Flowerbud News

Author: Lawal AbdulSalam Olawale

  • Olubadan joins ancestors at 81

    Olubadan joins ancestors at 81

    The Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Lekan Balogun has joind his ancestors after a brief illness

     

    He joined his ancestors at the age of 81.

     

    It was gathered that the late monarch was taken to the hospital Wednesday morning having stayed indoor throughout Tuesday on account of slight malaria fever, though, he was hail and hearty on Monday during which he personally received few guests that paid him congratulatory visits on his second year anniversary on that day.

     

     

    Making this announcement was the Baba-Kekere Olubadan and his younger brother, Dr Kola Balogun in a statement by the Personal Assistant (Media) to the late monarch, Oladele Ogunsola.

     

     

    According to the statement, Dr. Balogun disclosed that Oba Balogun would be buried at his Aliiwo ancestral home by 4.00pm on Friday according to Islamic rites just as he said that the State Governor Seyi Makinde, though already verbally informed, would be formally notified early in the morning.

     

     

    The late Olubadan was the first most educated to have emerged as Ibadan monarch, a British trained P.hd holder, a former university lecturer, former member of management staff of Shell British Petroleum, former gubernatorial candidate of the defunct Nigeria People’s Party, NPP, former Senator and a successful business man.

     

     

    His last official outing was the Olubadan Advisory Council’s meeting which he presided over last Saturday where the decision to derobed Mogaji Akinsola, Olawale Oladoja was taken.

     

     

    He however, on Tuesday instructed the Ekerin Olubadan, Oba Hamidu Ajibade to midwife a small committee to deliberate on last Friday’s decision on what should be the position of Ibadan Zone in the proposed newly reconstituted Oyo State Council of Obas and Chiefs.

     

     

    The decision of the small committee was earlier on Thursday ratified by the Olubadan Advisory Council at a meeting presided over by Otun Olubadan and the former governor of Oyo State, High Chief Rashidi Ladoja and was to be taken to the late Oba Balogun for his signature Friday morning so as to meet the deadline for submission to the state Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters later in the day.

     

    The late Olubadan is survived by wives, children and grandchildren.

     

    An Iroko has fallen—Makinde

     

     

    Announcing the passage of the monarch, Governor Makinde, in a statement, stated that Olubadan, who joined his ancestors late Thursday evening at the University College Hospital, UCH, Ibadan, described him as an epitome of royal excellence and a great achiever, who made great marks on Ibadanland in just a little over two years of his reign.

     

     

    He expressed his condolences to the Olubadan-in-Council, the Oyo State Traditional Council and the people of Ibadanland and Oyo State, praying to God to grant repose to the soul of the deceased monarch.

     

     

    Makinde said: “With total submission to the will of God, I announce the passing unto glory of our father, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Dr. Mohood Lekan Balogun, Alli Okunmade II, the 42nd Olubadan of Ibadanland.

     

    A mighty Iroko has fallen; Oba Dr. Balogun has joined the ancestors.

     

     

    “In Kabiyesi, Ibadanland had a cosmopolitan and well-experienced Olubadan, who made indelible marks on the sands of history and achieved greatly within a short while.

     

     

    “On behalf of the Government and good People of Oyo State, I condole with the immediate family of the Oba Dr. Balogun, the Olubadan-in-Council, the Oyo State Traditional Council and the people of Ibadanland.

    “It is my prayer that God grants repose to the soul of our late monarch

  • Relief As Price Of Cement In Lokoja Falls By 20%.

    Relief As Price Of Cement In Lokoja Falls By 20%.

    Cement broke the jinx of hyper inflation in Nigeria as the price of a bag of the product fell from N11,000 to N8,000 in Lokoja, kogi state, north central Nigeria.

     

    This is the outcome of the market survey conducted by our correspondent in the state capital on Wednesday.

     

    Some cement sellers,interviewed by our correspondent, traced the down word trend to the appreciable level of naira to dollar from about N1,700 per dollar down to N1,500 or less in recent time. They described the development as a big relief, not only to them, in terms of business rebound but also that other segments of the population, especially members of the construction sector of the nation’s economy, would feel one positive experience or the other in the construction industry.

    The Reporters reports that cement and other building materials joined other goods and services with frightening hike in price tag as they hit the roof resulting in astronomical rise in cost of living in the country.

    As a result of the positive development in price of cement,many building contractors have returned to sites and engaging many bricklayers hitherto thrown into labour markets as the price of cement skyrocketed to almost intolerable degree.

    Members of the public who also spoke with our correspondent prayed for more down word prices of cement, other building materials as well as food stuffs amon others.

    Feelers from some local government areas of kogi state also indicate to The Reporters that,the price of cement has started coming down as well.

  • Osun APC, PDP trade words over Adeleke’s security alarm

    Osun APC, PDP trade words over Adeleke’s security alarm

    The Osun State chapters of the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party, on Wednesday, traded accusations over the security alarm raised by the governor of the state, Ademola Adeleke, on the alleged plans of hoodlums to attack schools and farm settlements in the state.

     

    Adeleke had earlier said intelligence reports indicated plans by hoodlums to attack schools and carry out abductions, as well as attack farm settlements.

     

    The governor also noted that he had summoned a security council meeting to address the situation.

     

    Reacting to Adeleke’s alarm, the APC in a statement by its chairman in Osun, Tajudeen Lawal, accused the governor of raising a false panic regarding security in the state.

     

    Lawal stated that it was disheartening that a governor would descend into pettiness by planting hoaxes in the media in order to divert the attention of the public.

     

    Lawal said, “Governor Adeleke should sit up for once and give the people of the state the quality governance he promised the people during his campaign instead of engaging in the creation of another phony agenda meant to have a diversionary motive.

     

    “We are not politically inexperienced not to have an understanding that the Adeleke-invented security threat against the state is a ploy to shift their attention from discussing his ill-thought out N100 billion white elephant projects when hunger is working on four legs in all the streets in the nooks and crannies of the state.

     

    is nothing wrong in a government being proactive on security issues, but it is criminal and an express admission of failure for any government to use same as a weapon of deceit to confuse the governed.”

     

    Reacting, Osun PDP chairman, Mr Sunday Bisi, described Osun APC as inhumane, unpatriotic and delusional for denying reports of threats to peace and security in the state.

     

    The statement reads, “We find it reprehensible and condemnable for the state APC to deny reports that have been confirmed by virtually all the security agencies in the state. Must the APC play politics with everything?

     

    “A patriotic governor raised the alarm on security threats and he summoned the state security council meeting. The council meeting attended by top security and service commanders reviewed the situation in the light of their field reports and mapped out preemptive measures.

     

    “The resolution of the state security meeting was made public including a list of steps the state is to take to stop the threats from materialising. Instead of commending the Governor for his foresight, the opposition has chosen to play bad, sore loser again, leveling unfounded allegations and playing games with the lives and properties of our people.

     

    “As a party, the PDP government is too well focussed on delivering on its infra and social programmes designed to restore the state from the depth of under-development the state was plunged into for 12 years.

  • Excitement as Ogun begins payment of N10,000 cash award to primary, secondary pupils

    Excitement as Ogun begins payment of N10,000 cash award to primary, secondary pupils

    It was excitement and praise galore as the Ogun State Government on Wednesday flagged off the payment of N10,000 cash award to 100,000 primary and secondary school learners in the over 2, 000 public schools across the four divisions of the state.

     

    The payment is in fulfilment of the promise made by the Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, to pay N10,000 to indigent pupils and students in the state’s primary and secondary schools.

     

    Speaking while monitoring the disbursement of the money in some schools in Abeokuta, Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Prof. Abayomi Arigbabu noted that the payment was one of the strategies used by the governor to provide succour to parents as a result of the present economic situation in the country.

     

    Prof. Arigbabu noted that the gesture was meant to provide succour to pupils and their parents.

     

    He said: “In view of the economic realities in the country, the governor decided to provide succour to the people of the state using multiplicity approaches to achieve this.

     

    “He believes that another strategy that could be used which has never been used by any government before is the health and education sectors to reach the populace. Through the education sector, you can truly reach out to those who need the palliative.

     

    We have over 2, 000 primary and secondary schools in all the four divisions of the state, and 100,000 learners in these schools would receive N10,00 each.”

     

    He emphasized that the government decided to pay through parents whose children are in public primary and secondary schools as the children do not have bank accounts due to their age.

     

    “As we meet and give the parents the governor’s message, they are receiving the alert for payment.The governor’s gesture is to support the parents in meeting their children’s needs,” he added.

     

    how the children were chosen, the commissioner maintained that the process was objective, adding that it was easy to come up with the list of indigent students as teachers who are part of the school system were given the burden to find the indigent students as they are the closest to them.

     

    “That is why we have not involved anybody who is not in the school system. The school system is not political. Civil servants are not supposed to be politicians, so the principals and the teachers have selected these children based on the fact that they have always seen them to be indigent students.

     

    “How do they know them? These are children without shoes, some of them have torn uniforms, some don’t have enough exercise books, and some can’t even buy textbooks. There are a number of things they would have seen, some of them, it is these teachers that will be contributing money to the support system.

     

    can assure you that the children we have chosen are children that are indigent. To confirm that for you, a parent came to me, she said that her child in this school was chosen, but she has another child in another school that was not chosen. That is telling you that indigency is relative,” he said.

     

    He disclosed that 50,000 students of Ogun State origin in both public and private tertiary institutions have been captured to be paid N50,000 each.

     

    The payment, he said, has started with about 20,000 students to be covered by the end of the week.

     

    “In the tertiary level, we are giving out N50,000 to each student. We have captured 50,000 students from all the tertiary institutions whose details have been submitted to us after we wrote to the Vice Chancellors, Rectors and Provosts.

     

    We are paying directly to the students to ensure that the money get to them. We started payment last week, and we have paid over 10,000 students, and before the end of this week, we would have paid 20,000, “the commissioner assured.

     

    Prof. Arigbabu also revealed that five exercise books would be given to 850,000 primary and secondary school learners, including those who did not benefit from the N10,000, adding that the governor was also preparing another package for the education sector.

     

    Also speaking, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Education, Mrs. Ronke Soyombo, who also monitor the disbursement exercise, opined that money would make a difference in the lives of those who really need it, noting that those who have received their alert have promised to make judicious use of it.

  • LG Elections: ‘No Chairmanship Candidate Has Been Endorsed’ – PDP Leaders

    LG Elections: ‘No Chairmanship Candidate Has Been Endorsed’ – PDP Leaders

    Politicians in Oshimili South Local Government Area, Delta State, have been cautioned to avoid utterances that could hit up the polity or foreclose the interest of would-be aspirants in the forthcoming local government elections in the state.

     

    Reacting to what they termed a misguided/misleading statement purportedly endorsing a candidate for the chairmanship position by the Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Oshimili South local government area, Ogbeushi Dada Okonji during the PDP Delta North meeting, recently, the Concerned Leaders/Stakeholders of Oshimili South PDP described the pronouncement as divisive.

     

    In a four-point resolution after an emergency meeting of the group, signed by former Speaker of Delta State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Peter Onwusanya, on behalf of the stakeholders, dissociated themselves from the pronouncement, adding that they had not endorsed any candidate or chosen a consensus candidate for the election as all tenets of a democratic process to elect a representative based on equity, fairness, and justice, will be followed.

     

     

    They cautioned the chairman and other politicians to stop utterances that could hit up the polity or foreclose aspirants willing to contest for positions, adding that such statements would lead to ‘further polarization of the. already polarized party’ in the local government area.

     

    The stakeholders called on the Governor, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori and all PDP faithful to discountenance the outgoing chairman’s divisive pronouncement, even as they implored the PDP family in Oshimili South to remain calm while they await the date of the local government elections.

  • Reps ask CBN to restrain banks from holding customers’ reversed funds

    Reps ask CBN to restrain banks from holding customers’ reversed funds

    The House of Representatives on Tuesday mandated the Central Bank of Nigeria to restrain commercial banks operating in the country from holding reversed funds of customers beyond the timeline stipulated by the apex bank.

    The resolution of the House followed the adoption of a motion titled, “Need to restrain commercial banks from holding funds reversal beyond the date prescribed by the Central Bank of Nigeria,” moved by member representing Ikono/Ini Federal Constituency, Akwa Ibom State, Mr Emmanuel Ukpong-Udo.

     

    lawmaker recalled that on June 8, 2020, the CBN in a statement announced timelines for reversals and resolution of refund complaints including Failed “On-Us” automated teller machines transactions (when customers use their cards on their bank’s ATMs) “Shall be instantly reversed from the current timeline of three days.”

     

    He also noted that “Where instant reversal fails due to any technical issue or system glitch, the timeline for manual reversal shall not exceed 24 hours; refunds for failed “Not-on-US” ATM transactions (where customers use their cards on other banks’ ATM) shall not exceed 4 per cent hours from the current 3-5 days

     

    “Resolution of disputed/ ailed POS or web transactions shall be concluded within 72 hours from the current five days,” stressing that “All banks are directed to resolve the backlog of all ATM, POS, and web customer refunds within two weeks starting June 8, 2020.”

     

    Leading the debate, the lawmaker said, “The House is worried that Nigeria’s financial sector is facing serious concerns due to persistent complaints of failed customer transactions, with over 69 per cent of complaints in July 2023 encompassing failed transactions.

     

    READ ALSO: What kind of broth has Tinubu and Bago prepared? By Rotimi Fasan

     

    “Cognizant of the rapid increase in numbers of failed banks and the magnitude of the problem which has reached an unprecedented level and alarmed that the high rate of failed bank transactions is causing a decrease in business investments and lending across the country,” the House urged the CBN to direct banks to work on their systems in mitigating failed transactions without the customer’s prompting.

     

    It also urged the apex bank to direct banks “To reverse customers’ funds within the stipulated periods whether or not the customers lodge complaints.”

     

  • FG postpones students loan indefinitely

    FG postpones students loan indefinitely

    The Federal Government has postponed the launch of the Nigerian Students Loan Scheme indefinitely.

     

    The Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, Akintunde Sawyer, made this known during an interview with Arise News on Tuesday.

    loan, which was originally scheduled to commence on Thursday, has been postponed once more. Sawyer explained that the delay is due to some corrections being made regarding the launch.

     

    He said, “Unfortunately, I won’t be able to commit to a specific date. We are sort of waiting to ensure that all the stakeholders are aligned to make sure that nobody is blindsided, then we can actually roll this out in a meaningful, comprehensive, wholesome, and sustainable way.”

     

    In June 2023, President Bola Tinubu signed a bill to establish a Students Loan Fund that would provide interest-free loans to Nigerians for higher education.

     

    The bill, sponsored by Femi Gbajabiamila, the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, was initially scheduled to commence between September and October 2023.

     

    President Tinubu announced that the scheme would commence in January 2024 after his government failed to meet the October deadline the previous year.

     

    In January, the Minister of State for Education, Yusuf Sununu, announced during a meeting that preparations for the program had been completed. This included the development of the Student Loan Scheme website and planning for the program’s commencement.

     

    President Tinubu reassured the leaders of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) during their visit to the State House in Abuja that the program would start once its expansion to include additional features, such

  • Ramadan Begins Monday, Sultan Declares

    Ramadan Begins Monday, Sultan Declares

    Earlier, the crescent, which signals the beginning of the Holy month of Ramadan, was sighted in Saudi Arabia on Sunday.

    The Sultan of Sokoto and President of the National Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, has confirmed the sighting of the moon marking the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan 1445AH.

     

    The Sultan, in a post shared by the National Moonsighting Committee Nigeria on its X handle on Sunday, called on Muslims across the country to commence fasting on Monday, March 11, 2024.

     

    Earlier, the crescent, which signals the beginning of the Holy month of Ramadan, was sighted in Saudi Arabia on Sunday.

     

    “The Crescent of Ramadan 1445/2024 has been sighted in Saudi Arabia! Subsequently, Ramadan 1445/2024 begins tomorrow, 11 March 2024. Taraweeh Prayers will begin in the Two Holy Mosques after Isha Prayers,” the Haramain Sharafain in Saudi Arabia said in a statement.

     

    The moon, which was spotted on Sunday evening, signals the end of Sha’aban, the eight month of the Hijri Calendar, and the beginning of the Holy month of Ramadan which is equivalent to Monday, March 11.

     

    The month of Ramadan is determined by the Lunar Islamic calendar in which months span either 29 or 30 days, and commence as well as conclude based on the sighting of the moon.

     

    Ramadan is the ninth month of Islamic calendar in which Muslims world over fast for either 29 or 30 days based on the sighting of the moon. During this period, Muslims fast from dawn to sunset

  • BREAKING: TCN substation on fire in Kano

    BREAKING: TCN substation on fire in Kano

    A fire incident at the Dan-Agundi Transmission Station in Kano on Sunday affected several parts of the area, DAILY POST learnt.

    The Dan-Agundi Transmission station, a crucial power supply chain for Kano City, was engulfed in smoke.

     

    As of the time of filing this report, the cause of the fire outbreak remains unknown, as residents were anticipating the arrival of firefighters to put out the fire.

     

    According to authorities, the ongoing fire is damaging high-capacity transformers, and emergency responders have not yet arrived.

     

    Meanwhile, TCN has yet to issue an official statement as of the time this report was made.

     

    The development may further exacerbate the already epileptic power supply in the country.

     

    Recall that the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, begged Nigerians to be patient over the persistent drop in power supply in the last two months.