Operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) on Friday, have rearrested activist and publisher, Omoyele Sowore.

This follows an initial report by this online medium that DSS stormed the premises of the Abuja Federal High Court to arrest the #RevolutionNow convener but were resisted by other activists in court.

However, an update on the matter has it that Sowore has now been arrested by the secret police and has been taken to the DSS headquarters.

As at the time of filing this report, the reason for the rearrest was yet to be ascertained as Sowore was only released on Thursday following a court order.

Nigerian music artiste and FLYBOY Inc boss, Kiss Daniel has declared what degree he graduated with from Water Resources Management and Agrometeorology (Water Engineering).

This he revealed while responding to a fan on Twitter yesterday evening.

The fan had believed that Kiss Daniel had graduated with a first-class, to which Kiss Daniel reacted saying he graduated with a 4.37 and was almost at a first-class.

See the tweet below:

The Economic and Financial Crimes has arrested 23 suspected students learning Internet scam also known as ‘yahoo-yahoo’.

Operatives of the commission busted an alleged training centre on Essien Essien Street, Ikot Ibiok Village, Eket Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State.

A spokesperson for the EFCC, Wilson Uwajaren, said the fraudsters were arrested during an operation, which took place in the early hours of Thursday, November 28, 2019.

He noted that the suspects between the ages of 19 and 35 years confessed that they were undergoing training in various aspects of cybercrime such as love scam, online trading scam, identity theft etc.

Uwajaren also disclosed that during questioning, the suspects narrated how they were recruited into the ‘academy’ to be trained in cybercrime in the regimented premises.

The Federal Government will on Monday, October 15, 2018, begin the final verification and payment of entitlements to former workers of the defunct Nigeria Airways.
According to a statement by Paul Abechi, the special adviser on media and communications to the finance minister, the payment will last one week simultaneously across Lagos, Kano and Enugu states.

The exercise will take place at Sky-Power Catering, Ikeja, Lagos; ABC (former Nigeria Airways Office), Bank Road, Kano; and Villa Toscana Hotel, Independent Layout, Enugu.

President Muhammadu Buhari receives the Liberian Special envoy and Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, H. Ms. Mawine Diggs accompanied by the Ambassador of Liberia to Nigeria, H.E Prof Al-Hassan Conteh during an audience at the State House, Abuja on Wednesday, December 4, 2019.

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The Federal Government will on December 18 arraign the acting Registrar-General of the Cooperate Affairs Commission, Azuka Obiageli, before the Code of Conduct Tribunal, on assets declaration-related charges.

A statement by the Head, (Press & Public Relations), Ibraheem Al-Hassan, said this in a statement on Wednesday.

Al-Hassan noted that the CCT Chairman, Danladi Umar, had on November 27, 2019, approved the December 18 date for the arraignment, adding that the defendant had been served with the tribunal’s summons on Tuesday.

He said Obiageli was charged with 11 counts of violating “the provisions of Paragraph 1, 9 and 11 (1) (a), (2), of the Fifth Schedule, Part1 and punishable under paragraph 18 (1) and (2) of the Constitution.”

The statement added that the 11 counts bordered on “alleged infraction of asset declarations.”

It added, “The charge was signed by the operative of the Code of Conduct Bureau, Musa Ibrahim Usman, on November 20, 2019, for the Hon. Attorney General of the Federation.”

It also stated that a Deputy Director of Federal Ministry of Youths and Sports, Mohammed Al-Hassan, would also be arraigned on December 18 on two counts.

The Central Bank of Nigeria says its unconventional monetary policies have supported the creation of over 2.5 million jobs across the agricultural value chain.

The CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, made this known in a keynote address he delivered at the 28th Annual Seminar for Finance Correspondents and Business Editors, held in Owerri on Tuesday.

Emefiele was represented at the occasion by Mr. Edward Adamu
CBN Deputy Governor, Corporate Services.



The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the 2019 seminar has its theme as “Galvanizing Development Finance and Monetary Policy for Growth.”

He noted that the unconventional or heterodox monetary policies adopted by the apex bank were well thought through and had been yielding significant gains for the Nigerian economy.

He said this was evidenced in the GDP recovery in the third quarter of 2017, which had been sustained for nine successive quarters after five consecutive quarters of negative growth.

Emefiele noted that the unconventional monetary policy initiative was premised on ensuring credit delivery to critical sectors of the economy.

According to the CBN governor, the move informed the directive to Deposit Money Banks to maintain a minimum Loan to Deposit Ratio (LDR) of 65 per cent by the end of December 2019.

He said the apex bank was also creating the necessary eco-system to inculcate a better credit culture among Nigerians.

“In all, there is sufficient evidence of significant reductions in our annual imports bill and increased non-oil exports.

“Our Development Finance intervention has helped to bolster agricultural production by removing obstacles faced by smallholder farmers.



“We have also improved access to markets for farmers by facilitating greater partnership with agro-processors and industrial firms in the sourcing of raw materials.

“So far, the programme has supported more than 1.5 million farmers across all the 36 States of Nigeria, in cultivating 16 different commodities over 1.4 million hectares of farmland.

“It has also supported the creation of over 2.5 million jobs across the agricultural value chain,” he said.

Emefiele said that considering the gains, the media had a critical role to play in conveying a deeper understanding of the bank’s commitment to economic growth and development.

“For instance, it is our game-changing intervention in the rice value chain in Kebbi and other rice-producing states across the country that increased local rice production from 2.5 million tonnes in 2015 to 5.8 million tonnes in 2017.

“This was also the case in the cotton intervention with the flag-off of input distribution to 150,000 cotton farmers, cultivating 150,000 hectares in 23 states of the Federation,” he said.

The CBN governor said the theme of this year’s seminar was relevant, considering the evolving interconnectedness between development finance and monetary policy, not only in Nigeria but in other economies across the world.

He said the CBN approach to stimulating economic development was three-pronged and centered on Agriculture, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and Infrastructure.

He said the apex bank had transcended her core mandate of maintaining monetary, price and financial system stability, to undertake developmental initiatives with a view to spurring economic growth and job creation.

“Our efforts at these development finance initiatives have helped to accelerate the actualization of the Federal Government’s economic diversification programme.

“Diversifying our economic base presents a more sustainable and stable option.

“It is our conviction that focusing our developmental efforts on sectors with inherent potential for growth, employment and accretion to foreign reserves would enhance the fortune of the Nigerian economy,” he said.

Emefiele pointed out that the CBN had increased its lending to the agricultural and manufacturing sectors, through targeted intervention schemes such as the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, Commercial Agricultural Credit Scheme and the Real Sector Support Facility.

The FHC further held that the Plaintiff is not liable to pay CIT, being an individual who carries on legal practice in its name and issued an order of perpetual injunction restraining the FIRS, its agents, privies, employees, etc., from demanding the payment of CIT from the Plaintiff. The FHC also awarded monetary sum as damages against the Defendants for illegal and unlawful freezing of the Plaintiff’s bank account.
Comments
In 2018, the FIRS commenced the issuance of Letters of Substitution to banks in Nigeria, pursuant to Section 49 of the Companies Income Tax Act, Cap. C21, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 (as amended) and Section 31 of the Federal Inland Revenue Service Establishment Act, 2007. By the letter, the FIRS alleged that certain listed customers (“affected companies”) maintaining bank accounts with such banks failed to fulfil their tax obligations, and therefore appointed the banks as tax collecting agents for the deduction and remittance of the alleged tax liabilities. The FIRS also requested the banks to “freeze” the accounts of affected companies and demanded that the banks should not execute any mandate on those accounts without its prior approval.
Following the above, KPMG issued a Newsletter – issue 2.5 of February 2019 highlighting key issues that the FIRS should consider before implementing its directive to the banks, some of which the FHC addressed in this judgement.
The FHC judgement declaring the FIRS’ action as “unlawful, null and void” is, therefore, not surprising given the plethora of issues associated with the FIRS’ directive, some of which we had highlighted in the Newsletter mentioned above. For instance, the judgement confirms that the FIRS’ appointment of banks as agent for collection/remittance of taxes when the taxes are not proven to be due is premature and exposes the banks to risk if such taxes are not actually due, or are lesser than the sum actually paid to the FIRS. The FIRS must also demonstrate that the alleged liability is final and conclusive, and that the taxpayer has failed to pay the liability within the statutory time limit before it can validly appoint an agent of collection for that purpose. In any case, such enforcement must be limited to the amount of the valid liability and not the total funds in the affected taxpayer’s bank account.
The FHC judgement further demonstrates that a risk of exposure in the form of an award of damages may crystalize on the banks where the freeze order is determined to have been wrongly issued and executed, especially where the bank failed to obtain adequate comfort from the FIRS that the liability is indeed final and conclusive before executing the lien.
While the FIRS must be commended for its various initiatives to expand the tax net and improve voluntary compliance level, such actions must be within the confines of the law. Banks must protect their fiduciary obligations to their customers, failing which the customers have a right in law to seek legal redress whenever they perceive a breach of their statutory rights. Taxpayers must also ensure that they promptly fulfil their civic obligations by paying the right amount of taxes and complying with all statutory filing requirements as and when due. This will, expectantly, engender trust in the Nigerian tax system.

In October 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari submitted the Finance Bill 2019 to the National Assembly, seeking a sweeping change to Nigeria’s outdated corporate tax laws. The bill, if signed into law, is expected to address most of the challenges with Nigeria’s corporate tax laws, ease payments of taxes, and ultimately increase government revenues.

Businesses in Nigeria are now more than ever exposed to payment of taxes, according to provisions of the Finance Bill currently being debated by the National Assembly.

Whilst the bill has largely been received positively by most stakeholders, a critical look at its provisions outlines the significant roles which commercial banks will play in widening the tax base and reducing tax evasion.

Role of Banks
According to Section 2 of the Finance Bill, Every person engaged in banking in Nigerian shall require all companies to provide their tax identification number as a precondition for opening a bank account, or in the case of an account already opened prior to September 30th 2019, the bank shall require such tax identification number to be provided by all companies as a precondition for the continued operation of the bank account.
What this means
Banks will be required to request Tax Identification Numbers (TINs) before opening accounts for individuals while existing account holders must provide their TINs to continue operating their accounts.Emails are to be accepted by the tax authorities as a formal channel of correspondence with taxpayers.
Banks in Nigeria currently demand TINs; however, this was under the instruction of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) mandating banks to demand the TINs.
With this law, the TIN is now a critical KYC information required by banks, which inadvertently gives the FIRS access into the banking transactions of taxpayers.

Implication for taxpayers
The Finance Bill gives the FIRS and the State Inland Revenue Service complete access to transactions in the bank accounts of businesses. The provision is obviously aimed at increasing the government’s revenue, giving them unfettered access into the bank accounts of millions of Nigerian companies. According to an analysis of the Finance Bill by accounting firm, PWC, “there is also a deliberate effort to ensure that the sector contributes to revenue generation without excessive financial burden. An area of focus for the government would be to formalise these businesses through the TIN project in collaboration with the banks.”
Before now, Nigerian business owners had often complained that their bank accounts had been frozen by banks on behalf of the FIRS. With this bill, it is unclear how the FIRS will utilize the access they have to bank accounts by leveraging on the TIN.


What experts say
As far as Managing Partner, Prime Consult, Dr Gbenga Adebayo, is concerned, the primary objective of the bill is the generation of additional revenues for the government to potentially partly finance the deficit in the 2020 Budget of the FGN.
He explained that requesting TIN connotes that the Federal Government is determined to ensure that everyone pays tax, and would be ready to enforce remittance from the source or ask the bank to freeze the account of defaulters.

Adebayo said, “FIRS has been freezing the accounts of tax defaulters, and insisting on TINs of both new and existing account holders is a drastic move to enforce compliance. The TIN could be used to monitor/track people’s accounts and curb default.” 
Executive Chairman of Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr Tunde Fowler

Another tax consultant, Tayo Oluwole, agreed that the bill seeks to promote fiscal equity by mitigating instances of regressive taxation, reform domestic tax legislation in line with global best practices, and introduce tax incentives, particularly for investments in infrastructure.
“It will no longer be business as usual regarding tax collection. Banks are being used as agents for both tracking and collection,” she said.

Thirteen journalists from print, online, television, radio, photo, and editorial cartoon categories have been shortlisted for the 2019 Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Journalism.

Similarly, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Amnesty International and veteran photojournalist, Sunmi Smart-Cole, have been nominated to receive honorary awards at the 14th edition of the initiative, which will hold at NECA House, Lagos, on Monday, 9th December 2019 by 6pm.

The journalists who were shortlisted from 194 entries received include; Chinwe Agbeze of The Sun, Damilola Banjo of Sahara Reporters; Samson Folarin of The Punch; Sharon Ijasan of TVC News; Isine Ibanga of The Next Edition; Samuel-Wemimo Bukola of TVC News; Oladimeji Ramon of Punch; Mary Abayomi-Fatile of Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN); Ayodele Adeniran of Guardian; Saheed Olugbon of The Punch; Albert Ohams of The Sun; Chikezie Omeje of International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR); and Odutayo Odusanya of The Punch.

Yemi Osinbajo, Nigeria’s Vice President, will be presented the Integrity specialty of the Anti-Corruption Defender Award for his invaluable work of overhauling the Lagos State Judiciary, facilitating far-reaching reforms in the administration of justice in the state, his work of promoting integrity in the civil society and business in Nigeria and his consistency as a strong voice for promoting integrity in the country.

On the other hand, Amnesty International, a global movement promoting human rights in Nigeria and beyond, will be honoured with the Human Rights Specialty of the Anti-Corruption Defender Award for its remarkable voice against human rights violations and oppressive laws, and its efforts to defend freedom of expression in Nigeria.

Veteran photojournalist, Sunmi Smart-Cole, will also be honoured with the Lifetime Award for Journalistic Excellence for his outstanding contribution to journalism exhibited by his beautiful and evincing pictures particularly during the military era in Nigeria and his commitment to mentoring the next generation of photojournalists.

The award presentation event is held annually on December 9, the World Anticorruption Day and eve of the Human Rights Day, to acknowledge best practices in investigative journalism and call attention its for attaining good governance, accountability, and social justice. It has produced 91 finalists, 9 investigative journalists of the year and 20 honorary awards recipients so far.

Maverick entertainer and activist, Charles Oputa, popularly known as ‘Charly Boy’, is set to perform at the 2019 annual Felabration fiesta, a week-long celebration of the life and times Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.

The event is holding from Oct. 14 to 20, at the New Afrika Shrine in Lagos, with both local and international artistes slated to perform.

In a video shared on his social media page on Tuesday, Charly Boy said he was set to perform alongside other artistes at the grand-finale of the fiesta.

According to the 68-year-old showbiz maestro, who released his debut highlife album over three decades ago and recently returned to the stage, his performance was in the spirit of immortalising Fela’s ideas.


The former president of the Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria (PMAN) said he will present his latest songs at the show. “Make a date with me, alongside other great Nigerian artistes on Sunday, Oct. 20, as we all gather together to give honour to whom honour is due, the legendary baba Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.

“Come listen to my new tunes as we all gather if we can find a cure to our mumu.”
Charly Boy had earlier told NAN that he has decided to use music as a tool to inspire ordinary Nigerians, especially youths, to realise that power truly belongs to them.

He explained that he was leading an advocacy and enlightenment campaign on the “Social Contract’’ to Nigerians across all backgrounds.

“Music has been my age-long passion, and this time I am using it to awake the consciousness of all Nigerians, no matter where they are, towards building the country they desire.”

NAN also reports that Felabration was founded by Fela Anikulapo’s daughter, Yeni Kuti, as an annual festival to honour and celebrate the ideals that the late founder of Afrobeats music and socio-political activist lived for.

This year’s edition, tagged “From Lagos with Love”, opened on Monday at Neca Hall with a talk show on the topic, ‘Teacher don’t teach me nonsense’.

The panel included Ugandan singer and politician, Bobi Wine, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Prof. Wole Soyinka, and British rapper, Akala.

The first day also had electrifying performances from promising Nigerian singers, including Fuji singer, Remi Aluko, singer Dotman, Trod, Picazo Rhap and Yomi Blaize.
Fast-rising versatile singer Zinoleesky, popularly called the ‘show killer’, also performed at the opening day.

Zenith Bank has supported and sponsored various technology start-ups and innovative ideas at its recent Tech fair.

Zenith Tech Fair, which held at the Land Mark Event Centre, Victoria Island Lagos, was themed ‘Future forward’, which showcased leading technology innovations across every aspect of life.



Speaking at the event, Jim Ovia, Chairman, Zenith Bank Plc, said Zenith Bank has always had some form of technology summit over the years, but the tech fair is a little bit different from the prior years because, at this point in time, the world has gone so digital and Nigerian economy is being digitised.

He said Nigeria has well trained Nigerian engineers, IT and practitioners and there is a need to encourage them.

Ebenezer Onyeagwu, MD/CEO, Zenith Bank, who was pleased with the turnout of people in attendance, acknowledged that virtually every stakeholder in the digital ecosystem was represented at the event.

“I am very impressed with the quality of the presentation. We had presentations from Google, IBM, Oracle and several others and every one of them talked about the huge potentials in Nigeria and the opportunity for growth expansion that awaits us, so I believe what we need to do is take it to an elevated level to see what happens,” he said.

On whether the tech fair was mature for discussions around 5G technologies, Onyeagwu said it was mature, stressing that Nigeria needs to be aware of what is happening.



“We need to be aware of the direction of travels so if everyone is taking about 5G and moving ahead, what you see in the digital space is that, if you fail to adapt to the latest technology, you will soon become irrelevant,” he said.

Juliet Ehimuan, Google’s Country Manager in Nigeria, who said she felt great being at Zenith Bank’s tech fair said that technology has played a very important role and continues to play that role in transforming the way we live, work, do business and interact with one another.

Rotimi Amaechi, minister of transportation, has announced a free train ride from Lagos to Ibadan.
In a tweet on Saturday, Amaechi said the take-off point will be from Iju, and that the rides will run until March 2020.

He asked commuters to take advantage of the free rides during the festive season.
“Our free rides on the Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge rail line will begin today and run through March, 2020,” he tweeted.

“Commuters on that route can take advantage of it and save on transportation during the festive season and beyond. Let’s ride to the #NextLevel.”

 During the inspection of the project earlier, Amaechi said it was the wish of the government to begin free rides in Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge rail line.
The minister inspected the project in the company of Gbémi Saraki, minister of state for transportation.
He said he put pressure on the contractor to ensure that the minor stations were completed in due course.
“We know that by January next year, they are going to finish both the minor and major stations so that we can move on,” Amaechi had said.
“They need to increase their speed. They reduced their speed within the period the government dissolved the last cabinet.

“Now that we are back, my colleague, the minister of state, and I had resolved to push back the pressure to ensure early completion.
“Our ambition is that by November, we should begin trial if train services between Lagos and Ibadan for free.”

The world’s largest crude distillation column equipment designed for crude oil processing for Dangote refinery on Sunday arrives Lagos.

The Crude Distillation Column is the largest in terms of distilling capacity which is 650 thousand barrels per stream day. Presently, this is the world’s largest single-train refining Column.

The significant equipment  weighs 2250MT; Length, 112.5m; Width, 14.036m; and Height, 13.752m;

The above-mentioned weight does not include the weight of the internal trays which is approx. 536 MT.

Capt Rajen Sachar, Head, Maritime and Ports Infrastructure of Dangote told the newsmen during the arrival of the facility in Lagos that the equipment  is the biggest single-train facility used for refining crude

The refinery equipment which was manufactured by Sinopec in China is the primary unit processor of crude oil into fuels.

Sachar said the crude oil consists of various chemical components that have different molecular sizes, molecular weights and boiling temperatures.

He added that the crude distillation column works on the principle of fractional distillation leading to separation of various components in the mixture on the basis of their different boiling points.

According to him, “ Crude oil enters the top of the column, where the inlet temperature is 165 deg C gradually increasing to 357 deg C at the bottom of the column.

“During this passage, the crude and its vapours pass through a complex web of internal trays to increase the contact time and surface area within the column with the hot vapours travelling upwards through bubble caps which allow the vapour to pass through the tray with the cooler liquid flowing downward the column.

“When the vapour reaches the height within the column where its boiling point is equal to the temperature of the column at that height it condenses to form a liquid.

“The liquid then collects on various trays in the column at differing heights from where it is extracted out of the column.

“It is therefore critical to control the heat load of the column to optimize the crude crack.

“These separated fractions are mainly middle distillates namely, Naphtha, Jet Fuel, Kerosene, Gasoline and Gas Oil,” Sachar added.

The company’s captain said that the refinery, when completed, will produce Euro-V quality gasoline and diesel, as well as jet fuel and polypropylene.

He said that the crude column will enhance the economy of Nigeria and all neighbouring countries in Africa by making available refined petroleum products meeting world standards emission norms of Euro 5 and Euro 6.

The captain said the strategic location of Nigeria in West Africa continent will help in reducing the transportation costs of these fuels to other countries in the African subcontinent.

“Thereby providing cost-effective high-grade petroleum products to them.

“This Refinery with a capacity of 650 kbps is higher than the total demand of Nigeria

“Thus catapulting Nigeria position from a net importer of petroleum products to a net exporter of petroleum products. Thereby redefining Nigeria’s position in the global petroleum product market.

He said that the equipment was capable of refining 650,000 barrel per day (bpd) which he said the refinery was designed to be Africa’s largest, with potential to transform the country from an importer of fuel to a net exporter.

He said that the technology is significant to Nigeria and Dangote refinery, because “ this is the largest crude oil processor in the world”.

According to him, this technology will bring a multiplier effect positive to the company and Nigeria through supply to a huge market.

Sachar said that the project is also expected to generate over 9,500 direct and 25,000 indirect jobs.

“The Crude Distillation Column is the largest in terms of distilling capacity which is 650 thousand barrels per stream day.

“Presently, this is the world’s largest single-train refining Column.

“The dimension of this equipment has a weight of 2250 metric tonnes,112.5 meters length,  14.036 meters width and 13.752 meters height, he said.

Sachar said: It is the largest diameter, longest length and the heaviest single-unit equipment in domestic export equipment.

“ It will be installed in the world’s largest single-series refinery – the 32.5 million tonnes/year Dangote refinery in Nigeria.

He said that crude oil processor took 14 months in construction by Sinopec company in China and eight weeks to bring it down to Nigeria.

“ We decided to ship it through the vessel from China to avoid being damage and also to avoid traffic congestion if using roads from Apapa.

“ Dangote refinery also invested heavily in dredging to sea from refinery to Apapa for easy passage of the vessel.

He said that the President of the company, Alhaji Aliko Dangote is passionate about technology transfer to Nigerians, adding that he has given standing instruction to train seven Nigerians be a ship Captain

Sachar said Dangote Oil Refinery Company is currently training about 150 young Nigerian engineers in refinery operations in preparation for the take-off of its Lagos refinery and petrochemical plant in Indian.

He said engineers were currently undergoing training  Mumbai, India.

He said the training programme was a continuum as more engineers would be trained to work effectively in the fertilizer plant and refinery being built by the company.

In his remarks, Mr Lawal Fagbo Saheed, Pilot Grade 1 of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) commended the vessel crew who brought it from China, adding that it took seven hours to drive the vessel from Apapa to Dangote due to the heavy equipment.

According to Saheed, “ It took an experienced and patient pilot to move the vessel to the final destination due to sea waves.

“ We are happy today that am also part of progress and am proud to be associated with such landmark achievement.

FG has rejected the assessment of the United Nations of the state of insecurity in the country.

The Presidency in a statement by the Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, on Friday said that the UN Rapporteur on violence in Nigeria was inadequate and does not reflect the true situation in the country, describing it as disappointing.

It said while the government admitted that violence was a challenge, it was equally addressing the issue at all levels in collaboration with state governments.

However, the Presidency argued that any report that left out intra-group violence as a major factor contributing to the general spate of insecurity was unacceptable to the government.

Shehu said, “In Benue, Taraba, Cross River states and many parts of the country, most of the casualties resulting from intra-group, inter-group and community violence.

“Many of the displaced persons across the nation are also victims of these conflicts.

“Therefore, we are saddened that the rapporteur did not address intra-ethnic conflicts and cattle rustling as key elements in herders/farmers conflicts.”

The Rapporteur, Agnes Callamard, in one report this month, said “Nigeria is a pressure cooker of conflicts”, warning that it posed a serious danger to the rest of West Africa.

Aside from widespread killings by Boko Haram, she touched on raging banditry, killings by herdsmen over the right of access to farmlands, kidnapping and alleged increasing human rights abuses by Nigerian security forces.

Callamard said, “The lack of accountability is on such a scale that pretending this is nothing short of a crisis will be a major mistake.

“If ignored, its ripple effect will spread in the sub-region given the country’s important role on the continent.”

Source: Saharareports

Joseph Allbasu Kunini has been elected as the new speaker of Taraba State House of Assembly, following the resignation of the former speaker Abel Peter Diah and his deputy.

Hammanadama Abdullahi, member representing Bali Two constituency is now elected as the deputy speaker of the House.

The new speaker in his acceptance speech called on the members to put aside their differences and work collectively for the interest of the state.

He said; “Taraba should be greater than all of us..”

Joseph Kunini promised to work with the leadership of the house tirelessly round the clock to ensure a harmonious relationship between the three arms of the governments.

The Federal Government on Sunday opened the Kara Bridge section of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway to traffic, after completing repair works on a 600-metre stretch, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

Kara Bridge of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, which was partially closed in September for repairs, is now open.

This was done to ease the gridlock on the expressway, which has been gruelling for motorists in the past three months.

The ministry of works had executed the partial closure to allow the construction firm Julius Berger repair approximately 600 metres of the road.


The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) personnel closed the Kara end of the bridge, using patrol vehicles to lead vehicles into the newly-constructed lane.

The FRSC in a slow motorcade, took off from the Kara end of the bridge at exactly 10:30 a.m., leading the vehicles on the Lagos-bound carriageway to merge onto the Lagos traffic at the Isheri intersection on the highway.

An FRSC Assistant Corps Commander expressed satisfaction at the road repair and thanked the Federal Government and its agencies that effected the repair.

When a NAN correspondent visited the site, traffic regulatory agencies, law enforcement agencies and officials of Federal Ministry of Works, Power and Housing were supervising removal of barricades by construction workers.

Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) personnel closed the Kara end of the bridge, using patrol vehicles to lead vehicles into the newly-constructed lane.

The FRSC in a slow motorcade took off from the Kara end of the bridge at exactly 10:30 a.m. leading the vehicles on the Lagos-bound carriageway to merge onto the Lagos traffic at the Isheri intersection on the highway.

An FRSC Assistant Corps Commander, Taofik Iyanda, expressed satisfaction at the road repair and thanked the federal government and its agencies that carried out the repair.

Mr Iyanda appealed to road users to exercise caution while driving on the highway.

“Motorists should not see the road as a racecourse. They should exercise patience on the little segment that has been completed and opened for use.

“They should not exceed the specified speed limit.

“The road is still under construction and a lot of things will have to be put in place, so they have to be very careful and exercise patience anytime they are plying the road,’’ he advised.

He told journalists that the collaboration of traffic management agencies and law enforcement agencies helped to minimise road accidents and deaths during the repair period.