These are the stories that drove the conversation today:
A Federal High Court in Osogbo on Wednesday, granted an order of mandamus to compel the National Assembly to begin impeachment process against President Muhammadu Buhari, based on alleged constitutional breaches.
Justice Maureen Onyetenu gave the ex parte order, following a motion filed before her by some activists who wrote to the Senate and the House of Representatives to begin impeachment process against the President, about three months ago.
The duo, Kanmi Ajibola; who is the chairman, of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Ilesa branch and Suleiman Adeniyi, a human rights activist accused the President of a number of impeachable offences to include- lacking a certificate qualifying him to be a President, spending without lawmakers’ approval and the continuous killings in the country.
The House of Representatives has mandated its committees on Labour, Employment and Productivity to review age limits on employment into Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
The House at Wednesday’s plenary also urged all MDAs to re-open their online portals to enable qualified Nigerians between 30 and 40 years to apply, adding that its Committee on Legislative Compliance is to ensure full compliance to the directive.
The development followed a matter of urgent public importance by Babajimi Benson (APC, Lagos), who expressed concern that most vacancies advertised by MDAs require applicants to be less than 30 years, arguing that restriction on the basis of age is a breach of eligible applicants’ fundamental human rights as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution.
“I am worried that citizens who served at the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) at 30 will be denied employment opportunity, which may lead young Nigerians into falsifying their age.” he said.
Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu has urged the Federal Government to apply the appropriate approach in tackling the insecurity in the country.
According to Ekweremadu who was a guest on Channels Television’s breakfast programme, Sunrise Daily, on Wednesday, “We are applying the wrong solution to problems that are clearly within our reach to resolve; the issue is not funding.
“If you bring the whole money in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and give to the police, nothing will change – if you do that also with the Army, nothing will change; the problem is structure, not the funding,” he added, explaining that this development informed the move by the Senate to amend the constitution to allow for the creation of state and community police.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on Wednesday announced the attainment of a two-year record spike in gas supply to power generation, which hits 854.40 million Standard Cubic Feet of gas per day (mmscfd) for March 2018, translating to an equivalent power generation of 3,492MW.
Details of the March 2018 National Gas Production figures contained in the Monthly NNPC Financial and Operations Report for the period indicated a total national gas production of 253.06 Billion Cubic Feet (bcf), averaging 8,163.58mmscfd.
The Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu who made the disclosure in a statement, noted that the period to date Production from Joint Ventures (JVs), Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) and Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) amounted to about 69.82 per cent, 21.95 per cent and 8.23 per cent respectively.
Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto has dissolved the State Executive Council with immediate effect.
The Governor’s media aide, Mallam Abubakar Shekara, in a statement on Wednesday, said the dissolution was aimed at restructuring and strategising the cabinet for optimum efficiency and service delivery to the good people of the State.
French President Emmanuel Macron has told the BBC that EU plans to create migrant processing centres in North Africa will not work unless the process is led by those countries.
Speaking during a visit to Nigeria, Mr Macron said many African countries were worried that such centres would act as a pull factor for migrants. (BBC)
Both sides have threatened to impose similarly sized tariffs on 6 July, but because of the 12-hour time difference, it was thought the Chinese tariffs on US imports ranging from soybean to stainless steel pipes could take effect earlier. (The Guardian, UK)
The United States appears to have shelved an “all or nothing” approach to North Korean denuclearization as U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo prepares to head back to North Korea this week hoping to agree a roadmap for its nuclear disarmament. (Reuters)
Egypt’s top appeals court has overturned a verdict that placed more than 1,500 people on a national terror list, including the country’s former democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi, who was deposed in 2013.
The Court of Cassation returned the case back to a lower court for reconsideration, local media reported on Wednesday. (Aljazeera)
Months after the death of Sudan, the world’s last male northern white rhino, scientists said Wednesday they have grown embryos containing DNA of his kind, hoping to save the subspecies from extinction. (AFP)
Temidayo Taiwo-Sidiq is a Journalist, Political Analyst and Satirist with major interest in Nigerian Politics, Governance and Sports.
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