Hoodlums, on Monday, attacked Bauchi State lawmakers at a guest house, damaging cars and windows during a function in the State.
NAN reports that the House was embroiled in a leadership crisis last Thursday, with 22 members passing a vote of confidence on the Speaker, Abubakar Suleiman, and principal officers of the Assembly.
Babale Abubakar, the Majority Leader of the House, told newsmen in Bauchi on Monday that the latest attack, which happened at about 4pm as the lawmakers were having a meeting, left six of them injured.
Abubakar said, “At least six vehicles were destroyed by the invaders who also smashed window glasses.
“They were over 100 and were carrying guns, sticks and machetes.”
“It was terrifying. Some of us ran towards the exit door and were badly hurt,” he added.
Abubakar disclosed that no sooner than the Special Adviser on State and National Assembly Liaison to the State governor, Sani Mohammed Burra left them, that the hoodlums unleashed their mayhem.
He also said that one of them held him by the neck and asked if he was still a leader in the House.
Abubakar said, “He said they were ready to kill me. Six members were injured in the process. Some were taken to the hospital and l believe they would be fine.
“It was a scary situation. It’s sad.”
Abubakar, however, said the matter had been reported to the Commissioner of Police in the State.
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has claimed ‘Fulani-controlled’ military are responsible for the alleged killing of innocent people in Ogbaru and Nnewi South Local Government Areas of Anambra State.
IPOB has now asked Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, to speak up against the killings.
According to the secessionist group, the governor’s “silence” showed that he is allegedly competing with his Imo State counterpart, Hope Uzodimma, in using the military to kill his people.
This was contained in a statement signed by IPOB’s Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, on Sunday.
Powerful admitted that although “there are some pockets of petty criminals in the State as obtainable elsewhere in Nigeria, “it is not enough reason for the Nigerian military to randomly be slaughtering our people like chickens.”
According to him, “The military started shooting innocent people sporadically on the road and some were gunned down in their homes in Ogbaru and Nnewi South.
“Soludo are you aware of the military exercise? Is this kind of military depopulation of your people part of the deal you entered with the enemies of Ndigbo before being voted into office as Anambra governor last November?”
The group added that IPOB and the Eastern Security Network (ESN) operatives were doing their best to stop those perpetrating criminalities in the region.
The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has told the National Examinations Council (NECO) to move its exam scheduled for Saturday, July 9, as it clashed with the first day of eid-el-Adha (Sallah).
MURIC Director, Prof. Ishaq Akintola, made this request in a statement on Sunday.
NECO has scheduled Data Processing (Practical) from 10am to 1pm this Saturday.
Akintola admitted that the Islamic group believes NECO did not intentionally fix the examination that day.
“We are fully aware that the clash was not deliberate as NECO had actually demonstrated goodwill by setting aside a whole week for Salah celebrations (Monday, 11th July to Friday 15th July) and this reflected in its timetable,” the statement read.
He added, “We, therefore, appeal to the NECO authorities to kindly shift the examination of that day alone (Saturday 9th July, 2022) to another date in order to enable its teeming Muslim candidates sit for their examinations.
“The paper which was originally fixed for Salah day may be taken on Thursday 14th July, 2022 which is one of the days set aside by NECO for the Salah holiday. MURIC wishes NECO authorities and staff as well as all Nigerians a happy Salah.”
A yet to be identified vandal suspect was electrocuted in the early hours of Sunday.
DAILY POST learnt that the incident occurred while he was vandalising Umuezerimpi 500KVA Distribution Substation, property of the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company PLC (EEDC), located at Umuatuegwu Okija, Anambra State.
The incident came a few days after four other persons were also nabbed for vandalizing EEDC installations at different locations.
These developments were confirmed by the Head, Corporate Communications, EEDC, Mr. Emeka Ezeh, in Enugu.
According to Ezeh, the deceased was not operating alone, as other members of his gang took to their heels immediately he was electrocuted, leaving behind his lifeless body and their tools at the scene of the incident.
Ezeh confirmed that a formal report on this development has been lodged at the Okija Police Division, for detailed investigation.
The tools used by the electrocuted vandal and his fleeing colleagues were also recovered and his corpse deposited at the Okija General Hospital Mortuary,” he said.
“Just imagine how this young man has cut his life short over nothing.
“It is hoped that this will serve as a deterrent to others engaging in this dastardly act,” he added.
Meanwhile, only a few days ago, a young man identified as Wisdom Kalu Onu, an indigene of Abia State was apprehended by the security personnel of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, for vandalizing electrical installations located within the Campus premises, belonging to the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company PLC (EEDC).
The suspect, along with the vandalized materials, has been handed over to Nsukka Urban Police Station for proper investigation and possible prosecution.
Ezeh, who narrated the ugly experience the company had been going through in the hands of vandals, reiterated the company’s resolve to continue working with critical stakeholders to ensure that these elements perpetrating this dastardly act are apprehended and brought to book.
He said that there was no day that passed without the company receiving a report of an electrical installation that had been attacked.
“It has gone so bad that the vandals now go as far as draining transformer oil, even after carting away with the armoured cables”, a situation he described as disheartening.
According to the company’s spokesman, well over twenty transformers have been attacked by vandals across the company’s network in the past three weeks, with four of the vandals apprehended.
“On Monday, at Ndibe, in Afikpo North Local Government Area, Ebonyi State, a suspect identified as Ogbonnia Otu, was apprehended by the President General of the community with the support of his team, in possession of 150mm2 upriser cable believed to have been carted from a distribution substation belonging to EEDC.
“Similarly, on Sunday, a suspected vandal, Tochukwu Onumaegbulam was arrested by the Electricity Committee Task Force of Umuloola Community, Orlu, Imo State, for vandalizing the distribution substation serving the community.
“In Abatete, Anambra State, Ndubuisi Okuogba was arrested by members of Vigilante Group in Abatete, for vandalizing a 500KVA distribution substation serving the area. The suspect was apprehended while in possession of four intermediate armoured cables stolen from the substation, which he had burnt for the purpose of extracting the copper, before his arrest.
“The suspects were handed over to the respective Police Stations for proper investigation and possible prosecution,” he disclosed.
While calling on customers to be more involved in securing these installations that are serving them, Ezeh commended the efforts of the Security Personnel, Vigilante Groups, as well as the President General and his team, in apprehending the suspects.
“There is a need for our customers to be more vigilant in ensuring that electricity installations sited within their neighborhoods are protected against attacks by these criminal elements in the society,” he added.
Ezeh reiterated that these vandals were capitalizing on the poor availability occasioned by the drop in quantum of power generation experienced in the sector in recent times, which has adversely affected the company’s daily energy allocation.
“We keep committing millions of Naira restoring vandalized installations and this is no longer sustainable, considering our current financial state,” he lamented.
The Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, has approved N33 million in upkeep allowance to be paid to post-graduate students from the state currently studying in France.
A statement issued by the Commissioner for Higher Education, Dr Mariya Mahmoud Bunkure, on Sunday said the fund is part of the counter-part funding under the France–Kano State Government Scholarship Scheme.
“It would be recalled that in line with the government’s numerous strive for improving the quality and standard of Higher Education in the State, the governor on behalf of the State had signed a bilateral agreement, with the Government of France to train scholars from Kano in French Universities,” the statement said.
“These scholars are in reputable and world-class universities, with special interests in Science and Technology.”
The statement said through this scheme, hundreds of scholars drawn from institutions of higher learning in the State had completed and acquired Masters and PhD degrees, just as many others are on the final lap of completing their programmes.
The Socio-Economic Rights Accountability Project and other education rights groups, such as the Reform Education Nigeria and Education Rights Campaign, have knocked the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), over the prolonged shutdown of academic activities in the nation’s tertiary institutions.
The PUNCH reports that the strike declared by the Academic Staff Union of Universities entered its 140th day on Monday (today), while the strike declared by the Joint Action Committee of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Education and other Allied Institutions, which began on March 25, 2022 also entered the 68th day today.
While the National Executive Council of Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics is currently meeting in Jigawa State after calling off a two-week warning strike, the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union just commenced a two-month strike.
In a statement made available to journalists on Sunday, SERAP’s Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, noted that the government’s failure to meet ASUU’s demands, implement the agreement it had with the union and satisfactorily resolve the issues, has kept poor Nigerian children at home while the children of the country’s politicians attend private schools.
Oluwadare said, “Inequalities in education have a rolling effect, leading to even more and continued inequalities in the future.
“Apart from being a right in itself, the right to education is also an enabling right. Education creates the voice through which rights can be claimed and protected, and without education, people lack the capacity to achieve valuable functioning as part of the living.
“If people have access to education, they can develop the skills, capacity and confidence to secure other rights. Education gives people the ability to access information detailing the range of rights that they hold together with the government’s obligations.”
Speaking in an interview with our correspondent on Sunday, the Programme Director, Reform Education Nigeria, Ayodamola Oluwatoyin, faulted the silence of critical stakeholders on the academic shutdown.
Oluwatoyin said, “It is saddening that the government has continued to allow negotiations to linger with no concrete end in sight. The Presidency must, as a matter of urgency, take over the negotiations with the unions.”
Also, the co-Convener, Education Rights Campaign, Michael Lenin, said, “The blame for these strike actions that have grounded tertiary education must be placed at the door-step of the government.
“It is quite unprecedented that all the major unions in the tertiary education sector are all on strike; however, it shows the level of damage that the negligence of successive governments has done to the educational sector through chronic under-funding.”
Efforts to get the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, who has described himself as the reconciliation minister between the Federal Government and the unions, proved abortive as calls and texts sent to his telephone number on Sunday remained unanswered as of the time of filing this report.
When contacted, the National President, ASUP, Dr. Anderson Ezeibe, noted that the union’s National Executive Council would commence its meeting on Tuesday.
“Our NEC is commencing meeting on Tuesday, if we are still not satisfied with the level of implementation of demands so far, a strike may be declared,” he said.
The National President, ASUU, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, could not be immediately reached for comments on Sunday evening.
Similarly, the National President, Joint Action Committee of SSANU, NASU and NAAT, Muhammed Ibrahim, did not answer calls and texts sent to his line
The General Overseer of The Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has urged Christians to get jaw bones of cows for self-defence, instead of guns.
Adeboye, while clarifying his position on self-defence for Christians, said Samson was victorious in biblical times with jaw bones, and not with an AK-47.
The respected cleric made the clarification on Sunday in a message, ‘Made for the top’, during the church’s monthly thanksgiving service monitored by our correspondent.
“I never asked Christians to buy guns, Christians don’t need guns. Samson did not fight with an AK-47. Don’t go and buy guns,” Adeboye said.
He said while Nigerians require permission to procure guns, they do not require permission to get the jaw bone of a cow.
Adeboye bemoaned how difficult children could be taught about the exploits of Samson in a Sunday school, adding that jaw bones should suffice.
He added, “I have always wondered how you demonstrate to children in Sunday school, but the best way is to show children using the jaw bone of a cow, don’t buy guns.”
Commenting further on how to escape from danger, especially as it relates to sexual harassment against women and men, Adeboye stressed that they should show diligence, hard work to get to the top and not wait to be contaminated.
It officially announced the extension on Friday after deliberations on some concerns around the exercise, among other emerging issues ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Like Mr Yakubu, the commission, in its latest statement signed by its spokesperson, Festus Okoye, did not also stipulate when the exercise will officially end.
“The Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) will continue nationwide, and all the Resident Electoral Commissioners and Electoral Officers have been directed to continue with the exercise pending further directives from the Commission.
“The Commission has consistently reiterated its resolve to continue to provide electoral services to the Nigerian people and register all eligible Nigerians that are interested in registering. The Commission has yet again deployed additional machines to areas of pressure and will continue to serve the people of Nigeria,” Mr Okoye said.
INEC, in the last few weeks, has received knocks from Nigerians following the hiccups witnessed by many registrants in some registration centres in the country.
There are also complaints about the unprofessional conduct of the Commission’s staff in some states and the shortage of registration machines.
Apart from the daily affronts from Nigerians on social media, INEC ’s planned deadline has been stalled by a pending case initiated by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and some displaced Nigerians.
“The case at the Federal High Court relating to the terminal date of the CVR came up yesterday Wednesday 29th June 2022, and based on the request of the Commission, the Court granted an accelerated hearing and adjourned the matter to Monday 4th July 2022 for hearing of the substantive matter. The Commission will give an update after the court hearing next week,” Mr Okoye said.
As the July 1 to 15 window for the upload of the list and personal particulars of nominated candidates by political parties approaches, INEC urged parties to properly scrutinise their documents to “avoid any mix-up and duplication of names.”
Hundreds of students of the Peaceland College of Education, Enugu escaped death by whiskers on Thursday, when fire gutted some parts of the school’s female hostel.
The institution is located opposite the Matured Students Programme of the Enugu State University of Science and Technology, near the popular Nkpokiti junction, at Independence Layout, Enugu.
Many students were said to have sustained injuries when students were scampering to different directions as confusion engulfed the premises.
However, there are conflicting accounts as to what triggered the fire.
While some said it was caused by power surge some said a student left an electrical appliance on and went to class.
Though no life was lost in the inferno, it was gathered from some staff of the college that the fire destroyed the roofs, ceilings, windows, beddings among others, at the top floor worth over N30 million.
The fire, it was gathered also destroyed some certificates and other credentials of the students.
Some lecturers who spoke to correspondent on condition of anonymity, said save for timely intervention of men of the Enugu State Fire Service the fire would have razed down the entire hostel and other classroom blocks.
One of the lecturers’ said that the fire started on the top floor of one of the major hostel blocks destroyed ND certificates and other credentials of the students.
A student who gave her name as Chinwe Odo said, “We were in our different classes when we suddenly heard the sound of explosion and when we went out to find out, we saw fire coming out from one of the rooms in the hostel.
“Some of us, especially HND students came to school with our OND Certificates because we were told that there would be verification by people from Abuja. Those certificates were razed by the fire”.
However, a senior staff of the college, who preferred anonymity, told journalists that the destruction in the school was huge.
“Though, no student was in the room where the fire started, but we suspect that somebody might have plugged a device and forgot to put it off.
“As a result, we lost a lot. The roofing, the ceilings, a lot of things up there. In fact we cannot put a figure to the destruction. But we really lost property worth over N30 million to that fire.
“But we thank the men of the Enugu State Fire Service. Without them, the entire buildings here would have gone into the flames”, the staff said.
At the time of filing this report, the school authority had yet to issue a statement on the incident.
A man who became a viral NYSC meme has debunked claim of becoming a POS operator after service.
Countering the claim made on Twitter, @UmarIbrahimUm18 stated that he is still “happy, thankful and hopeful with 9ja in my heart”.
In another tweet he wrote;
Ridiculed or admonished, rewarded or neglected, we stand for what’s right. The zeal in us of making a difference and believe in our dear country can never be killed!
A 60-year-old man named Isak Wahab (pictured above) reportedly died from shock after a friend allegedly stole his ATM and withdrew N700,000 from his bank account.
The deceased’s wife, Monsurat, accused his friend, identified only as Ola, of making the withdrawal, which she said led to the death of her husband.
Monsurat said Ola stole her husband’s ATM when he visited them at their residence in the Ikotun area of Lagos State, according to Punch.
She said: “Ola was a close friend to our family, particularly my husband. He had financial difficulties with his rent and he came to my husband to tell him that he wanted to sell his generator so that he could raise money to pay his rent. My husband told him not to do that and said he was expecting payment from our tenants and he could help. My husband then gave him N10,000.
“Meanwhile, we did not know that Ola had taken my husband’s ATM card and he withdrew money from it amounting to N700,000. He withdrew the money in tranches of N200,000, N300,000 and another N200,000.”
The deceased’s son, Ajibola, alleged that Ola stole his father’s ATM card after his father became intoxicated while they drank alcohol together.
He said the case was reported at the Ikotun Police Station for investigation, adding that the suspect disappeared after he was accused of being responsible for the death.
Ajibola said: “Last week Thursday, my dad was not alright, but I felt it was just ordinary malaria or a small illness. But later, I was told that it was serious and I had to call my siblings. We later learnt from our mother that our father was defrauded by Mr Ola.
“My father died on Friday and we buried him on Saturday. After his burial, we went to his friend’s house, confronted him and while arguing with him, we seized his phone. Since that day, we have not seen him.
“As I speak to you, I have his phone with me and we have reported the case at the Ikotun Police Station. He had issues and needed money and our father promised to help and gave him N10,000.
“Now, Mr Ola took our father’s ATM card, went to a PoS operator, and transferred about N700,000 from his account to other accounts. When our father saw it, he was deeply sad and he died because he never expected that his best friend would do that to him.”
An India tailor was beheaded on camera in Rajasthan by two self-proclaimed ‘Islamic warriors’ after sharing a post in support of a politician who sparked global protests with controversial remarks about Prophet Mohammed.
The two self-proclaimed ‘Islamic warriors visited Kanhaiya Lal’s small shop in a crowded Udaipur market, pretending to be customers, and engaging him in a discussion before attacking him.
Lal is heard pleading with them to spare him, in a video filmed by the attackers themselves.
One attacker repeatedly strikes the tailor on his neck from behind, even as he collapses to the ground screaming for his life.
The pair then went online, identifying themselves as Mohammed Riyaz Ansari and Ghouse Mohammed, claiming responsibility for the attack.
The victim was reportedly targeted for sharing a social media post in support of recent comments made by a spokeswoman for India’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) about the Islamic Prophet Mohammed.
The remarks by Nupur Sharma at a TV debate in late May were deemed ‘blasphemous’ and sparked protests that turned violent in some parts of India and demonstrations across the Islamic world.
According to Mail Online, Sharma was sacked by the BJP after her comments, which saw the governments of nearly 20 countries summoning their Indian envoys for an explanation.
The two attackers released another video after the killing in which they brandished knives and issued a chilling warning to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi that they would ‘douse the fire he had started’.
The two men, Mohammad Riyaz Ansari and Ghouse Mohammed have both now been arrested.
‘Both the accused in the killing have been arrested and we will ensure strict punishment and speedy justice,’ said Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot.
Gehlot appealed to people to not share the video as it would ‘serve the attackers motive of creating discord in society’.
The Union Home Ministry has dispatched a high-level anti-terror investigation team to the spot.
A Nigerian student, Kazeem Ademola Temitope, who fled Ukraine and is now in Germany is on life support after he went for a swim in a lake.
Twitter user @Earthbreaker_SD shared a video of Kazeem on life support in a hospital in Germany and asked for people to help locate his family.
”A Nigerian student named Kazeem Ademola Temitope who arrived in Germany from Ukraine is currently on life support at a German hospital after going for a swim and diving into a lake. He was rescued and currently on life support. There’s an ongoing effort to locate his family before he’s taken off the machine.
Please if you know or able to indentify him, and could reach his family, kindly tell them to contact the embassy of Nigeria in Germany +49 30 212 30 280 or 300 #MelillaMassacre | please let retweet to get to his famz.”
The Lagos State Government through the Ministry of Health has unveiled a policy document on safe termination of pregnancy.
The 40-page policy document, tagged “Lagos State Guidelines on Safe Termination of Pregnancy for Legal Indications”, sets out guidelines for safe termination of pregnancy within the ambit of the criminal law of Lagos State.
Presenting and launching the document at a stakeholders’ engagement, the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr. Olusegun Ogboye, explained that while therapeutic termination of pregnancy is permissible under the law in Lagos State.
He noted that the policy document was borne out of the need to provide evidence-based data and information for health workers in public and private sectors who have the requisite skills and training necessary to provide safe terminations to reduce preventable deaths.
A statement from the Lagos State Ministry of Health quoted Ogboye as saying, “In 2011, the Lagos State House of Assembly updated the criminal code, providing for abortion to save the life and protect the physical health of the woman. While physical health is covered under the Lagos legal framework, services conforming to the law have not been available in Lagos State health sector.
“This document provides information on relevant laws applicable in Lagos State while providing standards and best practices with regards to legal indications, pre and post procedure care, methods and monitoring. I must state here that this document has undergone wide consultation with relevant technical stakeholders within the legal and health service context in the State.”
Ogboye explained that the process to develop the guidelines commenced in 2018 with the Safe Engage project led by the Lagos Ministry of Health and hosted by the Society for Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Nigeria, with support from Population Reference Bureau.
He added that stakeholders in the Stater health sector worked with key opinion leaders in Lagos and the South-West region to develop a tailored advocacy tool for terminations within the legal context.
He pointed out that the advocacy messages on the Safe Engage project focused on two immediate outcomes including ensuring that safe abortion services were available within legal indications in Lagos and domesticating the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act, supporting women to terminate a pregnancy caused by rape or incest.
He said, “To guide the implementation, one of the follow up recommendations of the project was the adaptation of the National Standards and Guidelines for Safe Termination of Pregnancy within Legal Indications within the Lagos State context. The Federal Ministry of Health had developed and disseminated the national guidelines on safe termination of pregnancy which highlights the compendium of conditions and circumstances under which termination of pregnancy could be instituted.
“The guideline was intended to build the capacity of health professionals to identify pregnancies for which legal termination could be instituted. Marie Stopes International in Nigeria in collaboration with the Population Reference Bureau proposed to support the State government to adapt the document.”
The Permanent Secretary explained that the process for National guidelines adaptation included technical meetings to discuss sections of the law supporting safe abortion and conditions permitted within the legal framework to save the lives and the physical health of mothers; and validation meeting with the broader stakeholders to review the document.
“All that hand work has culminated in today’s dissemination of the guidelines. We hope this dissemination today will help guide health providers to provide this service within the ambit of the law,” Ogboye added.
Earlier in his remarks, the Country Director of a leading reproductive health organization, Marie Stopes International Organization Nigeria (MSION), Mr. Emmanuel Ajah stated that abortion in Nigeria is not illegal but restrictive.
Ajah said significant numbers of health providers are unaware of the legal indications for safe termination of pregnancy.
“The domestication of this policy provides that needed guidance to healthcare providers on medical conditions in pregnancy that pose a high risk to the woman’s life and health if the pregnancy progresses to term, and on the standard management of abortion within the extent of the law in Lagos state. This policy is a demonstration of the commitment of the Lagos state government to improving maternal health, especially mitigating the impact of unsafe abortion practices in the State,” he stated.
Vice Chancellor of the University of Medical Sciences, Otukpo, Prof. Innocent Ujah, who was one of the Consultants who developed the document averred that the enunciation, deployment and use of this guidelines will preserve the lives of pregnant women and women whose physical or mental health would be compromised with the continuation of their pregnancies.
A medical doctor identified as Dr. Mansur Mohammed and many other people have been abducted by the notorious bandits operating in Zamfara State.
The State’s chapter of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) has condemned the attack, urging the Federal and the State governments to rise up to the security challenges.
Dr. Mansur, who is the Director-General of Dansadau General Hospital, was said to have been kidnapped on Saturday, June 25, 2022, along Dansadau-Magami road as bandits blocked the road.
DAILY POST learnt that many passengers were also kidnapped in the operation.
DAILY POST reports that the security operatives in the State State now appear helpless as the bandits continue to unleash terror attacks in every part of the State.
However, the State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ayuba Elkanah has not made any statement regarding the massive killings and kidnappings in the State.
Mr Olatunbosun also said the federal government removed VAT from the gas sector to maintain price stability but the middlemen continue to maximise profit by as much as 100 per cent.
The president of the association, Oladapo Olatunbosun, disclosed this on Tuesday while appearing before a joint committee of the House of Representatives investigating the prices of diesel and gas.
Mr Olatunbosun said the government, through the NLNG, has been injecting sufficient gas into the market but middlemen, who are aiming to maximise profits, are responsible for the steep price.
However, contrary to Mr Olatunbosun’s claim, sources at the NLNG told PREMIUM TIMES that although the company now supplies all its petroleum gas to the Nigerian market, it meets only about half the local needs of Nigerians. The rest is imported, which is currently affected by the global oil crisis.
On Tuesday, Mr Olatunbosun also said the federal government removed VAT from the sector to maintain price stability but the middlemen continue to maximise profit by as much as 100 per cent.
He said the steep increase in the price of gas is driving consumers away from using gas, thereby moving to charcoal which harms the environment.
“The only way to stimulate investment is to make the price affordable. There are infrastructural challenges, but there are still human interventions that we need we need to control.
“Supply should be directly to people that need it. How many gas plant owners are actually off-takers. There are production going on in Edo in Oredo. How many of them are they selling? People come from different angles who are portfolio investors, they buy gas and they hack on it, the price goes up,” he said.
He called for more investment in the sector to meet demand and also crash the price.
“In the long run, what Nigeria needs to do is to invite investors to invest simply in exploration. We have an abundant deposit of gas in the soil but the exploration is too low for the population,” he said.
After his presentation, the lawmakers had a closed-door session with the marketers, the Group Managing Director of NNPC Limited, Mele Kyari and others.
PREMIUM TIMES reported how the average retail price of 10kg cooking gas increased by 89.28 per cent from N2,071.69 in May 2021 to N3,921.35 in May 2022, according to data by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics.
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) says outgoing and incoming migrants are increasing within the Nigerian borders.
The ILO Senior Technical Specialist on Workers’ Activities, Abuja Office, Inviolata Chinyangarara, made this known at a two-day consultative workshop on Tuesday in Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the workshop was organised to define a roadmap for the development of a Trade Union Labour Migration Policy.
According to Chinyangarara, counting labour migration trends figures is a challenge because migration can be regular or irregular.
“Some coming in are counted because they come through the regular process, airports and other ports of entry but the majority that are vulnerable that in precarious situation are those that are coming through irregular means.
“But ILO statistics also show that they the trends are increasing, that is outgoing and income migrants, particularly within the Nigerian borders, ’’she said.
She said that labour migration was triggered by social, political and economic issues such as climate-induced on labour migration, disasters, pandemics and other crisis, trigger people to move.
According to her, our statistics also show that largely in Africa, people are moving for economic reasons, particularly the young men and women.
“When they find that there are no jobs, no prospects for livelihood, they are pushed to move to other countries where they can find greener pastures for employment or enterprise development,’’ she said.
She however noted that the sectors highly hit by migration include health and construction sectors, cross borders traders and domestic service sectors “are highly mobile’’.
She said that there was brain drain of highly skilled medical personnel, others, leaving the shores of African countries to get better jobs in neighbouring countries.
“That is why the ILO has come up with a global International Standards that is protecting and promoting the rights domestic workers, that is Convention 189,’’ she said.
Chinyangarara said that ILO was collaborating with the tripartite constituency in Nigeria on issues of decent work and particularly on labour migration governance, to ensure the promotion of rights of migrants, among others.
According to her, this is to brainstorm around a roadmap for the development of a Trade Union Labour Migration Policy, understanding that in 2014, the Ministry of Labour spearheaded the process to develop the policy.
“So, leveraging on that the trade unions are also going to brainstorm on this workshop some of these national frameworks including global frameworks such as the agenda 2030 for sustainable development.
“We are also going to look at the ECOWAS Protocol on Movement of Goods and Persons, we also going to look at relevant ILO International Labour Standards.
“It is some of these documents that would then inspire the content in the process of developing the Trade Union Labour Migration Policy.
“We are going to look at what is going to change in the process of the review and what are the new antics that COVID-19 pandemic, others have brought to bear,’’ she said.
The Executive Secretary, HEDA Resource Centre, Sulaimon Arigbabu, said Nigeria has one of the lowest per hectare yields for agricultural inputs.
Arigbabu said this on Tuesday while speaking at the PUNCH Media Foundation webinar series themed ‘Food Security, Nutrition, and Food Safety’.
Speaking at the webinar, Arigbabu said about 40 per cent of the food produced in Nigeria gets wasted between the farm and the final consumer.
He said, “About 40 per cent of the food we produce in Nigeria gets wasted between the farm and the final consumer but nobody talks about the opportunity that we miss, the food that we did not grow, the one that dies before it became a harvest.
“In Nigeria, we have one of the lowest per hectare yield for major agricultural inputs. For instance, in terms of wheat production, our per hectare yield is just 1.4 tonnes per hectare while in Egypt, the per hectare yield is 6.4 tonnes. Take soya bean for instance, our per hectare yield is 1.2 tonnes while in Egypt, you have about 10 tonnes per hectare.
“Nigeria does 1.2 tonnes per hectare and in Asia, it’s 4-7 tonnes; in Egypt, it’s 10 tonnes per hectare. In terms of maize, Egypt does 6 tonnes, South Africa does 5.1 tonnes, Nigeria does 1.6 tonnes.”
He attributed the low hectare yield to the lack of knowledge among farmers on agronomics.
“It’s because of the lack in the knowledge of the farmers in terms of good agronomical practice. It’s because we do not provide our farmers with access to accurate, reliable, and timely climate information.
“Many farmers go to farmers when they should not, so the opportunity that is lost is the major reason we are having food insecurity, if we deal with that, we can deal with post-harvest loss.
“Despite the global pressure on us, Nigeria is supposed to be a food power house for the Sahel for West Africa but we are missing out on this opportunity because the quantum of food that we even fail to grow is far much more than the one we are losing and if we stop the post-harvest loss for instance, we would have, by 80 per cent taken care of those who are not able to have access to good and nutritious food,” he said.
The Osun State Police Public Relations Officer, Yemisi Opalola, on Tuesday, said the Divisional Police Officer of Adeeke Division, Iwo, had been issued a query over the alleged maltreatment of a woman, Blessing Mba.
Opalola also said the state Commissioner of Police, Wale Olokode, had ordered that policemen in the division who were accused of brutalising the woman be detained at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Osogbo.
The police spokesperson, in a statement on Tuesday, said the victim, however, fled after she was invited by the police.
The statement read in part, “The woman involved was invited. The police located her house and when summoned, she requested to enter her house to dress up. The police waited for about an hour after which they didn’t see her come out of the house; they were forced to enter the house to check her, but she was nowhere to be found.
“She was suspected to have escaped from the backyard and immediately switched off her phone since then. I collected her number and called her severally; her number hasn’t been going through since yesterday till now.
“We were in the office with the CP till 11pm yesterday night (Monday) looking for any possible way to locate the woman. Notwithstanding, the CP has ordered the policemen involved to be detained at the State CID, while the DPO, CSP Adekunle Ige, was told to report to the CP’s office this morning. The DPO has been issued an official query.”
She said no efforts would be spared to get the woman.
Mba was reportedly tortured after she went to the station to search for her 15-year-old son, Friday, who was detained by the police.
The victim was accused of plotting to drop a sacrifice at the station.
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