Oshiomhole made the plea on Monday in Jos at the Federal Government-Progressives Governors Forum parley in Jos.

“As progressives, let us be the first to pay the new national minimum wage and not just the wage but also the consequential adjustments arising from it.

“Already, there are some proactive progressive governors that have taken steps to address this.

“I plead that you give this a priority, because when other governors are fighting whether or not to pay, you will say that progressive governors have paid.

“Where there is will, there will certainly be a way,” he said.

The APC national chairman also called on the APC governors to support border closure by the Federal Government.

He said that the nation’s borders should remain closed until neighboring countries follow the protocols of fair trade.

Oshiomole in an interview with journalists, also lend his support to financial autonomy for local governments in the country.

He said that local government autonomy was not negotiable.

According him, just as the Federal Government does not control state governor on how to manage his money, so should the state governors allow the local governments to function.

He added that local governments should be allowed to operate the same way states operate with the Federal Government exercising oversight function.

“Local governments should be autonomous, but autonomy doesn’t mean there should not be oversight.

“The same way the Federal Government goes after a state Governor that breaks the financial rule, the same way state governor should go after local government that mismanages revenue that accrue to it,” he said.

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Oyeyemi said this in an interview with our correspondent on the sideline of the Technical Working Group (TWG) on Nigeria Road Safety Strategy on Wednesday in Abuja.

“You cannot arrest somebody for using a phone while driving and he pays four thousand naira as penalty. And almost immediately he goes back to commit same offence.

“Fines are supposed to serve as deterrent, which is why I said that I am in support of what the National Assembly is doing presently amending the Act of the FRSC to make the fines go up.

“I was not the one that initiated it, it is the National Assembly that initiated it and I am in support and I will make sure that before the middle of next year this is passed into law.

“I believe that by the time traffic offenders’ start paying between fifty to one hundred thousand naira for a single traffic offence, they will not want to commit such offence again,” he said.

The FRSC boss reiterated that penalties for traffic offences were to serve as deterrent, adding that the present regime of fines and penalties do not serve as deterrent.

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Adepoju, an accountant, who resides No. 67, Peace Estate, Ikola, Ipaja, a Lagos suburb, was arraigned on a two-count charge of conspiracy and stealing.

The Prosecutor, Insp. Ezekiel Ayorinde, told the court that the accused committed the offences with one of his colleague now at large between 2014 and 2016 at Dopemu branch in Lagos State.

He said that the accused and one Ezekiel both accountants in the store conspired and stole the money.

“In January 2016 after the accused were transferred to another branch of the store, the account books were audited and it was discovered that the books had been doctored.

“There was a shortage of N462, 000 which the accused could not account for,’’ he said.

Ayorinde said the offenses contravened Sections 285 and 409 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011, which attracts three years jail term on conviction.

The Chief Magistrate, Mrs A.O. Awope, granted bail the accused bail in the sum of N250, 000 with one surety in like sum.

Awope adjourned the case till May 6 for mention.

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The accused: Ibrahim Aruna, 23, and Idris Garba, 20, both of No. 7, Omodende St., Marcas in Agege, a suburb of Lagos, are facing a three-count charge of conspiracy, stealing and assault.

The prosecutor, Cpl. Mike Unah, told the court that the accused committed the offences in December 2015 at No.104, Dopemu Road, Agege.

Unah said that the accused assaulted a policeman, Dairu Ishiaku, by beating him up while performing his lawful duty.

“Bola Ali had gone to the police station to lodge a complaint that the accused stole her N28, 000. When Ishiaku attempted to arrest them, they beat him to a pulp, “he said.

Unah said the offences contravened Sections 172, 285 and 409 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The Senior Magistrate, Mrs A.O. Gbajumo, granted the accused persons bail in the sum of N50, 000 each with two sureties in like sum.

She then adjourned the case to March 4 for trial.

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Ayodele, who resides at No. 12, Adetola St., Sango, Ogun State, is facing a two-count charge of conspiracy and stealing.

The prosecutor, Sgt. Joseph Ajebe, told the court that the offences were committed on Nov. 15, 2015, at Guinness Nigeria PLC, Ikeja in Lagos.

He said that the accused was a truck driver attached to Cryslad Nigeria Ltd. located at Ogba, Agege, Lagos.

“In November, the accused, with two others still at large, were asked to load some crates of Malta Guinness drinks from Guinness Nigeria PLC, Ikeja to deliver in Abuja.

“It was later discovered that the accused had stolen two pallets containing Malta Guinness canned drinks of about 144 crates.

“The accused sold the drinks and shared the money among themselves,’’ he said.

Ajebe said the matter was reported at the police station by one Kayode Ayoade, the Chief Security Officer of Cryslad Nigeria Ltd.

He said the offences contravened sections 285 and 409 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that section 285 stipulates a three-year prison sentence for offenders.

The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The Chief Magistrate, Mr Alexander Komolafe, granted the accused bail in the sum of N50, 000 with two sureties in like sum.

He said the sureties must show evidence of two years tax payment to the Lagos State Government.

The magistrate adjourned the case to March 21 for hearing. (NAN)

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GTBank MD, Segun Agbaje

This being the first transaction of its kind in Nigeria would boost the financial strength of the banks as well as its commitment to excellence and best practices.

In its statement, the bank said the liability management exercise allowed the bank to efficiently manage its liquidity by addressing in full debt maturing in 2016.

The extent to which this goal can be achieved through the offer will depend on the number of Securities that will be tendered, given the voluntary nature of the offer.

The bank intends to maintain cash available to repay any outstanding Securities not tendered in full at maturity.” It added that any Securities purchased by the Offeror would be surrendered for cancellation to the principal paying agent in respect of the Securities.

“If the Offeror decides to accept valid tenders of Securities pursuant to the Offer, the total amount the Offeror will pay Holders on the Settlement Date for each $1,000 in principal amount of Securities accepted for purchase pursuant to the Offer will be an amount (rounded to the nearest $0.01) equal to the Purchase Price and Accrued Interest on such $1,000 in principal amount.

“If, following acceptance of Securities for purchase by the Offeror pursuant to the Offer and following purchase of the relevant Securities on the Settlement Date, a Holder continues to hold in its account with the relevant Clearing System less than U.S.$200,000 in principal amount of Securities, in order to ensure that it will be possible to trade any residual holding in the Clearing Systems such Holder would need to purchase an additional principal amount of Securities such that its aggregate holding amounts to at least U.S.$200,000”, the statement added.

On the purchase price, the bank said that the Offeror would pay for Securities accepted by it for purchase pursuant to the offer at the fixed purchase price of $1,002.50 per $1,000 in principal amount of such Securities.

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Mourinho accused officials of being “afraid” to award his team penalties after Chelsea went down 3-1 to the Saints in the Stamford Bridge clash on October 3.

He was unhappy that a spot-kick was not awarded to his side when forward Radamel Falcao went down under a challenge by Saints goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg.

But the FA confirmed on Wednesday that the Blues boss had accepted he had breached regulations and, as well as the fine and ban, warned the Portuguese that he faces further punishment for any more such outbursts within the next 12 months.

“Jose Mourinho has been given a suspended one-match stadium ban and fined £50 000 after he admitted a breach of FA Rules in relation to post-match media comments,” a statement from the governing body read.

“The Chelsea manager was charged for misconduct following the game against Southampton on Saturday 3 October 2015.

“It was alleged his remarks constituted improper conduct in that they alleged and/or implied bias on the part of a match official or match officials and/or brought the game into disrepute.

“Mr Mourinho’s suspended stadium ban will be immediately invoked should he be found by an Independent Regulatory Commission to have committed a further breach of FA Rule E3 for any comment or statement to or through the media before 13 October 2016.”

Chelsea have endured a poor start to the season and sit in 16th place in the Premier League with just eight points from eight games before hosting Aston Villa on Saturday.

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