Ex-Lagos head of service Pa Ajose dies at 78

A former Head of Service in Lagos State, Pa Akinsanya Sunny Ajose, is dead.

Ajose died in the early hours of Thursday,January 16, 2025 after a brief illness, newstrends learnt. He was was aged 78.

He was a member of the powerful Lagos Governor’s Advisory Council (GAC), a body constituted by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu many years before becoming President to watch over the politics of Lagos Dtate.

He was a close ally of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, contributing significantly to governance and public service in Lagos State.

As governor, Tinubu in 2004 appointed Ajose as the Lagos State Head of Service, a position he held until he reached the statutory retirement age. Following his retirement, Tinubu appointed Ajose to serve as his Special Adviser until May 2007 when his tenure elapsed as governor of Lagos State.

He served as deputy chief of staff to Tinubu, the same position he maintained in the Babatunde Fashola administration.

He was later appointed to the board of the Lagos State University Governing Council on September 16, 2015.

Obasa: Lagos group compiles list of ex-Speaker’s assets

In the wake of Mudashiru Obasa’s impeachment as Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, the Agege Peoples Front (APF) has reportedly initiated a comprehensive investigation into his assets within the Agege constituency.

This was revealed by a group known as Renewed Hope United Kingdom on X (formerly Twitter).

According to the group, the APF aims to compile a detailed dossier to submit to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), seeking a thorough examination of Obasa’s financial dealings and property acquisitions.

Obasa, who has represented Agege Constituency I since 2003 and served as Speaker from 2015 until his recent removal, was impeached on January 13, 2025, over allegations of gross misconduct and financial impropriety.

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His tenure had been marred by controversies, including accusations of operating multiple bank accounts and unauthorized expenditures.

70 million Nigerians to get N75,000 cash transfer this year – FG

The Federal Government has announced plans to distribute N75,000 cash transfers to an estimated 70 million ‘poorest of the poor’ Nigerians by 2025.

This was disclosed by Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, during his appearance on The Morning Show on Arise Television on Wednesday.

Prof. Yilwatda revealed that the ministry aims to deploy the program across all 36 states of the federation by the end of January 2025, targeting the registration of up to 18.1 million Nigerian households through the National Identity Number (NIN) system.

“We want to deploy by the end of January across 36 states to ensure we start harvesting the NIN number of up to 18.1 million Nigerian households that we need to capture as fast as possible so that we can make payment for them,” the minister said.

“The target of the president is that we should target 15 million households. And an average household is about 4 to 5. We are discussing here roughly about 70 million households with about N75,000 per person this year,” the minister noted.

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The initiative is part of President Bola Tinubu’s directive to address extreme poverty and create a more inclusive social safety net.

Yilwatda noted that each household in the program would have an average of 4 to 5 individuals, translating to a target of roughly 70 million individuals nationwide.

Driving Digital Inclusion for the Poor 

The program will also enhance the digital identities of low-income Nigerians by collaborating with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to increase NIN registrations. According to Yilwatda, this will help streamline the process and ensure the most vulnerable populations are included in the database.

“We are doing the data capturing, but for now, the poorest of the poor that we have in our data is only 1.4 million with NIN. We are working with NIMC, deploying resources, and conducting training. NIMC has brought in more devices under a program with the World Bank to assist us in data capturing for those without NIN numbers.”    

The Minister detailed ongoing efforts, saying, “We are training in some states like Rivers, Kwara, Abuja, and Nasarawa, among others, and deploying to these states in the first round. By the end of January, we want to deploy across the 36 states to start capturing the NIN numbers of up to 18.1 million households. This will enable us to make payments to them for Conditional Cash Transfers.”   

The minister emphasized the importance of leveraging technology to make the cash transfer program efficient, transparent, and accountable. He added that digital registration would reduce errors, improve tracking, and ensure that funds are disbursed to those most in need.

70 million Nigerians to get N75,000 cash transfer this year – FG