metro
Flooding: FG sends delegates to Cameroun, laments 600 Nigerians killed, 1.3 million others displaced
Nigeria has lost over 600 people and 1.3 million others displaced within 10 months as floods spread more havoc and sorrow across the country.
Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, gave the figures on Sunday while giving an update on the national flooding disaster at a press conference.
The minister said the Federal Government had sent delegation to Cameroon on the periodic opening of Lagdo Dam which was affecting Nigeria.
Specifically, she said 1,302,589 persons had been displaced; 2,407 suffered different degrees of injuries, 82,053 houses and 332,327 hectares of farmlands completely damaged.
She also warned that Anambra, Delta, Cross River, Rivers and Bayelsa states were still at risk of experiencing floods up to the end of November.
The minister, who faulted the lackadaisical attitude of some state and local governments in response to flood warning, appealed to them to invest in flood management.
“While we mourn the unfortunate boat mishap in Anambra and other locations, please, we must note that we are not completely out of the woods,” Farouq said.
She said the Nigerian Meteorological Agency had warned that states such as Anambra, Delta, Cross River, Rivers and Bayelsa were still at the risk of experiencing floods up till end of November.
“So, we are calling on the respective State Governments, LGAs and communities to prepare by evacuating people living on flood plains to high grounds, providing tents and relief materials, fresh water as well as medical supply for possible outbreak of water borne disease.”
Also, the leader of Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Edwin Clark, has accused the Federal Government of abandoning victims in the Niger Delta.
The elder statesman regretted that he was not in a position to visit the victims like he did in 2012 due to age to encourage them.
He said, “The Federal Government seems to be nonchalant over the plight of citizens in the Niger Delta. For instance, in Bayelsa State, there is a palpable case of humanitarian crisis. Most communities of the state, including majority parts of Yenagoa, the state capital, are under water. The people of the state, who do not have where to go to, have resorted to some crude accommodation of pinning sticks inside the water, with a platform which they use as bed, made up of cellophane bags.
“There is starvation in the land; no water for the people to drink; the state is cut off from all sources that supply food to her, even electricity supply, has been cut off.
“The people now live in their homes with reptiles and other animals, whether aquatic, terrestrial or amphibian, which now drag spaces with humans in their homes, because these animals have also been displaced from their natural habitation because of the flood. It is a scary situation, as this exposes the people to danger.The Federal Government has not done anything to reduce the plight and suffering of the people.”
The elder statesman noted that NEMA, established to handle disaster management, had not visited the flood victims in the states of the Niger Delta.
“One would have even expected that 10 years after the last disaster flood that ravaged the country in 2012, a responsible government, which swore to an oath, to see to the welfare of the people, would by now, have taken steps to alleviate the sufferings, by building the Lagdo Dam in Benue State, instead of blaming Cameroonian Government.
“This attitude of not caring, reminds me of what happened some time ago. Billions of naira was voted to dredge the River Niger, during the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) days, but today, there is no sign of dredging in Bayelsa and Delta states.
“I challenge the Muhammadu Buhari’s government to name any development it has carried out in the Niger Delta region, with exception of the Maritime University, Okerenkoko, Delta State.
“Today, the construction of the East-West Road, which began over 10 years ago to the embarrassment and shame of all of us, has not been completed. The road is being threatened. People cannot pass a section of it easily, either to go to Port Harcourt or return, from Bayelsa State, due to the ravaging flood.
“I enjoin these Federal Government bodies to act fast and sincerely. And should ensure that if relief items are provided, they will actually reach the right people for whom it is meant.
“The Federal Government should please act fast. A great disaster is looming.”
Meanwhile, the ever busy Ughelli-Asaba road has been severed at seven different spots at Ellu, Aradhe, Obetim, Obikwele, Iselegu, Ossissa before Nsukwa junction. It was also discovered that part of the East-West Road and Asaba-Ugbolu road were also flooded.
The development has rendered more households within the affected axis homeless.
metro
BREAKING: FEC proposes N47.9 trillion budget for 2025 fiscal year
BREAKING: FEC proposes N47.9 trillion budget for 2025 fiscal year
The federal government has unveiled a proposed budget of N47.9 trillion for the 2025 fiscal year.
Atiku Bagudu, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, disclosed this to journalists on Thursday following the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting chaired by President Bola Tinubu.
Bagudu revealed that the council had approved the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) for 2025-2027.
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According to the minister, the government has pegged the crude oil benchmark at $75 per barrel, with an oil production target of 2.06 million barrels per day (bpd).
The budget also sets the exchange rate at N1,400 per dollar and aims for a gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of 6.4%.
BREAKING: FEC proposes N47.9 trillion budget for 2025 fiscal year
metro
EFCC arrests ex-NCMB boss over $35m energy project fraud
EFCC arrests ex-NCMB boss over $35m energy project fraud
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) told FIJ that they have arrested Timber Wabote, the former executive secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCMB), on the grounds of a failed $35 million Bayelsa refinery project fraud.
Dele Oyewale, the EFCC’s spokesperson, confirmed this to FIJ on Thursday.
“It is true,” Oyewale responded to FIJ’s inquiries.
Wabote is accused of misappropriating public funds for a refinery project that should have improved local energy production.
Vanguard reported that the NCDMB under Wabote paid $35 million to support the development of energy infrastructure in the Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa, yet there was nothing to show for it.
The EFCC picked Wabote up following the arrest of Akintoye Adeoye Akindele, the Managing Director of Atlantic International Refinery and Petrochemical Limited, for alleged misappropriation, money laundering and diversion of $35 million in public funds.
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“NCDMB under the watch of Wabote allegedly paid the $35 million to Akindele to build a 2,000 barrel per day (BPD), refinery, jetty, gas plant, power plant, data centre and tank farm at Brass free trade zone (FTZ), Okpoama Community in Brass LGA of Bayelsa State,” a source with the EFCC had explained.
Since December 2020 when the payments were made, Akindele abandoned the project with little or nothing to show for the huge sum he received.
Preliminary investigations showed that Wabote’s NCDMB financed 17 different projects, including the 2,000 BPD refinery in Brass LGA.
There has been a series of public fund misappropriation cases in the energy sector in recent times.
FIJ earlier reported that members of the House of Representatives summoned three ministers to defend how over $2 billion was spent on renewable energy with not much to show for it.
A recent FIJ report also recently detailed how residents of Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa, have not had power in their homes since July due to the vandalisation of the Ahoada-Yenagoa transmission towers caused by unidentified persons.
The Bayelsa state government told FIJ it was the federal government’s responsibility to provide electricity for residents. The state has no renewable energy options reliable enough to power its capital despite the multi-million-dollar NCMB energy project.
Transparency in the energy sector has become necessary at a time when Nigerians have suffered power instability due to frequent grid collapses.
EFCC arrests ex-NCMB boss over $35m energy project fraud
metro
Court adjourns Yahaya Bello’s trial till Nov 27
Court adjourns Yahaya Bello’s trial till Nov 27
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has requested an adjournment in the new case against the immediate past Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, stating that the 30-day window for the previously issued summons is still active.
The commission has granted administrative bail to his co-defendants, Umar Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu, and asked the court for an extension of time for Bello to appear.
At the resumed hearing before Justice Maryann Anenih of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Abuja, EFCC Counsel Jamiu Agoro noted that the court’s order from October 3rd had not yet expired.
“In that wise, we feel it will not be appropriate for us to take proceedings while that 30 days is still running. So we have discussed and agreed to come back on the 27th day of November, 2024, my lord,” he told the court.
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He also mentioned that the previously set date of November 20th was not convenient for the prosecution counsels.
Counsel to the second defendant, Aliyu Saiki, SAN, confirmed that his client had been granted administrative bail by the prosecution and had no objection to the adjournment request. The third defendant’s counsel, ZE Abass, concurred.
The prosecution counsel also requested the court to allow the notice of hearing to be pasted on the last known address of the first defendant.
After hearing from all counsels, the judge granted the EFCC’s application for adjournment and the issuance of the hearing notice.
“I have considered the application for adjournment by the complainant and issuance of hearing notice and the submission by the second and third defendants. The application is granted,” she said.
Justice Anenih then adjourned the case to November 27th for arraignment.
The former governor, alongside Umar Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu, are being prosecuted as 1st to 3rd defendants, respectively, in a fresh 16-count charge instituted against them by the EFCC.
Court adjourns Yahaya Bello’s trial till Nov 27
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