The Federal Government, Thursday, has handed over the Certificate of Occupancy and other land documents to late Stephen Keshi and 14 other members of the 1994 Super Eagles Team.
The Sport’s Legend was gifted a three-bedroom flat in Delta State.
According to a statement signed by the Director, Press and Public Relations, Blessing Lere-Adams, the handing-over ceremony was done at the headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, on Thursday in Abuja.
It will be recalled that President Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd) early this year promised to gift houses to twenty-two members of the 1994 Super Eagles Team from the housing units under the National Housing Programme in any state of their choice.
At the handover ceremony, Director, Public Building and Housing, Solomon Labafilo, who handed over the C of O on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria, assured that the remaining nine members will receive their homes soon. addition to the entitled C of O as well.
He said that they will receive them in any of the National Housing Estates of their choice across the country such as in Imo, Abia, Ondo and Bayelsa states
Labafilo added that late Stephen Keshi’s family opted to have his allocated to him in Delta State, his home state where he was also laid to rest.
Speaking on behalf of the family, Ifeanyi Mudabai, expressed gratitude to President Muhammadu Buhari for redeeming the promise after 28 years.
Ifeanyi, who is late Stephen Kechi’s uncle, applauded the Minister of works and housing, Babatunde Fashola, for the thoughtful initiation of fulfilling the promise through the National Housing Programme.

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The House of Representatives, on Thursday, concluded its meetings with stakeholders over the lingering crisis between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities, saying its recommendations would soon be presented to the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).
At the third of the series of marathon meetings held in Abuja, the government’s side urged ASUU to allow their accommodation under the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System.
The ASUU side, however, insisted on an independent and domesticated platform for university lecturers, challenging the National Information Technology Development Agency to prove that the University Transparency Accountability Solution recommended by it failed the integrity test.
The invited parties appeared before the House on Thursday, with the representatives of the government making a fresh offer to ASUU to allow a modification of the IPPIS to accommodate the peculiarities UTAS seeks to recognise.
This is just as Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, said the report of the stakeholders’ roundtable and the recommendations of the parliament would soon be ready.
Gbajabiamila, in his closing remarks at the end of the meeting that lasted two hours, pleaded with ASUU to accept whatever the House eventually recommends in good faith.
He said, “I believe this would be, hopefully, the last meeting we are going to have on this matter because from here, the leadership of the House will put together our reports, our recommendations, and our thoughts and take them to Mr President.
“I am hoping that whatever we have done, ASUU will accept it in good faith—this is an independent arm of the government—and that the government will accept it in good faith as well so that our children can return to school, which is what this is all about.”
The PUNCH reports that earlier, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, stated that the ministers cannot sign any agreement with ASUU until the President approves it, considering the prevailing realities.
Also, the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Folashade Yemi-Esan, pointed out that the government cannot run two parallel payment platforms for workers due to the huge financial implication, urging ASUU to allow the university system to be captured under IPPIS.
The ASUU President, Emmanuel Osodeke, however, pointed out that allowing the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation and the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation to determine who should be paid in the universities would usurp the powers conferred on the governing councils of the institutions.
Osodeke also criticised IPPIS for failing to capture the nuances of university systems.

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The House of Representatives has raised the alarm over the possibility of the Ebola Virus Disease returning to Nigeria, urging the Federal Government to immediately activate preventive measures.
Members of the House at the plenary on Thursday unanimously adopted a motion moved by a lawmaker, Dachung Bagos, who warned that the virus might spread to Nigeria as other African countries have been recording cases of Ebola.
The motion was titled, ‘Urgent public importance on the need for the Federal Government to activate response against the possible detection of Ebola in Nigeria.’
Bagos noted that the Ugandan health authorities, on September 20 declared an outbreak of Ebola disease caused by the Sudan virus following laboratory confirmation of a patient from a village in Madudu sub-county, Mubende District, Central Uganda.
The lawmaker also noted that the World Health Organisation expressed concerns that in the absence of licensed vaccines and therapeutics for the prevention and treatment of the Sudan virus disease, the potential of a risky public health impact is high.
According to him, investigations are ongoing to determine the scope of the outbreak and the possibility of spreading.
Bagos said, “According to the information currently available, the overall risk has been assessed as high at the national level considering the confirmed Sudan virus and the lack of an authorised vaccine, the possibility that the event started three weeks before the identification of the index case and several transmission chains have not been tracked.
“The House is worried that the Ebola virus is giving a lot of people concern around the world, as it was the variant that gave a lot of infections and fatalities in some countries.
“The House is concerned that Nigeria has reason to be warier at the moment as the deadly Ebola virus can get into Nigeria through our borders or travellers coming into Nigeria for business or any reason and could become dominant if unchecked.”
Adopting the motion, the House mandated the Federal Ministry of Health to “immediately activate strategies to be implemented in monitoring adherence to Ebola guidelines and ensure residents continue to comply with all advisories aimed at curtailing the likely development of the virus in Nigeria.”
The lawmakers mandated the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control to ensure intensive observation and check on travel protocols for inbound passengers from red flag countries.
They further mandated the NCDC to set up a national response to control the likely emergence and spread of the Ebola virus to spare Nigerians the brunt of the pandemic.

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The National Examinations Council has revealed that the Niger State Government owes the examination body N500m as debt from unpaid examination fees of students.
Registrar of the examination body, Dantani Wushishi, disclosed this during the release of the results of the 2022 Internal Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations on Thursday in Minna.
“Niger State owes about N500m as they have currently reduced their outstanding debts. The state government has assured us that it will pay and clear off the debts,” Wushishi said.
He confirmed that the examination body is withholding the results of all students in the state as a result of the debt owed by the state government.
The registrar added that he had advised the state government to separate the names of candidates who were self-sponsored from those sponsored by the government to enable them to access their results.
He added, “We have requested from the state government to try and separate the names of those the state is sponsoring and those sponsored by their parents and guardians.
“Jigawa State cleared off its debts and paid for the registration of all its students this year. Kano State has one of the largest numbers of registered students. The state owed close to N1bn but this year they paid for the registration of all the candidates in the state and paid more than 70 per cent of the backlog it owed.”
Wushishi also revealed that the council recorded a decline in examination malpractices in the 2022 internal SSCE as compared to other years.
He said, “In the area of malpractices, 13,595 persons were caught as against 20,003 in the year 2021, which showed an appreciable decline in the number of malpractice cases.”
He said the council had zero tolerance for malpractice, adding that the council recommended the de-recognition of four schools for two years due to their involvement in mass cheating.
Wushishi further stated that supervisors, who were found wanting in their conduct during the examination, had been sanctioned.
He said, “29 supervisors were blacklisted for various offences ranging from poor supervision, insult, aiding and abetting during the examinations.”
The registrar gave the number of candidates that registered for the examinations as 1,209,703; while 1,198,412 sat for the examination.
He further stated that the number of candidates who got five credits and above, including English Language and Mathematics is 727, 864; representing 60.74 per cent.
He added that the number of candidates with special needs is 1, 031 adding that 98 candidates are with albinism, 177 with autism, 574 with hearing impairments and 107 visually impaired.

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The pastoral injunction banning Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka from holding activities at the Adoration Ministry, Enugu Nigeria, has been lifted by the Catholic Diocese of Enugu.
The Director of Communication for the Diocese of Enugu, Rev. Fr. Benjamin Achi, confirmed the lifting of the ban to our correspondent on Thursday.
The diocese’s Bishop, Most Rev. Callistus Onaga, barred Mbaka, who is the Spiritual Director of the Adoration Ministry, from commenting on partisan politics on June 3.
Shortly after the initial ban was lifted, Mbaka violated political neutrality and went into a verbal attack on Peter Obi, describing him as a “stingy man.”
Following another outrage, Onaga issued a pastoral injunction on attendance at the Catholic Adoration Ministry Chaplaincy in Enugu and enjoined all Catholics to stop visiting the ministry till further notice.
However, in a statement issued on Thursday, Mbaka announced the reopening of the Adoration Ministry.
He said, “To the glory of God, Adoration Ministries start on Sunday, October 2, 2022, with 10am mass. God bless you miraculously as you come joyfully to worship God with us. Fr. Mbaka Ejike Camillus.”
However, The PUNCH has learnt that in the future, Mbaka may no longer be in charge of Adoration activities.
Meanwhile, the church has sustained the ban on Mbaka from partaking in political matters.

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The Peoples Democratic Party has refuted the bribery allegation over housing allowances returned by officials of the party.
The PUNCH reported that no fewer than four members of the National Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party returned N122.4 million paid into their accounts by the party.
In the letters sighted by our correspondent, the money was said to be paid as housing allowance into the beneficiaries’ bank accounts.
One of the beneficiaries, the National Vice Chairman (South), Chief Dan Orbih, wrote in his letter notifying the party of returning the money, “My attention has been drawn to a damaging trending story reported in THE NATION Newspaper by Yusuf Alli on September 26, 2022, titled ‘Disquiet in the PDP NWC over N10 billion nomination fees.’ Amongst several other allegations, he alleged that members of the NWC were offered N28 million to gloss over scandalous financial misappropriation.
“To my shock and surprise, it has been confirmed to me by my bank that the sum of N28,800,000 (Twenty-eight million, eight hundred thousand naira) has been credited to my account by the party. I hereby notify you of my decision to pay back the money to the party’s account.
“Kindly confirm receipt of Zenith Bank Manager’s cheques of: N10,000,000, N10,000,000, N8,800,000, TOTAL = N28,800,000 to the Party’s account, A/C: 1000095003, Globus Bank PLC.”
Others who wrote to return the allowance are the party’s National Vice Chairman (South-West) Olasoji Adagunodo; the Deputy National Chairman (South) Taofeek Arapaja; and National Women Leader, Prof. Stella Affah-Attoe.
Responding in a statement signed by the PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, the party described the allegation as misleading.
The PDP said the housing allowances were duly paid to the beneficiaries having passed through the party’s laid down processes.
The statement added that the refund by some of the beneficiaries did not suggest that the allowances were paid as bribes.
The statement read: “The attention of the National Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party has been drawn to misrepresenting reports in a section of the media alluding strange and unfounded motives to the Housing Allowance duly approved and paid to NWC members and staff of the Party.
“The NWC has noted that this misleading report stemmed from an unfounded publication by a particular media outlet which suggested that the Housing Allowance, an entitlement duly approved and paid to national officials and staff of the Party, amounted to bribery.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the PDP states in an unequivocal term that no funds were paid into the account of any member of the NWC as bribe for any purpose whatsoever for that matter.
“To set the record straight, the Housing Allowance being referred to went through the Due Process of the Party in line with the Conditions of Service and Entitlement of the Staff and Principal Officers of the Party.
“If any individual, for any reason, decides to return money duly approved and paid, such does not in any way suggest that the money was paid as bribe or indicate that it was illegitimate or unlawfully paid
“A bribe is defined as ‘money or any other valuable consideration given or promised with a view to corrupting the behaviour of a person especially in that person’s performance as a public official…’ This is not the case in the payment of Housing Allowance duly approved for officials and staff of the Party.
“The PDP, therefore, urges all members, teeming supporters and the general public to disregard the report and misleading insinuation which are clearly designed to malign the PDP, cause disaffection and distract our Party from our mission to Rescue, Rebuild and Redirect our nation from the misrule of the All Progressives Congress.”

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The All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is planning to include an additional 2,000 members in the newly constituted Presidential Campaign Council of the party.
This, The PUNCH gathered, was to pacify APC National Working Committee members and state governors who were dissatisfied with the 422-member campaign council.
The development came against the backdrop of a letter purportedly written by the National Chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Adamu, accusing Tinubu of running a one-man show over the selection of members of the PCC, among others.
Tinubu had last Friday unveiled a 422-man committee comprising political heavyweights and other notable members to pilot the various sub-committees of the campaign council.
The list of members released by Secretary of the Presidential Campaign Council, James Faleke, in Abuja, followed a series of postponements and conjectures about those who would be saddled with the task of leading the ruling party’s bid to retain power at the federal level.
The campaign council chaired by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has Tinubu and the APC national chairman, Adamu, as co-deputy chairman.
Also on the PCC are APC governors, ministers, lawmakers, ambassadors as well as serving and past public office holders.
Zonal and state coordinators, advisers, campaign patrons, directors, deputy directors and secretaries of directorates were also named.
The sub-committees include media and publicity; support group coordination; national youth mobilisation; parliamentarian; trade and economic; agriculturists/commodities; campaign planning; civil societies; Diaspora directorate; election planning and monitoring; finance; fundraising; and humanitarian/social.
Others on the list are ICT/data management; intelligence and security; labour; logistics and support service; medicals; policy research and strategy; protocol and events, and others.
However, the composition of the PCC did not reportedly go down well with some APC governors, especially Governors Ben Ayade of Cross River and AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara State.
The governors were said to have expressed shock over the exclusion of their nominees after the painstaking efforts they took to identify potential candidates who could mobilise support and deliver votes for the party in the 2023 polls.
They were said to have tabled their grievances with the Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum and Governor of Kebbi State, Atiku Bagudu and the national chairman of the APC, Adamu.
Members of the NWC also disowned the PCC list, saying the presidential candidate did not allow them to properly vet the names before he made the premature announcement.
While arguing that the composition of a presidential campaign council is something that ought to be done jointly by the candidate and the party, the aggrieved NWC members maintained that the list contains certain names that shouldn’t have been added because they have little or no electoral value
When contacted on steps the party and its candidate are taking to address the grievances, the spokesperson for the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Festus Keyamo, confirmed that the list released on Friday was inconclusive.
Keyamo disclosed that the earlier published list contained names of leaders in each directorate, adding that a supplementary list of over 2,000 ‘membership cadre’ is on the way.
He said, “All their nominees will be included. The list was released in two parts. The one we released was the first one. In the coming days, more than 2,000 additional names will be released.”
On the difference between the membership cadre and the first, he said the first list contained the heads of each directorate.
He stated, “For instance, in my directorate which is ‘public affairs’, you will see only three names. And, of course, you know only three persons cannot run my department for the whole country.
“Even under Bayo Onanuga in media and publicity, there are only three or four names there. That also cannot run a whole campaign.
“Now, what we are saying is that with the release of the membership cadre, we will now have more than 100 people under each directorate, including mine.
“That’s why I said there is absolutely nothing to fear. The 422-member list is not all the people nominated for our campaign. You know we are more organised than those other people who are falling every day. So, don’t worry.’’
On concerns raised by the APC NWC members that they were not permitted to properly vet the list before it was unveiled to the public, the Senior Advocate of Nigeria noted that there was no iota of truth in the report.
Keyamo added, “They were allowed to scrutinise it. There was a proper synergy between the candidate and the NWC. Beyond the second batch, we still have the governors and governorship candidates who will attend to their state campaign councils.’’

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The Federal Government on Wednesday declared Monday, October 3, 2022, a public holiday to mark the nation’s 62nd Independence anniversary.
The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, who made the declaration on behalf of the Federal Government, congratulated Nigerians on this year’s celebration.
In a statement signed by Shuaib Belgore, the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Aregbesola assured citizens of the government’s commitment to tackling all the challenges facing the nation.
He said, “The world is going through dire economic and security challenges which have also affected our nation. However, I am assuring us all that the government will not abandon the people but will continue to confront all these challenges with all the might at our disposal until respite comes our way.
“Our warmth, welcoming spirit and love as well as our unbounded human capital and the richness of our land, make Nigeria unarguably the leading black nation in the world and Africa’s pride and beacon of hope. If we can rally ourselves together to harness our potential, we shall be the greatest nation on the earth.
“A country of over 200 million people whose natural talents, grit and passion glitter like the precious diamond that we are, Nigerians are sparkling like diamonds in the pack, whether in academia, science and technology, business, innovation, music, entertainment, fashion or culture.”
The minister admonished Nigerians to use the occasion of the celebration to reflect on the challenges facing the nation and the role individuals can play in addressing them.
While wishing Nigerians a memorable independence celebration, he reminded them of the fact that the founding fathers, despite the differences in faith, tribe and tongue, still came together for Nigeria’s independence.
“A country of over 200 million people whose natural talents, grit and passion glitter like the precious diamond that we are, Nigerians are sparkling like diamonds in the pack, whether in academia, science and technology, business, innovation, music, entertainment, fashion or culture.”
The minister admonished Nigerians to use the occasion of the celebration to reflect on the challenges facing the nation and the role individuals can play in addressing them.
While wishing Nigerians a memorable independence celebration, he reminded them of the fact that the founding fathers, despite the differences in faith, tribe and tongue, still came together for Nigeria’s independence.

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