Personnel of the Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences (Enforcement) Unit have demolished over 1,700 shanties and containers at Fagba Railway lines in Agege.
The Head of Public Affairs Unit, Lagos State Task Force, Adebayo Taofiq, in a statement today, November 29, said that suspected illegal substances such as Indian hemp and other dangerous drugs including codeine, skunk and tramadol were recovered during the demolition exercise.
According to him, after the expiration of the removal order, the government gave them additional 21 days grace to remove their belongings and vacate the entire area before embarking on the demolition exercise. “These illegal shanties and containerised shops were occupied by miscreants and hoodlums who terrorised innocent citizens around Fagba, Iju-Ishaga and Pen-Cinema area, dispossessing them of their valuables, especially early in the day and late at night. “Investigations conducted revealed that miscreants and hoodlums occupying these illegal shanties were responsible for the destruction of public properties and looting of shops immediately after the recent ‘EndSARS’ protest around Agege. “It was an eyesore with miscreants and hoodlums freely smoking and selling Indian hemp including prostitution by under-age boys and girls around Fagba railway lines.”
Nine suspects have been arrested over the recent assassination of the state’s chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Phillip Tatari Shekwo.
The State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, who made spoke today, November 29, when executives of the Trade Union Congress, (TUC) paid him a courtesy call in Government House, in Lafia, said the arrests followed a combined military operation carried out after the incident, adding that the suspects were being interrogated by the police. “For the past four days, the combined military operations have been trailing the routes where they believe those who killed our chairman followed. I am happy to inform you that nine persons have been arrested and are being interrogated in connection to the killing of our chairman.”
Governor Sule said that a combined military operation killed three people in connection to the killing at the Loko development area of the state, adding that four AK-47 rifles were also recovered.
“More importantly, around 3 am this morning, the combined operations followed some of these people around Loko and they killed three of them, after killing them, they recovered four AK47 rifles from them, we are hoping and praying that it is the same people who carried out this exercise”.
“We have always said that security is never too expensive for us unless we don’t have the resources but if we have the resources, we will put in all our resources to make sure that we protect the lives and property of our people and will continue to do that.”
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Solid Minerals, Mines and Steel Development, Senator Tanko Almakura has warned that the multi-million dollars Ajaokuta Iron and Steel Project is in need of three billion Naira for reactivation of the 21 plants next year if it were not to collapse.
This is even as he lamented that staffers of the Iron and Steel Complex working in the Mining Cadastral Office , will not be getting their monthly salaries from January next year as the World Bank responsible for that had already informed the country that it is pulling out of the gesture from January 2021.
Senator Almakura, who made the lamentations when he spoke to newsmen in Abuja, said that the N3 billion required to use in facilitating the engagement of experts from Russia for reactivation of the 21 plants in the Iron and Steel Complex is not included in the 2021 budget earmarked for the Ministry Mines, Steel and Solid Minerals.
He said that he had made a presentation to that effect to the Senate Committee on Appropriation during presentation of the 2021 budget estimates of the Ministry to the committee on Thursday last week.
According to him, the remarks made by the Committee led by Senator Jibrin Barau (APC Kano North) for provision of the money in the final report on the 2021 budget, was not assuring enough .
“Nigeria has spent a lot on the Ajaokuta project to allow just N3billion to make her decades old efforts a mirage .
“Resuscitation of Ajaokuta is key to Industrialization and development of the country. The Mines, Steel and Solid Minerals Ministry appealed to us during budget defence, to effect Appropriation for the N3 billion.
“Since we cannot on our own as joint committees on Mines, Steel and Solid Minerals, increase the enveloped budget presented to us by the Ministry, we pushed the appeal to the Appropriation Committee for the required appropriation .
“The N3billion is very necessary to be provided in saving the Iron and Steel Project from total comatose.”
He said that completion of the Ajaokuta Iron and Steel Project, would serve as a required catalyst for diversification of the Nation’s economy which is one of the key policies of President Muhamnadu Buhari led government .
On staffers who may not be collecting their salaries from next year January, Senator Almakura explained that they are contract staff working at the Mining Cadastral office of the Complex and whose monthly salaries have been footed in the past years from interventions from the world Bank which had notified the country that it will stop that gesture after December this year.
When contacted on phone whether the N3 billion will be appropriated as additional funds for the Iron and Steel Company, Senator Barau was evasive.
He said though diversification of the nation’s economy is a necessity at this time but paucity of funds remains the stumbling block in acceding to such demands since the 2021 N13.08 trillion budget was projected on expected revenues and not monies already warehoused somewhere.
Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule has expressed the willingness of his administration to implement the new national minimum wage for civil servants from grade level six downwards.
Governor Abdullahi Sule, who spoke today, November 28 as he played host to the national leadership of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) Women Commission at the Government House, said that his administration is willing to increase the salary of civil servants from grade level six downwards to the N30, 000 new minimum wages.
He appealed for understanding of civil servants from level 7 to 16, who are already enjoying higher salaries as was implemented by the previous administration with civil servants in that category earning higher salaries even more than some of their colleagues in places like Kaduna, Plateau and Kwara States.
The Governor said that his administration is waiting for the committee on the new national minimum wage to submit its report for him to sign.
“We are willing to sign it today. We will not tamper with the status quo for civil servants on grade levels 7 to 16. We are being more than generous for a state that is struggling,” he stated.
He called on the officials of all unions in the state to appeal to their members for understanding, especially as Nasarawa is still contending with the economic consequences of the COVID-19 and other challenges.
On promotion, the Governor said that it’s not too much responsibility for an institution to promote its employees, stressing however that it is necessary to match promotion with performance.
American based television channel, Cable Network News (CNN), has retracted its initial report which claimed that troops of the Nigerian Army killed 38 EndSARS protesters at the Lekki Tollgate in Lagos State.
In its tweeter handle today, November 28, titled “clarification” CNN backtracked its initial report, admitting that it did not attribute the death toll to Amnesty International.
It however, failed to say in the report that the 38 persons killed were not just at the Lekki tollgate but across the country during the #EndSARS protest.
The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele has expressed what he called “cautiously optimistic” that the country will exit recession by December, which marks the end of the fourth and final quarter of the year 2020, as the bank continues to implement interventions in the critical areas of the economy.
He dded the apex bank projects that Nigeria would return to positive growth in the first quarter of next year.
Emefiele, who spoke at the 55th Annual Bankers Dinner of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria in Lagos, advised financial experts to be wary about the implication of negative comments on the economy, insisting that Nigerians do not need “to worry,” as the economic fundamentals remain strong.
He said that some sectors of the economy, including the Information Communication Technology (ICT), have remained resilient, despite the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic, adding that 18 sectors recorded positive growth in the third quarter, as against the 13 that contracted.
The CBN boss observed that the economy is on the path of growth and the stable growth witnessed after the 2016 recession is “a reassurance” that the economy would emerge stronger.
“As we are all aware, prior to the onset of the virus in December last year, the Nigerian economy was on a positive growth trajectory, having made a significant recovery from the 2016-2017 recession, which was triggered by the drop-in commodity prices in 2016.
“Following the recession, we witnessed 12 consecutive quarters of economic expansion and GDP growth in the fourth quarter of last year stood at 2.55 per cent.
“Our exchange rate remained stable for over two years at N360/$ and our external reserve witnessed significant accretions from the sale of crude oil and continued inflows from foreign investors.
“Our banking system remained strong, as key indicators reflected improvements across several areas. The capital adequacy ratio for the banking industry was above 15 per cent, surpassing the prudential requirement. The ratio of non-performing loans declined from 11 per cent in April last year to less than 6.1 per cent by January this year.
“Our intervention efforts in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors continued to support employment generating activities and improved local production of goods that can be produced in Nigeria.”
He called for urgent diversification of the economy so that it would not continue to sneeze every time the crude market is challenged, saying it has the potential to survive without oil.
Speaking on the current escalating inflation, Emefiele said more effort would be paid to the supply side of the economy, noting: “Let me add that while COVID-19 has brought on several challenges to our economy and indeed the banking sector, it offers a unique opportunity for us to build a more resilient economy that is better able to contain external shocks, whilst supporting growth and wealth creation in key sectors of our economy.
“Proactive steps on the part of stakeholders in the banking and financial system in supporting the growth of sectors, such as agriculture, ICT and infrastructure, will strengthen our ability to deal with the challenges that have been brought on by COVID-19, while enabling the growth of our economy in general.”
Also speaking, Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu acknowledged the impacts of COVID-19 on the economy, adding that “stronger collaboration” between the private and the public sector is necessary to survive the pandemic and build a stronger economy.
Governors of states in the Northeast region of Nigeria have complained about the 2021 budget proposal of the Federal Government over what it called the paltry allocation of N45.3 billion for capital projects in the region out of a total budget estimate of N13.02 trillion.
The governors, in a communiqué they issued at the end of their meeting in Yola, the Adamawa State capital, complained that the area had been short-changed in the proposed capital projects for 2021, even as they appealed to the National Assembly to review the budget in the spirit of equity and inclusion.
They insisted that the paltry 0.35 per cent allocation to a region hard-hit by insurgency, other forms of insecurity and infrastructural deficit showed that it had been short-changed.
“This (budgetary allocation) represents a paltry 0.35 per cent of the proposed N13.02tn. This means that North-East is highly short-changed”
According to them, the Northeast region had been unfairly treated in the provision of road infrastructure by the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, while also bemoaning the slow or outright non-existent progress on the pace of work on the roads already awarded and called for the immediate reactivation and review of the comatose road contracts in the sub-region.
They decried the lack of budgetary provision in respect of the Mambilla hydro project in the 2021 budgetary proposals and called on the Federal Government to make the project a matter of serious priority by resolving all encumbrances around the project.
The communiqué read in part: “Forum critically examined the challenges of education in the sub region and resolved to adopt a regional approach by being deliberate on transforming education, especially at the basic level. Forum also agreed to form the North-East Council on Education.
“The forum said despite relative improvement in the security situation in the sub-region, the activities of Boko Haram, bandits, cattle rustlers and kidnappers still constitute a threat to sustainable development.”
The hypocrite minimises his own flaws and makes allowances for imperfections while homing in on and exaggerating the problems of another. We have an even distribution of hypocrites among all sections of the country. But I think there is a more bubbling joint of whited sepulchres in the south-east. Yes, a host of people lost in gyrations of affected piety and plaster saints who capitalise and summarise their troubles with third-party headlines. They are never responsible for own their problems; there is always someone or some people in the north, south-west or south-south to blame. Even the gully erosion ravaging my area in Anambra is blamed on exteriorised agents.
When are we going to take responsibility for our troubles? When are we going to face up to the adversaries within – not in the north or south-west? And when are we going call out corruption by our own?
We are fixated on the Bola Tinubu corruption trope, but our own people made flatulent by loot we palliate the enormity of their malfeasance. A former governor of Abia state was jailed for alleged N7.65 billion fraud. He was alleged to have magicked the contents of Abia state treasury into his private vault. But after he was released from prison, there was a carnival in the streets of Abia to welcome him – the same people he allegedly stole from. The same former governor has enjoyed canonisation by his people and even projected by them as a ‘’worthy son’’ to replace President Buhari in 2023.
Hypocrites! Tinubu in Lagos is a bigger headache to Okoye in Owerri than the ruins of Imo state? We are more concerned about the acts of tyranny in faraway Kaduna under Nasir el-Rufai than the attempts at autocracy in Imo.
Governors in the south-east have largely escaped outrage and social media justice, because the citizens of the region concern themselves with amplifying the troubles of the north, while glossing over the cancer ravaging the area. We cavort giddily to sit in parliament on issues affecting the north while our own problems are mitigated – and most times totally ignored.
In Anambra, for instance, there are over 1,000 gully erosion sites. About 70
percent of the land in the state is witnessing chronic denudation. Statistics show the environmental peril is devouring Aguata/Orumba local government areas, which have more than 78 gullies; Nnewi, (60 cavities); Njikoka/Aniocha, (50 gullies); Idemili, (46 dangerous openings); Ihiala, (40 gullies); Awka, (30 cavities); Onitsha, (22 gullies); and Anambra/Oyi, (16 gullies).
Many citizens of Anambra have lost valuable property to this creeping violator of nature. This monster has remained untamed. Now, 70 percent of land in the state is under threat! And there are gloomy projections that this intruder could overrun the state in the next few years. Yet no deliberate and exigent plan to salvage what is left. No alarm! No emergency! It is like we are waiting for the inexorable doomsday.
In Abia, some workers in the education and health sectors of the state have been not paid for months. In fact, the governor only elected to pay lecturers and non-academic staff of Abia State University 30 percent of their salary for June, 2020 – in November! But the Campus-based Industrial Trade Unions in Abia State University rejected the ignominious offer. Basic infrastructure is even not basic in the state; largely decrepit. The state is mere a garland of filth and slime.
In Imo, the governor rules like a potentate – he brooks no opposition. In September, the governor signed the Imo State Administration of Criminal Justice Law 2020 which empowers him to detain anyone at his pleasure without the need for a court warrant.
Sections 484 and 485 of the law stipulate that the governor may summarily effect a detention notwithstanding the provisions of any other law – not even the constitution?
Section 484 of the law reads: “Where any person is ordered to be detained during the Governor’s pleasure he shall notwithstanding anything in this law or in any other written law contained be liable to be detained in such place and under such conditions as the Governor may direct and whilst so detained shall be deemed to be in legal custody.”
And section 485 stipulates that any person “detained during the Governor’s pleasure may at any time be discharged by the Governor on licence” and that “a licence under subsection (1) of this section may be in such form and may contain such conditions as the Governor may direct”. It also said such a licence “may at anytime be revoked or varied by the Governor, and where licence has been revoked the person to whom the licence relates shall proceed to such place as the Governor may direct and if he fails to do so, may be arrested without warrant and taken to such place.”
This law is clearly against the lay-downs of sections 34 and 35 of the 1999 constitution, which protect the rights to freedom of liberty and human dignity.
Governance in Imo is also on the reverse gear. So, clearly we have our own problems in the south-east which we should be chewing on and outraging against. If there is famine in the north, there is pestilence in the south-east. Whatever challenges there are up north, there are also down south. Armed robbery, kidnapping, rape, homicide and other crimes are all maladies ailing all parts of Nigeria – but one side gets outraged against the more.
Counsel to leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu, Alloy Ejimako, has given conditions for his client to appear in the court for his treason trial.
He insisted that until a hearing is conducted on why the military allegedly invaded his client’s home in 2017, Kanu should not be expected to appear in court for trial.
Kanu did not appear when his treason trial commenced but the Court said he would be tried in absentia.
His lawyer, who was represented in court by another lawyer, claimed that the court notice was very short.
Kanu’s lawyer told newsmen after the brief hearing said that Nnamdi Kanu was absent because he needed to be assured of his security.
“Our position is the court should have conducted a hearing as to why Nnamdi Kanu has repeatedly failed to appear in court.
“If that enquiry is conducted, it will bring to the fore what happened in September 2017.
“And it will give an opportunity to introduce evidence in the proceedings to demonstrate why nobody under such circumstances should be expected to appear in court because the army went in there to kill him. I don’t know what the court expected him to do–to stay here and be killed and be brought to court, or what?
“If someone is on bail, such a person is under the protection of the court. And now, an agency of the same government that is prosecuting this man sent its armed forces to this man, to kill this man. And 28 men were killed.
“The court is not making an enquiry into that, and they are solely concerned about proceeding with his trial in absentia. It shouldn’t happen in a well-ordered system. We just have to get to the root: why did he not appear in court? That is the question.
“If it is settled, it will be determined on whether he jumped bail of which no conclusion like that will ever be reached. If the court makes such inquiry, it will also give the court an opportunity to determine what happened in 2017.
“Then they can tell Mr Kanu to come and face your trial in court because the court will give you protection. When that is done, he will come. I guarantee he will come.
“Once the court makes a pronouncement on why he is not there, and makes a ruling, then he will appear. But this court is not doing that. If they proceed with absentia trial, the international community will see it as kangaroo.”
On the fate of Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, one of Kanu’s sureties, Barr Ejimako said: “I am representing the Jewish Rabbi, Immanuel Shalom, the co-surety for Nnamdi Kanu. Abaribe was not the only surety.
“The other one is Mr Tochukwu Uchendu, an accountant. They are of the equal footing with N100m each, totalling N300m. That is what they stand to lose if Nnamdi Kanu is determined to have jumped bail. Abaribe’s case is the same as my client’s case.
“We have the case in court that the bail bond cannot be revoked without conducting a hearing on why the person that was given the bail did not appear in court.
“The sureties cannot be said to have breached their bonds in circumstances such as Nnamdi Kanu’s situation where 28 persons were killed in his house.
“They bonded a man alive, and they want him produced in court dead? It can’t happen. The bond subsists, and no one is going to lose any money, and nobody is going to jail for a bail bond that was not breached, but by the Nigerian Army.”
“We will never allow this type of #EndSARS protests again. It was violent. Peaceful protest is allowed in our constitutions. When this process (EndSARS) started peacefully, we provided security for them.
“We were moving with them to make sure they were not molested by any group of people and it was going on well until it turned violent.
“When it turned violent, they then attacked the people that were even giving them protection. So, we shall never allow any violent protest in this country again. When you talk of peaceful protests, yes, it is allowed but violent protests, never!
“We’re to protect this country from hoodlums. We’re to protect this country from violence, and we want every Nigerian to work with us, to prevent what had happened as aftermath of the end of SARS in terms of destruction of public properties, loss of lives, businesses of individuals were crippled, corporate institutions were destroyed.”
These were the words of the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, when he met with all Commissioners of Police in the country.
He said that the force is ready to face anyone, who organises or participates in such protests across the country.
“Remember, even our constitution does not accept violent protests, so, those people that are planning to come up with another protest, if they’ve planned it to be a violent one, they should re-think, otherwise, we have prepared to face them.”
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Counsel to leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu, Alloy Ejimako, has given conditions for his client to appear in the court for his treason trial.
The Hypocrisy Of Southeast, By Fredrick Nwabufo
When are we going to take responsibility for our troubles? When are we going to face up to the adversaries within – not in the north or south-west? And when are we going call out corruption by our own?
We are fixated on the Bola Tinubu corruption trope, but our own people made flatulent by loot we palliate the enormity of their malfeasance. A former governor of Abia state was jailed for alleged N7.65 billion fraud. He was alleged to have magicked the contents of Abia state treasury into his private vault. But after he was released from prison, there was a carnival in the streets of Abia to welcome him – the same people he allegedly stole from. The same former governor has enjoyed canonisation by his people and even projected by them as a ‘’worthy son’’ to replace President Buhari in 2023.
Hypocrites! Tinubu in Lagos is a bigger headache to Okoye in Owerri than the ruins of Imo state? We are more concerned about the acts of tyranny in faraway Kaduna under Nasir el-Rufai than the attempts at autocracy in Imo.
Governors in the south-east have largely escaped outrage and social media justice, because the citizens of the region concern themselves with amplifying the troubles of the north, while glossing over the cancer ravaging the area. We cavort giddily to sit in parliament on issues affecting the north while our own problems are mitigated – and most times totally ignored.
In Anambra, for instance, there are over 1,000 gully erosion sites. About 70
percent of the land in the state is witnessing chronic denudation. Statistics show the environmental peril is devouring Aguata/Orumba local government areas, which have more than 78 gullies; Nnewi, (60 cavities); Njikoka/Aniocha, (50 gullies); Idemili, (46 dangerous openings); Ihiala, (40 gullies); Awka, (30 cavities); Onitsha, (22 gullies); and Anambra/Oyi, (16 gullies).
Many citizens of Anambra have lost valuable property to this creeping violator of nature. This monster has remained untamed. Now, 70 percent of land in the state is under threat! And there are gloomy projections that this intruder could overrun the state in the next few years. Yet no deliberate and exigent plan to salvage what is left. No alarm! No emergency! It is like we are waiting for the inexorable doomsday.
In Abia, some workers in the education and health sectors of the state have been not paid for months. In fact, the governor only elected to pay lecturers and non-academic staff of Abia State University 30 percent of their salary for June, 2020 – in November! But the Campus-based Industrial Trade Unions in Abia State University rejected the ignominious offer. Basic infrastructure is even not basic in the state; largely decrepit. The state is mere a garland of filth and slime.
In Imo, the governor rules like a potentate – he brooks no opposition. In September, the governor signed the Imo State Administration of Criminal Justice Law 2020 which empowers him to detain anyone at his pleasure without the need for a court warrant.
Sections 484 and 485 of the law stipulate that the governor may summarily effect a detention notwithstanding the provisions of any other law – not even the constitution?
Section 484 of the law reads: “Where any person is ordered to be detained during the Governor’s pleasure he shall notwithstanding anything in this law or in any other written law contained be liable to be detained in such place and under such conditions as the Governor may direct and whilst so detained shall be deemed to be in legal custody.”
And section 485 stipulates that any person “detained during the Governor’s pleasure may at any time be discharged by the Governor on licence” and that “a licence under subsection (1) of this section may be in such form and may contain such conditions as the Governor may direct”. It also said such a licence “may at anytime be revoked or varied by the Governor, and where licence has been revoked the person to whom the licence relates shall proceed to such place as the Governor may direct and if he fails to do so, may be arrested without warrant and taken to such place.”
This law is clearly against the lay-downs of sections 34 and 35 of the 1999 constitution, which protect the rights to freedom of liberty and human dignity.
Governance in Imo is also on the reverse gear. So, clearly we have our own problems in the south-east which we should be chewing on and outraging against. If there is famine in the north, there is pestilence in the south-east. Whatever challenges there are up north, there are also down south. Armed robbery, kidnapping, rape, homicide and other crimes are all maladies ailing all parts of Nigeria – but one side gets outraged against the more.
Ndi Igbo, charity begins at home.
Fredrick Nwabufo is a writer and journalist
Twitter @FredrickNwabufo