Sahara Reporters Latest News Today Saturday 5th December 2020
Sahara Reporters Latest News Today and headlines on some of the happenings and news trend in the Country, today 05/12/20
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E2%80%94-tribute SPONSORED POST: Rev. (Prof.) J.O. Lawoyin —A Tribute
We celebrate the transition to glory of our beloved Daddy, Rev. (Prof.) Jonathan Olujare Lawoyin.
Rev. (Prof.) Jonathan Olujare Lawoyin lived his life in service to God and humanity, fulfilling his mandate in the dental practice as professor of oral pathology, as well as in ministry.
Professor J.O Lawoyin attended Dallas Baptist University in the United States of America, where he obtained a Bachelor’s degree. He then went on to dental school at Howard University in Washington, where he became a Doctor of Dental Surgery, and Glasgow, where he obtained a masters’ degree.
On his return to Nigeria in the late ’70s, Prof. J.O. Lawoyin committed himself to advance the field of oral pathology, primarily at the University of Ibadan and the University College Hospital for nearly four decades. At different times lecturer, head of the department, and dean of the faculty of dentistry, Prof. J.O. Lawoyin taught many generations of students who went on to excel in the field of dentistry across the world.
Following his retirement in 2011, Prof. J.O. Lawoyin continued on contract at the University of Ibadan, where he helped to pioneer the forensic odontology postgraduate programme.Ordained in the Baptist tradition, Rev. J.O. Lawoyin served as the undershepherd of New Haven Baptist Church, Ibadan, from 1989 to 2016, first in the capacity of founding church leader, then as the church’s pastor. Beyond stipulated pastoral duties, his ministry extended to the local and global community.
Daddy, you loved us well. You provided, and you counselled, you listened, and you cheered us on. Most importantly, you and mummy pointed us to Christ, and you held fast to Him till your last breath. We rejoice in hope and eagerly await the day we reunite in Christ. Until then, thank you for a life well-lived!
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Delta North Killings: We Want To Be Tried In Asaba, Not Abuja, Accused Persons Say
Delta State Map
Seven persons alleged to have been involved in the 2017 killing of indigenes of Idumuje-Ugboko community under Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta State have challenged the decision of the Nigerian government to prosecute them in Abuja.According to the charge filed by the Office of Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar, alleged that the defendants including Nwochie Light, Aikhomo Omezi, Okey Ifejoku, Godwin Aniemeke, Nonso Omefe, Dennis Nwoko and Emeka Bidoku had in May 2017 unleashed terror on the community by burning houses.
Delta State Map
The government also alleged that Cyprian Kumaorun was killed during the violence.On November 2, 2020, the defendants pleaded not guilty to the amended three-count charge filed against them.During the trial, the defence lawyers notified the court that they had applied to the case file to be transferred to Asaba, Delta State.”We have a motion for transfer of the matter from Abuja to Asaba or any other jurisdiction that is within the axis. We don’t even mind if the case is transferred to Benin, Bayelsa, Port Harcourt or even Anambra,” counsel to the first defendant, Agbo Madaki, a professor, submitted.On his part, the prosecution counsel, Shuaibu Labaran, sought an adjournment to enable him to respond to the transfer request.The Nigerian government had earlier prayed the court for an accelerated hearing of the case since it was terrorism-related.It equally informed the court that a total of 14 witnesses would be called upon to give evidence in the matter.
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Nobody Can Stop Nigerian Government From Prosecuting #EndSARS Protesters, Lai Mohammed Says
Lai Mohammed
Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has boasted that nobody can stop the Nigerian government from prosecuting #EndSARS protesters.
Mohammed gloated over the prosecution on Friday in Lagos during a meeting with newspaper editors.
Lai Mohammed
According to the minister, being a member of #EndSARS protest is not an immunity from being investigated or prosecuted for any offence.
“Being a member of #EndSARS protest does not grant you immunity if you have committed any crime against the land,” he said. “The critical thing is that you must be treated according to the laws.
“Even those whose accounts were frozen, the Central Bank of Nigeria went to court to seek permission to freeze the accounts. I am also aware that some of them, whose international passports were seized had them returned.
“None can stop the government from investigating anybody, including #EndSARS protesters. Whoever you are and whatever you are doing, you must not take the laws into your own hands.”
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Devaluation In Nigeria: Lesson For The Next Government By Dr Nasir Aminu
Dr Nasir Aminu
As opined by Blinder, central banking is a dark art which requires a useful scientific approach, and we can agree that it requires more than previous banking experience to lead the institution. The current central bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor has not been successful in implementing a naira regime since he was appointed in 2014. One will not disagree that he met an inefficient and complicated system, and has also been inconsistent with currency regimes.
The persistently low oil prices have limited the inflow of foreign exchange into the Nigerian economy. It has created a hole in the country’s budget, given the sector accounts for about 65% of the government’s revenue. The coronavirus pandemic has added to the problem which has pushed the country to obtain several types of external loans and funding, as the viable way to fund its budget. It is not a secret that the government has been borrowing to fund growth after a 2016 recession. It has been weakening its currency as pressure from concessionary lenders mount. In the private sector, remittance from abroad has also declined. Remittance is second to oil revenue and more than foreign direct and portfolio investments in the country.
The weakening in the value of the naira is a response to the declining oil prices, the pressure from external lenders, and shortages of US dollar. The weakening of the naira was called depreciation by the CBN, while Goldman Sachs claimed it is a devaluation. The two names are used to differentiate what type of currency regime a country is adopting. Thus, a wide confusion about who to believe regarding what currency regime the CBN is adopting.
Dr Nasir Aminu
Every country manages its currency, usually through its central bank, in the foreign exchange market by adopting one of the three exchange regimes: fixed exchange rate regime, floating exchange rate regime, and managed floating regime. If the CBN were operating the fixed exchange rate regime, they would use devaluation and revaluation as the official changes to value the naira relative to other currencies.
If the CBN were operating a floating (flexible) exchange rate regime, the market forces would be allowed to generate changes in the value of the naira, as the naira depreciated or appreciated. The CBN adopted this currency regime in 2016 and is still recovering from the bitter experience.
There is also the managed floating currency regime, which is similar to the floating exchange rate regime, but with a lower degree of flexibility. In 2019, the CBN report to be adopting this system. Under this regime, the central bank regularly intervenes in the foreign exchange market to change the floating direction of the naira, and to support its balance of payments in during volatile periods. This type of regime is also called a dirty float exchange rate regime. The name might have been derived from the charter by International Monetary Fund (IMF) for its members to refrain from “controlling exchange rates to gain an unfair competitive advantage over other members.”
The mash things up, the CBN operates a dual exchange rate market following that adopts one of the three regimes above, namely: the official currency market and the parallel currency market. The parallel market is designed for every transaction in the economy except those classified under the official. On average, the parallel currency rates are 20% above the official market rate. The rates are set based on bids from the (un)liberalised Bureau de Change operators, who are an additional burden to the system. The official market is designed for special purposes like paying for medical bills, tuition fees, religious pilgrimage, and imports for specific items.
The implementation of these multiple regimes is significantly costly for the apex bank and the commercial banks. It can also be an avenue for illegal round-tripping. The system is unclear and complicated. It is creating confusion for foreign investors, external lenders, and Nigerians who remit money from abroad. In April, after getting the approval for the IMF emergency funding, the Governor promised to unify the country’s exchange rates, but no action has been taken since then.
Currently, the country is faced with a persistent shortage of dollars in the official and parallel currency markets. The government is also looking for other avenues to increase the foreign exchange inflow. Like the unpopular CBN policy of ensuring export sales are repatriated and sold at the official market rate. Overall, one can assume the country is not willing to spend its foreign reserve to manage-float its currency. It means the naira must be weakened to a level that it is able and willing to support with its foreign exchange reserves. It is why Goldman Sachs reported the news of devaluation. However, the timing and the extent to which the CBN weaken the naira is increasing uncertainty in the financial markets.
The effects of weakening the naira include more expensive imported goods. In an ideal world, this should discourage imports into the country. For Nigeria, weakening the naira will only increase its the current account deficit due to heavy reliance on imports and the unpopular policy on export sales. By increasing the imports prices and leaving the demand for domestic products unchanged, weakening the naira will provoke inflation in the country. Theoretically, the CBN could raise interest rates to control inflation at the cost of slower economic growth. However, subsequent open-market operations conducted in the past four years did not mitigate this issue. It left the economy to bear a higher interest rate for bonds.
Finally, there will be no solution for these glaring problems until a prudent central banker is appointed who truly understands the issues. It means we have to wait for the government to work on this.
Dr Nasir Aminu is a Senior Lecturer of Economics at Cardiff Metropolitan University.
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E2%80%98love-fm%E2%80%99-abuja BREAKING: Fire Guts Radio Station ‘LOVE FM’ In Abuja
A private radio station, LOVE FM, 104.5 located at Mpape, a suburb of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, has been razed by fire.
According to a worker, who confirmed the incident to SaharaReporters, she said she left the station a few minutes before the inferno started.
It was gathered that it took the men of FCT fire service some hours before they arrived at the scene, but they could not put out the raging fire which had engulfed the entire building.
The fire, which started around 7.30 pm, razed the computers, furniture and transmitters at the station.
The cause of the fire could not yet be ascertained as of the time of filing this report.
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E2%80%99t-accept-mass-burial-again-can-warns-nigerian-government Zabarmari: We Won’t Accept Mass Burial Again, CAN Warns Nigerian Government
The Christian Association of Nigeria on Friday added its voice to the growing condemnation of the massacre of at least 78 rice farmers by the Boko Haram terrorists last Saturday in Zabarmari community in Borno State.
The association said mass burial without Nigeria being in a full-scale war was “unprecedented and unacceptable.”
In a statement by Pastor Bayo Oladeji, the Special Assistant, Media and Communications to the CAN President, Rev Dr Samson Ayokunle, the group noted that condolence visits after many souls had been wasted were unacceptable.
CAN said, “The leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria has condemned in strong terms the killing of no fewer than 43 rice farmers in Borno State by unknown persons suspected to be terrorists. We call on the security agencies to stop the unending mass killings by the criminals who now operate with impunity all over the country but more devastatingly in the North-East and North-West of the country.
“We are shocked, disturbed, saddened to learn that criminals suspected to be terrorists, but for which a terrorist group had claimed responsibilities, invaded the Garin Kwashebe community and murdered the innocent farmers while harvesting their products.
“As usual, the number of the deceased gruesomely murdered remains disputed by the Federal Government. To us at CAN, 43 was not only frightening but inexcusable by those who should have prevented it. The massacre was wicked and completely satanic.
“A situation where the terrorists and bandits are taxing farmers before they are allowed to work on their farms is unprecedented, and the government must stop it before it is too late. We are in a recession in the country, yet, criminals are still preventing farmers from going to the farm to harvest. We are not aware of any country where similar lawlessness is taking place without being adequately checked.
“CAN calls on the security agencies to wake up from their prolonged slumber and save their image. The government is urged to think out of the box and take adequate steps to bring the terrorists to their knees rather than finding excuses to justify the failure of governance. Mass burial without a full-scale war is unprecedented and unacceptable.”
The association noted that it was pained to observe that “killings and kidnapping of people are no longer news in the country, and no one is immune from it.”
While reassuring all that we at CAN will not give up praying for this nation, we urge the government to fulfil its responsibility of protecting lives and property.
“Sympathy through press statements or condolence visits after many souls have been wasted are not acceptable anymore. What we need is adequate protection of lives and property by those we have put in charge to do so,” the association noted.
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Lagos To Punish International Travellers Evading COVID-19 Test
Lagos Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu
The Lagos State Government has warned travellers coming into the country, who shun the required COVID-19 guidelines as stipulated by the Presidential Taskforce, to desist from such infraction or face serious consequences.
The state Commissioners for Information and Health, Mr Gbenga Omotoso, and Prof Akin Abayomi, in a joint statement, gave this warning on Friday.
Lagos Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu
The commissioners said, “It has been reported several times through notification from Port Health Services, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and the Lagos State Biobank and accredited private laboratories carrying out COVID-19 tests that inbound passengers arriving Nigeria are breaching the COVID-19 protocols.
“We have good authority that some passengers, having registered and paid for COVID-19 tests, have failed to report to assigned private laboratories after completion of their seven days isolation. Some incoming passengers even were unable to register and pay for the test whilst making their journey to the country in total disregard and breach of the safety protocols.
“Likewise, a large number of international passengers provided wrong information and contact details while registering online, making it difficult for them to be reached, traced or contacted by our logistics team.
“This is not only worrisome but portends danger for public health and safety as the populace stands the risk of infection from an asymptomatic positive case who perhaps is not aware of his or her status.
“We are not going to fold our arms and watch the gains made by us against the disease to be reversed by the irresponsibility of some citizens who choose to disregard our guidelines flagrantly. This is why we are set to take action against people who flout these protocols.”
The statement warned that the flouting of directives by the international travellers to COVID-19 guidelines might push the country to a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
Nigeria, on February 27, 2020, had recorded its index COVID-19 case; but the cases grew geometrically within weeks, forcing President, Muhammadu Buhari, to declare a lockdown in Lagos, Ogun and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, on March 31.
The COVID-19 pandemic-induced lockdown lasted for about three months, bringing untold hardship, suffering and hunger on Nigerians.
Airports, schools and business activities were shut down, and schools were closed as the pandemic gripped the country for more than seven months.
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Police Protest Six-Month Unpaid Allowances In Katsina
Police officers at Batsari Local Government of Katsina State on Thursday protested against their unpaid allowances.According to Katsina Post, the police officers took to the streets and blocked a major road linking to Batsari market.
According to the report, soldiers eventually arrived at the scene to remove the barricade, a move that provoked the police and caused an exchange of verbal abuses before the intervention of the district head of Batsari, Alhaji Tukur Muazu Rumah.“Yes, I am an eyewitness, they block our way when going for Batsari weekly markets, claiming that we won’t have a business today because the government has not paid them their allowances for six months,” a resident, Muhammad Wada Bakiyawa, said.However, the state’s police spokesman, Gambo Isah, said the story was not true. “It’s fake news, disregard it, it’s not true,” he said when asked by SaharaReporters.When SaharaReporters told Isah about the pictures and video of police officers mounting roadblocks and arguing with the army officers, he said mounting of the roadblock was normal in the area because of the high rate of banditry.“If they mount a roadblock, are they not performing their duties?” he said. “That place, do you know it’s a bandit area? The police are working with the military there. There is a special operation ongoing. They are working together.”
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Lekki Shooting Survivors Share Painful Experiences Of Having Nigerian Army Bullets Inside Their Bodies
Despite denials by the Nigerian Army that soldiers did not fire live bullets at protesters during the t#EndSARS protest at Lekki tollgate on October 20, one of the protesters said that a bullet fired by the soldiers is lodged in his body.”I got mine in my thigh, and the bullet is still inside me,” the victim who did not mention his name told Arise TV on Friday.
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He said he became unconscious after the bullet hit him and was revived the following day at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital.”The bullet in me is giving me discomfort,” he said. “It is affecting my leg, making it swell up every day, sometimes my leg gets stiff. Why is the government saying they didn’t shoot at us while I’m still having the bullet inside me right now?”A father of another victim, Tunde Odeyemi, said his son was seriously injured and he could not talk. “They told us to do the X-ray of the brain. So, when the doctor studied the X-ray, he noticed that there was blood at the front and back of the head.””He said that that was why he couldn’t speak. That was when they started giving him drugs. Five days later, he started talking. He hasn’t returned to his normal being up to this moment, but he has improved.”
Survivors Of Lekki Tollgate Killings Demonstrate At Lagos Judicial Panel | Sahara Reporters pic.twitter.com/Z1KAEK4ymj— Sahara Reporters (@SaharaReporters) December 4, 2020
Olufunmi Aiyedungbe, who lost her brother, Aiyedungbe Gabriel Ayoola, during the protest, said: “My brother was shot in the head. We were looking for him because he did not stay with us. It was two days before he passed on that somebody sent a notice to me on WhatsApp.”It was written there that my brother was at LASUTH and they’re looking for his family. We went to LASUTH. They said he has been unconscious for two weeks. But by the time we got there, he had opened his eyes and was moving his hand, but he could not talk. They were feeding him through the nose.”The clamour for justice for victims of #EndSARS has intensified as some of the survivors on Friday visited the Lagos State Judicial Panel on Friday.Their spokesperson said: “We have people with amputated legs. We have people with brain surgery in this van. We have dozens of them that are yet to be discharged. This is from the Lekki tollgate massacre in 2020. We want justice. We don’t want to be silenced. We don’t want to be marginalised even in our own country.”
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EXCLUSIVE: Panic As Boko Haram Returns To Zabarmari, Shoots In The Air
Boko Haram
The last has not been heard of the Boko Haram terrorists’ onslaught on Zabarmari community in Jere Local Government Area of Borno State as the insurgents invaded rice farms on Thursday, shooting sporadically to scare away the residents.Some of the witnesses told SaharaReporters that the terrorists came to the area but nobody was killed or abducted as people fled their homes.
File Photo: Boko Haram
Last Saturday, Boko Haram inflicted one of the greatest casualty figures in the state by slaughtering no fewer than 78 rice farmers in the community – an incident that has attracted national and global condemnation.
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We Informed Military Before The Attack But Nothing Was Done, Zabarmari Residents Say
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One of the residents, Ishaya Ahmed, said women who were on their way to farm on Thursday first caught a glimpse of the terrorists.”While some of our women and girls were on their way to the farm on Thursday, they came across the Boko Haram in large numbers, moving in a single line from north to south and, at the sight of the women, they began to shoot sporadically into the air to scare people away.”So, the women froze at the gunshots and could not proceed to the farms. They had to return. I think the insurgents spared them because they were women. If we, the men, had followed them, they might have killed us.”
A community leader in Zabarmari, who did not want his name to be mentioned, told SaharaReporters that boys and men were affected in the Saturday’s gruesome murder.”Some of them were newly-weds,” he said. “Some with very young families. Others were mostly school-age boys while some were hired to harvest the farm for some fee. We heard the rumours that women were also killed, but it is not true.”
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Zabarmari: It Hurts That B’Haram Addressed Nigerians While Buhari Hasn’t – Aisha Yesufu
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Meanwhile, a woman in the community who lost her husband during the attack, said: “We got married eight months ago. I don’t have a child, and I don’t have any business I am doing. I only survive by what my husband makes from the farm. At the moment, I am staying with my mother since the death of my husband.”The Senate earlier on Tuesday called on the president to fire the service chiefs who have failed to secure Nigerians while the House of Representatives summoned the president to brief the house on the mass murder.The Borno State governor, Babagana Zulum, who seemed to have lost trust on Nigerian armed forces, had on Monday asked the president to engage the services of mercenaries to fight Boko Haram.”One of our recommendations as possible solutions to end the insurgency is the immediate recruitment of our youths into military and paramilitary services to complement the efforts of the Nigerian forces,” he said. “Our third recommendation is for the President to engage the services of mercenaries to clear the entire Sambisa forest.”
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