The House of Representatives member-elect for Jalingo/Yorro/ Zing Federal Constituency Taraba State, Hon. Isma’ila Yushua Maihanchi, is dead.

Maihanchi died in the early hours of Saturday after a brief illness at an undisclosed hospital in Abuja.

An aide to the late member-elect said he will be buried according to the Islamic rites today at the national cemetery in Abuja.

Details later…

As the energy industry prepares for the removal of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit otherwise known as petrol, the Federal Government says with consideration and possible action, the policy will have a human face.

Reacting to concerns over a continued regulated downstream oil sector, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Amb. Gabriel Aduda, on Friday, stated that a lot of consideration is ongoing to buffer what may be a possible shock with subsidy removal.

It will be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari suspended that part of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) for 18 months, and will effectively expire in June of this year.

“Subsidy removal is one that has been with us for a long time and I want to tell you that my minister is taking it very seriously – and all of us in the industry – because we totally understand the importance of the removal of subsidy,” Aduda said.

“But we also understand the greater importance of the citizens in the scheme of things. And as we speak, we’re still taking a very close look at how best to achieve subsidy without disrupting the entire ecosystem of livelihoods in Nigeria because that is our responsibility as government.”

According to him, buffers need to be in place to ensure that forex is made available for those that will do imports as well as some form of reinforcements where needed.

“There is quite a lot we need to put in place. And we also have to ensure that supplies are available for a minimum of six months ahead to ensure that, if we finally do that, the disruptions will be minimal.

“When looking at all of that, there are quite a number of factors that we need to look at. But yes, government is committed to removal, but we can’t be too specific until all the indices have been considered to ensure that the effect is not too hard on the average Nigerian,” he added.

The Kano State Governor, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, has disclosed that his administration pardoned 4, 013 inmates in eight years across all Kano correctional facilities.

Similarly, he said his government has also, within the eight years, settled fines and compensations for the inmates to the tune of N4.4 million.

This is contained in a statement signed by Hassan Musa Fagge, Chief Press Secretary to the Deputy Governor of Kano State on Friday.

The governor who was represented by his deputy, Dr Nasiru Gawuna, stated this while pardoning 43 inmates with various offences serving jail terms during the occasion to commemorate the Eid-el-Fitr celebration at the Goron Dutse custodial facility.

While stressing that freedom is everything to human life, he called on the pardoned inmates to exhibit good character wherever they find themselves in the society.

The Controller of the correctional service in the state, Suleiman Inuwa, explained that the gesture offered by the Kano State Government of releasing inmates on payment of fines, compensation and pardon will assist in decongesting the facilities and ensure a peaceful atmosphere in the yard.

He appealed to other states to emulate the gesture and also urged the beneficiaries to be good ambassadors of the Nigerian Correctional Service by being law-abiding citizens through displaying good behaviour.

On his part, the chairman of the council on the prerogative of mercy, Abdullahi Rano, thanked the governor for exercising the power conferred on him by the constitution to release the inmates on the recommendation of the correctional service management and the council.