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Folarin Kehinde

INEC Delists Over One Million Voters For Invalid Registration

by Folarin Kehinde September 13, 2022

written by Folarin Kehinde

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has removed and delisted over 1 million newly registered voters due to double registration and invalid records.

INEC has said that out of the 2, 523,458 fresh registrants that registered between 28th June 2021 and 14th January 2022, 1,126,359 records were found to be invalid and consequently delisted.

The invalid records might have been caused as a result of a rush by Nigerians to register before the end of the deadline given by INEC

The commission claimed that several double, multiple, and ineligible registrants have also been detected and invalidated, adding that these include entries that fail to meet the commission’s business rules.

The national commissioner and chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye who disclosed this in Abuja yesterday in a statement made available to newsmen insisted that a thorough process was being undertaken to clean up the registration data.

Similarly, he said Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) for all valid registrants will be available for collection by the end of October/early November as promised.

Okoye said cleaning up of the register of voters using the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) is ongoing since the suspension of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) on 31st July 2022.

The statement reads in part: “The ABIS for the period – 15th January to 31st July 2022 is almost completed. Several double, multiple, and ineligible registrants have also been detected and invalidated. These include entries that fail to meet the Commission’s business rules.

“The commission takes this responsibility seriously because a credible register is at the heart of electoral integrity.

“As soon as the process is concluded, the commission will provide the public with full information as usual.”

Thereafter, he said valid registrants will be added to the existing national register of voters before publishing same nationwide for scrutiny, claims and objections by citizens as required by section 19 (1) of the Electoral Act 2022.

September 13, 2022 0 comments

Headlines

Breaking: William Ruto Sworn In As Kenyan President

by Folarin Kehinde September 13, 2022

written by Folarin Kehinde

William Samoei Ruto has officially been declared President of Kenya replacing former president Uhuru Kenyatta.

His swearing-in ceremony, took place today 13/09/2022 at the Karasani Stadium, Kenya.

He was sworn in by the Chief Judge, Martha Koome, at a ceremony held in the packed Moi International Sports Centre in Kasarani.

Amid cheers from the excited crowd, Ruto swore an oath of allegiance and another oath for the execution of the functions of the office.

Ruto also appended his signature to the corresponding documents, as seen in the live broadcast monitored by our correspondent on Tuesday.

With his inauguration, Ruto becomes the fifth president of Independent Kenya, and the second ethnic Kalenjin after the late Daniel Arap Moi to hold the office.

The outgoing president Uhuru Kenyatta congratulated Ruto on his victory in the August 9 poll yesterday.

Kenyans quoted Uhuru as saying, “As a hallmark of our democracy, therefore, I will, before God and my fellow countrymen, handover the instruments of power to our new president at the Moi International Sports Center Kasarani and with that, the fourth administration will come to an end and the tenure of the fifth administration will begin.”

“My family and I join all Kenyans in wishing the very best to our next President Dr. William Samoei Ruto and extending to him our warmest congratulations for receiving the mandate of Kenyans to lead us as our 5th president.”

The Vice President of Nigeria, Yemi Osinbajo, was also at the swearing-in ceremony.

Osinbajo’s media aide, Laolu Akande, made this known in a tweet which read, “VP Osinbajo now in Nairobi, Kenya where he is representing Nigeria at the inauguration of Dr. William Ruto as Kenya’s fifth President today.

September 13, 2022 0 comments

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Muslim-Muslim Ticket A Deceit: Sheikh Gumi

by Folarin Kehinde September 13, 2022

written by Folarin Kehinde

Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, a renowned Islamic cleric has described the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the All Progressive Congress as deceit.

The cleric said that Nigeria needs an experienced leader who will guide the nation in the 2023 elections and beyond.

He advised Nigerians not to employ the politics of religion or ethnicity in choosing leaders in the 2023 general elections.

Speaking in an interview on the forthcoming general election and the state of the nation, Gumi said there was nothing wrong with politicians contesting elections several times, seeking victory.

On Atiku Abubakar, he said “Nigeria needs an experienced politician.

We don’t need a novice to be President. The situation in Nigeria today needs an experienced politician to solve it,” he said.

On Tinubu who said it is his turn to be President, Sheikh Gumi said, “it is not proper for him to say it is his turn. There is no question to saying it is my turn.

Don’t say it is my turn because if people like you they will vote for you. He is a good administrator, he can do it. The Muslim-Muslim ticket is unnecessary.”

“We all know, all these politicians are looking for votes. The Muslim-Muslim ticket is, let me use Hausa language, is wayo (deceit).

It is not religion. Whether it will work or not, I don’t want to prophesize, but there are a lot of hurdles. In fact, all political parties have hurdles.

Muslim-Muslim ticket is going to be a laboratory test for others to emulate or not”.

On Peter Obi, he said “youths following him are divided like the adults. He needs to reach out to other segments of Nigerians.

Relying on youths is not enough. He has to be all over the place, and not leaving politics to one region”.

Sheikh Gumi warned that if an inexperienced politician is voted into power, he will find it difficult to assemble the best brains within a possible time framework to set the nation working progressively.

Sheikh Gumi noted that it took President Muhammadu Buhari over six months to appoint Ministers and government officials because he (Buhari) was an inexperienced politician.

“Nigeria is now in the 21st century, people are more educated now. What Nigeria needs now are people with competency.

We should not be talking about the North because the North is no longer monolithic, we should not be talking about the Southwest because no particular person is in control, and we should not be talking about South East, look at how Senator Ifeanyi Uba was attacked by his own people.

“So let’s talk about Nigeria as one united people.

Nobody controls anybody in the country. So let’s move forward. Look at America, nobody is talking about power rotation.

Let’s develop a democracy that we can sustain”. He added.

He said social injustice and poverty were responsible for insecurity in the country, adding that seven years into President Buhari’s government, almost every Nigerian is feeling the pains of socio-economic hardship in the country.

September 13, 2022 0 comments

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Dana Air Poised To Resume Flight Month End

by Folarin Kehinde September 13, 2022

written by Folarin Kehinde

Dana Air may resume flight operations before the end of next month.

Remember that the airlines’ Air Transport License, ATL, and Air Operator Certificate, AOC, were suspended by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, in July 2022, following outcome of a financial and economic health audit.

After findings from an investigation conducted on the airline’s flight operations, it revealed that Dana Airlines was no longer in a position to meet its financial obligations and conduct safe flight operations.

The airline has however made sufficient progress to address the shortfall and are currently undergoing audit by relevant authorities.

An authoritative source in the sector who preferred anonymity, disclosed that the NCAA would conduct a final audit later this week which will conclude the process of seeing the airline resume operations.

He said: “Dana Airlines may likely resume operations either before the end of October or November, 2022. The NCAA is satisfied with Dana’s response.”

Meanwhile, the airline had announced conclusion of its internal Safety Management Systems, SMS, training for top management staff and post holders.

The airlines’ Accountable Manager, Ememobong Ettete, said: “We have just concluded our Safety Management Systems training for top management staff and post holders.

“The NCAA audit is also still ongoing and we have made a huge progress, having upped the ante on all our processes and procedures, but the SMS training is a periodic training for staff to enhance their knowledge on safety both in the office and across all aspects of our operations.”

September 13, 2022 0 comments

Headlines

Boko Haram Murdered 50% Of North East Teachers

by Folarin Kehinde September 12, 2022

written by Folarin Kehinde

Activities of Boko Haram terrorists in the North-East have resulted in the death of over 40 to 50 percent of the teachers in the zone.

Managing Director, North East Development Commission (NEDC), Mohammed Alkali, disclosed this at the 50th session of the State House Briefing organised by the Presidential Communications Team at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He said teachers in the zone remained the primary target of the terrorists.

He said the commission prioritised the training of teachers in the region because their ranks had been substantially depleted.

He said “The scarcest product now, not only in Nigeria but elsewhere, is teachers. In the North-East, over 40-50 percent of teachers have either been killed or something has happened to them because tag of the insurgency is the Boko Haram and teachers are the instruments of this so called Boko Haram and they’re the primary target of those people.

“Most of them have been killed or something must have happened to them. So, we need more teachers in the region.”

Alkali said the federal government had completed the construction of 1,000 housing units as part of its resettlement efforts for millions of inhabitants displaced by the 13-year insurgency in the North East geo-political zone.

He said the houses had been handed over to the Borno State Government who distributed it to various households.

He said the houses were built in Ngwom, Borno, with plans to build 500 housing units in five other affected states each, costing N17.5bn.

He said lack of robust education system had fuelled the insurgency in the zone, noting that the commission had created an Education Endowment Fund with a seed capital of N6bn with plans to dedicate 10 per cent of its annual allocation to the Fund.

He said to execute its mandate according to the North East Stabilisation and Development Master Plan in the next 10 years, the NEDC required at least N31.05tn.

NEDC Executive Director, Humanitarian Affairs, Musa Yashi, said some of the internally displaced persons in the North East were not willing to return to their ancestral homes.

Yashi said 20 to 30 per cent of the displaced persons did not live in camps.

pointblank

September 12, 2022 0 comments

Headlines

6 Dead As Gunmen Attack Senator Ifeanyi Ubah Convoy

by Folarin Kehinde September 12, 2022

written by Folarin Kehinde

The convoy of the Senator Ifeanyi Ubah has come under attack.

The Senator, representing Anambra South Senatorial Zone, Mr. Ifeanyi Ubah, has been attacked at Enugwukwu in Njikoka Local Government Area of Anambra State.

According to eyewitnesses, the convoy was ambushed by heavily armed men who opened fire on his convoy from all directions.

Up to six of his aides were killed including some police officers.

The Senator is said to have managed to escape but his bulletproof car was riddled with bullets.

Reacting to the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Tochukwu Ikenga, said the Commissioner of Police in Anambra State, Mr. Echeng Echeng, has already led operatives to the scene at Nkwo market, Enugwukwu.

In a statement issued on Sunday night, he said though the details of the incident are still sketchy, operatives are on ground there to monitor the situation.

He said the police would communicate further details as things unfold, adding that the Police remained committed to getting to the root of the matter.

One of the Senator’s aides who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the attack was an assassination attempt but the Senator was able to escape because of his vehicle was bulletproof.

The aid said Senator Ubah and his convoy were passing Nkwo Enugwukwu junction when they were shot at from all sides by the attackers.

A special aide to the Senator, as well as five policemen were reportedly killed. Senator Ubah is said to be in an undisclosed hospital where he is being monitored by doctors even though he was not physically hurt.

September 12, 2022 0 comments

Headlines

ASUU Strike: FG Drags Academic Union To Court

by Folarin Kehinde September 12, 2022

written by Folarin Kehinde

After series of failed negotiations with ASUU, the Federal Government has referred the prolonged strike embarked upon by members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) for adjudication.

The government wants the National Industrial Court to order ASUU members to resume work, while the issues in dispute are being addressed by the court.

The referral instrument addressed to the Registrar of Industrial Court was dated September 8, 2022, and signed by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige.

In the matter billed for mention at 9am today, the federal government asked the NICN to inquire into the legality or otherwise of the on-going prolonged strike by the ASUU leadership and members that had continued even after apprehension by the Minister of Labour and Employment.

Also, the government wants the court to interpret in its entirety the provisions of Section 18 LFN 2004, especially as it applies to the cessation of the strike once a trade dispute is apprehended by the Minister of Labour and Employment and conciliation is ongoing.

Other requests made by the government to the court are:

“Interpret the provisions of Section 43 of the Trade Dispute Act, Cap T8. LFN 2004, titled “Special Provision with Respect to payment of wages during Strikes and Lock-outs,” specifically dealing with the rights of employees/workers during the period of any strike or lock-out. Can ASUU or any other union that embarked on strike be asking to be paid salaries even with clear provisions of the law?

“Determine whether ASUU members are entitled to emoluments or “strike pay” during their period of strike, which commenced on February 14, 2022, more so in view of our national law as provided in Section 43 of the TDA and the International Labour Principles on the right to strike as well as the decisions of the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association on the Subject.”

“Determine whether ASUU has the right to embark on strike over disputes as is the case in this instance by compelling the Federal Government to employ its own University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) in the payment of the wages of its members as against the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) universally used by the Federal Government in the nation for payment of wages of all her employees in the Federal Government Public Service of which university workers including ASUU members are part of or even where the government via NITDA subjected ASUU and their counterpart UPPPS university payment platform system software to integrity test (vulnerability and stress test) and they failed.”

The Federal Government also wants the court to determine the extent of ASUU’s demand since the 2020 Memorandum of Action (MOA) that the union signed with the government.

The demands include the funding for revitalisation of public universities as per the 2009 agreement, Earned Academic Allowances (EAA) payments, state universities proliferation and constitution of visitation panels and release of a white paper on the report of the visitation panels.

The others are the reconstitution of the government renegotiation team for renegotiation of the 2009 agreement, which was renegotiated in 2013/2014, due for renegotiation in 2018/2019 and the migration of ASUU members from IPPIS to its own UTAS, which is currently on test at NITDA.

September 12, 2022 0 comments

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NAF Crashes 15 Aircrafts In 7 Years, Worth $135 Million Dollars

by Folarin Kehinde September 9, 2022

written by Folarin Kehinde

On the 19th of April 2022, the super mushshak trainer aircraft with two NAF military officers on board crashed at Kaduna with no survivors.

This is one of the 14 Nigeria Air Force aircraft crashes between 2015 and 2022. These aircraft crashes have led to the loss of 15 NAF aircraft worth an estimated $135.13 million. Apart from the financial loss, it has also resulted in the loss of top military personnel.

The Nigerian Air Force is the youngest arm of the Nigerian military and one of the largest in Africa. Nigerian air force ranked 67th in the global air power ranking with a 17.9 true value rating (TvR).

Under the Buhari-led administration, the Nigeria Air force inducted 38 new aircraft into its fleets to strengthen its air power. From 2015 to 2021, the serviceability status increased from 35% in 2015 to about 72% in September 2021.

Data from the World Directory of Modern Military Aircraft (WDMMA) shows that the service has 138 total units in its active aircraft inventory, with excellent readiness units of 110 aircraft, assuming a readiness rate of 80.0%.

The loss of aircrafts could likely impact the country’s future ratings.

Of the 15 incidents, the reported cause of the crash was only available in 12 crashes. Ten out of the twelve crashes were in a non-combatant situation which equals non-combatant crashes of 83.3% out of crashes that took place in the period under review.

Of the non-combatant crashes, one was as a result of human error by the pilot, another because of bad weather. Two aircrafts crash-landed, and another two crashed as a result of airborne technical error. Two aircrafts collided in a training situation, resulting in a crash.

The highest occurrence of crashes were in 2019 and 2021, with four crashes in each. It was only in 2020 that the Nigeria Air Force did not record or report any aircraft mishap.

When the cost of each aircraft lost to crashes is considered, it comes to a total of $135.13 Million.

September 9, 2022 0 comments

Headlines

Backlash Trail’s Call To Rename UNN After Queen Elizabeth

by Folarin Kehinde September 9, 2022

written by Folarin Kehinde

Anger and backlash have trailed calls to rename UNN after Queen Elizabeth II, the late monarch of the United Kindom.

Nigerians lashed out at former presidential aspirant, Adamu Garba after he made the controversial suggestion online.

Adamu had said the federal government should immortalize Queen Elizabeth II by renaming University of Nsukka as Queen Elizabeth University.

Adamu had taken to Twitter to make the suggestion following the death of Queen Elizabeth on Thursday evening.

Adamu wrote: “Immortalizing Queen Elizabeth by renaming the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in her honour would’ve been an easier deal if I were communicating with our grandparents. Fortunately, they knew her worth.

“Age is a grace, & 7 decades on the Throne can only be the work of God and Grace.

If I’m the President of Nigeria today, I’ll declare 3 days of National Mourning for the death of The Queen Elizabeth II of England.

“Those of you that went to UNN, Nsukka, get ready to redo your CVs. Hopefully, your former school will be renamed to Queen Elizabeth University of Nigeria. I congratulate you on this remarkable progress.”

Many wondered the meaning of that tweet, asking why would someone ever think of renaming anything after a “colonizer”. What’s wrong with our people now. This is someone that doesn’t even want you to live a free life and you’re still thinking of celebrating her.

Some asked him how many of our former great leaders them done immortalise for England.

September 9, 2022 0 comments

Headlines

Nigeria Aims $18bn Dollars To Combat HIV

by Folarin Kehinde September 9, 2022

written by Folarin Kehinde

Nigeria aims to raise $18bn dollars to combat HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in the country.

Stakeholders in the country made this known during the pre-conference meeting on the Global Fund’s seventh replenishment with the theme ‘Nigeria’s call to fight what counts’ held in Abuja on Thursday.

According to them, the fund is needed to change the trajectories of mortality and incidence toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 3 target of ending AIDS, TB, and malaria as epidemics by 2030.

It was reported that the United States of America will host the Global Fund’s Seventh Replenishment Conference on September 19, 2022 in New York City with a target of raising $18 billion targeted at saving 20 million lives globally from the impacts of HIV, TB, and malaria.

Speaking at the meeting, the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire said Nigeria aligns with Global Fund’s target to raise at least $18 billion for the 2023-2025 funding cycle to save 20 million lives and to reduce the mortality of HIV, TB, and malaria by 65 percent.

Dr. Ehanire, who was represented by the Minister of State for Health, Joseph Ekumankama said the fund will help get the world back on track toward ending HIV, TB, and malaria, especially for the most affected countries.

September 9, 2022 0 comments

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