News
Jonathan Declares 3-Day Mourning
President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday declared three days of national mourning for those who lost their lives in a Dana plane crash in Lagos, according to a statement from Aso Rock Presidential Villa.
The Dana Air flight from Abuja to Lagos crashed a few kilometres to the airport with 147 people on board, according to an airline official.
The statement said Jonathan had cancelled all his public engagements scheduled for tomorrow and had also directed that the Nigerian flag be flown at half-mast for the three days of national mourning.
The President has also ordered the “fullest possible investigation’’ into the crash.
The statement said that in compliance with the President’s directive, the Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, had already left Abuja for Lagos to oversee the crash investigations and present an interim report to the Federal Government as quickly as possible.
“The President joins all Nigerians in mourning all those who lost their lives in the plane crash which has sadly plunged the nation into further sorrow on a day when Nigerians were already in grief over the loss of many other innocent lives in the church bombing in Bauchi State.
“President Jonathan assures air travellers in the country that every possible effort will be made to ensure that the right lessons are learnt from the tragic loss of valuable lives in today’s plane crash and that further measures will be put in place to boost aviation safety in the country.
“He prays that God Almighty will grant the families of the victims of the plane crash the courage and fortitude to bear the irreparable loss,’’ said the statement signed by Dr Reuben Abati, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity.
Meanwhile, a spokeman for the airline, Mr Tony Usidamen, said that 147 people were on board the plane, 139 of them passengers.
In another development, investigations into the crash have begun, the Director-General of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr Harold Demuren, said on phone yesterday in Lagos.
Asked if they were survivors among the passengers on board when the plane crashed, he said, “we don’t believe there are survivors.
“I am talking to you from the scene of the crash. Right now, our thoughts and prayers are with the families.”
Rescue efforts are being hampered by a huge crowd of onlookers, miscreants and sympathisers.
Our correspondents at the crash site at Iju, on the outskirts of Lagos, report that the inaccessibility of the site has made it difficult for rescue teams, which include the police, Red Cross, Army, FRSC, Nigeria Air Force and Fire Service to get to the plane.
The General Manager, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Dr Femi Osanyintolu, stated that the building on which the plane fell must be demolished for any rescue operation to take place.
He also said that they had to be cautious in demolishing the building because of its location in a residential area.
In a related development, a contract staff with the British American Tobacco Company, Mr Isaac Daniel, who resides in a two-storey building where the plane crashed, said he had lost everything to the incident.
Daniel said that he resided at the ground floor of the building with five members of his family.
He said that all his family members survived the crash but lost their certificates to the fire that engulfed the plane, adding that he was not at home when the incident occurred.
Eyewitnesses said that three lifeless bodies had been removed from the building.
The Nigeria Immigration Service has officially ended passport production at multiple centres, transitioning to a single, centralised system for the first time in 62 years.
Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this yesterday while inspecting Nigeria’s new Centralised Passport Personalisation Centre at the NIS Headquarters in Abuja.
He stated that since the establishment of NIS in 1963, Nigeria had never operated a central passport production centre, until now, marking a major reform milestone.
“The project is 100 per cent ready. Nigeria can now be more productive and efficient in delivering passport services,” Tunji-Ojo said.
He explained that old machines could only produce 250 to 300 passports daily, but the new system had a capacity of 4,500 to 5,000 passports every day.
“With this, NIS can now meet daily demands within just four to five hours of operation,” he added, describing it as a game-changer for passport processing in Nigeria.
“We promised two-week delivery, and we’re now pushing for one week.
“Automation and optimisation are crucial for keeping this promise to Nigerians,” the minister said.
He noted that centralisation, in line with global standards, would improve uniformity and enhance the overall integrity of Nigerian travel documents worldwide.
Tunji-Ojo described the development as a step toward bringing services closer to Nigerians while driving a culture of efficiency and total passport system reform.
He said the centralised production system aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s reform agenda, boosting NIS capacity and changing the narrative for better service delivery.
The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has disbursed N2.225 trillion as federation revenue for the month of August 2025, the highest ever allocation to the three tiers of government and other statutory recipients.
This marks the second consecutive month that FAAC disbursements have crossed the N2 trillion mark.
The revenue, shared at the August 2025 FAAC meeting in Abuja, was buoyed by increases in oil and gas royalty, value-added tax (VAT), and common external tariff (CET) levies, according to a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting.
Out of the N2.225 trillion total distributable revenue, FAAC said N1,478.593 trillion came from statutory revenue, N672.903 billion from VAT, N32.338 billion from the Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL), and N41.284 billion from Exchange Difference.
The communiqué revealed that gross federation revenue for the month stood at N3.635 trillion. From this amount, N124.839 billion was deducted as cost of collection, while N1,285.845 trillion was set aside for transfers, interventions, refunds, and savings.
From the statutory revenue of N1.478 trillion, the Federal Government received N684.462 billion, State Governments received N347.168 billion, and Local Government Councils received N267.652 billion. A further N179.311 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) went to oil-producing states as derivation revenue.
From the distributable VAT revenue of N672.903 billion, the Federal Government received N100.935 billion, the states received N336.452 billion, while the local governments got N235.516 billion.
Of the N32.338 billion shared from EMTL, the Federal Government received N4.851 billion, the States received N16.169 billion, and the Local Governments received N11.318 billion.
From the N41.284 billion exchange difference, the Federal Government received N19.799 billion, the states received N10.042 billion, and the local governments received N7.742 billion, while N3.701 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) was shared to the oil-producing states as derivation.
The Governing Council of Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori, has decried the inadequate power supply and poor state of infrastructural facilities and equipment at the institution.
The Council also appealed to the government, including Non-Governmental Organisations, agencies, as well as well-meaning Rivers people to intervene to restore and sustain the laudable gesture, dreams and aspirations of the founding fathers of the polytechnic.
The Chairman of the newly inaugurated Council, Professor Friday B. Sigalo, made this appeal during a tour of facilities at the Polytechnic, recently.
Accompanied by members of the team, Prof Sigalo emphasised the position of technology, technical and vocational education in sustainable development.
He noted that with the prospects on ground, and the programmes and activities undertaken in the polytechnic, there is no doubt that the institution would add values to the educational system in our society and foster the desired development, if the existing challenges are jointly tackled.
This was contained in a statement signed by Deputy Registrar, Public Relations, Kenpoly, Innocent Ogbonda-Nwanwu, and made available to The Tide in Port Harcourt.
The chairman who restated the intention of his team of technocrats to ensure that KenPoly enjoys desirable face-lift, said the Council would deliver on its core mandates, accordingly.
Earlier, the Rector, KenPoly Engr. Dr. Ledum S. Gwarah, commended the appointment of Professor Friday B. Sigalo as Chairman of the KenPoly Governing Council.
He described him and his team as seasoned technocrats and expressed confidence in their ability to succeed.
The Rector pledged the management’s support to the Council to ensure that KenPoly resumes its rightful place in the comity of polytechnics in the country.
Facilities visited by the Governing Council include KenPoly workshops, laboratories, skills acquisition centre, library, hostels and medical centre.
Chinedu Wosu
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