Niger Govt Offers Minna Airport as Alternative During Closure of Abuja Airport Aviation minister to meet airlines, stakeholders on closure Laleye Dipo in Minna and Dele Ogbodo in Abuja The Niger State Government has asked the federal government to consider using the Minna airport as an alternative airport during the six weeks closure of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International
Airport in Abuja, when the runway will be undergoing rehabilitation. Making this known yesterday, the state Commissioner for Information,
Mr. Jonathan Tsado Vatsa said all that will be required was for the dualisation work on the road from Minna, the Niger State capital, to Suleja to be fast tracked.
The government said it had decided to raise the issue so that the federal government would be reminded of the existence of the Minna airport and the role it could play
during the rehabilitation of the Abuja airport. The Transportation Ministry penultimate week announced that the Abuja airport would be closed for six weeks,
Sultan Condemns Southern Kaduna Killings.... Page 10
starting next month, for work on the dilapidated runway, and had advised airlines and passengers travelling to and from Nigeria’s capital city to use the Kaduna International Airport, about 211km from Abuja. Continued on page 6
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NBS: Economy Generated 187,226 Jobs in Q3 Jobs rose by 20% over Q2, declined 61% year-onyear PMI shows rise in manufacturing orders in December James Emejo in Abuja
USHERING IN 2017... L-R: Rivers State Deputy Governor, Mrs. Ipalibo Harry Banigo; Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike; his wife, Eberechi; and Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Hon. Ikuinyi-Owaji Ibani, during the New Year banquet held at the Government House, Port Harcourt, Rivers State… Sunday night
The Nigerian economy added 187,226 new jobs in the third quarter of 2016 (Q3 2016), from 155,444 jobs in the previous quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has stated. Also, labour productivity for the quarter rose to N713.7 per hour, compared to N636.3 per hour in the second quarter. Continued on page 6
Buhari Keeps Campaign Promise, Begins Payment of N5,000 to the Poor Tobi Soniyi in Abuja In keeping with one its key election campaign promises, the Muhammadu Buhari administration has commenced payment of the N5,000 monthly stipend to the poorest and the most vulnerable in the country through the Conditional Cash Transfer
(CCT) scheme of its Social Investment Programme (SIP). A statement yesterday by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo’s media aide, Mr Laolu Akande, said that under the scheme, one million Nigerians would
receive N5,000 monthly payments as a form of social safety net for the poorest and most vulnerable as provided in the 2016 budget. He said in the first batch that commenced last week,
nine states would be covered, and that beneficiaries had already confirmed that they had received their first payments last Friday. “Funds for the commencement of the
payments in four states were released last week to the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) – the platform that hosts and validates payments for all government social intervention
Reuben Abati Writes on Tuesday... See Back Page
programmes. “Funds for another set of five states to complete the first batch of nine states would follow soon,” Akande stated. Akande said that though the sequence for the payment of the funds would be operationally managed by Continued on page 8