A stampede during the distribution of food items to vulnerable and elderly individuals at the Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Maitama, on Saturday has resulted in the deaths of ten worshipers and left eight others injured.
The tragic incident occurred around 6:30 a.m. and claimed the lives of ten people, including four children. Eight others sustained various degrees of injury.
Four of the injured have been treated and discharged, while the remaining victims continue to receive medical care.
The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command has confirmed the incident, expressing sympathy with the families of the deceased and wishing a swift recovery to the injured.
In a statement issued on Saturday by the FCT Police Public Relations Officer, SP Josephine Adeh, the Police Command emphasized the need for organizers of public events, charitable activities, or large gatherings to notify the Police in advance. This measure is aimed at preventing similar unfortunate incidents in the future.
“This will allow the deployment of adequate security measures to ensure public safety and prevent avoidable tragedies.
“Failure to comply with this directive will result in the organizers being held liable for any incident or loss of life resulting from their negligence.
“The FCT Police Command remains committed to safeguarding lives and property in the Territory. Members of the public are encouraged to collaborate with the Police by adhering to these guidelines and promptly reporting emergencies through the FCT Control Room via 0803 200 3913 or 0806 032 1234”.
The tools were designated for training N-Power beneficiaries under the NSIPA.
In response to the incident, the Minister of State for the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Dr. Yusuf Sununu, has directed the formation of a 5-man committee to investigate the fire.
During an inspection of the warehouse, the minister assured that measures would be implemented to prevent future occurrences.
Dr. Sununu, in a statement by the Director of Information and Public Relations of the Ministry, Rhoda Ishaku, stated that the committee has two weeks to submit its report.
“The Committee will estimate the cost of the items gutted by the fire. With what has happened, we will put measures in place to ensure that all other items in our warehouses are well protected. We will also commence as soon as possible the training of beneficiaries so that what has been procured so far can be put to use.”
The minister commended the Federal Fire Service, FCT Fire Service, and Julius Berger for their assistance to ensure that the fire was brought down.
He also commended the Nigeria Police, Life Camp for providing security and ensuring that what was left in the warehouse was not vandalized.
In a statement on Sunday, FCT Police Public Relations Officer, SP Josephine Adeh, attributed the disturbing trend to men deserting women after impregnating them.
Adeh said: “The increasing number of abandoned babies in the FCT is alarming. Just yesterday, two new cases were reported.
“This troubling trend is largely due to men abandoning women after impregnating them. If you are not prepared to take responsibility for fatherhood, avoid unprotected sex or abstain from it.”
The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), FCT Command, has again apprehended four street light vandals in Abuja City for vandalisation of assets and critical infrastructures.
The Commandant of the NSCDC, FCT Command, Dr Olusola Odumosu paraded the vandals at the command headquarters, saying they were responsible for theft and vandalisation of street light infrastructures in parts of the city.
“Today, we have four suspects in connection with vandalism of street light poles at different locations in the city centre.
“This arrest is the latest in a series of successful operations against vandals, marking another remarkable milestone in the Command’s ongoing efforts to combat vandalism in the Federal Capital Territory “, Odumosu said.
He said intelligence reports and proactive measures from the critical National Assets and Infrastructure Tactical team aided the arrest of the suspects. Odumosu said the suspects were arrested around 1am while trying to escape with the stolen infrastructures.
He added that medium size traffic light poles, two gigantic traffic light poles and other assets were recovered from the suspects.
The commandant gave the names of the suspects as Japheth Adams, 21 years from Zango kataf local government area, Kaduna state and Friday ojo, 51 years from Ojo local government area of Lagos state.
Others are Ibrahim Aliyu, 19 years from Nasarawa local government area of Kano state and Hassan Abdullahi; 23 years from Zaria local government area of Kaduna state.
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has relocated its headquarters to its new facility, which is being developed in phases in the Jahi area of Abuja.
The director of media and advocacy at NDLEA Headquarters in Abuja, Femi Babafemi, made this known in a statement on Wednesday.
Babafemi said the facility, which is the first phase of the national headquarters project expected to be completed with the 2025 budgetary provisions, was officially unveiled during an interdenominational service within the complex on Wednesday, November 26th, 2024.
Speaking during the brief ceremony, Brig Gen Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the Agency, said the development represents a phase in the transformation and recalibration of NDLEA into a modern and result-oriented anti-narcotic Agency, a process that began in January 2021.
“I’m glad we have finally moved in to occupy this facility after initial budgetary constraints. Even though this is the first phase of the new headquarters project, we are hopeful that we will be able to complete the process with next year’s budget.
“This is not 100% completed but it is sufficiently functional for us to move in I was determined to move in before the end of 2024 because with the expansion of the Agency, the headquarters also expanded, and in our old location we could not accommodate everyone. I have had to post scores of officers due to a lack of space for them to work.
“It was for this reason that the management took a unanimous decision that since it was not 100% ready and we needed it, we should make it a low-key inauguration ceremony. This will enable us to relocate some of our directorates still operating outside Abuja into one facility to consolidate our operations for efficiency, effectiveness, and seamless coordination”, Marwa stated.
While stating that the old head office in Gimbiya, Garki area of the FCT will continue to serve as the headquarters annex, the NDLEA boss expressed gratitude to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his continued support and encouragement to the Agency to be in a position to achieve its mandate of curbing substance abuse and illicit drug trafficking in the country.
“The support we are getting from our international partners and local stakeholders, especially President Bola Tinubu, the National Assembly, the Judiciary,y and the citizenry, is not just to appreciate our efforts but to encourage us to do more and I believe this new work environment will motivate you to surpass past feats”, Marwa told a crowd of excited management staff, officers and men of the Agency at the ceremony.
He commended his predecessor for starting the process of getting a befitting headquarters for the Agency.
In his welcome remark, Secretary to the Agency, Shadrach Haruna, commended Marwa for providing inspiring leadership that has in three years transformed NDLEA into the same class as its counterparts across the world in terms of professionalism, capability, and capacity.
“The commissioning of our headquarters today is part of the incremental but well-laid agenda for the repositioning of the Agency by the chairman. We have witnessed some monumental achievements since 2021, including increasing the staff strength of the Agency from 5,000 to 15,000. Promotion of officers, opening up of vacancies, payment of accumulated allowances to staff and widows of our fallen officers, the recent amendment of the Agency’s enabling law by the National Assembly, and many more,” he said.
Christian and Islamic prayers were offered for President Tinubu and Nigeria while a commemorative plaque was unveiled to mark the event.
The Federal Capital Territory (FCT), on Wednesday, commenced an investigation into the alleged extortion of motorists who contravened traffic laws by police officers in the Kubwa area of the FCT on Saturday, November 16, 2024.
A statement issued by the FCT Police Public Relations Officer, SP Josephine Adeh said: “The attention of the FCT Police Command has been drawn to reports circulating on social media alleging the extortion of a motorist who contravened traffic laws by police officers in the Kubwa area of the FCT on Saturday, November 16, 2024.
“In response to these allegations, the command has taken swift action by promptly identifying and inviting the officers seen in the video for questioning.
“An investigation into the matter is currently underway to determine the facts of the case. The command urges the complainant to come forward and provide further substantiation of her claims.
“The FCT Police Command remains committed to maintaining high standards of professionalism and accountability within its ranks. We are dedicated to fostering a culture of integrity and will continue to hold any errant officers accountable for their actions.
“The command encourages members of the public to report any instances of police misconduct within the FCT to our dedicated lines: Public Complaints Bureau at 09022222352 or the Complaint Response Unit at 08107314192.”
SIR: Nyesom Wike may have misplaced some passes as Minister of the FCT, but on his planned removal of street beggars from Abuja, the former Rivers State governor seems to have hit the mark with uncanny accuracy. It is simple: beggars cannot be allowed to hang around Abuja anymore. Their existence and enterprise deface Nigeria’s capital.
To be clear, begging is a symptom and not a cause of Nigeria’s problems. A country where begging is lucrative employment for many is a country that is not getting something right.
For Wike, moving the beggars out of Abuja is a priority, but where will they be moved to? Most importantly, what can be done to urgently wean them of a habit, hobby, and handiwork that they are prepared not only to do all their lives but pass on to their children like some cherished heirloom?
The government must go beyond the crater to seek the cure. Why are there so many beggars in Nigeria? It is worth remembering that those referred to as “beggars” by Wike are only a fraction of the beggars in Nigeria. There are many who, tired of their wretched existence in their rural villages find their way to cities to beg. Begging from morning to night in strategic locations, they soon begin to make enough money to send back home. Encouraged by how lucrative the venture is, some of their relations soon join them in the city to join the begging business.
How about the almajiri children who clog many public spaces in Nigeria, unwashed and unkempt, with ringworm and eczema battling over every inch of space on their skin? The trauma caused to innocent children of that age range in the name of religious education is simply unthinkable. It is heart breaking that it is religion that enables that kind of systemic dehumanization of kids that emphasizes begging, child neglect and child poverty.
As president until 2015, Goodluck Jonathan floated and sunk billions of public funds into building schools in the North in a bid to take almajiri children off the street, rehabilitate them and prepare them for a better future. Today, the schools lie moribund, suffocated by a poisonous cocktail of religion, superstition and poor maintenance culture.
A country where children who should be in school are begging for a living is one with unaccountable problems. A country where women spread helpless toddlers like rags under the sun and thrust out bottomless begging bowls to passers-by right in the heart of its capital city is a country sitting on a time bomb.
Many of the children reduced to begging by poverty and neglect now form the prolific pool into which terrorists dip to recruit conscripts. Yet, Nigeria wonders why its war against terror refuses to end.
Wike said that the beggars were a source of embarrassment as well as security threats in the FCT. He was not far from the truth. His method of dealing with the menace is what appears to be far from effective.
Experience has shown that once removed, these beggars find a way to return or simply reinvent themselves and transport their begging bowls to different locations as long as those locations are lucrative.
What Nigeria needs is a permanent solution to the menace of street begging, which will be no simple task. Its root causes of systemic poverty and inequality must be addressed firstly.
Already, those who beg are dehumanized by the poverty of their chosen enterprise. Many of them are left with no choice in the face of life’s raging hardships. Restoring their dignity should be at the core of finding any solutions aimed at rehabilitating them.
No fewer than 40 people were yesterday trapped in a building that collapsed in the Sabon -Lugbe area of Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Sympathisers and emergency workers were on-site, working to rescue those caught beneath the debris.
They were seen calling for additional support to aid ongoing rescue efforts.
According to findings, the building, reportedly under construction, collapsed in the early hours, prompting calls for immediate intervention from government agencies and emergency response teams.
Security operatives were equally on ground for rescue mission and to also prevent looting of valuables by hoodlums.
An eyewitness who pleaded anonymity said: “No fewer than 40 persons are currently trapped in a building collapse that occurred in the Sabon Lugbe area of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. People are under this rubble. It is a building under construction. We are calling on the government and relevant agencies to come and rescue those who are trapped here.”
The incident occurred just a few weeks after a section of a two-storey residential building collapsed in the Kubwa area of the FCT.
No fewer than 40 people are feared trapped after a collapsed on Saturday in the Sabon Lugbe area of Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Sympathisers and emergency workers are onsite, working to rescue those still caught beneath the debris.
According to findings, the building, reportedly under construction, collapsed in the early hours, prompting calls for immediate intervention from government agencies and emergency response teams.
Witnesses at the scene demanded urgent additional support to aid ongoing rescue efforts.
An eyewitness who pleaded anonymity said: “No fewer than 40 persons are currently trapped in a building collapse that occurred in the Sabon Lugbe area of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. People are under this rubble.
“It is a building under construction. We are calling on the government and relevant agencies to come and rescue those who are trapped here”.
In a statement signed by the Publicity Committee Chairman of the Association, Dr Mike Egbayelo eminent personalities in the educational sector will be delivering addresses and making statements on various topics of the day.
The theme of this year’s conference “Transforming Learning and Assessment Through Application of Big Data and Artificial intelligence will have keynote speakers including Professor Hung Jiao of the University of Maryland, USA, Professor Alper Sahim of the Atilim University, Ankara, Turkey and Processor Nathan Thompson of the University of Minnesota, Minnesota, USA and Professor Tatiana Sango of the University of Cape Town, South Africa, as the Lead Speaker.
Other facilitators expected are, Professor Christian Igomu Amuche of the Taraba State University, Professor Jumoke Iyabode Oladele of the University of Ilorin and the president of the IAIEA, Dr. Akinyele O. Ariyo while Dr. Hamid Bobboyi, the executive director of the Universal Basic Education will be the host of the event.
The five-day event which will be physical and virtual will open from the 4th to the 8th of November 2024 at the UBEC Digital Resource Centre, Mabushi, Abuja.
The IAIEA is an organisation recognised as a pillar in the area of innovative educational assessment with extensive research, training and publications globally in areas of big data, innovations in educational assessment and educational technology.
