The Nation Newspaper

Tag: families

  • 13 families arrive Lagos for Maltina Dance All

    13 families arrive Lagos for Maltina Dance All

    As the popular epic dance battle, Maltina Dance All (MDA) reality show enters its crucial stage, excitement is near for television viewers and lovers of dance genre, as group dancers from 13 families have arrived Lagos.

    The selection followed a rigorous screening exercise on 28 families that qualified from the regional auditions.

    In its eighth edition, the top 13 families stormed Lagos for an exalted slot in the final round of screening to enter the dance academy in September and to learn the new Rhythm of Happiness Dance (RODH) style.

    The families( Unaka, Odigie, Ezekiel, Maisamari, Williams, Utere, Dide, Uzodinma, Leornard, Nwaeze, Oladapo, Abunwa and Awokoya) according to Nigerian Breweries Plc.,  the organisers of the contest,   have scaled through the necessary physical and medical screening and have been deemed fit to compete.

    In a couple of weeks, the contestants will be further proned to 10, who will eventually move to the Academy on September 7, for the final unslaught.

    The competition promises the sum of N10million for the overall winner, while the first and second runners-up will take home N3million and N1million respectively.

    The MDA auditions were held in Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt, where the family representatives performed as individual contestants, before being followed home by the Maltina team to perform alongside other members of their families.

    Preparation for the show kicked off with an electrifying performance by the Maltina all-stars made up of past participants of the show.

    Popular comedians, Gbenga Adeyinka and Laffup, as well as host of the show, Osas Ighodaro, introduced the RODH to the audience who were held spellbound by the creativity of the new season.

    The show is expected to start showing on television, on September 7.

     

  • Fashola gives N2m to dead soldiers’ families

    Fashola gives N2m to dead soldiers’ families

    Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, on Wednesday gave N2 million to families of two soldiers killed in a road accident in the Lekki area of the state in April.

    The deceased soldiers’ families got N 1 million each from the governor.

    Fashola also gave N500, 000 each to two civilians affected in the accident.

    The soldiers – Sergeant Abdulmumini Musa and Private Bamidele Ayuba were members of the state Quick Response Squad. They died in the crash which occurred along the Lekki-Ajah Expressway on April 30.

    The two unnamed civilians were also critically wounded in the crash.

    The Commander, 9 Brigade, Nigerian Army, Ikeja, Brig. Gen. A.S Maikobi, who presented the cheques on behalf of the governor, described the gesture as state government’s little token to the soldiers’ families to cushion the effect of their loss.

    He stated that Fashola’s initiative is an incentive that will propel the army to do more in the efforts to secure the state.

    “We will do our best to bring peace to Lagos State. It will motivate soldiers to put in their best at all time. The money given to the dead soldiers’ families is not a compensation. It is an insurance cover to their families to cushion the effect of their loss,” the commandant said.

    Musa’s widow, Margret, hailed the governor’s gesture, saying it was a welcome relief for her family.

  • Sunken boat: Families abandon bodies

    The families of seven of the 11 victims of the ill-fated tugboat accident have refused to claim the bodies.

    They accused the management of West African Ventures, owner of the Jascon 4, of insensitivity to their plight, stressing that the company has not told them the truth about what happened to their loved ones.

    Representatives of the families told our reporter they are unhappy that WAVentures, a subsidiary of Sea Trucks Group, carried out autopsies without their knowledge.

    The Nation gathered that seven bodies remain unclaimed at the morgue of Veennel Hospital on Okumagba Avenue, Warri, three weeks after the accident.

    A source at the hospital identified the unclaimed bodies as those of Richard Egbe, Basil Idolor, Ebedi Michael and four others.

    The Base Manager of WAVentures in Warri, simply identified as Prince, rebuffed our effort to get the company’s reaction to the allegation.

    The victims were part of a 12-man crew on Jascon 4, which sank during a tow operation at the SBM #3 crude loading terminal owned by America oil firm, Chevron Nigeria Limited.

    Only one person, a cook, Harrison Okene, survived.

    Speaking with our reporter, Amaju Egbe, a sibling of the late Richard, said: “The company is wicked. They only called us to identify the body of our brother. We heard that they carried out the autopsy, without our knowledge.”

    He debunked reports that the company was in contact with the families, stressing, “They are trying to trick us into collecting the bodies so that they can wash their hands off it.

    “We have resolved with the other families that we will not claim the bodies, until we know what really happened on that fateful day.”

    “We have some serious information about what led to the accident and the way and manner the search-and- rescue was conducted and I can tell you that my brother did not drown, he died of suffocation,” he stated.

    Speaking in the same vein, Godwin Andrew, a relative of the late Ebedi, lamented the perceived nonchalant attitude of the company.

    “We have been the people calling them to make inquiries; they went about their businesses as if those who died were mere chickens, whose lives were worthless. If the lives are worthless to them, they meant a lot to us,” he added.

    It was gathered that all the crew have now been accounted for.

    One person was unaccounted for even after the search-and-rescue operation was called off on May 31.

    However, it was gathered that the remains of a badly mutilated body believed to be that of the last crew member was found.

    It was later interred at the shore of the ocean.

     

  • Songs of sorrow from families of missing Nasarawa ambush victims

    Songs of sorrow from families of missing Nasarawa ambush victims

    They left their homes in the morning telling their wives and children they would soon be back. They fell victims of an ambush by the Ombatse cult at Nasarawa Eggon, in Nasarawa State. The bodies of no fewer than 40 have been found, burnt beyond recognition.

    Not a few are still missing. Some of those whose bodies have not been found are: Sergeants Elisha Nugu, Gideon Fadah and Obadiah Yakubu, all of the 38 Squadron Police Mobile Police in Akwanga.

    Wives and family members of the officers whose whereabouts are unknown nor their bodies found yesterday urged the government to help locate their breadwinners.

    Gideon, 21, a final year student of Government Secondary School, Ubbe, in Akwanga, said his hope of being a Customs officer has faded following the sudden disappearance of his father, Sergeant Nugu, last Thursday.

    Gideon said: “Before my father went to work, I asked him where he was going to. He said that he did not actually know the place that he was going to but that when he got there he would call me on phone.

    “When I came back from school, I saw his missed call. But when I asked my mother, she told me that my father went to Makurdi. In the evening, one of his colleagues called and asked if my mother heard what happened. My mother said no and that she had been trying my dad’s number but the number was not going through. From there we did not sleep throughout the night.

    “We have been trying his number since Thursday last week. We later learnt that many of his colleagues were killed but we did not see our father’s body and we did not hear from him. We don’t know if he is among those that were killed because some corpses were burnt beyond recognition. My mother has been to Lafia but she did not see my father there.”

    Gideon said he is the eldest of the missing officer’s five children.

    He added: “We came to Akwanga since 2005. It has never happened that we were calling him and we could not get him. He used to call me anytime I flashed him but I had been trying him but his line is not going.

    “I promised my dad that I want to be a Customs officer. He promised that if he is alive, he will sponsor me but now that we cannot find him, I think that hope is gone. But if the government can help me to sponsor my younger ones, we are four boys and one girl, I will be happy.

    “My mother also needs to do business to take good care of us and herself because right now my mother is unemployed. My father is a nice person. He did not allow my mother to take up any paid job.”

    Sergeant Nugu’s wife Victoria said she saw him in the afternoon of last Thursday before he left for Makurdi.

    Mrs. Nugu said: “He said they were going for a special duty in Makurdi because the Tivs and Idomas were fighting. So, I wished him safe journey and that was the last time I saw him.

    “I don’t want the government to give us any huge money as compensation for my husband. I want them to be paying us his salary so that I can be able to take care of the children.”

    Nugu’s elder brother, Afana Gimba Nugu, said: “All we want from government is our brother. Either they bring him alive or they give us his body.”

    Another police officer said to be missing, Sergeant Gideon Fadah, has two children, Faith and Isaiah.

    His elder brother, Yakubu, said they are praying to either find him alive or be given his body.

    Yakubu said: “The last time I saw him was before Easter because I stay in Abuja. After that we did not see again.

    “The situation is very terrible, especially for us. We have been here since Thursday and since we came it is different versions of stories we have been hearing. We went to Lafia that Thursday. On getting there, we were told to go and check the bodies that were available.

    “The bodies that were there were those that they put inside the ambulance. As we were going through them, some were burnt beyond recognition. We went into the mortuary and checked.

    “The bodies inside the mortuary had name tags. We checked but we did not see him. We went to the emergency casualty unit, we only saw about two people that were affected on the arm and then another one that was operated for bullet wound and then he was discharged.

    “We went back the second day, which was Friday, to Lafia. It was the same story. We only heard it from the news that about 28 people that were held hostage have been released.

    “Up till now, we have not seen any evidence or a close relative who said that their missing brother who they did not see the body has been found or returned home.

    “That is why we are saying that it is not a true story that some hostages have been released. Now, there were 18 bodies that were discovered by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) yesterday in Lafia.

    “We went there to check. The name tags were there, but it seems those ones were fresh killings because they exhumed them from where they were buried.

    “Later in the day, they brought another 13 bodies and our relation was not among them. They later told us yesterday that the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) is going back to the scene to bring out some bodies that were said to have been dumped inside the well. That is what we are expecting now.

    “Maybe if they bring them out, we will now go and see if our brother is there. Not only our brother, so many police families have the same predicament and some of them are our neighbours. We have four of our brothers that were affected and all of them are from Kaduna.”

    Fadah’s wife Sarah said: “I saw my husband that morning before he went to Lafia. He only told me that they are going for an operation in Makurdi.

    “It was one of my sisters that brought the message to me. I have two children, a boy and a girl and they are 11 and four years old. I want to see my husband alive, but if my husband is dead, I want to see his body.”

    Mr. Samuel Yakubu, the elder bother to Sergeant Obadiah Yakubu, who is allegedly missing, said: “We have not seen our brother’s body up till now. We have been going to Lafia since Thursday.

    “In this situation, we want the government to help look for our brother wherever he is and also to look for solution on how we will be able to take care of his wife and four children.”

    Rahila, 13, the first daughter of Sergeant Yakubu, said: “My dad took me to school that morning and told me that if he did not come back to pick me after school hours, I should ask a motorcyclist to take me home. My father is a kind man. If you have any problem, you can go to him and ask if he can help you to solve it. I like my father and I am missing him. I am a student of JSS1 at Demonstration Secondary School, Akwanga.”

    Other children of the missing Sergeant Yakubu are Blessing, 6, and Emmanuel, 11, the last baby was said to have accompanied the mother to Lafia to search for the sergeant.

    The family of the late Corporal Chinda Apagu, whose body has been buried was mourning when The Nation visited them at Akwanga yesterday. His widow Mary is pregnant.

    The four children left behind by the late corporal are Ruth, 12, Moses, 10, Dorcas, 7, and Happy, 4.

    Speaking through an interpreter, Mary, who is unemployed, urged the police to support her to educate her children.

     

  • Dana Air crash: ‘Only two families of victims are fully paid’

    ONLY two families of the victims of the crashed Dana Air have been paid the balance of $70, 000, Controller, Claims of the airline’s local insurer, Prestige Assurance Plc, Mrs Josephine Gbuji, has said.

    The payments were made based on the advice of the lawyers, Clyde & Co, who are represented by Yomi Oshikoya & Co.

    She said aviation insurance requires foreign backing to accommodate the magnitude of the losses, adding that local insurers lack the capacity to do so.

    Mrs. Gbuji told The Nation that her firm had paid the initial $30, 000 each to 81 families of Dana Air crash victims as at January 31, 2013.

    “We have paid every passenger’s family who has come forward and have been able to prove their title the initial amount of $30, 000. From my own record, we have paid 81 families out of the lot; two passenger’s families have been paid the balance of $70, 000.

    “This was after the two families got the letters of administration duly confirmed by the lawyers and they advised us on that,” she said.

    According to her, the lawyers are in charge because there are many issues involved in confirming who the bereaved representatives of the passengers are.

    She said the process was more rigorous for the balance of $70, 000, adding that the insurance company did not determine who collects what.

    “The lawyers have to be thorough because if they do not do it well, there will be law suits later and they too would be held liable,” she said.

    Mrs. Gbuji said nine families of beneficiaries, who were confirmed to them by the lawyers, got their cheques for $30, 000 on the 30th day after the crash happened, in conformity with international aviation laws, adding that the cheques were issued and sent to the lawyers who would disburse to the beneficiaries to ensure they got proper discharge.

    “We have our funds here. So, each time we have advice, we issue cheques to those cleared. The cheques are written exactly the way the lawyers instructed,” she said.

    However, an official of Yomi Oshikoya & Co, the representative law firm of Clyde & Co in Nigeria, said the lawyers were not disposed to discussing the issue with the press.

    According to her, the firm is dealing with the solicitors to the beneficiaries of the airline crash victims. She refused to talk on the fate of those affected on ground.

    This is because apart from the initial ‘hand outs’ to cushion the effect of their immediate losses, none of them has been paid any claim by the insurance firm.

     

  • Dana Air: ‘Victims’ families can get over $100,000’

    Dana Air: ‘Victims’ families can get over $100,000’

    Families of victims of the Dana Air crash of last year in which 153 passengers died could get more than the minimum compensation, if they can establish reasons for such, the Deputy General Manager , Special Risk, Mutual Assurance Plc, Mr Kehinde Bello, has said.

    Though the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) set the minimum compensation of at least $100,000 per passenger, there is no limit for the residents of the Iju/Ishaga, whose properties were destroyed.

    Qualification for the compensation claim above the prescribed international standards would depend on the claim by the relatives of the victims to the airline and insurers beyond doubt that they qualify to collect a compensation regime above the threshold.

    This is coming at a time the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has set a two-month deadline for Dana Air and its insurance firm to settle the balance to relatives of victims who died in the crash.

    Bello said with proof, the families of the victims could press for more cash.

    He said: “To facilitate prompt payment of claims in the event of an accident, as in the case of Dana Air, the insurance company and the carrier can collaborate to fast-track the payment.

    “Airlines are required by law to have statutory cover. But, when there is a crash, the family of relatives could ask for compensation beyond the prescribed limit of compensation of N100,000, if they can show beyond reasonable doubt that the victim is worth more than the amount allowed as minimum limit.”

    He said this could be achieved depending on the statutory template established by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority(NCAA), to ensure that the compensation is paid.

    He called for standard documentation by the airline and insurance.

    He said once there is proof that a passenger was on board any crashed aircraft, there must be a standard guideline to be followed to ensure that no claimant is denied payment of compensation.

    The insurance expert explained that there should be flexibility in the processes that lead to the payment of compensation by all claimant, provided all parties involved have understanding.

    He said: ”There must be cooperation between the airline and the insurance company to ensure that ground casualty are covered by the third party liability. All the owners of such property needs to do is to submit a claim to the airline for compensation.

    ”But it does not end there, the insurance company on its part must establish the real value of the claim. They will have to examine the value of the property by inviting an adjuster to ascertain whether the property owner has not inflated figures in the claim. The rationale behind this is to ensure that the property owner does not make profit from the loss of the property.”

    Also speaking, the Director-General of NCAA, Dr. Harold Demuren, affirmed that there is no limit to the liability of claims by those affected on the ground.

    He said : “ Insurance is one of the no go items as far as aviation is concerned. This is because there are global laws that prescribe that nobody can operate an aircraft in scheduled commercial category without an insurance cover.

     

     

     

     

  • Bayelsa condoles with Yakowa, Azazi families

    Bayelsa condoles with Yakowa, Azazi families

    Bayelsa State Government last night condoles with the families of Kaduna State Governor Patrick Yakowa and ex-National Security Adviser Gen Owoye Azazi, who died in yesterday’s chopper crash along with their aides and the pilots.

    In a statement by Commissioner for Information and Culture, Markson Fefegha, the government said:

    “The Bayelsa State Government wishes to condole with the family, people and Government of Kaduna State over the ill-fated helicopter crash that claimed the life of His Excellency, Patrick Yakowa, while returning from a funeral ceremony of the father to the Special Adviser to the President on Research and Documentation, the late Pa Douglas at Tombi area of Okoroba Community, Nembe Local Government Area of Bayelsa State at about 16:00 hours on the 15th of December, 2012.

    “The Bayelsa State Government also wishes to condole with the family of the immediate past National Security Adviser and the Chairman of Bayelsa State Post Flood Management Committee, General Andrew Owoye Azazi (rtd).

    “Our heartfelt condolences also go to the families of the personal security aides to both Governor Yakowa and General Azazi .

    “The vacuum created by the demise of these notable personalities will be difficult to fill given their contributions to the growth of not only their respective states but the country as a whole.”