Regions
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...
South Africa gems that sparked rush are quartz not diamonds
The South African government says that stones found in a village last month are not diamonds but quartz. A cattle herder first uncovered the stones in KwaZulu-Natal province. It prompted thousands to rush to KwaHlathi village, more than 300km (186 miles) south-east of Johannesburg. But after conducting tests, officials have said the stones are quartz crystals, which are far less valuable. After feldspar, quartz is the most abundant mineral in the Earth’s crust. “The tests conducted conclusively revealed that the stones discovered in the area are not diamonds,” a local government statement reportedly said. The rush occurred in one of South Africa’s poorest regions. The country – which already suffers from high levels of economic inequality – has seen a surge in joblessness amid the ongoing ...
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...
Malawi runs out of coronavirus vaccines as second jabs due
Delays in coronavirus vaccine shipments to Malawi have caused health facilities to run out of doses as hundreds are due to receive a second shot, the health minister said Saturday. The southern African country has so far received 300 000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the United Nations, 102 000 from the African Union and 50 000 donated by India. Inoculations started in April and the country was expecting a second UN shipment of 900 000 by the end of May, four weeks before the first vaccinated Malawians would be due a second dose. But Health Minister Khumbize Kandodo said that batch had been delayed by a recent surge in coronavirus cases in India, the world’s main AstraZeneca supplier, which forced the country to temporarily halt major vaccine exports to meet local demand. “The situ...
Unknown writers threaten Delta with mayhem for banning open grazing
A group of unidentified persons on Sunday threatened to attack Asaba and Agbor in Delta State should Governor Ifeanyi Okowa fail to withdraw his support for the ban on open grazing within 72 hours. An unsigned letter containing the threat was pasted at strategic locations in Asaba, including the fence of the Living Faith Church, aka Winners Chapel along Infant Jesus road. The letter, titled, ‘Fulani jihadist warning: An open message to Delta State,’ was dated June 13, 2021. It read, “This is to inform Delta State that the Fulani of Usman Dan Fodio leadership shall do everything it can to uphold the legacy of our heritage of open grazing; for we are nomadic people from origination and shall never negotiate the ownership of Nigeria, West Africa and Sub-Sahara. “We hereby demand the Governor ...
Ex-soldiers: We trained 4,400 IPOB militias after Nnamdi Kanu promised us rank of General in Biafra Republic
Operatives of the Force Intelligence Response Team have arrested three dismissed soldiers, who allegedly partook in the training of 4,400 members of the Eastern Security Network for the Indigenous People of Biafra. The suspects have been identified as Linus Owalo, Godswill Steven and Chinasa Orji. They were arrested recently after operatives of the IRT, while following a tip-off from some members of IPOB, raided the group’s hideouts in Imo, Anambra and Delta States and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. ESN is the armed wing of the POB. IPOB and ESN have been accused by the police of being responsible for the attacks and killings of security operatives as well as burning of police stations and government infrastructure across the South East and South South regions of the country. IPOB a...
Kwara governor: Let’s fight terrorism, poverty, not ourselves
Gov. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara has called on Nigerians to unite in the fight against terrorism, banditry and mass poverty. AbdulRazaq made the appeal at the closing ceremony of 2 Division Inter-Brigade Corporals and Below Competition 2021, at the Sobi Barack Ilorin on Friday. The governor described these challenges as “our common enemies” and urged citizens to stop seeing one another as enemies. According to him, these are elements bent on terrorising the people and tearing the nation apart. He commended President Muhammadu Buhari for his patience and support for the security agencies to discharge their duties as well as commitment to national peace and security. “The security agencies, particularly the military will continue to symbolise the unity of the people and the strength of t...
Myanmar military tribunal orders 20-year jail terms for torching Chinese-linked factories
A Myanmar military tribunal has sentenced 28 people to 20 years in jail with hard labour for arson attacks on two factories, state media reported, after a string of mainly Chinese-financed factories were torched during unrest in Yangon in March. The army-run Myawady news portal said the offenders had targeted a shoe plant and a garment factory in the industrial Hlaing Tharyar suburb of Myanmar’s biggest city. Martial law was imposed in the suburb after the blazes, with dozens killed or wounded when security forces opened fire on anti-military protesters, media and an activist group said. The Chinese embassy in Myanmar said at the time that many Chinese staff were injured and trapped in the arson attacks and called on Myanmar to protect Chinese property and citizens. A total of 32 Chinese-i...
21 runners dead as extreme weather hits China ultramarathon
Twenty-one people were killed after hail, freezing rain and high winds hit runners taking part in a 100-kilometre (62-mile) cross-country mountain race in China, state media said Sunday. The extreme weather struck a high-altitude section of the race held in the scenic Yellow River Stone Forest near Baiyin city in northwestern Gansu province Saturday afternoon. Among the dead were elite Chinese long-distance runners, local media reported. Official news agency Xinhua confirmed the death toll had risen to 21, citing the local rescue command headquarters. State broadcaster CCTV also reported the final missing competitor had been found dead. Baiyin city mayor Zhang Xuchen said that at around midday Saturday a section of the rugged ultramarathon course — between kilometres 20 and 31 — was “sudde...
Ebonyi governor: Some people in South-east think 2023 elections won’t hold
David Umahi, governor of Ebonyi state, says some people in the south-east region are convinced that the 2023 elections will not hold. Umahi said those with such a mindset believe that if elections do not take place, the national assembly will declare a state of emergency in the region. In recent times, the south-east has witnessed a spate of attacks on police stations and government facilities including offices belonging to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Speaking at the presidential ministerial press briefing on Thursday, Umahi said the country will remain together under the 1999 Nigerian constitution (as amended), noting that “until it is changed, nobody can do anything about it”. “A lot of people have been brainwashed in the south-east about Biafra. The Biafra I des...
Former Nigerian soldier who trains ESN militants arrested in Abuja
The police have arrested a dismissed army lance corporal allegedly responsible for training and recruiting people into the Eastern Security Network (ESN), the militant arm of the outlawed pro-Biafra group, IPOB, according to a report. He was arrested a few days after a top commander of the terror group, Awurum Eze, was arrested in Aba, Abia State. The group is alleged to have been responsible for killings of security agents and destruction of public properties in the South-east and South-south zones. They have, however, denied the allegations. According to sources, the 32 years old dismissed soldier, whose name was given as Livinus Owalum-Barnabas, was arrested on Sunday, at Gwagwalada Area Council of the FCT by men of the Inspector General of Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT). The e...
2023: Kogi commissioner tackles Ohanaeze over zoning
Mr Kingsley Fanwo, Kogi State Commissioner for Information and Communications, has reacted to comments by Igbo socio-political group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo on Gov. Yahaya Bello’s assertion about rotation of Nigerian presidency among the different regions of the country. Bello had during a maiden edition of the ‘Governor Yahaya Bello seminar for political and crime correspondents’ in Abuja on Friday, described rotational Presidency as “unconstitutional.” The Governor, who has also declared his intention to run for the presidency in 2023 added that “Nigerians should be allowed to make their choices for the best candidate to emerge for the top post”. But reacting to the claim, Ohanaeze Ndigbo which has been at the vanguard of the clamour that a Nigerian of South-East origin should succeed President...