Link – Page 8 – LatestNewsUpdates

View Point: Lagos-Ibadan Expressway becomes den for kidnappers

January 22, 2022Posted in National Issue, TragedyLeave a comment

The security situation in Nigeria is getting out of hand and no part of the country is spared. The emergence of Amotekun in the south west has helped greatly to curb insecurity but the truth is, it has only been the Amotekun in Ondo and Oyo States that has been proactive.

The Lagos- Ibadan expressway that stretches 132 kilometers to Ibadan has become a den for kidnappers as it has large swathes of ungoverned spaces. Only last week two people were killed in a commercial bus when kidnappers attacked commuters after Ibadan. And only recently according to reports, another kidnapping incident happened around the Isara area with the kidnappers demanding a N20million ransom.

To say the truth, the Lagos-Ibadan expressway is unsafe and all hands must be on deck to solve the security challenge.

Recently the Aare Ona Kankanfo accused the police of lack of cooperation in fighting kidnapping on the express road and I shudder to hear that because this is not the time to trade blames. This is the time to work together to stop pervasive insecurity. Lagos – Ibadan expressway is fast becoming another Wild Wild West. Something should be done.

#ViewPoint: Lagos-Ibadan Expressway becomes den for kidnappers

To say the truth, the Lagos-Ibadan expressway is unsafe and all hands must be on deck to solve the security challenge.

Source: Latestnewsupdates
victorfalade12@gmail.com

[JUST IN] 2023: Every candidate must declare bank asset, says INEC

January 21, 2022Posted in Election, National Issue1 Comment

The Chairman of INEC, Mahmood Yakubu, represented by a National Commissioner, Kunle Ajayi, stated this in Abuja during a policy roundtable conference on political campaign finance organised by The Electoral Forum, an organ of the Initiative for Research, Innovation and Advocacy in Development with support from MacArthur Foundation.

He said, “As long as we have not notified anybody that the race to the 2023 general election has started, we are not unaware of what anybody is doing. We follow the law strictly.

“We have not officially declared notice for the 2023 general election, but when we so declare, we will put our monitoring committees to motion like the Central Bank of Nigeria, DSS, EFCC, the ICPC, (commercial) banks and other law enforcement agencies. We have that plan already.

“Every candidate must be made to declare his bank asset. That is where they draw out their money, so we will make them present their statement of account right from the onset.

“We will make it mandatory for them to turn in their bank statement so that if they say they are doing billboard and the account remains the same, then there is a problem.”

Speaking on the issue of vote-buying, Mahmood said, “We are going to establish finance monitoring teams and they will be among the electorate but they (politicians and political parties) won’t know.

“We are going to do it in a way that the influence of money will be reduced because we want to make the electoral field a level playing ground for both rich and poor candidates and electorates. Everybody will go on an equal economic level so that you won’t influence the voting pattern.”

Punch

IBEDC allays workers fears over AMCON takeover

January 21, 2022Posted in ElectricityLeave a comment

The take over of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company by the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria was announced to workers of the electricity distribution company by the Chief Operating Officer, John Ayodele, in a memo dated January 20, 2022.

The COO, according to the memo explained that the company was insolvent hence the takeover.

The development was said to have triggered panic among the workers but the chief operating officer assures them that their jobs were secured.

The memo read, “Further, to the judgment wherein the Federal High Court on the 8th of September 2021 granted preservative orders in favour of Asset Management Corporation, AMCON, (being the Receiver/Manager of Integrated Energy Distribution and Marketing Limited); the court has appointed Mr Kunle Ogunba Esq. SAN to act as Receiver/ Manager Nominee in the receivership action.

“Based on the foregoing the Receiver/Manager came in today 20th January 2022 ( Thursday) to the IBEDC Headquarters to take charge formally and subsequently met with the management team. Therefore, I hereby wish to inform all staff that there is no cause for alarm.

“We are assured of job security which entails our position/ duties in the company, being entitlements to our salaries and other benefits etc.

“On behalf of the management, I urge us all to kindly go about the efficient discharge of our duties to ensure a speedy and mutually beneficial resolution.

“I wish us all the best, while I appeal that we continue to remember IBEDC in our prayers.”

SPORTS: Nigeria to battle Tunisia in knockout stage fixtures as 1.2m tickets requested within 24 hours for Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup*

January 20, 2022Posted in SportsLeave a comment

The Super Eagles of Nigeria finished Group D with a third successive win as they beat Guinea-Bissau 2-0, leaving runners-up Egypt to face Ivory Coast in the next round.

The Super Eagles will stay in Garoua to play third-placed team Tunisia in the last 16 on Sunday by 8pm.

👉 Qatar World Cup: 1.2m tickets requested within 24 hours

Football governing body FIFA, which disclosed this, said the demand for tickets was greatest from the host country.

This request from Qatar was followed by requests from Argentina, Mexico, the U.S, the United Arab Emirates, Britain, Saudi Arabia, Brazil and France, FIFA said in a statement.

Qatar is to host the 2022 World Cup from November 21 to December 18.

(dpa/NAN)

Borehole drillers raise the alarm over possible earthquake

January 20, 2022Posted in National IssueLeave a comment

The National President, Association of Water Well Drilling Rig Owners and Practitioners, Michael Ale, said this in Ibadan in an interview with journalists, on the sidelines of the national advocacy/sensitisation workshop on 2013 National Water Resources Master Plan and United National Water Convention for stakeholders in the South-West.

He said, “There should be regulation by the government because sinking boreholes indiscriminately can cause an earthquake in the future. It may not be now, it may be in the next 20 years, but it can cause an earthquake.

“Nigeria is not in an earthquake-prone region, despite that, we are having earth tremors now. It happened in Saki and other places and this is to say an earthquake can happen if we continue the way we are doing things.”

UPDATE: Final Decision on Petrol Subsidy will Be Taken in June – NEC

January 20, 2022Posted in Fuel, National IssueLeave a comment

The National Economic Council (NEC) has disclosed that a final decision on the removal of subsidy on petroleum will be taken in June when the provision for its payment in the 2022 budget would have lapsed.

Answering reporters’ questions at the end of the monthly meeting attended by all the 36 state governors and other top government officials, Nasarawa State Governor, Abdulahi Sule, who spoke on behalf of NEC, said it was understandable that provision for the payment of the subsidy in the 2022 Appropriation Act will end by June.

According to him, any decision on the removal of subsidy will be taken after the budget provision runs its course in June.

He stressed that even though NEC had before now set up a committee on the issue of fuel subsidy, it was yet to take a position on it.

JUST IN: Reps pass electoral bill without compulsory direct primary clause

January 20, 2022Posted in UncategorizedLeave a comment

The bill was passed after the removal of clause (84) requiring political parties to only select candidates through direct primaries.

Both chambers of the National Assembly, the Senate and the House of Representatives, however, deleted compulsory direct primaries from the bill.

JUST IN: “There was an attempt to bomb me….” – Buhari

January 20, 2022Posted in National IssueLeave a comment

President Muhammadu Buhari who was at the newly constructed Kawo bridge executed by the El-Rufai administration, said ” there was an attempt to bomb me here…there was a market nearby .”….but his security escort were vigilant.

The President’s visit to Kaduna, his state of residence since retirement from the military, was expected to end on Friday(tomorrow).

Vanguard

Gbajabiamila proposes Students loan scheme, Education Bank

January 20, 2022Posted in National IssueLeave a comment

THE Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, made the calls while delivering the 52nd convocation lecture of the University of Lagos, UNILAG.

“The bill sets to provide interest- free loans to students. The repayment of these loans shall commence two years after the completion of the National Youth Service Corps Scheme. However, we must all understand that public support for any such system will depend significantly on the tertiary institutions themselves.

“The Ninth House of Representatives has education as one of its key areas of focus in its legislative agenda. We have for instance taken active steps to upgrade many of our public institutions, elevating some colleges of education to universities of education among others,” he said.

“For Nigerian citizens to thrive in this new world, participate fully and productively in the new global economy and benefit from irather than be consumed by the technological advancements that are changing our world, tertiary education in Nigeria must be prepared to embrace reinvention and adapt to disruption, ” he stated.

Vanguard

JUST IN: ASUU may down tools January ending over FG Failure to Implements MoA

January 20, 2022Posted in Education, National IssueLeave a comment

ACADEMIC activities in the nation’s universities may be disrupted by the end of this month if the Federal Government is unable to implement the Memorandum of Action, MoA, it signed with the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU.

Giving the indications in a chat with newsmen, the National President of ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, said the union was waiting for the period of grace given the government to lapse before taking the necessary steps.

“As a responsible union, we are consulting widely on the issues at stake. We have an MoA that is yet to be implemented fully and we also have the renegotiation of the 2007 Agreement pending. A lot of groups and concerned individuals have stepped in to intervene in the matter.

“We are responsible unionists and citizens and we must give room to those interventions; may be they can help persuade the government to do the needful. We have given them up till the end of this January and if nothing is forthcoming, we can take the next step,” he said.

It was gathered that if the union’s demands are not met, nationwide mobilisation of members would follow and congresses held to mandate the national leadership to act appropriately.

Vanguard