The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has pledged to honour victorious athletes that recently represented the FCT in various sporting events.

Wike made the pledge in a statement from the FCT sports department on Tuesday in Abuja.

He said that a reception, scheduled for Thursday, is in recognition of athletes that represented the FCT at the 2022 National Sports Festival, the 7th and 8th National Youth Games.

According to him, the honour is to appreciate the athletes for their acts of sacrifice, patriotism and determination that have brought glory to the FCT.

“We are committed to the development of sports in the FCT, and we will continue to create the enabling environment for sports to thrive.

“This is in line with President Bola Tinubu’s focus to engage youths to help discover their potentials and empower them to be better,” he said.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has said that both he and Russian President Vladimir Putin would like to meet as soon as he takes office.

“And I know he (Putin) wants to meet, and I’m going to meet him very quickly.

“I would have done it sooner, but you have to get into the office. For some of the things, you do have to be there,’’ Trump told the Newsmax broadcaster in an interview.

In early January, Trump declined to say when he was going to meet with Putin, but said that such a meeting would not be appropriate before his inauguration on Jan. 20.

On Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, said there were no substantive preparations for a meeting with Trump yet, but there was political will, as “such contacts would be very, very necessary and advisable.’’

Trump’s National Security Advisor Designate Mike Waltz said on Sunday that the two leaders could hold a phone conversation in the coming days or weeks.

A presidential election took place in the U.S. on Nov. 5, 2024.

Republican candidate Donald Trump, who served as the U.S. president in 2017 to 2021, was declared the winner by all leading race callers and networks.

Democratic candidate Kamala Harris conceded defeat.

The Electoral College voted in accordance with the will of the voters on Dec. 17, 2024, while the new Congress approved the results of the vote on Jan. 6.

The presidential inauguration will take place on Jan. 20.

Alhaji Isyaku Mohammed, the Executive Chairman of the state’s Internal Revenue Service (KT-IRS), gave the clarification while briefing newsmen in Katsina on Monday.

Mohammed was reacting to a social media post that alleged a lack of number plates had affected revenue generation in the state.

“KASROTA are terrorising the people for not using number plates, in spite of the fact that they know there’s no number in the state,” Mohammed quoted the posting.

Mohammed explained that officials of KASROTA were simply doing their job by enforcing the rule that no vehicle or motorcycle should be on the roads without a number plate.

He said, contrary to the claims, the state government generated over N20.8 billion in Internally Generated Revenue between Dec. 1, 2023, and Dec. 30, 2024, through PAY direct payments by banks.

Mohammed said that before he assumed office in Nov. 2023, the organisation generated only N9 billion from Dec. 1, 2022 to Dec. 30, 2023.

“I wish to inform you that we have number plates in the state. The issue of saying we don’t have does not even arise,” he said.

He provided evidence of the number plates available, including 1,444 motor vehicle private number plates, 228 for government motor vehicles, and 214 government motorcycle number plates.

“We have 1,886 number plates for motor vehicle commercial, and for motor vehicle dealer number motorcycle we have 24.

“Also, since August 2024, we have deposited N45 million with the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), in anticipation of more motorcycle number plates,” he said.

According to him, this is a nationwide issue, and the complaint made by the FRSC was a lack of resources to fabricate motorcycle number plates.

He explained that Gov. Dikko Radda had reduced the price of number plates by 50 per cent in September 2023, but not many people showed interest.

“But for somebody to say we don’t have number plates, it’s not true, we have. I don’t want anybody to use that as an excuse to break the law.

“We have been pursuing people in the IRS who have tampered with the money of the revenue service, therefore we expected corruption to fight back.

“And definitely, we have seen that corruption is fighting back,” he said.