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Civil servants under the federal government payroll will start receiving the new minimum wage payment from Thursday, the 26th of September.

The Spokesperson of the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, Bawa Mokwa disclosed this in an exclusive interview with DAILY POST on Thursday.

He assured that workers will begin to get alert of their new minimum wage salary payment starting from Thursday. However, Mokwa did not state if the minimum wage would be paid alongside its arrears.

He told our correspondent, Federal Government civil servants will start getting the new minimum wage from today(Thursday) this September 2024. What I can tell you is that the minimum wage salary payment is today I am not sure of the arrears, he told DAILY POST.

His comment comes after the Chairman of the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, Ekpo Nta, on Tuesday confirmed that the government has approved the upward review of consolidated public service salary structure, CONPSS in line with the minimum wage(Amendment) Act, 2024.

This followed President Bola Ahmed Tinubus approval of N70,000 new Minimum wage on July 18, 2024. Thereafter, the Senate passed the new minimum wage bill into law.

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Shares of Texas-based power generator Vistra (VST) surged nearly 6% higher on Wednesday, the largest daily gain of any S&P 500 stock. Vistra is no stranger to market-leading upticks, having surpassed Nvidia (NVDA) as the top-performing stock in the benchmark index this year.

Despite the run-up in Vistra's stock price in 2024, several investment firms suggested there could be more upside potential for shares of the utility company.

In research notes published this week, Jefferies boosted its price target on Vistra shares to $137 from $99, while Morgan Stanley lifted its target on the stock to $132 from $110.

Analysts described catalysts that could help Vistra stock extend its march higher. Jefferies pointed to the firm's acquisition last week of the remaining 15% noncontrolling interest in its Vistra Vision subsidiary, which includes nuclear generation facilities as well other renewable and energy-storage assets. Analysts equated the Vision deal to buying back shares at a discount.

The report from Jefferies also focused on the recent announcement from fellow electricity generator Constellation Energy (CEG) that it will restart a shuttered nuclear plant to provide power to Microsoft (MSFT) data centers.

The analyst team believes the deal "confirms and expands" their thesis that Vistra stands to benefit from data-center opportunities, while the terms of the 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) between Constellation and the software giant set a precedent for lucrative agreements in the future.

So far in 2024, Vistra shares have more than tripled in value.

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A high court sitting in Ilorin, Kwara State, on Thursday sentenced five men charged with the Offa bank robbery incident to d3ath by h3nging.

The court convicted Ayoade Akinnibosun, Azeez Salahudeen, Niyi Ogundiran, Ibikunle Ogunleye and Adeola Abraham. Delivering judgment, Justice Haleema Saliman held that the five defendants were found guilty of conspiracy, armed robbery, culpable homicide and illegal possession of firearms.

Saliman said that the defendants caused the d3ath of people, including police officers and civilians during the armed robbery in Offa, on April, 2018, which is punishable by d3ath. Earlier, the lead prosecuting counsel,Rotimi Jacob (SAN) said that the prosecution was able to prove his case beyond reasonable doubt and the judgement was done accordingly.

Jacob said that the six year spent on the case was worth it, as evidence clearly showed that the convicts were involved in the robbery and k3llings.

He said that the trials had been concluded and the prosecutors had proved their case beyond reasonable doubt for the suspects to be convicted. The lead defence counsel, Nathaniel Emeribe, represented by Abdullahi Jimba said that the judgment was not surprising, considering the evidence presented in court, it had been envisaged that it would end that way.

He, however, said that in line with the case of AG Oyo State with Bello, there would definitely be an appeal and the record would be compiled and moved to the court of appeal. The prime suspect, a policeman, Michael Adikwu, di3d in police custody during the trial while the remaining five pleaded for mercy but were convicted.

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The house of representatives has resolved to probe the bribery allegations against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS).

The lower legislative chamber passed the resolution during plenary on Thursday, following the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance sponsored by Patrick Umoh, an All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmaker from Akwa Ibom.

Martins Otse, better known as VeryDarkMan, had shared an audio of Bobrisky claiming she bribed some EFCC officials with N15 million to drop the money laundering charge against her. The crossdresser, whose birth name is Idris Okuneye, was released on August 5, after she was sentenced to six months in prison on April 12 for abusing the naira. In the purported recording, the crossdresser also claimed that her godfather, alongside Haliru Nababa, the controller general of the NCoS, ensured she served the six-month sentence in a private apartment and not in prison. Bobrisky later denied the bribery claim, arguing that the recording was fake. The crossdressers denial came after the EFCC invited her and VeryDarkMan over the allegations.

Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, the minister of interior, had also ordered a comprehensive investigation into bribery allegations concerning the NCoS.

Moving the motion in the house of representatives, Umoh said the damning allegation is disturbing, adding that it portrays Nigeria as a corrupt nation. The motion was unanimously adopted when it was put to a voice vote by Tajudeen Abbas, speaker of the house.

Consequently, the house mandated the committees on financial crimes and reformatory institutions to investigate the allegation and revert within three weeks.

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Major U.S. equities indexes were mixed on Wednesday as the upbeat mood that followed last week's interest-rate cut showed signs of dissipating.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.2% on the day, receding from the all-time closing high posted in the previous session. The Dow fell 0.7%, failing to extend its streak of four consecutive record closes. The Nasdaq eked out a minimal daily gain of less than 0.1%.

Shares of the financial technology company Global Payments (GPN) plunged 6.5%, posting the widest loss of any stock in the S&P 500 for the second straight day. The payment solutions provider issued underwhelming profit guidance at an investor conference earlier this week, noting it expects a year of transition in fiscal 2025. Analysts at the financial firm BTIG downgraded Global Payment stock to neutral, citing a lack of visibility in the company's growth trajectory that they believe leaves the stock in "no man's land" over the coming quarters.

Amgen (AMGN) shares lost 5.5% after the drugmaker released data from a Phase 3 clinical trial of an experimental eczema treatment. Although Amgen's drug met its primary endpoint in the study, analysts question whether the results were strong enough for the treatment to merit a strong share in a market already served by Dupixent, a medication jointly developed by Amgen rivals Sanofi (SNY) and Regeneron (REGN).

Shares of major U.S. automakers moved lower following unfavorable comments from analysts at Morgan Stanley. The investment firm downgraded General Motors (GM) to "underweight" from "equal weight" and scaled back its view on Ford Motor (F) to "equal weight" from "overweight," citing increased competition in China and a challenging environment for U.S. consumers. GM shares were down 4.9% on Wednesday, while Ford shares slid 4.1%.

Vistra (VST) shares soared 5.9%, securing the S&P 500's top daily performance after Jefferies and Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on the utility stock. Analysts reacted positively to Vistra's recent acquisition of the remaining stake in its Vistra Vision subsidiary.

In addition, the analysts said they believe the recent deal by fellow electricity generator Constellation Energy (CEG) to power Microsoft (MSFT) data centers sets a positive precedent for other attractive agreements. Constellation Energy shares were up 3.7% on the day.

Shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) jumped 5.1% as Barclays upgraded the stock to "overweight" and lifted its price target. Analysts pointed to signs of recovery in the enterprise hardware business and said they view HPE stock as one of the best ways to invest in this trend. Barclays also believes HPE can continue to increase sales of its artificial intelligence (AI) servers, make gains in the storage market, and benefit from its acquisition of Juniper Networks (JNPR) announced at the beginning of the year.

Intel (INTC) shares added 3.2%, extending strong gains posted this week amid reports of a potential investment of up to $5 billion from asset management firm Apollo Global Management. Intel has also reportedly drawn interest from fellow chipmaker Qualcomm (QCOM). In addition, Intel launched two new AI products on Tuesday that are central to its strategy of improving its position in the data center market.

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Shock as Bobrisky shares a cryptic message

He said he has never in his life thought about sucide in his life but now is coming to his head seeing what human being are doing to their fellow human just in the name you want to bring them down by force or because you don’t like them. He doesnt need no sympathy from anyone. People he might have need sympathy from are his late parent. But who will fight for you ? Friends? H@ters you won

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