British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Ambassador Richard Montgomery has said that the United Konhdom government’s new policy on the restriction of foreign student visas is aimed at managing the pressure on social services for scholars. Montgomery, who said this during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja, explained that the policy was not targeted at discouraging Nigerian …

The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has confirmed the deaths of five Nigerian pilgrims participating in the ongoing Hajj in Saudi Arabia. On Saturday during a meeting of the commission in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, the head of NAHCON Hajj medical team, Usman Galadima said that 30 patients also have mental health challenges. He identified the delegates as two each …

Former Zamfara State Governor, Alhaji Bello Matawalle has donated N200 million to various categories of people in the state for the Eid-el-Kabir celebrations. In a statement in Gusau, the state capital, on Saturday, state Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Malam Yusuf Idris quoted the state Chairman of the party Alhaji Tukur Danfulani as saying that the beneficiaries …

The Ogun State Police Command says flash points in Ogun State will be taken over by security personnel during the coming Muslim festival (Eid-el Adha). The command also said that that the police and sister agencies would patrol the state, adding that there would be stop-and-search. In a statement on Saturday, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Superintendent Omotola Odutola …

The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has said that about 97,000 passport booklets issued remained uncollected in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. This, it said, was due to third party applications and instances where some people dropped wrong contact information during their application. In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Friday, NIS Public …

President Bola Tinubu on Saturday departed France for London, according to a statement by his Special Adviser on Special Duties, Communications and Strategy, Mr. Dele Alake. President Tinubu had concluded his official trip to Paris, France on Friday, during which he had an outstanding participation in the summit for ‘A New Global Financing Pact’, hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron. …

Barely a week to Sallah, ram sellers at the Kara end of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway on Friday lamented low sales, blaming the low patronage on the prevailing economic situation and the sudden increase in the cost of transporting the animals from the northern part of the country. Similarly, some buyers said that ram prices had gone up, lamenting that it …

Those familiar with road travel before fancy luxury buses and jeeps displaced wooden-back Bedford light trucks, famously called mammy wagons, might remember this ubiquitous message in cursive, bright colours scrawled on the rear and sometimes on the sides of trucks plying highways in Nigeria’s South-East: “No condition is permanent”. I’m not quite sure what the motivation was. My guess is …

The Department of State Services (DSS) has called for vigilance before and during next week’s Eid-el-Kabir celebrations. This, the service said, was imperative as reports had indicated plans by hoodlums to attack worship and recreational centres before and during the festivities. In a statement in Abuja on Thursday, the Public Relations Officer of the DSS, Dr. Peter Afunanya said the evil …

The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) said that airlifting of pilgrims to the Holy Land will end on Saturday. The commission asked intending pilgrims, yet to be airlifted, to reach the nearest Pilgrims’ Welfare agency for confirmation and subsequent dispatch for the 2023 Hajj Pilgrimage. In a statement on Thursday, NAHCON’s Assistant Director for Public Affairs, Fatima Usara said: “Outbound …