US orders non-emergency staff, families to leave Abuja over terror threat
The United States government has ordered its non-emergency diplomatic staff and their families to leave Abuja, following the possibility of a “heightened risk of terrorist attacks.”
The State Department did not specify the threat but warned that the terrorists could attack at any moment, using public places such as malls, markets, hotels, bars, restaurants, or schools as prime soft targets.
This latest warning comes after the embassy on Sunday asked its citizens to limit their movements in Abuja due to information they received about an imminent attack on the capital city. A similar warning has been repeated by the Canadian, Australian, and British high commissions.
This is not only the second warning in a week, but it also demonstrates how daring the Islamic State for West Africa Province (ISWAP) has taken its threats in the capital city. With the group responsible for the Kuje prison attack and other terrorist linked attacks, the US embassy found information about an imminent attack very dependable.
However, the Federal Government has urged residents living in Abuja to stay calm, take all necessary precautionary measures to safeguard themselves and report any suspicious movements to the authorities.
The police, the Department of State Services (DSS), and other security agencies have so far been taking more measures to safeguard residents and visitors in the capital city.
FG, states, LGAs share N760.235bn for September
The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) said Thursday that it shared the sum of N760.235 billion to the three tiers of government as federation allocation for September.
According to a statement issued by Phil Abiamuwe-Mowete, the Director (Information/Press) of FAAC, from the N790.235 billion, the Federal Government received the sum of N294.244 billion, the states received N233.223 billion, while the Local Government Councils received N172.776 billion.
Meanwhile, the oil producing states received N59.992 billion as derivation, (13 per cent of mineral revenue).
However, a sum of N60 billion savings were from non-oil revenue and Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL).
The gross revenue available from the value added tax for September was N189.928 billion.
FBN Holdings Q3 PAT hits N91.2bn
FBN Holdings (FBNH) Plc has declared that its profit after tax (PAT) for the third quarter ended September 30 grew to N91.2 billion.
The company stated this in its third quarter results released on Thursday in Lagos.
This growth signified a 123.6 percent growth from the N40.8 billion reported in its Q3 2021 financial statement.
Despite a negative headwind from some unfavourable macroeconomic factors, the bank was able to record a 99.3 percent increase in profit before tax (PBT) from N52.9 billion in Q3 2021 to N105.5 billion in Q3 this year.
Nnamdi Okonkwo, the group managing director, said that the repositioning of the bank’s operations to adapt and evolve in the country’s challenging macroeconomic environment had been largely responsible for the impressive growth in profit.
“FBN Holdings has again in Q3, 2022, delivered a stellar performance, growing sustainable income from our core businesses.
“This is a testament to the success of our focus on carefully growing the business and driving profitability,” Okonkwo said.
Elon Musk takes control of Twitter
Elon Musk has completed his $44 billion Twitter deal.
A CNN report on Thursday said that the world’s richest man took control over the microblogging company after completing the much talked about, tempestuous $44 billion deal.
The media giant said that a source familiar with the deal said Musk fired Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and two other executives.
This development, a much welcome one, puts an end to the uncertainty that hung over Twitter’s business, employees, and shareholders for much of the year. After initially agreeing to buy the company in April, Musk spent months attempting to get out of the deal, first citing concerns about the number of bots on the platform and later allegations raised by a company whistleblower.
In the early stages of the deal, Musk had said that he planned to rethink Twitter’s content moderation policies in service of a more maximalist approach to “free speech.”
Another concern for the SpaceX founder was the issue of the permanent ban of some users who repeatedly violate its rules. He had disagreed with that policy, raising the potential of banned users returning to the platform.
This became a major issue after President Donald Trump, the US ex-president, was kicked off of the platform following his violation of this rule.
With the completion of this agreement, Trump may be reunited with his more than 1 million-strong Twitter following.
Rishi Sunak won’t attend global COP27 climate summit
The British prime minister has decided not to attend the U.N. COP27 climate summit in Egypt, citing the need to focus on domestic priorities.
According to Politico, Rishi Sunak’s office said his decision not to attend the global summit, which kicks off on November 6, does not signal a downgrading of climate change as a government priority.
“It is a recognition of other pressing domestic commitments, not least preparations for the autumn budget,” a spokeswoman for No. 10 Downing Street said. “We remain committed to net zero and to leading international and domestic action to tackle climate change. The U.K. is forging ahead of many other countries on net zero.”
The U.K., which held the COP26 presidency, will continue to “make sure that all countries are making progress on the historic commitments they made” at last year’s conference in Glasgow, the spokesperson added.
COP26 President Alok Sharma and other ministers will attend on behalf of the U.K., she confirmed.
Liz Truss, Sunak’s predecessor, had been expected to travel to Egypt for the conference.
