70-year-old man, Mohammed Sani Umar (Tela), has raped an eight-year-old girl in Chanchaga area of Minna, Niger State.
Umar raped the girl twice before giving her N80 not to tell anybody about the incident.
“She was sick for some weeks and after every treatment, she was still not very well. Then, a neighbour advised her mother to keep a close watch on the girl, which the mother started doing.
“After some days, she saw some stains in her underwear and asked her what happened to her.
“The little girl took the mother to his place and on reaching there, she just pointed at him.
“On sighting the woman and the girl, he started begging them to cover it up so he will take responsibility,” Abubakar, the girl’s uncle, narrated.
He said Umar was beaten by angry members of the community before he was interrogated and handed over to the police for further investigation and prosecution.
“The woman started crying and shouted for help. People came around, dragged him to the family house, where he was beaten and confessed that he had sex with her twice.
“He said that he gave her N50 once and another N30 the second time.
“We took him to the police custody and handed him to the police to charge him to court,” Abubakar added.
The family appealed to the police to handle the matter professionally as they expressed fear that the police could sweep the case under the carpet as Umar is influential in the society.
“The Divisional Police Officer said the case would be forwarded to the state command on Monday.
“We want the police to do the right thing because the man is very influential and has some people who usually bail criminals arrested by the police.
“He knows the rich people in the community and there is a possibility they would conspire with the police to release the man and sweep the matter under the carpet.
“The police should ensure justice is served right in this case,” the family urged.
The Department of State Services (DSS) wishes to inform the public that it did not arrest Ibrahim MAGU, Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as has been reported by sections of the media. The Service, has since, today, 6th July, 2020, been inundated with enquiries over the alleged arrest.
Peter Afunanya, Ph.D Public Relations Officer, Department of State Services, National Headquarters, Abuja 6th July, 2020
And just like that my life has changed forever. June 7, there was Daddy on our weekly family zoom call, talking and laughing. June 8, he felt unwell. Still, when we spoke he was more concerned about my concussion (I’d fallen while playing with my daughter).
June 9, we spoke briefly, my brother Okey with him. “Ka chi fo,” he said. His last words to me. June 10, he was gone.
Because I loved my father so much, so fiercely, so tenderly, I always at the back of my mind feared this day. But he was in good health. I thought we had time. I thought it wasn’t yet time. I have come undone. I have screamed, shouted, rolled on the floor, pounded things. I have shut down parts of myself.
“The children and I adore him,” my mother wrote in a tribute when he was made professor emeritus. We are broken. We are bereft, holding on to one another, planning a burial in these COVID-scarred times. I am stuck in the US, waiting. The Nigerian airports are closed. Everything is confusing, uncertain, bewildering.
Sleep is the only respite. On waking, the enormity, the finality, strikes – I will never see my father again. Never again. I crash and go under. The urge to run and run, to hide from this. The shallow surface of my mind feels safest because to go deeper is to face unbearable pain. All the tomorrows without him, his wisdom, his grace.
We talked almost daily. I sent him my travel itineraries. He would text me just before I got on a stage: Ome ife ukwu! Nothing else mattered to me as much as the pride in his eyes.
I saw him last on March 5th in Abba. I had planned to be back in May. We planned to record his stories of my great grandmother.
Grief is a cruel kind of education. You learn how ungentle mourning can be, how full of anger. You learn that your side muscles will ache painfully from days of crying. You learn how glib condolences can feel.
My father was Nigeria’s first professor of Statistics. He studied Mathematics at Ibadan and got his PhD in Statistics from Berkeley, returning to Nigeria shortly before the Biafran War. A titled Igbo man – Odelu Ora Abba – deeply committed to our hometown. A Roman Catholic with a humane and luminous faith. A gentle man and a gentleman.For those who knew him, these words recur: honest, calm, kind, strong, quiet, integrity.
I am writing about my father in the past tense, and I cannot believe that I am writing about my father in the past tense. My heart is broken.
Thank you to my darling brother Chuks Adichie for this
‘’It has been long coming. Expect things to be done differently from now on,’’ a source in the thick of things told me regarding the ‘’arrest’’ of Ibrahim Magu, acting EFCC chairman, by security operatives.
Magu’s fall – even though delayed – preceded him. He walked on molten magma. He had chalked up lots of professional liabilities before he became the EFCC czar.
In August 2008, when Farida Waziri was the commission’s chairman, Magu was alleged to be in the possession of some sensitive documents which were not supposed to be at his disposal. These documents were allegedly discovered at his residence. He was redeployed to the police after days of detention, and was suspended from the force afterwards.
Also, in December 2010, the Police Service Commission (PSC) was said to have found him guilty of action prejudicial to state security – withholding of EFCC files, sabotage, unauthorised removal of EFCC files and acts unbecoming of a police officer — and slammed severe reprimand on him as punishment.
Despite these alleged infractions, Magu was reabsorbed into the anti-graft agency when Ibrahim Lamorde was the EFCC chairman, who also recommended him for the top job. All these allegations were foregrounded in the DSS report of 2016.
Soon after he became acting EFCC chairman, Magu busied himself with incurring more ‘’karmic debts’’. He was said to have been embroiled in the blackmail of suspects and was frolicking with the ‘’so-called looters’’. He was also alleged to be living outside the remit of his means.YOU MAY LIKE
The DSS’ vignette captures it thus: “Magu is currently occupying a residence rented for N40m at N20m per annum. This accommodation was not paid [for] from the commission’s finances, but by one Umar Mohammed, air commodore retired, a questionable businessman who has subsequently been arrested by the secret service.
“For the furnishing of the residence, Magu enlisted the Federal Capital Development Authority to award a contract to Africa Energy, a company owned by the same Mohammed, to furnish the residence at the cost of N43m.”
By the sheer tonnage of these redoubtable claims, the Senate in 2016, declined to confirm the appointment of Magu as EFCC chairman. But despite the senate’s pushback, President Muhammadu Buhari re-nominated him. The reaction to the decision of the senate at the time was that some corrupt elements in the national assembly were trying to derail the anti-corruption efforts of the president.
However, it is obvious now why the president did not seek to have Magu’s appointment confirmed even with the current legislative dispensation, under Ahmad Lawan, which is tied to his apron strings. I think Buhari did not discount the allegations against Magu, but he would not bend to the will of the Senate under Bukola Saraki which was at daggers drawn with him.
The death knell finally sounded on Magu when Abubakar Malami, attorney-general of the federation (AGF), asked the president to sack him over some “weighty” allegations, including the diversion of recovered loot. In addition to allegedly re-looting the recovered loot, Malami accused the acting EFCC chairman of insubordination and misconduct.
Before his ‘’arrest’’ on Monday, the EFCC chief had travelled to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates without the authorisation of Buhari during the COVID-19 lockdown – a contravention of the president’s order on measures instituted to curb the spread of the disease. And when he was questioned, he said he went for an investigation.
It is reassuring that the president has elected to stop dilly-dallying on Magu. He has set up a presidential panel to look into these allegations, and perhaps, to put Magu out of his misery. The panel is currently sitting at the presidential villa where the acting EFCC chairman is present.
Magu is on a date with fate. He hoisted himself with his own petard.
Palpable panic has hit Makurdi, the Benue state capital over new confirmed cases of covid-19 with Governor Ortom’s wife Eunice, his son, and other top Government officials testing positive to the pandemic.
According to a report released by NCDC at the weekend, other Top officials of Government that tested positive to the virus include, The Secretary to the Benue State Government (SSG), Prof Anthony Ijoho SAN, Chief of Staff, Mr Terwase Orbunde, the State Head of Civil Service , Mrs Veronica Onyeke, and other aides of the Benue state first family.
Confirming the development while briefing journalist at the Benue People’s at the weekend, Governor, Samuel said” my wife, Dr. Mrs. Eunice Ortom and Secretary to the State Government, SSG, Prof. Anthony Ijohor have tested positive for COVID-19.
“My Chief of Staff, Hon. Terwase Orbunde and the state Head of Service, Mrs. Veronica Onyeke among others have also tested positive for the virus.”
Ortom said though he tested negative, the first family had decided to go into total isolation including himself and urged people of the state to go for testing to ascertain their status and take necessary action.
According to Ortom ” one lesson that I want Benue people to appreciate and understand is that everybody has to make himself available for testing. The more you test, the more you know your status; when you know that you are positive, then you can subject yourself to treatment.”
Asked wether government was contemplating another lockdown owing to the increase in the number of cases in the state, Ortom said the state Action Committee on COVID-19 would sit early next week to review the situation with a view to considering the next line of action.
While noting that testing positive for the virus was not a death sentence, the Governor urged people of the state to take preventive protocols seriously in order to help stop the spread of the pandemic.
The Governor’s wife had earlier issued a statement she personally signed confirming her status and one of her sons, even as she called on anybody she might have come in contact with to go into self isolation and subsequent testing.
“While I have taken the responsibility to personally call every one I can recall to have had recent contact with to go for testing, I advise any one who has had close contact with me in the last 2 weeks and the public to go for screening and testing,” she stated.
Meanwhile, Secretary to the State Government, Professor Anthony Ijohor and Chief of Staff to the Governor, Hon. Terwase Orbunde have also personally confirmed their status for the virus.
In furtherance of the Enugu State government’s contributions to the wellbeing and quick recovery of Miss Nneoma Nnadi, the 10-year-old female househelp, who was brutally injured and maltreated by her guardians, Mrs. Ifeoma Ozougwu and her husband, Mr. Jude Ozougwu, Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi has approved the award of scholarship, up to university level, to the little girl.
In a statement by the Commissioner for Information, Nnanyelugo Chidi Aroh, Gov. Ugwuanyi directed the state scholarship board to implement the approval with immediate effect.
Aroh disclosed that the governor “in addition to the earlier directive to the State Ministry of Gender Affairs and Social Development to provide and fully pay for the best available medical care for the child, the Governor has further directed the immediate release of financial support to the family of the child for their upkeep”.
The information commissioner added that Gov. Ugwuanyi expressed appreciation to the Enugu State Command of the Nigeria Police “for their timely and professional intervention” and equally directed the State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Chief Miletus Eze to “liaise with the Nigeria Police and ensure that the suspects are brought to justice timely”.
It would be recalled that the State Commissioner for Gender Affairs and Social Development, Rt. Hon. Princess Peace Nnaji, on the directive of the Governor, yesterday, visited the victim at ESUT Teaching Hospital Parklane, Enugu and announced the state government’s decision to take adequate care of her wellbeing, pay all her medical bills and ensure that she receives proper medical attention.
One could recount several economic policies of the Federal Government that clearly show that it is no longer comfortable with the over reliance on oil as key economic indicators are pointers to how the development continues to unsettle both the country’s Gross National Product (GNP) and Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The inexplicable abandonment of the non-oil sector had surfaced after the discovery of crude oil, thereby, allowing agriculture and the entire extractive industry to get less attention.
Doubtlessly, Nigeria over the years had enjoyed so much accouterment and respect as one of Africa’s richest nation as a result of huge earnings from the crude oil, but currently faced with the challenge of tweaking the several available economic models to yield results.
We must, however, realise that the era of “oil boom’’ has long gone, leaving the country with no option than to espouse economic policies that could speak to the narrative of “a country beyond oil’’.
We can only view with nostalgia, the Kano Groundnuts Pyramid; the huge reservoir of oil palm and palm plantations in the Eastern part of the country; the Cocoa of the West; textile industry and car manufacturing plants in both Lagos and Kaduna, as well as active mining across the country.
These aforementioned economic prospects if maintained should have today formed major constituents of free trade zones for the country economic growth.
What then is Free Trade Zone? Free Trade Zone (FTZs) also called Export Processing Zones (EPZs) are specific areas which have a different set of rules than the rest of the country in order to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and to also enhance local production for foreign exchange earnings.
An entrepreneur has the latitude to choose the free trade zones in Nigeria in which he or she wishes to incorporate business venture according to the services provided in the trade zone.
Some of the free trade zones are more suitable to a particular kind of industry whereas others are more general.
Border Free Trade; Calabar Free Trade Zone; Centenary Economic City Abuja; Onne Oil and Gas Free Trade Zone; Kano Free Trade Zone; Lekki Free Trade Zone; Ogun-Guangdong Free Trade Zone; Ladol Free Trade Zone, Snake Island Free Trade Zone; Tinapa Resort & Leisure Free Trade Zone as well as Dangote Free Trade Zone, Lagos are some of the active free trade zones in the country.
President Muhammadu Buhari has been consistently faithful with such economic policies that could leapfrog the country’s economy to a monolithic state as the government continually leverages on the pathways created by the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA).YOU MAY LIKE
The Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority is a Federal Government Agency under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment. It was established in 1992 following the enactment of the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Act 63, of 1992.
The agency is responsible for promoting and facilitating local and international investments into licenced Free Zone/Special Economic Zones in Nigeria.
Mr Bitrus Dawuk, Acting Managing Director of NEPZA in his unusual penchant for the diversification of the country’s economic, said NEPZA had the onerous mandate to change the narrative for the better.
Dawuk explained that the change had become more inevitable with the current Covid-19, a disease pandemic ravaging human lives and economic activities, adding that president Buhari had been divinely mandated to leverage on the free trade zone scheme to fine-tune the country’s economic trajectory.
He said the free trade zone scheme was set up to strategically improve the investment climate by stimulating export oriented business activities through strengthening strategic national economic policies.
The scheme is also streamlines administrative approval processes and providing a one-stop-shop service for the businesses both within and outside Nigeria.
Pursuant to the vibrant transformative economic programmes of the federal government, the activities of the agency have been strengthened which has led to the establishment of 37 Free Zones spread across the country.
A zone can be operated by the public or private sector or a combination of both. Some of the zones cater for a specific area of economic enterprise while others are more general in nature.
According to Dawuk, there are currently 400 licenced Free Zones Enterprises operating in the various zones across the country.
The overall objective for the adoption of free zones in the country is to create an enabling environment aimed at enhancing economic growth and development of export oriented manufacturing in the non-oil sector of the economy.
This structure is also aimed at the propagation of the Nigerian content policy in the oil and gas sector in order to diversify the country’s economic base, attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), generate employment, increase foreign exchange earnings, enhance technological transfer, skill acquisition/upgrading as we as create backward linkages.
“Since the inception of the scheme, Nigeria’s economy has witnessed tremendous patronage and steady growth through FDI inflow and revitalization of local industries.
“Presently, NEPZA is being repositioned to take up the role of an Industrial Development Agency that will be responsible for the rapid industrialization of the Nigerian economy by facilitating the development, promotion, operation, regulation and marketing of industrial clusters, industrial cities, industrial parks and free zones across the country,’’ Dawuk reiterated.
In addition, NEPZA is currently prepared for the task of conceptualising and executing transformational industrial zones and centres for the benefit of the country as well as applying incentives to industrial areas as needed.
Overall, NEPZA cardinal objective is to ensure that its clients’ operational and strategic objectives are realised through responsive, cost effective and efficient services and instant pragmatic solution to their needs.
These strategic locations of the free zones regulated and managed by NEPZA provide the required head-start to a resilient economic growth for the president Buhari-led administration going forward.
Chris Ndibe in his book titled: The Danger of Neglecting Free Trade Zones in Nigeria draws attention to the enormous gains accruable to the country from this organised trading structure when the major encumbrances are eliminated.
Ndibe, the executive secretary of African Free Zones Area (AFZA), further said Nigeria could become the next “miracle of Shenzhen’’, a fishing village transformed into a cosmopolitan city of 14 million, with per capital gross domestic product (GDP) growing 100-fold, in the 30 years since it was designed as Special Economic Zone (SEZ) .
In conclusion, as many countries affected by the covid-19 pandemic look for quick fixes for their economies, the Nigerian government may not have to look far as NEPZA free zone scheme remains the panacea for the country’s post covid-19 economic revival.
With the aid of the Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN), Nigeria is said to have saved about $40 million (N15.2 billion) in the localisation of Internet traffic, which would have gone abroad.
The N15 billion savings, as explained by the Internet Society (ISOC), was achieved when the IXPN grew from carrying just 300 Megabits per second (Mbps) to peak traffic of 125 Gbps in 2020.
According to ISOC in its study, titled: “Anchoring the African Internet Ecosystem: Lessons from Kenya and Nigeria’s Internet Exchange Points Growth”, IXPN achieved a milestone in its efforts to ensure that Internet services providers in the country exchanged their traffic locally by exchanging 125 Gbps traffic in 2020.
The latest report was an update on a study published by the ISOC in 2012, which examined two of Africa’s more advanced IXPs at the time – KIXP in Kenya, and IXPN in Nigeria.
The growth recorded by IXPN, according to the report has put Nigeria in a better position than ever before to cope with and contribute to the digital revolution that COVID-19 has accelerated, with Internet becoming a lifeline for many people.Advertisement
Senior Director, Internet Technology and Development for the Internet Society, Michuki Mwangi, said: “It’s clear Africa is ready to embrace the digital revolution to spur economic development. But reaching this goal will depends on our community of passionate people on the ground, policymakers, regulators and businesses embracing IXPs and working in collaboration to create these essential local traffic anchors,”
The report commended Nigerian government for not only making it easier for different service providers to develop sub-marine cables, but also adopted data protection regulations that spurred confidence and attracted international service providers.
Analysing the report with The Guardian, the Chief Executive Officer, IXPN, Muhammed Rudman, said the report is a testament to the good happenings in Africa, especially in Nigeria, as it captured the country’s growth and the impact made in the last eight years.
“The over 400 fold in growth of local traffic is significant, which translates to about 70 per cent traffic for most of the service providers connected to IXPN. We hope to sustain this trajectory and to provide similar services to other regions within the country,” he stated.
Rudman further said the feat was achieved because the IXP was able to attract content providers, especially the big players such as Google, and Facebook. He said the establishment of more data centres in Nigeria also aided the growth.Advertisement
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According to him, the realization that Nigerian companies needed to host their data locally, which hitherto they routed abroad also contributed significantly. He added that the fibre link interconnection, which ensured the connection of all the exchanges in the country also made things easier.
“A lot of Nigerians are now hosting their servers locally, and we have attracted some of the big players in Internet content into the country, such as Google, Facebook and Alkamire, and presently we are trying to bring other bigger ones to the country,” he stated.
He urged smaller Internet service providers (ISPs) to connect to the IXPN in order to widely peer with other members and increase the efficiency of their interconnections, disclosing that IXPN covers eight Point of Presence (POP) across Nigeria.
To improve on the growth, the IXPN CEO, appealed to the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) to ensure the compliance with the Local Content Guidelines; ensure that all government’s websites, and emails are hosted in Nigeria.
Rudman said educational institutions should also be encouraged to host in some of the data centres in the country.
IXPN Point of Presence (POP) in Nigeria includes four in Lagos and one each in Abuja, Port Harcourt, Enugu and Kano. The Lagos POP connects both to each other and to the POP in the other four cities in an effort to extend connectivity to the unserved and underserved,” he said.
IXPN in 2015 emerged as a regional exchange for West Africa with the support of the African Union Commission; which is aimed at reducing the latency and save costs by eliminating international transit through overseas carriers.
Mobile network operators in the country added a total of 3.3 million internet customers in February, data released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has revealed.
The new additions to the country’s internet users’ database brought the total mobile internet subscription to 131.6 million.
While data subscriptions had been on a steady increase in the last one year as the telcos aggressively push for the deployment of 4G infrastructure, the current COVID-19 outbreak has forced many Nigerians to depend heavily on the internet for several needs. Hence, the mobile internet subscription figure is anticipated to skyrocket in the coming months.Advertisement
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According to NCC’s data, MTN Nigeria, which is the largest network operator by subscriber number, added 960,814 new internet customers in the month.
The telco, which had the largest subscriber both for voice and internet, had a total of 56.4 million internet customers as of February this year.
Airtel Nigeria came second in terms of internet customers as it added 670, 474 new subscriptions, which brought its customer base to 36.1 million.Advertisement
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Globacom, though the third in terms of the number of internet customers, emerged as the biggest gainer for the month as it added 1.7 million new internet subscriptions in the month. This brought the number of the telco’s total internet customers to 30.9 million
However, 9mobile maintained its fourth position with a further decline in the number of its internet customers. The telco lost 96,220 customers in February, which reduced its total subscription number to 7.9 million.
While data subscription currently plays second fiddle to voice in terms of revenue for the telcos, it is gradually becoming the main source of income as voice declines. For instance, MTN, which recently released its Q1 2020 financial result disclosed that it recorded a sharp increase in data revenue, while voice revenue only increased marginally.
The telco’s data revenue jumped by 59.2 per cent to N74 billion in Q1 2020, while voice revenue only grew by 7.4 per cent in the same quarter.
Security operatives have whisked away Ibrahim Magu, acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), for questioning by a presidential panel probing the agency.
The panel is currently sitting at the presidential villa in Abuja.
TheCable initially reported that he was arrested by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) but the secret police issued a statement to deny any involvement.
However, TheCable understands that DSS officials were involved in the operation, along with officers of the Nigeria police force.
The anti-graft agency also issued a statement saying that Magu went to honour an invitation by the presidential panel.
“The EFCC’s boss was neither arrested nor forced to honour the invitation. A member of a legal team from the EFCC is also with him on the Panel,” Dele Oyewale, head of media and publicity, said.
The development comes a few days after Abubakar Malami, attorney-general of the federation (AGF), accused the anti-graft czar of gross infractions.
The AGF asked President Muhammadu Buhari to sack Magu over some “weighty” allegations, including the diversion of recovered loot.
In addition to allegedly re-looting the recovered loot, Malami accused the acting EFCC chairman of insubordination and misconduct.
In 2016, the senate declined to confirm the appointment of Magu as EFCC chairman after a DSS report indicted him of corruption.
The report read: “Magu is currently occupying a residence rented for N40m at N20m per annum. This accommodation was not paid [for] from the commission’s finances, but by one Umar Mohammed, air commodore retired, a questionable businessman who has subsequently been arrested by the secret service.
“For the furnishing of the residence, Magu enlisted the Federal Capital Development Authority to award a contract to Africa Energy, a company owned by the same Mohammed, to furnish the residence at the cost of N43m.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect DSS’s denial of involvement in Magu’s arrest and EFCC statement on the development.
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