Fire Destroyed Timber and Machines worth Millions of Naira in Benin

An early morning fire outbreak at the ‘Pipeline Timber Market’ in Benin yesterday destroyed timber and machines worth millions of naira.
An eyewitness, Mr Precious Emmanuel, disclosed that the fire started at about 3 a.m., adding that the prompt response of the fire service helped to save some parts of the market.
“We woke up to see that the market was on fire. We believe that the fire was caused by those boys who smoke Indian hemp in the market.

Nigeria: Labour Ministry Debunks Massive Employment

The federal ministry of labour and employment has debunk reports that it has been tasked with responsibility to begin receiving curriculum vitae (CV) for immediate employment, warning unemployed Nigerians to be wary of being duped.
The ministry in a statement by the deputy director, press, Olowookere Samuel, said, “The attention of the minister of labour and employment, Senator Chris Ngige, has been drawn to an online publication requesting unemployed Nigerian youths to submit application for employment at the federal ministry of labour and employment headquarter and zonal offices nationwide.”
An announcement that the federal government of Nigeria has directed the federal ministry of labour and employment to start receiving CV’s massively nationwide from graduates for employment in 2016 has been trending online.

Olamide and Don Jazzy reconcile, release joint statement

Label owners of #MAVIN and #YBNL records, #DonJazzy and #Olamide have settled their differences and jointly posted an apology to their fans on their individual Instagram pages! The apology reads: "We are very sorry for the wahala. Make una no vex oh. It is our responsibility to lead but then again we are only human and we all make mistakes! #WeAreSorryHeadies #WeAreSorRyFans #PeaceAndUnity #SMD #YBNL #OneLagos #OneNigeria".

Headies2015: 2face inducted into Headies Hall of fame award.

Nigeria’s music superstar, 2face Idibia has further cemented his growing legendary status following being honoured with a prestigious award.
2face has just been inducted into The Headies Hall of Fame at The Headies 2015. The award was presented by media mogul turned politician, Ben Murray Bruce who also delivered an inspiring speech in honour of the singer.
While acknowledging the honour, 2face thanked everyone who has supported him while also appreciating former band mate, Faze who was also on hand to cheer him.

WhatsApp Users still facing Service Disruption

WhatsApp, a messaging service owned by Facebook Inc., said some users were still facing issues while accessing its messaging service.
The problems were primarily centered in the UK and Western Europe, according to Down Detector, a website that provides realtime overview of Internet and mobile services.
“We appear to be having issues again,” a WhatsApp spokesman told Reuters.
The company had earlier said it had completely restored the service.
WhatsApp, however, did not provide any details on what led to the outage, which began shortly after 4.30pm UK time on New Year’s eve.

Ortom sacks Ogbadibo Council Chairman in Benue State

Following series of protests and complaints of gross incompetence against the Caretaker Chairman of Ogbadibo local government council, Oduma Paul Ojogbane, Governor Samuel Ortom has shown the chairman the way out.
Mr. Ojogbane, who was sworn in by the Governor July last year became rated as the worst Chairman the local government had ever produced.
“He would never call for meetings even in the face of crisis; he has brought rancour and disunity among the ranks and files of the party, and by extension, the stakeholders in the local government area; he has embarrassed this local government in many public functions where he intermittently fumbles due to lack of expression; in fact, he lacks public appearance and I wonder why he was chosen in the first place”, Mr. Onoja John, an Ogbadibo APC faithful opined.

Benue Civil Servants Query 6,000 Naira Induction Fee

Some civil servants in Benue State have queried the payment of 6,000 Naira, as an induction fee in the face of months of owed salary arrears.
The complaints arose among the newly employed civil servants from 2012, particularly from the Board of Internal Revenue Service (BIRS) absorbed into the service in 2014, but were yet to be paid their bailout funds.
The workers had participated in the three days induction course organised by the Office of the Benue State Head of Service and expressed optimism that it was a good start in the civil service.

Fuel scarcity: Tanker drivers to partner Government

Petroleum Tanker Drivers has pledged to work with the Federal Government to end the ongoing fuel scarcity across the country.

Its National Chairman, Comrade Salimon Oladiti, said the union will work round the clock to ensure the delivery of petroleum products to filling stations across the country throughout the festive period and beyond.

He expressed the readiness of Driver to support government at reducing the problem of fuel scarcity to the barest minimum through the engagement of tanker drivers to work round the clock, without weekends and holidays, lifting and discharging products around the country, until queues disappear from filling stations.

FG Reduces Pump Price of Petrol from January 1 2016

Federal Government has said that effective January 1, 2016, Premium Motor Spirit, PMS otherwise known as petrol, would be sold at eighty six naira per litre by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC Retail stations, while other oil marketers would sell at N86.50 per litre.

Speaking to newsmen in Abuja, Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, Farouk Ahmed, also announced the first quarter 2016 PMS import allocation of three million metric tonnes to the NNPC and other oil marketers.

On the review of the price of petrol, Ahmed said the reduction in the price of the commodity was due to an implementation of the revised components of the Petroleum Products Pricing Template for PMS and household kerosene.

N1.04tn fine: Dismiss MTN’s case, NCC tells court

The Nigerian Communications Commission has urged the Federal High Court in Lagos to dismiss or decline hearing the suit filed by MTN Nigeria Communications Limited to challenge the N1.04tn fine imposed on it by the commission.

NCC had imposed the N1.04tn fine on MTN for its failure to disconnect its unregistered subscribers in line with the commission’s directive.

But not pleased with the sanction, the telecommunications company had approached a Federal High Court in Lagos seeking an order quashing the fine.

MTN had urged the court to determine whether NCC could act pursuant to Section 70 of the NCC Act to impose a fine on it without breaching the provisions of sections 1 (3), 4 and 6 of the 1999 Constitution.