Brig.-Gen. Mobolaji Johnson, the first military governor of Lagos state, is dead.
He died at the age of 83.
His death was confirmed by his son, Deji, who said the retired general, who was born on February 9, 1936, died on Wednesday.
As military governor of Lagos State, he was in office between May 28, 1967, and July 1975, under the military regime of Gen. Yakubu Gowon.
Mobolaji, in 1959, attended the Officer Cadet Training School in Ghana.
The general, who started his education at Reagan Memorial Baptist School, Yaba, in 1941, also attended the Mons Officer Cadet School in Aldershot and the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, United Kingdom, between 1960 and 1961.
At the end of the Nigerian Civil War, Mobolaji Johnson was among the federal delegates at the ceremony to mark the end of the war.
In 1966, after the abortive coup d’etat that ended the First Republic, he became a military administrator of the then federal territory of Lagos, having been appointed by the nation’s first military head of state, Aguiyi-Ironsi.
In 1967, Mobolaji became the first governor of the newly created Lagos State.
Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, has said Nigeria should maintain a bicameral legislature consisting of the Senate and House of Representatives as presently constituted.
He said the adoption of a bicameral legislature by the framers of the constitution was intended to address the country’s diversity and ethnic composition to ensure justice, equity and fairness for all Nigerians irrespective of their background.
Recall that Senator Rochas Okorocja had canvassed for the scrapping of the House of Representatives.
But the Senate President while speaking at the third University of Benin/National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) convocation ceremony which held on Monday at the National Assembly in Abuja, noted that having a unicameral legislature may create problems of non-representation and exclusion from governance for minority ethnic groups in the country, as well as inefficient representation for groups in the majority.
He said: “Nigeria has consciously adopted to have a bicameral National Assembly; it is because of who and what we are.
“The diversity of Nigeria and ethnic composition of the country requires that we have a system that provides justice, equity and fair play.
“It is a conscious decision and design to ensure that everybody is represented in the country. We need bicameral legislature in Nigeria.”
Nigeria’s very own Wizkid has been nominated for the 2019 Soul Train Awards.
This nomination is following the history making success of his recent Starboy Fest which he sold out the 20,000 capacity O2 Arena in London for a second time in a row.
The singer made it to the list for his collaborative hit song with American music star, Beyoncé with “Brown Skin Girl.” Wizkid has been nominated in two categories: Best collaboration and the Songwriters award.
This nomination will make it his third nomination at the Soul Train awards. He was nominated for Best Dance Performance in 2017 for his song “Come Closer”, a single from his last album Sounds from the other side.
See the full list of nominees below:
Best Collaboration
Ari Lennox feat. J. Cole, “Shea Butter Baby”
Beyoncé feat. Saint Jhn, Wizkid & Blue Ivy Carter, “Brown Skin Girl”
Cardi B & Bruno Mars, “Please Me”
Chris Brown feat. Drake, “No Guidance”
PJ Morton & JOJO, “Say So”
Ty Dolla $ign feat. J. Cole, “Purple Emoji”
Best New Artist
Lucky Daye
Mahalia
Nicole Bus
Pink Sweat$
Summer Walker
YK Osiris
Soul Train Certified Award
Ciara
Daniel Caesar
Fantasia
india.arie
Kelly Rowland
Trevor Jackson
Best Gospel/Inspirational Award
Bebe Winans
Donald Lawrence
Erica Campbell
Kirk Franklin
Tasha Cobbs Leonard
Tori Kelly
Rhythm & Bars Award
21 Savage feat J. Cole, “A Lot”
Cardi B, “Money”
DaBaby, “Suge”
J. Cole, “Middle Child”
Meek Mill feat. Drake, “Going Bad”
Megan Thee Stallion feat. DaBaby, “Cash Shit”
Best R&B/Soul Female Artist
Ari Lennox
Beyoncé
H.E.R.
Lizzo
Mary J. Blige
Summer Walker
Best R&B/Soul Male Artist
Anderson .Paak
Bruno Mars
Chris Brown
Daniel Caesar
Khalid
Tank
Album/Mixtape of the Year
Shea Butter Baby, Ari Lennox
Indigo, Chris Brown
Ella Mai, Ella Mai
I Used To Know Her, H.E.R.
Free Spirit, Khalid
Cuz I Love You, Lizzo
Song of the Year
“Before I Let Go,” Beyoncé
“No Guidance,” Chris Brown feat. Drake
“Shot Clock,” Ella Mai
“Talk,” Khalid
“Juice,” Lizzo
“Girls Need Love (Remix),” Summer Walker feat. Drake
The Ashford & Simpson Songwriter’s Award
“Brown Skin Girl,” written by Beyoncé Knowles, Carlos St. John, Adio Marchant, Shawn Carter, Stacy Barthe, Anathi Mnyango, Michael Uzowuru, Ayodeji Balogun, Richard Isong (Beyoncé feat. Saint Jhn, Wizkid & Blue Ivy Carter)
“Hard Place,” written by H.E.R., David Harris, Sam Ashworth & Ruby Amanfu (H.E.R.)
“Juice,” written by Theron Thomas, Sam Sumser, Sean Small, Eric Frederic & Melissa Jefferson (Lizzo)
“Make It Better,” written by Brandon Anderson, William Smokey Robinson, Alaina Chenevert, Miguel Atwood Ferguson, Daniel Manman Farid Nassar (Anderson .Paak feat. Smokey Robinson)
“No Guidance,” written by Christopher Brown, Aubrey Graham, Anderson Hernandez, Josha Lewis, Michee Lebrun, Nija Charles, Teddy Walton, Noah Shebib & Tyler Bryant (Chris Brown feat. Drake)
“Talk,” written by Howard Lawrence, Guy Lawrence & Khalid Robinson (Khalid)
Best Dance Performance
Beyoncé, “Spirit”
Chris Brown feat. Drake, “No Guidance”
Danileigh feat. Chris Brown, “Easy (Remix)”
Lizzo, “Juice”
Normani, “Motivation”
Teyana Taylor, “WTP”
Video of the Year
Alicia Keys, “Raise A Man” Beyoncé, “Spirit”
Childish Gambino, “Feels Like Summer”
Khalid, “Better”
Lizzo, “Juice”
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) are working for the application of remittance processes to ensure the seamless collection of stamp duty charges for PoS.
Many filing stations and supermarkets are already adding the new fee to the customer’s purchases.
To avoid dispute with its customers, filling stations have pasted notices on their pumps.
In a notice to its customers, a filling station official said: “N50 Stamp Duty Charge on PoS Transactions. Folliwing the CBN directive of September 17, 2019 to charge applicable taxes and duties on individual electronic transcations, all Hayden Retail Stations shall henceforth charge N50 extra on all PoS transactions from N1, 000.”
Before now, the fee paid by merchants on the aggregate PoS transactions carried out on a particular period, which was never passed to customers.
The extra charge on customer’s transaction followed a CBN’s directive to banks to charge N50 Stamp Duty on individual transactions, rather than merchants’ accounts.
The directive on the Unbundling of Merchant Settlement Amounts was contained in the CBN circular to banks, processors and switches, titled: “Review of Process for Merchants Collections on Electronic Transactions”.
The policy stipulates Stamp Duties Payment on individual transactions that occur on PoS, rather than previous plans where charges occurred on aggregate transactions.
The circular signed by CBN Director, Payments System Management Department, Sam Okojere, authorised banks to unbundle merchant settlement amounts and charge applicable taxes and duties on individual transactions as stipulated by regulators.
Merchant Service Charge was also reviewed downward from 0.75 per cent (capped at N1, 200) to 0.50 per cent (capped at N1, 000).
In a NIBSS report titled: “Returns on Stamp Duty Collection for Merchant Transactions”, the payment agency said the new stamp duty payment plan is in line with the provision of the Stamp Duties Act and Federal Government Financial Regulation 2009.
The policy, it added, was aimed at ensuring strict adherence to the CBN guideline communication on the subject, collection and Remittance of Statutory Charges on receipts to Nigeria postal Service under the Stamp Duties Act dated 15th January 2016.
The procedural processing guide for stamp duty Charges for PoS, web merchant and all deposit money banks (DMBs) should download daily PoS/Web settlement report from their respective processors settlement file transfer portal.
Also, the PoS and web settlement processing officer shall ensure that stamp duties are correctly processed daily by downloading daily PoS/web transactions valued at N1, 000 and above, noting the count of these transactions; multiply the count of these transactions by N50 and pass the corresponding debit/charge to the respective merchant accounts.
The apex bank guideline said: “The debit should be passed to the merchant accounts account at the point of PoS/ Web merchant Credit/Settlement to mitigate against the inability of the Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) to successfully secure these daily stamp duties charges and remit as expected.
“These charges are expected to be deposited into the already opened stamp duty collections account at the various DMBs and should form part of the weekly Stamp Duty rendition by the DMBs to NIBSS.”
The NIBSS data showed the total volumes of PoS transactions for 2017 stood at 146.3 million which was worth N1.4 trillion; 285.9 million transactions in 2018 worth N2.3 trillion and 187.7 million for six months- January to June 2019 worth N1.4 trillion.
The relationship between Mavin Queen, Tiwa Savage and Wizkid has again become the talk of the ton after their performance on the Starboy Fest Paris stage.
The two artistes who have been rumored to be in a relationship have never affirmed this but are not shy when it comes to public display of affection.
While performing their hit single, Ma Lo, Wizkid moves behind Tiwa Savage, his hands grazing her butt before he pulls her to him and grabs her backside.
That Nigerians, most especially the youths, want the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) scrapped and done away with is no news. This is a fallout of the ruthlessness of most of its personnel and ‘cloning’/impersonating men of the squad. Stories of their acts are flying around and are subjects of discuss at almost every place you find yourself.
SARS, to me, just need to be restructed. The restructuring may or may not include the total overhaul of all its personnel and replacing them with thoroughly trained men who understands the act of policing; policing by the standard norms as obtainable in saner climes.
Entirely scrapping that section of The Nigerian Police isn’t going to help the country. It will cause a breach the Nigerian government might not be able to handle. Criminals will be on the loose as there will be no one to directly put their activities in check.
SARS units aren’t all bad. I know there are still good ones amidst them. What should be put in place are proactive measures to make sure they understand they are also citizens of the country and are subject to the laws of the land. No one person is above the law in Nigeria, save those with constitutional immunity, who can even be tried at the expiration of their tenures.
I know the Inspector-General of Police have heard Nigerians. I know he’s a man who must have links with intelligence gathering and monitoring of officers’ deeds. He should find a way to re-launch that branch of the Police Force, and re-introduce it to Nigerians.
In my humble opinion, I suggest an outright name change. It doesn’t have to go by the name Special Anti-Robbery Squad; there are code names.
A change of name will be a victory for the Nigerian populace and also present an avenue for the IGP to re-brand a section of ‘his Force’ that’s been mostly believed to be going against almost all known policing etiquette.
I look forward to a Nigeria Police Force I can be proud of.
I read online a story about how the Federal Government has ‘disbursed’ over $103M to the poor. The money was reported to be part of the recovered loot of former Head of State, Gen Sani Abacha.
The Special Adviser to the President on Social Investments, Mrs Maryam Uwais was reported to have made the claim, saying the Federal Government has been channelling the recovered loot and International Development Association/World Bank credit towards programmes and policies designed to address the plight of the poor and vulnerable Nigerians.
The news, assuming what she said is true, would have been good news. Alas, it’s corruption disguised as aids to the non-existant poor. Don’t get me wrong; there are poor people in Nigeria. I just don’t think anything was given to anyone.
Delivering an address on Monday at a training on illicit funds, Mrs Uwais was reported to have said from the August 2018 to the October payment cycle, the total amount disbursed from the Abacha loot was $76,538,530 and $27,099,028 from the IDA credit.
Mrs Uwais said the funds were specifically being disbursed to beneficiaries of the National Cash Transfer Programme, a component of the National Social Investment Programme, noting that the gesture was positively changing the fortune of many Nigerians. What could be farther from the truth!
She said the decision to distribute the Abacha loot and the IDA funds to poor and vulnerable Nigerians, who were sourced from a National Social Register collated by the National Social Safety Net Coordinating Office, was reached by the Swiss government, the World Bank and the Federal Government.
To add the Swiss government and World Bank (for credibility sake) to a carefully orchestrated move to defraud Nigerians is to show the level of desperation to cover up the government’s track. Who are the poor and vulnerable Nigerians? How were they selected?
It’s no more news that lists compelled by successive governments in Nigeria are usually filled with ‘loyal’ party members from the grassroot up to the Presidency. These people may not represent the truly poor. Accountability by government to the citizens is past giving figures in speeches; the right questions must be asked to ascertain the truth or otherwise of such claims.
The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has always led the citizens to believe it is interested in their welfare and can reach them with financial aid. TraderMoni, formerly supervised by the Vice-President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo is a quick pointer. How has TraderMoni helped the common man out of poverty?
This is Nigeria where a sachet of pure water is sold for #10. Save cheap ‘sweets’ and chewing gums, there’s hardly a thing you can get below #10. It’s counter-productive to think a loan of about #10000 would help lift a man from poverty; it can’t even get him by in a week.
Stop defrauding us. Stop engaging in acts that stain your names and cast aspersions on you. How long do you think you can keep up with unrelatable milestones? Who’s deceiving who?
We demand a thorough breakdown of the supposed investments on the poor. How they were sourced must me throughly looked through also. We can’t keep running a government who delivers only in speeches with no traceable act to back them up.
Mr Sunday Dare, the Minister of Youth and Sports Development on Wednesday said that members of the National Youth Service Corps would enjoy the new minimum wage of N30,000.
He said this via his official Twitter handle.
Dare said that the NYSC Director General, Brig Gen Shuaibu Ibrahim would provide details of the new allowance after he has been briefed by the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Youth and Social Development.
He tweeted, “Next week the DG NYSC will provide details of the new ‘allowee’ for the Youth Corp members after full briefing from the Ministries of Finance And MYSD.”
The Federal Government had on April 18, 2019 agreed to pay N30,000 as the new minimum wage and on Friday, FG and organised labour agreed on the consequential adjustment, which had been a point of discussion for months.
On Wednesday, the Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo issued a deadline for the payment of arrears on the minimum wage.
See Dare’s tweet:
New Minimum Wage: NYSC members to enjoy new minimum wage/ allowee Details coming …
Pandemonium broke out in Fagunwa hall, a female hostel in the University of Lagos, last night October 22nd, after students residing in the hall claimed a fellow student confessed that she is a mermaid.
Upon hearing the news that one of them confessed she was of the marine world, female students ran out of the hostel for ”safety.”
According to reports shared by some students of UNILAG, the alleged mermaid known as Olamide was said to have had misunderstanding with another student identified as Blessing who she was accomodating in her room. Olamide claimed Blessing stole her necklace and threatened to deal with Blessing with powers from the ”Marine Spirits.”
Giving a summary of the incident, a student wrote:
“A girl named Blessing who is being squatted by Olamide in Fagunwa hall had a misunderstanding with her. The misunderstanding was caused by a missing wristwatch. Upon losing her necklace, Olamide suspected Blessing and immediately sent her packing from the room and also wrote long notes stating and threatening her not to ever mess with the Marine spirits frankly stating that she is one of them. This statement and notes written by the “mammy water” sparked speculations that she was an actual water goddess. Her roommates said that she only baths in the morning, upon waking, her bed is always soaked, she wakes up to soak and pour water on her leg, praying to a necklace over her bed every morning.
“These statements provoked her roommates who dragged her outside while still emphatically insisting that she’s a mermaid.
“These frustrations caused her (mammy water) to reveal that the missing necklace (the one that causes fight) makes her turn into a fish. After these confessions, the Able-bodied Alpha base were then invited into the hostel to lead her out.”
Same-sex marriage and abortion became legal in Northern Ireland at the stroke of midnight Tuesday. Abortions and same-sex marriages are now — for the first time — legal in Northern Ireland
Legislation that the U.K.’s Parliament approved earlier this year to legalize same-sex marriage and extend abortion rights in Northern Ireland went into effect at the stroke of midnight Tuesday.
Until now, the region was the only part of the U.K. that did not allow same-sex marriage, and it had the country’s most restrictive abortion rules.
With abortion now decriminalized, no criminal charges can be brought against women who seek abortion services or against health care workers who provide an abortion or assist in one.
All existing investigations and criminal prosecutions relating to abortions were also dropped on Tuesday. But the final legal framework for abortion won’t go into effect until the end of March.
As such, those seeking a surgical abortion still have to travel to other parts of the U.K. for the time being; the British government will cover travel expenses.
Medical assistance will be provided for those who seek an abortion using pills. According to the BBC, once the regulations are implemented next year, medical abortions will be provided on two hospital sites in Northern Ireland.
The legislation also mandates that same-sex marriage regulations be put in place by Jan. 13. Because U.K. couples have to indicate they’re getting married at least 28 days before doing so, the first weddings are expected to be held in the week of Valentine’s Day.
