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President-elect Joe Biden is poised to nominate Antony Blinken to serve as secretary of state. Incoming White House chief of staff Ron Klain said earlier Sunday that Biden intended to begin revealing members of his Cabinet Tuesday.  Blinken is expected to be among the first nominations, people familiar with the matter said, with Biden intent on sending a signal that rebuilding America's alliances is one of his top priorities. Bloomberg was first to report that Biden intends to name Blinken. The president-elect is also expected to name Jake Sullivan, another close aide of his, as national security adviser, and Linda Thomas-Greenfield, a 35-year Foreign Service veteran, as his ambassador to the U.N. Antony J. Blinken began his career at the State Department during the Clinton administration. Antony J. Blinken began his career at the State Department during the Clinton administration.

Rivers State governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike has imposed a 24 hour total curfew for two weeks on the entire area around the Okoro-Nu-Odu flyover in Rumuokoro, due to upsurge of cult activities and related violence. The governor has also warned that government will spare no efforts to deal appropriately with anyone who decides to disturb peace and security in the State with cult activities and associated violence and killings. Governor Wike, in a state wide broadcast explained that decision to impose the curfew was taken after the State Security Council meeting on Sunday in Port Harcourt. He explained that the Rivers State Government was seriously disturbed by the recent upsurge of cult activities and related violence and killings around the adjoining areas of the Okoro-Nu-Odu flyover in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area. The governor stated that government has repeatedly warned misguided youths that engaging in cultism because of its abhorrent anti-social effect on society. “As part of mea...

The Emir of Bichi, Dr. Nasiru Ado Bayero, has expressed gratitude to Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State for the peace the Northern community has been enjoying in the state, under his administration. The Emir of Bichi told Gov. Ugwuanyi that his administration’s commitment to national integration and peaceful co-existence of all Nigerians in Enugu State, irrespective of tribe, religion and political differences is “well acknowledged”, adding that “we will not forget that; we will be grateful to you forever”. Dr. Ado Bayero also appreciated the traditional rulers in Enugu State, stressing that based on “your relationship with the Northern community in your own local communities, our reports from them have been positive; so we are very grateful”. Speaking when Gov. Ugwuanyi played host to him at the Government House, Enugu, the Emir, who is the younger brother to the Emir of Kano, Aminu Ado Bayero, used the opportunity to assure the governor that “back in Kano State, we will protect...

The Chief Executive Officer of Whitefield Foundation, Funmi Johnson, has disclosed that 185 patients have benefitted from the Coca-Cola/Whitefield N20 million medical intervention fund. The patients are being treated in 23 hospitals across nine states: Abia, Enugu, Ebonyi, Lagos, Edo, Rivers, Cross River, Akwa Ibom and Plateau as well as the FCT, Abuja. They are beneficiaries of the intervention fund. Coca-Cola Nigeria and its bottling partners NBC had provided a N20 million donation to an NGO, Whitefield Foundation, to help defray the medical bills of some of the hospitalized victims of the violence that trailed the #EndSARS protests across the country. The patients, according to Johnson are being treated for various degrees of injuries, including gunshot wounds. Amounts ranging from N10,000 to N300,000 were disbursed directly to their respective hospitals on their behalf. “Unfortunately, some of the patients have had to undergo amputation and will be provided with prosthetic limbs, t...

The Federal Government’s N25b refund to Anambra State for its rehabilitation and reconstruction of federal roads has pitted Senator Ifeanyi Ubah (Anambra South) against Governor Willie Obiano. Senator Ubah, at a news conference yesterday, gave Obiano 72 hours to address the people on why he discounted the promissory notes with about N8 billion ahead of their maturity dates. Ubah threatened to sue the government if Obiano fails to heed his request. The promissory notes were issued to Anambra State by the Debt Management Office (DMO) in December 2018 and April 2019 to the tune of N10.097 billion and N15.146 billion. They had maturity dates of December 28, 2020 and April 1, 2022. Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment C-Don Adinuba, in a statement, denied that the state raised money from ‘the DMO or the Federal Ministry of Finance under a bond, or any financial instrument from any institution or organisation’. But Ubah, who had documents to support his claims, insisted that...

  Laolu Akande, a media aide to the Vice President has said Nigeria’s economy is rebounding due to the preemptive actions taken by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration. “So, very clearly, we can see that the economy is rebounding and this is mainly because of the preemptive actions the Buhari administration had taken even before now to ensure the situation does not get worse,” he said on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.  While explaining that the present administration had launched various schemes to help Nigerians mitigate the effect of the pandemic, Akande said the impact of such schemes is being felt across the country. “There are all kinds of testimonies, I can share with you. We receive reports every day from beneficiaries of the Survival Funds,” he explained. Whether they are artisans. We are talking about tailors, barbers, plumbers, hairdressers, technicians all over the place or even people who work in private schools or private transport companies w...

  A total of N81.41bn was expended on Nigeria’s refineries between January and August this year but the facilities refined no drop of crude oil all through this period, latest data obtained from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation showed. Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company, Port Harcourt Refining Company and Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company posted a cumulative revenue of N6.54bn during the eight-month period. With a revenue of N6.54bn and a total expense of N81.41bn, the facilities ended up with a deficit of N78.87bn, according to figures contained in the just-released August 2020 report of the NNPC. Further analysis of figures from the latest report, as well as those earlier released by the corporation, showed that the revenue, expense and deficit of KRPC during the period under review were N6.22bn, N33.61bn and N27.39bn respectively. PHRC posted a revenue, expense and deficit of N61m, N25.57bn and N25.51bn respectively from January to August 2020. Simi...