President Bola Tinubu slipped while boarding the presidential parade vehicle at the venue of the 2024 Democracy Day, on Wednesday. The event was held at the Eagles square in Abuja. The incident occurred as the president approached the vehicle shortly after his arrival at the venue. Although he momentarily lost his footing, Tinubu quickly regained his balance and continued with the programme.     Tinubu had earlier addressed the issue of minimum wage in his national broadcast to mark the 25th anniversary of unbroken democracy in Nigeria. In his speech, he promised that the new national minimum wage will soon be sent to the national assembly for approval. “We shall soon send an executive bill to the national assembly to enshrine what has been agreed upon as part of our law for the next five years or less,” Tinubu said. “I take on this vital task without fear or favour and I commit myself to this work until we have built a Nigeria where no man is oppressed.”

  More than 35 people were killed and dozens injured after a fire broke out at dawn in a building housing nearly 200 foreign workers in Kuwait, officials said on Wednesday. Forty-three people were injured, the health ministry said, in the blaze in the Mangaf area south of Kuwait City which is heavily populated with migrant labourers. “Unfortunately, we received a report of a fire at… exactly 6:00 am (0300 GMT) in the Mangaf area,” Major General Eid Al-Owaihan, head of the interior ministry’s General Department of Criminal Evidence, said at the site. “As for the deaths in the building behind me, the number has exceeded 35 so far.” Images from the scene showed soot blackening the exterior of the six-storey building which housed 196 workers, according to information given to the minister by their employer. Oil-rich Kuwait has large numbers of foreign workers, many of them from South and Southeast Asia, and mostly working in construction or service industries. According to a source in the General Fire Department, the victims suffocated from rising smoke after the fire broke out on the ground floor. Forensic teams are working at the site and have identified three bodies so far, Owaihan said. The nationalities of the victims have not been announced but the Indian ambassador, when contacted by AFP, said he was at the hospital visiting survivors. India’s Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar posted on X that he was “deeply shocked by the news” and offered “deepest condolences to the families of those who tragically lost their lives”. The building’s owner has been detained in an investigation into potential negligence, Interior Minister Sheikh Fahd Al-Yousef said as he visited the scene. Any properties found to have violated safety regulations will be evacuated immediately, he warned. “We will work to address the issue of labour overcrowding and neglect,” the minister said. “We will detain the owner of the property where the fire broke out until legal procedures are completed.” The blaze is one of the worst seen in Kuwait, which borders Iraq and Saudi Arabia and sits on about seven percent of the world’s oil reserves. In 2009, 57 people died when a Kuwaiti woman, apparently seeking revenge, set fire to a tent at a wedding party when her husband married a second wife. Nusra al-Enezi threw petrol on the tent and set it alight as people celebrated inside. She was hanged in 2017 for the crime, whose victims included many women and children.

  The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) says Nigeria’s average daily crude oil production dropped to 1.25 million barrels per day (bpd) in May. OPEC made this known in its monthly oil market report released on Tuesday. The oil cartel said the production data was based on direct communication with Nigerian authorities. OPEC receives data on crude oil production from two sources: direct communication — which is from member countries; as well as secondary communication, such as energy intelligence platforms. According to the organisation, the current output figure represents a 2.34 percent decline from the 1.28 million bpd recorded in April. Despite the decline, OPEC said the country retained its position as the largest oil producer in Africa, followed by Libya, which produced 901,000 million bpd in the reviewed month. OPEC said Algeria was the third-largest oil producer with 264,00 bpd in May. However, the oil cartel said secondary sources reported Nigeria’s crude production increased by five percent to 1.41 million bpd — from 1.35 million bpd reported in April. Both the figures from the government and secondary sources fell below the 2024 production quota of 1.5 million bpd set for the country by OPEC. Also, in the report, OPEC said crude oil output increased mainly in Nigeria, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea according to secondary sources but decreased in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Libya and Congo. “According to secondary sources, total OPEC-12 crude oil production averaged 26.63 mb/d in May 2024, 29 tb/d higher, m-o-m,” OPEC said. Advertisement “Crude oil output increased mainly in Nigeria, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, while production in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Libya and Congo decreased. “At the same time, total non-OPEC DoC crude oil production averaged 14.29 mb/d in May 2024, 152 tb/d lower, m-o-m. “Crude oil output increased mainly in Mexico, while production in Russia and Kazakhstan decreased.” On May 20, Mele Kyari, group chief executive officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, said Nigeria has the potential to produce two million bpd.

  A five-storey building under construction at the Dennis Memorial Grammar School in Onitsha, Anambra State, has collapsed. It was gathered that the building, constructed by the Anglican School, had reached the finishing stages when it collapsed at about 7.15am on Wednesday. Although no life was lost in the incident, a source in the school told our correspondent that the management had committed a huge amount of money in erecting the structure. The source said the building started caving in from the last floor until it came down to the rubble. He added that the failed structure did not pose any danger as the students’ hostel was far from the building site which saved the situation. The cause of the collapse has not been ascertained, but many bystanders who watched from across the road suspected that it might be as a result of use of substandard materials.

  Godwin Emefiele, former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has been accused of printing naira notes different from the design approved by former President Muhammadu Buhari. Ahmed Umar, a former director of currency operations at the apex bank, testified before a federal capital territory (FCT) high court in Abuja on Tuesday. Umar said the CBN Act requires that recommendations be made from the board of directors to the president for approval on the form of design and device in any currency. The witness told the court that the features in the design approved by Buhari differed from the one Emefiele ordered to be printed. “The design approved by the president had a QR code, which the currency in circulation does not. The positioning of the portrait was on the right side, that printed by the CBN was on the left and the number scheme approved by the president is different from what the CBN produced,” Umar said. Under cross-examination by Mahmoud Magaji, counsel to Emefiele, the witness admitted that the former president approved the naira redesign project. He also admitted that Buhari on December 29, 2023, publicly launched the re-designed naira currency for the use of Nigerians as legal tender.   The witness also admitted that the re-designed currency has his (Umar) signature as director of currency operations, adding that no naira note becomes legal tender without his signature. The former CBN governor was arraigned on May 15 before Maryann Anenih, the presiding judge, on a four-count charge. He pleaded not guilty to all the counts. The anti-graft agency accused Emefiele of “illegal” printing of naira notes.   In the charge sheet seen by TheCable, EFCC alleges that Emefiele “disobeyed the direction of law with intent to cause injury to the public” by approving the printing of naira notes without “strict approval” from the former president and the CBN board. The anti-graft agency also accused Emefiele of approving the withdrawal of N124.8 billion from the consolidated revenue fund “in a manner not prescribed by the national assembly”.

  President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has said that his administration will soon send an executive bill to the National Assembly to enshrine what has been agreed upon as a new national minimum wage as part of “our law” for the next five years or less. In his national broadcast today on the 25th anniversary of unbroken democracy in Nigeria, the president said he understood the economic difficulties the country faced as a nation, but asked Nigerians to commit to the fulfilment of the realisation of “our economic democracy.” Synthesize Beautiful Scenes of Ha Giang Via Super Quality Travel Video – Flycam Nem TV Alhaji Bukar Goni Aji-led 37-member Tripartite Committee on National Minimum Wage on Monday submitted its report after about five months of sittings. Representatives of the federal government and the private sector in the tripartite committee for the negotiation of new minimum wage proposed N62, 000, while the organised labour scaled down from N494,000 to N250,000. With the submission of the report, the president is expected to make a decision and send an executive bill to the National Assembly to pass a new minimum wage bill, which the president will then sign into law. While speaking today, President Tinubu said the economic reforms initiated were necessary repairs required to fix the economy over the long run so that everyone had access to economic opportunity, fair play and compensation for their endeavour and labour. Tinubu said, “Our economy has been in desperate need of reform for decades. It has been unbalanced because it was built on the flawed foundation of over-reliance on revenues from the exploitation of oil. “The reforms we have initiated are intended to create a stronger, better foundation for future growth. There is no doubt the reforms have occasioned hardship, yet they are necessary repairs required to fix the economy over the long-run so that everyone has access to economic opportunity, fair play and compensation for his endeavour and labour. As we continue to reform the economy, I shall always listen to the people and will never turn my back on you.

  President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday, delivered the 2024 Democracy Day speech, addressing a variety of issues affecting the country. Tinubu pledged to implement democracy as Nigerians’ way of life. Read the full text below: My fellow Nigerians, let me begin by congratulating all of us for witnessing the celebration of another Democracy Day today, the 12th day of June 2024. This year also marks our nation’s 25 years of uninterrupted democratic governance. On this day, 31 years ago, we entered our rites of passage to becoming a true and enduring democratic society. Going through this passage was hard and dangerous. During the fateful six years that followed, we fought and struggled for our natural rights as human beings put on this earth by the divine hand of our Creator. We lost great heroes and heroines along the way. In this struggle, the winner of the June 12, 1993, presidential election, Chief MKO Abiola, the most significant symbol of our democratic struggle, his wife, Kudirat, General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua and Pa Alfred Rewane, among others sacrificed their very lives. They bravely surrendered their futures, so that our nation might have a better one. Let us honour the memories of Chief Anthony Enahoro, Chief Abraham Adesanya, Commodore Dan Suleiman, Chief Arthur Nwankwo, Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife, Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu, Chief Frank Kokori, Chief Bola Ige, Chief Adekunle Ajasin, Chief Ganiyu Dawodu, Chief Ayo Fasanmi, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, Chief Olabiyi Durojaiye, Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti, Chima Ubani, and others who have transited to the higher realm. The sacrifices of General Alani Akinrinade, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, Professor Wole Soyinka, Chief Ralph Obioha, Chief Cornelius Adebayo, among many others, should never be forgotten. For at least six years, they bore the pains and difficulties of life in exile. While the exiled pro-democracy activists kept the fire burning, their comrades at home sustained the pressure on the military brass hats. Among the latter are Olisa Agbakoba, Femi Falana, Abdul Oroh, Senator Shehu Sani, Governor Uba Sani, Chief Olu Falae, and other National Democratic Coalition leaders such as Chief Ayo Adebanjo and Chief Ayo Opadokun. The sacrifices they made, and the precious gift brought about by their selfless devotion can never be repaid. Neither shall it be forgotten. We could not have won the battle against military dictatorship without the irrepressible Nigerian journalists who mounted the barricades along with the pro-democracy activists. We celebrate them today, along with their media establishments such as The Punch, Guardian, National Concord, Tribune, The News/Tempo, and TELL Magazines. Military authorities proscribed these media establishments and jailed their journalists for standing for free speech and civil liberties. Despite the lethal might of the military government, what appeared to be high and unyielding walls of dictatorship came tumbling down. The dismal fortress exists no longer. The power of an idea, the power of the people proved more potent than all the guns and munitions, than all the guns, the munitions and the threats of the strongmen. The nation exited the yoke of military rule in 1999 to become the most populous democracy on African soil, the beacon of democratic self-determination for the black race and one of the largest democracies in the world. This change stands as a pivotal moment in human history. From this change, we shall never turn, nor shall the annals of mankind’s progress forget the sublime meaning of this great moment. Today, 25 years later, we celebrate the silver anniversary of our journey in democracy. We have steadied the course. Democracy is neither a foreign nor abstract concept devoid of real-life meaning for us. Neither can we afford to reduce or minimalise it to being nothing but the mere holding of periodic elections where one candidate and party outdo another.   While elections attract dramatic attention, they are but one aspect of democracy. Democracy is a way of life that encompasses a broad outlook of which elections are but a part. As such, a nation can have elections without being democratic. But a nation cannot be truly democratic without holding elections. That we have established a tradition of holding transparent, open, and fair elections gives credence to our democratic bearing. That we have experienced peaceful transitions of government affirms our democratic temperament. Fellow Nigerians, true democracy shines its light into the daily lives of the people who live under its nurturing wings. It affords us the freedom and liberty to think as we want, live where we want and pursue whatever legitimate endeavour that suits us. Democracy does not assume some false or forced unity of opinion. In fact, democracy assumes that conflicting ideas and differing opinions shall be the order of the day. Given the diversity and variety of the human experience, there must be diverse perspectives and viewpoints. What democracy demands is that we do not resolve differences through force and repression. But we make allowance for the legitimacy of views that differ from our own. Where other forms of government impose against the will of the people, democracy aims to make leaders sufficiently humble that they conduct themselves as servants of the common good, not as viceroys of the narrow interests of the mighty. My dear compatriots, Nigeria faced a decision of untold gravity twenty-five years ago: Whether to veer toward a better destination or continue aimlessly in the fog of dictatorship. We made the right choice then. We must continue with that choice now. As Nigerians, we must remind ourselves that no matter how complicated democracy may be, it is the best form of governance in the long run. We must also be aware that there are those among us who will try to exploit current challenges to undermine, if not destroy, this democracy for which so much has already been given.   These people do this not to make things better but to subject all other people and things to their control and dominance until the point that, if you are not counted among their elite, then your life will be small and no