We Bought 2 Pistols Found On Us For Gang War – Suspects

 hree suspects, who claimed to be members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), have been arrested, with two US-made Beretta pistols allegedly found in their possession.

The police said they also found 41 rounds of live ammunition on the suspects, identified as Dare Hassan, 35; Clarkson Oritshejubemi, 36, and Ajanaku Azeez, 35.

The police said Hassan confessed they bought the two pistols for N500,000 and the ammunition for N100,000, which they intended to use for gang war.

“As union members, we are often engulfed in numerous gang wars. Our rivals used to have the upper hand in such wars and that was why we decided to buy our own,” the suspect allegedly wrote in his statement to the police.

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Bala Elkana, who confirmed the development to our correspondent yesterday, said the suspects were involved in the numerous crises in the Ojo and Okokomaiko areas of Lagos.

Elkana said that on July 16, 2020 at about 3pm, operatives of Raiders, in the State Criminal Investigation Department, Yaba, foiled a robbery attempt at the Ojo area and arrested Hassan, Azeez and Oritshejubemi.

“The suspects will soon be charged to court at the end of investigation,” Elkana added.

Reps To Probe Alleged Infractions In NDDC, NBET

The House of Representatives on Tuesday vowed to investigate alleged infractions contained in a six-year audit report on the Niger Delta Development Commission and the Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading Plc.

The report on the NDDC was from 2013 to 2018 while that on the NBET was from 2017 to 2019. Both were submitted by the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation to the House of Representatives’ Committee on Public Accounts.

The chairman of the committee, Wole Oke, told reporters in Abuja that the committee would give the reports accelerated deliberations when the House resumes from its annual recess in September.

In the queries, the NDDC is to, among other things, explain the alleged payment of N459.350m as medical check-up expenses to part-time board members, payment of N1.358bn as imprest to executive board members, engagement and payment of N1.58bn to external solicitors without the consent of the Attorney-General of the Federation, award of N3.001bn emergency contracts, payment of N698.1m to some retired generals for regional security surveillance on projects.

Other alleged infractions in the report included payment of N2.5bn for the supply of 3,852 doses of Hepatitis B vaccines and 1570 doses of Typhoid vaccines and supply of Lassa fever kits to NDDC warehouse in Port Harcourt and distribution, transportation and storage was queried by the Auditor General.

Similarly, the committee received from the Auditor-General, the report querying the NBET on non-submission of annual audited financial statements for six years 2014 to 2019.

Troops Raid Zamfara Goldmine, Arrest 150 Suspected Bandits

Troops of Operation Sahel Sanity conducted a well-coordinated intelligence-based raid on an illegal mining site located along Gadan Zaima in Bukuyyum LGA of Zamfara State and arrested 150 suspected armed bandits, the acting Director, Defence Media Operation, Brigadier General Benard Onyeuko, has disclosed.

“During the raid on the goldmine, which served as a hideout to armed bandits, the troops also recovered 20 locally fabricated Dane guns. One of the suspects was neutralised while trying to escape.

“Preliminary investigation revealed that aside from sabotaging the nation’s economy, banditry is being financed through these illegal mining activities.

“Similarly, troops on a fighting patrol encountered three bandits on motorcycles around Maigalma village in Anka LGA of Zamfara State who were attempting to attack innocent residents.

“During the encounter, one of the bandits was neutralised while others escaped. Troops recovered one AK-47 Rifle, one AK-47 Rifle magazine loaded with five rounds of 7.62mm ammunition, and two motorcycles from the fleeing bandits,” General Onyeuko said.

He said a repentant bandit leader named Bornon Kejo willingly surrendered to troops and submitted two AK-47 Rifles and two AK-47 Rifle magazines at Zurmi in Zurmi LGA of the state, adding that efforts were ongoing to recover more weapons as well as encourage others to embrace peace and submit their arms.

“In the same vein, seven trucks loaded with cattle suspected to have been rustled were arrested along Jibia-Katsina road and Gusau-Zaria road respectively,” he said.

774,000 Local Government Jobs: FG To Engage Beneficiaries As Agric Extension Workers

The beneficiaries of the 774, 000 job scheme of the Federal Government will not be disengaged after three months, but will be used as agricultural extension workers thereafter.

The Director-General of the National Directorate of Employment, Mohammed Nasir Ladan Argungu disclosed.

“I believe is one of the most important (objective of the scheme). We’re not just to engage 1, 000 young men and women in each local government after three months…We have carried out studies across the nation, we are going to use these young men and women as agricultural extension workers. We’ve put everything in place, we did some studies,” he said.

Argungu, who is the chairman of the selection committee of the scheme, raised the alarm that some people wanted to manipulate the process.

“A group of people think they can maneuver things. It’s a federal government project and we will never allow it to fail because they don’t know the concept, they are just beating about the bush,” he said.

He said the scheme was, among other things, aimed at boosting micro economy. “We are talking of the money that is in circulation at the grass root. N52 billion to our local governments, you can imagine the impact as far as micro economy is concerned.”

He also said the scheme would bring employment to the beneficiaries’ door steps, mitigate the rural-urban migration, preach to the people the need for living in peace and harmony as well as self-reliance.

The NDE boss added the Special Public Works would also promote community supervision.

He stated: “For us to move forward, we have to sustain whatever we are doing and that is what we are planning to do.”

State Assembly Speakers From N/East Seek NEDC Intervention On E-Legislation

Speakers of the State Houses of Assembly from the six states in the northeast have urged the North East Development Commission to provide e-legislation facilities at the houses of assembly to boost effective debates and legislation in the zone.

They made the request on Monday during a courtesy visit to the NEDC headquarters in Abuja.

The chairman of the conference and speaker of the Bauchi State House of Assembly, Abubakar Suleiman, said: “Providing the state assemblies with vehicles, especially buses that can be used by legislators and press crew will be well appreciated and we wish to urge you to do more in the reconstruction of the northeast.”

Responding, Managing Director, NEDC, Mohammed Alkali, said the commission would look into the speakers’ request.

Buhari Waives Tax On Imported Meters, 6m Power Users On Queue

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved a one-year deferment of the 35 per cent import adjustment tax (levy) imposed on Fully Built Unit (FBU) electricity meters while six million power users expect to get the device.

A statement from the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, said the HS Code 9028.30.00.00 tariff is under the 2019 fiscal policy measures for the implementation of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Common External Tariff (CET) 2017 – 2022 of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), approved in 2015.

The statement said the approval for the adjustment was on a request by Mrs Zainab Ahmed, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, to support the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) in rolling 3 million electricity meters, which is under the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) framework.

“The 35 percent levy was imposed on the recommendation of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, to encourage local production, as well as protect investments in the local assembly of electricity meters,” Zainab said in the request.

The MAP regulation stipulates that a MAP firm must source a minimum of 30 percent of their contracted metering volumes from local meter manufacturers.

“However, the application of the 35 percent levy on electricity meters has created a significant challenge to the smooth implementation of MAP scheme of NERC,” the request stated.

It also noted that 6m electricity consumers have embraced the opportunities presented by MAP and signed off to pay for electricity meters at the regulated prices approved by NERC.

The Minister of State for Power, Goddy Jedy-Agba recently at the 563 megawatts (MW) Calabar NIPP inspection I Cross River, revealed that the waiver on meter import was necessary to ensure more meters to electricity users.

“I believe Nigerians will soon begin to see the impact. So in a short while, people will have meters to know what they consume and pay for the same. I think six months from now there should be a noticeable improvement both in supply and in metering. The government is committed to its duty for the provision of social services and we want to see this go through especially as it relates to power supply,” said Jedy-Agba

The Managing Director/Chief Executive officer (MD/CEO) of Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO), Dr. Jamil Isyaku Gwamna

Ex-Workers, NAHCO Disagree Over N1.1bn Benefits

The management of the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) Plc and their ex-workers have disagreed over N1.1 billion severance benefits.

About 750 former staff have instituted a court action alleging a short-change over the severance benefits after the termination of their appointment 15 years ago when the company was privatized.

But NAHCO said it cleared the payment earlier. However, the ex-workers who had engaged a lawyer, claimed the money NAHCO was said to have paid at the time of their disengagement does not amount to the terminal benefits they are entitled to.

They also alleged some underpayment from Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) after serving NAHCO for 15 years.

General-Secretary of the workers’ forum, Sanmi Alademoni, confirmed that NAHCO actually paid them some money at the time of the privatization but the information they got was that the said amount was ‘Golden Handshake’.

“It is not the terminal benefit or severance package that they are talking about,” he said.

But NAHCO management yesterday said workers including those disengaged and those remaining with the company had been paid their entitlement.

When contacted, the Head, Corporate Communication, Samuel Akinrinmade, said the payment was made between April and May 2008 when the ground handling firm was privatized.

He explained that the gratuity of N1.1bn was paid to 936 people and it started seeking a refund from the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) with several letters to the bureau in line with the decision of the board.

Daily Trust learnt that in 2015, BPE transferred the issue of refund being sought by NAHCO to PTAD to carry out the required verification.

“NAHCO was actually being proactive. The management felt there was a need to pay the money at the time because of the tense situation while the board decided to seek a refund from the BPE,” Akinrinmade said.

NECA Seeks Concerted Action On Economy

The Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) has called for concerted efforts by stakeholders to pull the economy away from the downward slide.

The Director-General of NECA, Dr Timothy Olawale, while responding to a damning economic report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday, said: “The economic data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) is a call to urgent action. The economic contraction, leaving GDP growth rate at -6.10% is not only alarming but also worrisome.”

He said while it was expected that the Covid-19 pandemic would create economic shock and disrupt business activities, recent releases have shown that the level of shock and disruption was highly underestimated.

While shedding light on the realities and consequences of the economic slide, the NECA boss said, “It is highly worrisome that the economy is facing unusual times, similar to the pre-2016 recession. A period of increasing inflation, unprecedented high youth unemployment and underemployment rate, the dwindling value of the naira occasioned by limited access to foreign exchange and a negative growth rate.”

Olawale urged the government to “take a bold step in stopping the slide by refocusing monetary and fiscal policies to support economic sectors that have potentials for large scale production and employment as a means to kick-start the economy.

‘FG To Take Delivery Of 11 Locomotives Soon’

In less than two months, the Federal Government will take delivery of additional 11 units of locomotives to be deployed on both the Abuja-Kaduna and Lagos-Ibadan rail lines.

CRRC, the contractor procuring the locomotives in a tweet Tuesday said the locomotives have left China and are headed to Nigeria.

“The second batch (11 units) of diesel locomotives made by #CRRC Qishuyuan for export to #Nigeria for Abuja-Kaduna Railway and Lagos-Ibadan Railway were shipped from Changzhou Port to Shanghai, starting their journey to Nigeria.”

Recall in 2019, China Civil Engineering Construction Corp awarded CRRC Qishuyan a contract for the supply of 21 diesel locomotives and multiple units to Nigeria.

The locomotives are part of the rail contracts being executed in Nigeria from about $1.8 billion loan from China.

The first ten locomotives and two locomotives had arrived Nigeria during lockdown Nigeria from Shanghai.

Under the contract, CRRC Qishuyan will deliver four diesel trains, six passenger locomotives, nine freight locomotives and 2 shunting locomotives.

Controller-General of  the Nigerian Immigration Service, Muhammed Babandele

Immigration Engages Airlines On Int’l Flights

Ahead of the reopening of airports for international flights on Saturday, the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) Command of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) on Tuesday asked airlines to administer passenger information cards to passengers before the arrival of flights.

This, the immigration believes, would reduce delays on arrival at the airport and minimize the number of passengers undergoing screening on arrival.

The Comptroller NIS MMIA, Abdullahi Usman, stated this while hosting members of the Association of Foreign Airlines and Representatives in Nigeria (AFARN).

He said the airlines should ensure all passengers fill the cards onboard. “With COVID-19, there will be minimal delay in clearance, minimal because right from port health, there are some routines that need to be done.

Usman urged airlines to ensure proper profiling of passengers before boarding for the purpose of airport facilitation.

“Airlines, it is their responsibility to make sure that no passenger embarks on a journey without the requirements of embarkation, your profiling, your screening is done in the diaspora, you and I here in the country, talk to your colleagues you do effective profiling of passengers that have the right visas to come in.”

The MMIA Comptroller NIS, said an online Temporary Work Permit (TWP) visa, Pre-approval had been introduced because of the closure of the foreign missions as a result of the pandemic.

Operators Decry 400% Rise In Freight Rate

Stakeholders in the maritime sector have expressed concern over the increased cost of freight by 400 percent due to the drop in the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The Stakeholders who expressed their worries in an interactive session in Lagos on Tuesday.

The Chairman Port Consultative Council (PCC), Otunba Kunle Folarin, said before now the sector’s growth rate had been affected by the lockdown occasioned by the CONVID-19 pandemic.

“The summary of all these is that the economy is gradually going into recession. There is no doubt about that and there is no intervention by government to shore up the dollar.”

He warned that if the dollar rate is let loose, it could go beyond N500 to the dollar.

On his part the President of National Association of Stevedoring Companies (NASC), Mr. Bolaji Sunmola agreed that the economy is heading towards a recession.

“From indices available, the economy is heading towards a recession, we have a situation whereby the capacity to produce is not there, the capacity to buy is not there.”

The Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers Council, Mr. Hassan Bello said the fall in the GDP is expected following the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic which affected virtually other economies of the world.

NCAA Alerts Pilots, Others On ‘Hazardous Weather’

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), has issued a weather advisory circular to the industry and demanded strict compliance.

It called the attention of pilots and operators to the occurrence of thunderstorm phenomenon over Nigerian airports since the onset of the rainy season in the country.

According to the circular by the Director-General/CEO, Capt. Musa S. Nuhu, the statistics from the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) so far indicated that most of the airports have recorded quite a number of thunderstorms between March and July 2020.

The DG, however, noted that severe thunderstorms and many other hazardous weather phenomena such as severe turbulence, microburst, low level wind shear and hail events could affect the safety of flight operations during the rainy season.

According to him, flight crews/operators and Air Traffic Controllers (ATC) shall ensure adherence to aerodrome weather minima.

He said, “Pilots shall exercise maximum restraint whenever adverse weather is observed or forecast by NIMET.

“Pilot/flight crew members shall obtain adequate departure, en-route and destination weather information and briefing from NIMET aerodrome meteorological offices prior to flight operations.”

Ogun State: Police Kill Serial Killer, Spartan

Police in Ogun State yesterday shot dead a notorious suspected serial killer, Feyisola Dosumu, popularly known as “Spartan.”

The suspect was declared wanted by the oolice on Friday, July 31, for allegedly killing no fewer than seven people at Ogere and Iperu Remo, the hometown of Governor Dapo Abiodun, in Ikenne Local Government Area of the state.

But it took the efforts of the joint security team of police, local hunters and vigilantes in a two-day operation to bring down the suspect in his enclave at Ogere.

The operation was led by the state Commissioner of Police, Edward Ajogun. The bullet ridden body of the suspect was taken to the Governor’s Office in Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, the state capital.

About three months ago, Dosumu, an alleged notorious cultist and drug addict, hacked three people to death at Ogere and Iperu. Again, the suspect went on the rampage on Tuesday, July 28, and killex two people, one each at Ogere and Iperu Remo. Dosumu also hacked a nursing mother to death at Ogere before killing a security guard attached to one poultry farm at Iperu Remo.

Briefing the governor on how Dosumu was killed, the Police Commissioner, Ajogun, said the suspect usually sneaks out of his enclave in the forest into the community and hacks his victims to death. The oolice boss disclosed that the suspect started his killing spree in April and a N1 million bounty was placed on him.

Ajogun added that the suspect almost “slipped away” from the hands of his men. He said: “Before my assumption of office, he (suspect) had killed about four persons. His modules operandi is this, he lives in the bushes in the community, there from time to time, he sneaked out ‘matchetes’ his victims to death.

Then, he progressed in that manner to selective victims, ‘matchetes’ them to death, then dashed back to the bush. “We employed the reactive means of always combing the bush each time this thing happens.”

The commissioner disclosed that he was given a marching order by both Governor Abiodun and the Inspector General of Police (IG), Mohammed Adamu, for Dosumu’s arrest.

Police Shot A 19-Year-Old Boy For Impregnating A 17-Year-Old Girl In Rivers

Outrage as police shoot a 19 years old boy in a community in Rivers state for impregnating a 17 years old girl.

According to reports, the ugly Incident happened last week Friday, August 21, 2020 around 7am in a community known as K.Dere in Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State.

The name of the gunshot victim is Ledesi Kote and according to medical doctors, the young man may lose his left leg to amputation unless 3 different surgeries are urgently conducted on the boy.

The victim's father, Mr Kote whilee narrating the incident, said that 

four armed policemen stormed his compound around the aforementioned time in Seinna vehicle and went straight to his son's room door and were banging and cocking guns.

He approached them politely to inquire what the matter was and what his son's offense is.

To his greatest surprise none of them answered him. At a point one of them angrily told him that his son impregnated a girl. Before one could say jack, the next thing he heard was a gunshot.

"One of the officers shot my son on the leg simply because he impregnated a girl and they went away with him while he was bleeding profusely and took him to a private hospital," the man said.

A human rights activist and other lovers of justice on hearing the incident, took the boy's father to the Rivers State Police Command Headquarters in Port Harcourt and laid an official complaint about what their officers did to the boy, whose only crime was because he impregnated a girl.

Arrangements were later made for the immediate transfer of the 19-year-old from the village to a better government owned hospital in Port Harcourt.

At the time of filing this report, the States' Police Command is yet to react or release an official statement as regards the ugly incident, especially the allegation that one of their men shot the boy.

Be picky, have standards and don’t date just anyone – Juliet Ibrahim advises

If you are single and searching then Juliet Ibrahim has a piece of advice for you, she says don’t say yes to just anyone

The actress was speaking on TV3’s Ladies Circle show where she disagreed with comments passed by MzVee who said she has stopped being picky when it comes to who should her boyfriend.

For me, intelligence is important, I should be able to have a conversation with you. I cannot be talking about what is happening in America or Covid-19 and you are talking about shoeshine or something else. The level of IQ has to be on the same level,” she said.

Speaking on what also turns her off, she noted that “I also love consistency. If you are inconsistent then it is turn off for me. If you say A, let your A be your A. That is how I am. So for me, it is those traits that I look for in a guy, don’t brag, don’t also to be too old-fashioned.”

She continued that “Every woman needs to have a list so with what MzVee said, I will say that she will need to still have a standard and be picky. The only thing I will advise ladies on is that they should never have expectations. Just accept the person for who they are. That is what is important in a relationship.”

I inherited N3.2 billion debt –NAFDAC DG

Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, the Director-General of the National Agency for Foods and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), said on Tuesday that she inherited a debt of N3.2 billion when she assumed office in November 2017.

Adeyeye speaking at an online news conference to highlight the activities of the agency, said that, however, the debt had been settled.

“I am happy to inform you that we have been able to pay our debts and we are also training our 2,200 members of staff to enhance competence, capability as well as productivity.”

According to her, the sum of N7 billion was generated in 2017; while N2.5 billion and N3.1 billion were generated from the agency’s IGR windows in 2018 and 2019 respectively.

She also said that the agency was in dire need of an overhaul to achieve its mandate.

“About 80 per cent of the equipment in the agency’s laboratories are not functioning, directors have no laptops to work with, incessant industrial actions and lack of utility vehicles are the many problems facing the agency.

“When I resumed office, it was like being thrown into an ocean of problems, so, I started digging into why the agency got into such debt and how to get out of it.

“For 30 years as a professor, my life has been in the laboratory.

“I was shocked when I saw that 80 per cent of the equipment in the NAFDAC laboratories were not functioning.

“And everything the agency does requires laboratory tests – from water to drugs, food products, chemicals and others.

“We decided to review and overhaul our operations by adopting quality management system which enables us to upgrade the ICT system to ensure online documentation, computerised transactions, e-registration and e-certification of food and drug products,” she said.

“I also met about 6,000 backlog of applications for approval of different products.

“We also adopted ‘Customer First’ strategy and gave a mandate for the applications to be cleared within two months and it was done.

“Time of approval used to take months but when I came in, the duration for the approval was reduced to 90 days for food products and 120 days for drugs.

“It is very expensive to equip a laboratory as it costs between N270 million and N350 million for one piece of equipment in the laboratory.

“So, we started to save for the purchase of equipment while we pay off our debt gradually.

“We have seven laboratories across the country and we have bought eight basic equipment. It is not enough because the goal is to have 20 of such equipment,” she said.

Adeyeye said that the quality management system and customer first strategy adopted had helped to sanitise the agency’s budget and increased its internally generated revenue.

The NAFDAC’s D-G also said that the agency decentralised its operations across the country by establishing 23 directorates for faster and effective service delivery.

According to her, the agency resumed its operations at the nation’s ports and borders in May 2018 to prevent and reduce the influx of substandard and counterfeit products entering the country.

Adeyeye said that the agency was working hard to attain the level-3 of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Global Benchmark System that would enable vaccines to be produced in the country.

Source: News Agency Of Nigeria