Beyondafricanews

The House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee, on Monday, kicked off a full-scale probe into the alleged mismanagement of COVID-19 intervention funds by ministries, departments and agencies of government. A member of House of Representatives, Nyampa Zakari, had in October moved a motion for the probe of MDAs, accusing them of mismanaging funds totalling N183.9bn meant to address  COVID-19 pandemic from 2020-2023. Addressing the opening session, the chairman of the committee, Bamidele Salam, warned MDAs that the committee would not listen to pleas for an extension of time. He said, “The committee is probing over 60 MDAs over several billions of naira intervention funds allocated to them during the COVID-19 and we have given them enough time to prepare for this exercise. “The committee will not entertain any extension of time from any of the MDAs. The committee is not after any individual or groups, we are going to be diligent in carrying out our assignment.” The...

As of November 27, 2023, a total of 147 private universities have been approved by the Federal Government of Nigeria through the National Universities Commission. These institutions exist alongside the universities owned by both the Federal and state governments respectively. Incessant industrial actions, poor funding and the rot in public universities have continued to give rise to the existence of private universities in the country as their numbers grew from just three in 1999 to 147 in 2023 with the NUC noting that it has over 270 pending requests for the establishment of new private universities. Analysis of the private universities as obtained from the website of the NUC on Tuesday by BEYOND AFRICA revealed that most of these private universities are floated by religious organisations alongside past and serving politicians. According to findings by BEYOND AFRICA below are some of the private universities floated by the Nigerian political class. 1. Bells University, Og...

Edo State Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu has boasted that he would defeat the anointed candidate of Governor Godwin Obaseki in the upcoming governorship election in the state. BEYOND AFRICA reports that Shaibu formally declared his intention to run for the office of the governor of the state and succeed his boss. Shaibu who spoke while appearing on a TVC programme on Monday evening, said he would defeat Obaseki’s anointed candidate because he has the backing of the people of the state. He accused the governor of allowing certain individuals who had interest in governance to come between them. According to him, “Definitely, I’ll defeat the so-called candidate of the governor, not because I have the power, but because Edo people want their own and I am their own. Edo people do not want importation; they want their own. “The problem I have with the governor is that he has allowed certain individuals that have interest in governance to come between us. “He is managing in his ow...

The Yoruba Afenifere Youth Association of Nigeria,YAYON(Ogun state chapter)has congratulated a popular ifa priest, Chief Ifadare Ayedun on his Ifa festival that took place between Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th November 2023. In a statement by the Coordinator of the Association, Arch. Sodeinde Daniel prayed for God’s guidance for the CEO of Agbotifayo Empire. He commended him for promoting the traditions of his fore fathers and Yoruba race through the festival. Arch. Sodehinde  advised Nigerians to retrace their steps to the good old cultural practices that bring out the Omulabi virtues in us for modernity. ”My advice to Nigerians is to go those  practices that teaches Morals and good behaviour so that the country and most especially Yoruba Race will be better.One of the best way to fix the society is to embrace some of our cultural values. "We need to go back to our cultural practices  that includes Respect to our parents,good characters, living together in Ha...

The amount spent on airtime and data by Nigerian telecom subscribers rose to at least N2.59tn in the first nine months of 2023, BEYOND AFRICA gathered. This is according to the financial statements of MTN Nigeria and Airtel Africa. This was a 32.57 per cent increase from the N1.95tn both telcos recorded from both income sources in the corresponding period of 2022. BEYOND AFRICA learnt that, the increase in voice and data venue was partially driven by rising data subscriptions and the devaluation of the naira on Airtel’s part. In the first nine months of 2022, Airtel made $1.41bn from airtime and data. When converted at the exchange rate of N461/$ which was obtained at the time, it amounted to N647.71bn. In the same period of 2023, the company’s income from these two revenue sources amounted to $1.29bn. When converted at the exchange rate of N777/$ at the time, it amounted to N1.003tn. On MTN’s part, increasing data revenues continue to fuel the company’s overall revenue gro...

The destruction of 1,500 seized motorcycles was carried out yesterday on the premises of  Lagos State Task Force, Oshodi, BEYOND AFRICA gathered. The destruction was observed by the state Commissioner for Transportation, Oluwaseun Osiyemi, along with the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Wale Musa. The Lagos State Government posted images of the exercise on its X account on Monday. The caption read, “Commissioner for #lagosMOT1, Oluwaseun Osiyemi, with the Permanent Secretary, Wale Musa, at the crushing of 1,500 seized commercial motorcycles at the Lagos State Task Force premises on Monday.”

Students of Osun State Polytechnic, Iree has written Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State over alleged management collusion to subert the upcoming Students Union Government elections in the institution. The students in a letter signed by Sodiq Alarape and Mathew Adejare on behalf of Ospoly students accused the school Management, Dean of students Affairs, Dr. Tope Abiola and Chairman of the Independent Students Electoral Commission of planning to fraudulently install a particular candidate in the upcoming SUG election. The students in the letter noted that the Management is planning to deliberately delay the election so as to give room for their annointed candidate who is presently unavailable to have time to contest. They noted that the appointment of Dr. Tope Abiola was tailored to suit the agenda. The students however demanded from Governor Ademola Adeleke a thorough investigation into the alleged collusion between the trio. Osun State Commissioner for Education, Chairm...