EVERY HOUR

"It is instructive to know that the 19 northern states, which account for over 54 per cent of the country's population and over 70 per cent of its landmass collectively generated only 21 per cent of the total sub-national Internally Generated Revenue in 2017."

Add cSudan's President Omar El-Bashir and Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika were ousted within two weeks of each other. Sudan and  Algeria  can easily evoke memories of the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions of 2010 and 2011. Like their neighbours, Sudanese and Algerian protesters managed to overthrow their autocratic leaders after decades of rule, in a matter of months, and without a single shot fired. Marching, chanting, resisting and daring, the people of  Sudan  and Algeria pressed on with their calls for freedom and democracy until they were able to disarm the old guard - politicians and generals alike - and force them to acquiesce to their initial demands. It may still be too early to judge, but so far it looks like these latecomers have learned important lessons from Arab as well as other revolutions. In fact, Sudan and Algeria may well be able to deter the counter-revolution and avert the dangers of civil war. The signs are hopeful. Non-viole...

Atiku Abubakar's father, Garba Abubakar, was jailed for days for refusing to allow Atiku to acquire  western education and wants Atiku to venture into trading until Atiku's mother (Kande) paid a fine before the  father was released. Thereafter, Atiku was enrolled in Jada primary school, Yola. Atiku's paternal grandfather is called Atiku Abdulqadir, he gave birth to Garba Abubakar who then gave birth to Atiku Abubakar in Jada village in November, 1946. Atiku Abubakar  completed his primary school education in 1960 and was admitted into Adamawa Provincial Secondary School in the same year. He later got his West African School Certificate in 1965  and then proceeded to attend Nigerian Police College, Kaduna. He couldn't continue in police collage because he was poor in mathematics. Eyah! Eyah!! Eyah!!! That is not the end. He moved to Kano school of Hygiene in 1966 and graduated with a diploma in 1967. You could imagine how a typical struggling Nigerian you...

"If our country ranks first in Africa, and the whole world is watching us today, it is not because we have the Vatican, the Kabba, the White House, the Elysee or the Taj Mahal here at home. No more because you have a certain Paul Kagame as Head of State, but rather because you have sons and daughters of Rwanda in this country. Men and especially young people and Rwandan women who have forgiven each other, and who have taken the destiny of their country in their hands, by the meaning of work, innovations and patriotism as key to their progress and development . What we are doing here in Rwanda is not a miracle, nor is it impossible elsewhere, it is simply the commitment of an entire nation, especially Rwandan youth and women, but also political will. Soon, we will have the best universities in the world in our country (NYU, Harvard, London School of Economics, MIT ...) We will also have the best hospitals in Rwanda. The intelligence and competence of our children wil...

President Nana Akufo - Addo While some African countries are considering increasing Value Added Tax (VAT) also known as Goods and Services Tax (GST), GHANA is already thinking outside the box. To save us the boredom of reading long stories, let me summarize here: *Ghana has abolished VAT/GST on real estate sales. *Ghana has abolished VAT on financial services. *Ghana has abolished capital gains tax on sales of shares on the stock exchange. *Ghana has abolished import duty on spare parts. *Ghana has abolished the 1% import levy. *Ghana has abolished VAT on domestic airline tickets. *Ghana has reduced very significantly VAT on small traders from 17.5% to 3%. *Ghana is going to abolish all import duty on raw materials and machinery imported into Ghana. *Ghana is embarking on a massive industrialization drive called One District, One Factory. And there are 216 districts in Ghana. There is now a focus on production. Now, Ghana has two major advantages: p...

The aspiration of Senator Ahmed Lawan to lead the 9th Senate has received a knock as some group of people from his home state has associated with Senator Ali Ndume. Ali Ndume, the Senator representing Borno South has stood firm with his aspiration despite the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) endorsing the candidature of Lawan. A movement surfaced in Yobe State on Sunday calling on all aspiring senators for the Senate President to rest their aspiration and support Ali Ndume. The group, with the name: “Yobe Support Group for Ndume”, on Sunday in a statement, signed by Comrade Abubakar Nguru, it’s Convener, said the ongoing bickering over selection and election of senate president in June would only be addressed amicably if justice and fairness is allowed. He said the leadership choice of the party for the 9th Assembly is undemocratic, unacceptable by the majority of the party’s supporters. Nguru described Lawan, who is the incumbent Senate Leader, as lacking in equal q...

An Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) accredited observer for the House of Assembly elections in Bayelsa State , Women Arise Group has said voting did not take place in the seven wards of Nembe Local Government Area of the state. Speaking to journalists in Nembe this afternoon, accompanied by a team of other observers who monitored the elections in the state, Lawson said his team moved around various wards and discovered that there were no elections in seven wards under Constituency 2, 4,5,6,7,11,12, and 13 all in Nembe Bassambiri. Lawson who is a Senior Programmes Officer further disclosed that the polling units in the afore mentioned wards were all deserted and there was no presence of INEC officials nor party agents. “Our findings revealed that the materials meant for the affected units were diverted to an unknown destination by kingpins of a political party and their thugs for illegal thumb printing. “It was also learnt that members of one of the p...