Sahara Reporters Latest News Tuesday 22nd October 2019

Sahara Reporters Latest News Tuesday 22nd October 2019

Sahara Reporters Latest News Today and headlines on some of the happenings and news trend in the Country, today 22/10/19

Youths Block Suleja-Minna-Bida Highway Over Bad Roads

Youths under the auspices of the National Youth Council of Nigeria on Monday blocked the Suleja-Minna Highway to protest the deplorable state of roads in Niger State, according to the News Agency of Nigeria.
The angry youths were said to have also blocked the Bida-Minna Road, forcing motorists to take alternative routes to their destinations.
One of the coordinators of the protest, Mohammad Etsu, said, “We will not stop this protest for good roads until the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, address us.”
Police and other security operatives fired teargas to disperse the youths but they remained adamant.

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Bandits Displace 2,000 Villagers In 17 Kaduna Villages

Bandits have displaced 17 villages in Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State, according to the News Agency of Nigeria.
The incident, which was said to have happened on Sunday, led to the displacement of about 2,000, persons, who have since taken refuge at LEA Birnin Yero Primary School.
One of the victims and village head of Unguwan Gibe, Jibrin Abdullahi, said, “Bandits came to our village to attack us at about 1:00pm on Sunday.
“The problem started when vigilante decided to help the community to deal with the bandits in their hideout.
“The bandits don’t allow us to go to farm, the vigilantes wanted to bring an end to this.
“But when they reached the bandits’ hideout, they were overpowered and the bandits said since the community had decided to attack them, we will not have peace.”
He identified the villages that were displaced to include Tura, Unguwan Gebi, Unguwan Dangauta, Unguwan Nayawu, Unguwan Makeri, Jagani and Sabon Gida.
Others are, Dallatu, Unguwan Alhaji Ahmadu, Sabon Gari, Kusau, Gidan Sarkin Noma, Unguwan Pati, Unguwan Tofa and Sauran Giwa.
Chief Imam of Izala Mosque, Ibrahim Usman, said the bandits had been terrorising the community even before Sunday’s attack and called on government to intervene to enable them return home.

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Police Service Commission Confirms Appointment Of Six DIGs, Promotes 14 Commissioners To AIG

The Nigeria Police Service Commission has confirmed the appointment and promotion of officers within the police force.
This is coming weeks after the row between the police force and police service commission.
The appointment and promotion was vetoed at the sixth Plenary Meeting held in Abuja.
The commission approved the appointment of six Deputy Inspectors General of Police, with two to proceed on pre-retirement leave.
The commission also approved the promotion of 230 Superintendents of Police to Chief Superintendents, 11 Deputy Superintendents of Police to Superintendents and 211 Assistant Superintendents to Deputy Superintendents.

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C2%A390bn-stolen-funds-yearly-nigeria-others-%E2%80%93experts UK Receives £90bn Stolen Funds Yearly From Nigeria, Others –Experts

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The United Kingdom receives not less than £90bn shady funds from Nigeria and other countries across the world every year, a team of foreign experts said in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Monday.
The experts said 87,000 illicit assets in UK are owned by anonymous companies in tax havens, while the values of secretly owned properties in the UK are between £56bn to £100bn.
Forty per cent of these properties are in the city of London, they affirmed.
The revelation was made by world acclaimed anti-corruption advocates, Christian Erikson and Lionel Faull, in a joint paper tagged Obtaining Property Information Overseas presented at the ongoing anti-corruption training organised by the Human and Environmental Development Agenda in collaboration with international groups.
The programme drew 70 civil society organisations, media, labour and representatives of anti-corruption institutions from across the Southern region of Nigeria.
In his remarks, Nick Hildyard, an anti-corruption investigator, said though the UK has one of the most effective anti-corruption laws, but that in reality the country does not appear to be fully prepared to stall the wave of corruption with her financial institutions providing the logistics for corrupt officials from Nigeria.
“The UK is a legally corrupt country,” Hildyard said, adding that if Western countries genuinely wish to fight corruption, they should stop the warehouse of stolen funds from Nigeria.
Faull said, “Getting your money back is easier said than done. It takes a long time.
“If you do not support corruption, there is no need doing banking with Nigeria.
“The fight against corruption will not succeed without a very active citizenry.
“It requires international solidarity, teaming up with civil society in order to work with international organisations and make authorities accountable.”
In his presentation, HEDA Chairman, Mr Olanrewaju Suraju, said about 456 top Nigerian public officials holding strategic positions are yet to declare their assets in spite of the regulations put in place by the Code of Conduct Bureau.
In her presentation, Prof Ayo Atsenuwa of the University of Lagos said that though the Freedom of Information law had opened fresh opportunities for Nigerians to hold their leaders accountable, Nigeria, unlike many other countries and jurisdictions, lacks a policy, guideline or law on public access of court documents.

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Court Orders Temporary Forfeiture Of Saraki’s Properties To Nigerian Government

The Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, has ordered the temporary forfeiture of properties belonging to Bukola Saraki, former Senate President of Nigeria.
The two properties located at the Ikoyi area of the state were forfeited to the Nigerian Government following an ex-parte order by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Counsel to the EFCC, Nnaemeka Omewa, had sought an order for the interim forfeiture of the properties located on 17A McDonald Road, Ikoyi, Eti-Osa Local Government Area of Lagos.
He had told the court that they were acquired through “proceeds of unlawful activities”.

Ondo-based Activist Reveals How He Was Arrested And Brutalised By Police

An activist based in Ondo State, Jelili Oladapo, has narrated how he was arrested and beaten by policemen during the #RevolutionNowprotest in the city on August 5, 2019.
Oladapo said he was forced to sleep in a decongested police cell where he was excommunicated for a whole day.
He narrated his ordeal in a statement he shared on one of his social media pages.
He said, “After I was arrested by the police, I was dragged, beaten, brutalised and even handcuffed and not allowed to express myself.
“I was kept behind bars, with many detainees in a congested cell.”
According to him, the case was transferred from Ore Division of the Police Command to Ondo State Police Headquarters in Akure shortly after his arrest.
He added, “An officer after reading my statement threatened me with a gun at the police station, asking me to cooperate with him.
“On August 6, I was handcuffed and put inside a vehicle before taken to the court. After much debate, the court granted me bail.
“The magistrate adjourned the case to October 22 and said that if the other party do not follow up on the matter, it will likely be struck out.”

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13 Nigerian Girls Arrested In Ghana For Alleged Prostitution

No fewer than 13 Nigerian girls have been arrested in Tamale, capital city of the Northern Region of Ghana, for alleged prostitution.
It was gathered that the arrest was made possible by the police with the help of the military in the Tamale Metropolis.
According to Daily Guide, the girls caught are being scrutinised at the Ghana Immigration Service office.
Most of the girls were said to have being forced to engage in prostitution by their masters, who brought them to Ghana.
The girls also claim that they were lured into the country with the impression that they were coming to work as sales girls.
According to them, they are forced to sleep with men daily and render account to their masters, adding that they were maltreated each time they failed to render the accounts.
E. Kofi Owusu, Assistant Commissioner of Immigration in Northern Region, Ghana, said the GIS will look into the circumstances under which the girls came into the country.
He added that the girls will be transported to Accra for further investigations to be conducted by the Immigration Service.

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We Need N45bn To Pay New Minimum Wage, Says Ondo Government

The Ondo State Government on Monday said that the new minimum wage will cost the state government N45bn to scale up salaries and arrears if implemented.
This came shortly after labour unions in the state called on Governor Rotimi Akeredolu to fulfill his promises of implementing the new minimum wage for workers in the state.
The labour leaders under the aegis of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Trade Union Congress, and the Joint Negotiating and Public Services Council, had written a letter to Mr Akeredolu asking him to instantly implement the new salary wage.
However, the Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Emmanuel Igbasan, who made the disclosure in Akure, the state capital, said the new minimum wage represents 20 per cent increase in current wage bill of workers.

Recover $103bn Loss From Oil Sale, Falana Tells Senate President

Leading rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), has urged the President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan, to facilitate the recovery of $103bn lost by Nigeria on sale of oil.
Falana, in a letter to the leadership of the National Assembly, said if recovered, the country would have no need to approach China and the World Bank for loans.
He also noted that he drew the attention of the government to the loss of billions of dollars arising from the non-implementation of the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Contracts Act.
Falana said, “We were equally compelled to call on the National Assembly to amend the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Contracts Act in favour of the Nigerian people.
“Although the call was ignored but we kept up the pressure on the executive and legislative branches of the federal government to do the needful.”
He commended the assembly for the passage of the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contracts (Amendment) Bill, which he said would fetch the country the sum of $1.5bn per annum.
He added, “While we commend the Senate for the initiative in passing the Bill, we urge the National Assembly to ensure the recovery of the funds.
“In his reaction to our allegation of economic sabotage by the public officers who deliberately refused to implement the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contracts Act, the immediate-past Minister of State in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, admitted that the non-implementation of the law by some unnamed public officers had led to a loss of oil revenue of over $60bn.
“But due to the reluctance of the federal government to enforce the law, the governments of Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa and Rivers states instituted an action at the Supreme Court in 2016 to compel the FG to recover the accrued royalties.
“In the judgment delivered in the case on October 18, 2018, the Supreme Court directed the FG to recover the royalties that had not been collected from the International Oil Companies for the past 18 years.
“Based on the judgment of the apex court, the FG demanded for the immediate payment of the sum of $62bn by the defaulting oil companies.”
Speaking further, Falana posited that if the National Assembly, “Is prepared to resist pressures from vested interests and muster the political will to recover the said fund, Nigeria will have no business begging for foreign loans from China, African Development Bank and the World Bank.”

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Driver Unconscious After NURTW Officials Cause Car Crash In Ogun

A commercial driver is currently battling for his life at a hospital in Abeokuta, Ogun State, after an accident caused by some officials of the National Union of Road Transport Workers.
The accident, which occurred along the Lagos/Abeokuta Expressway on Monday, also saw four others in the vehicle sustaining serious injuries.
One of the victims, Festus, told SaharaReporters that the incident has left many of them with pains and trauma.

He said, “On our way back from court, we boarded a cab in front old brewery heading to Ifo.
“Soon we noticed officials of NURTW, Olomore Branch, chasing our vehicle with bikes and in the process our driver lost control of the wheel and it summersaulted.

“The driver is presently unconscious.”
As at the time of filing this report, the victims are still receiving treatment at the hospital.

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