Author: Safiu Kehinde

Safiu Kehinde The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has declared that replacement of faulty meters is free while warning Distribution Companies (DisCos) against charging customers. NERC made the declaration in a statement issued on Monday following reports of some DisCos instructing customers to apply and pay for the replacement of their faulty meters. As contained in the statement, the power regulatory body held that the DisCos instruction contradicts the commission’s Order No. NERC/246/2021 on Structured Replacement of Faulty and Obsolete end-use Customer Meters in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry. While restating its commitment to protecting customers’ interest, NERC warned DisCos…

Safiu Kehinde Bayelsa State Commissioner of Police, Francis Alonyenu, has warned Blue Economy saboteurs to avoid the state, saying it would use every legal means to ensure that Nigeria’s economic interest in the state was protected. The Commissioner issued the note of warning on Sunday in Yenagoa during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN). Alonyenu told NAN that being a major player in Nigeria’s Blue Economy, the command was poised to ensure peace and order in the state. He said with its rich maritime, petroleum and gas economic value, the Nigeria Police Force would ensure that these…

Agency Report Mr Stefano De Leo, the Italian Ambassador to Nigeria, says mixing Italian ingredients with Nigerian flour is good for baking his country’s pizza. Leo said this at the ongoing inaugural event of Italian 9th International Week of Cuisine scheduled from Nov. 15 to Nov. 23 in Abuja. According to him, the Italian cooking technique and ingredients can be used with Nigerian ingredients or ingredients found wherever Italian citizens resident in the world. “The Italian cooking techniques and ingredients can also be used with ingredient from a far land and this can be sustainable by using local products of…

Safiu Kehinde The Presidency has fired back at former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, over his criticism of the current administration. In reaction to Obasanjo’s claim that the Tinubu-led administration is responsible for the falling state of Nigeria, the Special Adviser to the President on Public Communications and Orientation, Sunday Dare, slammed the elder statesman, labelling his criticism as mere market noise which deserved no attention. Recall NPO reported that Obasanjo threw shades at Tinubu at the Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum, Yale University New Haven Connecticut, USA on Saturday. Decrying the spate of immorality and corruption, Obasanjo had faulted Tinubu who he…

Petrol production at Nigerian business tycoon Aliko Dangote’s $20bn (£15.5bn) state-of-the-art oil refinery ought to be some of the best business news Nigeria has had in years. But many Nigerians will judge its success on two key questions – firstly: “Will I get cheaper petrol?” Sorry, but probably no – unless the international price of crude drops. And secondly: “Will I still have to spend hours watching my hair turn grey in a hypertension-inducing fuel queue?” Hopefully those days are gone but it might partly depend on the behaviour of what Mr Dangote calls “the oil mafia”. For much of…

Safiu Kehinde No fewer than six people have been killed and many injured in a Russian attack on the city of Sumy in north-eastern Ukraine. This was disclosed by the city’s acting Mayor, Artem Kobzer, on Sunday evening. Artem Kobzar shared a video on Telegram in which he stood in front of a multi-storey residential building destroyed by the missile attack. The mayor further recounted how rescue workers were ransacking the rubble in the dark for survivors and victims. According to reports, the attack on Sumy occurred after one of the heaviest Russian air raids on Ukraine since the war…

A tide of plastic waste flowing into a major hydroelectric dam in eastern Congo is causing regular power cuts in several major cities, creating a challenge that local authorities are trying to solve. The Ruzizi dam located at the south end of Lake Kivu, which borders Rwanda, supplies the city of Bukavu and others with electricity and the power outages are hurting local businesses. The problem is linked to the growing use of plastics coupled with a lack of waste collection in the region. Heavy rainfall causes waste to flow down from the mountainous terrain to the lake, where it…

A bullet failed to silence her, now Malala Yousafzai is lending her voice to the women of Afghanistan. In just a few years since the Taliban retook control of the country, women’s rights have been eroded to the point where even singing is banned. Malala has a personal history with the Taliban across the border in Pakistan, after a gunman from the hardline Islamist group shot her as she sat on a school bus. The speed of change in Afghanistan, if not the brutality, has surprised Malala, who since that near-fatal shooting in 2012 has campaigned for equality. “I never…

A “massive” Russian missile and drone attack has targeted power infrastructure across Ukraine, the country’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has said. At least 10 people were killed in the strikes, which hit the capital, Kyiv, as well as multiple targets in several regions including Donetsk, Lviv and Odesa. Ukraine’s largest private energy company, DTEK, said its thermal energy plants had suffered “significant damage”, resulting in blackouts. The country’s state-owned energy operator, Ukrenergo, says it will enforce “restriction measures” for the whole of Ukraine on Monday. The co-ordinated assault overnight on Saturday was largest of its kind since early September, according to…

Hezbollah’s media chief Mohammed Afif has been killed in an Israeli strike in central Beirut, the Lebanese militant group has confirmed. A strike hit the headquarters of the Baath political party in the densely populated Ras al-Naba neighbourhood on Sunday, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency. The country’s health ministry said four people were killed, but did not name the victims. Afif, one of the few remaining public faces of the group, was last seen on Monday, when he gave a press conference in Beirut’s southern suburbs, where the group is based. Hezbollah confirmed the death on Sunday evening,…