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In preparation for the enforcement, the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Pantami has urged citizens and legal residents to use the next few days to ensure that they complete the linkage of their SIM and NIM. This follows the expiration of the approved extension of the NIN-SIM linkage on the 31st of March, 2022 To this end, the Honourable Minister has further directed that the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) should offer enrolment services round-the-clock for the next few days. Pantami also thanked all those who have completed their NIN-SIM linkage. On behalf of the Honourable Minister, the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, and the Director-General/CEO of NIMC, Engr. Aliyu Aziz, urged citizens and legal residents to take advantage of the window to complete the process of enrolment and verification within the next few days.

Amid the crisis rocking the industry, telecommunication operators, including Globacom, Airtel, MTN and others, have threatened to raise tariffs within seven days if the Nigerian government does not find a solution.  The position of the companies was made known by Gbenga Adebayo, the Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), during a press briefing on Thursday.  Adebayo highlighted the seizure of cellular sites in Kogi, concerns about degrading quality of services in Abuja, high cost of diesel, inflation and safety of telecom workers as part of the issues presently bedevilling the telecoms industry. According to him, over 70 sites within Kogi State and environs have shut down causing members' inability to access and maintain them amid the disputes arising from taxes and levies demanded by the Kogi State Government through the Kogi State Internal Revenue Service (KIRS). “The action by KIRS was hinged on an ex parte court...

 President Biden has made a U-turn over his call for regime change in Russia following the invasion of Ukraine by troops controlled by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The president was asked by a reporter as he was leaving Holy Trinity Church in the Georgetown neighbourhood of Washington D.C. on Sunday. 'Mr President, do you want Putin removed?', the reporter asked. 'Mr President, were you calling for regime change?' they asked, to which Biden turned to the camera and yelled 'no!' before getting into his motorcade, Daily Mail reports. Less than 24 hours earlier, Biden said: 'For God's sake this man cannot remain in power,' in a shocking apparent call for regime change in Moscow. The call came at the end of an impassioned speech from Poland on Saturday. The unscripted remark, which the White House scrambled to walk back as the Kremlin expressed fury, came at the end of an otherwise resolute and fiery speech rallying the free world to uni...

Republican US Rep. Jeff Fortenberry of Nebraska has resigned from office after a California jury convicted him of lying to federal authorities about an illegal campaign donation from Gilbert Chagoury, a Nigerian billionaire of Lebanese descent. It is illegal in the US for foreign nationals to make contributions to campaigns. But Chagoury, 75, has made several. In 2019, he was fined $1.8m (£1.4m) by the US government, and some recipients of his donations were investigated. In 2016, he illegally donated $30,000 (£22,736) to Fortenberry, funnelling the funds to the congressman through donors at a Los Angeles event. A Paris-based industrialist, Chagoury had a high profile. His name adorns a wing of the Louvre Museum, and he was once denied a US visa for alleged ties to Hezbollah militants. He was once a top advisor to Nigerian military ruler Sani Abacha, who was later found to have stolen billions from the country as its head of state in the 1990s. In a letter on Saturday, Fort...

Russia's communications watchdog told Russian media on Sunday to refrain from reporting an interview done with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. It said it had started a probe into the outlets which had interviewed the Ukrainian leader. In a short statement distributed by the watchdog on social media and posted on its website, it said a host of Russian outlets had done an interview with Zelensky, Reuters reports.   "Roskomnadzor warns the Russian media about the necessity of refraining from publishing this interview," it said. It did not give a reason for its warning.   Russian prosecutors said a legal opinion would be made on the statements made in the interview and on the legality of publishing the interview.   Zelensky has spoken to several Russian publications since his country was invaded by Russia on February 24.

An Adamawa State resident, Kama Hammajoda, has allegedly bathed his fiancé, Ladi Ishaku, with a liquid substance, suspected to be acid.  The lady, Ladi, who is critically lying ill at a hospital in Yola, the state capital, was on Sunday disfigured by the acid bath, allegedly by Hammajoda whom she refused to marry. Hammajoda is a motor mechanic based in the Song area. Narrating why she suspected Hammajoda, Ladi said, "He had threatened my life when I told him, our relationship would not lead to marriage. I refused to marry him because I sensed he was lying to me about virtually everything. For instance, He told me that he was not married, but I found out he lied about it. “I confronted him about it, and in a heated argument I told him I would not marry him; so he threatened me saying if I did not marry him, then everyone would lose. "Shortly thereafter, my mother was burnt to death in her room; but as at that time, I couldn't link it to Hammajoda's threat. ...

[3/22, 11:33] Daniya Irmiya:   Atleast two persons have been killed by gunmen suspected to be bandits in Mai Bakko village, Sabuwa Local Government Area of Katsina State.  The terrorists locally known as bandits stormed the village Tuesday morning when people were preparing for prayer and they operated for many hours. It was learnt that on arrival at the village on motorcycles, "the gunmen started shooting indiscriminately, resulting in the death of the victims." The gunmen also abducted a yet-to-be-ascertained number of people. Katsina, despite being the home state of President Muhammadu Buhari, has witnessed sporadic attacks by bandits and kidnappers that have claimed the lives of many. Over 700 people have been reportedly killed by the gunmen in Jibia, Kankara, Dutsinma, Musawa, Danmusa and Safana local government areas of the state in the last five months. On December 11, 2020, some bandits kidnapped 344 students of Government Science Secondary School, Kankara...

An embargo on Russian oil imports, pushed for by some European countries over Moscow’s military action in Ukraine, would have a direct impact on everyone, the Kremlin said Monday. Some EU countries including Baltic states have called for an embargo on Russian oil and gas, while Germany has opposed an outright halt on Russian energy imports. EU foreign ministers on Monday are meeting to discuss the situation in Ukraine and the possible tightening of sanctions. US President Joe Biden is set to attend an EU summit on Ukraine on Thursday in Brussels that will debate energy prices and supply security. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists that an oil embargo “is a decision that will hit everyone”. Listen to Music “Such an embargo will have a very serious impact on the world energy market, it will have a very serious negative impact on Europe’s energy balance,” he said. The United States this month announced a ban on Russian oil and gas, while Britain has said it will ...

[3/21, 11:05] Daniya Irmiya : AChina Eastern passenger jet carrying 133 people has crashed in southwest China and caused a mountain fire with casualties unknown, state broadcaster CCTV reported Monday. The Boeing 737 plane crashed in the rural countryside near Wuzhou city, Guangxi region and "caused a mountain fire," CCTV said, citing the provincial emergency management bureau. The report added that rescue teams were dispatched to the scene, NDTV reports. CCTV said a "China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 plane carrying 133 people has crashed in Teng county, Wuzhou, Guangxi, and caused a mountain fire." The China Eastern flight from Kunming to Guangzhou departed at 1.11 pm local time (0511 GMT), FlightRadar24 data showed. The flight tracking ended at 2.22 pm local time (0622 GMT) at an altitude of 3225 feet with a speed of 376 knots. Listen to here It had been due to land at 3.05 pm (0705 GMT). The safety record of China's airline industry has been among...

[ 3/21, 09:16] Daniya Irmiya: Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has warned of a “third World War” if talks with Vladimir Putin fail to achieve peace following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “If these attempts fail, that would mean ... a third World War,” Mr Zelensky told CNN via video link on Sunday. The leader also repeated his belief that Russian forces were working to “exterminate” Ukraine’s civilian population.  “Unfortunately, our dignity is not going to preserve lives. So I think that we have to use any format...[to reach] the possibility of talking to Putin,” Mr Zelensky told CNN anchor Fareed Zakaria. The Ukrainian leader spoke as the one-month anniversary of Russia’s invasion looms this week. Ukraine has resisted the attacks across several fronts and has dealt thousands of casualties to Russia’s armed forces in a matter of weeks, according to US intelligence agencies. The scale is comparable to the US losses in Iraq and Afghanistan over more than a decade,...

With Russian supply columns being struck by Ukrainian artillery and Ukrainian drones still flying, harassing Russia’s invasion; Moscow has turned to a new weapon to show that it too has unique capabilities. Russia claimed it used a new hypersonic missile this week to target an underground arms depot in western Ukraine.That it had to resort to this weapon apparently speaks to the fact it is reticent to risk aircraft over parts of Ukraine. However, for Moscow it’s also about testing new weapons.  Moscow used the war in Syria to test new weapons as well. Now Ukraine is a place for Russia to showcase is abilities. Most commentary has focused on Russia’s failures in Ukraine so far.'s Even though it has seized ground it is relying on pummeling civilians and video shows that it is lowing a lot of vehicles. The hypersonic missile is all about reversing this image. “If confirmed it would be Russia's first use in this war of the Kinzhal, or Dagger, a ballistic missile launche...

[3/20, 12:00] Daniya Irmiya: The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has given President Muhammadu Buhari seven days to order a probe into how N11 trillion meant to provide regular power supply in the country was mismanaged.   The organisation urged Buhari to direct the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami, SAN, and relevant anti-corruption agencies to investigate how the funds have been spent since 1999. Said an estimated N20 trillion may be lost in the next decade "given the rate of Government investment and funding in the power sector amidst dwindling fortune and recurrent revenue shortfalls”.  The group said anyone suspected to be "responsible should face prosecution as appropriate, if there is sufficient admissible evidence, and any missing public funds should be traced and fully recovered”.    This was disclosed in a statement on Sunday signed by Kolawole Oluwadare, SERAP's Deputy Direct...

[3/20, 10:16] Daniya Irmiya: The Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria has warned that television and radio stations in the country may shut down their operations over the persistent fuel scarcity and skyrocketing diesel prices. Yemisi Bamgbose, executive secretary of BON, stated that broadcast stations can no longer cope with the lingering fuel scarcity and skyrocketing prices of the black market fuel.  “There is a lingering scarcity of petroleum products and diesel, which fuels the generating sets of these organisations, has more than doubled in price over the last four months,” reads part of the statement. Bamgbose stressed that broadcast stations which rely heavily on fuel to power their machines and keep them running at an optimal temperature to avoid overheating, are now running at a loss which has caused a delay in staff salaries. “With diesel costs averaging more than N700 per litre and having to resort to buying petrol from the black market at more than N2,000 p...

[3/18, 12:16] Daniya Irmiya: Just a few years ago, the Russian president was closing deals with other countries and getting along fine with most of them. But his recent desire to conquer Ukraine and fight against the West has brought him to commit war crimes that will inevitably turn him into a pariah. According to a report from Inside Edition, close ties to the Kremlin who leak information to them confirmed a chilling action Vladimir Putin took about a month ago. The report said the Russian president suddenly started firing his own personal staff following which about 1,000 people lost their jobs. When we say personal staff, we mean Russian employees who actually serve him his food and tend to him on a regular basis, Marca reports.. It was also reported that Vladimir Putin keeps a specific staff member who always tastes his food before he starts eating. All of this behaviour is very common from dictators or tyrants who are usually afraid for their lives. Venezuela's dictator Nicol...

The Ilana Omo Oodua Worldwide, a Yoruba self-determination group, says Sunday Adeyemo, Yoruba Nation activist, more commonly known as Sunday Igboho, has been released from detention, and handed over to Prof Banji Akintoye, the leader of the Yoruba Nation groups. Igboho had been detained in a prison facility in the Republic of Benin, after he was arrested with Ropo, his wife, at Cardinal Bernardin International Airport, Cotonou, while on his way to Germany in July 2021. The 49-year-old agitator fled Nigeria for Benin Republic after the Nigerian government declared him wanted. The Communications Secretary to Ilana Omo Oodua Worldwide, Mr. Maxwell Adeleye in a statement obtained by SaharaReporters, said Igboho was released to Akintoye and a French Language Expert/ Deputy Alana of Ilana Omo Oodua Worldwide, Professor Wale Adeniran. Adeleye described the release of the activist as a triumph of truth over darkness in Yoruba Land.