ALL THE RELEVANT NEWS: THURSDAY

01 Dec ALL THE RELEVANT NEWS: THURSDAY

🌍 Highlights of FEC Meeting

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) at its weekly meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, approved a new National Language Policy which makes the mother tongue a compulsory medium of instruction in Primary school.

The Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu said while the government was aware that implementation of the policy would be challenging, it would be combined with English starting from secondary school.

* The Council blamed the high poverty rate in the country on the failure of the state governments to contribute their quota of development responsibilities to the grassroots where the major production activities take place.

Other highlights of the FEC meeting include:

*Approval for a consultancy services agreement between Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and a private company, for the upgrade of the portal on which the Board records candidates seeking admission into higher institutions of learning.

*Approval of a police property in Maitama in the Federal Capital Territory to be developed for benefit of senior officers, through a PPP arrangement with Cosgrove Consortium. Out of the 39 units of houses the police will get 15, while Cosgrove will manage 24 houses for a number of years before handing over to the Police.

*FEC also discussed the 2022 GDP indicators and performance for the third quarter, and noted that there was 2.25 per cent improvement, though lower than four per cent of the same time last year.

🌍Oil rose on Thursday on investor wariness that OPEC+ may cut supply further at its meeting on Sunday and as easing COVID curbs in China raised hopes about higher demand in the world’s top crude importer. Brent crude was up 44 cents, or 0.5%, to $87.41 a barrel by 0918 GMT

🌍As fuel scarcity bites, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority has denied any plan to increase the pump price of petrol, at least during the Yuletide season.

🌍The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) says the sum $205.01 million has not been remitted to the federation account by oil and gas companies.

🌍About N150 trillion worth of transactions were reported as “suspicious” in the first three months of the year by the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU).

🌍The EVC of Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Umar Danbatta, says mobile virtual network operators (MVNO) will serve as useful tools in the deployment of the fifth-generation spectrum (5G).

🌍Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu says the just-completed $1.5 billion Lekki Deep Seaport, In Lagos State would officially inaugurated by President Buhari in January 2023.

🌍The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has reported that the value of pension fund assets has increased to N14.59 trillion as at the end of October, 2022.

🌍Security Stories: A top commander of the Islamic State West Africa Province, Muhammad Malik, has been reportedly killed by men of the Air Task Force in the Lake Chad region.

* Two suspects have been arrested over the kidnap of a former Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan Prof. Adigun Agbaje and some others travelers near Guru Maharajji area of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway on October 29.

* Troops have discovered the corpses of two female kidnap victims and rescued three others alive, while destroying bandits’ camps during fighting patrols in Chikun, Kachia and Kajuru local government areas of Kaduna state.

🌍Russia-Ukraine War: Russian forces tried to advance in eastern Ukraine and trained tank, mortar and artillery fire on Kherson in the south, the Ukrainian military said, as Western allies sought to buttress Ukraine and its neighbours against Moscow.

In Washington, a $1.2 billion contract for six National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems for Ukraine was awarded to Raytheon, the Pentagon said.

* NATO foreign ministers pledged more support for Ukraine during meetings in Bucharest, including assisting in repairs to energy infrastructure. The US said it’s focused on providing air defenses to Ukraine.

* The European Union will try to set up a specialized court to investigate and prosecute alleged crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.

* Ukraine’s prime minister said the coming winter will be challenging after Russian strikes that devastated energy supplies, but 70% of the country’s power needs are now being met.

* The US said it’s focused on providing air defenses to Ukraine.

* An envelope that exploded at the Ukrainian Embassy in Madrid was addressed to the ambassador, Spain’s Foreign Ministry said.