The Standards Organisation of Nigeria has stated that it will wield the big stick on erring manufacturers and distributors who indulge in the illicit trade of substandard steel in the country. The Chairman, Special Task Force, SON, Enebi Onuchenyo, at a stakeholders meeting with manufacturers and distributors of steel and iron rods in Lagos on
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A pastor simply identified as Kingsley, who was kidnapped alongside others in Oyigbo in the Oyigbo Local Government Area of Rivers State, has regained his freedom.
The three pastors were said to be attached to a guest speaker who was attending a programme.
Gunmen dressed in military camouflage invaded a new generation church, Light Intercessors, located in Oyigbo last Friday, shot sporadically, and whisked the clerics to an unknown destination.
However, it was gathered that the pastor and the other three clerics breathed the air of freedom on Wednesday night.
A member of the church, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the matter, told our reporter that the abductors released them on Wednesday.
He stated, “The pastor and three ministers who came with the bishop were all released at the same time at a location.”
Asked if a ransom was paid before they were allowed to breathe the air of freedom, he said, “I don’t know. don’t have that information.”
When contacted, the spokesperson for the State Police Command, Grace Iringe-Koko, confirmed their release, saying an investigation is ongoing to apprehend the gunmen.
“I can confirm the release of the pastor and others who were kidnapped. But an investigation is ongoing to ensure that we apprehend those behind the kidnapping to make them face justice,” she stated.
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The 6 Division, Nigerian Army, has recovered 238,500 litres of stolen crude oil from suspected oil thieves in three states in the South-South.
The division’s spokesman, Lt.-Col. Danjuma Danjuma, told journalists on Thursday in Port Harcourt that the crude oil was seized from trucks and illegal refining sites in Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers States.
He said that five suspects who were arrested in the operation would soon be prosecuted.
Danjuma said: “These seizures are part of ongoing efforts to combat oil theft and illegal bunkering of petroleum products in the Niger Delta.”
He added that 110,000 litres of crude oil stored in an oven and a massive metal reservoir were discovered at an illegal refining site along Dasaba Creek in Bayelsa.
The spokesman said troops of the 16 Brigade intercepted a truck with registration number, UDH 983 XR on Elebele-Emeyal Road in Ogbia, carrying 30,000 litres of stolen crude oil.
“Acting on intelligence, soldiers, traced inter-connected hoses from the Indorama Petrochemical pipeline in Eleme, Rivers, to a tank located in the bush.
“More than 33,000 litres of crude oil, two pumping machines, a long hose and eleven drums used for the crime were recovered from the site.
“At Cawthorne Channel 1, troops, collaborating with other security agencies, deactivated an illegal refining site containing more than 5,500 litres of crude oil.
“The site is located near Well Head 8, behind Glisten Community in Degema Local Government Area of Rivers.
“Troops of 63 Brigade seized 30,000 litres of crude oil from a truck during a routine patrol in Mosogar, Delta.
“The truck was intercepted along a trunkline belonging to Seplat Energy Nigeria Limited.
“These discoveries are the result of our renewed efforts to clamp down on economic saboteurs
“We urge the public to provide security agencies with reliable intelligence to track down oil thieves and economic saboteurs,” he stated.
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The Kebbi State Governor, Dr Nasir Idris, has reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to give adequate cooperation to the security agencies, especially the Nigerian Army, in tackling banditry in the state.
He further expressed satisfaction with the efforts of the troops of Nigerian Army in the fight against banditry and other criminal activities in the state.
The governor made this known while receiving the acting General Officer Commanding (GOC) 8 Division, Sokoto, Brig.-Gen. Ibikunle Ademola-Ajose, on a courtesy visit in Government House, Birnin Kebbi on Wednesday.
He said, “On issue of security in Kebbi State, it is a well known fact that the military has made us proud. We have no course whatsoever not to thank the officers and the men.
“When I came in as a governor, people abandoned their towns and villages, and abandoned their farmlands because of the fear of banditry, especially in the Southern part of Kebbi state.
“Everybody knows that Kebbi is an agrarian state, especially its southern part, where we produce so many cash crops. We sat down with the security agencies and put everything on the table, we X-rayed and arrived at a conclusion and this yielded positive results.”
The governor added that his administration would do everything possible to assist the military to succeed, assuring them that “Because of your efforts, many people now go back to their farms.
“I charge you to continue with the efforts to enable people sleep in their houses with their two eyes close and go to their farms without any fear of bandits.
“Brig.-Gen. Sani Ahmed has done well, we have to say it, we cannot count the number of times we don’t allow him to rest until problem of insecurity are solved. Therefore , we have not regretted working with him.”
Idris advised the new acting GOC to build on the legacies of his predecessor, who according to him discharged his constitutional duties diligently.
Earlier, the acting GOC, Ademola-Ajose, described his visit as nostalgic and home coming, “because two decades ago, I was in Kebbi, I served in 1 Battalion as a Captain. Therefore, coming back home is very heartwarming.
“I am here to introduce myself as the new GOC 8 Div. I must sincerely appreciate His Excellency and people of Kebbi for the support given to the military especially for the support in the fight against criminals.”
The new GOC described the support of the state government to the military, especially in the provision of vehicles and other logistic support as a moral booster to the personnel to enable them discharge their constitutional responsibility effectively
A security operative attached to Bauchi State Governor, Sen Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir have threatened to ‘deal with‘ journalists working around the Governor’s Office and Government House.
The journalists, who are members of the Correspondents’ Chapel of the NUJ were at the Palace of the Emir of Katagum, headquarters of Katagum LGA when the governor visited the local government after a violent protest where hoodlums razed the Council Secretariat and destroyed part of the Government House Annex in Azare last Monday.
The threat incident was delivered on Thursday inside the Palace Hall when the journalists were trying to find a place to record the governor’s speech after an operative of the DSS simply identified as ‘Abdul’ ordered them to vacate the hall.
The jjournalists left and were looking for an alternative spot to get their job done within the hall when he went to them again to threaten them saying: “This is just the beginning,” even as the governor, in company of other dignitaries, had seated next to his host, the Emir of Katagum.
“You challenged me? You will see. This thing that you have done, this is the beginning,” he warned the journalists, much to the surprise of witnesses in the Palace.
One of the journalists replied saying this sounds like a threat, but he maintained his utterance that he would deal with them.
“He once molested me at a function, he is quite aggressive,” a Government House Press Crew member who pleaded anonymity said.
Meanwhile, the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the governor, Mukhtar Gidado has promised to look into the issue in order to avert future occurrence just as he pacified the journalists.
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The Gender Unit of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, Kwara State Command, says it has received 159 gender-based violence cases in the state in the last one year.
The State Commandant, Dr Umar Mohammed, disclosed this while addressing journalists in Ilorin, the state capital.
He noted the substantial progress in the efforts of the command to combat Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and protect vulnerable individuals within the state.
Umar said “The cases include 76 cases of domestic violence, physical assault and intimidation, 58 cases of abandonment of responsibility, 11 cases of sexual abuse and rape,12 cases of threats to life and two cases of missing children.
He noted that several cases are currently in court and assured the public that all offenders will be prosecuted in accordance with the laws of the land.
Dr Umar reiterated the Corps’ unwavering stance of zero tolerance for Gender-Based Violence and expressed the Corps’ ongoing commitment to collaborate with relevant stakeholders to aggressively combat this societal menace.
He urged members of the public to support the Corps by providing actionable intelligence to help prevent crime in the state.
Kwara: NSCDC records 159 alleged cases of gender-based violence, rape
The Federal Government has stopped the planned sale of subsidised rice to civil servants.
It has, therefore, withdrawn the circular in which it directed civil servants interested in subsidised rice to apply.
This was made known in a fresh circular from the Ministry of Special Duty and Inter-Governmental Affairs obtained by our correspondent on Thursday in Abuja.
The circular, dated August 2, 2024, which was signed by the ministry’s Director of Human Resources, Aderonke Jaiyesimi, did not give any reason for the withdrawal of the initial memo.
It also did not indicate if the scheme was stopped or only suspended.
The circular read, “I am directed to refer to our internal circular in the Ministry (Federal Ministry of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs) of August 1, 2024, on the above subject matter and to inform you that the internal circular is hereby withdrawn. Further details will be communicated in due course.
“Please bring the contents of this internal circular to the attention of staff in your respective departments and units for their information and proper guidance.”
Earlier, the ministry said all interested staff members were to complete a Google form on the OHCSF website and submit it to the director of human resources for endorsement.
It noted that payment for and the distribution of the rice would be coordinated by designated offices while the chairman, Joint Union Council of the ministry, would serve as an observer for transparency reasons in the course of the exercise.
The Federal Government had recently said it had created centres across the country where Nigerians could purchase 50 kg bags of rice for N40,000.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Muhammed Idris, said the initiative was one of several initiatives by the Tinubu administration to ease living conditions for citizens.
The Pan Yoruba Socio-Political Group, Afenifere, has charged the Federal government to probe killings, alleged Foreign Interests and calls for military takeover during the nationwide #Enbadgovernance protest in the country.
The group made this call in a communique issued after its Expanded National Executive Committee meeting and signed by its national leader, Chief Ayo Adebanjo and National Publicity Secretary, Prince Justice Faloye.
The group urged the Tinubu’s administration to investigate the deliberate violation of rights, especially the circumstances of the killing of those who died in the protests and bring to justice those including security agents proven to be culpable.
It also charged the federal government not to take lightly but to investigate the alleged involvement of foreign interests as threats to Nigeria’s sovereignty and the treasonable calls for military intervention in the political affairs of the nation, the proof of which should attract the full wrath of the law.
Afenifere, while speaking on threats to residents, and non-indigenes, said governments at all levels should rise against the threats to any group in any part of the country, immediately investigate and decisively deal with those found culpable, because of its implications for the security, unity and corporate existence of Nigeria.
It stressed the right of every Nigerian citizen to reside in any part of Nigeria of his choice.
The group also noted that Nigerians were massively resident in every state or geopolitical zone irrespective of their ethnic identities.
It equally applauded President Bola Tinubu’s decision to address the nation, during the protest.
The group said, “Government and its agents responded with threats and intimidation of the organizers, made a caricature of revered traditional institutions, exploiting ethnic and religious divisions.
“Afenifere urges President Tinubu to see the nationwide protest, the diversity of its prosecution and outcome in different regions, as a clear verdict for the restructuring of the Nigerian Federation in tandem with the well-considered foundational covenant of true federalism and in honest demonstration of statesmanship immediately set in motion irreversible machinery in this regards as the panacea for the unity, peaceful coexistence and development of a nation where no man, woman or tribe is oppressed.”
Protests: Probe killings, alleged foreign interests – Afenifere to Nigerian govt
Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus was sworn into office Thursday, vowing to lead Bangladesh back to democracy after a student-led uprising ended the 15-year rule of Sheikh Hasina.
Yunus, who earlier on Thursday had hailed the overthrow of Hasina as Bangladesh’s “second independence”, swore to “uphold, support and protect the constitution”, in front of political and civil society leaders, generals and diplomats at the presidential palace.
“Today is a glorious day for us,” Yunus, 84, told reporters hours earlier when he returned to Dhaka from Europe.
“Bangladesh has created a new victory day. Bangladesh has got a second independence.”
Yunus called for the restoration of order after weeks of violence that left at least 455 people dead, calling on citizens to guard each other, including minorities who came under attack.
“Law and order is our first task… We cannot take a step forward unless we fix the law and order situation,” he said.
“My call to the people is if you have trust in me, then make sure there will be no attacks against anyone, anywhere in the country.”
“Every person is our brother… our task is to protect them,” Yunus said, adding that “the whole of Bangladesh is one big family”.
More than a dozen members of his cabinet, who are titled advisers, not ministers, also took the oath.
They included top leaders of the Students Against Discrimination group that led the weeks-long protests, Nahid Islam and Asif Mahmud.
Others included a former foreign secretary and a former attorney general, an environmental lawyer, and prominent rights activist Adilur Rahman Khan who was sentenced to two years in jail during Hasina’s rule.
Hasina, accused of widespread human rights abuses including jailing of political opponents, was forced to flee to neighbouring India on Monday as masses of protesters flooded Dhaka’s streets.
The military then agreed to student demands that Yunus — who won the Nobel in 2006 for his pioneering microfinancing work — lead an interim government.
Yunus choked with emotion on Thursday as he recalled the killing of student activist Abu Sayeed, shot dead in July by police from close range.
He paid tribute to the youth who sparked the protest movement and those who risked all for their desire for change.
“They protected the nation and gave it a new life”, he said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered his “best wishes” to Yunus on Thursday, saying New Delhi was “committed” to working with neighbouring Dhaka.
– ‘Beautiful democratic process’ –
During Hasina’s reign, Yunus was hit with more than 100 criminal cases and a smear campaign by a state-led Islamic agency that accused him of promoting homosexuality.
Yunus had travelled abroad this year while on bail after being sentenced to six months in jail on a charge condemned as politically motivated, and which a Dhaka court on Wednesday acquitted him of.
Army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman said Wednesday he supported Yunus.
“I am certain that he will be able to take us through a beautiful democratic process,” Waker said.
Few other details about the planned government have been released, including the role of the military.
But Bangladeshis voiced hope as they joined a rally in Dhaka on Wednesday for the former opposition Bangladesh National Party (BNP).
“I expect that a national government will be formed with everyone’s consent in a beautiful way,” Moynul Islam Pintu told AFP.
“I expect that the country is run in a nice way, and the police force is reformed so that they can’t harass people.”
Monday’s events were the culmination of more than a month of unrest, which began as protests against a quota plan for government jobs but morphed into an anti-Hasina movement.
“The protests are a seismic moment in Bangladesh history,” said International Crisis Group analyst Thomas Kean.
“The country really had been at risk of becoming a one party state, and through a peaceful street-based movement led by Gen Z students in their 20s, they’ve managed to force her from power.”
– Military move –
The military’s switching of allegiance was the decisive factor in her ouster.
It has since acceded to a range of demands from the student leaders.
The president dissolved parliament on Tuesday, a key demand of the students and the BNP.
The head of the police force, which protesters have blamed for leading Hasina’s crackdown, was sacked on Tuesday.
The new chief, Mainul Islam, offered an apology on Wednesday for the conduct of officers and vowed a “fair and impartial investigation” into the killings of “students, common people and the police”.
Ex-prime minister and BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, 78, was also released from years of house arrest, while some political prisoners were freed.
The military has demoted some generals seen as close to Hasina and sacked Ziaul Ahsan, a commander of the feared Rapid Action Battalion paramilitary force.
AFP
The Governor of Sokoto State, Ahmed Sokoto, has pledged that his administration will continue to uphold the practice of State Fiscal Transparency and Accountability, focusing on strengthening fiscal monitoring and ensuring accountability in the conduct of government business in a transparent manner.
The governor gave this assurance on Thursday during the 2025 budget consultation meeting organised by the state Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning in conjunction with the USAID State2State activity at Dankani Guest Palace, Sokoto.
Represented by the Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Balarabe Musa Kadadi, the governor described the meeting as a valuable opportunity for brainstorming and exchanging ideas among participants drawn from key Ministries, Departments, and Agencies that are critical to Public Financial Management.
He noted that the consultation meeting is a sound scientific approach that will add value to the budgetary process and its performance.
He said, “This will guide our future projections in line with past and current realities, helping us avoid over-budgeting.
“As you are all aware, Sokoto State has come a long way in reforming the budget process in line with the International Public Sector Accounting Standards and the National Chart of Accounts.
“The current administration places special emphasis on an effective and efficient Public Financial System and will continue to uphold the practice of State Fiscal Transparency and Accountability, which focuses on strengthening fiscal monitoring and accountability in the transparent conduct of government business.”
While commending USAID State2State for its contribution to the state, he assured that the government would continue to support and enhance the capacity of the workforce in all relevant Ministries, Departments, and Agencies to meet modern standards for effective service delivery.
“The current administration is resolved to institutionalise a realistic, scientific, and all-inclusive budget in the state governance system. This is driven by our desire to accommodate and contextualise the aspirations of different segments of society in the distribution of our commonwealth,” he added.
Speaking in her remarks, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, Hajia Barade, said the consultation aimed to review the current progress and issues affecting the budgetary process, arrive at a broad-based consensus, and recommend appropriate strategies moving forward into the 2025 budget process.
She said, “I am quite confident that our deliberations and interactions today on the 2024 budget, the journey so far, progress, and challenges will inform our thinking as we begin preparations for the 2025 budget.”
“Being the first pre-budget preparation consultation meeting in the state, the effort is intended to give more focus and clarity to our individual MDAs, sectors, and sub-sectors in their quest for rapid development.”
Meanwhile, one of the participants, Safiya Abdulazeez, who is also a member of the Community Development Charter (CDC) for Gwadabawa Local Government Area, commended the involvement of USAID State2State in the activity.
She said that with the involvement of USAID State2State, the CDC was able to achieve up to fifty per cent of its input in the 2024 budget from the five local governments.
She added that the progress recorded by the CDC in its pioneer five local governments, which include Wamakko, Gwadabawa, Sokoto South, Sokoto North, and Tambuwal local governments, has led to the inclusion of two more local governments, Gada and Denge-Shuni, to accommodate more people-oriented projects at the grassroots level.
The Sokoto State team lead of State2State, Abdulkadir Aminu Ladan, in his remarks, described the consultation meeting as an avenue to encourage citizens to have input in the budget preparation.
He commended the contribution of the CDC in the 2024 budget, noting that over fifty per cent and eighty per cent of their demands were captured in the 2024 budget at both the state and local government levels, respectively.