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Plateau Clarifies Eviction Order On Jang
The Plateau Government on Thursday clarified that the Supreme Court judgment on asset sharing with Nasarawa State did not evict Gov. Jonah Jang from the Governor’s Lodge, Jishe.
Mr Edward Pwajok, the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, made the clarification in Jos at a news briefing at Government House, Rayfield, Jos.
Pwajok said the judgment only transferred some property formerly belonging to the old Plateau to Nasarawa State following the creation of the state from Plateau in 1996.
The judgment was delivered on March 23 by a full panel of the court.
The commissioner decried the “misrepresentations of the judgment by the media, some senior lawyers and respectable citizens.
“The Nasarawa State Government sought a declaration that it was the beneficial owner of 13 properties by virtue of the State Creation Act, 1996 and the Reports of the Plateau and Nasarawa States’ Joint Committee on Appraisal of Assets and Liabilities and the agreement reached by both states in 1998.
“Nasarawa also sought an order directing Plateau to hand over all title documents relating to the said properties as well as restraining Plateau from interfering with Nasarawa right to peaceful occupation and enjoyment of the properties.
“In the unanimous decision of the Supreme Court whose lead judgment was delivered by the Hon. Justice John Afolabi Fabiyi, JSC, and endorsed by six other Justices, the court granted all the above reliefs.”
Pwajok saidboth Nasarawa’s claim and the judgment acknowledged that it was the refusal of Plateau to yield vacant possession of three of the 13 properties that led to the court action.
The commissioner denied that Jang recently vacated the Governor’s Lodge, Jishe as a result of the judgment but stressed that the governor was at liberty to choose which Government House to use.
He condemned the alleged twisting of the judgment as well as allegation that Jang squandered public fund to renovate a lodge belonging to Nasarawa State.
Pwajok explainedthat an agreement was earlier reached between former military governors of the two states in 1998 in the presence of late Head of State Sani Abacha and Lt. Gen Jeremiah Useni.
He said in the agreement, Plateau agreed to cede the 13 property to Nasarawa State.
“The agreement did not include Government House, Jishe.
“It was this agreement that made the court to invoke the equitable doctrine of estoppels to declare that Plateau cannot renege from the agreement it entered into.
“Indeed, the minutes of the meeting presided over by the then late head of state, General Abacha, which were tendered in court and were part of the case of Nasarawa showed that it was agreed that Governor’s Lodge, Jishe, was a “no-go-area” and so was not part of the assets/liabilities sharing.”
The commissioner said that the issue predated Jang’s administration, pointing out that it was Gov. Joshua Dariye’s administration that wrote the Nasarawa State Government.
In the letter, Dariye contended that the agreement was made in error and refused to hand over the properties.
Pwajok said that the state was currently engaged in fraternal discussions with Nasarawa State at the highest level of government to amicably resolve the issues.
He, however, warned that the Plateau Government would not hesitate to use all legal means, including criminal prosecution, to protect the sanctity of the court and ward off any misrepresentation of the judgment.
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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