News headlines for the 17th of March 2021

Senate may probe govs’ role in N6.25bn NDDC palliative scam

The Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, on Tuesday, said it would extend its N6.2bn Covid-19 palliative fund probe to the nine governors of the Niger Delta region, who were said to have collected N100m each from the Niger Delta Development Commission.
The committee has also given the Sole Administrator of the NDDC, Effiong Akwa, 48-hour grace to produce members of the Prof. Daniel Pondei-led interim committee of the agency or risk arrest.
The panel had on February 22 resolved that the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, be contacted by the executive arm of government through the Senate leadership to produce Pondei and his team before the Ethics Committee on March 9.
Briefing journalists on the issue on Tuesday, the Chairman of the panel, Senator Ayo Akinyelure, said the Akwa-led management had up till Thursday to produce Pondei and his team or risk being arrested.

The United States Mission has said that it is prioritizing immigrant visa applicants affected by the travel restrictions under the Presidential Proclamations 9645 and 9983 signed by former President Donald Trump last year.
This followed the Presidential Proclamation signed by President Joe Biden on January 20, 2021, titled, ‘Ending discriminatory bans on entry to the United States’.
Trump had suspended entry into the US by certain nationals from various countries, including Nigeria, based on visa type.
But the US Mission in a statement on Tuesday said its Consulate-General in Lagos had already contacted all immigrant visa applicants, whose applications were affected, and was prioritizing the processing of the pending cases.
It noted that media reports claiming that Nigerians denied visas on or after January 20, 2020, could re-apply for free were inaccurate, adding that the proclamation announcement applied only to certain immigrant visa cases and did not apply to tourist, business, student, or other non-immigrant visas.

Organized labour union involving Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC and the Trade Union Congress, TUC yesterday asked the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila to immediately kill what it described as “anti-masses” bills.

It will be recalled that the unions had last week stormed the national assembly in protest against a bill seeking the removal of the minimum wage from the exclusive legislative list to the concurrent list.
Returning to the House for a meeting brokered by the Speaker, the union said that the protest will continue across the federation.
The union also promised to withdraw their member’s service to the nation if the political leadership of the country at various levels continue to keep mute.

THE National Leader of the pan-Yoruba socio-political association, Afenifere, Pa Reuben Fasoranti, has stepped down as the leader of the association.
The 95-year-old elder statesman cited old age as the major reason for his decision.
To this end, Fasoranti named the former deputy leader of the group, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, as the acting national leader, while the former financial secretary of the group, Oba Oladipo Olaitan, the Alaago of Kajola Ago, Atakumosa East Council Area, Ilesa, Osun State, was named the group’s deputy leader.
Fasoranti was made the leader of the group in year 2008
The nonagenarian, who made his decision during the association’s monthly meeting held in Akure, the Ondo state capital.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) have introduced new charges for customers for the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) services, effective March 16.

This is contained in a joint statement issued on Tuesday by the CBN and the NCC on pricing of USSD services posted on the apex bank website.
The joint statement was signed by the CBN’s acting Director, Corporate Communications, Mr Osita Nwanisobi, and NCC Director, Public Affairs, Mr Ikechukwu Adinde.
It said effective March 16, USSD services for financial transactions conducted at Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) and all CBN-licensed institutions would be charged at a flat fee of N6.98 per transactions.
The statement said the new charges was part of the agreement reached when banks and telecommunication operators met on Monday to discuss the N42 billion debt owed mobile operators by banks.
It added that plan for outstanding payments incurred for USSD services, previously rendered by the MNOs, was being worked out by all parties in a bid to ensure that the matter was fully resolved.