Latest NEWS In Nigeria This Morning, Monday, November 23, 2020.
Kidnappers demanded soft drinks before releasing ABU students
The nine abducted students of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State, have been released.
According to PUNCH, the Director of Public Affairs of ABU, Mallam Auwal Umar, confirmed the development.
Umar said the victims regained their freedom on Saturday.
Asked if ransom was paid by the families, Umar said, “We don’t want to go into that. Honestly, I don’t know; but all that I can confirm to you is that they have been released. They were released last night (Saturday).”
A relative of one of the students, Julius Mutum, also confirmed the release in a tweet.
He wrote, “Some of the #ABU9 including my sister have just regained their freedom. Strictly by family efforts. Thank you @TheAbusite for lending your voice when everyone, including govt and security agents, didn’t care.”
The students, who were from the Department of French, were travelling to Lagos for a programme at the Nigerian French Language Village, Badagry, when they were abducted along the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway by gunmen.
One of the students, Dickson Oko, who escaped with a gunshot wound, said the kidnappers contacted families of the students and demanded N30m for each of the students to regain their freedom.
It was reported that the kidnappers later reduced the ransom.
PUNCH Metro gathered that while some of the parents paid about N500,000, others paid between N1m and N4m.
A parent, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the incident, said the bandits released his daughter after he paid N500,000.
“After negotiation, they said I should pay N1m, but I told them that I could not afford to raise that amount. I told them that I had over N500,000 and they asked me to bring it,” he said.
He added that he sold some of his livestock and property to raise the money.
Another parent, who claimed to be part of the team which delivered the ransom, said the kidnappers first directed them to Abuja Junction.
He said, “They called me yesterday (Saturday) and said if I was not able to pay N1m, they would kill the girls or marry them or use them as sex slaves.
“On arriving Kaduna, we were told that security personnel were monitoring the bandits in the bush.
“But surprisingly, the bandits called us and told us to come and wait at the Abuja Junction.
“They sent us a telephone number to call. We called the number and the person came to take us in a car. Unknown to me, the owner of the car was also a victim — his daughter was among those abducted.
“We drove along the Kaduna-Abuja Expressway; that was around 11pm, to where we delivered the ransom.”
He said the bandits also demanded a certain number of crates of soft drinks and cartons of milk from each parent.
“When we got to Dutse, we stopped at a junction leading to the bush. We met soldiers there and they stopped us and made the four of us in the vehicle to sit on the ground.
“We trekked far inside the bush from Dutse and handed over the money to them and they released the girls to us.
“Some parents paid N1m, some paid N2m, some paid over N500,000, depending on how each parent bargained with the hoodlums because they spoke separately to the parents.
“Some parents were asked to drop their money at a particular place at Abuja Junction and leave the place then somebody picked the money, counted it and notified the people in the bush that the money had been paid,” he added
155 New COVID-19 Cases, 192 Discharged And 1 Death On November 22
On the 22nd of November 2020, 155 new confirmed cases and 1 death was recorded in Nigeria
Till date, 66,383 cases have been confirmed, 62,076 cases have been discharged and 1,167 deaths have been recorded in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory
The 155 new cases are reported from 12 states;
Lagos-60
Katsina-37
Kaduna-35
FCT-6
Ogun-4
Edo-3
Kwara-3
Rivers-2
Kano-2
Jigawa-1
Oyo-1
Taraba-1
NIS disagrees with ICPC over theft allegation against 4 officers
Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS Sunday, disagreed with the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences, ICPC, over stealing allegation leveled against four of its arrested officers.
The four Immigration officers, Ngozi Eboji (CSI); Betty Adeda (SI); Louis Abimbola (ASI 2) and Olawale Okunola (ASI 2) attached to ENL Terminal were arrested after completion of arrival boarding formalities onboard MV YUN DER berthed at ENL Terminal, Apapa Port, Lagos recently.
The Immigration Service said the arrested officers were standing and waiting for a vehicle to convey them back to their office when from nowhere, some gunmen in plain clothes, who were later found out to be ICPC operatives, swooped on them and forcefully rushed them inside a waiting bus to their dismay.
The Service said all efforts by the officers to know the identities of their abductors, as there was no means of identifying them, the reason for their arrest and their intended destination were ignored.
“It is also curious to note that as of the time of the arrest, no carton of fish was found with the officers as they stood. It should be noted that if the claimed cartons of fish were actually found with the officers, one would have expected their abductors to take photographs of them with the cartons, even if it is with the phone to prove their case, in this era of technology. They only succeeded in showing the pictures of the officers without the cartons of fish.”
The Service added “ No official communication was made to the Command on the wrongdoing if there is any at all, and the arrest of the officers by them.
“The telephones of the arrested officers were seized, switched off and that made it also difficult for the officers to communicate with their office.
“Upon their arrest, they claimed to have made a statement, claiming the ownership of the cartons of fish that were in possession of ICPC Officials under duress at gun point with the ICPC operatives.
The Immigration source said the attempt made by ICPC officials to link them with the cartons of frozen fish in possession of ICPC officials and their rushing to the press was “ill- conceived with a bid to tarnish the image of the Service and the officers involved in the arrest, as the cartons were not found with the officers.
“It is on record that the clearance procedure was conducted at the instance of the captain and the authorised agent (APS). The Ship captain remarked that the officers were good and that the boarding officers did not make any demand for gratification or engaged in wrongdoing to warrant the Gestapo arrest of the officers in uniform; this was also corroborated by the Shipping Agent in his statement.
Buhari regime’s second recession: Cut governance cost, aid production, diversify, experts tell Federal Govt
Economic experts and interest groups in Nigeria’s economy on Sunday advised the Federal Government to reduce the cost of governance and encourage production.
Experts and groups including a professor of political economy and management expert, Pat Utomi; the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry and a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Dr Obadiah Mailafia, gave the advice in separate interviews with The PUNCH while commenting on Nigeria’s recent economic recession.
They said government should cut tax for the poor and diversify the economy. According to them, in diversifying the economy, government must match its words with actions.
Amid a rising debt profile, inflation and unemployment, Nigeria on Saturday entered its second recession in five years as official figures showed that the economy shrank again in the third quarter of this year.
This year’s recession is the worst in 36 years as data obtained from the World Bank indicated that the country’s Gross Domestic Product dropped by 10.92 per cent in 1983 and 1.2 per cent in 1984.
The National Bureau of Statistics, in its report for third quarter of 2020, said the GDP, the broadest measure of economic prosperity, fell by 3.62 per cent in the three months up till September.
On Sunday, Utomi, in an interview with one of our correspondents, said government must rebuild trust of the people.
He said, “The starting point of any policy initiative is rebuilding trust of the people. The cost of governance in Nigeria has been growing for years. It got worst recently.
“Secondly, it is important that Nigeria moves from consumption to production. Part of the problems in Nigeria is that we are oriented to consuming what we do not produce. Nigeria’s economy does not produce. Public policies are geared towards sharing revenue than production.
“The fact that the environment for production is made hostile by government policies and weaker institutions has not made it any easier. We have to do everything to avoid going the way of Venezuela (which is currently experiencing total economic collapse and hyperinflation).
“We need people who are champions of production to be inspired and encouraged.”
He asked the government to stop funding old business leaders and invest in younger ones who are not looking to exploit the system.
Nigeria’ll slide into recession again – ACCI, others
The President of the ACCI, Adetokunbo Kayode, and the immediate past Chairman, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, Sam Amadi, in separate interviews with our correspondents, said government must take shrewd decisions to save Nigeria from the current recession and further economic shocks.
The ACCI president said government must take practical steps to diversify the economy and stop reliance on oil.
Third recession imminent unless FG diversifies economy, Abuja Chamber of Commerce
He said, “Nigeria will come out of this recession but the unfortunate thing is that we will go back into it again. So, it is an in-and-out thing unless we learn lessons. We have to learn serious economic lessons and take some decisions.
“One, we must diversify the economy. The government has been saying that it wants to do it, but it is just on paper. And it is simple to do this; you must produce what you need.
“This is so that you can reduce your imports. Government should develop industrial parks in partnership with private sector players. Government seems not to have learnt its lesson from the recent #EndSARS protest.
“We have too many people on the streets and the street is more powerful than the office. The guys in office started the #EndSARS but they were over-powered by street boys.”
Coalition hails Sanwo-Olu’s pledge on ex-governors, deputies’ pension
THE Coalition for A Better Nigeria has praised Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s decision to repeal pension for the ex-governors and their deputies.
In a statement by its National Coordinator, Awa Bamiji, it described Sanwo-Olu’s proposal as the “dawn of a new era.”
Sanwo-Olu announced the plan on November 9, while presenting next year’s budget to the Lagos State House of Assembly at Ikeja.
He pledged to repeal the Public Office Holder (Payment of Pension Law 2007), which makes provision for the payment of pension and other entitlements to former elected governors and their deputies.
Bamiji said: “Congratulations to all Nigerians because it’s dawn of a new era in our democratic experience that we could wake up to read the good news of intention of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State to repeal the Public Office Holder (Payment of pension Law 2007), which provides for payment of pension and other entitlements to former Governors and their Deputies in the state.
“The abolition will reduce the cost of governance, signal selflessness and eradicate all forms of negative comment associated with the pension law.
“The Federal High Court sitting in Lagos had stopped such payment across all states in December 2019 and directed the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mallam Abubakar Malami, to review the pension laws of various States.
“It is highly commendable that Zamfara State House of Assembly had complied with the court ruling.”
The Coalition advised other states and the Federal Government to “immediately toe this path of honour, which in turn, will build public confidence in the nation’s administration.”
He urged the president, vice president, senate president, speakers in both the national and state assemblies, governors and their deputies, to make “an appreciable sacrifice…by cutting your salaries and allowances.
“This is the only way; it would be a fair play with an assurance that all of you in power don’t rub Peter to pay Paul.”
Buhari mourns Nasarawa APC boss, orders security agencies to end violence
President Muhammadu Buhari has condemned the killing of Mr Philip Shekwo, Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in Nasarawa State, and challenged the nation’s security system to “do more” to end violence in the country.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the late APC Chairman was abducted by gunmen, who stormed his residence in Lafia on Saturday night. The gunmen later killed him.
A statement by Malam Garba Shehu, the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, quoted Buhari as saying that Police investigation would determine if it was an assassination or kidnap-related murder.
It quoted Buhari as commending the Inspector General of Police, Mr Muhammed Adamu, for sending reinforcement of men and materials to the state.
It further quoted the president as commiserating with the family of the deceased while describing Shekwo as kind and jovial.
”His contribution towards strengthening the party in Nasarawa State will not be forgotten. May his soul Rest in Peace,” the statement quoted Buhari as saying.
No comments:
Post a Comment