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Buhari to Nigerians: Bear with us if we haven’t done enough


President Muhammadu Buhari has pleaded with Nigerians yet to feel the impact of his government to bear with the administration.
He spoke in Ilorin through the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, at a town hall meeting with traditional rulers, youths, students, organised labour, market women and other stakeholders on the #EndSARS protest and its aftermath.
The forum was attended by the Kwara State Governor, Abdulrazaq Abdulrahman, Speaker of Kwara State House of Assembly, Yakubu Danladi; the Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Sulu Gambari, and other traditional rulers, representatives of market women, traders and other stakeholders.
In the President’s message delivered by the minister, he said the administration had the interest of the youths and the people in general at heart and was doing a lot to touch their lives.
The President said the government was constrained by dwindling resources occasioned by the impact of COVID-19 which also affected the global economy.
He said, “If we have not done enough or we have not touched everybody, we appeal that you please bear with us.
“In the first instance, what we have is less than 60 per cent of the revenue that was available to other governments that came before us.
“We all know what we suffered during COVID-19, and as we are just trying to recover from this we also faced another crisis.
“We appeal that you should please assist the government and be patient. This government is dedicated to serving the people and we will continue to try our best to do so.
“I thank you all for your perseverance, understanding and patience.”
The President said the administration had many initiatives targeted at creating jobs for the youth and alleviating poverty among women and vulnerable groups.
He said the government initiated a N75bn National Youth Investment Fund to provide opportunities for the youth.
He said the fund was part of the N2.3tn economic sustainability plan aimed at cushioning the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on most vulnerable Micro Small Medium Enterprises across the country.
The President said other initiatives targeted at the youths included N-POWER which had engaged 500,000 beneficiaries with 400,000 more in December.
He said 10,000 youths had been trained and benefitted under N-TECH and N-AGRO respectively.
The President said the federal government FINTECH created enabling environment for growth of businesses that use technology to enhance or automate financial services and processes.
He said over two million farmers, traders, mostly youths, were empowered under FARMERMONI, TRADERMONI and MARKETMONI.
The President said over 500,000 youths had also benefited from the Graduate Internship Scheme which provides short-term employment graduates.
He said 1,000 farmers from each of the 774 LGAs in the country were empowered and guided under the Youth Entrepreneurship Support programme.
Also, Governor Abdulrazaq thanked the President for the initiative of directing ministers to interact with the people at the state level.
He prayed for peace, unity and stability of the country.
Emir of Ilorin said the town-hall meeting was a good forum for the people to express their minds and grievances to government.
News
BREAKING: Bombing many people in Kaduna was not a mistake – Shehu Sani


BREAKING: Bombing many people in Kaduna was not a mistake – Shehu Sani
A former Senator who once represented Kaduna Central has strongly criticized the recent bombing incident in Tudun Biri village of Igabi Local Government Area, Kaduna State, where a crowd was celebrating Maulud.
The Nigerian Army, which conducted the airstrikes, claimed the shelling was accidental and targeted at bandits, resulting in over 90 deaths and numerous injuries.
During an interview on Trust TV’s Daily Politics, the human rights activist expressed his view on the incident, stating, “It’s important that the public understands the context and concept of what is happening in Kaduna as far as security issues are concerned.” He described the tragedy as a grave act of negligence that the government must take seriously.
The former legislator emphasized the history of banditry and terrorist attacks in the region, particularly in Southern Kaduna, Birnin Gwari, Igabi (where the incident occurred), and Giwa local governments. He quoted, “In all of these attacks, there has never been an incident where these terrorists were arrested and killed, or, in any way, neutralized.”
Regarding the bombing in Tudun Biri, he asserted, “This bombing at Tudun Biri could be said to be a serious negligence.” He criticized the contradictory statements from the army, saying, “First, they said it was a mistake. And secondly, they were justifying it with the fact that there were bandits or terrorists they were pursuing and so they carried the attacks there.”
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The former Senator argued that there is no law permitting the pursuit of bandits into civilian areas. He added, “So, as far as I’m concerned, going by the history of this kind of things, if they were cautious, this wouldn’t have happened. If they worked with intelligence, this wouldn’t have happened.”
He further stated, “Now it’s left for the government at both federal and state levels to take action to prevent further occurrence.” He emphasized the need for an apology, stating, “But we have a history of this thing happening. And the reasons they have been giving are more like justifications. So there’s no way this was a mistake.”
Commenting on the recurrent bandit and terrorist attacks across the country, the former legislator argued, “Repetitive killing of civilians was not different from banditry.” He questioned the effectiveness of the security forces, quoting, “With all the trillions of naira we have spent on defence and security in the last eight years, these top-ranking terrorists are still roaming freely.”
He pointed out the inconsistency in tackling terrorists on motorcycles, quoting, “So if you don’t launch attacks on terrorists on motorcycles, who are you going to kill?” He expressed frustration with the military’s actions, noting, “But the military is killing innocent civilians. So how are they different from the bandits?”
BREAKING: Bombing many people in Kaduna was not a mistake – Shehu Sani
News
2024 Hajj: NAHCON reviews guidelines on accommodation, catering services


2024 Hajj: NAHCON reviews guidelines on accommodation, catering services
The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has constituted a Committee to review guidelines on Accommodation and Catering services to enhance service delivery during the upcoming 2024 Hajj.
Acting Chairman of the Commission, Jalal Arabi, said the review would improve performance of service providers for the benefit of Nigerian pilgrims.
Arabi, who said the committee was not a new innovation, noted that it was another way to tinker with the existing mechanism in order to deliver better results.
”What we are doing now is not to introduce rocket science but just to improve on the way we are doing things.
”Like it happens in some other parts of the world, we need to be dynamic. As it is the global practice, we have to improve in our ways, to be in conformity with the international best practices” Arabi stated.
The Chairman urged the committee to approach the assignment with an open mind and a keen sense of responsibility.
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According to him, the report of the committee will have great promise in influencing how the Commission will implement the 2023 accommodation and catering services in Saudi Arabia.
“As experienced staff, I have no doubt that you will carry out the assignment with utmost good faith.
”You also have the leeway to expand beyond the scope of reference, so that whatever recommendation/suggestion you proffer will enrich our knowledge as well as the betterment of the commission” Arabi added.
Responding on behalf of the committee members, Dr Aliyu Tanko, thanked the Chairman for the opportunity accorded them to serve.
Aliyu, who stated that though the task seemed daunting, still, expressed the hope and confidence in members to carry out the assignment in the best possible ways.
He said there is an inter relationship between the assignment and the outcome of the 2024 Hajj.
Aliyu restated: ”It is a daunting task, no doubt, because whatever we do will impact on the result of the 2024 Hajj either positively or negatively. But our prayer is that our report will bear positive fruits”.
2024 Hajj: NAHCON reviews guidelines on accommodation, catering services
News
Reps committee orders arrest of CBN Gov, AGF, 17 others


Reps committee orders arrest of CBN Gov, AGF, 17 others
The House of Representatives Public Petition Committee has issued an arrest warrant for the Central Bank Governor, Mr Olayemi Cardoso, the Accountant General of the Federation, Mrs Oluwatoyin Madein, and 17 others for failing to appear before it to answer questions about their activities.
This came after Rep. Fred Agbedi (PDP-Bayelsa) proposed a motion at the committee hearing on Tuesday.
Moving the motion, Agbedi stated that the arrest warrant was unavoidable due to the attitude of the invitees.
He stated that the parliament operated on a timetable and that the CEOs were asked four times but did not react.
He said that the CEOs should be brought to appear before the committee by the Inspector General of Police through a warrant of arrest after due diligence by the Speaker, Rep. Tajudeen Abbas.
In his ruling, the Chairman of the committee, Rep. Michael Irom (APC-Cross River) said that the I-G should ensure the CEOs were brought before the committee on Dec. 14.
Earlier, the petitioner, Mr Fidelis Uzowanem, said that the petition was anchored on the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) report of 2021.
He said that the report was a summary of the transactions in the oil and gas industry for 2021 which NEITI could to be challenged.
“We took up the challenge to examine the report and discovered that what NEITI put together is a report is only consolidation of fraud that has been going on in the oil and gas industry.
“It dates back to 2016 because we have been following and we put up a petition to this committee to examine what has happened.
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“The 2024 budget of 27.5 trillion that has been proposed can be confidently be funded from the recoverable amount that we identified in the NEITI report.
“It is basically a concealment of illegal transactions that took place in NNPCL, they have been in sync with some oil companies where some companies that did not produce crude were paid cash core, an amount paid for crude oil production,” he said.
He added: “We also found that the cash core payment was use as a channel for laundering funds by NNPCL and we found out that NEITI was able to conceal it in its report.
“In 2021 NEITI reported that Total Exploration and Production Nigeria-Ltd was paid 168 million dollars but examination of submission by the company shows that it received 292 million dollars.
“In other words, 124 million dollars was laundered by NNPCL through Total because monies that have been officially paid to Total could not have been concealed if it were not meant for fraudulent purposes.
“Also for Chevron, the dollar payment NEITI puts forward in its report was 76 million dollars but document emanating from Chevron showed that they received as much as 267 million dollars.”
“In other words, 191 million was laundered under the cover of Chevron and NEITI concealed that; also, Nigeria Agip Company received 188milliom dollars but none of it was reported by NEITI”.
Some of those to be arrested were the Chief Executive Officer, National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), that of Ethiop Eastern Exploration and Production Company Ltd, as well as the CEO of the Western Africa Exploration and Production.
Reps committee orders arrest of CBN Gov, AGF, 17 others
(NAN)
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