victims. Speaking to our correspondent at the scene, an eye witness, Hamzat Aisha, said earlier in the day, her father had warned the contractor not to dig too deep into the ground, as it would affect the mos...

lYesterday’s talks end in stalematelUzodimma attends briefly as other govs shun minimum wage talks For the second day running, the ongoing tripartite negotiation on the new national minimum wage involving the Federal Government, organized labour and the Organised Private Sector, OPS, yesterday ended in another stalemate as government and private sector employers made minimal adjustments to their earlier offers. This came as none of the six governors who are members of the committee attended the meeting yesterday. But Imo State governor, Hope Uzodimma, was present at the meeting, which has been adjourned to Tuesday, May 28, 2024. While organised labour which had earlier yesterday brought down its wage demand from N615,000 to N500, 000, and later N497,000, OPS increased its last week’s offer of N54,000 to N57,000. The government negotiating team had earlier remained adamant, but had to take a short break to consult. It returned from the short break to increase its offer to N57,000 to mat...

Lookman has joined Alex Iwobi (2019 Europa League) and Joe Aribo (2022 Europa League) as the only Nigerian players to score in final of a major UEFA competition. To compound his historic achievement, Lookman is also now the first African player to score thrice in the final of a major UEFA competition. A hat-trick for Super Eagles player, Ademola Lookman, yesterday won the first ever European trophy for Atalanta, ending a 61-year wait for silverware, with Bayer Leverkusen’s 51-game unbeaten run thus coming to an end.  Xabi Alonso’s team simply ran out of steam after a phenomenal season with Lookman running them ragged, opening the scoring with a back-post finish on 12 minutes before doubling the advantage with a stunning curling effort 14 minutes later. He wrapped up his famous treble with a powerful left-footed strike that flew into the top corner meaning he became the first player to ever score a hat-trick in a Europa League final. After storming to their first Bundesliga title, L...

INDEPENDENT petroleum marketers have expressed concern over the rising price of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, otherwise known as petrol, in private depots to N710 per litre. With the increase, petrol pump price at outlets operated by independent marketers also rose to between N730 and N750 per litre which has led to queues at some stations operated by major marketers and Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, where pump prices are cheaper at N610 and N568 per liter respectively. A visit to the private depots in Satellite and Apapa areas of Lagos, showed that prices varied as the product were sold at between N701 and N735 per litre. The depots with the highest price include Bovas depot which sold petrol to independent marketers at N762 per litre followed by MRS depot with N735 per liter. The lowest prices were at Rainoil depot with N705 per liter, Emadeb depot with N705 per liter, while depot owned by Eterna Oil and Sahara also known as Asharami depot sold at N701 per liter re...

•MPR hikes pose danger to economy —NACCIMA  •NECA highlights negative impact on investment, inflation •Additional burden for businesses — CPPE  •‘There is no magic wand’ — Cardoso Citing the need to rein in inflation and achieve price stability, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, raised its benchmark interest rate, the Monetary Policy Rate, MPR, by 150 basis points to 26.25 percent from 24.75 percent, the third raise less than three months. CBN Governor, Mr. Olayemi Cardoso, disclosed this while briefing journalists at the end of the Monetary Policy Committee, MPC, meeting in Abuja. The apex bank, however, retained the Cash Reserve Ratio, CRR, for deposit money banks at 45 percent and the Liquidity Ratio at 30 percent. Cardoso expressed optimism that the various tools deployed by the bank to tame inflation and create a stable foreign exchange market would yield the needed results in the coming months. Inflation had sustained upswing for over 13 months hitting 33.69 percent Year...

*Customers lament sad experiences in states *Banks sell cash to us — Delta PoS operator *I pay N400 to access N10,000 — PoS operator *I tip bank officials N2,000 to withdraw N100,000 from ATM’ NIGERIANS are angry and complaining bitterly  over outrageous volume of money  Point of Sale, PoS, operators withdraw from banks. Some expressed concern that PoS operators are taking over the Automatic Teller Machine, ATM, services from banks across the country. Many resorted to PoS operators when they found after many stopovers at their banks for self-service that the ATMs  were usually empty but cash was available with PoS operators. On their part, PoS operators narrated huge risks and measures they undertake to get cash, including paying bank officials, saying the charges must be adequate to enable them remain in business. Banks, PoS operators collaboration in Ondo, Ekiti, Ogun, Lagos, others In Ondo and Ekiti states, findings showed that bank workers and PoS operators work toget...