Five things to know to start your Thursday

Electricity supply industry debt to NDPHC is now over N100bn – MD

Chiedu Ogbo, the Managing Director of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), said Wednesday that the electricity supply industry owes the company over N100 billion.

Ogbo made this revelation known during his address at the 2022 seminar for power correspondents. “……, the electricity supply industry is owing NDPHC over N100bn,” he said.

He revealed that the company, which is jointly owned by the federal, state, and local governments and mandated with the responsibility of managing the National Integrated Power Projects (NIPP), has diversified into renewable energy.

According to him, the company has installed 20,000 solar home units and plans to install an additional 100,000 across the country.

He outlined the 10 thermal plants that were designed under the NIPP to include the Ihovbor Power Station in Benin, Edo State; the Calabar Power Station in Cross River State; the Egbema Power Station in Imo State; and the Gbarain Power Station in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

Read also: AfDB, World Bank set to reform electricity sector with GERI report

APC Campaign: Tinubu fails to give speech at Niger rally

Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), failed to give any speech at his campaign rally in Niger State.

The campaign rally which took place on Wednesday at the Trade Fair Complex in Minna, the state capital had in attendance some of the party chieftains and a large crowd of supporters who came from the parts of the state to show their support to him.

The crowd of supporters who were excited to see the former governor of Lagos State kept shouting and yelling his name, much to the excitement of the party chieftains who were at the podium with him.

Unfortunately, the party’s presidential candidate was unable to give any speech unlike previous campaigns where delivers heartwarming speeches.

The party supporters who had arrived at the venue as early as 7 a.m. in anticipation of Tinubu were even more ecstatic after the APC candidate shouted, “Niger Sai Bagode.”

After shouting, Tinubu returned to his seat, perhaps exhausted from all his travels, a situation that made the Master of Ceremony (MC) announce the end of the campaign in Niger State.

According to an eyewitness, the whole situation played out in exactly less than 15 minutes.

PVC collection: INEC commends Kaduna residents for large turnout

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Kaduna State has commended residents in the state for their large turnout over the collection of  their permanent voter cards (PVC).

This outcome comes as the electoral body makes aggressive efforts to push PVC distribution nationwide.

This exercise is part of a plan carried out by the electoral body across the 23 local government areas of the state in preparation for the 2023 general election. The PVC distribution exercise had been scheduled from Monday, December 12 to Sunday, January 22, 2023.

Reports from some sources claim that a large crowd of registrants could be seen in some INEC offices, while others had less. In Kaduna North LGA, as many as 400 registrants collected their PVCs on Wednesday, a situation that drew commendation from INEC.

Speaking to newsmen, Sani Namadina, the Electoral Officer in the Kaduna North LGA, urged others who registered between January and July this year to get themselves ready to collect their own PVCs.

“As we started issuing the PVC on Monday, 12th December 2022, the turnout was quite impressive. On that day, all of us distributed about 425 voter cards,” he said. “For today, I cannot precisely say but for yesterday, we distributed about 300. You know, at the end of the day, we are going to add the number of people that have collected their cards every day. And we close at 3pm.

“I can’t precisely say ‘these are our challenges’ because up till now, none of the people that are coming to collect cards is saying he has this or that issue. The only challenge we are facing is that we are waiting for the new cards, that is, fresh ones for people who did their registration this year.”

Ghana cedi firms more than 12% after $3bn IMF staff level agreement

A piece of good news arrived Ghana on Wednesday after the local currency, the Cedi appreciated by 12 percent the strongest level in three months following the country’s $3 billion staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

According to data from Refinitiv, the Cedi closed at 9.5 cedi, the fourth in session even though it has lost nearly 40 percent since the start of the year.

On Tuesday, the IMF and Ghana announced that they had reached an agreement for the three-year loan.

U.S. Senate passes bill to bar federal employees from using TikTok on government-owned devices

The diplomatic row between the United States and China took another dimension after the U.S. Senate late on Wednesday passed by voice vote a bill to bar federal employees from using Chinese-owned short video-sharing app TikTok on government-owned devices.

However, for it to become law, the bill must still be approved by the U.S. House of Representatives before going to President Joe Biden for approval. The lower house is expected to pass the Senate bill before the end of the current congressional session.

The vote is the latest action on the part of U.S. lawmakers to crackdown on Chinese companies amid national security fears that Beijing could use them to spy on Americans. This is according to Reuters.