Watch Signature TV News Highlights: No plans to hike petrol price in March — NNPC
Bandits, Sunday, killed seven persons in Igabi and Kajuru local government areas of Kaduna State. The Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan confirmed the incident. One person, Kamal Murtala, sustained gunshot injuries and is receiving treatment at a nearby facility. Similarly, in Rago village also of Igabi local government area, bandits killed two locals. In a separate incident, gunmen invaded Kutura station, Kajuru local government area, and killed three residents.
Governor Nasir El-Rufai said he received the reports with sadness, and condoled the families of those killed in both attacks while offering prayers for the repose of their souls. Ethnicity and religious biases have been blamed for the growing insecurity in the country. According to the Director-General of the National Assembly’s National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS), Professor Abubakar Suleiman, the distrust among the various ethnic and religious groups as well as refusal to have a common position on issues about security are affecting the country. Suleiman, who served as minister of National Planning during President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, said a national conference on security was needed while calling for a complete overhaul of the security architecture of the country.
The former DG, who spoke during a capacity-building workshop for clerks and deputy clerks of security committees in the two chambers of the National Assembly, called for an end to ethnic profiling, insisting that no tribe, region or religion was insulated from the national security challenges. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has commended Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State on his efforts in providing security, good governance, and infrastructure building in the state.
The Chief Press Secretary to Kogi state governor, Mohammed Onogwu, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja. Onogwu, who quoted Obasanjo as making the commendation when he met with the governor on Sunday in Abuja, added that the former president urged him to sustain the efforts. Obasanjo while commending Bello for successfully tackling insecurity in the state, said Kogi was central to the nation’s development. The former president noted that the fight against insecurity should have everybody on board, stressing that governors should involve everyone to ensure insecurity is curtailed in Nigeria.
There is growing tension in the National Assembly over alleged illegal and lopsided promotion of over 150 staff without recourse to the public service rule. The tension, Daily Sun learnt, might lead to protest soon if the National Assembly Service Commission (NASC) failed to act. According to documents seen by Daily Sun, the said promotion was done in August, 2017, when Adamu Fika held sway as chairman of NASC. In one of the memos addressed to the former clerk to the National Assembly, Sanni Omolori by Fika, he admitted that the action the commission took in addressing the issue of proper placements was against the public service rule. It was learnt that some of those promoted bypassed some steps in the service and were promoted ahead of their contemporaries.
The development led to series of protests by aggrieved staff, who are insisting that the action must be reversed by the new Commission, which came on stream last year. Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation has debunked any increment rumor in the ex-depot price of petrol in March. The announcement, contained in a press release signed by its Spokesman, Kennie Obateru, ended speculations of an imminent increase in the pump price of petrol in the country. Obateru noted that the Corporation ruled out a petrol price hike in March in order not to jeopardize ongoing engagements with organized labour and other stakeholders on an acceptable framework that will not expose the ordinary Nigerian to any hardship.
NNPC also cautioned petroleum product marketers to abstain from creating arbitrary price increase by hoarding the product and creating artificial scarcity in the process. The NNPC said it would resist such moves in order not to inflict unnecessary hardship for Nigerians by profiteering marketers.
