ATTENCAO

The Lagos State House of Assembly has begun the amendment of a law that provides for lavish pension benefits to former governors and their deputies, the speaker, Mudashiru Obasa, said Thursday. Speaking to journalists at an event to mark the second anniversary of the state’s eighth Assembly, Mr. Obasa said the amendment of the Public Office Holder (Payment of Pension) Law will save money for the state. He said the private member bill is titled Public Office Holders (Payment of Pensions) Amendment Bill, 2016. “The Bill has been read first time and awaiting second reading,” the Speaker said. “The intendment of this bill is to save tax payers money while addressing the cost implication of some parts of the law. “For instance, the law allows governors and the deputy to have a house each in Lagos and Abuja while both governor and the deputy are also entitled to six and five vehicles respectively. But with this amendment, both governor and the deputy will be limited to a hou...

The judges of the Court of Appeal Court on Monday began a two-month annual vacation, which will end on September 11. A statement signed by Sa’adatu Kachalla, media officer to the Appeal Court President, Zainab Bulkachuwa, said the break will begin on July 17. According to the statement, the appeal court succeeded in resolving at least 232 judgements from the list of piled up cases in very busy divisions of the court across the federation, during the last judicial year. The judgements were delivered by a team of “five special task forces set up by Mrs. Bulkachuwa on September 7, 2016 from less busy Divisions like Makurdi, Ilorin, Yola, Ekiti and Sokoto to reduce the workload in Lagos, Benin, Port Harcourt, Enugu and Abuja which are busier Divisions”. “A breakdown of the figure shows that in Lagos Division, the special Taskforce from the Makurdi Division delivered 85 Judgments. The special Taskforce from Ilorin Division which sat in Benin Division delivered a total number of 57...

The West African Examination Council, WAEC, has released its May/June 2017 secondary school certificate examination results. The council said on its Twitter account on Monday that the results of 94.36 per cent of the 1,471,151 candidates that sat for the examination were released. Of that number, 923,486 candidates, representing 59.22 per cent, obtained minimum of number of credits in five subjects and above, including English Language and Mathematics. The examination started on February 20 and ended on May 15. The examination’s pass rate in 2016 stood at 52.97 per cent. According to the council, candidates who sat for the examination in 2017 will be able to check their results via waecdirect.org. It advised the candidates to use the result checker PIN and Serial Number on the CIVAMPENS Card issued to them WAEC said 1,567,016 candidates registered for the examination, out of which 1,559,162 sat for it. “Out of the total number of candidates that sat for the exam, 1,471,1...

Roger Federer climbed to third place in the latest ATP rankings Monday on the strength of his record eighth Wimbledon triumph. His 19th grand slam win saw the Swiss jump two places up the rankings still dominated by Britain's Andy Murray, eliminated from Wimbledon in the quarter-finals, while Rafael Nadal, knocked out in the fourth round, holds on to second place. ATP rankings: 1. Andy Murray (GBR) 7.750 pts 2. Rafael Nadal (ESP) 7,465 3. Roger Federer (SUI) 6,545 4. Novak Djokovic (SRB) 6,325 5. Stan Wawrinka (SUI) 6,140 6. Marin Cilic (CRO) 5,075 7. Dominic Thiem (AUT) 4,030 8. Kei Nishikori (JPN) 3,740 9. Milos Raonic (CAN) 3,310 10. Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) 3,160 11. Alexander Zverev (GER) 3,160 12. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) 2,805 13. Gaël Monfils (FRA) 2,775 14. David Goffin (BEL) 2,605 15. Tomas Berdych (CZE) 2,570 16. Pablo Carreno (ESP) 2,350 17. Jack Sock (USA) 2,290 18. Lucas Pouille (FRA) 2,255 19. Roberto Bautista (ESP) 2,245 20. Nick Kyrgios (AUS)...

"Game of Thrones" returned for its season seven premiere Sunday, ending a longer-than-usual wait for fans craving its unique weekly offer of sex, violence and dragons. HBO had delayed production, meaning four more months of anticipation ahead of the season debut -- already one of the television events every year across the world. But viewers were not disappointed, taking to social media in the thousands to express delight at the explosive start opening, the arrival of dragon queen Daenerys Targaryen in Westeros and a widely-hyped cameo by pop sensation Ed Sheeran. "There are very few shows that can deliver as much action and excitement as the season six 'Game of Thrones' finale, and there are perhaps even fewer shows that can make a table-setting episode this much fun," the Hollywood Reporter said after the premiere. "So it's all the more bittersweet that not only is winter here, but the end is in sight." The debut episode, ent...

An Osun High Court sitting in Osogbo, on Friday granted bail to the immediate former Vice-Chancellor, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ile-Ife, Anthony Elujoba, and the former bursar, Ronke Akeredolu. The accused persons are facing a seven-count charge bordering on fraud, conspiracy and abuse of office. Earlier, the accused were remanded in the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) custody. The judge, David Oladimeji, granted Mr. Elujoba bail on self recognizance while Ronke Akeredolu, the former bursar, was granted a N50 million-bail and two sureties in like sum. He said the sureties must be academic and high-ranking officers within the institution. The judge, however, condemned the attitude of the staff and students of the institution in Ede on July 11, where the case was first heard. That day, irate students and workers of the institution staged a protest and compelled the judge to reverse an order sending the former vice chancellor to prison custody...

The unity of Nigeria as a nation is an issue that must be debated in order to address lingering echoes of marginalisation, Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka said on Friday. “The claim that the unity of Nigeria is non-negotiable is a false statement,” Mr. Soyinka said. “The right of the people to determine their future is what is non-negotiable.” The Nobel laureate’s comments came when he joined Governor Seriake Dickson to commission a new high school in Kaiama, Bayelsa State. The Ijaw National Academy, which has been running for four months, accommodates up to 1,000 students at the junior and senior secondary levels. After a brief exchange with the students about his exploits as a renowned writer, Mr. Soyinka took a frontal aim at those who maintain that Nigeria must remain as currently constituted and her unity cannot be negotiated. “Don’t tell me that Nigeria, as it is, is non-negotiable,” Mr. Soyinka said. “To me, that’s a fa...

The embattled Etisalat Nigeria on Thursday rallied to move away from the shadows of its troubles by taking a new brand name. At end of a crucial management meeting of the telecom firm in Lagos, 9Mobile was unanimously adopted by the company as its new brand name. Last Monday, the chief executive of Etisalat International, Hatem Dowidar, said Etisalat Group would, in the next three weeks, phase out the brand name in Nigeria. The decision followed Emirates Telecommunications Group (Etisalat Group) withdrawal of further involvement in the ownership of the Nigerian subsidiary. Until June 15, the United Arab Emirates, UAE, group was a major shareholder in Etisalat Nigeria, along with United Arab Emirates Sovereign Wealth Fund through Mubadala Development Company, Abu Dhabi. The two affiliates controlled a combined 85 per cent equity in the telecom firm, with Myacinth holding 15 per cent stake through Emerging Markets Telecommunications Services, EMTS Holding BV, owned by former United ...

Nigeria has reached a landmark in the fight against HIV/AIDS as fewer people newly get infected than those on treatment. The Director-General of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS, NACA, Sani Aliyu, said with the feat, the country has crossed the “tipping point” for the epidemic. Mr. Aliyu explained that the tipping point for the epidemic is when more people are going on treatment than people getting newly infected. “We have an opportunity because in the last few weeks we have just crossed the tipping point for the epidemic,” Mr. Aliyu told State House correspondents in Abuja on Sunday. “The tipping point for the epidemic is when we have more people going on treatment than we have new infections, which means that the epidemic is on real downward trend and therefore we need to maintain that momentum,’’ he said In a response to PREMIUM TIMES enquiries on the achievement, Mr, Aliyu said the agency was able to achieve the success with ...

"Game of Thrones" returns for its penultimate season Sunday, presaging the end of a saga of sex, violence and political intrigue that has become the world's most popular TV show. The R-rated fable of noble families vying for control of the Iron Throne has just 13 episodes left, split across two shortened seasons which will bring the curtain down on a ratings juggernaut that made television history. One of the darkest and most controversial primetime series ever made, it has been the target of criticism over the years for senseless violence and its repeated use of rape as a dramatic device. The scriptwriters have brutalised women, killed children, depicted graphic sex and had their characters hacked, stabbed, flayed, poisoned, decapitated, burned alive, eye-gouged and eviscerated -- all in glorious, close-up detail. The adult themes have not deterred fans, however, and the audience has grown in the US to more than 23 million per episode. "Game of Throne...

M obile subscribers in Sub-Saharan Africa are expected to surpass 500 million by the end of 2020. According to a report launched on Tuesday by the GSM Association (GSMA) forecasts the number of unique mobile subscribers in sub-Saharan Africa will grow from 420 million at the end of 2016 to 535 million in 2020. The new report, “The Mobile Economy: Sub-Saharan Africa 2017″ highlights the mobile ecosystem’s growing contribution to the region’s GDP, job creation, innovation and socio-economic development. This, the association said, will make it the fastest growing region in the world over this period on mobile phones. Mats Granryd, Director-General of the GSMA said: “sub-Saharan Africa will be a key engine of subscriber growth for the world’s mobile industry over the next few years as we connect millions of previously unconnected men, women and young people across the continent. “Mobile is also offering sustainable solutions that address the lack of access to services such a...

The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has dismissed insinuation that his face-off with the National Assembly was confrontational. Mr. Fashola spoke with State House correspondents on the side-line of the Presidential Quarterly Business Forum held at the old Banquet Hall of the State House, Abuja, on Tuesday. He said that he was not fighting the lawmakers but only had disagreement with them, pointing out that he had many friends among them. The minister, however, said having many friends among them would not stop the right thing from being done. “There is no problem between me as an individual and the National Assembly. “And let me make that very clear, many of the senators and honourable members are my personal friends, and so you don’t fight your friends. But we have a disagreement. “You will remember when President Muhammadu Buhari inaugurated the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, he had enormous support from the leadership of the National Ass...