Author: Vardiafrica

The Trade Union Congress (TUC) says increasing the minimum wage for civil servants from N30,000 to N615,000 won’t worsen Nigeria’s inflation rate which stood at 33.20% as of March 2024.  “If you look today, from May 2023 to date, revenue from the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) to the state governments has tripled,” TUC President, Festus Osifo, said on Channels Television’s Morning Brief breakfast programme on Wednesday. “This means the state government has more money to build roads and schools to purchase other items. “The most critical aspect of production is labour. It is for you to take part of the money and…

The Federal Government has approved a salary increase of between 25% and 35% for civil servants on the remaining six Consolidated Salary Structures. This move is coming on the eve of the 2024 Workers’ Day event and is contained in a Tuesday statement by the Head of Press at the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC)Emmanuel Njoku. The increment takes effect from January 1st, 2024. The Salary Structure includes the Consolidated Public Service Salary Structure (CONPSS), Consolidated Research and Allied Institutions Salary Structure (CONRAISS), Consolidated Police Salary Structure (CONPOSS), Consolidated Para-military Salary Structure (CONPASS), Consolidated Intelligence Community Salary Structure…

The Port-Harcourt-Aba railway has been opened for operation by the federal government following the completion of its rehabilitation, which forms part of the ongoing work at the 1443km Port-Harcourt-Maiduguri narrow gauge rail project. The railway is reportedly part of the intensified drive by the Federal Government to facilitate trade, enhance mobility, and accessibility and ensure connectivity between the southern parts of the country to the Northeastern part. Inaugurating operations on the rehabilitated 62km rail corridor on Tuesday, the Minister of Transportation, Sen. Said Alkali, said his Ministry was in discussions with an investor on retrofitting locomotives from diesel to CNG…

The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) announced on Monday that it had received an interim dividend payment of N450 million out theN1.5bn declared by the Waltersmith Refinery and Petrochemical Company Limited. This payment represents NCDMB’s 30% share in the company for the year ended 2023. The NCDMB had in July 2018 invested $10m to acquire 30% stake in the 5000 barrels per day (bpd) modular refinery project located at Ibigwe, Imo State, to support the Federal Government’s policy on modular refinery, stimulate investment and create employment opportunities. Rising from a Board Meeting of Waltersmith Refinery and Petrochemical Company…

The Senate has resumed plenary after six weeks of recess in the newly renovated hallowed chamber opened over two years after the reconstruction began. Shortly after the regular announcements by the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, a heated argument ensued between some ranking members over sitting arrangement. Three Senators engaged in heated argument. Senator Danjuma Goje, who is a four-time ranking Senator representing Gombe Central; and Sahabi Yau, Senator representing Zamfara North; expressed displeasure over the back seats assigned to them, and complained to the Majority Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele. According to the standing rules of the upper legislative…

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), has threatened to stop the supply of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, over non-payment of ₦200bn bridging claims. The association’s unit Chairman and Spokesperson, Aba Depot, Mazi Oliver Okolo in a communique released after a press conference on Tuesday, Okolo said the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NMDPRA) failed to pay the ₦200bn debt despite a directive for payment from the Petroleum Minister (Oil) Heineken Lokpobiri. The IPMAN deport Chairman claimed that since the directive by the minister in February 2024, only ₦13bn had been paid to their members, saying that…

The House of Representatives has directed the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to suspend the implementation of the new incremental tariff on Band A customers. The lower chamber agreed upon this at the house resolution during a plenary session on Tuesday. According to them, the resolution followed the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance by Kama Nkemkanma. It would be recalled, that NERC had hiked the electricity tariff for Band A customers by 230 percent, from ₦68 per kilowatt hour to ₦225/kWh. Band A customers are those who receive an average daily supply of electricity for 20 hours…

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited says the ongoing shortfall in supply of petroleum products and queues for the products will be cleared out by May 1. Femi Soneye, NNPC’s spokesperson, spoke to NAN on Tuesday in Lagos. Soneye said the company currently has more than 1.5 billion litres of product available, enough to last for at least 30 days. However, he said some individuals might be exploiting the situation to maximise profit. “Unfortunately, we experienced a three-day disruption in distribution due to logistical issues, which has since been resolved,” he said. “However, as you know, overcoming such disruptions typically requires double the amount…

The International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) says plans are underway to extradite Nadeem Anjarwalla, Binance regional manager for Africa, to Nigeria for prosecution. Garba Umar, vice president of Interpol (Africa) executive committee, spoke on Tuesday during Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme. Anjarwalla and Tigran Gambaryan, Binance’s head of financial crime compliance, were charged with tax evasion and money laundering by the federal government. The duo were arrested and detained on February 28 However, on March 22, Anjarwalla escaped from a guest house in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city, where he and Tigran Gambaryan, his colleague, had been kept by the federal government. Anjarwalla was said…

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), in a move to deregulate the metre supply and pricing market, released an order on Monday on the deregulation prices for metres deployed under the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) Scheme. According to the order, the commission said the move was necessitated after MAPs and other operators requested a further review of metre prices in consideration of the significant changes in foreign exchange and inflation rates since NERC’s last price review in September 2023. It said the significant changes in these macroeconomic variables had constrained the abilities of metre providers to supply metres at the…