Author: Lawbreed Limited

Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), says Nigerians should beware of illegal money lenders, known as loan sharks. Emefiele said this on Tuesday at the end monetary policy committee meeting in Abuja. Loan sharks offer loans at extremely high rate returns, strict terms of collection upon failure, and generally operates outside the law. The CBN governor explained that those who go to collect loans from places other than microfinance banks or recognised institutions are at bigger risk. “There is no need for you to go to loan sharks for a loan. People normally go to loan…

Bayelsa State Commissioner for Trade and Investment, Federal Otokito, who was abducted by yet-to-be-ascertained gunmen on January 20, regained his freedom on Monday. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that Mr Otokito was released by his abductors on the fifth day after he was kidnapped from his Otuokpoti community residence in Ogbia Local Government Area of the state. The kidnappers had established telephone contact with the paramount ruler of Otuokpoti to demand the release of the father of the kidnap gang leaders as a condition to free Mr Otokito. The Commissioner of Police in Bayelsa, Ben Nebolisa, and the…

The Lagos State Government has suspended the operations of the National Union of Road Transport Workers in the Idumota area of Lagos Island following the deadly clash recorded in the area. Lagos State Commissioner of Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotosho, made this known in a chat with The PUNCH on Tuesday. “It is a suspension in the area where there was trouble, not a general suspension in the state,” Omotosho told our correspondent. Also, the Special Adviser to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Transportation, Oluwatoyin Fayinka, in a statement on Tuesday, said NURTW operations are suspended at Eyin Eyo, Church Street…

Nigeria has dropped one place in the 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) ranking released on Tuesday by Transparency International (TI). The country scored 24 out of 100 points in the 2021 index, which was revealed on TI’s official Twitter handle, @TranperencITng. It is Nigeria’s second consecutive year of a downward spiral on the TI’s CPI ranking, the country’s score having dropped from 26 in 2019 to 25 in the 2020 assessment, and further to 24 in the latest 2021 record. The CPI is TI’s tool for measuring the levels of corruption in the systems of various countries around the world.…

The Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) has called on Federal Government to tackle any challenge hampering the upward review of the retirement age of health workers in the country. The MDCAN in a communique co-signed by its President, Dr Victor Makanjuola, and the Secretary-General, Dr Yemi Raji, issued at the end of the National Executive Council Meeting at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Teaching Hospital(ATBTH) in Bauchi State disclosed that despite the announcement of Government’s approval of an upward review of the retirement age for health workers, there have been administrative impediments to its implementation. The Council also…

The Independent National Electoral Commission says fresh registration in the third quarter of the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration nationwide has hit 5,173,335. INEC in its weekly update on CVR for Quarter 3, Week 3, in Abuja on Monday, also disclosed that 2,665,421 registrants had completed online and physical registration. This according to the updated statistics comprised 1,344,813 males, and 1,320,608 females. The statistics indicated that 24,723 of the figure were Persons Living With Disabilities and 1,854,371 were youth between the ages of 18 and 34. It also noted that of the 2,665,421 persons that had completed their registration, 1,092,742 did…

This is an application made on 1 October 2021 by the claimant, the Federal Republic of Nigeria, to amend its pleadings. The court has in evidence the third witness statement of Mr Christopher Robinson, partner in Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, on behalf of the defendant, JPM, dated 15 October 2021, and the ninth witness statement of Mr Jonathan Cary, partner of Reynolds Porter Chamberlain with conduct of this matter on behalf of the claimant, the FRN, dated 22 October 2021. The application was originally heard on 19 November 2021 but unfortunately the time estimate proved to be inadequate and the…

Burkina Faso’s army said on Monday it had ousted President Roch Kabore, suspended the constitution, dissolved the government and the national assembly, and closed the country’s borders. The announcement cited the deterioration of the security situation and what the army described as Kabore’s inability to unite the West African nation and effectively respond to challenges, which include an Islamist insurgency. Signed by Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba and read by another officer on state television, the announcement said the takeover had been carried out without violence and that those detained were at a secure location. The statement was made in…

A federal high court in Abuja has issued an arrest warrant against Diezani Alison-Madueke, former minister of petroleum resources. Bolaji Olajuwon, the presiding judge, made the order on Monday, following an oral application made by Farouk Abdullah, counsel to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Previously, Ijeoma Ojukwu, former presiding judge, had declined to grant a bench warrant on the grounds that the EFCC failed to enforce a criminal summon issued against the ex-minister on July 24, 2020. But Abdullah had informed the court that the office of the attorney-general of the federation (AGF) needed an arrest warrant to…

The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Monday, fixed March 30 for judgement in a suit seeking the enforcement of the National Gender Policy in Nigeria as a means of addressing discrimination of women in politics and governance. Women in Politics Forum (WIPF) filed the suit against the Nigerian government “The predominant appointment of men to decision-making positions, especially ministerial positions, with the exclusion of women is discriminatory against women and is in violation of sections 147 and 42 of the Nigerian constitution and article 19 of the African charter,” Funmi Falana, counsel for the group, argued in her written…