After a girl died from mysterious burns during a sleepover in her friend’s house, the Chairperson of International Federation of Women Lawyers, FIDA Nigeria Rivers State, Barr. Adata Bio-Briggs has called on parents to be intentional about monitoring their children.

Taking to the social media after the unfortunate incident, Bio-Briggs gave the advice in a Facebook post on Saturday, October 28, 2023.

The FIDA Rivers Chair counselled that parents should be friends with their children so they can know what is happening in their lives.
 
“Parents watch and monitor your kids. Just because you want to be a modern parent, you allow them visit friends anyhow, go anywhere they want and have sleep overs. Another daughter has died from mysterious burns in her female friend’s house. This is the time to be friends with your children, so you can know what’s going on in their lives,” she wrote.

The last of the 121 students of Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna State who were abducted in July 5, 2021, Treasure Ayuba, has regained freedom.

Ayuba was among the students that were herded away by gunmen who invaded the school located at Maraban Damishi, Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State, on July 5, 2021.

Rev Dr Israel Akanji, President of the Nigeria Baptist Convention (NBC), confirmed his release in a statement.

“Treasure is in green in the company of the CAN Chairman, Kaduna State, Rev JJ Hayab and the Conference President of Kaduna Baptist Conference.

“Thanks be to our unfailing God. Thank you also very much for your prayers and numerous support.”

Aside from Ayuba, other abductees were released at intervals. There were reports that the victim said he did not want to return home but remain in the company of his captors.

A regular fun outing turned into a horrendous nightmare when a 34-year-old man identified as John died after drowning in the Elegushi Beach, in Lagos State, last Saturday, during a church picnic.

PUNCH Metro gathered that the unnamed Ikorodu-based church had organised a picnic for its youths which the late John was a part of.

PUNCH Metro gathered that concerns grew when the members were about to leave the beach that Saturday afternoon but couldn’t locate him anywhere.

It was learned that as the church members began searching for him, someone informed them that they had seen him go into the water. Lifeguards and divers were alerted but efforts to locate him in the water that Saturday proved abortive.

It was gathered that his body was only recovered by lifeguards on Tuesday afternoon at the beach.

A source who witnessed the event but doesn’t want to be named said, “A church from Ikorodu had come to Elegushi beach for a hangout on Saturday. They were just young people who came around to have fun; about 35 of them came that Saturday.

“It happened that late in the afternoon when they were packing up to leave, they called everyone to make sure that they were all accounted for, 35 of them, before they left. That was how they realised that one of them, John, was missing.

“Then they started searching for him that evening. Then, someone told one of them that he had seen the guy walk towards the water thinking he knew how to swim.

“The group then called lifeguards and divers to help search for him that Saturday, but they didn’t find him until yesterday, Tuesday, at about 1 p.m., when they recovered his body at the beach.”

When our correspondent contacted the state Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, he confirmed the incident.

The Superintendent of Police added, “The family of the victim has been contacted and the body of the victim has also been deposited at the Yaba General Hospital for an autopsy.”

The Truth, Justice and Peace Commission (TJPC), set up by the Governor of Anambra State, Charles Soludo in June 2022 to inquire into the violent agitations and restiveness in the state and the South East, has received commendations from Obumneme Akunyili for reinstalling hope and belief in the citizens.

A scion of the Late Dr. Chike Akunyili and late Professor Dora Akunyili, Nigeria’s ex-Minister of Minister of Information and Communications, one-time Director General of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration (NAFDAC), Obumneme, made the commendation at the second public hearing of the commission in Awka, as a witness during the special session concerning his late father, Dr.Chike Akunyili who was murdered by unknown gunmen in the state.

Obumneme Akunyili told the commission that his late father had about 10percent chance of surviving the gunshot wound on his head, if there was timely medical intervention.

“People who would have helped my father, his driver and security man were busy making viral video of the scene, asking the driver who was calling out to them for help his name, until they gave up. Sending messages on a WhatsApp group is not justice and not investigation. Prosecution is done with facts and knowledge,” he said.

Akunyili urged Nigerians to always render assistance to dying citizens instead of making videos of them.

While appreciating the commission, he said, “the chairman and commissioners are excellent, hard-working people with high goals for the people dedicated to peace, reconciliation, a future for Anambra State.”

Responding, the Chairman of the commission, Professor Chidi Odinkalu, said, “As leaders, actors, institutions, we have a responsibility to foster hope. It is Truth, Justice and Peace Commission but above all, it is a hope Commission. It is hope in terms of being able to inspire communities that there is something different and that there are new possibilities. We have a responsibility to rebuild coexistence in our communities, one block, one step, one life at a time. Our objective is to build a prosperous and livable homeland.”

Earlier, witnesses from National Union of Road Transport Workers, Comrade Dominic Ezebuenyi (state chairman), Comrade Godson Udeozor (national chairman southeast) and other executives of the union urged the commission to help reinstate the union in the state

Voice of Nigeria

The Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume, has revealed that the controversial N5billion Presidential Yacht initially budgeted for in the 2023 Appropriation Budget, had been delivered to Nigeria in anticipation for payment even before it became a public knowledge.

Ndume made the revelation while speaking on the 2023 Supplementary Appropriation Budget on AriseNews’ breakfast show, ‘The Morning Show’ on Friday.

The Borno South Senator said the presidential yacht had been signed and delivered but not paid for before the public outcry, however, adding that the Senate had since added the budgeted payment to the student loan budget instead.

“We queried the amount budgeted for the yacht, but it was signed for a dollar rate, and the new rate isn’t favourable. The budget was predicated on about N435 (to a Dollar), and now it is over N800.

“The Navy also clarified that it is not a new budget. And even the House of Representatives moved the budget to the Students loan. The deal for the yacht has been agreed, signed, and delivered but not paid for,” the lawmaker said.

Recall that the 2023 Supplementary Budget was passed into law by chambers of the National Assembly on Wednesday.

Leadership.ng

After that daring move to rob his victim of her handbag containing recharge cards worth N200,000, a Nokia phone and N16,000 cash, with a machete, a 28year-old- man, Ndifreke Essien Urua has been sentenced to death by a High Court of Justice in Akwa Ibom State sitting in Uyo.

Ndifreke Essien Urua, a native of Ikot Andem Itam was apprehended after robbing the Vice Principal, Academics of Community Secondary Commercial School, Ikot Andem Itam, in Itu Local Government Area.

The Vice Principal was said to have been in the school premises when the convict struck at about 1:30 p.m. on 25 February 2017.

Essien Urua in his confessional statement blamed his girlfriend —one Victoria, now at large — who he claimed to have notified him that a lady was sitting alone at Community Secondary Commercial School, Ikot Andem Itam and that he should go and rob her.

Urua claimed that after his girlfriend gave him the information, they both quickly went to the school and threatened to kill the 56-year-old Vice Principal, forcing her to part with her handbag.

He further said that it was at the point of selling the NOKIA phone that his girlfriend, who had escaped with other loot, was caught by youths of Ikot Andem Itam village and she confessed their deed, leading to his arrest by the Police.

In his judgement, the trial judge, Hon. Justice Edem Akpan who agreed that the prosecution has proved its case beyond reasonable doubt, found Urua guilty of armed robbery, which is contrary to Section 1 (2) of Robbery and Firearms (Special Provisions) Act Vol. 14, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 and convicted him accordingly.

The convict who is the last child in the family of eight was subsequently sentenced to death by hanging.

Thereafter, the condemned robber pleaded with the Court to temper justice with mercy, saying it was his first time of involved in an armed robbery operation.

The Governor of Borno State, Professor Babagana Zulum has raised the alarm that the Boko Haram insurgency is threatening to consume the nation if the humanitarian crisis in the North-East is not contained.

Professor Zulum says the continuous existence of IDP camps in Local Government Areas of Borno State is a potential time bomb as they serve as a recruitment ground for Boko Haram and ISWAP.

“The position of Borno State on the map of Nigeria is very important to all of us. Borno State is bordering Chad, Cameroon, and Niger Republic. Our borders are so porous and therefore maintaining security in the North-Eastern subregion entails maintaining the security of the entire country,” he saidwhile hosting the reconstituted management board of the North-East Development Commission (NEDC) at the council chambers of the Borno State Government House in Maiduguri on Monday.

“While North-West and North-Central and others are speaking about banditry, kidnapping, and others, ours is Boko Haram and ISWAP. It’s better for us to control it, not for the sake of Borno State. The hub of Boko Haram and ISWAP is Borno State. We have to control them.

“We have to stop the younger ones from being recruited into Boko Haram and ISWAP, otherwise, in the near future, the entire Nigeria will be wiped off the map.”

While lamenting the number of people in IDPs, Zulum said the development has worsened the plight of the people.

“And then in Borno State, in the year 2012, about 3.5 million people were displaced. We returned many but still, we have over one million people: internally displaced people living in IDPS camps – that is increasing prostitution in IDP camps, that is increasing procreation without care in the IDP camps. There is drug abuse in the IDP camps,” Zulum added.

“And therefore we want the intervention of the North East Development  Commission. We want you to partner with the state government for us to close these IDP camps so that people can earn their means of livelihood by themselves.

“Otherwise, many of the people will decide to join ISWAP and Boko Haram. These people who are living in IDP camps are a matter of great concern to all of us. On the assumption of duty, I promised the people of Borno State that I’d close all official camps that are inside Maiduguri Metropolitan Council and we did so with the help of Almighty Allah.

“Now my next agenda is to see how we shall close all the IDP camps that are in the local government areas without which there shall be no peace.”

Channels TV

• Nigerians gripe as government glosses over matters of urgent need

The House of Representatives has removed the controversial N5 billion presidential yacht from the 2023 supplementary budget.

The budget was passed on Tuesday by the House after adopting the report submitted by the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Abubakar Bichi from Kano State.

The Committee of Supply considered the recommendations of the Appropriations Committee and passed the bill.

Bichi, after the passage of the budget, spoke with journalists and announced that the controversial presidential yacht was removed by the committee.

He stated that the N5 billion was moved to the Student Loans, increasing the allocation for student loans to 10bn as against 5. 5bn

The Committee also increased the budgetary allocation of the Ministry of Defence from 476bn to 546bn following security concerns.

Bichi also disclosed that the minimum wage for workers was considered and approved for onward transmission to the executive while promising proper legislative oversight to ensure 100 percent implementation

The sum of 100bn was also retained for FCT as requested by the minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike

The House, therefore, passed the sum of N2.177 trn as the supplementary budget.

Recall that the proposal by President Bola Tinubu had included spending N1.5 billion on vehicles for the office of the First Lady, N5 billion on a presidential yacht and another N12.5 billion on the presidential air fleet.

There are ongoing campaigns on social media to stop the National Assembly from approving the supplementary budget, however, the bill has been given speedy approval.

Following the passage of the bill, Speaker Tajudeen Abbas announced that the president would sign the bill on Friday.

In an earlier publication, BusinessDay reported that widespread criticism greeted the billions of naira earmarked for a presidential yacht and luxury cars, among others, in the N2.1 trillion supplementary budget submitted by President Bola Tinubu to the National Assembly.

The document seen by BusinessDay shows that N5.09 billion is allocated for the yacht, N2.9 billion for sport utility vehicles for the Presidential Villa, and another N2.9 billion for the replacement of operational vehicles for the presidency.

The yacht is listed under the Nigerian Navy’s proposed capital expenditure of N42.3 billion.

The sum of N1.5 billion was budgeted for vehicles for the Office of the First Lady, an office that is not recognised by the constitution.

The government allocated N4 billion for the construction of an office complex in Aso Rock while N2.5 billion will be used for the renovation of the Vice-President’s official residence in Lagos. In all, N28 billion is proposed for the State House.

It plans to spend N12.5 billion on the Presidential Air Fleet.

The presidential fleet includes Boeing Business Jet (Boeing 737-800 or NAF 001), one Gulfstream 550, one Gulfstream V (Gulfstream 500), two Falcons 7X, one Hawker Sidley 4000, two AgustaWestland AW 139 helicopters and two AgustaWestland AW 101 helicopters.

Critics say politicians are not adopting the austerity measures being forced on the people.

“There is no way we can explain that we are budgeting this amount for vehicles at this time in this country,” Paul Alaje, a financial analyst and senior partner at SPM Professional, told BusinessDay.

“Some of the things in the budget like the construction of bridges are commendable. However, we must know why we are spending so much money on vehicles knowing what Nigerians are currently going through.”

Some have said the supplementary budget may not get any resistance from lawmakers, who despite public outcry, spent over N75 billion on procuring official vehicles for themselves. It scaled through the second reading at both the Senate and House of Representatives on Tuesday.

“Presidency and National Assembly spend billions on luxurious cars while Nigerian citizens pay billions in taxes,” Kalu Aja, a personal finance expert, said. “Nigerian citizens defend the Presidency and Legislators as their wages get inflated away.”

Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, executive director of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, said the major items of the budget defeat any rational thinking, given that the country currently faces both economic and financial difficulty.

He said: “This supplementary budget is full of dubious and suspicious items. Why are we budgeting monies for the Independent Electoral Commission for an election that has already been taken care of? The states confirmed receiving monies for the election but we are seeing it in the budget again. This is suspicious spending.

“Also, the office of the first lady is not recognised in the constitution, so why are we budgeting for that? This is financial recklessness. Nigerians are suffering and the Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration seems not to be concerned about it.”

Kabir Isah, an Abuja-based public affairs analyst, said the government may have to look at more borrowing to fund the budget.

He said: “The government at this time should be looking for ways to boost revenue and not planning to spend the lean revenues on irrelevant items. It is even worse to know that there are no plans to patronise our local vehicle manufacturers.

“This government is not even considering that many Nigerians are unable to feed themselves, the price of petrol is impacting the prices of other items consumed by the average Nigerian. And the president is expecting us to bear with him.

“Since the removal of fuel subsidy which has pushed up the cost of transportation, one would expect that we should have government-owned buses everywhere across the country. We are not seeing them and the president wants to spend this much to import vehicles. This is insensitive. ”

Sam Adeyemi, senior pastor of Daystar Christian Centre, while speaking on a Channels Television programme on Wednesday, stressed the need for leaders to make sacrifices.

He said: “All the contracts going out of the MDAs (Ministries, Departments and Agencies), even the oversight functions for the National Assembly, it is money driving it.

“The people in leadership need to make sacrifices now for that collaboration to happen but I promise you most people in leadership now are not thinking sacrifice, they are thinking survival.”

Oluwatobi Ajayi, the CEO of Nord Motors, a local automobile company, expressed his disappointment, saying the lawmakers ignored their proposals despite the potential benefits for the economy.

The legislators’ choice to buy foreign vehicles was seen as a missed opportunity to promote ‘Buy Nigeria’ and support local industries, he said.

He said on social media platform X: “The National Assembly buying foreign-built vehicles at this time is dispiriting, especially when you consider that we are all trying to promote buy Nigeria to grow the Naira.

“A sad part of this is that we (assemblers and manufacturers of vehicles in Nigeria) actually proposed our vehicles and explained how it would make a lot of financial, technical and political sense to buy from us but they didn’t even entertain the idea for long.”

Tinubu and some of his aides and other government officials have repeatedly pleaded with Nigerians to be patient with the administration as the prices of most goods and services have surged owing to the removal of petrol subsidy, risimg inflation, and the unification of exchange rates, whereas the incomes of many citizens have remained stagnant.

Wilson Erumebor, a senior economist at the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, said petrol subsidy was no longer sustainable, “but so too is corruption, wastage and inefficiencies. Let’s reform that government budget and hold them accountable for every kobo spent”.

“The best gift the President can give Nigerians right now is to carefully scrutinise the federal government budget and remove those frivolous items that we see every year. Business-as-usual for a N26+ trillion FG budget will be disastrous,” Erumebor said on X.

Nigeria still has a host of economic reforms on the table including growing its tax collection rate, increasing its non-oil revenue, and reducing its N77 trillion debt to local and foreign creditors.

However, growing tax revenues in a country like Nigeria will require sacrifice from businesses and individuals who point at decrepit infrastructure to make the case that tax revenues are not efficiently utilised.

“A broke and unproductive country is buying a presidential yacht and cars worth billions for the first woman and NASS?” Tunde Martins said on X .

Critics noted that many Nigerians have long believed the government only exists for a privileged few and not for a population of over 200 million, many of whom are struggling to afford the most basic standard of living.

“At a time like this, there is no car the president wants to buy that he does not already have. His convoy prior to being sworn in was already presidential. So why, at a time like this? More of the same keeps us in a state of same of the same,” said Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, the governorship candidate of the Labour Party in Lagos State in the 2023 general election.

Credits: Dailypost/BusinessDay