Month: January 2020

Legislative Aides’ protests and the futility of mob mentality in National Assembly By Kevin Oji

Emporium Reporters

The visual optics could not have been more graphic and evocative: the image of some misguided aides protesting in the National Assembly to the untutored eyes conveyed in the visual dimension, the image of an oppressive and shrewd NASS management determined to deny payment of salaries/emoluments of some deserving workers and aides of the National Assembly. This well choreographed deception had all the trappings of a contrived faux pas manufactured and incubated in the fecund imagination of manipulators courting public sympathy in the bid to rail road management to succumb…

Why did Governor AbdulRazaq eat Arugbo’s cocoyam? By Festus Adedayo

Emporium Reporters

After watching the viral video of several Ilorin, Kwara State old women, referred to as arugbo in Yorubaland, pleading with the Kwara State governor, Abdulrazaq Abdulrahman, not to demolish the Ile Arugbo (Old people’s home) built for them by the old Kwara political warhorse, late Dr. Olusola Saraki, and his eventual demolition of the property last Thursday, what leapt into my subconscious was the old folklore, Ti nba je koko arugbo (if I ate the old woman’s cocoyam) notoriously told at moonlight in Yoruba-speaking homes of the pre-colonial, up to the 1970s era. A three-member travelling…

Nigerians To pay more for Electricity As NERC Orders Tariff Review

Emporium Reporters

Nigerians will pay more for electricity from April 2020 following a directive by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) ordering a review to achieve a cost-reflective tariff in the power sector. NERC disclosed in its ‘December 2019 Minor Review of Multi-Year Tariff Order 2015 and Minimum Remittance Order for the Year 2020,’ which was released on December 31. According to the order, effective from January 1, the tariff will reflect the impact of changes in the minor review variables in the determination of cost-reflective tariffs and relevant tariff and market shortfalls for 2019…

To Great Man At 43 By Abdullberqy U .Ebbo

Emporium Reporters

Victor Hugo once said “Thanksgiving has wings and goes where it must go. Your prayer knows much more about it than you do” Whether this is generally true, we can never really know for sure but the truism of this statement can be seen to be demonstrated most forcefully in the life of the Chief of Staff to Niger State Governor, Alh. Ibrahim Balarabe Kagara   Perhaps it was the prayers of his father (late Limanin Kagara) whom he lost few years ago that shaped him into an astute, highly…

BE BETTER, DO BETTER By Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi

Emporium Reporters

Happy New Year! Around this time two years ago, I wrote about how I spent Christmas in our hometown at Isan-Ekiti, Ekiti State. About an hour after I arrived home, in the midst of all the people milling around to welcome us, I saw an old man who must have been at least eighty, trying to push his way towards me. I asked him what I could do for him. He said, ‘My daughter, I wanted to go to the market to buy something to cook for Christmas but I…

Why The Revised Condition of Service is Imperative for Workers of the National Assembly By Kevin Oji

Emporium Reporters

In established and thriving democracies, experience and capacity in the legislature is not only cultivated and entrenched, it is harnessed to deliver on the core legislative mandate of Lawmaking, oversight and effective representation. This time honoured tradition in pursuit of excellence, efficiency and seamless running of the legislature as an independent arm of government is driven by the vision to attain noble and higher national objectives. It was therefore, in furtherance of this objective, that both Chambers of National Assembly deliberated and approved an upward adjustment in the years and…

Gbemi Saraki Reacts To Demolition of Ile Arugbo

Emporium Reporters

The Honourable Minister of state for Transportation, Sen.Gbemisola Ruqayyah Saraki has reacted to the demolition of Ile Arugbo(Aged Home)by the Kwara state government yesterday Thursday. Read the full text: At 3:00am Thursday 2nd of January 2020, the Governor of Kwara State, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, gave orders to the Police to open fire on aged women, at the contested welfare home, popularly known as “Ile Arugbo” (Home for Aged), owned by my father, Dr. Abubakar Olusola Saraki. As a staunch and loyal member of APC, I have kept quiet to date on…

Fish out perpetrators of Tawari overnight attack, Gov Bello directs security agencies

Emporium Reporters

The Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello has called for calm among residents of Tawari Town in Kogi/Koto Karfe Local Government Area of the State, where suspected militia reportedly burnt down the palace of a third class chief, Alhaji Yusuf Idris. In a statement by the Governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr Onogwu Muhammed, Bello immediately directed security agencies to swing into action and ensure those who carried out the dastardly act faced the law. The Governor also condemned the incident and warned that anyone who want to cause crisis in…

ANTI-SEXUAL HARASSMENT BILL: Omo-Agege Vindicated By Declan Mbadiwe Emelumba

Emporium Reporters

Long before the BBC documentary that roused our university administrators from their lethargic disposition in handling sexual harassment cases in our campuses, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege had been advocating a more serious and collaborative effort to tackle the menace. The Senator, who is now the Deputy Senator President, had reasoned that unless the matter was addressed through a piece of legislation, many of our vulnerable young girls would continue to suffer under the groping hands of randy lecturers. That is why the former Secretary to Delta State Government and others who…

FRIDAY SERMON: Allah Is Sufficient For Us And He Is Our Guardian And Protector (Hasbunallahu Wa Ni’mal Wakeel)! By Imam Murtadha Gusau

Emporium Reporters

In the name of Allah, Most Merciful, Bestower of Mercy All praise is due to Allah, Lord of all creation. May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon the Messenger, his family, his Companions and those who follow him till the Hour is established. Dear brothers and sisters, Allah Almighty offer salutations to Prophet Ibrahim (Peace be upon him) in every prayer. Allah Almighty chose him, guided him and blessed him with sound wisdom. Since his early age, Prophet Ibrahim (Peace be upon him) stood in the face of…