Property
Kano fire service saves 96 lives, N49.6 million property in January
Kano State Fire Service said it saved 96 lives and property worth N49.6 million in 98 fire incidents in the state in January. Alhaji Saidu Muhammad, Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Service, said this in a statement on Tuesday in Kano. Muhammad said the fire incidents were recorded in the month of January in various parts of the state. According to him, seven lives were lost and property worth N27.3 million were destroyed by fire during the period under review. “The Service responded to 72 rescue calls and 16 false alarms from residents of the state,” he added. Muhammad attributed most of the fire incidents in the state to careless handling of cooking gas, use of inferior electrical appliances and poor wiring. He advised residents to always handle fire with care to prevent fire outbre...
Femi Falana: President Buhari’s government defending killer-herdsmen
Human rights activist Femi Falana has accused the government of President Muhammadu Buhari of defending killer-herdsmen which was why the issues continued. He said it has come to a point where the people needed to defend themselves as the Buhari-led government had failed the people. According to Falana, that was why he had accused the Buhari administration of portraying itself as defending herders and not other Nigerians because Almajiris have been deported, beggars and the destitute deported, but that the President never defended them. “The government never raised any constitutional issues. My position is that the government can stop the citizens from taking the law into their own hands to assure the people in concrete terms of the security of their lives and property. It is a simple and ...
Police: No influx of herdsmen to Ekiti forests
The Police Command in Ekiti State on Wednesday said there was no influx of herdsmen forests in the state from Ondo State forest reserves as being reported in the media. The command disclosed this in a statement signed in Ado-Ekiti by Mr Sunday Abutu, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), on behalf of the state Commissioner of Police (CP), Mr Tunde Mobayo. The statement said the command had neither sighted nor received any report of herders migrating or relocating into any part of the state or its forests. It, therefore, called on the residents to disregard the report as fake and fictitious. According to the statement, the story was just a mere imagination of the source. It cautioned newsmen against fake and unverified publications capable of causing apprehension in the state, saying ...
Ondo governor: Our people cannot continue to live in fear
Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo state has declared that the people of the state can not continue to live in fear arising from the cases of kidnapping, robbery, and other criminal activities recorded in the state. Akeredolu said this while receiving the newly posted Assistant Inspection-General of Police for Zone 17, headquartered in Akure, Isaac Akinmoyede, and the new Brigade commander of the 32 Artillery, Owena Catonement, Brig. Gen. Raymond Utsaha. He urged the new AIG and brigade commander to collaborate with other security agencies in the state for optimum performance. According to him” insecurity can be tackled in a different way when there are collaborative efforts. ” We have great challenges. We need all hands on deck. Our challenges are enormous. Top of it is the issue of kidnap...
Ugandan government withdraws troops from Bobi Wine’s house
Ugandan soldiers stood down their positions around the residence of opposition leader Bobi Wine on Tuesday, a day after a court-ordered an end to the confinement of the presidential runner-up. Wine, a popstar-turned-MP whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, had been under de-facto house arrest at his home outside the capital Kampala since he returned from voting in January 14’s election. For 11 days heavily armed soldiers and police officers surrounding the property had prevented members of Wine’s household, including his wife Barbie, from leaving their compound, as well as denying access to visitors. But security forces withdrew from around Wine’s house on Tuesday, allowing the opposition leader to convene with newly-elected MPs from his National Unity Platform (NUP) for the first time sin...
SON: We have initiated more measures to tackle importation of substandard products into Nigeria
File Photo The Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) said it has devised more efficient measures against importation of substandard products to protect local manufacturers in the country. The Director-General of SON, Mallam Farouk Salim stated this during a visit to the organization’s office in Awka, Anambra State, on Saturday. According to Mallam Salim, the agency will continue to discourage importers of substandard products from short-changing unsuspecting consumers. He also announced plans to improve workers welfare and increase engagement with stakeholders in the country, noting that the move by the agency would help protect the interest of the business community while also safeguarding life and property. The Director-General assured that the organization would work with stakeholders ...
Nigerian government seizes bank’s assets over Shell’s N183 billion debt
File Photo Nigerian government have moved to sequester the assets of the country’s premier lender First Bank of Nigeria Limited in an effort to recover the damages oil major Royal Dutch Shell owed the Ejama Ebubu community of Rivers State in a legal contest spanning many decades, Bloomberg reported Thursday. Police operatives and court officials arrived the bank’s main branch in Port Harcourt on Tuesday to execute an order to seize the lender’s asset, FirstBank said in a statement. The bank said the incident leading to the confiscation of its properties was “unjustified, illegal and a reckless misuse of the machinery of justice.” Lagos-headquartered FirstBank resolved to guarantee the damages awarded against Shell by a Rivers State high court judge a decade ago. According to the estimation...
Presidency: Boko Haram weaker now than in 2015
As the country marks the 2021 Armed Forces Remembrance Day, Friday, the Presidency has declared that the activities of Boko Haram insurgents have been weakened compared to what obtained in 2015. This is even as it said that more than 2,403 criminals, including terrorists, bandits, kidnappers and criminals of other sorts, were reportedly eliminated by the Nigerian Armed Forces, in coordinated operations across the country between March 18 and December 30, 2020. The event is billed to hold in the early hours of the day at the National Arcade, opposite Eagles Square, Three Arms Zone, Abuja. The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, in a statement titled “Security checklist, as Nigeria marks Armed Forces Remembrance Day, by Presidency” flaunted the Buhari admin...
US slaps sanctions on two foundations linked to Iranian supreme leader
The United States on Wednesday blacklisted two Iranian foundations controlled by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and their subsidiaries, saying the institutions enabled Iran’s elite to sustain a “corrupt” system of ownership over large parts of the economy. The designations announced by the US Department of the Treasury target Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order (EIKO) and Astan Quds Razavi (AQR), their leaders and subsidiaries. These are the latest actions to reinforce the “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran pursued by US President Donald Trump’s administration. “These institutions enable Iran’s corrupt leaders to exploit a system of ownership over a wide range of sectors of Iran’s economy,” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement. US-Iranian tensions have risen since T...
Joe Biden receives second dose of coronavirus vaccine on camera
Joe Biden on Monday received the second dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine on camera, as part of an effort by the President-elect’s incoming administration to reassure the country of the safety of the vaccines. Biden was administered the shot in his left arm by Ric Cuming, chief nurse executive at ChristianaCare’s Christiana Hospital in Newark, Delaware, according to Biden’s transition team. The President-elect said he would be announcing his plan to “get the entire Covid operation up and running,” including the necessary costs, on Thursday. Biden said he had a meeting with members of his team later Monday afternoon. Biden said he was “not afraid of taking the oath outside,” and that his team has been getting briefed, when asked if he had any fears about taking the oath of office...
2021: Banks to walk a tightrope amid low revenue environment
Nigeria’s deposit money banks (DMBs) must brace up for the challenge of 2021 that might tax their resolve to remain in business. Reason: the industry is faced with a tougher operating environment that could threaten the operators’ ability to meet their stakeholders’ needs and expectations yet perform meaningful corporate social responsibility roles. Their valuable customers such as high net-worth individuals, corporate bodies and other institutions are equally challenged. In his book, Business Stripped Bare, celebrated iconic entrepreneur and founder of the Virgin Group, Richard Branson, says, “without trustworthy banks, there can be no business, no employment, no money. According to Branson, “People have got to be able to go to bed at night secure in the knowledge that the money they depo...
Benue governor calls for arrest of ‘Fulani spokesman’
Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom has called for the arrest and questioning of a self-acclaimed spokesman of Fulani groups and All Progressive Congress, APC, chieftain, Garus Gololo, over alleged comments on Benue killings. Gololo had recently alleged that Governor Ortom was sponsoring attacks on Fulanis residing in Benue state. Piqued by the allegation, the governor demanded an apology and retraction. The Governor in a statement on Sunday by his Chief Press Secretary, Terver Akase, alleged that Gololo had not been new to such false and malicious statements after his request, to be appointed a Special Adviser in Benue state was turned down. “Since Governor Ortom turned down his request to be made Special Adviser preferring to appoint another Fulani man as his aide, Gololo has launched a ce...