The Republican National Committee (RNC) is threatening to boycott the time-honored tradition of US presidential debates unless the body that organizes them changes its rules.

US presidential and vice presidential debates have been sponsored for the past three decades by the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD).

In a letter to the CPD, RNC chair Ronna McDaniel accused the commission of “stonewalling the meaningful reforms necessary to restore its credibility with the Republican Party as a fair and nonpartisan actor.”

The republicans said they will initiate the process of amending the Rules of the Republican Party at their upcoming Winter Meeting to prohibit future Republican nominees from participating in CPD-sponsored debates, if there are no reforms.

Federal Government has ordered that the national flag be flown at half-mast, as a mark of respect for the Late former head of state, Ernest Shonekan, who died yesterday.

According to a statement by the secretary to the government of the federation, Boss Mustapha, the order takes effect from today till Friday January 14.

Shonekan, who headed the interim national government that succeeded the military regime of general Ibrahim Babangida, died at the age of 85.

He was the interim head of the Nigerian government between august 26, 1993, and November 17, 1993, but was ousted in a coup led by the late general Sani Abacha.

President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed his determination to finish major projects across the country before handing over power in 2023.

The senior special adviser to the president on media and publicity, Garba Shehu, who made the remark during a televised interview, noted that it was the major preoccupation of the government, adding that some of the projects include the second Niger Bridge; Lagos-Ibadan Expressway; East-West Road; Calabar- Lagos railway; Maiduguri-Port Harcourt railway and Ibadan-Port Harcourt rail line.

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Shehu noted that they are all matters of priority and that President Buhari is seeking to commission them before he leaves office, reiterating that his principal is committed to leaving a lasting legacy and not on choosing his successor.

Aside from infrastructure, he also re-echoed Buhari’s earlier call to Nigerian youths to embrace agriculture even though he admitted the Federal Government alone cannot fund the sector.

The Federal Government says it will collaborate with Nigerian Exchange Limited to build a framework that helps issuers navigate climate disclosure and ultimately improve the climate data available to the investment and finance community. 

The Minister Of State For Environment, Sharon Ikeazor, stated this during the digital closing ceremony hosted by Nigerian Exchange Limited to mark the end of the 2021 stock trading year in Lagos.

Ikeazor noted that Nigerian Exchange Limited has played an exemplary role in Nigeria’s commitment to mitigating the effects of climate change, adding that climate change is a serious and long-term threat to which Nigeria has continued to show commitment to the goals of the Paris agreement on climate change with the revision of the nationally determined contributions Pre-Cop 26 and also the recent accent of the climate change bill by President Buhari.