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Federal Government Approves Salary Increase for Civil Servants

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FG Approves Salary Increase for Civil Servants

 

The Federal Government has approved an increase of between 25% and 35% in salary Increase for Civil Servants on the remaining six Consolidated Salary Structures

 

The Salary Structure is the Consolidated Public Service Salary Structure (CONPSS), Consolidated Research and Allied Institutions Salary Structure (CONRAISS), Consolidated Police Salary Structure (CONPOSS), Consolidated Para-military Salary Structure (CONPASS), Consolidated Intelligence Community Salary Structure (CONICCS) and Consolidated Armed Forces Salary Structure (CONAFSS).

 

It will be recalled that those in the Tertiary Education and Health Sectors had already received their increases which involved Consolidated University Academic Salary Structure (CONUASS) and Consolidated Tertiary Institutions Salary Structure (CONTISS)

for Universities.

 

For Polytechnics and Colleges of Education, it involved the

Consolidated Polytechnics and Colleges of Education Academic Staff Salary Structure (CONPCASS) and Consolidated Tertiary Educational Institutions Salary Structure (CONTEDISS).

 

The Health Sector also benefitted through the Consolidated Medical

Salary Structure (CONMESS) and Consolidated Health Sector Salary Structure (CONHESS).

 

A statement signed by the Head of Press, National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC), Emmanuel Njoku said the increases take effect from 1st January 2024.

 

The Federal Government has also approved increases In pension of between 20% and 28% for pensioners on the Defined Benefits Scheme in respect to the above-mentioned six consolidated salary structures with effect from 1st January 2024.

Bisade Ologunde – The Iconic Story of Lagbaja and why he cover’s his face

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Bisade Ologunde, known professionally as Lagbaja, is a Nigerian music legend. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, he was a household name, despite the fact that his music career began much earlier. His musical style is distinct, as his stage presence.

He is recognized for performing in traditional attire comparable to that worn by masquerade, with the exception of a few holes around the nose and mouth.

 

Lagbaja’s musical persona is based on mystery, as evidenced by his stage name, which basically translates to ” Nobody. ” Lagbaja can also be interpreted as ” Faceless one” or ” Anonymous. ” He has never performed with his face exposed, which has piqued the interest of many fans.

 

As a result, it’s no surprise that Lagbaja’ s true identity is a hot topic on the internet. A brief web search will turn up various photos claiming to show Lagbaja’ s true face. Most of the photos online that claim to be of Lagbaja aren’t genuine. As a result, we present to you in this the undiscovered story of Lagbaja and the real identity of the West African music legend.

 

Bisade Olugunde was born in Nigeria, in 1960. Lagbaja currently clocked the age of 64. He is from Kwara state’ s Oyun local government area; little is known about his early life, but he was raised as a Baptist. During his lifetime, his father served as a Baptist deacon. He had a typical Nigerian boyhood, growing up in a time when the country had only recently earned independence and things were much better than they are now. Deacon D. A Olugunde, his father, passed away in 2012.

 

Lagbaja did his master’s at the University of Lagos, and BSc from Obafemi Awolowo University where he studied Education Biology

He worked for the Kwara state government as a retired civil servant. He was a retired civil servant in the employment of the Kwara state government. He worked for the Kwara state government as a retired civil servant. His father worked in the cabinet of Cornell David Bamingboye, Kwara state’ s first military administration. On his mother’ s identity, no information is publicly available.

 

Lagbaja is well educated, although it is unknown which schools he attended; nevertheless, it was later disclosed that he received his tertiary education from Obafemi Awolowo University Ile Ife. To keep his identity disguised, much about the man is kept hidden from the public eye. Lagbaja rose to prominence through music, and he is noted for his distinct sound and fashion sense. In the early 1990s, he began his musical career.

 

The saxophone is Lagbaja’ s favorite instrument, which he taught himself. In 1991, he created his first modest band in Lagos, Nigeria, after mastering the saxophone. The band was a regular performer at Lagos’ Sea Garden venue. Their music was influenced by 1960s high life music as well as Western jazz percussion instruments like the talking drum and congas, which featured significantly in their tunes.

 

The band had built up enough local support and was earning gigs at the French Institute after performing at the Sea Garden for a period. The band’ s first album, ” The Colours Of The Rhythm, ” was published in 1992. He continued to release music after that, but his breakthrough came in 2000 with the release of the double album ” We and Me. ” The playlist was harsh in its criticism of Nigerian politicians and asked that they be transparent. It also urged unity and brotherhood in the country. Ego Iheanacho accompanied him on the vocals for the tunes. The album’ s popularity spurred him to create more, and his songs were well received by fans at the time.

 

Lagbaja is currently married with children, however there are no images of his wife online. His wife’ s identity is a well guarded secret, so those hoping for photos of Lagbaja’ s wife will be disappointed. You won’ t discover much information about his children, however Moyosade, one of his daughters, is well- known. In the year 2013, Moyosade married Olamide Oblilana in Opebi, Lagos.

 

The ceremony was attended by Lagbaja without his mask, but visitors were not allowed to take photographs.

 

Moyosade is believed to work for a company in the United States as a management specialist. She earned a master’ s degree in business administration from Pennsylvania State University.

 

Without a doubt, Lagbaja has found success as a musician and will be remembered as one of Nigeria’ s musical superstars. He and his family now reside in Manhattan, New York City, in the United States.

 

A source revealed to NaijaGists the reason why Lagbaja never unmask his face.

 

According to the source: “This is not Lagbaja, I know him. Why are you even trying to unmask him? He has his reasons for wearing the mask.

 

He used to be in the choir in one Baptist Church in Ilorin and his parents are prominent Baptist members. His family opposed his decision to sing that kind of music.

 

They believed that he wanted to disgrace them because of their position in the church. That was why he put the mask”.

 

The Ologundes are from Ijagbo near Offa in Kwara State.

Susanne Wenger with Ajagemo, an high priest of Obatala in Ede, circa 1955

Susanne Wenger with Ajagemo, an high priest of Obatala in Ede, circa 1955. Photo: Ulli Beier

Born in Graz, Austria in 1915. She was a sculptor and illustrator. She met her first husband Ulli Beier in 1949 while on a work tour of Europe. Beier had been offered a position as a phoneticist at the University College Ibadan. The position was only offered to a married lecturer, the couple who had given little consideration to marriage prior to the offer decided to get married in London and emigrated to Nigeria.

 

After living in Ìbàdàn for a few years, the couple moved to Ẹdẹ, where she had her first contact with and initiation into the traditional Yorùbá religion by her spiritual mentor and dear friend, the Ọbàtálá priest called Ajagẹmọ Láaró.

 

Thereafter, she became engrossed with the development and promotion of the Yorùbá religion and culture particularly the Osun Grove, where as the custodian of the scared grove she built and dotted the forests of the Sacred Grove with works of arts and created a new art movement known as New Sacred Art. It was a branch of Osogbo School of Arts that guards the Sacred Grove of Osun goddess on the banks of the Osun River in Osogbo.

 

Thanks to her, the Osun River Grove has been preserved for posterity and has become a global attraction to different nationals across the world.

 

Though her marriage with Bieir later ended in divorce, she later got married to a Yorùbá man, Lasisi Alarape, and continued to promote Yoruba culture and tradition in Osogbo.

 

She died in 2009 at the age of 93 in her Osogbo residence.

 

The NNPC commenced unloading 240 million liters of petrol over fuel shortage in the country

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The NNPC commenced unloading 240 million liters of petrol, on Monday in response to the escalating nationwide petrol shortage.

On Monday, a total of 240 million liters of petrol were imported into the country through five vessels, and subsequently unloaded into five depots.

 

The confirmation was made by Ayo Cardoso, who serves as the South-West Regional Coordinator for the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority.

 

He said, “We are doing something about the fuel crisis; very soon it will be over. Vessels are discharging as I am talking to you. What we are concentrating on is to push the NNPC, which is the supplier of last resort, to make sure they wet the entire populace.

 

“So, we have about five vessels already discharging the product, about 240 million litres are being discharged as I am talking to you right now. We are working round the clock.

 

“But then, once you have a problem, it takes like one or two weeks to (normalise), but people will keep on panicking, which is not supposed to be. All these kinds of things disrupt the normal way of operations. But with 240 million litres coming in from five vessels discharging to five depots already today, things will get back to normal,”

Embrace the Tariff Increase or Prepare for Complete Power Outages – Minister of power, Adebayo Adelabu cautions Nigerians 

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The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, issued a caution on Monday, stating that if the planned increase in electricity tariffs is not put into effect, the nation will face a complete power outage within the next three months.

The minister revealed this information yesterday in Abuja during his appearance before the Senate Committee on Power for an inquiry into the recent electricity tariff increase by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory

 

He said, “The entire sector will be grounded if we don’t increase the tariff. With what we have now in the next three months, the entire country will be in darkness if we don’t increase tariffs.

 

“The increment will catapult us to the next level. We are also Nigerians, we are also feeling the impact.”

 

“For this sector to be revived, the government needs to spend nothing less than 10 billion dollars annually in the next 10 years.

 

“This is because of the infrastructure requirement for the stability of the sector. But the government cannot afford that. And so we must make this sector attractive to investors and to lenders.

 

“So, for us to attract investors and investment, we must make the sector attractive, and the only way it can be made attractive is that there must be commercial pricing.

 

“If the value is still at N66 and the government is not paying subsidy, the investors will not come. But now that we have increased the tariff for A Band, there are interests being shown by investors,”

Wizkid, Davido exchange more online blows  

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The online battle between musical stars, Ayodeji Balogun, also known as Wizkid, and David Adedeji, a.k.a Davido continued Monday night.

 

Wizkid had earlier thrown a shade at Davido. While responding to a fan’s request on X for new music, he posted a leaked video of Davido begging who was believed to be a female associate.

 

The Grammy award-winning singer also dismissed the successful music producer and label owner, Don Jazzy, as an ‘influencer’,

 

This generated uproar on the micro-blogging platform with many wondering what could be wrong with both men.

 

However, Davido, on Monday night dropped a series of cryptic tweets believed to be responses to the Ojuelegba crooner.

 

In one of the tweets, Davido said, “Dem no know your Gbedu”, believed to be aimed at Wizkid who said he would drop his much anticipated Morayo album in May.

 

Not stopping, the Aiye crooner tweeted, “When light comes, darkness vanishes. Let get active.

 

Davido also posted a video of his wife, Chioma Adeleke, with the caption, “They were trying to distract us, baby no mind dem”.

 

Wizkid meanwhile responded with first a dig, tweeting, “U and all ur crew plus ur pant washer songwriter go to sleep at night thinking you got anything on me in music 🤣😂 wish u all well ✌️”

 

He followed it up with another tweet, “U know what..no point. delusional niggas 😇 pray for y’all” which was quoted directly with a response, “WE NOT DELUSIONAL YOU’RE A SICK MAN” by Davido suggesting no love lost between both Afrobeat stars.

 

The Jaiye Jaiye crooner not holding back, quoted the tweet with the same leaked video of Davido.

 

The rift between both superstars will come as a surprise to many considering they were recently spotted hugging in a Lagos night club.

 

Before the club meeting, Wizkid had announced in 2023, plans of a joint tour with his rival.

 

He took to his Instagram story to announce that the expedition would take place after the tour for his fifth studio album ‘More Love, Less Ego (MLLE)’ which was dropped in mid 2023.

 

“After my MLLE tour!! Davido and I going on tour! save your coins! I no wan hear him,” he wrote

Mystery death at VGC: Homicide detectives spread dragnet to unravel cause of death

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More details, yesterday, emerged over the circumstances surrounding the death of Chairman of highbrow Victoria Garden City, VGC, Estate resident association, in Lagos, Gihan Mbelu, 42, just as the police have spread their dragnet to unravel the mystery surrounding the tragedy by carrying out an autopsy test.

 

Vanguard learned that the man, said to be a half-caste as his father was from one of the states in the South East, while his mother is a foreigner, was seen in the early hours of the day he died moving into the estate and greeting friends and well-wishers, happily.

 

It was gathered he later drove towards a popular restaurant inside the estate called ‘Swiss Restaurant,’ parked his SUV outside their gate and proceeded inside to buy a bottle of soft drink and bottled water.

 

He was seen strolling into his car but he did not drive out. Neighbours said the deceased, who also owned a mansion around another highbrow area of the state, Ikoyi, used to shuttle between Victoria Garden Estate and Ikoyi, where members of his family reside.

 

In the morning the ugly incident took place, he reportedly came from Ikoyi to VGC and moved to the restaurant, where he bought the drinks and later retired to rest inside his car.

 

Sources at the restaurant told Vanguard that it was strange that he parked his car outside the gate because he used to locate a particular space inside the restaurant where he parked his car.

 

However, police sources said his lifeless body was discovered about 11p.m same day inside his car after a security man on night duty noticed that his car was steaming and had been parked for long outside their gate.

 

He subsequently approached the car only to see that the owner was inside but on further scrutiny, the security man also observed that the person inside was lifeless.

 

He then raised the alarm and his colleagues were invited and after further observation and hard knocks around the car without response from the person inside, the police and the estate guards were invited. They later forced open the car only to discover that the person inside was lifeless.

 

Vanguard learned that the case has been transferred to the State Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Department, SCIID, Panti, Yaba, where plans are in top gear to conduct an autopsy on the body of the victim with a view to ascertaining the cause of his death.

 

Via Vanguard

How I collected $600,000 for Emefiele – CBN ex-director tells court

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A former Director of Information Technology of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, John Ayoh, has explained how he collected $600,000 allegedly for contract gratification for the embattled ex-apex bank governor, Godwin Emefiele.

 

Ayoh, while being led in evidence by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) counsel, Mr Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), on Monday, told an Ikeja Special Offences Court that he spent eight years in the apex bank.

 

He told the court that he received a letter from the agency concerning two transactions he facilitated through Emefiele.

 

Ayoh, Head of Procurement and Support Services, PSS Department, told the court that the first envelope containing $400,000 was brought to his house in Lekki.

 

In contrast, he received the second envelope containing $200,000 at the Tinubu Head Office of the CBN.

 

Ayoh said he was vested with powers to receive applications for the award of contracts to select successful bidders.

 

According to him, the first leg of the transaction was at his residence in Lekki Phase One, while the second envelope money he received occurred at the Tinubu Head Office of the CBN.

 

“The man to deliver the second transaction came to our office in Lagos, and I informed the governor, but he said he did not want to see a third party and that I should bring the envelope myself.

 

“I complied with the instruction and delivered it to his office. Mr John Adeola was the one I sent my address to, and he came to my house. He is the governor’s assistant, and the total money I received on his behalf was $400,000 and $200,000,” he alleged.

 

The witness informed the court that the vendors who allegedly brought the envelopes with money were in charge of implementing Netapp Storage Architectural and Infrastructural Services.

 

While under cross-examination by the first defence counsel, Mr Olalekan Ojo (SAN), he told the court that his schedule of duties did not include running errands for Emefiele, but he directly worked under him.

 

Ayoh confirmed to the court that Emefiele was not a member of the PSS but a member of the Major Contract Tender Committee (MCTC).

 

He added that he had never facilitated the commission of any crime.

 

Ojo asked if the witness wrote in his statement that he was forced to aid or abet the commission of accepting gratification.

 

“I do not remember the exact word that I used, and I did not write in my statement that I opened the two envelopes on the two occasions to check the total sum of money.

 

“I wrote a statement, which implied that the money in the envelopes was given to me to influence the contract award. I did not take part in the decision of the MCTC, but I recommended that the prize be given, and I was not bribed.

 

“The EFCC invited me on February 17. I was not arrested, but I returned home on administrative bail”, the witness said.

 

The witness told the court that he operated under duress while he received the two envelopes from the contractors.

 

“On your honour, did you indicate in your statement that you were acting under duress while running errands for the first defendant,” the learned silk asked.

 

The prosecution, however, objected to the question and argued that the witness’s statement was not before the court.

 

The first defence counsel sought to admit the defendant’s statement into evidence.

 

After that, Justice Rahman Oshodi admitted the witness’s statement (three pages) into evidence, following the arguments and counterarguments of the counsel.

 

The witness told the court that the instructions from Emefiele indicated that he bent the rules.

 

The judge, after that, adjourned the case until May 3 for continuation of cross-examination.

 

Emefiele’s counsel also pleaded with the court to release the defendant to him on self-recognition because he had not met with his bail application.

 

The learned silk, however, prayed to the court that the defendant would meet up before May 17.

 

There were no objections from the second defence counsel, and the prosecution left the decision at the court’s discretion.

 

Recall that a dispatch rider had allegedly collected $3 million in cash for the embattled ex-CBN governor.

 

Emefiele has been under investigation since his removal as CBN boss last June by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

CBN stops Opay, Kuda, Palmpay, Moniepoint from boarding new customers

Four Nigerian fintech companies have been directed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to suspend onboarding new customers.

 

The affected fintech are OPay, Palmpay, Kuda Bank, and Moniepoint.

 

This directive comes amidst investigations into allegations that accounts on these platforms have been used for illegal foreign exchange transactions.

 

A representative from two of the affected companies confirmed the CBN’s order is linked to these accusations.

 

However, they noted that the directive might be misdirected, as the majority of the implicated accounts belong to commercial banks, not fintech platforms.

 

“I can confirm that 90% of the accounts implicated in the illicit forex transactions are with commercial banks, and only 10% are with fintechs,” one of the sources said.

 

“Why then has the CBN not extended this directive to the commercial banks? We face a widespread issue here, and targeting fintechs seems like an unfair focus on the more vulnerable targets.”

Court Stops Increment In Prices Of DSTV And GOTV Subscription

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A Federal High Court in Abuja, on Monday, ordered the stoppage of the planned increase in DStv and GOtv subscription prices by Multichoice Nigeria Limited.

 

The Pay-TV operator, Multichoice Nigeria Limited, had last week announced another price increment across its DStv and GOtv packages effective May 1, 2024.

 

The company attributed the price increases to “rise in the cost of business operations” in Nigeria.

 

According to the notice signed by Multichoice CEO, John Ugbe, and sent to its subscribers and customers via email last week Wednesday, a copy of which was sighted by our Correspondent, the new prices for DStv packages are Premium package will now cost N37,000 monthly as against the current N29,500 subscription fee.

 

The price of the Compact+ bouquet has also increased to N25,000 from 19,800 monthly.

DStv said subscribers on its Compact bouquet will now pay N15,700 as against N12,500 they are currently paying, while those on the Confam package are to pay N9,300, compared to N7,400 currently being paid.

 

Under the new price regime, viewers on DStv Yanga bouquet will now be paying N5,100 for the monthly subscription, instead of the N4,200 currently being paid.

 

Padi subscribers will, from May 1, 2024, be paying N3,600 instead of the current N2,950 price.

HDPVR Access subscribers will pay N5,000 as against the N4,000 being paid now.

 

For GOtv users, Multichoice said customers on its Supa Plus package will now be paying N15,700, from the current price of N12,500. Its Supa bouquet will now go for N9,600 as opposed to the current N7,600 being charged.