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Osinbajo in London, Preaches tolerance, unity in diversity

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has appealed to Nigerians in the Diaspora to remain committed to the unity and progress of the country; even as he assured that the Federal Government will strive for fairness and balance at all times.

He spoke at a session with Nigerians at the at the Abuja House residence of the High Commissioner in London.

He said, “If you look at all of us sitting here, we represent all the geo-political zones. This is the Nigeria that will succeed, anything else doesn’t make sense.”
He said citizens at home and in the diaspora should promote the message of one country, noting that “anybody who looks at how Nigeria operates will recognize that we are better off in this system, and that is the truth.”

“If you look at all of us sitting here, we represent all the geo-political zones. This is the Nigeria that will succeed, anything else doesn’t make sense,” according to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

He said citizens at home and in the diaspora should promote the message of one country, noting that “anybody who looks at how Nigeria operates will recognize that we are better off in this system, and that is the truth.”

The Vice President, according to a press statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, stated this on Saturday during an interactive session with top officials of Nigeria’s High Commission in the United Kingdom.

According to the Vice President, “Yorubas are not better off on their own, Igbos are not better off on their own, the North is not better off on its own. We are better off as one nation, that is why we are strong and that is why we can face the world.”

Still emphasizing the point about unity, Prof. Osinbajo noted that “everywhere in the world today, people are coming together to form stronger units, they are not breaking up, this is not the time to break up.

“If you read of the economics of smaller nations, they are looking for ways of how they can become stronger by aligning with other nations. How does a country with all the potentials and everything that we have, think that the best way is to break up?”

Speaking further, he explained that “we are at a point in time in our history where we have security challenges, we have economic challenges, and if you talk about security, there are so many dimensions to it.

“If you look carefully, all of these could happen to any government and I think we are in the very best position to solve the problems that face us today.”

“Security challenges that we have didn’t show up in one day but it is the government, the people, the men and women that will handle them.

“We happen to be that government, and I am very convinced that we are entirely capable of handling it. I think we are in the best possible position to solve these problems,” Prof. Osinbajo added.

In addition, the Vice President spoke about the popularity and credibility of President Muhammadu Buhari, identifying it as a crucial factor in galvanizing the entire system in resolving the challenges.

Said Osinbajo: “the President is possibly the most popular Nigerian politician that we ever had in generations. He is possibly the only person who can go into a place or somewhere without bossing people to gather and they will come and listen to him speak.

“We need that level of credibility to be able to solve problems in our country. And I think because of his level of credibility, despite everything, he is still the only one that can call everyone, and even people who do not necessarily agree with him know that he is a man of his words.”

The VP urged staff of the High Commission to remain good ambassadors of the country and endeavor to promote justice and fairness in their activities even as they make more efforts to promote government programmes and policies.

His words: “we must promote one country. But, of course, everybody talks about justice, fairness and balance, and that is what we must try to do on a continuous basis.

“Let us not be discouraged, let us be very confident because our country will come out of all these problems and emerge stronger.

“So, I urge every person who represents our country to ensure that we must represent the country well and be able to speak up at the right forum about the country and what we are doing.”

Commending the High Commissioner and top officials of the mission, the VP said “let me say first, how very pleased I am about the great report of developments here at the High Commission.

“And I agree entirely with the High Commissioner that clearly there is a demonstration here of high professionalism, and a desire to completely correct the image that might have been created about Nigeria. I want to really commend you and to say the news we hear about the High Commission is very commendable.”

Aside from the High Commissioner, Ambassador Sarafa Isola, other staff present at the meeting include the Deputy High Commissioner, Ambassador Sanni Suleiman, and the Defence Adviser, Brigadier-General Buhari Baffa, among others.

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Nigerians will soon enjoy improved Electricity supply — Power Minister

The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has assured that Nigerians will soon start enjoying improved power supply across the country.

This was even as he stated that the totality of the re-enacted electricity act has changed the entire landscape of the power sector.

The Minister disclosed this at the 3rd edition of the Power Correspondents Association of Nigeria annual workshop in Abuja on Thursday.

According to him, the 2023 Electricity Act has liberalised electricity generation, transmission, and distribution while also empowering states, organisations, and even individuals to generate, transmit, and distribute electricity.

He noted that the key part of the 2023 Electricity Act is the development of the Integrated National Electricity Policy and Strategic Implementation Plan.

“We are working with the National Council on Power (NCP) to develop and send the implementation strategy to the FederalE Executive Council (FEC) for approval,” he said.

Also, he said, “Part of the strategy in our road map is the emphasis on the bottom-up approach, unlike the top-down approach of the past.

“The implication, with the bottom-up approach, is that we will prioritise metering, distribution, and transmission infrastructure. In the short term, we will focus on customers down to distribution and transmission infrastructure. This is to ensure that a significant portion of what is generated currently gets to end users.

“We will also pay attention to the generation segment, particularly in areas of distributed (embedded) power from renewable energy sources, while at the same time advancing base load power through thermal and hydroelectric plants in the medium to long term.”

He further noted that the administration would explore the country’s regional energy potential.

“We will focus on solar energy in the North, mini hydropower plants in the Middle Belt and the Southwest, hybridised with solar, while our coastal states will be identified for wind energy utilisation.

Taking all the above into consideration, especially with the liberalisation of the sector, Nigerians will soon start to experience the objective that led to the Act, which is improved power supply across the country,” he said

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Court Remands 14-year-old Suspected Killer of FUTMinna Lecturer

A Chief Magistrate Court sitting in Minna, Niger State capital, has remanded a 14-year-old prime suspect, Joy Afekafe, over murder of Mrs. Funmilola Sherifat Adefolalu, an associate Professor in the Department of Biochemistry, Federal University of Technology (FUT), Minna.

The Nigerian Police, Niger State Command, arraigned the 14-year-old Afekafe on three count charges which include criminal conspiracy, culpable homicide and armed robbery.

The offences are in contrary to sections 97, 221 and 298 of the penal code law

The prosecution told Chief Magistrate Fati Hassan Umar that two other suspects in the crime: Wallex and Smart are still at large.

The prosecutor, DSP Ahmed Saidu told the court that the trio had invaded the residence of the deceased on the 28th of October 2023 ”where you took a knife in the kitchen and stabbed her all over her body.

”You also used a wooden stool and hit her on her head after which you carted away $3000, one laptop computer, one mobile phone, two power banks and a car battery.”

The prosecution added that as a result, “the victim was taken to the IBB Specialist hospital where she was confirmed dead by medical doctors”.

When the charge was read to Afekafe, she pleaded not guilty to the crime.

The prosecution pleaded with the court to remand the accused in the Correctional Centre to enable the Police forward the case file to the Director of Public Prosecution in the state Ministry of Justice for legal advice, adding that it is only the High Court that has jurisdiction to try the case.

Chief Magistrate Fati Hassan Umar directed that Afekafe be remanded at the Children Correctional Centre before adjourning the case to 11th of December, 2023 for further mention

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Missing N43bn Revenue: Reps Threaten To Issue Arrest Warrant on NAMA, MD

The House of Representatives on Wednesday threatened to issue a warrant of arrest against the Managing Director of Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Mohammed Odunowo, next Monday, over missing N43 billion revenue accruing from sales of both local and international air tickets between 2021 and 2022.

Chairman, House Committee on Finance, Hon. Abiodun James Faleke, issued the threat notice during the resumed hearing in Abuja, frowned at the level of disrespect for the Parliament.

Worried by the NAMA helmsman’s refusal to honour the two invitations sent to him by the Committee, Faleke said: “When we did the calculation, I recall that we recorded about N43 billion deficit. And of course, NCAA said they do not agree with the number provided by FAAN. The data whatever, that it couldn’t have been up to that

And FAAN said that this was not generated by them but generated by NAMA. And there’s a record – the ADR 16 that generates that. So, we asked them to come back with NAMA and with specific data from that ADR 16.

“And today, we have NCAA before us. Unfortunately NAMA is not here. I don’t know why, this is the second time, the next time we are going to issue a warrant of arrest on NAMA. If he fails to appear before us on Monday, we will issue warrant of arrest on NAMA boss,” he ruled.

After grilling the NCAA delegation, the Committee asked the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Accountant General of the Federation to provide details of all the accounts being operated by Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA).

While frowning at the Agency’s failure to provide the data from the ADR 16, the lawmakers emphasised the need for NCAA to provide relevant documents showing detailed reports of total passengers carried by all the airlines on monthly basis, how passengers carried to various destinations, ticket fees charged per airline and 5 percent of the charges.

The lawmakers also demanded for bank accounts of the five agencies that are involved in sharing of the 5 percent of the total revenue generated from air tickets was remitted to and the distribution pattern of that total sum as well as evidence of the distribution.

Worried by the inconsistency of the NCAA delegation’s explanation on the billable and non-billable airline operations, scheduled and non-scheduled aircraft operations as well as the chartered flights, the lawmakers underscored the need for relevant data to justify their claims.

While scrutinizing the NCAA’s presentation, Hon. Faleke frowned at the discrepancy between the total of 15,518,978 domestic passengers were recorded while 3,791,985 international passengers were recorded in 2018, as well as the number of billable departed passengers.

Worried by the lackadaisical attitude of NCAA towards due diligence, Hon. Faleke said: “The next time you appear here, we will not hesitate to take action that will affect your seat.”

He alleged that officials of the regulatory agency “are hiding the money, that’s why you refused to provide the data.

“You people have always reported negative balance. I’ve done so much research on all of you. We said we are looking for N43 billion, so bring the data but you refused.

“If you’re not ready to give us the documents, we will compel you to do it. And if you refuse you will not be in that office and somebody will produce it,” he vowed.

While responding, the NCAA delegation led by Captain Ibrahim Dambazau and Abubakar Dachi as well as the Director of Operations, said the ADR 16 is the only authentic document recommended globally for documents of aircrafts.

He added that operations of operators will be assigned with code and time of schedule for the aircraft.

According to the NCAA, the private chartered aircraft do not sell tickets hence those passengers are not charged.

In the bid to track the missing fund, Hon. Faleke harped on the need for all the beneficiaries of the 5 percent including, NAMA, NCAA, NCAT, NSIB, NiMET to give account of their stewardship.

To this end, the Committee resolved that all the stakeholders should appear on the 14th December with all the records requested for.