Month: October 2022

The Minister of Communications & Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami)
In furtherance of its digital capacity building initiative, the Federal Government of Nigeria has entered into partnership with Coursera, a global online digital skills acquisition platform, to empower twenty four thousand Nigerians with digital and developer skills in various fields over a three year period.

The Minister of Communications & Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami) made this known on Wednesday, in a statement signed by his spokesperson, Uwa Suleiman.

According to the statement, the minister declared the training open on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, October 19, 2022,

He stated, “we are championing a paradigm shift of prioritizing hard, soft and social skills over theory and this collaboration will go a long way in supporting this shift.

According to Pantami, Coursera is one of the world’s top online learning platforms hosting thousands of courses for some of the best universities and companies, and has remained at the forefront of providing the global society with the education and resources it needs to build and maintain digital systems.

Pantami also reiterated government’s commitment to ensure that the nation’s citizenry is digitally empowered and properly positioned for the fourth industrial revolution.

“The recent Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) entered into, with Microsoft to train five million Nigerians in various fields of technology, is part of government’s efforts to fulfill the requirements for digital transformation as laid down in the Nigeria Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) document.”

While expressing delight over the partnership, the minister called on Coursera to expand its presence in Nigeria and especially in the academia where it already has an existing partnership with Covenant University.

“Coursera is in partnership with Covenant University which is one of the best private universities in Nigeria based on their annual rankings and publications which I have keenly observed.

“I have no doubt that this partnership has had a huge impact on the institution’s excellent standing. I therefore request that Coursera engages more academic institutions, at least one, in each geo-political zone and bring their expertise to bear within the identified environments.”

The minister noted that the Federal Government of Nigeria, through the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, is spearheading this collaboration under the auspices of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).

The Lagos State Police Command has said there was no any record of shooting at people, who gathered for procession at the #EndSARS 2nd anniversary holding at the Lekki toll gate plaza.

Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin made this assertion on Thursday in a statement via his verified Twitter handle.

He stated, “Peaceful persons were allowed to move around without interference from the police. Some of them that decided to be lawless and start mounting the toll complex, an action threatening the existing law and order in the area, were dispersed with teargas.

“There was no use of baton, neither was there physical contact. We equally do not have any record of shooting. We would, however, appreciate evidence of gunshots, maybe a video, to enable us take appropriate action,” he added.

Recall that the October 20, 2020 #EndSARS memorial procession was announced by Nigerian rapper, Folarin Falana, popular as Falz.

The memorial procession on Thursday saw cars and Nigerian in their numbers pass through the toll gate, waving the Nigerian flags and chanting #EndSARS.

“As long as they do not stop, we shouldn’t have a problem, because the agreement is that they don’t stop,” an unidentified police officer at the procession said.

“But the moment anybody stops that person will be picked up and locked up in the van,” he added.

Vanguard observed a chaotic atmosphere and pesence of heavily armed police officers, with about 25 police vans, black maria, water tanks at both sides of the toll gate as police shot tear gas and water canon at people gathered for the procession.

Some protesters on Thursday stormed the epic center of #EndSARS protest, the Lekki toll in Lagos to remember the victims of the memorable incident.

The protester in a video were seen laying down Caskets while demanding justice for the victims.

Today’s remembrance marks the second year of the #EndSARS protest which shook the nooks and crannies of the country.

Some Nigerians who were not pleased with shenanigans of some police officers took to some strategic spots in the country to demand for the disbandment of Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, on October 20th, 2020.

Another tanker laden with fuel exploded on Thursday morning on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.

The explosion,which occurred at Araromi Town before the Interchange, is causing traffic gridlock.

Some motorists close to the scene, it was learnt, have scampered to safety.

According to the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) Ogun Sector Command, efforts are on to bring the situation under control.

FRSC advised motorists to make use of alternative routes to avoid unnecessary delay.

“The rescue operation is still on and people involved yet to be confirm because a bus is also involved.

“The crash scene cordoned off to avoid secondary crash, traffic has been diverted,” the commission said.

The commission also urged motorists to remain calm and cooperate with traffic managers managing the situation.

The ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, has released fresh list of Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council, PCC, which has President Muhammadu Buhari as the chairman.

This was made know in a fresh full list of the campaign council published by the Senator Abdullahi Adamu-led National Working Committee NWC on Wednesday.

Nnamani, a former governor of Enugu state was Number 350 on the earlier 422-member campaign council. He was listed as a member of the local government directorate.

In the fresh list which was signed by the National Secretary of the party, Senator Iyiola Omisore as opposed to the initial 422-member list signed by the presidential candidate of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the president, Muhammadu Buhari was still named as Chairman of the Council.

Unlike in the earlier list, Adamu has now swapped positions with Tinubu as the former was named the Deputy Chairman of the council, while Tinubu becomes the Deputy Chairman II. His running mate, Kashim Shettima remains the vice chairman of the council.

Plateau state Governor, Simon Lalong retains his position as Director General; Comrade Adams Oshiomhole as Deputy Director General, Operations and James Faleke as Secretary.

Aside the 603 listed positions, the membership of the council could well rise to over a thousand as the party created a special category “Presidential Campaign Council Members”, to accommodate some stakeholders.

Stakeholders in that category are all APC NWC members, all APC National Assembly Members, all Federal Executive Council Members, all APC former Governors and Deputy Governors, all former APC NWC members and all APC serving members of its National Executive Committee NEC.

Others in the category also include all APC serving Speakers, Deputy Speakers and Principal Officers of State Assemblies, all APC former Speakers of State Assemblies, all APC National and State Assembly Candidates and all APC State Chairmen.

The party’s NWC had kicked against the earlier list released by Tinubu and sought for greater inclusion, a development which made the council to withdraw the list.

The Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly Funminiyi Afuye has died following a cardiac arrest.

The deceased was 66 years old.

“Rt. Hon Afuye died Wednesday evening at the Ekiti State Teaching Hospital (EKSUTH), Ado- Ekiti, where he was receiving treatment after suffering a cardiac arrest,” Yinka Oyebode, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Abiodun Oyebanji, said in a statement Wednesday.

“The late Afuye, 66, was a former Commissioner of the Ekiti State Ministry of Information, and a two-time member of the State Assembly. He was inaugurated Speaker of the sixth Assembly on June 6, 2019.”

The Federal University Oye-Ekiti, FUOYE, has announced immediate resumption of academic activities for fresh and returning students for the 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 sessions.

Speaking on the development, the Special Adviser to the Vice-Chancellor on Media Matters, Wole Balogun, said that the university senate had also approved that two academic sessions – second semester of 2020/2021 academic session and first semester of the 2021/2022 academic session – be run simultaneously.

Balogun in a statement titled, ‘FUOYE resumes academic activities’, said the approval was “with a view to make up for the loss of eight months to the just suspended industrial strike action of the Academic Staff Union of Universities.”

According to him, a circular dated October 18 signed by FUOYE Registrar, Ibrahim Mufutau, had stated that resumption and registration exercise for fresh students and lectures for second semester for returning students began on October 17, 2022.

“A three-day orientation programme for fresh students of the 2021/2022 session begins on October 19 and ends on Friday, October 21.

“Lectures for fresh students kick off on Monday, October 24 and on Thursday, October 27 registration for fresh students ends as the university holds the 2021/2022 matriculation ceremony for fresh students on the following day, Friday, October 28.”

Balogun stated that while the 2021/2022 first semester would end in January 2023, the 2020/2021 session will also end in December, 2022. The new session 2022/2023 for which admission screening is currently on going, may kick off around June 2023.”

The Nigerian government has revealed its plans to restructure the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) to make it flexible for Nigerian students in the diaspora to partake in the compulsory national service scheme.

Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, made the disclosure on Wednesday at the presentation of the draft 2023 budget in Abuja.

She described the current practice that makes it mandatory for a Nigerian who schooled abroad to partake in the scheme within three years of graduation, as “discouraging”.

The minister said the new plan was to amend the NYSC Act to allow the diaspora graduands participate in the national service scheme at a convenient time.

The planned amendment would also allow the diaspora corps members to set up small and medium scale businesses with a focus on job creation and attract diaspora remittances while they still get the NYSC certificate at the end of the one year period of the scheme.

Minister of Youths and Sport, Sunday Dare, who joined the programme virtually, said there’s a larger review going on now under a committee that is looking at a review of the NYSC scheme itself.