Equipment
House concurs with Senate, approves $6.183 billion external loan request
The House of Representatives has approved the federal government’s request for $6.183 billion (N2.343 trillion) as external borrowing in 2021 Appropriation Act. The approval followed the consideration and adoption of clauses in the report presented by the committee on Aids, Loans and Debt Management, chaired by Hon. Ahmed Dayyabu Safana. The House also gave approval for the bill seeking to establish a Defence Research and Development Bureau (DRDB) to conduct and coordinate robust research and development in the Armed Forces of Nigeria. The approval was sequel to the consideration and adoption of the 5 parts and 34 Sections of the Bill’s report, presented by Chairman House Committee on Defence, Hon. Babajimi Benson. Presenting the report, Benson said the objective of the Bureau was to condu...
Nigerian lawmakers approve $2.4 bn funds for security, coronavirus vaccines
Nigerian lawmakers on Wednesday approved some 982.7 billion naira ($2.4 billon) additional budget funds to help the government buy COVID-19 vaccines, and equipment for its security forces. Africa’s top oil producer, Nigeria is struggling with the economic impact of the pandemic and a slump in crude prices as well as surging violence from criminal gangs and its grinding jihadist insurgency. The approved amount is $216.8 million higher than President Muhammadu Buhari’s request made to the lawmakers in June and is expected to be sourced through international and local borrowing. Most of the funds – around 722 billion naira ($1.8 billion) would go towards the procurement of additional equipment for security forces, Senator Barau Jibrin, chair of the senate appropriation committee, said. Around...
NUT: Nigerian government not interested in curbing insecurity
The 1st Vice President of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, Mr Kayode Akosile, has said insecurity is getting worse at schools and other places in the country because the government is not seriously invested in curbing the situation. Akosile said government could as well use the money being embezzled and wasted on other not too important things to combat insecurity in the land. The NUT boss said this while speaking with journalists in Ibadan on Tuesday on the sidelines of a workshop on privatisation and commercialisations of education organised by NUT in partnership with International and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation. He said teachers and students’ minds were no longer at rest while in schools, saying the future of the nation was already in jeopardy. He said everything should be done t...
Yobe governor: No plan to retrench workers
Gov. Mai Mala-Buni of Yobe on Tuesday said his administration has no plan to retrench civil servants in spite of the state’s meagre resources. Mala-Buni gave the assurance in Damaturu on the sidelines of the swearing-in ceremony of newly appointed permanent secretaries and board members. He said he would continue to attract investments to Yobe from both state and non-state actors in order to meet the financial obligations of the state. “People accuse me of frequenting Abuja; the truth is, if I remain in Damaturu, we cannot pay even our salary bills. “And that means we will have to join the league of states that are retrenching workers; we don’t have such plan. “You are aware of the projects we started, including the four modern markets we are building, the ongoing 3,600 houses, the over 87...
Ethiopia urges Tigray rebels to join ceasefire, hostilities persist
Ethiopia’s government urged Tigrayan rebels to join a unilateral ceasefire in their conflict on Thursday as aid agencies struggled to reach hundreds of thousands of people facing famine. The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the former rulers of Ethiopia’s Tigray region, said on Monday it was back in control of the regional capital Mekelle after nearly eight months of fighting. The government declared a unilateral ceasefire but the TPLF dismissed it as a joke. Hostilities persisted on Thursday and pressure built internationally for all sides to pull back. “Operations are under way … and the number of prisoners of war is increasing by the minute,” TPLF spokesman Getachew Reda told Reuters by satellite phone, with light artillery fire crackling in the background. “We are closing in on...
Nasarawa governor frees 36 prison inmates, donates N250,000 transport fare
The Nasarawa State Government has released 36 inmates in the state’s correctional centre to reduce overcrowding. The inmates, who are prisoners mostly awaiting trials and convicts, were released by State Governor Abdullahi Sule who visited the correctional facility in Lafia on Wednesday. The Lafia Correctional Centre is one of the six prisons in the state, located along Doma Road, Lafia City and is known to be overstretched presently with mostly awaiting trials inmates. Speaking while presiding over the release of the prisoners, Governor Sule said the move was to mark the June 12 Democracy Day. ‘I am glad to be here. By law, it is the responsibility on the part of leaders to forgive when it is time to forgive because God forgives us. When I looked at the faces of these inmates, I discovere...
Tanzania to spend $470 million on vaccines, coronavirus-damaged economy
Tanzania will spend $470 million buying vaccines and supporting economic sectors hit hard by the coronavirus, President Samia Suluhu Hassan said on Monday. Since Hassan took office after the death of then-president John Magufuli in March, the government has changed tack from playing down the pandemic to calling for social distancing and emphasising mask wearing in public. Issuing the first data on infections since May 2020, Hassan said there were more than 100 Covid-19 patients in Tanzania as of last Saturday, with 70 of them being provided oxygen. Half of the cash will be spent on vaccines, protective gear and other medical equipment, Hassan said, with the rest going to stimulate sectors that are reeling from the crisis. She did not give details about the sectors but tourism, one of the t...
CMD: Lafia specialist hospital meets requirements for teaching hospital
The Chief Medical Director of the Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital, Dr Ikrama Hassan, has said that ‘DASH has fulfilled all requirements for a Teaching Hospital take off in Lafia.’ Hassan said this at the National Assembly during the public hearing conducted by the Senate Committee on Health, as part of the procedures for the passage of the bill, seeking the establishment of a teaching hospital for the medical college of the federal university; a bill sponsored by the former governor, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura. Dr Hassan explained the situation on the ground saying that it is a ‘win-win situation’, adding that the federal government does not need to put in so much as adequate infrastructure, equipment and manpower are already on the ground. ‘If the federal government gives the additional neede...
418 police officers commissioned as ASPs in Wudil
A total of 418 cadet officers who have completed their training at the Nigeria Police Academy, Wudil, have been commissioned as Assistant Superintendents of Police (ASP). In his remarks at the colourful Passing Out Parade ceremony held on Tuesday at the premises of the Academy, President Mohammed Buhari reminded the commissioned officers of their responsibilities, saying they were commissioned at a time the country was in need of their services The president, who was represented by the Minister of Police Affairs, Mohammad Maigari Dingyadi, enjoined the ASPs to discharge their duties effectively and efficiently while asking them to shun all acts of corruption in the course of their duty He declared that his administration has been committed to the security of all Nigerians at all time and h...
NSCDC: Inadequate manpower hinders agro rangers’ operations
The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC)’s Agro Rangers’ productivity has been slowed down due to several challenges confronting the unit, notwithstanding its marked performance. To buttress the assertion of improved performance, a recent survey conducted in the Northeast showed that many farmers had returned to their farms without fears, and they had a bumper harvest in the last farming season. The Commandant-General of the NSCDC, Ahmed Abubakar Audi, disclosed this in Abuja over the weekend at the first Civil Defence Security Empowerment Workshop 2021 for personnel of the Corps in the Northeast. The Commandant-General, represented by Zachari Ibrahim Ningi, Deputy Commandant General, Administration, said the impacts of the Agro Rangers were tremendous “as a recent survey condu...
President Buhar: We won’t rest until peace is fully restored in Borno
President Muhammadu Buhari Thursday in Maiduguri, Borno State, assured citizens of the federal government’s presence in fighting terrorism to the end, and ensuring that Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are fully returned to continue normal lives, commending Governor Babagana Zulum for resilience and relentless efforts in rebuilding the state. President Buhari, on an official visit to the state to appraise the security situation and commission some development projects, attributed recent successes recorded by the military against insurgents and terrorists at Dikwa, Damboa and Gwoza to careful planning, infusion of new equipment and other war materials as well as quality military leadership. “I am very happy to be here in Borno State once again. I consider Maiduguri and Borno State to be ...
Lagos governor asks security agencies to crush criminals
Lagos State Government has tightened the noose on criminal elements, as Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu fortifies the armoury of the State Police Command with new hardware and gadgets. One hundred and fifty units of double cabin vehicles, 30 patrol saloon cars, four high-capacity troop carriers and two anti-riot water cannon vehicles are part of the crime-fighting equipment donated to the police, yesterday, by the Lagos Government to strengthen security responses across the state. President Muhammadu Buhari took inventory and inaugurated the security equipment before Governor Sanwo-Olu handed over the gears to the Inspector-General of Police (IG), Mr. Alkali Usman, for the use of Lagos Police Command. The equipment and gadgets were procured through the Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF) –...
