ALL THE RELEVANT NEWS: MONDAY

24 Jan ALL THE RELEVANT NEWS: MONDAY

🌍Fuel Subsidy Update: The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva says the removal of fuel subsidy will not be done anytime soon. Speaking on Channels TV, he said, there has to be an agreement among stakeholders, including Labour, before the removal.

🌍Meanwhile Brent crude oil is now above $88: Oil prices rose on Monday on worries about supply disruption amid rising tensions in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, which could make an already tight market even tighter, while OPEC and its allies continued to struggle to raise output. Brent crude futures rose 58 cents, or 0.7%, to $88.47 a barrel by 0742 GMT, reversing a 0.6% loss on Friday.

🌍In a marathon, VP Osinbajo, yesterday attended the funeral thanksgiving service of Oba Oyewumi in Ogbomoso; also condoled with Olubadan, Akala families in Ibadan and Ogbomoso

🌍COVID-19 Update: On Sunday, as on Saturday, Nigeria recorded zero deaths; but 228 new cases. There are now 252,187 cases with 226,408 recoveries and 3124 deaths.

🌍The United States, the World Health Organization’s top donor, is resisting proposals to make the agency more independent, raising doubts about the Biden administration’s long-term support for the U.N. agency. The proposal, made by the WHO’s working group on sustainable financing, would increase each member state’s standing annual contribution, according to a WHO document published online.

🌍The President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina, has described Dangote Refinery and Dangote Fertiliser Plant as the best industrialised projects to happen to Africa, noting their ability to positively impact the economic growth and development of Africa as a continent.

🌍Angry youth in the early hours of Monday set ablaze the school where the kidnappers of Hanifa Abubakar buried the remains of the five-year-old girl in Kano.

🌍Security Stories: Six suspected bandits were killed on Saturday night after troops of the Nigerian Army repelled an attack on Mareri Community, outskirt of Gusau, Zamfara State. The bandits attempted to kidnap the Managing Director of Zamfara State Transport Authority (Mass Transit) Alhaji Aminu Adamu Papa and his family members.
* At least four workers have been shot dead and a woman injured following an attack on Saturday evening at a mining site in Dong village, Plateau State.
* Gunmen, on Sunday, shot dead and then beheaded a man said to be a member of the Ebubeagu security operative in Ebonyi State.
* Bandits attacked Batagari Village in the Maikujeri district of Rafi Local Government, Niger Sate, killing one person and abducting 15 other villagers.