The Nation Newspaper

Category: News Update

  • Banker arraigned for fraud

    A 27- year old banker has been arrested and arraigned at an Itire Magistrate’s Court, Lagos, for allegedly defrauding customers to the tune of N3.1 million.

    The defendant, Ogunji Adediran, who was an employee with the Guarantee Trust Bank, (GTB), was said to have stolen the money at different occasions in July.

    Prosecuting Inspector, Ezekiel Ayorinde, told the court that Ogunji fraudulently deducted money from the accounts of customers without their consent.

    Ayorinde alleged that the defendant opened a pseudo account where he deposited the loot, adding that he also suppressed deposit tellers of some customers.

    The practice, according to Ayorinde, continued until some of the customers started complaining about their missing monies.

    “The bank started investigation and it was discovered Adediran was responsible,” the police prosecutor told the court.

    He alleged that the defendant used the money to secure admission abroad as well as gave some yet to be identified persons part of it.

    He told the court that his alleged offence contravened Section 285 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos, 2011.

    The defendant, who pleaded not guilty to the charge of stealing against him, told the court that he stepped down some of the deposits to enable him sort out some financial challenges.

    Presiding Magistrate, D.T. Olatokun, granted the defendant bail in the sum of N500, 000 with two sureties in like sum each and adjourned the matter to October 22.

     

  • Rescued children at Dana crash scene in safe hands – Lagos First Lady

    Rescued children at Dana crash scene in safe hands – Lagos First Lady

    Wife of the Lagos State Governor, Abimbola Fashola, on Monday said the three children, Joel, Chisom and Esther Okechukwu, rescued by Governor Babatunde Fashola at the scene of the Dana air crash in Iju Ishaga area of the state are in good hands.

    Mrs. Fashola, who disclosed this while responding to questions during a press conference on the forth- coming 12th National Women Conference organised by the Committee of Wives of Lagos State Officials, said the children attended the funeral ceremony of their parent Jeremiah and Josephine Okechukwu and their aunty.

    The trio lost their lives on ground when the aircraft crashed into their building.

    “I believe you are talking about Joel, Chisom and Esther. Trust me the children are doing well and in good hands,” she said.

    On the conference slated for October 30 to November 1, she highlighted that Governors of Kaduna and Osun States, Mr. Ibrahim Yakowa and Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola will be the special guests of honour at the opening and closing sessions of the confab.

    The Lagos First Lady explained that the annual national conference was initiated to serve as a platform for Nigerian women to gather once a year to exchange ideas on issues of common concern and also to serve as a means of generating funds through conference fees and sponsorship to execute major programmes and projects in support of government efforts.

     

  • PENGASSAN seeks end to casualisation in oil sector

    PENGASSAN seeks end to casualisation in oil sector

    The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has called for an end to the incessant use of casual workers by the oil and gas industry.

    The National Industrial Relations Officer (NIRO) of PENGASSAN, Mr. Chika Onuegbu, made the call in a chat with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Port Harcourt on Monday.

    Onuegbu, who is also the Chairman, Trade Union Congress (TUC), Rivers chapter, said that the much desired transformation would be achieved if the issue of casual workers was addressed.

    He described the use of casual workers in the sector as a “huge challenge” which demanded an urgent attention.

    Onuegbu, said that lack of appropriate enforcement of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act, 2010, was responsible for the increase in the number of casual workers in the oil sector.

    He said the misinterpretation of the Act had also hampered the promotion of local contents.

    The chairman said international oil companies, who were into employment of casual workers, were doing this with the intention of dodging payment of benefits to the permanent staff members.

    “The casual workers are being used with no provision for pension, leave, housing and other benefits.

    “We want to see our people being trained and assigned responsibilities in critical disciplines of the oil and gas sector, not as figureheads for the purpose of statistics,” Onuegbu said.

     

  • Dana: Group appeals court’s verdict on coroner’s inquest

    Dana: Group appeals court’s verdict on coroner’s inquest

    The Civil Aviation Round Table has filed an appeal against the judgment of a Federal High Court, Lagos, which ordered the continuation of a coroner’s inquest into the Dana plane crash of June 3 that killed all 153 passengers and crew.

    In the notice of appeal, Mr. Joseph Nwobike (SAN), counsel to the group, is seeking an order to set aside the judgment of the Federal High Court.

    Nwobike had argued that the lower court erred in law by allowing the coroner to continue investigation into deaths arising from an air accident, and urged the Appellate Court to set aside the court’s ruling.

    The applicant had also filed a motion for stay of execution of the courts’ judgment, pending the determination of the appeal.

    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that court of appeal has, however, not fixed a date for the hearing of the mater.

    NAN recalls that Justice Okon Abang had on September 28, vacated an interim order which suspended the inquest into the crash.

    Abang had in addition, awarded a N10, 000 cost against the group that instituted the suit against the Lagos State government.

    NAN recalls that in addition to the 153 people on board the commercial airliner, some residents of the two-storey building it crashed into at Iju-Ishaga area of Lagos also lost their lives.

     

  • FG committed to saving one million lives by 2015 – Minister

    FG committed to saving one million lives by 2015 – Minister

    The Minister of State for Health, Dr. Muhammad Pate, has said the government is committed to saving one million lives by 2015 through increased access to cost-effective health services and commodities.

    Pate said this in Abuja on Sunday at the United Nations Commission’s meeting on live-saving commodities for women and children.

    “In Nigeria, we believe that saving lives is the ultimate goal for our collective efforts in the health sector and this should be the yardstick for measuring our success in this endeavour.

    “This is why we have initiated a national programme aimed at `saving one million lives’ by 2015 through equitable increasing access to and utilisation of quality cost-effective basic health services and commodities,’’ the News Agency of Nigeria quoted Pate as saying on the issue.

    He said the government was committed to enhancing access to life-saving commodities for women and children as well as improving the health outcome.

    The minister said the meeting would discuss issues and challenges in providing access to under-utilised commodities, develop milestones and targets for effective monitoring of implementation.

    He said the objective was to share information on the UN commission’s recommendations and implementation plan and to review the draft implementation plan and to reflect country priorities and needs.

    The meeting would also launch the Nigeria’s saving one million lives programme.

    NAN reports that the UN Commission approved 10 recommendations to support improved and equitable access to selected life-saving commodities.

     

  • Africa’s leadership prize to be awarded

    Africa’s leadership prize to be awarded

    The world’s most valuable individual prize – the Mo Ibrahim prize for good governance – is to be announced shortly, BBC reports.

    The $5m (£3.2m) prize is supposed to be awarded each year to a democratically elected leader who has voluntarily left office.

    However, there was no winner in 2009 and 2010 because the panel said there had been no suitable candidate.

    Last year, Cape Verde President Pedro Verona Pires was named.

    He led the fight against Portuguese colonialism, introduced multi-party politics and was praised for living standards.

    The $5m prize is spread over 10 years and is followed by $200,000 a year for life.

    Previous winners were Botswana’s President Festus Mogae and Mozambique’s Joaquim Chissano.

    Sudan-born telecoms entrepreneur Mo Ibrahim says the prize is needed because many leaders of sub-Saharan African countries come from poor backgrounds and are tempted to hang on to power for fear that poverty awaits them when they leave office.

     

  • Gunmen kidnap six in Niger

    Unidentified gunmen kidnapped six people, including four aid workers from Niger and Chad, from the town of Dakoro in central Niger overnight, the aid workers’ employers told Reuters on Monday.

    Nigerien security sources said troops had been deployed on the ground to look for them and aircraft were monitoring traffic into the Air Mountains, where they said the hostages might be taken.

    Gunmen linked to al Qaeda factions operating in the Sahel and Sahara zone have kidnapped people in Niger and taken them to neighbouring Mali in the past, although usually they target Westerners for ransom payments.

    Those kidnapped included three local staff working for Nigerien medical charity BEFEN and a Chadian working for Alert Sante, the aid groups said in a joint statement sent to Reuters.

    Both groups had been treating malaria and looking after malnourished children in the area, they said.

    The Islamist takeover of the north of neighbouring Mali has created a security void, opening up a safe haven for extremists and organised crime.

     

  • 20 killed by gunmen in Kaduna village

    Unknown gunmen suspected to be armed robbers in the early hours of Sunday attacked Dogon Dawa community in Birnin Gwari local government area of Kaduna state, killing about 20 people in the community.

    Several others were  injured, but the police said that 12 people were killed in the attack.
    The Nation gathered that the gunmen who had operated in the area for sometime before they were chased away by a local vigilante group may have regrouped and return to the village on a reprisal attack having lost some of their men in an earlier operation with the vigilante group.
    Sources said that the gunmen may have escaped from a prison in one of the negbouring states and have been operating along the Kaduna/Birnin Gwari highway before the community set up the vigilante group to fish out the criminals.
    It was gathered that some members of the criminal gang may have been killed in an earlier encounter with the local vigilante group, but sources said close to the community dismissed the notion that it was an armed robbery operation.
    A highly dependable source told The Nation that “sometimes ago, there were series of armed robbery operation in the area especially along the Kaduna/ Birnin Gwari highway. Some women were even raped in the process.
    “So the community set up a vigilante group to help find out who were responsible and put an end to it. They have been doing a good job as they were able to identify some of those responsible for the robbery operations and other criminal activities in the area.
    “A former hakimi (District Head) in Dogo Dawa was in charge of the committee that was responsible for sanitizing the area and that was why, in the last three month, there was no robbery in the area as the people were able to identify the criminals and they were being eliminated silently one after the other.
    “The criminal must have fled the village when they discovered that they no longer have a base there. But this morning, the criminals came back and went to the house of the man they suspected to be responsible for identifying them, killed him and two of his children and cut the hand of his wife. They also killed 17 other people in the village.
    “I learnt that those people they killed were just coming from the early morning prayers. I can confirm to you that it was not a robbery operation, but it was the criminals themselves that came for a reprisal attack because the people have been identifying them”.
    Another source told The Nation that the criminals sent an earlier message to the community that they were coming back for a revenge mission having lost some of their members.
    The state Commissioner of Police, Olufemi Adenaike who confirmed the attack said “some people are saying the attackers were Fulani herdsmen who were probably on reprisal attack, but the question is, what reprisal attack.
    “My men have moved to the scene to get details of the incident. We couldn’t get immediate information from the area because the network there is very poor, but as soon as we get the details, we will let you know.
    “From what I heard, the villagers arrested some armed robbers while some escaped. Some of the robbers came back today (Sunday) killed 12 people in a reprisal attacks while the villagers killed two of them. The rumour going round that 20 people were killed while coming from the mosque is not true. But I will get back to you when I get full details. Thank you”, she said.

  • Governors shun North-east confab

    Governors shun North-east confab

    Confusion on Saturday marred the inauguration of various committees of the newly formed North East Forum for Unity and Development convened by elder statesman Alhaji Bello Kirfi .

    However, six governors from the region shunned the meeting.

    The meeting held in the  Multi-Purpose Indoor Sports Hall of Bauchi Stadium, attracted prominent sons and daughters of the six northeast states among whom were Lt.Gen Theophilus Danjuma, who was the Special Guest of Honour ,Adamu Ciroma, Chairman of the occasion, Alhaji Yayale Ahmed, Prof. Jibril Aminu, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, Adamu Maina Waiziri, Gen. Timothy Shelpidi, Bunu Sherif and Aliyu B,Modibbo.

    Also in attendance were – General Yakubu Usman, Deputy Senate Leader; Senator Abdul Ningi, Senator Aisha Alhassan, Former Minister of Women Affairs; Inna Ciroma and Emir of Fika and former Minister of Education, Alhaji Dauda Brima, among others.

    The absence of the six governors, according to Danjuma was due to the suspicion that the meeting had “political undertone.”

    Danjuma, a former minister of Defence, said he was initially informed that the governors would attend the inauguration, but “three days before the meeting” one of the governors told him that they have resolved not to attend the forum.

    “They advised me to stay away from the meeting because it has political undertone, “he said.

    Based on the advice, the former army general, said he went back to read the minutes of the meetings held by the Forum including the draft speech adding, “I am not in a position to pass judgment but this development has created doubt in my mind regarding the motive of the forum.

    “ I therefore suggest that this meeting should be adjourned immediately and be reconvened at a later date when we would have been able to persuade the governors to join us in this noble undertaken,” Danjuma told the gathering.

     

  • Nigeria qualifies for Nations Cup

    Nigeria qualifies for Nations Cup

    Super Eagles of Nigeria on Saturday qualified for the 2013 African Cup of Nations slated for South Africa.

    The Stephen Keshi-tutored team walloped the Lone Stars of Liberia 6-1 inside the U.J Esuene Stadium in Calabar.

    The team thus qualified for the continent’s premier soccer tournament on 8-3 goals aggregate having played out a 2-2 draw with the Liberians in the first leg match in Monrovia.

    Super Eagles goals were scored by Ambrose Efe, Ahmed Musa, Victor Moses (brace), Mikel Obi and Ikechukwu Uche.

    The Liberians got their consolation goal in the 80th minute through Patrick Wleh.