Tag: Godswill Akpabio

Akpabio raises alarm over increasingly complex national security challenges

Aminu Imam
Akpabio raises alarm

Senate President, Godswill Akpabio expressed concern yesterday about the evolving complexities of Nigeria’s national security landscape. Speaking at the 2024 Defence Advisers and Attachés Conference in Abuja, Akpabio, represented by Defence Minister Badaru Abubakar, said, “We have witnessed events that challenge the stability and core of our nationhood”. The Senate President underscored the critical role of intelligence in guiding leadership to protect citizens and advance national interests. “As Defence Attachés, Advisers, and Officers overseeing state security, our internal challenges now require proactive measures. We must leverage experience to anticipate threats…

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“Wherever you see free food, help yourself” – Akpabio tells Nigerians

Aminu Imam
Akpabio laughing 750x375

Senate President, Godswill Akpabio has advised Nigerians to help themselves wherever they see free food. He made the remark in a recent video of him presiding over a plenary session in the Red Chamber. In the video, the Nigerian leader is seen laughing with his colleagues following the remark. The advice comes amidst harsh economic realities faced by Nigerians, largely due to President Bola Tinubu’s policies, such as the removal of fuel subsidy. Recently, Nigeria’s State-owned oil company, NNPC Ltd, increased petrol prices by over 15%, marking the second hike…

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“Account for each Senator’s N21m running cost or face litigation” – SERAP tells Akpabio

Aminu Imam
SERAP tells Akpabio

The issue around a sum of N21million that each of the 109 Senators receives per month has taken yet another dimension, with the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) asking the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio to account for the money of face legal actions. Recall that it was former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, who renewed the criticism against the lawmakers accussing them of fixing their own salary and allowances. The Red Chamber has denied this, saying that the Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal Allocation Commission (RMFAC) sets its payments just like other…

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Hardship Protest: “Akpabio must go!” – Nigerians demand Senate President’s resignation

Aminu Imam
Akpabio must go

Nigerians are calling on the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, to resign after his infamous comment that he and others in the government would be “eating” while Nigerians protest. Recall that Akpabio, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, at an event on Tuesday, organised by the Niger Delta Development Commission, (NDDC), said: “Those who want to protest can protest, but let us be here eating”. Amnesty International Nigeria, on Thursday, berated Akpabio for the comment, which it described as “insensitive and reckless”. The rights group, in an issued statement posted on X,…

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“We’ll be eating while you protest”, Akpabio tells Nigerians

Aminu Imam

Senate President, Godswill Akpabio has charged aggrieved Nigerians willing to protest to go ahead “but let us be there eating”. Akpabio made the comments at an event organised by the Niger Delta Development Commission, (NDDC) on Tuesday in Port-Harcourt, the Rivers State capital. Recall that a nationwide protest against ballooning inflation, and Nigeria’s worst cost of living crisis in decades, has been slated for August 1. This just as some chieftains of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), and a coterie of politicians in the South-West have described the planned…

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“New N70,000 Minimum Wage now applies to maids, drivers, others” – Senate President?

Aminu Imam
Senate President Akpabio

Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has announced that the newly approved minimum wage now applies to all workers across both public and private sectors, including maids and other domestic staff. The Bill was speedily passed by both chambers of the National Assembly just after it was transmitted by President Bola Tinubu. Speaking during the plenary on Tuesday, the Senate President said, “If you are a tailor and you employ additional hands, you cannot pay them below N70,000. If you are a mother with a newborn child and you want to hire…

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Atiku accuses Akpabio-led Senate of enabling Tinubu’s ‘recklessness’

Aminu Imam
Atiku on Akpabio Senate

Former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar  has issued a scathing critique of the current administration, accusing the Akpabio-led Senate of enabling President Bola Tinubu’s “recklessness” and compromising the health of Nigeria’s democracy. In a statement released yesterday, Abubakar lamented that the legislative arm of government, conceived to protect the people from executive excesses, has instead become a puppet of the President. “This emerging reality must stop. The health of our democracy is being compromised by this unholy alliance,” he stated. Abubakar pointed to several incidents as evidence of the Senate’s failure to…

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Ndume’s sack: “Akpabio has reduced 10th Senate to FG parastatal” – Lukman

Aminu Imam
Lukman

Former National vice-chairman, North-West, of the ruling All Progressives Congress, (APC), Dr. Salihu Moh. Lukman has accused the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio of reducing the 10th Senate to a parastatal under the President Tinubu/APC-led administration. Lukman’s position is against the backdrop of the sack of the Senate Whip, Ali Ndume, by the Abdullahi Ganduje-led National Working Committee (NWC) of the party. In a statement issued yesterday in Abuja and titled: “Fanatical Mindset”, the former Director-General of the Progressive Governors’ Forum, (PGF), said all patriotic Nigerians must wake up to the…

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“Banditry could’ve been prevented if National Anthem wasn’t changed in 1978” – Akpabio

Aminu Imam
Akpabio

Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has argued that Nigerian would not have been ravaged by banditry as it is today if the country had not changed its national anthem in 1978. The Senate President, who said this on Tuesday, during his visit to the Nigerian Institute of Legislative and Democratic Studies, noted that Nigeria is experiencing the current spate of banditry today because of the change of the country’s anthem. According to him, the new National Anthem will build patriotism and help the country resolve insecurity.Highlighting the reason the national anthem…

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Akpabio seeks urgent implementation of Oronsaye Report

Aminu Imam
Akpabio

Senate President, Godswill Akpabio has called for the immediate implementation of the Stephen Oronsaye Report, which proposed the scrapping of certain government agencies to reduce the burgeoning cost of governance. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had set up an 11-member committee to oversee the execution of the recommendations outlined in the Oronsaye Report. Addressing a dialogue on the cost of governance organized by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) in Abuja on Monday, Akpabio said the overhead costs of appointive public officials and the salaries and allowances of…

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