The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Stakeholders

  • Stakeholders laud Nigeria over petroleum sector’s development

    International stakeholders have applauded the relative impressive development of Nigerian petroleum industry,

    The country received the applause during the Nigerian Oil and Gas Core Strategic Investors’ Meeting which held in Atlanta, United States of America.

    Speakers at the event include the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu; Chief Executive Officer, Homeland Integrated Offshore Services Limited, Dr Louis Ekere, and the Executive Secretary of Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB),  Engr. Simbi Wabote, among others.

    Dr. Kachikwu, who has made the rostrum his oyster, the standing ovation that greeted his presentation which drew applause during the event focused on the strides and successes made so far in the country’s oil and gas sector.

    Wabote spoke about the NCDMB’s invaluable role in the development of the nation’s oil and gas sector, noting that President Muhammadu Buhari, who also doubles as the substantive Minister of Petroleum, has provided a safe and enabling environment for operators and investors to thrive.

    Also, in his highly commended remarks, Ekere the suave alumnus of the prestigious IESE Business School, Barcelona, Spain and the Lagos Business School, dwelt extensively on the gains of the Buhari administration’s economic policies and programmes geared towards shoring up Nigeria’s Foreign Direct Investment and the role the Oil and Gas Sector is playing in this. Dr. Ekere said no country or developing economy can grow sustainably and provide employment without much inflow of FDI.

    An otherwise private businessman, Ekere took on the garb of an accustomed government spokesman, dispelling existential economic fears while painting a picture of stability, and saying without equivocation that with the policies being implemented in revamping the economy, especially the national action plan put together by the Presidential Enabling Environment Council (PEEC), mandated to lead its reform projects and provide a conducive atmosphere for transaction of businesses in the country, the Nigerian economy was on its way to utopian heights.

    He said further that more than any other administration, the Buhari government is instituting a hospitable regulatory framework for FDI by relaxing rules regarding market entry and foreign ownership, improving the standards of treatment accorded to foreign firms, and improving the functioning of markets.

     

    While the heterogeneous audience listened with rapt attention, Ekere said in spite of pockets of challenges around the country, things were getting better and therefore implored the foreign businessmen and financial institutions to come and invest in Nigeria as their investments are safe and that Nigeria offers numerous benefits to potential investors.

     

  • Stakeholders seek empowerment for girl-child

    Last Thurday, the world marked the 2018 International Day of the Girl-Child. In Lagos, the day was celebrated by the International Charitable Initiative for Girl Child and Women Development Foundation (ICI-GWODEF), ADEBISI ONANUGA and OKOLI DIVINE report

    Stakeholders in the justice sector have urged federal and state governments to empower the girl child  to reach their full potential.

    They included a former Chairman of the family Court at the magistracy level of the Lagos State Judiciary, Chief Magistrate (Mrs) Kikelomo Ayeye; Ministry  of Women Affairs; Nigeria Prison Service (NPS); Community Health Centers; HIV/AIDS Control Agencies; Lagos State Chairperson, International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), Mrs Ngozi Ogbolu; Preident, African Women Lawyers Association of Nigeria, Mrs Mandy Asagba; Mrs Lariat Salad of the Legal Aid Council, Lagos State; Deputy chief whip, Lagos  State  House of Assembly, Chief (Mrs) Oduntan Omotayo, among others.

    The student community was represented by students of Excel College, Ejigbo; Hans Private School, Abaranje; Effortwill College, Ejigbo; Hope Foountain School for the Deaf, Ijaiye, Ojokoro; TTVN International  School, Liasu Road, Egbe; American Mind Builders International School, Aberenje and others.

    The International Charitable Initiative for Girl Child and Women Development Foundation (ICI-GWODEF) anchored the programme in colaboration with the United Nations  Information Centre(UNIC) Lagos.  The  theme was: “Empower Girls; Before, During and After conflict”.

    The event held at the Ukpor Town Hall/Civic Centre, Ago Palace Way, Okota, Lagos.

    Leaning on her knowledge of the family, Chief Magistrate Mrs Ayeye, urged the government for the development of more inclusive health, education, and empowerment programmes that are age and gender-responsive, often girl-led, and enhance the voices of girls at the community level. She was represented at the occasion by a lawyer, Mrs Bola Adetayo.

    Chief Magistrate Ayeye, in the lecture delivered at the event, lamented that girls had for long been discriminated against by the society and made to believe that they are inferior or less important than boys.

    “Studies conducted by the United Nations on different traditional practices have found that the boy child is still viewed to be better or more capable than the girl child in many countries. Harmful traditional values and beliefs like son preference, forced marriages and female genital mutilation still affect girls around the world and have dealt an enormous blow to their self-esteem and ability to succeed.

    “There have been several government interventions to address these harmful practices. Different organisations have come up with women empowerment programmes that are geared towards helping young girls and women have a voice in the society and achieve their full potential

    “I have come to realise the enormity of the present day 21st Century challenges and the pain of the girl child. While some African governments have introduced laws aimed at protecting girls, protection alone is insufficient.

    “Girls need empowerment and more platforms such as this to be heard. Investing in our girls is expensive, but it is a critical lever to the wellbeing and prosperity of any nation. They are a powerful driving force for growth and prosperity. The dynamic interplay between promoting girls rights and achieving sustainable development, scarcely needs pointing out. With this in mind, the state should be placing the girls at the heart of its developmental plans,”she said.

    She added: “I make bold to say that Nigeria, most especially Lagos State government, is at the forefront in Africa empowering the girl child through the provision of conducive environment for education. However, timely, high-quality data is vital on the girl child in other to determine how many of our girls are in conflict situations and how to empower our girls in conflict areas. Let us all work hard to make sure we count all girls, because all girls count. I call on Nigerian government and all governments to create a world where violence against girl child is never tolerated.”

    She expressed delight that the issue of women and girls keeps getting prominent in public discourse and domain in Nigeria, noting that the genesis of the unequal treatment of the girl child stems from a number of African traditional cultures, which under rate and side-line girls.

    Earlier, President ICI-GWODEF, Mrs Helen Ibeji, in a welcome address, condemned the continued captivity of Leah Sharibu in the hands of Boko Haram and urged the Federal Government to hasten her release from the enclave.

    Mrs Ibeji said the organisation will pursue legal action should the government f—ail to make strong effort to secure her freedom.

    “We use this medium to notify this government that if, on or before the end of this year, Miss Leah Sharibu is not released, we shall have no choice than to file a legal action against them,” she said, adding: “the worst government is the one, which stands by and watches its citizens perish without definite action.”

    Mrs Ibeji argued that if the county must attain  sustainable development, it must start with women and girls.

    She said government should by way of empowerment, encourage the girl child to enroll in school, stay in school and finish her school without any fear of molestation, which she listed as kidnapping, abduction, and forced early marriage, among others.

    “Government should note that it is not easy for the girl child to manage during conflict like boys, and as such information on how to cope should be made available as quick as possible.

    “It is for the government to do whatever it can do to help the girl child in her life. It is the duty of the government to maintain peace in the country such as ours. It is the duty of the government to ensure that all the laws protecting women, especially the girl, are implemented,”she said.

    She  counseled the government to set up apparatus to monitor those hindrances confronting the girl child on daily basis, emphasising, “security of the girl child as paramount”. “The government should be at the forefront in providing every information that a girl child should need in her growing up,”she said.

    She adviced the young girls to be very careful on how they live their lives, urging them to take advantage of every opportunity provided them to equip themselves with the basic skills and knowledge the future may require.

     

     

  • When stakeholders converged to eliminate malnutrition

    Robust and health citizens no doubt are a catalyst for both national and development goals. And in the developed world, their leaders spend a huge amount of money yearly on health. Revise is the case in the continent of Africa where her government pays lip services to the health sector, leaving its citizenry to their fate particularly children under five who are often at the receiving end.

    Looking at the statistics are often startling: nearly 1,000 Nigerian children die of malnutrition-related causes every day,  a total of 361,000 annually. With an approximate 2.1 million Nigerian under five children affected by malnutrition, Nigeria is said to account for one tenth of the global total. The prevalence of chronic malnutrition among women of childbearing age in Nigeria was put at 11.6 per cent, with 14.2 per cent and 5.7 per cent overweight and obese, respectively.

    At the just-concluded 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly, the imagery of hunger and malnutrition of Nigerian children was painted, however, there was a positive mood about the group seated in the room as important discussions went on about the plight of Nigerian children regarding hunger and malnutrition.

    Participants included Senator representing Ogun State Central Senatorial District and  Chairman Senate Committee on Health, Olanrewaju Tejuoso; Programme Specialist and Coordinator Africa and Middle East UN SDG Action Campaign, Hilary Ogbonna; the Nigeria Permanent Representative to United Nations, Prof. Tijani Muhammad-Bande (represented by Muyiwa Onifade); and the Representative of UNICEF, Mrs. Chizoba Steve-Edemba. Others were civil society groups, development partners, the international community, players in the private sector, Nigerians in the Diaspora and the media.

    Discussion was led by the Executive Director of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Auwal Ibrahim Musa Rafsanjani. Auwal Ibrahim Musa Rafsanjani said: “There is no other time than now to ‘interrogate the issue of poor nutrition and inadequate political will’ to arrest severe cases of malnutrition among children under the age of 5  especially as 45 per cent of all under-five deaths are attributable to under-nutrition”, he said.

    According to Musa, there are surmountable situations stalling the fight against malnutrition.

    He said, “While adequate and optimal health care delivery constitutes components of governance and national development, in Nigeria, adequate access to Health care services is hindered by quite a number of factors including inadequate financing for health, dearth of healthcare personnel, poor maintenance culture, and unethical attitude of health providers, ill-equipped and poor infrastructural services.

    “All these lead to high maternal mortality and infant mortality rates, low life expectancy, lack of productivity and deepening of underdevelopment. As the health condition worsens we witness poor financial and political commitments and in cases where there have been pronouncements, they have been partially or entirely not implemented.”

    In this regard, Musa called on all relevant financial institutions and governmental bodies to exhibit high level of seriousness in the fight against corruption and steer the ship of sustainable development in the right direction Similarly, Prof. Muhammad-Bande observed that promoting government’s anti-corruption efforts is the panacea towards solving Nigeria’s developmental issues including health, arguing that health is vital to the SDGs.

    To shore up funding, Muhammad-Bande noted that asset recovery and repatriation of funds to Nigeria would help in implementing the SDGs.

    Tejuoso in his presentation, said: “The Role of Parliament in Improving Domestic Investment in Nutrition”, said malnutrition is responsible for impaired brain development and lower intelligence quotient (IQ), low productivity, increased health care cost, weakened immune system, high risk of diabetes, cancer, and stroke.

    The lawmaker claimed that Nigeria has many nutrition policies but lacks the will to implement them.

    Recommendations were made following the conclusion of the panel, which include among other things that advocacy from the perspective of political and investment case for nutrition needs to be intensified; more coordinated and deliberate efforts are needed to mobilise and apply technical and financial resources; partnership with the legislature and executives to institute transparency and accountability; and that all arms of government, CSOs and media must work together to ensure implementation and proper coordination of the SDGs, among others.

  • Stakeholders, aspirants reject Kogi PDP primary

    Stakeholders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kogi State, including a former Chairman of Kabba Local Government Area Nathaniel Taiwo, have rejected last Wednesday’s primary in Kabba-Bunu/Ijumu Federal Constituency.

    Three aspirants – Salman Idris, Sunday Adeleye and Okesuji Obatoyinbo – also joined Taiwo to reject the primary. They called for “the immediate conduct of a transparent primary.

    The aggrieved persons called for the reconstitution of a new election committee, composed of persons of impeccable character.

    They said: “In view of the confusion foisted on aspirants and party loyalists in Kabba-Bunu/Ijumu Federal Constituency, it has become pertinent to lay bare the facts, avail our party leadership and constituents an update and point out the consequences of not conducting the primary election.

    “Nine aspirants were screened, cleared and eligible to participate in the primary election. Aspirants and delegates converged at Prestige Hotel, Kabba and waited 16 hours, from 8am to 12 midnight, but did not see party officials assigned to conduct the exercise, and no justifiable reason was communicated for their absence.

    “Delegates and aspirants dispersed after information was received that the election has been shifted to October 4, by 7am, for security reasons.

    “About 1.30am, news filtered in that party officials, led by the Publicity Secretary, Bode Ogunmola, were at the venue accrediting delegates.

    “Only seven of the 337 delegates were on ground then and as other aspirants arrived, they were able to contact.”

    This attempted electoral heist was rebuffed with protests, and when T.J Yusuf realised the ploy would not fly, his thugs started shooting sporadically to stop the election, forcing officials to scamper to safety.

    “This was reported at the Kabba Divisional Police headquarters, where it was confirmed that the police and other security agencies were not invited to secure the election.

    “Mr. Yusuf, after the mayhem and aborted election, caused to be published that he won the primary but the blogger retracted the story when he realised he was misled.

    “Mr. Ogunmola, who is also the returning officer, confirmed that the election did not hold. What played out was a sinister plot to conduct a kangaroo primary in the absence of other aspirants. The summation of this action is a deliberate attempt to foist Yusuf on us.

    The aggrieved aspirants however demanded that urgent actions be taken against the perpetrators.

  • Stakeholders seek dissolution of Ondo APC exco

    Some stakeholders in Ondo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), under the auspices of Ondo Mandate Group, have urged the party’s national leadership to dissolve state executives and appoint a caretaker committee.

    They accused Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of using members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) to breach the peace.

    In a petition addressed to APC National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole by the convener of the group, Comrade Gbenga Bojuwomi and Publicity Secretary Comrade Olorunfemi, the stakeholders said they supported the party’s decision to give automatic tickets to some lawmakers in the state.

    The petition, dated October 4, reads: “We, members of the Ondo Mandate Group of the APC, are in full support of the decision of the NWC of the party in granting automatic senatorial tickets to some members of the party in the state, and the introduction of direct primary for all elections as we see it a commendable and welcome development.

    “In a meeting in the 18 local government areas of Ondo State, the group, whose membership cuts across the nook and cranny of the state, believes this indeed is an affirmation of the resolve of the party’s leadership to put forward capable hands that can effectively represent the party.

    “Members of the mandate group and Ondo APC, however, express concern over the polarisation of the party’s congress in the state by two parallel executives, which came about as a fallout of the crisis that bedevilled the party in the last congress.

    “As we speak, Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu is mobilising hoodlums, NURTW members in Ondo State to cause a security breach and hold the committee for the primaries to ransom. There have been sporadic gunshots at different parts of the state since morning; these have prevented the primary from holding.

    “The situation is a slight on the unifying efforts of the national leadership of the party; we, therefore, call for an urgent need to resolve it before it denigrates the progressive efforts of the party.

    “The group is, therefore, calling on the national executive of the party under the able and dynamic leadership of Comrade Adam Oshiomhole for immediate dissolution of the parallel executives of the party in the state. The group also advises that a caretaker committee be set up to oversee the affairs of APC in Ondo State.

    “This remains the only solution for peace in APC in Ondo State, particularly at this point when elections are drawing near. It is evident that Governor Akeredolu’s disposition is de-marketing President Muhammadu Buhari in Ondo State. As we speak, if urgent measures are not put in place, Mr President may not even get 10 per cent of the votes in Ondo State in 2019.

    “Members of the Ondo Mandate Group hereby commend Comrade Oshiomhole for the good work he has been doing since he came on board. We hereby reaffirm our solidarity and support to him for the tremendous efforts he had made at ensuring the victory of the party in Nigeria and for Nigerians…”

     

     

     

  • Firm mobilises stakeholders for school safety week

    For five days next week, pupils, teachers and school owners would learn about safety measures in schools.

    The programme is a campaign by MYK Crime Control Services to reduce vulnerability of schools to attacks by criminals as well as keep schools safe.

    The week-long programme would feature training, emergency drills, as well as various inter-school competitions – like debates (on the role of students in school safety matters) and quizzes, football, basketball and golf (for adults), rallies, drama, music, and interviews by pupils for public officers and other security agencies about safety.

    Mrs Dayo Oshinmakinde, the brain behind the Nigerian Safe School Week Initiative, said she was inspired to organise the programme which would hold at the Police College, Ikeja, and Adeyemi Bero Hall, Alausa, because a member of her family was kidnapped.

    “I have a family member that was a victim of kidnapping. She was vulnerable to it because she lacked the basic necessary security knowledge. Since then I have visited schools and I have seen a lot of security lapses,” said Oshinmakinde, who is the Managing Director of MYK Crime Control Services.

    She said experts from the Nigeria Police, Nigerian Army, Nigerian Civil Defence Corps, social rights, organisations, government and schools are expected during the programme to discuss how to address safety lapses in schools and define roles of all stakeholders in ensuring everyone is safe.

    Oshinmakinde explained that it is a call to action by all to safeguard pupils beyond the school environment.

    “Safety is beyond teaching a child not to talk to strangers. We are looking at children having the ability to recognise danger; know what it takes to protect themselves both at school and at home.

    “Between 2009 and 2015, attacks in northern Nigeria destroyed more than 910 schools and forced at least more than 1,500 to close. In April 2014, over 200 girls between age 16 and 18 were abducted from a secondary school in the Nigerian town of Chibok by Boko Haram insurgents; also in April 2018, the same attack was carried out on the Dapchi Girls’ Secondary School were over 100 girls where kidnapped.

    “Furthermore, some shocking school attacks in Southwest of Nigeria cannot be left out – the likes of Turkish International School, the Lagos Model College, Igbonla, Epe, and the Barbington Macaulay Junior Seminary, Ikorodu.  All of these attacks, are from the same underlying causes,” she said.

    Beyond the Safety week, Mrs Oshinmakinde is hoping to raise 30 million stakeholders in the education sector who can be first responders.  She plans a social platform where parents can share information about happenings in school and make informed decisions.

     

  • Stakeholders canvass increased focus on cashew production

    Farmers and other stakeholders in the agric sector have called for more attention to the production, processing and marketing of cashew in view of its huge nutritional and economic value.

    The stakeholders in separate interviews lamented the utter neglect of the product, and regretted that the few farmers engaged in it had neither been supported nor encouraged to adequately reap its vast economic potential.

    For instance, the Chairman, Kogi State Chapter of Cashew Producers Association of Nigeria (CPAN), Mr. Stephen Ahiaba, lamented that about 500,000 tons of cashew apples and fruits worth N50 billion rot yearly in Kogi State.

    While blaming the development on the lack of requisite technology to process juice from cashew fruits, he stressed that the situation was discouraging many farmers. He, however, expressed happiness that a local agro-products processing outfit had delved into processing cashew nuts.

    Ahiaba said CPAN was into the cashew business to improve cashew value chain, adding that residues from processed cashew apples could be converted into animal feeds.

    Investigations show that the crop is cultivated mostly in the eastern, western and central areas of Kogi in local governments like Dekina, Ofu, Idah, Igalamela, Omala and Yagba East.

    Other local governments include Yagba West, Mopamuro, Ijumu, Kabba/Bunu, Adavi, Okehi, Okene.

    A consultant with Synergos Nigeria, Mr. Solomon Yizogembi, said Kogi was can generate over 10, 000 job opportunities from investments in cashew production and processing.

    He said a 150,000-tonnes investment window for cashew products was available in Kogi.

  • Stakeholders urged to adopt technology to tackle climate change

    To tackle the challenges  of climate change, stakeholders in the environment sector have been admonished to deploy the use of technology.

    The admonition came from discussants at the workshop on the National Inception Workshop on Technology Needs Assessment (TNA) for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation in Abuja.

    The Regional Climate Change Coordinator of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Dr. Richard Munang, noted that Nigeria could address climate change across the entire continent.

    According to him, the mitigation of climate change in Africa is no finance alone, but that the continent has not paid attention to build peoples’ capacity. He, therefore, implored stakeholders  to combat climate change in their  locations by using home-made approaches.

    A representative of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), Dr. Reuben Bamidele, emphasised the need for  monitoring and evaluation of climate change. He assured of UNIDO’s readiness and availability to provide support to the country during the TNA process.

    Minister of the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, challenged stakeholders to move with the rest of the world by leveraging  technology to mitigate climate change and its effects.

    He warned that climate change was real and that the effects were visible not only in Nigeria but across the world. Among the effects, he explained, were the drying up of the Chad Basin, desertification, rise in sea level, coastal encroachment.

    Onu, therefore, urged Africans to take a cue from China and Israel, whom he said have leveraged  science and technology to combat climate change and create jobs in their countries.

    ”The problems of climate change are not just economical but also a social problem too. We should not be afraid of the existence of climate change; the challenge for us is our inability to use science and technology to mitigate it,” he said.

    The Director, Department of Climate Change, Federal Ministry of Environment, Dr. Peter Tarfa, represented by a Principal Scientific Officer in the Ministry, Mr. Chukwuemeka Okebugwu, said the ministry was working with her counterparts in the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology and other related MDAs to work out solutions and ensure that the country is enabled to solve many problems associated with climate change.

    “This Technology Needs Assessment is critical to help us develop a roadmap and work with the appropriate knowledge needed to combat climate change in Nigeria,” he said.

    The workshop was attended by stakeholders, who were saddled with providing solutions that would combat climate change and other related environmental and social challenges that might arise from it.

  • Esan APC stakeholders seek transparent primaries

    All Progressives Congress (APC) stakeholders in Esan Central have said the primaries must be transparent.

    True Democracy Group (TDG) Secretary Philip Omojiade spoke with reporters in Benin at the weekend.

    He said: ”Look we are all stakeholders in this our great party the APC. So if anybody thinks he can come and override us by imposing somebody on us, the person should have a rethink. Esan people should be allowed to choose somebody in the party that can give them good representative at the Red legislative chambers in Abuja. I personally joined APC because of the good work of the immediate past comrade governor of the state, Adams Oshiomhole.

    “Oshiomhole during his time as governor does not do anything without consulting the leaders of the party from the various wards, but today is it a different ball game and we are not too comfortable with such arrangement. Just look at what is happening in Igueben local government, where somebody that decamped to the party just few months ago is anointed to carry the APC flag to the State House of Assembly. Esan people will do everything to make sure that their imposition plan does not see the light of day in Esan land.

    “Whether direct or indirect primaries, if a wrong person are giving the APC ticket, people will only collect their money and vote against them. You will agree with me that the party has done poorly at the national level, and generality of Nigerians are not happy with them so any mistake in Edo State will have devastating effects on us.”

  • Bandits ‘kidnap’ dead bodies in Southeast

    Kidnapping for ransom in the Southeast has been a major headache for stakeholders, including security agencies, residents, the government as well as the traditional institutions.

    With an unenviable status as the zone with the highest rate of kidnapping in the country, the heinous crime is, indeed, a scourge in the Southeast.

    Immeasurable human and material resources have been committed to fighting this menace and it is gradually scaling down. The reports are no longer damning, there is almost a heave of relief. The security chiefs are satisfied with their feat in defeating the bandits, at least technically, the people are getting relaxed and businesses are picking up again.

    But it is not yet time to say uhuru. The kidnappers are not giving up; instead they have devised another tactics.

    They now ‘kidnap’ corpses from mortuaries, where they will encounter little or no resistance and thereafter demand some ransom from owners of the corpses.

    They have returned to business and on daily basis corpses are missing from the morgues and the owners are parting with huge sums of money to reclaim the bodies of the dead.

    It is indeed a disturbing trend, it is an abomination, but the allure of raiding an unguarded morgue and carting away defenseless corpses is irresistible to the kidnappers.

    Kidnapping of corpses is now in vogue in the Southeast. One can imagine the agony and frustration of a family that has made all preparations for funeral ceremony only to get to the mortuary and discover that the remains of their beloved one have been ‘abducted’ and hours later they will receive phone calls for ransom.

    One may be tempted to ask what the negotiating power of the kidnappers is, when their victim is already dead and decomposing. How do they get the relatives to part with money, unlike when they abduct a living person and threaten to kill their victim if ransom is not paid?

    But the answer is not far-fetched, burial ceremonies in the Southeast are attended by great fanfare and festivity. The rich and the poor alike invest huge sums of money to bury their loved ones under the illusion that it is a mark of love and respect for the dead. It is a serious stigma on any family that could not give their dead ones befitting burials.

    The new trend of kidnapping of corpses may sound unreal, but the Imo State Police Command recently paraded two suspected kidnappers who stole a female corpse and demanded N5 million ransom from the owner of the morgue.

    The suspects, Chukwudi Chukwu and Bethel Ibe both from Ikeduru Local Government Area of Imo State, were reported to have broken into the Jesus Hospital Mortuary also in Ikeduru and carted away the corpse whose identity was concealed from reporters.

    They thereafter contacted the owner of the morgue, Prince Bright Njoku and demanded ransom.

    But the police smashed their hideout, arrested them and rescued the corpse before the ransom could be paid.

    The Imo State Commissioner of Police, Dasuki Galadanchi, described the trend as disturbing, but assured that the Command will continue to make the state uncomfortable for all manner of kidnappers.

    He said: “It is an abomination to desecrate the dead. How can people invade a mortuary and carry away corpses? But everyone involved in this heinous crime will not go unpunished.”

    Meanwhile the suspects, who claimed that they were introduced to the business by some of their friends that specialised in abducting dead people, blamed the devil for their action.

    Narrating how they stole the corpse, the suspects said: “We went into the mortuary that night and carried one corpse and took it to the bush where we hid it. We didn’t know the identity of the woman. After that we called the owner of the mortuary to give us N5 million. We were still in the bush waiting for the money when policemen came and arrested us”.