Sahara Reporters Latest News Thursday 11th April 2019
Sahara Reporters Latest News Today and headlines on some of the happenings and news trend in the Country, today 11/04/19
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target=_blank>Italian Murders Nigerian Prostitute For Failing To Satisfy Him, Dumps Her Body In A Ditch
The Police in Italy have taken in Leopoldo Scalici, a 40-year-old from Palermo who confessed to murdering a Nigerian prostitute identified as Benedita Dan.
According to Italian newspaper Modena Today, Denebita operated as a prostitute in the industrial area of Modena Nord, but her body was found on Sunday morning lying in a small moat by Toni, in the countryside of Albareto.
Between Saturday and Sunday, Scalici approached the prostitute on the streets and loaded her on board the van on which he was travelling to reach a secluded place where they were believed to have had s**. The vehicle in question, identified and seized by the Carabinieri, was not owned by the 40-year-old but by an acquaintance who had lent it to him to carry out some work.
Not everything is known about what triggered the aggression, which occurred immediately after the sexual relationship, but the paper said it it there was some hypothesis of a sense of dissatisfaction on the part of the client, who reacted badly in a fit of rage.
Scalici said he hit the stranger on the head with a heavy workbench vise — a blow that would have been lethal.
The exact place where the crime took place has not been disclosed, but it can be assumed that it took place in one of the various secluded pitches used by African prostitutes practising in the industrial area of Modena Nord. From there, the man would then reach stradello Toni, where he declared that he had thrown the woman’s naked body and clothes, as found by investigators.
An autopsy is scheduled to be conducted to verify all the claims made so far by Scalici.
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E2%80%99s-decision-bills target=_blank>Executive-Legislature Clash Looming As Senate Resolves To Go Against Buhari’s Decision On Bills
A last-minute clash between the executive and the legislature is looming in the about-to-expire life of the current political dispensation, as the Senate has resolved to overrule President Muhammadu Buhari’s veto on two bills.
The two bills in question are the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (Fourth Alteration, No. 28) Bill, 2018 and the Industrial Development (Income Tax Relief) Amendment Bill.
The first bill seeks to mandate the President and state governors to present annual budget estimates before legislature at most three months to the end of a financial year. It also seeks to encourage early presentation and passage of Appropriation Bills.
Buhari declined assent to the bill on the argument that it did not take cognizance of the provisions of Section 58(4) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
Meanwhile, the Industrial Development Amendment Bill 2018 aims to enable companies that expand their operations in pioneer industry or product to apply for a new pioneer status. The President declined assent to the bill on the argument that ongoing inter-ministerial consultations would be affected if the bill is signed into law.
The Senate took the decision to overrule the President on Wednesday after its Technical Committee on Declined Assent to Bills by the President present its report, which was adopted.
Dabid Umaru, Chairman of the committee, had told the upper chamber that his panel scrutinised the 17 bills, and came to the recommendation that 15 of them should be reconsidered and passed by the National Assembly.
The bills are National Research and Innovation Council (Establishment) Bill, 2017; National Institute of Hospitality and Tourism (Establishment) Bill, 2018; National Agricultural Seeds Council, 2018 and Subsidiary Legislation (Legislative Scrutiny) Bill, 2018.
Others are Stamp Duties (Amendment) Bill, 2018; Chattered Institute of Entrepreneurship (Establishment) Bill, 2018; Industrial Development (Income Tax Relief) (Amendment) Bill, 2018; Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences (Amendment) Bill, 2017 and Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (Amendment) Bill, 2017 and Electoral (Amendment) Bill, 2018.
The remaining five are constitutional amendment bills, namely bills No. 8, 15, 22, 24, and 28.
“The National Assembly even if it considers Mr. President’s observations or not, must pass the bills again and be assented to by Mr. President or override the veto, in which case, Mr. President’s assent would not be required,” said Umaru, who argued that the 1999 Constitution (as amended) gives the Senate the right to override the President in the event that a bill is vetoed.
In 2019 alone, the President has vetoed at least 15 bills passed by the National Assembly.
To override the President, the Senate needs at least two-thirds majority, which is at least 73 senators, to endorse the action.
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E2%80%99s-submission-ridwan target=_blank>How School And Schooling Fuel Poverty In Nigeria: An Addendum To GaniuBamgbose’s Submission By Ridwan Adigun Sulaimon
It is time to stop pretending! A worse advice to give to any child in Nigeria today is to give that ages-long advice that: “go to school (that is, higher institutions of learning), get good grades, so that you can get a good job.” Although this advice is originally defective, but it has worked for an era, at least, so I will not focus on its original defects here.
Information gleaned from the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Brochure, 2019, indicates that Nigeria currently has at least 556 higher institutions of learning – 172 universities, 7 other degrees awarding institutions, 129 polytechnics, 90 monotechnics, and 160 colleges of education. This means that, on the average, since Nigeria has 774 local governments, then in every seven local government, there are at least five higher institutions of learning. Just enough to go around! Sounds great, yet so sad!
So sad that, today, even if you go to school and get a good grade, whether a good or a bad one, the jobs are not even there. Thousands of graduates are churned out of these institutions every time and majority of them are unemployed; and majority of the majority are now even said to be unemployable. No wonder, Nigeria, according to the World Poverty Clock, overtook India as the country with the highest number of poor people in the world. In Nigeria today, it might be better to tell a child that, if you don’t want to be poor, don’t go to school (that is, don’t go beyond basic education or secondary school); Or rather, if you want to be rich, drop out of school. That’s on one hand.
On the other hand, after religions, schools have become the second Nigerian ritual that has little or no positive effect on the health of the Nigerian society; and yet, many people believe that life is incomplete without it. Just as you would see that majority of religion faithful in Nigeria are completely unfaithful in everything else apart from regular visit to places of worship, so also you would find that majority of those who have also gone to school have also remained uneducated; the saddest thing is that many even graduated as schooled illiterates.
During my one year National Youth Service for instance, I have seen graduates who cannot construct two English sentences without breaching the very basic rules of grammar. And there are many of them out there. The least that schools should be able to offer is literacy, if not a complete package of education; and now, it has even failed in that. Then one wonders how and why many people managed to scale through schools despite such a level of illiteracy which brings one to tears.
In his piece titled: “Have I told you School is a problem in Nigeria,” Ganiu Bamgbose aptly captures the scenario when he said: “Schooling in Nigeria has lost its evaluative potency. Any averagely rascally young person can dumbly yet successfully go through all stages of schooling in Nigeria. If not, how else do we explain the case of undergraduates of computer science who cannot tell the function of Ctrl V? What should we say of undergraduates of English who cannot construct simple and grammatical sentences? Now, are you a Nigerian? Do you think any Nigerian learning hairdressing can go through apprenticeship for one year without being able to, at least, make “washing and setting”? I am sure you know it’s a NO! The boss would have contacted the parents for a spiritual intervention. But school children can be in Commercial department at SS2 and be unable to define partnership after four years in secondary school. Maybe we should ask, what then is the problem with schools and schooling in Nigeria?”
I have seen a postgraduate student who does not know what an hypothesis is and I can bet that, that student is in the majority if we test other post graduate students. This may seem like an unpopular assertion, but we all know the truth, even if we won’t admit it. These days, people who cannot contribute any meaningful thing to the society with their first degrees are rushing to second degrees and others.
Just as peer pressure has led many young people to go to higher institutions when they would have fared better as artisans and the likes, there is now a growing peer pressure not to stop at first degree but to proceed to post graduate levels, as if to increase the individual’s years of poverty.
Look around you, it’s as if schooling is breeding poverty as the number of poor graduates keeps increasing; after all, you are trained to “look for jobs”; then it seems like: if you want to close your mind and growth, just go to school.
Look around you, while you spent four or five years in higher institutions, one year youth service and two years of looking for jobs (while you waste away in a private primary or secondary school where you are underemployed), your friend whom has gone to learn a craft or trade since you finished secondary school has passed the stage of setting up and has settled down. Then age and responsibilities keep telling on you; then the same society that pressurised you to keep schooling will come asking you to do something with your life. They will advise you to learn a craft or follow a trade line if you can’t get a decent job, then you will start doing what you should have done ten or more years ago. That’s where you actually belong, but you missed the road initially!
Many graduates today find themselves in this situation and many of them are now going back to learn tailoring and the likes, the smarter ones are using holidays and the usual strike periods to do this. But my question is: if you will fare better as a tailor for instance, why stressing yourself acquiring certificates that you may never need. In fact, if you cannot speak good English after your basic education or secondary school, higher chances are that you may not be able to speak any better English even if you attend a university in Nigeria; at best, you might develop some level of confidence at speaking your poor English. So, why waste your energy?
As Bamgbose puts it, “Going to school is one of the several things a child can do in life. Schooling is one of the many routes to being useful in life; there are other ways. Quite unfortunately, school is one of the things children in Nigeria do without their consent. How dare you tell your Nigerian parents that you don’t want to go to school! You just must! Realistically however, compulsory schooling ends in JSS 3. This is why it is called BASIC 9. This basic education equips young ones with basic literacy and numeracy skills. Young people, after this compulsory schooling, should be helped to determine what they want to do in life based on their passion and ability.
“Those who can use their “head” (cognitive domain) should proceed to the senior secondary school. Those who can use their “hand” (psychomotor domain) should proceed to technical and vocational schools or to learn a trade or to do whatever their creativity can give birth to.
“School, which is called formal education, is just one of the forms of education which should be compulsory up to the end of its basic stage which is JSS 3 or Basic 9 in Nigeria. Afterwards, attention should be given to the potentials of young people in their career path.”
Make no mistake, I love education too and I admit that schools are very important to the society, but the point is for us to change our orientation. Let’s educate young people and their parents that being successful or useful is not tied to going to school at all, but rather, schools is one of the many paths to success or usefulness, it is a CHOICE! It should be a choice! School, after basic education, should be strictly for those who have business with it.
Dear young people, if you bow to societal pressure and you choose an education path that conflicts with who you are, you will suffer it alone. Find your passion, find where you belong, find your own path. Retrace your steps, drop out of school if you have to, stop learning that craft if you have to. Do it for yourself and the advancement of the society. “What will people say?” is one question that has killed many dreams and impoverished many great minds. Stop looking at people and start looking at you. Anything you do is good enough as long as it’s legal and decent.
Ridwan Adigun Sulaimon, a youth and leadership tutor, human rights campaigner, writer and social researcher, writes from Lagos. Email: sulaimonrid1@gmail.com; Twitter: @SulaimonRidwan
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target=_blank>Lagos SUBEB Hides From Its Responsibilities, Says Schools Indicted In Exam Malpractice Scandal Not Under Its Control
The Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) has deflected its supervisory roles, claiming that schools indicted of compromising the state-organised placement examination are not under its control.
Six months ago, the Chairman of the board, Ganiyu Oluremi Sopeyin, said the Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Idayat Adebule, had set up a committee of enquiry to investigate schools indicted in the SaharaReporters investigation.
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However, the board took a U-turn on Tuesday when it told SaharaReporters that Lagos State private primary schools are not under its control, hence it cannot sanction any fraudulent school.
The board’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), Seyi Akintoye, said this when SaharaReporters visited SUBEB’s office for an official statement on the outcome of the alleged enquiry committee.
Akintoye said private schools are not under the purview of the board, hence could not sanction schools who compromise the integrity of the state-organised placement examination, also known as common entrance.
This is a deflection from the responsibilities of SUBEB as a supervisory unit.
One of the mandates of the board as listed on its website is to “Prescribe the minimum standards for the basic education programme throughout the State in line with the National Policy on Education on the advice of the National Council for Education and ensure effective implementation of the standards in line with Government policies and programme.”
As a board, Lagos SUBEB also has the mandate to set up supervisory units in the implementation and monitoring of basic education in the state.
The placement examination is the final examination written by final year pupils in basic class in preparation for secondary school.
But the board’s PRO argued that SUBEB is not the only agency in charge of the placement examination and cannot be solely held responsibility for the malfeasance discovered during the examination.
SaharaReporters had detailed how schools in Lagos State connived with Lagos State invigilators to compromise the state’s secondary school entrance exams.
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UNDERCOVER INVESTIGATION: Forgery, Bribery, Exam Malpractice Are Booming At Lagos Primary Schools
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In one of the revelations, an invigilator identified as Toye Lukmon of Yufaith Private School was captured on camera dictating answers to the pupils during the placement examination held at Tulabville Private School at 53 Omidindun Street, Lagos Island area of Lagos State.
Similarly, at Wesley Girls Senior Secondary School, Yaba, another centre for the Lagos State Placement Examinations, pupils were captured cheating during the examination while Lagos State designated invigilators looked away as many of them had been bribed by school owners.
The investigation also revealed the ease of enrolling children for the examination in different primary schools in Lagos State.
As part of the multimedia investigation, Ajenifuja Kazeem, a staff member of SUBEB, was also indicted as he organised a fake First School Leaving Certificate For the undercover reporter.
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target=_blank>DPR Kicks As Pump Price Of Petrol Rises To N160 And Above In Bayelsa
Mordecai Ladan DPR Director
Irked by the sudden increase in the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) from N145 to N160 per litre and above in the Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has vowed to shut down erring marketers.
Arising from a meeting with independent and major marketers in the state, on Tuesday, DPR’s Head of Operations, Ibinabo Jack, warned that the abrupt increase in price was not justifiable, as it was not approved by any regulatory body.
Bayelsans woke up last week to see that the pump price of petrol had risen from between N142 and N145 to N160 per litre in most filling stations in the state, prompting outcry from motorists and residents.
But DPR held a meeting with the product marketers and select journalists, and urged them to immediately revert to the original price of N145 per litre or be sanctioned, as they have no reason to increase the price.
“I personally went round and discovered that all the filling stations were selling above the pump price. They were selling at the rate of N160 naira for PMS. We frown at that and condemn it,” Ibinabo said.
“The sudden rise in pump price is not advised and not welcome by DPR. DPR has not noticed any form of price increase and there is no directive for fuel pump increase; the pump price still remains N145 per litre.
“From now, after this briefing with the marketers, the DPR will not hesitate to impose stringent penalties upon anyone found selling above the pump price. PMS at the depot as of the beginning of the week still remans N133, and so we are saying that marketers have no reason to say they have written to the authorities or that they were granted by someone to sell above the pump price approved by the Petroleum Products Regulatory Agency (PPRA).”
In there response, the Bayelsa state Chairman of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Erefemota Peters, said the increase was due to price increase at the depots.
He said marketers in Bayelsa had to source products from the Warri and Port Harcourt refineries at prices above N142 and considering the transport cost, there was no way the marketers in the state could sell at the government price.
Also speaking, Indutimi Komonibo, an independent marketer, urged the Federal Government to build a refinery in state, as the peculiar nature of state makes it difficult for petroleum marketers.
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target=_blank>More Woes For Okorocha As Judge Accused Of Bias Withdraws From His Certificate Of Return Case
Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on Wednessday recused himself from the suit filed by Rochas Okorocha, Governor of Imo State, in respect of his Certificate of Return.
Okorocha had gone to court seeking an order compelling the Indepedent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue him a Certificate of Return as the Senator-Elect for Imo West Senatorial District.
Justice Taiwo announced his decision on Wednessday when the case should have come up for hearing.
He said his decision to withdraw from adjudicating on the matter was based on allegations of bias against him.
He said the case file would be returned to the Justice Adamu Abdu-Kafarati, the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, for reassignment to another judge.
The judge made it clear that the decision was premised on allegations of bias made against him by Jones Onyeriri and Senator Osita Izunaso, candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progresssives Grand Alliance (APGA) respectively for the February 23 national assembly elections.
In his petition, Onyeriri had asked the Judge to disqualify himself from the suit because of the utterances he made in court.
Onyeriri said the utterances clearly prejudged the substantive issues that will be resolved in the matter and clearly shows he had taken sides with Okorocha.
An affidavit deposed to on his behalf by Mr Chijioke Nzekwe, a lawyer, stated that Justice Taiwo had, on Friday, told counsel to INEC, Wendy Kuku, that the commission was responsible for the problems in the election.
Nzekwe made his claim based on the previous statements of the judge, which claimed that he had read through the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended) and found nothing in it that robs him of the jurisdiction not to hear the suit.
“This pronouncement shocked all the counsel who were present in court and even members of the public and the Press who were in the gallery,” he said. “This is because the second and third defendants (INEC and Onyeriri) have notices pof Preliminary objection challenging the jurisdiction of the court to hear this matter.”
Izunaso, on his part, asked the court for an order transferring the suit to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court for reassignment to any other judge.
In the motion filed by Orji Nwafor-Orizu, his counsel, an order of the court was sought to disqualify itself from further hearing the suit.
He premised his motion on the grounds that there was a likehood of bias on the part of the court to continue to hear the suit since the presiding judge, without hearing the suit, had expressed an opinion favourable to Okorocha.
“The said utterances were made on April 5 and they clearly pre-judged the substantive issues that will be resolved in this matter,” Izunaso said. “It clearly shows that the presiding judge has taken sides with the plaintiff.”
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E2%80%8B target=_blank>Bereavement Prevents Metuh From Appearing In Court For N400m Fraud Trial?
The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has adjourned the ongoing trial of former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) spokesman, Olisa Metuh, over a letter presented by his counsel to inform the court that he is bereaved.
Metuh is facing trial trial alongside his company, Destra Investment Limited, on a seven-count charge which involves laundering $2million.
He is also charged with fraudulently receiving N400 million from the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki.
Counsel to Metuh, Mr Abel Ozioko, informed the court in a letter that he would be absent because he was bereaved and prayed the court for an adjournment.
Rulling on the matter, the trial judge, Justice Okon Abang said that he was inclined to grant the application for an adjournment for the reasons stated by counsel.
Abang adjourned the matter until May 13, May 14 and May 15, saying the court was billed to commence Easter vacation on April 22.
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target=_blank>Imo Tribunal Grants Nwosu Permission To Inspect Election Materials, Including Card Reader Data
Imo State Election Tribunal has granted Uche Nwosu, governorship candidate of Action Alliance (AA), leave to access the materials used during the governorship election on March 9, 2019.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Emeka Ihedioha of the Peoples Democratic Party winner of the election with 273,404 votes over Uche Nwosu, who polled 190,364 votes.
Nwosu, the son-in-law of Rochas Okorocha, Governor of the state, approached the tribunal, claiming the PDP candidate did not meet the constitutional requirements.
At the hearing on Wedneday, the panel ordered INEC to permit Nwosu to check every copy of the electoral materials, including the voter register and ballot papers.
The tribunal also granted Nwosu leave to inspect “Forms EC8A, EC8B, EC8C, EC8D, EC8E, EC 17A, EC 25A, EC 25B, EC 40A, EC 40G, EC 40H; all the incident forms filed by voters in all the polling units in the election; the list of permanent voter cards collected and used in the election; all the card readers used in the election; data of accredited voters as captured by all the smart card readers deployed during the 9th March, 2019 governorship election conducted in all the polling units in Imo State, sorted out into Local Governments, Wards, Polling Units and voting points; record of ballot paper allocation to all the polling units in the election; the list of all presiding officers for all the units in the election”.
Nwosu’s access also extends to “INEC manual and guidelines; the list of the polling agents submitted to INEC by all the political parties and every other electoral material used in the conduct of the election for the purpose of instituting, maintaining and prosecuting the petition and for the purpose of presenting same at the trial”.
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target=_blank>EXCLUSIVE: How Top Officials Of Nigerian Export Authority Plan To Embezzle N42bn Special Economic Zones Funds
A deliberate plot hatched by some top officials of the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA) to corner over N40billion meant for the establishment of Special Economic Zones in the country has been unearthed, raising contrived dust over the plan of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to create Special Economic Zones targeted for the rapid industrialisation of the country.
When, Okechukwu Enelamah, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, recently presented the ministry’s 2019 budget details to the relevant Senate committee, questions where raised about the creation of a limited liability company with 25% federal government interest, the retention of three federal government officials as directors, and the allocation of government’s funds to the company.
But sources explained that the senators involved were only acting on information provided by NEPZA officials to deliberately mislead them into concluding that the said funds belonged to NEPZA, and not to the limited liability company formed specifically for the purpose, that is the Nigeria Special Economic Zone Investment Company.
According to a top government official involved in what seems like a presidential review of the unfolding controversy, “the Federal Government adopted a model to speedily and rapidly develop the Special Economic Zones using a PPP model as was done in other countries like China and a number of African countries.”
“The strategy involved the setting up of a limited liability company that included the Federal Government and some institutional investors such as African Development Bank (ADB), the African Finance Corporation (AFC), the Bank of Industry (BOI), AFREXIMBAMK, and the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) in a 25% —75% Federal Government and institutional investors ratio,” the source said. “And to secure FG’S interest, three government officials were put forward in the interim as directors in line with the usual practice when such companies involving FG are set up.”
Another industry source said: “Using government officials, including aides, is nothing to worry about since they are there to protect government interests at the take-off stage, pending when a proper board can be in place and the company ready to go full throttle.
“Besides the people chosen as interim directors are those who are driving the project and are knowledgeable within the ministries involved being Finance on the one hand and Industry, Trade and Investment on the other.”
Besides, as is done elsewhere around the world, such government representative directors are not entitled to any beneficial interests in the company shares. “Bringing up the issue of these directors was simply a mudslinging attempt to mislead the public, but it has no fuel at all, considering that it is a global practice and the directors are interim and non- beneficiaries,” the source explained.
Investigations however revealed that Emmanuel Jime, the immediate past Managing Director of NEPZA, and T. D. Nongo, the acting Managing Directr, to whom Jime handed over, devised the entire plot to ensure that the N42billion allocated for the development of the Special Economic Zones be controlled and disbursed by NEPZA instead of the Special Purpose Vehicle established by a presidential directive straight from Buhari’s desk.
But, in order to ensure this, they needed support in the National Assembly. According to a top official of one of the investigating agencies of the government, “this was how the top NEPZA hierarchy sold a carefully designed package of outright falsehood and suppression of relevant facts to the National Assembly and decided to smear the President’s plan in order to corner the funds and control disbursement of the money instead of allowing the limited liability company formed for that purpose to be in charge”.
“What we now know is that while Jime went to run for Benue State governorship election, for which he had to resign as NEPZA MD, the most senior officer to whom he handed over the reins of NEPZA is actually also one of the main fund-raisers/coordinators of his governorship campaign.”
The source added that “therefore the campaign of calumny against the President’s industrial plan and against the Industry, Trade and Investment Ministry is being fuelled by both Jime and Nongo.
“At stake is the control of Project MINE, the name of the plan to speedily industrialise the country through the promotion of made-in-Nigeria goods for Export, for which MINE is an acronym” he said. “They are both bent on controlling the N42billion approved in the budget.”
The NEPZA officials started with the argument that the agency is the one through which the Federal Government can make investments in the Free Trading Zones. So, the matter was referred to the Attorney-General of the Federation for legal advice. And it was after the AGF advised that NEPZA is a regulatory agency and not the exclusive implementing agency for such projects that the officials, determined not to let go of the funds, connived to develop a plot to smear the whole effort by raising questions and provoking sensational narratives around a model that is best global practice and that enjoys the support of major international institutional investors.
“If this were indeed, fishy how do you think such institutional investors whose global operations depend mainly on their transparency and credibility be part of it, considering that the institutional investors are coming up with 75% of the money?” an industry source wondered.
Between the Federal Government and the institutional investors, the investment company, the Nigeria Special Economic Zone Investment Company, NSEZCO is expected to raise $500m in equity by 2023.
While many of the strategic investors have already signed on, the MINE project that NSEZCO will be delivering has secured significant international partnerships already. For instance Shandong Ruyi, the leading textile and garment group in China has already announced its commitment to invest $2billion to the cotton, textile and garment industry for the Special Economic (free trading) Zones that NSEZCO will put up in Abia, Kano and Lagos states.
Equally, CCCG Industrial Investment Holding Company (CIHC) of China, which is ranked 91st in Fortune 500 and is the third largest international contractor in the world, has also signed a letter of intent to invest in the forthcoming Special Economic Zone in Lekki, specifically in the areas of power, water, access roads and bridges.
“These are some of the critical and significant plans that few NEPZA officials are trying to scuttle,” said a government official aware of the presidential review of the controversy sparked last week when Enelamah briefed a senate committee on the project.
Some of the Special Economic Zone projects are the much talked about Enyimba Economic City in Abia, the Lekki-Epe Model Industrial Park, Funtua Cotton Cluster, and several others being planned for Edo, Kwara, Sokoto, Ebonyi, and Benue States.
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Broken Bottles In The Air, One Killed In Supremacy Battle Between Two Lagos Cult Groups
Two cultist groups in the Fadeyi area of Lagos clashed on Wednesday, resulting in the death of one plus commotion that prompted the closure of shops and other businesses in the area.
At about 12:38pm when SaharaReporters arrived the vicinity to monitor the situation, some street boys had blocked the Ikorodu Road under the bridge at the old Fadeyi Bus-stop.
A resident also working with the Bussed Rapid Transport (BRT) told SaharaRepporters that the fight had been in the offing for a while.
”They are fighting over supremacy; we had been hearing they wanted to fight for quite a while,” he said.
“The cause of this fight is that the two sides of Fadeyi want to know who is supreme over the other. They started fighting at about 10:00am.”
An official of the Lagos State Traffic Management Agency (LASTMA) who asked not to be named told SaharaReporters that the fight initially started on Ikorodu Road, with the two warring factions throwing bottles at each other.
“Before you knew it, they started bringing out guns” he said.
He and other residents confirmed that a man, identified to be motorcycle rider for a logistics company, was killed at Shiro Street.
SaharaReporters observed that shops that initially opened in the morning had been locked, with their owners fearing for the worst.
Two Police vans were parked at Adewusi Street and one at Shiro Street beside Oando filling Station, with officers of the Police sighted at strategic points in a bid to restore calm and order to the area.
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