These are the top five stories you should be monitoring today.
The National Assembly Wednesday, passed the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) with five percent levy on fuel sold across the country.
According to the lawmakers, the five percent levy will be used to fund the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF) as reflected in the new bill.
The passage followed the consideration and adoption of the conference committee report on the bill.
The federal, state and local governments shared the sum of N647.39 billion from the Federation Account.
The money was the revenue collection for the month of February 2018 which was approved by the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting on Wednesday.
Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun, who spoke to reporters at the end of the meeting, said the N647.39 billion distributed to the three tiers of government was N11.836 billion higher than the N635.554 billion shared in the previous month.
Statutory revenue accounted for N557.943 billion of the total revenue distributed yesterday while Value Added Tax (VAT) accounted for the balance of N89.447 billion.
The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) Wednesday, said only the National Assembly Service Commission management can explain the N13.5 million monthly ‘running cost’ senators were recently said to be earning by one of their colleagues, Shehu Sani.
The agency said the law on salaries and allowances of public office holders, namely “Certain Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders (Salaries and Allowances, etc.) (Amendments) Act, 2008” was very clear on the pay of a senator.
Armed bandits attacked Zamfara communities again leading to the death of three persons.
The police confirmed Wednesday, the killing of the three persons at Bawan Daji village in Anka Local Government Area of the state.
The Zamfara police spokesperson, Mohammed Shehu, told the News Agency of Nigeria in Gusau that the killing was perpetrated by gunmen.
Shehu said the gunmen who came in large numbers attacked the village in the early hours of Wednesday shooting sporadically which led to the death of the three persons.
The Senate has directed its Committee on Education (Basic and Secondary) to interact with the Minister of Education to identify the causes of the recurring failure in the WAEC results with a view to finding remedies.
The resolution followed the adoption of a motion sponsored by Umaru Kurfi (Katsina Central), who described the recurring mass failure of West African Examination Council (WAEC) results in the country since 2009 as embarrassing.
And stories from around the world…
London’s Metropolitan Police Wednesday said they believe former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter first came into contact with a nerve agent at Sergei Skripal’s home, and police have identified the highest concentration of the nerve agent to date as being on the home’s front door.
Ecuador says it has again suspended Julian Assange’s ability to communicate with the world outside its embassy in London. The South American nation accuses him of failing to commit to an agreement not to release messages interfering with other nations’ affairs.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters at her Wednesday press briefing that the shooting deaths of African-Americans by police officers that have prompted nationwide racial tensions are local matters to be dealt with by local authorities.
“Certainly a terrible incident. This is something that is a local matter and that’s something that we feel should be left up to the local authorities at this point in time,” Sanders said in response to a question about the acquittal of two Baton Rouge, Louisiana, police officers involved in the 2016 death of Alton Sterling.
Internationally blended families involving EU citizens and British-born children are being warned that their children could face “serious problems” after Brexit if they do not already have documentation to stay in the UK.
Parents from the EU are being urged to get their children’s status documented as soon as possible if they want them to avoid hostile environment checks by the Home Office which could mean measures such as bank accounts being closed, driving licences cancelled and job offers being withdrawn.
The consequences for those that have not obtained British citizenship for children of two EU citizens living in Britain are “potentially severe”, according to the paper published by immigration law experts at the University of Birmingham.
Boris Johnson, the British foreign secretary, has predicted Russia will retaliate against countries that have acted in solidarity with the UK over the poisoning of Russian spy Sergei Skripal, suggesting Moscow may interfere with energy supplies, or disrupt the lives of their Moscow-based diplomats and their families.
Hailing the courage of the 27 countries that had backed Britain by taking action against Russia, he said their show of solidarity had crystallised a collective feeling across three continents that patience with Russia’s malign behaviour had come to an end.
Omoleye Omoruyi… an apprentice web/game developer, novelist, sensitive to happenings in the world. Meet him @Lord_rickie on Twitter/Instagram
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