Author: New Daily Prime

By John Grace Party leader lowers members’ expectations as far as she dares at election warmup event in the shires It’s more than likely you have given little or no thought to the local elections taking place on 1 May. After all, more than half the population will pay no attention to them on the day itself. If so, then the Tory party will be delighted. Long may it stay that way. The Conservatives find themselves backed into a corner – desperate for an outbreak of national amnesia about the local elections but aware that they have to do something to mark…

Vice Admiral Ibok-ete Ibas (retd.), the newly appointed Sole Administrator for Rivers State, has officially arrived in the state to begin his duties. Ibas touched down at the Port Harcourt International Airport at approximately 11:25 am on Thursday, March 20, where he was warmly received by key state officials and security personnel. Upon arrival, Ibas, accompanied by the state Commissioner of Police, Olugbenga Adepoju, and the Assistant Inspector General of Police for Zone 16, swiftly proceeded to the Government House in Port Harcourt. His arrival marked the start of his mandate in overseeing the state’s administration following the declaration of…

The Oyo State Government has officially withdrawn criminal charges against Naomi Silekunola, the ex-wife of the Ooni of Ife; Alhaji Oriyomi Hamzat, owner of Agidigbo FM; and Abdullahi Fasasi, the principal of Islamic High School, Bashorun, Ibadan, in connection with the deadly stampede during a December 2024 event that resulted in the deaths of at least 35 children. Appearing in court on Thursday, March 20, the three defendants appeared visibly relieved, exchanging pleasantries after the ruling. Oyo State Attorney General, Abiodun Aikomo, later confirmed the decision, stating that while the incident was tragic, the prosecution acknowledged the defendants’ empathy and…

The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) is projected to spend up to N307.6 billion on mobilising and paying allowances to corps members in 2025, following an increase in the monthly stipend from N33,000 to N77,000. This hike in allowances came after the signing of the new minimum wage bill into law in May 2024. With an average of 333,000 corps members mobilised annually across three batches, each corps member will receive N77,000, amounting to N25.64 billion per batch. Over the course of the year, this brings the total allocated for allowances to N307.6 billion. In the 2025 budget proposal, the…

The Director of Lands for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Chijioke Nwanwkoeze, has clarified that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has failed to pay ground rent for its national secretariat for 28 years, amounting to N7.6 million. Nwanwkoeze made this statement on Wednesday, March 19, in Abuja while addressing the press regarding the ongoing controversy surrounding the revocation of the PDP’s land title for its national secretariat. This follows a decision by the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, to revoke the land title for the PDP secretariat, which is located in the Central Area of Abuja. The revocation was formalised in…

According to data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the naira appreciated by 0.16 percent to 1530.52/$ at the close of trading on Wednesday, March 19, from 1532.93/$ in the previous session. The naira traded as high as 1545/$ and reached a low of 1500/$, which was lower than Tuesday’s figures. In the parallel market, CardinalStone Research reported that the naira remained unchanged at 1,585.00/$, causing the spread for speculative traders to widen. Analysts noted that the gap between official and parallel market rates had narrowed to about 3.07 per cent from 3.40 per cent earlier in the week.…

By Aanu Adeoye. Illustrations by Diana Ejaita How to navigate everything from greetings to meetings to dress code in the Nigerian megacity So you have decided to come to Lagos for a business trip. Why? But seriously, welcome. You may have heard that Lagos can be chaotic at the best of times. That is true. It’s an inevitability when the country’s smallest state by land area also holds its largest urban population of more than 20mn. There are more people in Lagos, a tiny strip of land surrounded by water, than in London and New York combined. Pack sunscreen…

Radical changes that will cut income for 1mn people may not get many more into work, say analysts UK ministers have set out plans for a radical reform of welfare for the sick and disabled — including a £5bn cut to spending on health-related benefits, a new duty for claimants to engage with job support programmes, and a £1bn investment in back-to-work programmes. Work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall said the changes would ensure sick and disabled people had “the same rights, choices and chances as everyone else”, while keeping support in place for those who could never work…

Nigerian social media personality and commentator Isaac Fayose has weighed in on the Rivers State controversy, pointing fingers at former President Olusegun Obasanjo for the country’s democratic woes. In a video posted on his Instagram page on Wednesday, March 19, Fayose claimed that Obasanjo laid the foundation for the problems plaguing Nigeria’s democracy today, including election rigging, ballot box snatching, and godfatherism. He stated, “All the bad things happening in our democratic system today were started by Obasanjo. Obasanjo derailed this democracy. That is why you can see rigging of elections, snatching of ballot boxes and Godfatherism now, because it…

The Federal Government has defended President Bola Tinubu’s declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State, calling it a timely move aimed at preventing a potential crisis in the state. The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, made the statement on Wednesday, March 19, while addressing State House correspondents at the Aso Rock Villa in Abuja. “We are about two years into the administration in the state, Now, when do you think the President should have intervened? Should it have been when everything had been destroyed? I don’t think so,” Fagbemi said. He added, “I…