A group of civil society organisations has condemned the federal and state governments for encouraging terrorism and abduction through ransom and amnesty for criminals and asked them to stop forthwith. The 68 CSOs in a statement titled, “National Security: Buhari, governors have so far failed”, a copy of which was made available to ASHENEWS on Sunday, noted that the federal government had callously abdicated its responsibility by calling Nigerian citizens ‘cowards’ and urging them to ‘defend themselves’. They further stated that ‘government’s standard state policy of using taxpayers’ money to pay terrorists thereby funding and encouraging terrorism and criminality’, is…
Author: Abdallah el-Kurebe
A coalition of youths associations in Niger state, under the National Youth Council of Nigeria, NYCN, have threatened to stage a protest tagged ‘Occupy Niger’ if the federal and state governments failed to secure the release of the abducted commuters and students of Government Science College Kagara. The youth groups also requested government to provide adequate security to all communities where bandits have continued to attack on daily basis without any form of intervention by security agencies. The youth, who handed the demands at a press conference in Minna on Saturday, noted that the Niger state had become a shadow…
By Lizzy Carr, Bauchi Bauchi State police command has arrested a suspected ritualist for killing a child in Ganjuwa local government area of the state. A statement by the spokesperson, SP Ahmed Wakili made available to newsmen on Sunday also said the command recovered 26 pairs of children’s clothes in the suspect’s house. According to Wakili, the 28-year-old Rufa’i Yunusa hails from Rumbu village in Ningi local government and alleged to have killed four children. The statement added that Yunusa’s arrest on February 17 followed a complaint lodged at the Ganjuwa Divisional Police by one Isyaku Ahmed, that on Tuesday…
Some residents of North East say the automation of process of obtaining Drivers’ Licence and Vehicle Number Plates has helped in sanitising the system and fast-tracking the process. The motorists, who said this in a survey conducted by NAN compared the current development with what obtained in the past, and were of the view that the difference was clear. In the survey which covered Bauchi, Borno, Yobe, Adamawa and Jigawa states, the respondents said not only was the process fast-tracked, activities of middlemen and those who faked the items, had also been checked. They hailed in particular, the perfect synergy…
A Nigerian Air Force, NAF201, with six persons, including crew members on board, has crashed in Abuja. The aircraft, B350, departed Abuja on Sunday in the morning before it crashed, killing all the persons in it. According to Twitter handle of Sen. Hadi Sirika, Minister of Aviation, the aircraft reported engine failure at time 10.39 a.m. and crashed landed on the final approach path of Abuja Runway 22. “Fire services are already at the scene of the accident,” he said. NAN
In Nigeria and Presidential Democracy: Any Better Alternative? (1), we touched on how cries of marginalisation permeate the air. Partisan interests are placed above national interests while divisions along ethnic and religious lines have become the norm just as the struggle for power and its retention have taken a “do or die” dimension, affecting almost everything, including the neutrality of the judiciary, the supposedly last hope of the common man. We also observed that the communication gap between the average Nigerian and his representative in government has widened so much it seems they live in two separate worlds with nothing…
The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) is to establish a National Catastrophic Fund to specifically address terminal ailments such as cancer, advanced heart disease, among others. The Executive Secretary of the scheme, Prof. Mohammed Sambo, made the disclosure at the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja on Sunday. He said that the current contributions to the health insurance pool, was insufficient to cater for some packages and programmes of the scheme. He emphasised that if NHIS had enough funds, it would cover the treatment and management of cancer and other terminal diseases fully. “But we will not leave…
A socio-political organisation, Movement for the Election of Nigerian President of Igbo Extraction, wants Mr Peter Obi to contest the 2023 presidential poll. Obi was the Vice-Presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in 2019 election. The group made the call in a statement issued by its National Convener, Mr Vincent Ezekwueme, on Saturday in Enugu. According to him, the appeal is based on the national acceptance of Obi due to his prudent management of public funds and selfless service to various sectors of the economy, irrespective of state, religion or ethnicity. The statement reads in part: “Obi, a former governor…
The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) is to digitalise its services before the end of this year, the Executive Secretary of the organisation, Prof. Mohammed Sambo, announced in Abuja on Sunday. Sambo said that the digitalisation was part of initiatives to herald the birth of what he tagged electronic-NHIS or e-NHIS. The executive secretary, who is the latest top government functionary to feature at the NAN flagship forum, said that the management of NHIS had already developed a framework to achieve the e-NHIS policy. According to him, e-NHIS is a major reform that is being seriously pursued by the NHIS management…
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Saturday recorded 18 deaths and 645 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 151,553. The NCDC disclosed this on Saturday on its official Twitter handle. The country has tested 1,441,013 people since COVID-19 index case was announced on Feb. 27, 2020. The NCDC registered 18 COVID-19-related deaths on Saturday, raising the total fatalities in Nigeria to 1,831. The health agency announced that the 645 new infections were reported from 19 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The agency said that Lagos State took the lead with…