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Tag: NEMA

  • FG to evacuate more Nigerians from Libya

    The Deputy Director, Search and Rescue Unit, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Dr. Bandele Onimode, has said the Federal Government will evacuate another set of Nigerians from Libya in February.

    Onimode disclosed this when he led a delegation from NEMA to visit the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, on Tuesday in Abuja.

    The delegation had come to shed light on NEMA efforts in the rescue operations in Libya and other countries of the world and what the Federal Government has been doing to secure the lives of Nigerians trapped on transit.

    He said the Federal Government has been doing a lot to help Nigerian citizens wherever they are having problems not just in Libya alone.

    “It is a well-known fact that Nigerians do cross the desert to Europe through Niger Republic, Mali, and Sudan and in the process some are tired, stranded and trapped.

    “Our Nigerian missions abroad never leave them alone. They always come to their rescue. As I am talking to you there are still some of them that are stranded in Niger and we are working on that.

    “But the one that caught the attention in recent time is the issue of Nigerians trying to get to Europe through Libya. There is need to set the record straight on what the government has been doing,” he said.

    He said Federal Government had already evacuated about 1,000 voluntary returnees from Libya between 2015 and 2016.

  • Two suicide bombers die, 17 injured in fresh Maiduguri explosion – NEMA

    Two suicide bombers die, 17 injured in fresh Maiduguri explosion – NEMA

    The National Emergency Management Agency(NEMA) has confirmed that only the suicide bombers that attacked the Maiduguri Monday Market on Sunday morning lost their lives in the process.

    The Director of Public Affairs and Information of NEMA Sani Datti in a statement said the two bombers, male and female got killed in an attempt to wreck havoc on the ever bustling market which is located at the heart of Maiduguri metropolis.

    The statrment also noted that 17 people have been injured and evacuated Maduguri Specialist hospital for adewuate operation as rescue wirkers and security personal have moved in the clear the scene.

    The statement read: “A male and female suicide bomber have detonated explosives near Monday market maiduguri this morning. Rescue workers at scene.

    “only the suicide bombers lost their lives while 17 persons were injured and evacuated to the Specialist Hospital Maiguduri”.

    Maiduguri Monday market has suffered nemerous bomb and suicide attacks during the peak of Book Haram activities in Maiduguri claiming hundreds of lives.

    Abba Jato, an attendant at one of the filling stations at the Post Office area of Maiduguri said the sound of the explosion shook every building around the area.

    “We heard a loud bang and every building around shook to foundation but because we are used to these kind of things, I knew its a bomb blast. I cannot tell how many people were affected now because the Police and red Cross with NEMA people were there. I saw three ambulances running to the area,” Jato said.

  • UMTH provides N150m free health care to IDP’s in Northeast

    The University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) said it spent nearly N150 million to provide free health care services to victims of violence in the North East.

    Prof. Abdulrahman Tahir, Chief  Medical Director, said this during the inauguration of the upgraded complex of the Association of Resident Doctor’s Complex (ARD), on Wednesday in Maiduguri.

    He said that the amount was spent on providing optimal health services to victims affected by the Boko Haram insurgency.

    “Our Resident doctors have also remained resilient and committed toward giving their best for the IDPs. While the national Association embarked on strike, they refused to join them in Borno.

    “The challenge in the UMTH was also enormous as so many of our staffs have been killed in the last four years by the insurgents while many of our doctors have relocated to other areas for fear of their lives.

    “Almost all the patients attacked by Boko Haram were brought to this hospital and that had led to the overstretching of our facilities.

    “I gave them a standing order that when ever the victims were brought to the hospital, they shouldn’t hesitate to give them all the support they needed.

    “In line with this effort, we wrote to NEMA and they had supported us with N30 million to continue with our support. Borno government also gave N10 million. For now, we are still expecting some intervention from the government,”said Tahir.

  • Another suicide bomber killed at Borno IDP camp

    Troops have killed another suspected suicide bomber trying to penetrate a transit camp of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) along Muna Garage in Maiduguri, Borno State.

    North-East’s spokesperson for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Ibrahim Abdulkadir, who confirmed the incident on Saturday, said security operatives suspected the bomber’s strange behaviour and accosted him.

    He was gunned down while attempting to detonate the explosives that were strapped around him.

    Abdulkadir added that the bomber’s mutilated body had been evacuated.

  • IDPs camps: Borno police deploys female police to camps

    IDPs camps: Borno police deploys female police to camps

    …NEMA/SEMA questions veracity of allegation

     

    Following allegations of sexual assault on female IDPs in Maiduguri at IDPs camps, Borno State Police command has set up an eight man committee headed by an Assistant Commissioner of Police CID in the State to carryout investigations into any unscrupulous activities of any camp officials relating to sexual assault and other forms of molestation at the camp.

    The State Police Commissioner Damian Chukwu who spoke exclusively with The Nation in Maiduguri also informed that he has ordered the withdrawal of  all male police personal operating  inside the camps and replaced them with their female colleagues for the internal security of the IDPs in all  the camps in the metropolis.

    According to the him, the objective of his plan is to forestall any reports of security operatives molesting the female IDPs at the camps, adding that, “the measure will equally  allow the women to open up to their female counterpart on any form of molestation that they could have been experiencing in the camps over the years”.

    CP Chukwu however regretted that the women are not cooperating with the committee that he has set up to investigate the cases of abuse in the camps.

    “I have set up an eight man committee headed by an Assistant Commissioner of Police CID with two senior female officers. Since that time, they have started some investigation. The personal police in the camps have been changed to women only but  response of the women is not encouraging at all. We even have reports of those abuses taken place within the camps.

    “Initially, we had men. I had to send out the men and bring in the women into the camps. The whole idea is that going by the culture of the people; they will feel freer to talk to the women when they have cases of sexual abuse. I believe that with women, they will feel free to complain about anything that has happened to them.

    “With the new arrangement, the women police do the internal security coverage of the camps while the men do the external and territorial coverage of the camps in Maiduguri. The panel is using these women in the camps to interview women in the camps for the things that have happened to them in the past like last year or even last month or three, six months ago. Again with women in the camp, that tendencies of what they say was happening will no longer be there because women cannot assault women sexually so we have moved the men away from inside the camp. I must say that the police took these measures not because the police are culprit but because we want to sanitize the system.

    “As a matter of fact, since I came here three months ago, I have not received any of such allegations but even the ones that we have received are on mutual ground. I must also say that some of these allegations that are being taunted don’t even happen in the camps if at all they exist because the women go outside the camps to meet people and no one has control over them when they are outside the camps,” CP Chukwu explained.

    Also speaking on the issue, the North East Zonal Coordinator of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Alhaji  Mohammed Kannar informed that both  NEMA and Borno State Government have never received any official complain of sexual assault as alleged by the Human Right Watch.

    Alhaji Kannar explained that out of the 50 humanitarian partners working at the IDPs camps in the state, 30 of them are working tirelessly to see that the rights of the IDPs are protected to the latter.

    He said; “We have about five or six sectors that are working. We have education, health, food and security, protection, wash, and psycho-social. All these sectors are working round the clock to make the camps and the host communities safe. In case of sexual violence or abuse, the protection sector works hard to see that issues of such harassment are being taken care of.

    “Actually, when we heard the allegations, the sectors responsible is trying to find out what really happened because, we have not received any official report from any IDP or group of individuals at the camp but that does not mean that these things don’t happen because sexual issues is an issue that has to be carefully handled. An individual maybe sexually harassed but he may not come out to report to the appropriate authorities to take care of the matter. However, one cannot run away from that fact.

    “What we are saying is that we did not receive any report of any kind from such anybody in the camp. We are working with 50 humanitarian partners. Out of that number, 30 are working on that sector to see IDPs are being protected. When we receive allegation like this, we refer them to Federation of Women Lawyers, Human Right Commission, Police and other NGOs that have experts in this sector and these people ensure that the right of such individual is protected.

    “There are so many issues but some have to be settled within the camps. We have our level of settling them at the community levels considering where they come from. One has to consider that these people come from villages and communities and they have certain practices among them. When these kinds of things arise among them, we follow the traditional institutions within their communities to resolve such case. However, we have not had any case of direct harassment by any camp official. It’s unfortunate that We had a similar allegation some time ago and a committee was set up but nothing was discovered and the same thing is happening again. I am sure that world will know the truth by the time the Presidential Committee on the investigation of this matter is finally out and presented to the president,” Kannar said.

    The Chairman Borno state Emergency Management Agency, Engr. Satomi Ahemed questioned the authenticity of the allegation from the human right watch on abuse of female IDPs.

    He challenged the agency to come clean with the facts, stressing that those allegation are untrue and if at all they exit, they did not happen at any IDP camp in Borno State.

    Meanwhile, Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima has earlier  reveal plans to enlist the services of undercover female police officers, Department of State Security and the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons,(NAPTIP)  the National Drug Law  Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to uncover the veracity of report of sexual abuse on women in IDPs’ camps in the state.

    Gov. Shettima who spoke in Maiduguri while receiving a  delegation from the National University Commission   on tour of  ongoing infrastructure at the proposed Borno State University held at the Government  House in Maiduguri  expressed his concern over the report.

    His words:  ‎”Today, as Governor of Borno State, there is no issue that gives me headache like the unfortunate bye-products of IDP camps. Our citizens were violently sent out of their houses and communities, it is their fundamental rights to be provided alternative accommodation with their food and health cater for. Sadly and very sadly indeed, the IDP camps have become avenues that horrible stories of sexual slavery, prostitution rings, drug peddling and other social vices are emanating from.

    “Only yesterday (Monday) there was a report by a Human Rights group alleging incidences of sexual abuses by some Federal and State workers in some of the IDP camps. This is highly condemnable. Apart from investigating these claims and arresting culprits which is absolutely necessary, I am going to write letters to the Inspector General of Police, the Director General of the DSS, the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency and may be the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, requesting all of them to deploy female and male undercover detectives to all our camps to permanently spy on anyone involved in sexual harassment, any form of prostitution, drugs trafficking, possible child trafficking and even the allegations of diversion of food items meant for IDP’s.

    “I would want these detectives to report their findings to their security establishments and whoever is found wanting should be picked up without notifying me so long as there is verifiable evidence to prosecute him or her,” Shettima said.

    Gov. Shettima who also appreciates that the present condition of the displaced people especially women can lead them to indulging in illicit activities however vowed that sanity must be injected in the system despite the circumstances.

    He said: “ Ladies and gentlemen, I am tired of applying the element of persuasion in handling the issues of IDP’s, we need to wield the big stick. The problem with managing the IDP camp is that you are dealing with a population of two or more local government areas in one location and you cannot imprison them by restricting or stopping them from leaving the IDP camp in the day time.

    “When a female IDP leaves the camp in the morning, you cannot be in control of where she goes and who she sees. If she leaves the camp and returns the following day, she may claim to have visited a family member and little can be done. I strongly believe there are cases of sexual harassment but some of the women may be consenting to sexual advances largely due to extreme poverty and loss of value system.

    “We have to instill sanity into the IDP camps and I hope we will not end up having human rights activists telling us we cannot deploy undercover detectives into IDP camps due to one form of rights violation or the other. Desperate situations call for desperate measures. Sexual harassment of female IDPs is a desperate situation.

    “None of us here is beyond becoming an IDP if Allah decrees and none of us would fold arms if his or her daughter is in position to be sexually harassed, so we must act now” , Gov. Shettima vows

    Shettima regretted how Boko Haram has painted Borno negatively as oppose to the peaceful nature of the people.

    “The Borno Story that has been painted very badly by the Boko Haram. We are even tired of counting the number of deaths, number of those of injured, value of private institutions and private property destroyed and the huge number of persons internally displaced”,  the Governor said.

     

  • Herdsmen massacre: Reps charge FG on security emergency

    Herdsmen massacre: Reps charge FG on security emergency

    Lawmakers in the Green Chamber on Wednesday called on the Federal and the Kaduna State governments to immediately declare a security emergency in Southern Kaduna Senatorial district over the recent massacre of over 44 persons by suspected Fulani Herdsmen.

    They also called on the government to set up a military strike force in Southern Kaduna as an interim measure to curtail incessant attacks that have been going on in the area since 2011.

    The resolution which was a continuation of a motion brought under Matters of urgent importance by a member Simon Arabo and five other lawmakers also called on the security agencies to intensify efforts to apprehend and bring to justice all persons involved in the series of attacks in the area.

    The resolution of the motion titled, “Urgent need for a declaration of emergency over the security situation in the Southern Kaduna Senatorial District of Kaduna State,” also urged the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), to provide relief materials to the internally displaced persons on account of the attacks.

    While moving the motion, Arabo alleged that various communities in Southern kaduna had been consistently attacked by Fulani terrorists since 2011 resulting in deaths, injuries, loss of properties and displacements of the communities.

    Arabo alleged that the recent attacks were in the presence of some security personnels who did nothing to prevent them.

    His words: “On the 15th-16th October 2016, Godo-godo community in Jama’a Local Government Area and other communities in Kaura and Kauru Local Government Areas have been attacked by the Fulani terrorists resulting in deaths of scores of people, injuries, wanton destruction of communities and other acts of mayhem.”

    He said that Southern Kaduna is substantially agrarian with arable and fertile lands and good weather and that subsequent to attacks by the Fulani terrorists, Fulani herdsmen had occupied some of the displaced communities.

    The House of Rep member further noted that the Federal Government had declared a security emergency in Zamfara State in the wake of similar terrorist attacks and set up a military strike force there.

    The attacks on the communities, he said, “indicated a pattern of deliberate desire to annihilate the affected communities, decimate their population, occupy their lands and create an atmosphere of terror.”

    In the time past, he said, there was a resolution to set up a military battalion/base in Kafanchan in Southern Kaduna, but the resolution was yet to be implemented, adding that there was a general atmosphere of insecurity in the area.

    However, there was a mild drama as a member Abubakar Lawan representing Yola South, Yola North Federal Constituency of Adamawa State raised a point of order, saying that the use of “‘Fulani terrorists” by Arabo was offensive to the Fulanis.

    The Deputy Speaker, Yusuf Lasun, who presided however got Arabo to expunge the word from the motion to allow peace return to the plenary.

  • Explosion hits Muna garage in Maiduguri

    Explosion hits Muna garage in Maiduguri

    A garage at Muna in Maiduguri, Borno state has reportedly been hit by early morning explosion on Wednesday, reports have said.

    According to reports from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in a social media post through twitter, confirming the explosion, emergency workers have been deployed to the scene.

     

    Details shortly…

  • NEMA opens offices in Kano, Adamawa, Edo

    THE National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has opened new offices in Adamawa, Edo and Kano states to bring disaster management closer to communities and reduce response time, Director General Muhammad Sani Sidi said yesterday.

    Sidi said, in a statement by MEMA Media and Public Relations Officer Mr. Sani Datti, in Yola, that “as the agency saddled with responsibility of co-ordinating disaster management and related matters, NEMA is making efforts to build stakeholders’ capacity and appropriate mechanism to address various facets of disaster risk reduction.”

    Sidi explained that the mechanisms to reduce disaster risks were prevention, mitigation, preparedness, quick response and recovery.

    He hailed Kano and Adamawa states for donating office spaces and warehouses to facilitate the new operation offices.

  • Core investors acquire 75% stake in Nema’s GNI

    Wema Bank Plc has secured  approval of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) to sell its 75 per cent majority equity stake in Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc to Insurance Resourcery and Consultancy Services Limited.

    A document obtained by The Nation at the weekend indicated that the authorities at the NSE, where both Wema Bank and GNI are listed, have approved the divestment. Under the transaction, a block divestment of 2.87 billion ordinary shares of GNI currently held by Wema Asset Management would be transferred to Insurance Resourcery and Consultancy Services, a relatively unknown firm.

    The divestment is valued at N1.44 billion at current market value of GNI. GNI currently has total paid up capital of 3.827 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each with a market capitalisation of N1.91 billion. GNI is trading at its nominal value of 50 kobo per share.

    GNI at the weekend indicated that Wema Bank was its core investor. “Besides many well meaning Nigerians ,who invested in Great Nigeria insurance Plc, our other core investors are Wema bank Plc and Odua Investment Group of Companies. Our relationships with these great groups have created a synergy for the growth of our business,” GNI stated in its corporate profile.

    GNI started operations in 1960 and its businesses include general and life insurance.

    Following the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s banking regulatory regime that required banks to either divest from non-core banking subsidiaries or form a holding company to hold those subsidiaries, Wema Bank had opted to divest from its non-core banking businesses including GNI. The bank had since divested from Wema Insurance Brokers Limited, Wema Registrars Limited, Independent Securities Limited and Whyte Cleon Limited. It also integrated operations of four subsidiaries into its core banking business including Wema Asset Management Limited, Wema Securities and Finance Plc, Wema Homes (Savings and Loans) Limited and Wise Properties Limited. Wema Bank had 100 per cent equity stakes in the trio of Wema Registrars, Wema Insurance Brokers and Whyte Cleon Limited while it had 94.7 per cent stake in Independent Securities and 75 per cent in GNI.

    Meanwhile, the new core investor would be required to restructure GNI’s issued share capital to dilute the existing concentrated shareholdings of the core investors and allow more investments from the investing public.

    In the latest report on public shareholding status in quoted companies obtained by The Nation, the NSE indicated that GNI and 10 other companies were in violation of the listing requirement, which compels companies quoted on the main board of the NSE to ensure that a minimum of 20 per cent of its issued shares is in the hand of the general investing public.

    Companies listed on the Exchange are required to maintain a minimum free float for the set standards under which they are listed in order to ensure that there is an orderly and liquid market in their securities. The free float requirement for companies on the main board is 20 per cent while companies on the second board, otherwise known as Alternative Securities Market (ASEM) are required to have 15 per cent free float.

    Free float, otherwise known as public float, refers to the number of shares of a quoted company held by ordinary shareholders other than those directly or indirectly held by its parent, subsidiary or associate companies or any subsidiaries or associates of its parent company; its directors, who are holding office as directors of the entity and their close family members and any single individual or institutional shareholder holding a statutorily significant stake, which is 5.0 per cent and above in Nigeria.

    Thus, free float’s shares do not include shares held directly or indirectly by any officer, director, controlling shareholder or other concentrated, affiliated or family holdings.

    The report indicated that GNI currently has 16 per cent of its issued shares in the hands of the general investing public.

    According to the report, the management of the NSE had given GNI a deadline of July 8, 2016 to free more shares for the general investing public.

     

     

  • Boko Haram: NEMA reunites 200 kids with parents in Borno

    Boko Haram: NEMA reunites 200 kids with parents in Borno

    The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said yesterday it had   reunited more than 200 children with their parents after being separated by the Boko Haram insurgency.

    Sa’ad Bello, the Head of Operations, Adamawa and Taraba office of the agency told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yola that the successful reunification was conducted with the collaboration of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) under Restoring Family Link Programme.

    The  children, mostly between the ages of five and 12, are from Bama and Baga in Borno State.

    There are still about 165 unaccompanied children in four designated camps in Adamawa  State, he said.

    The official said some families from Bama visited some Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in Yola where they identified their children.

    He said after intensive investigation by appropriate authorities concerned, the children were handed over to their parents.

    He said the agency with the support of the ICRC was working hard, through appropriate channels, to identify the parents of the remaining unaccompanied children.