President Bola Tinubu has named Oyetunde Ojo as the new Managing Director of the Federal Housing Authority, alongside four executive directors. Ojo replaces Mr Gbenga Ashafa, who has served as FHA’s helmsman since 2020. He also appointed Mr Shehu Osiris as the new Managing Director of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, alongside three executive directors. Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, announced the appointments in a statement on Thursday titled ‘President Tinubu approves leadership changes in the housing and urban development sector.’ The four executive directors at the FHA include Mr. Mathias Byuan (Housing Finance and Accounts), Umar Abdullahi (Business Development), Oluremi Omowaiye (Project Implementation) and Ezekiel Nya-Etok (Estate Services). At the FMBN Tinubu appointed Mr. Ibidapo Odojukan as Executive Director (Finance and Corporate Services), Muhammad Abdu (Loans and Mortgage Services), and Ms. Chinenye Anosike (Business Development and Portfolios). The appointments are “part of a holistic approach to repositioning the national housing and urban development sector to meet the present and future needs of Nigerian families nationwide,” said Ngelale. The new FHA MD, Ojo, is a former Member of the House of Representatives with over a decade of work experience in the housing and hospitality industries. He holds a Master’s degree in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Greenwich, United Kingdom. Likewise, the new FMBN MD, Osidi, is a banker with over 30 years of work experience, including 13 years of experience in mortgage banking. He is an alumnus of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government as well as the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Housing Finance. The Presidency cited Tinubu’s approval of the establishment of Building Materials Hubs across all six of the nation’s geo-political zones; financing and establishment of a National Social Housing Fund for low-income and vulnerable groups, and land reforms to collaboratively streamline access to land across all states and unlock nearly $300bn of dead capital in the sector. Consequently, he expects the new leadership to “hit the ground running in the delivery of affordable housing for millions of Nigerians in need while providing millions of new job opportunities for Nigeria’s talented youth population presently searching for work.

  Kwara State Ministry of Health, on Thursday, sealed off a private mortuary in Ilorin, the state capital. Speaking during an unscheduled visit to the facility, the state commissioner for Health, Dr Amina Ahmed El-Imam, noted that the facility, often referred to as ‘Omosebi’ is unknown to the Ministry of Health as a registered mortuary service provider. The commissioner, who said that, “It is important to preserve the dignity of our dead ones and ensure that infectious diseases do not reach the living from poor management of their remains”, added that the facility did not meet the required standard. “The Ministry of Health, today, in a decisive move to ensure compliance with standards of care for the good people of Kwara state whether alive or dead paid an unscheduled visit to a building along Gaa Akanbi area, Ilorin being used as mortuary. “The commissioner for Health, Dr Amina Ahmed El-Imam, noted that the facility, often referred to as ‘Omosebi’ is unknown to the Ministry of Health as a registered mortuary service provider”. In the visiting team were the Permanent Secretary, Directors from the State Ministry of Health, and an Officer of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC). Also speaking, the director, Medical Services and Training in the ministry, Dr Musiliu Odunaiya, said the morgue handlers were required to report to the state Ministry of Health headquarters at Fate, Ilorin to resolve relevant issues and ensure the facility is safe for public use. Odunaiya also called on members of the public to take the remains of their loved ones to available government-owned facilities where their safe custody can be guaranteed.

  The National Universities Commission (NUC) has said due to the huge gap in demand and supply of university education in Nigeria, the Commission will continue to give approval for the establishment of more varsities. Acting Executive Secretary of NUC, Chris Maiyaki, disclosed this on Thursday evening during an interactive session with journalists in Abuja. He said approval for two more varsities to bring the number of universities in the country to 272 had been concluded and will be announced next week. He said: “We have no choice but to as a matter of deliberate policy undertake the massification of universities. He said what separate the developed today from other countries is the level of investments in education.” Maiyaki said every year, almost 2 million candidates seek admission into the universities but only between 500,000 and 700,000 students gets admitted. “You need to see the anguish and the frustration on the faces of families who are desperate to make sure that their children attend university education every admission session. It is very tough and challenging for university leaders and NUC and so we have no choice but to continue to approve the universities,” he said. He maintained that Nigeria will continue to widen universities access by approving more universities to meet its demands and supply of quality education. While noting that countries like Brazil, Indonesia and others who have the population not up to Nigeria have more than 1000 universities, he said efforts were ongoing to reposition the university system through transnational education by allowing foreign varsities to come in and operate in the country. The Executive Secretary said the commission is presently processing applications for the establishment of distance learning centres that will be monitored to provide quality Education. The NUC boss, however stressed that it does not mean the era of establishing distance learning centres is back. Reacting to a statement by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s (EFCC) inviting proprietors of private universities and other institutions of higher learning in Nigeria charging fees in dollars, he said no tertiary institutions is allowed to charge tuition fees in dollars. He said the commission had made an inquiry into the allegation and thus investigated but discovered that the said private university was not charging fees in dollars. “On the dollarisation of tuition fees in this said university, we have investigated it and the university is not charging fees in dollars. They only charge dollars to foreign students. So I want the media to join hands with us to tell the public that no Nigeria university is allowed to charge fees in dollars,” he said.

  President Bola Tinubu says he will not establish a price control board or approve the importation of food as measures to address the hardship in the country. Tinubu spoke on Thursday after a meeting with governors of the 36 states of the federation and the minister of the federal capital territory (FCT), at the State House, Abuja. The president said his administration is dedicated to evolving home-grown solutions to tackle food security challenges in the country. He said such measures include setting up schemes to bolster local food production and cutting out all forms of rent-seeking tied to food importation. “I reiterated this commitment during my emergency meeting today at the State House, with all 36 state governors, the Vice-President, Kashim Shettima, the National Security Adviser, the Inspector-General of Police, the Director-General of the DSS, and some ministers,” Tinubu said. Tinubu said the importation of food “enables rent seekers to perpetrate fraud and mismanagement” at the expense of many Nigerians. He said his administration would rather support farmers to cultivate more food instead of importation. The president said he has asked security agencies to “inspect” warehouses where food items are being hoarded. “I will not establish a price control board, nor will I approve the importation of food,” Tinubu said. “We must extricate ourselves from this predicament because importation only enables rent seekers to perpetrate fraud and mismanagement at our collective expense. “Instead, we will support our farmers with schemes that encourage them to cultivate more food for the nation. “We must also rapidly but thoughtfully implement our livestock development and management plans, including dairy farming and others.” On Wednesday, Vice-President Kashim Shettima said the federal government was planning to set up a commodity board to regulate the soaring prices of food in the country. Last Wednesday, the federal high court in Lagos ordered the federal government to fix the prices of goods and petroleum products within seven days.

  The Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners, on Thursday, vowed to stop lifting petroleum products beginning next week Monday due to the high cost of operations. NARTO members have repeatedly raised concern over the high cost of diesel required to power their trucks for the transportation of petroleum products across the country. Oil marketers told our correspondent on Thursday that diesel price is between N1,250 and N1,400/litre depending on the area of purchase. NARTO’s President, Yusuf Othman, in a statement in Abuja on Thursday, said the statement was an official announcement from the association’s headquarters that members of the group would park their trucks from Monday. THE LOUNGE: Rising Cost Of Living Dilemma: Nigerians How Una Dey0.00 / 0.00 “Why? It is because what we spend on operations is more than what we get in total, both in local and bridging,” he stated. Othman said NARTO members had been operating at a loss and it was no longer sustainable for them to endure the losses. “We will have to suspend operations latest from now till on Monday. We cannot continue to operate at a loss. Most people have parked. “A lot more are going to the park. But from the point of the association itself, we are going to suspend operations on Monday,” he stated. He said NARTO’s efforts to get the intervention of key stakeholders, the Federal Government and industry operators had not yielded positive results. The NARTO president said the association had written letters on the unbearable cost of operations to the Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu; Minister of Petroleum Resources; Department of State Services; Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority; Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited; and oil marketers. “We have written letters up to the level of the Chief of Staff to the President. We have written to the Minister of Petroleum Resources (Oil). “We have written to the Director-General of SSS. We have written to NNPC’s boss. We have written to the NMDPRA. We have written to the major marketers,” Othman stated. He stressed that despite the letters, there has been “no response.” Analysing market situation Analysing the market situation, which the members have endured for several months, he stated that the same freight rate that applied when former President Muhammadu Buhari was ruling, was still subsisting. “The Lagos to Abuja freight rate that was implemented when the dollar was N650 is still retained now that the dollar is N1,615. Everybody is aware that all our consumables in terms of operation are not produced in the country. “So, by virtue of the rate of dollars, every consumable has increased. But the freight they are paying us has been the same since Buhari’s time. So how is that feasible? “During Buhari’s time, one dollar was N650. Today, a dollar is N1,615. The average freight from Lagos to Abuja is N32,” he stated. Othman further explained that “what I mean by local is that when you load in Lagos, you discharge in Lagos. And bridging means that when you load from Lagos, you come to Abuja. Lagos to Lagos, we are paid N120,000. “AGO (diesel) alone to distribute fuel within Lagos is N140,000 because it is N1,400/litre. So, they give you N120,000 and you spend N140,000. So how do you want to operate? You’ve not talked about the cost of vehicles, cost of loading, driver’s allowance. That is for local.” He stated that the cost of moving products out of Lagos or Warri to other states was far higher than what the government was paying to tanker drivers as bridging claims. The government pays an agreed sum to transporters of petroleum products as bridging claims to ensure equality in the pump prices of these products across states, though this has not been the case. NARTO is the umbrella body of all commercial transport owners and operators in Nigeria that are engaged in the business of moving goods, passengers and petroleum products from one place to another throughout the country and in the West African sub-region.

  A middle-aged man, Nwachi Chidozie Kingsley, has been arraigned for allegedly defrauding an American, Nicole Kierulff Sayers the sum of $373,000 on the pretext to marry her. Kingsley was arrested by the crack detectives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) sometimes in May 2022 at a secluded location in Abuja following an intelligence that he was involved in the Internet fraud. A second prosecution witness, Okanne Kelechi, told Justice U.P. Kekemeke of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Maitama, Abuja, that the head of advance fee fraud section had received the intelligence report after which actions were taken. Kelechi, an operative of the EFCC, disclosed that the anti-graft agency’s officers had recovered a plot of land; a twin duplex property located at No 1, Kemme Close, off NTA Road, Beside Royal Int’l Church Port Harcourt, Rivers State, the sum of $13,204, Lexus Ex 350 and Toyota Venza cars. He explained to the court that investigations into the matter involved writing a letter of investigation of the defendant’s activities to the Forensic Department of the EFCC, several local banks as well as the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, with the purported contract award letter attached. City & Crime reports that the witness also said the victim alleged that the defendant lured her into a false marriage and defrauded her of her savings, adding that other American victims were Creig White and Helen Rees. The witness, who was led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, Fatsuma Muhammad disclosed that among the evidence against the defendant are “various fraudulent profiles in Linkedin which he admitted to creating.” Kelechi also said that there was a fraudulent contract award letter printed from his phone, adding that the same letter was sent to his American victim in chats claiming that the contract was awarded to him by the federal government. He further told the court that a response from the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing indicated that the award was not genuine, adding that the defendant admitted sending the fake contract award letter to Sayers and other foreign victims. “We received our report from the Forensic Department and our findings for his gadgets. The victim, Nicole, also sent evidence of transactions received from international money transfer operators. “From other analyses, we discovered that part of this money was sent into his bank account supervised by his sister, one Nwachi Doris Chinenye,” he said. Tendered in evidence against the defendant were certificate of identification, notice of nominal complaint with copies of intent to award contract and iPhone 11Pro Max. The operative further informed the court that upon confronting the defendant with the evidence, his lawyers responded with a letter for a plea bargain. Justice Kekemeke adjourned the matter till April 30, 2024 for continuation of trial.

President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment and reappointment of chairpersons of boards and chief executive officers (CEOs) for eight agencies under the federal ministry of health and social welfare. In a statement on Thursday by Ajuri Ngelale, presidential spokesperson, Tinubu approved the appointment of Mansur Kabir as the chairman of board of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC). He also reappointed Mojisola Adeyeye as the director-general (DG) of the agency and appointed Olajide Idris as the DG of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). The president appointed Saleh Yuguda as the CEO of the National Blood Service Commission (NBSC), while Abba Zubairu was appointed as the board chairperson. Fatima Kyari, a renowned ophthalmologist, was appointed as the CEO of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), while Afolabi Lesi will chair the council’s board. Ibrahim Ahmed was appointed as the CEO of the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria, while Wasilat Giwa will head the board of the council. The president also appointed Tosan Erhabor as the CEO of the Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria (MLSCN) and Babajide Salako as the chairman of the board of the council. Adamu Bakari and Reuben Eifediyi were appointed as the chief medical doctors of Moddibo Adama University Teaching Hospital, Yola (MAUTH) and Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Irrua (ISTH), Edo state, respectively. Tinubu said his administration is expecting an “immediate and effective implementation of new policy frameworks to reposition” the health sector.