Kebbi State Governor Atiku Bagudu has approved the release of N3.8 billion for the reconstruction of the 30km Zuru-Ribah road in the state.
Commissioner of Works and Transport, Alhaji Abubakar Chika-Ladan in a statement in Birnin Kebbi yesterday, said reconstruction work on the road begins immediately.
“The road in Zuru Emirate is one of the major state-owned roads in the area. The reconstruction is in fulfilment of the governor’s promise to reconstruct it,’’ Chika-Ladan stated.
Police in Borno yesterday confirmed in Maiduguri that they have received nine Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC) from the state government.
Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Abdu Umar gave the confirmation while thanking Governor Babagana Zulum for the support.
Umar, who came with the last consignment of the nine APCs to show the governor, said the development would go a long way in enhancing police’s capacity to combat crime in the state.
“Thank you for all the support you are giving the police to effectively perform their role of ensuring law and order in Borno and in Nigeria in general,’’ Umar said.
Zulum commended the police for their performance in Borno and assured them of sustained support including provision of more APCs.
Zulum lauded the Federal Government led by President Muhammadu Buhari for the restoration of peace and stability in Borno.
He said the military and other security agencies deserved commendation for sacrifices made to ensure that peace and security were restored in the state.
Zulum said the state government would meet with the military after the 2023 general elections to identify areas liberated from terrorists in Borno.
The areas would be handed over to the police for the restoration of full civilian authority, the governor added
This government must renew its efforts to release all the kidnap victims before the end of its tenure. Leah Sharibu has been kidnapped for a tragically long five years now with thousands kidnapped since then and just last week, a fresh batch of kidnap victims for which the kidnappers are boastfully demanding ‘new notes’, a step that was recommended to them by journalists in the face of the now catastrophic naira redesign/currency swap. It is the responsibility of this outgoing government to wrap up each and every kidnap case and rescue each and every kidnap victim before it leaves office. While government is a continuum, no government should carry forward kidnapping to the next government.
The Presidential Election is in three days’ time. Are you ready? There is a lot of suffering going on currently with the cash crisis destabilising every person in Nigeria and deliberately colliding with the election in timing for whatever reason, and many reasons have been given.
Each member of the electorate must individually come to terms with the important fact that a president is not voted in for a day or because of a cash crisis. The election day will pass. The disastrous and deadly cash crisis will pass regardless of its origins – be they incompetence, political or economic or both, corruption or anti-corruption strategy. Though traumatic in the extreme to each of the 160million + Nigerians with empty pockets today, the cash crisis will definitely soon be over one way or another. Sadly those who are damaged have been forced to make huge sacrifices and several citizens have died and were forced to make the supreme sacrifice during the election and struggling with the fallout of the cash crisis. Death is an absolutely unnecessarily sacrifice in this absolutely artificial cash crisis. For comparison the Syria/ Turkey earthquake and the South African flooding and the Cyclone Cheneso in Madagascar are natural disasters with largely unpreventable deaths.
Our election and the cash crisis are producing deaths of Fellow Nigerians who should have been alive but for the mismanagement of the election run up and the devastating cash crisis. When all has blown over, and even the Abacha era with all its terrors has blown over, though the dead have not risen, then we will be saddled with the president we would have voted for on Saturday February 25. Pray that whoever he is, he will be willing and able to carry Nigeria out of the hole that has been dug for it by its political and financial administrative class.
It had better be the president we voted for out of careful analysis and not out of crazed or blind anger assuming that our analysis produces who we individually think is the very best candidate to rescue Nigeria from what has been a long period of economic darkness.
Will the Dangote Refinery work and if so why will it work when the others in the country have been epileptic and mostly offline? We understand that a refinery is being fixed again, by imported experts, probably to take care of certain interests after election. To give government fuel at special prices? Let us study it and see. My guess is that it will not break down.
But let us wait and see. If it does not break down, it will show us our suffering was absolutely man-made and perhaps those who benefit from importing fuel may have had a remotely controlled or even a direct role in the disease and death of NNPC refineries. Should that be the case, imagine the cost to each Nigerian of that serial massive sabotage of the refinery industry. Even more important than that catastrophic sabotage will be the question of what next? Yes, what next after destroying the refining capacity of a country? The destroyers must be planning something really big after their total success with the refining capacity reduced to zero.
Put yourself in their evil hands. What next? Will they go after the Dangote Refinery or leave it well alone and go after something refreshing different? I cannot think what and do not want to give them any ideas, so we shall have to wait and see. But watch out.
Remember the devil finds work for idle hands. All these hands, or is it one master mischievous Machiavellian hand, which has hung like a noose around Nigeria’s lifeline oil-to-petrol neck and sabotaged four refineries repeatedly by thought, word and deed for upwards of 30years.
Then there are the suspected killers of the Nigerian family, killed and burnt in their home, their children taken away, one escaped and other was captured and he was killed by throwing him into the river, who have been arrested. Kudos to police. Wow! The gang leader was an employee demanding more money and a loan for an okada. When he did not get it, instead of leaving for greener pastures, he vengefully and mercilessly killed and set fire to them. Were they on drugs? Why have we descended into such a hole of totally insensitive homicidal maniacal actions, spreading more and more throughout the country? If our politics was honest, it would have helped. Now suddenly there may be terrorist near you and me, in your driver, domestic, roommate, family, and workplace. Morals have been wiped away or at best are a thin layer of seeming sanity over volatile, violent tendencies.
Three United Nations (UN) peacekeepers were killed in an artisanal mine explosion in central Mali, UN Multi-dimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) said yesterday.
“A convoy of the MINUSMA Force hit an improvised explosive device (artisanal mine) on Feb. 21.
According to preliminary reports, three peacekeepers have died and five others were seriously injured, the UN mission said in a statement, promising to provide further information on the attack.
In January, MINUSMA reported that it had lost four peacekeepers due to 18 attacks since Oct. 3, 2022, in the West African country.
Since 2012, Mali has been engulfed in a deep multi-faceted crisis at the security, political and economic levels.
Independence insurgencies, jihadist incursions, and inter-communal violence have left thousands dead and hundreds of thousands more displaced in the country.
The Federal Ministry of Women Affairs yesterday in Sokoto distributed 3,400 cooking gas cylinders to women groups to enhance environmental sustainability.
According to Women Affairs Minister, Pauline Tallen, the gesture was also to guard against desert encroachment and indiscriminate felling of trees.
Tallen who was represented by the state Commissioner for Women and Children Affairs, Hajia Kulu Sifawa, added that the gesture was to empower the women and improve their health conditions.
She said women faced health challenges as result of using firewood and other cooking instruments that produce excessive smoke.
According to her, gas cylinders are cheap, easy to use and environment-friendly.
Tallen urged husbands to support their wives to use the gas cylinders for cooking to achieve the aims of the exercise.
The Permanent Secretary, Sokoto State Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, Hajia A’Isha Dantsoho, said beneficiaries were drawn from the 23 local government areas of the state.
Dantsoho commended the Federal Government for the gesture and urged the beneficiaries to ensure proper use of the cooking tool.
Some of the beneficiaries, Hau’wau Hassan, Bilkisu Doki and Maryam Shehu, expressed appreciation for the gesture and assured maximum use of the gas cylinders.
Leaders of thought, business strategists and Christian ministers are expected at ‘Switch 2023’, an International School of Ministry and Leadership Conference, organised by Rock of Ages Christian Assembly International (RACAI).
With its theme: ‘Built to Last’, the three-day conference will hold from next Wednesday, at RACAI auditorium, in Benin.
Switch is an annual faith-based business and ministry event equipping church leaders, business owners, C-Level executives and corporate professionals for improved growth and success.
Hosted by President of RACAI, Pastor Charles Osazuwa, the event signifies the convergence of faith-based institutions’ leaders and business executives.
The conference attracts leaders from religious and the corporate world. Some major speakers include influential strategist and Forbes author, Olakunle Soriyan; British-Nigerian journalist, communications strategist, and Senior Advisor to President of African Development Bank Group in Abidjan, Victor Oladokun; common sense guru, Olumide Emmanuel; Lead Pastor of Elevation Church, and others.
Osazuwa said: “Switch is part of our divine mandate and a manifestation of the church’s capacity to set the pace for the next generation of leaders, we believe we have been rightly positioned to harness potential of individuals and organisations through mental transformation and human capital development.”
He said this year’s conference is a highly anticipated event, attracting participants from states and beyond.
“We have carefully selected topics to help achieve our objective of equipping and unveiling leaders, and speak to specific needs of attendees, including ministers and leaders, to enable them refresh and refuel for greater work in their organisations.”
Registration for the conference is ongoing (for FREE) at www.racai.org/event.
THE West has been trying to destabilise the Russian society from within by introducing sanctions, but failed, Russian President Vladimir Putin said yesterday.
The Russia president said this in the course of his State of the Nation Address to the Federal Assembly.
“Sanctions against Russia are only a means, and the goal, as the Western leaders themselves declare … is to make our citizens suffer, to make (them) suffer.
“They want to make the people suffer, thereby destabilising our society from within.
“But their calculation was not justified,” Putin said.
The West will try to divide Russia, “betting on ‘national traitors,’” the president added.
He accused the West of ignoring neo-Nazi ideology in Ukraine as its armed forces put swastikas on military equipment and use Nazi names.
“Neo-Nazis do not hide whose heirs they consider themselves to be.
“It is surprising that none of those in power in the West notices this,” Putin said.
UNITED States (U.S.) President Joe Biden has warned that Ukraine would “never be a victory for Russia” as he delivered a speech in Poland ahead of the first anniversary of Moscow’s invasion.
“A dictator bent on rebuilding an empire will never be able to ease the people’s love of liberty, brutality will never grind down the will of the free,” he said in Warsaw.
“Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia — never,” Biden told the crowd of several thousand people gathered outside the Royal Castle.
Speaking a day after his surprise trip to the Ukrainian capital, Biden said: “Kyiv stands strong, Kyiv stands proud, it stands tall and most importantly it stands free.”
Biden also responded to an anti-West speech made by Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier Tuesday.
“The West is not plotting to attack Russia as Putin said today,” Biden said.
“Millions of Russian citizens who only want to live in peace with their neighbours are not the enemy.”
Biden stressed the West’s continued support for Ukraine.
Putin “thought autocrats like himself were tough and leaders of democracy were soft and then he met the iron will of America and nations everywhere that refused to accept a world governed by fear,” he said.
“There should be no doubt: our support for Ukraine will not waver, NATO will not be divided and we will not tire.”
The official visit to Poland is Biden’s second in the past 12 months.
Today, he will meet in Warsaw with the leaders of nine countries on NATO’s eastern flank.
THE United States (U.S.) has called on the UN Security Council to condemn the recent string of missile tests conducted by North Korea.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the UN, made the call during a Security Council briefing in New York on Monday, using the acronym of the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Her request came after Pyongyang on Monday fired two suspected short-range ballistic missiles towards the East Sea, as the Sea of Japan is also known.
“We call on each member of this council to join us in strongly condemning the DPRK’s unlawful activities and encouraging the DPRK to engage in diplomacy,’’ she said.
The launch came two days after Pyongyang fired what it said was an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Saturday.
UN resolutions prohibit North Korea from testing ballistic missiles of any range, which depending on their design can also be equipped with a nuclear warhead.
It will be the first test of such a missile in more than a month.
Japan has already requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council over the launches.
The U.S. failed to get a resolution stipulating tougher international sanctions against North Korea through the Security Council last May, due to vetos from Russia and China.
Thomas-Greenfield said Pyongyang’s continued violation of the Security Council’s resolution required a response.
“We are charged with maintaining international peace and security.
“But in the face of unprecedented launches last year, two permanent members forced us into silence in spite of countless DPRK violations,’’ she told the body, referring to Russia and China.
“On this vital matter, silence leads to irrelevance.
“The council’s lack of action is worse than shameful. It is dangerous.
“Now is the time for the Security Council to work together toward a peaceful solution on the Korean Peninsula before it’s too late,” Thomas-Greenfield charged.
The situation in the area is currently very tense. While North Korea has increased the number of missile tests, South Korea and the U.S. has resumed their joint military exercises in the region in full.
Pyongyang has repeatedly accused Washington of helping its neighbour to prepare for an attack, a claim that both the U.S. and South Korea reject.
Student Union Governments (SUGs) and youth stakeholders across the Southwest have endorsed the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for Saturday’s election.
The youth, who were received by the Chairman of Kosofe Local Government, Moyosore Ogunlewe, at the council headquarters in Ogudu, Lagos, in company with the son of the APC candidate, Seyi Tinubu, said their visit was to show their support for Asiwaju Tinubu and debunk the misconception that the youth were not in support of his candidacy.
They cited his promise of students loan, as well as his past record of initiating free School Certificate Examination for final year secondary school students in Lagos irrespective of tribe, tongue or religion as their as their reason.
A former Student Union President of the Lagos State University (LASU), Ahmed Agbabiaka, said: “It is only in Asiwaju Tinubu’s manifesto that there is a provision for students’ loan.’
He created extra 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) to take governance nearer to the people, thereby enabling young people, including freshly graduated comrades, to participate in governance, even becoming chairmen of some of these councils.”
The chairman, Conference of Speakers, said their support was not because of any inducement, but because they were convinced of Asiwaju Tinubu’s capacity to lead and redirect Nigeria to prosperity.
He said: “We will work, campaign, canvas mobilise and monitor the votes.”
Student Union President, Lagos State University of Education, John Okechukwu, an indigene of Anambra State and Chioma Ohakwe, SUG president of St. Augustine’s College of Education, who is originally from Enugu State, said they supported Asiwaju Tinubu because he created a united Lagos and an environment that made it possible for all to flourish, irrespective of background.