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FG converts 750km Sokoto-Zaria road project to concrete pavement — Umahi

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2 weeks ago

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The Minister of Works, Sen. Dave Umahi, said the Federal Government has converted the reconstruction of the 750km Sokoto-Gusau-Funtua-Zaria Road project to concrete pavement for greater impacts.

Umahi disclosed this during an inspection tour to the ongoing road project in Dange-Shuni Local Government Atea of Sokoto State on Wednesday.

He stated that the present government recognised that many constructed Nigerian roads lasted for below 15 years while the concrete road innovation was aimed at ensuring more durability of roads across the country.

The minister explained that President Bola Tinubu deserved people’s support ahead of the 2027 General Elections, adding, “because of his commitment on executing legacy projects that target at maximum impact to the people’s lives at all levels.”

He emphasised that Tunibu was executing a 47-year-old dream of former President Shehu Shagari, which was 1,068 klm Sokoto-Badagry Super Highway project which had reached an appreciable stage.

Umahi reminded the contractors and officials handling the project that complete maintenance of the existing road with asphalt was instructed while the concrete work is ongoing in the other side.

” This was the decision reached based on President Tinubu’s mission of reducing the hardships faced by Nigerians and ensure that roads are motorable at all times, ” Umahi said.

According to him, the Minister of State Works, Permanent Secretary and other ministry’s officials would by next week also inspect ongoing road projects from Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna and Kano States to ensure quality and seamless projects.

In his remark, the Minister of State, Alhaji Bello Goronyo, described the project as a commercial booster and life-saving on the citizens, adding that the road project would surely enhance security and social developments.

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The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Community Engagement (North-West), Alhaji Abdullahi Yakasai, said Tinubu was passionate toward ensuring massive infrastructural development in the region.

Yakasai said that security challenges had drastically reduce due to the president’s efforts and urged Nigerians to support him for his success and consideration for improve people wellbeing.

He also observed that the essence of leadership was to bring development to the people, adding that the president had brought uncountable developments to the people of the country.

Earlier, the Sokoto State Deputy, Gov. Alhaji Idris Gobir, thanked the ministers for the visit, describing the tour along with the project as a clear testimony of Tinubu’s concern to the people of the state.

Gobir reassured that the payment of compensation to the affected communities and structures would soon be completed to ensure hitch-free and hasten the project’s execution.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Rep. Al-Mustapha Ibrahim (APC-Sokoto) member representing Wurno/Rabah Federal Constituency and the contractor commended federal and state governments for the commitment on the project. (NAN)

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National

IMF urges Nigeria to focus on most vulnerable while stabilising economy

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7 hours ago

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March 28, 2025

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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged the Nigerian government to accompany its economic stabilisation policies with targeted social welfare transfers to support the most vulnerable populations.

IMF Director of Communications, Julie Kozack, made this known during a routine press conference at the IMF headquarters in Washington, DC, on Thursday.

Kozack acknowledged the challenges many Nigerians faced and stressed the importance of prioritising support for vulnerable households.

“The authorities’ policies to stabilise the economy and promote growth are welcomed.

“However, they must be accompanied by targeted social transfers to support the most vulnerable populations. We recognise the extremely difficult situation that many Nigerians face,” she said.

She said that completing the rollout of cash transfers to vulnerable households and improving domestic revenue mobilisation should be key priorities for Nigeria.

Kozack also announced that IMF staff would visit Nigeria next week to prepare for the 2025 Article IV Consultation.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that under Article IV of the IMF’s Articles of Agreement, the IMF conducts annual bilateral discussions with member countries.

As part of this process, a staff team visits the country, gathers economic and financial data, and engages with officials on economic policies and developments.(NAN)

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Tinubu Distorting Democracy, Weaponising Judiciary, Others – Prof Udenta

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12 hours ago

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March 28, 2025

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The founding National Secretary of the Alliance for Democracy, Prof Udenta Udenta, on Thursday, accused the Bola Tinubu Presidency of dismantling democratic values and weaponing the judiciary, and the 1999 Constitution (as amended) against Nigerians.

Prof Udenta, a distinguished fellow of the Abuja School of Social and Political Thought, said the suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State was a distortion of democratic institutions by the Tinubu government.

“The system that should protect democratic governance, you are weaponising them; the judiciary, the apparatus of the state, you are distorting, diluting and transmogrifying them in a way and manner that is shutting down democratic conversations.

“That is what you find as the legacy of the Bola Tinubu president and his political agents,” Prof Udenta said on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme.

The scholar said dismantling democratic principles isn’t by shooting guns but by misusing democratic instruments like the constitution and the judiciary.

“When you abandon the foundational norms of democracy and then you begin to use instruments you acquired in power to dismantle the guardrails that govern the democratic system, then democracy dies.

“It is not by firing a shot that democracy dies or crumbles, it is leveraging the guardrails like the constitution, like what was done in Rivers State, to abort democratic rules,” he said.
The scholar also accused Rivers State Administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (retd) of dismantling the levers of democracy with his suspension of all political appointees in the oil-rich state.

“You find the sole administrator strutting around Port Harcourt, dismantling democratic infrastructure,” he said.

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Prof Udenta described what is practised in Rivers State as a “hybrid regime which is a part of competitive authoritarianism” being deployed to “manacle the spirit of a nation and abort democratic institutions at all levels” including labour unions, media houses, political parties, and civil societies.

Prof Udenta regretted that the quality of the lives of Nigerians in the last two years has so depreciated. He lamented that there is widespread hunger and poverty in the land with escalating food inflation usurping the income of average Nigerians.

“There is poverty in the land, there is hunger everywhere, inflation is soaring, criminality and terrorism and all manners of insecurity pervade the nation, and the government is bemused like this current one,” he said.

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National

Bill To Create Prime Minister Office Passes Second Reading At Reps

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12 hours ago

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March 28, 2025

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A bill for an Act to alter the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, to provide for the office of the Prime Minister as head of government and the office of President as head of state and to provide for a framework for the mode of election to the said offices, has passed second reading in the House of Representatives.

It is among 32 Constitution amendment bills that scaled second reading in the House of Representatives on Thursday.

Also among the bills is a bill for an Act to alter the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, to provide for specific seats for women in the national assembly and state houses of assembly.

Another is a bill for an Act to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, to reduce the lengthy period for determination of pre-election petition matters and provide for the establishment of pre-election tribunals for pre-election matters and regulate the process of suspending a member of the national assembly from legislative duties.

A bill for an Act to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, to review the requirements that qualifies persons to be elected as president and vice-president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, governors and deputy governor, passed second reading as well.

A bill for an act to alter the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, to review the status of the Federal Capital Territory as regards the election of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and bills for the creation of Wan State and Gobir State also passed second reading.

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This brings the total number of Constitution Amendment Bills passed so far through second reading to 113.

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