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‘May God Not Run Out Of Patience With Nigeria’

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Ahead of 2023 presidential and general election, former President Olusegun Obasanjo has prayed that God’s patience with Nigeria does not end, asking Nigerians to ensure that the right lessons were learned in the search for new leadership.
According to Obasanjo, at independence, Nigeria was to be Giant in the Sun and just of Africa.
He spoke, yesterday, in Abuja at the public presentation of a book entitled, “The Letter Man: Inside the ‘Secret’ Letters of former Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo”, written by Premium Times’ Editor-in-Chief, Musikilu Mojeed.
According to Obasanjo, when James Earl Carter (Jimmy Carter) was the President of the United States of America, USA, there was no time he had anything to do in Africa and would not inform Nigeria.
But that unfortunately, he said, that respect for Nigeria was gone.
The former President said: “Only this morning, I heard something that shocked me; here at our door, Chad.
“When Idris Dabi was killed or died, some people said he was shot from the back when he was in the war front.
“But he died and it was Doha that decided to pull the different elements in charge together, not Nigeria and Chad is at our door.
“We didn’t do anything about that. I believe, to say the least, that it is not good enough.
“Again, I believe that God is in Nigeria, because God loves us so much that we got away so many stupid things.
“I sincerely hope that God’s patience have no limit of elasticity. Because if it does, there will be a day that God will say look, I have had enough.
“And if God says he has had enough, it doesn’t matter; Musikilu can write 20 books on letter men and letter women, it won’t help us.
“So, I believe that the right lessons must be learned. We have all that we need to have. God gave us all that we need to have. That we are not doing what we need to do, God is not to blame. We should blame ourselves.”
The former President said he was not aware of the book, but only got to know about it last week Monday when two copies were brought to him with a letter inviting him for the event.
He said that he was highly flabbergasted when he read it and that after reading it; he found out that the book is really amazingly good and a must-read.
The book was presented by the former Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mrs Ifueko Omoigui-Okauru.
The Letter Man is a 465-page book on 25 selected letters with different subject matters.
Dignitaries at the launch were former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, represented by former Aviation Minister, Osita Chidoka; former Governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Henry Dickson; the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ahmed Bola Asiwaju Tinubu, represented by former Minister of Culture and Tourism, Femi Fani Kayode.
Other were former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, Dr. Modibbo Umar; former Transportation Minister, Rotimi Amaechi; immediate past Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, represented by the Director-General of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF); Minister of State, former Minister Bolaji Abdullahi; former Managing Director of Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala Usman, among others.
Also represented were the governors of Kaduna, Kogi, Sokoto, minister of information and culture; Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, among others.

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FG Ends Passport Production At Multiple Centres After 62 Years

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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.

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FAAC Disburses N2.225trn For August, Highest In Nigeria

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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.

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KenPoly Governing Council Decries Inadequate Power Supply, Poor Infrastructure On Campus

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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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