News and Gist Blog in Nigeria,
A 16-man board of the Nigeria Police Broadcasting Services has been inaugurated by the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris. Through the police radio and television outfits, the board members are expected to tackle the growing security challenges in the country.
On the essence of radio and television outfits, the IG in his speech at the inauguration, said, "We will tackle security challenges such as terrorism, oil bunkering, ethnic tension, herders/farmers clashes through the use of our radio and television network.“It will enable the police to tell it’s story and set the record straight by telling positive stories and correcting distorted information about the police.
"It will be used to build community relations and enhance positive relations with members of the public and also advance the community policing course of the Nigeria Police Force.”The police chief also noted that the establishment of the outfits were not financially motivated, but for the advancement of the function of the Nigeria Police Force as stipulated in Section 4 of the Police Act.
In his own remarks, the Managing Director of Skytick International Limited, Edirin Wesley, said the absence of an information outfit contributed to the low successes recorded by the police in tackling crime. He said, "It is an established fact that no nation can confront crimes headlong without credible means of factual and valid information dissemination and the absence of this over the years has been one basic defect in the fight against crime by the Nigeria Police Force.
"One of the basic truths about the inadequacies of the Nigeria Police Force is its inability to tell it’s own story and I think with the estbalsihement of its mass media outfit, the tendency to deny them right of showing and telling the road of its performance will be eliminated.”NPBS will be managed by Skytick limited and handed over to the Nigeria Police Force after 20 years.
The British Government has responded to the protest by the Mutual Union of Tiv in the United Kingdom’s (MUTUK) against the Fulani Herdsmen attacks, which culminated in brutal killing of 73 persons in Guma and Logo local government areas of Benue State on January 1, 2018.
The protest, carried out by members of the Tiv community in the UK, was accompanied with a written petition which MUTUK submitted to the British Prime Minister on January 22, 2018.
MUTUK had submitted a petition titled “Stopping the systematic killings and displacement of rural farming communities by Terror Fulani Cattle Herdsmen in the Benue Valley of Nigeria”
The organisation in the petition, made a request to the British Government to consider intervening in the systematic ethnic cleansing and requesting the Federal Government as a matter of national security, to take the necessary steps to identify and disarm the Fulani herders and their accomplices and provide protection for the victims.
According to the Publicity Secretary of MUTUK, Salome Sulleyol Biam, the response by the British Prime Minister, is contained in a letter signed by Angela Almona (Whitehall Nigeria Unit) from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and addressed to Dr Kohol Shadrach Iornem, the Vice President of MUTUK and convener of the protest.
Biam quoted the British Government as stating in the letter that it was concerned about the issue of unprovoked attacks and killing by Fulani herdsmen in Tivland.
“We are engaging with Federal and State Governments to express our concerns about this issue and to encourage the government to work with the affected populations to develop a solution that meets the needs of all the communities affected,” said the British government.
This is coming barely one week after the police announced the arrest of the principal suspects in the unpredictable mayhem by Fulani herdsmen in Guma and Logo council areas of Benue State, in which 73 people, mostly women and children, were killed in the process.
According to media reports, the four principal suspects, who were arrested in Tunga town of Nasarawa State between 16 and 19 February 2018 by Intelligence Response Team of the Force, have confessed to the killings and mentioned gang members in possession of the police rifles they took from the slain police officers and others in possession of arms.
The suspects’ names were given as Alhaji Laggi, 40years, mastermind and gang leader of the herdsmen group; Mallam Mumini Abdullahi, 34 years; Muhammed Adamu, 30 years and Ibrahim Sule, 32 years old.
One hundred and five girls are still missing after Boko Haram terrorist group on Monday attacked the Government Girls Secondary School in Dapchi, Bursari Local Government Area of Yobe State. The girls were said to have run into the bush after the attack. But with many girls failing to return home, parents have expressed fears that the girls might have been kidnapped.
Some of the girls parents told the Agence France Presse that they had set up a support group after the attack, bringing to memory a similar situation which occurred when the insurgent group kidnapped 214 Chibok schoolgirls on April 14, 2014. The chairman of the newly created group, Bashir Manzo, said, "Our first step was to compile a comprehensive list of all the missing girls. So far, we have compiled the names of 105”
Manzo, whose 16 year old daughter, Fatima, is among the missing, said the schoolgirls mothers and fathers would seek a meeting with the Yobe State Governor, Ibrahim Gaidam. He said, "We believe he Gaidam was misinformed (about the rescue of 48 of the girls). The school authorities from the beginning denied and kept denying that our daughters were taken.
"We will see the governor and seek his help , as well as anyone who matters that can in one way or another assist in ensuring the freedom of our girls.” President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday said he was sorry that the attack which led to the abduction of the students from the Government Girls Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State, happened. He described the incident as a national disaster.
The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Chief John Odigie Oyegun, has replied the letter written to him by the national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. Odigie Oyegun's acknowledgement came after he held a closed door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Friday. This came 48 hours after Tinubu wrote the party chairman , accusing him of undermining his efforts aimed at reconciling aggrieved party members, as directed by President Muhammadu Buhari. But in his reply, Odigie Oyegun merely expressed gratitude to Tinubu for wishing him well, saying Tinubu should rest assured of his support towards ensuring the success of the task given to him by the President.
A copy of Odigie Oyegun's acknowledgement letter dated February 23, 2018, obtained by CKN News, read, "I thank you for your letter dated February 21 , 2018, for your prayers and good wishes for my health. I wish you the same and pray that our good God keeps you strong and grants you His peace. Let me once again formally congratulate you on the peace making assignment Mr. President has entrusted you with. "It is most challenging but I believe you will ultimately justify the confidence reposed in you by Mr, President. In this, you have my full support. Be assured, dear Asiwaju, of my highest regards now and always".
Tinubu had in his letter accused the party chairman of undermining his assignment. He accused the APC National Chairman of positioning himself in active opposition to the goal of resuscitating the progressive and democratic nature of the APC. Although details of the party chairman's meeting with the President on Friday were sketchy as of the time of filing this report, it was gathered that the President prevailed on the National Chairman to cooperate with the former Lagos State governor. Odigie Oyegun arrived the Presidential Villa at about 3pm and left at about 3.50 pm. knowing the State House correspondents would seek to hear from him over the letter, the party chairman avoided them.
As soon as he sighted the journalists who were waiting for him at their operational base inside the Council Chambers Briefing Room, Odigie Oyegun increased his pace as he found his way out of the premises. Meanwhile, the Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, has said that state governors elected on the platform of the ruling APC and majority of the party members have confidence in Odigie Oyegun.
Popular Uyo-based Catholic priest and radio preacher, Rev. Fr. Patrick Henry Edet, who resigned from the priesthood in 2017 is set to wed.
Edet, who was a Roman Catholic priest for 11 years, announced yesterday that he will be getting married on Saturday, March 17. As for who he will be getting married to, he said she will be revealed next week. He made the announcement during his Grace Family Church service.
Samuel Abasiekong, a publisher and Secretary Uyo Division of the Nigerian Red Cross Society, confirmed the news on Facebook, writing: “Rev. Fr. Patrick Henry Edet, who resigned from Catholic Church about six months ago to get married on March 17, 2018.”
President Mohammadu Buhari on Thursday asked elected governors on the platform of the All Progressive Congress, (APC) to give him more time to think whether or not he was going to re-contest the 2019 presidential election.
The President told the governors led by Imo State governors, Rochas Okorocha at a meeting held at the First Lady Conference Room in the villa, Abuja.
Buhari, according to Okorocha, in an interview with Statehouse correspondent said the president asked to be giving more time to decide.
“We discussed so many issues that affect the nation, our party and Mr President’s ambition to run for 2019 elections.
“So we should be full of expectations that Mr President will make officially known to Nigerians his intentions.
“But we hope that his response will be in line with what the governors are thinking, as it is the desire of the governors that the President seek re-election in view of his tremendous performances in the last two and half years.’’ he said.
The governors had earlier in the day attended a National Council of State meeting.
The queues for Premium Motor Spirit (PSM), known as petrol, in some parts of the country may not disappear soon, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, said on Thursday in Nigeria International Petroleum Summit in Abuja.
The minister, who spoke during the conclusion of the Nigeria International Petroleum Summit in Abuja, also stated that the country needed $100bn worth of investments in order to revive its oil and gas industry.
Responding to a question on how he intends to ensure that the petrol queues, which are gradually disappearing in Abuja and neighbouring states, did not reappear after the close of the NIPS, Kachikwu stated that he doubted if the situation had gone finally.
He said, “Even though I did tell the NNPC to make sure that there was no queue during this period, it should have been looked at literally. It was basically saying that it’s gone on for a long time and you need to find a solution. The GMD has been very busy on a day-to-day basis and we are trying to implement whatever policies are in place currently to ensure that the queues do not come back. So I am sure we are going to continue to embed that policy.
“Has it gone away finally and for good? I don’t think so. I don’t think so in the sense that there are still a few things and there are importations taking place, there are reserves that are being rebuilt and so a bit of challenge. But I know what they’ve done is being able to manage the logistics angle very well.”
He added, “You also know that as we begin to trend into the late March period, the market dynamics change, products become slightly cheaper because of the summer and winter issues. So, what you might then have is that some marketers, who are on the fringes and who have efficiency levels, might begin to bring in a few cargoes themselves and supplement.
“But I’m hoping that before then, some of the resolutions that we have come to, which his Excellency is considering, would have been approved and it will give the NNPC a lot more leeway in terms of being able to address this issue. So I’m hoping it’s (petrol queues) not going to come back.”
The minister insisted that other marketers had to come into the business of petrol importation, as the burden was too much on the NNPC.
Kachikwu said, “It is critical that we bring back market players in terms of importation. It is too much of a burden to have the NNPC as the last supplier of the product to the country. It is not just something that can be achieved. They have done quite a lot of work this week, courtesy of the ultimatum that I gave, as they have succeeded in taking it out of Abuja.
All Progressives Congress Chieftain, in Ogun State have urged Governor Ibikunle Amosun to anoint Speaker of the House of Assembly, Suraj as his successor for his loyalty and competence.
The APC chieftains, including a former Minister of State for Education and one-time member of the Senate, Senator Iyabo Anisulowo; Prince Bolaji Aretola and Mrs Funmilayo Adeniran, spoke in Ilaro, Yewa South Local Government Area when Adekunbi met with women groups from the Ogun West Senatorial District as part of his consultations for 2019 governorship.
According to reports gathered that their stance came on the heels of recent happening that APC leaders in Ogun West zone, comprising the Yewa-Awori people, had pruned down list of governorship aspirants from the area to three after reportedly screening seven.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday apologised for the attack which led to the abduction of students from the Government Girls Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe state. In a statement released to newsmen by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the president described the incident as a national disaster.
The president disclosed that the federal government would be sending more troops and surveillance aircraft for a 24-hour surveillance of the area. Buhari said: "When I received the devastating news of the attack on the school and the fact that the local authorities could not account for all the students, I immediately dispatched a high-level delegation on a fact-finding visit to the town.
"I also instructed the security agencies to deploy in full and not spare any effort to ensure that all the girls are returned safely, and the attackers arrested and made to face justice.“The entire country stands as one with the girls families, the government and the people of Yobe State.
"This is a national disaster. We are sorry that this could have happened and share your pain. We pray that our gallant armed forces will locate and safely return your missing family members.“Our government is sending more troops and surveillance aircraft to keep an eye on all movements in the entire territory on a 24-hour basis, in the hope that all the missing girls will be found.”
Am a journalist,I love creating news,am also a Human Rights worker,very passionate about people who suffer injustice in the society.
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