Yuletide: FG declares Dec 26, 27 public holidays
The Federal Government has declared December 26 and 27, 2022, as public holidays to mark Christmas and Boxing Day. The Federal Government also declared Monday, January 2, 2023, as a public holiday to mark the New Year.
Rauf Aregbesola, the Minister of Interior, made the announcement in a statement issued on Friday by Shuaib Belgore, the Permanent Secretary of the ministry.
Aregbesola urged Christians to use this period to emulate the life of Jesus Christ and to embody Christ’s qualities of love, peace, faith, patience, and compassion in everything we do. He also pleaded with Christians and Nigerians to make the best use of this festive period to pray for the total eradication of insecurity bedevilling the country.
He said, “We must imbibe the life of Jesus Christ in His practise and teachings on humility, service, compassion, patience, peace, and righteousness that His birth signifies. This will be the best way to portray Christ and celebrate his birth.
“Peace and security are two critical conditions for economic development and prosperity. We urge Christians and Nigerians to make the best use of this festive period to pray for the total eradication of insecurity bedevilling our dear nation.”
Read also: Court orders FG to pay Nnamdi Kanu N500 million
Kanu tells igbos to disregard sit-at-home order from Ekpa
In the wake of the confusion and subsequent disruption to normalcy that happened in the entire south-eastern region of Nigeria earlier in the week, the detained leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, has called on members of IPOB to disregard any order from the self-acclaimed disciple of his, Simon Ekpa.
His disclaimer comes in the wake of recent threats to residents and businesses in the region to observe the mandatory sit-at-home order that the estranged disciple, Ekpa, gave.
Kalu stated that Ekpa was neither a member of IPOB nor a follower of his self-determination beliefs.
He argued that Ekpa was on it for his selfish objectives and to try to erase the gains of the group in the region.
Ekpa’s five-day sit-at-home order in the region had led to the concern of many people in the region as videos that surfaced online showed the horrific killing of a pregnant market woman selling her wares in the market and also the killing of an All Progressives Congress (APC) supporter by the alleged members of the proscribed IPOB group.
Soludo leads 1,573-man APGA PCC
Charles Soludo, the governor of Anambra State, is expected to lead the 1,573-man Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
This was contained in a statement released by the party’s presidential campaign council on Friday ahead of the 2023 general election.
In the statement, which was co-signed by Victor Oye, the party’s national chairman, and Ifenayi Mbaeri, the party’s national organising secretary,
Other members of the PCC are Abubakar Adamu as the Director General of the Campaign Council and Damian Okolo as the Deputy Director General (Contacts) of the council.
Others include Gilbert Onyekachukwu, the deputy governor of Anambra, Peter Umeadi, the presidential candidate of the party, as well as his running mate, Comrade Mohammed Koli.
Citi, Revlon lenders reach deal over $500mn accidental payment
A court document on Friday showed that Citigroup Inc. has reached an agreement with all 10 Revlon Inc. lenders with whom it mistakenly paid about $500 million on a loan, ending litigation spanning more than two years.
Citigroup, as Revlon’s loan agent, accidentally used its own money in August 2020 to prematurely pay off a $894 million loan owed by billionaire Ronald Perelman’s now-bankrupt cosmetics company.
Some of the recipients returned their payouts to Citi after realising the mistake, which the U.S. bank blamed on human error, but the 10 lenders refused, saying the bank paid what they were owed.
“About three-quarters of the mistaken payments have now been returned to Citibank,” lawyers for both Citigroup and the lenders said in a letter to a federal judge.
Citibank expects to file notices of dismissal in the coming weeks if payments are made as per the agreement, the document said.
Friday’s resolution ends more than two years of litigation by Citigroup against Brigade Capital Management, HPS Investment Partners, Symphony Asset Management, and the other lenders over a blunder that the bank’s chief executive, Jane Fraser, called a “massive, unforced error.” This is according to Reuters.
China’s retail, factory output slump as COVID curbs hit growth
Challenged by the resurgence of the COVID-19 epidemic, China’s economy lost more in November than it had anticipated as factory output slowed and retail sales extended declines, both missing forecasts and clocking their worst readings in six months.
According to Al-Jazeera, the data suggested a further deterioration in economic conditions as lockdowns in many cities, a property-sector crunch, and weakening global demand pointed to a bumpy road ahead even as Beijing ditched some of the world’s toughest anti-virus restrictions.
Industrial output rose 2.2 percent in November from a year earlier, missing expectations for a 3.6 percent gain in a Reuters poll and slowing significantly from the 5 percent growth seen in October, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data showed on Thursday. It marked the slowest growth since May, when Shanghai was under lockdown, partly due to disruptions in key manufacturing hubs like Guangzhou and Zhengzhou.
