Queen Doosh

President Muhammadu Buhari on Day One at Presidential Villa The Buhari administration may be considering merging all debtor airlines in the country into a national carrier, capable of serving the West and Central African regions, with Nigeria as the regional aviation hub. That is part of the recommendations by the Ahmed Joda transition committee, which submitted its report to President Muhammadu Buhari about two weeks ago. Volumes of the report were exclusively obtained by PREMIUM TIMES. Six of Nigeria’s leading domestic airlines are currently bogged down by huge debts totalling almost N130 billion, forcing them to turn to the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) for a lifeline. In 2014, the Federal Ministry of Aviation gave the debt portfolio of five of the airlines with AMCON at over N190 billion. The amount excluded sundry debts to aviation agencies like the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria...

The Central Bank of Nigeria has extended the deadline for Bank Verification Number (BVN) registration, which is ongoing across the country, the News Agency of Nigeria is reporting. The bank had earlier fixed Tuesday, June 30, as deadline for the exercise, warning that defaulters may not be able to access to their accounts from July 1. As the deadline approached, millions of customers spent hours on long queues at banks across the country, struggling to have their data captured.The CBN said on Tuesday that the exercise will now end on October 31, 2015, according to NAN.

Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega, has formally bowed out as the Chairman of the electoral body, Tuesday. Jega, who was appointed by former President, Goodluck Jonathan in 2010, has served out his 5 year statutory tenure as the chairman of the Commission. The former Vice Chancellor of Bayero University, Kano, had insisted that he would not seek a second term in office even if he is offered the opportunity, saying he has done his bit. He reasoned that there were other well qualified people in the country who should be allowed to contribute their own quota. Details soon….

Contrary to the claims by Deposit Money Banks (DMB) that there would be total restriction on accounts without Bank Verification Number (BVN), after the deadline today, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has clarified that account holders can still have access to cash transactions while the e-banking transactions would be restricted. The BVN is an initiative of the CBN and the Bankers’ Committee, launched on February 14, 2014. It is a unique identifier for each bank customer across the financial industry, making it possible to build and track customer financial history and activity. The CBN had last year issued a directive to all banks to ensure that their customers register for BVN before June 30th, 2015, so as to protect all e-banking transactions from fraudulent attacks. Meanwhile, the Apex bank has said there would be no extension of deadline and that enough time has been given to customers to enroll for the BVN. A visit by BusinessDay to some banks operatin...

The battle for the control of the National Assembly may be long drawn as the leadership of the All Progressives Congress on Monday insisted on removing the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, of the minority Peoples Democratic Party. One of our correspondents learnt on Monday that the ruling APC was still miffed that Ekweremadu emerged as the deputy senate president and had vowed never to allow “a senator from a minority party take over the duties statutorily assigned for the majority party.” A leader of the APC, who spoke on condition of anonymity, explained that Ekweremadu as deputy senate president would hamper the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. The APC leader said, “As deputy senate leader, Ekweremadu is automatically the Chairman, Senate Committee on Constitution Amendment. This is a sensitive position that, statutorily, should not be held by the minority. “Ekweremadu and his PDP co-travellers will hamper the policies of the Buhari government...

Anambra state was tension soaked yesterday, following reports that about 47 Boko Haram suspects have been relocated to Ekwulobia Prisons in Aguata Local Government Area of the state, Vanguard reports. Gov. Obiano. Hundreds of youths took to the street over the weekend when the rumour first broke about the alleged relocation, leading to the closure of major markets in  the state. It was gathered that prisons officials at the Ekwulobia Prisons did not shown any sign that new inmates were brought it. However, findings shown that last night, 47 Boko Haram prisoners were brought to Ekwulobia prisons at mid-night of Sunday, June 28, under tight security. It was observed that agitated people in different parts of the state were seen making telephone calls over this development. Those whose relatives are serving sentences in the medium security prison are expressing worries over this development, saying their relatives might be in grave risk, given the an...

There was pandemonium at the presidential villa yesterday as men of the Department of State Security (DSS) and Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI), exchanged blows, after DMI agents denied officers of the DSS entrance into their offices within the villa. DSS officials It is observed that there is a comprehensive scrutiny of personnel in and around the vicinity which began yesterday. It would be recalled that the DSS were relieved of their duties within the villa and restricted to the corridors of the environment. In a related development, a directive signed by President Muhammadu Buhari’s Aide-De-Camp’ , Lt.-Col. Lawal Abubakar, stated that the exercise was essential for ‘accountability and deployment’. The memo was titled “ Request for strength returns of security personnel/forces deployed within the Presidential Villa, Abuja.” The memo reads, “The need for proper accountability by all security forces/personnel deployed wit...