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The minister of the federal capital territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has said that the proposed August 1st nationwide protest is politically motivated.

Speaking with newsmen on Tuesday, July 23, he said: “Let’s tell ourselves the simple truth. If we are playing politics let’s say we are playing politics; if we want to be sincere to ourselves, let’s be sincere to ourselves and help our country.

The country is rotten. You know that the country is rotten, and a government has just come to see what it can do to at least, move it from where we are to a certain level, and you say that miracle must be performed within one year.

You are here now, we are talking about a project that was awarded 13 good years ago, what has happened? Nothing.

Now a government has come to see how it can fix all these things and we are in too much of a hurry demanding that it must be done now. It is not possible. The protest is a political protest.

So, let’s not listen to political protesters and political jobbers who just want to be popular. You know there are some people who believe that if they don’t criticise, they will not be popular.

We are going to elections very soon; these are political gimmicks. Just know that the government is a serious government and working to solve the problem.

We believe that things will turn around, but we should be patient with the government.”

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President Bola Tinubu has appealed to youths in the country to shelve the planned nationwide protest billed for August 1.

Speaking with State House correspondents on Tuesday, July 23, after a meeting with the president, Mohammed Idris, minister of information and national orientation, said Tinubu is working hard to address the grievances of the young people.

According to the minister, “We also discussed the issue of the country generally, and Mr. President has asked me to again inform Nigerians that he listens to them, especially the young people that are trying to protest.

Mr. President listens to them; he takes what they say seriously, and he is working assiduously to ensure that this country is good not just for today but also for the future.

The issue of the planned protest—Mr. President does not see any need for that; he asked them to shelve that plan, and he has asked them to await the government’s response to all their pleas; he has listened to them like I said.“

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Nigerian journalist cum politician, Dele Momodu, has responded to Reno Omokri over the recent interview he granted on TVC.

Reno in his interview stated that he wonders how a Yoruba graduate who runs an ‘Owambe magazine’ can be an expert on the Nigerian economy.

Momodu is a graduate of Yoruba Language and runs a society magazine called Ovation.

Responding to Reno’s statement, Momodu said that he understand what it feels to be on exile.

He stated that he nearly fell into depression while urging Omokri that he was going to be alright.

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Vice President Kashim Shettima says the Federal Government has generated over 300,000 businesses through various Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) interventions.

This, he said will create over one million job opportunities, primarily for youth and women, within a year, according to Nigerian Tribune.

Speaking during a one-day working visit to Jigawa State on Tuesday, July 23, the vice president said: “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has initiated multiple interventions for SMEs, which have generated over 300,000 businesses and will provide over one million jobs within a year.”

He emphasised that the Renewal Hope Agenda of President Tinubu is designed to tackle poverty and create job opportunities by encouraging and supporting medium and small-scale businesses, which constitute over 65 per cent of investment and employ 83 per cent of labour in Nigeria.

He further stated that the current administration is working tirelessly to formulate and implement policies and programmes that will improve the social and economic lives of Nigerians.

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Philip Morris International (PM) shares rose Tuesday to their highest level in more than two years after the tobacco giant posted better-than-expected results and raised its full-year outlook on growing demand for its smokeless products.

The maker of Marlboro cigarettes and the IQOS tobacco heating system reported second-quarter adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.59, with revenue advancing 9.6% from a year ago to $9.47 billion. Both exceeded analyst estimates. 

The company’s sales of smoke-free products jumped 23.5% to 243.8 million cans. Nicotine pouch sales soared 50.6% to 149.9 million cans, boosted by its Zyn brand, which had a 50.3% gain in cans delivered.

Heated tobacco items had a 13.1% gain in shipment volume, and cigarette shipment volume was 0.4% higher.

CEO Jacek Olczak said “the excellent momentum of our smoke-free business continued.”

Philip Morris lifted its outlook for full-year adjusted EPS growth, excluding currency impacts, to 11% to 13%, up from the earlier 9% to 11%. It anticipates shipment volume of nicotine pouches in the U.S. to be 560 million to 580 million cans, compared with the previous forecast of about 560 million cans for 2024.

Philip Morris shares closed 2.2.% higher Tuesday at $109.56 and have added about 16.5% since the start of the year. 

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