Folarin Kehinde

Troops of the Nigerian Army deployed in the 1 Division Area of Responsibility in Kaduna State have successfully rescued 16 kidnap victims in the Kajuru Local Government area.

According to a statement released by the Director of Army Public Relations, Major General Onyema Nwachukwu, the rescue operation took place in the Tantatu Community of Kajuru Local Government Area on March 17, 2024, around 10:30 pm local time.

The troops, acting on actionable intelligence, swiftly responded to reports of insurgents attacking the community and abducting several villagers as hostages. Upon arrival at the scene, the troops engaged the insurgents in a fierce firefight, relentlessly pursuing them into the bushes.

“Tenaciously pursuing the insurgents, engaging them in a ferocious exchange of fire, the troops succeeded in rescuing 16 kidnapped victims,” Major General Nwachukwu stated.

The Army spokesman further emphasized that the troops continue to scour the bushes in ongoing search and rescue operations, with the aim of liberating any remaining victims and thwarting the nefarious activities of the insurgents.

In commendation of the troops’ successful rescue operation, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, lauded their bravery and urged them to remain vigilant as they continue their counter-insurgency operations to secure troubled areas across the country.

President Bola Tinubu, on Monday, met the leadership of the Edo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress at the State House, Abuja.⁣
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LEADING REPORTERS understands that Monday’s meeting was meant to address disagreements brewing in Edo APC for weeks now and officially present the party’s flag to its candidate in the September 2024 governorship elections, Monday Okpebholo, and his running mate, Dennis Idahosa.

The delegation was led to the Villa by the APC Chairman, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje. ⁣

While the full details of the closed-door talks remain unclear, our correspondent learned that Idahosa has been asked to withdraw his court case against Okpebholo’s candidature. ⁣

The primary election through which Okpebholo emerged as a candidate has been mired in controversy.

Idahosa was first declared the party’s nominee by the Governor Hope Uzodimma-led committee. ⁣
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The first round of voting saw the trio of Okpebholo, Idahosa, and Dekeri lay claim to the party’s governorship ticket.

Consequently, the party’s National Working Committee declared the exercise inconclusive owing to several irregularities.

Okpebholo eventually secured victory with 12,433 votes in the February 23 re-run.

Also present at the meeting was the Senator representing Edo North Senatorial District, Adams Oshiomhole, and former representative of Edo South in the Senate, Matthew Urhoghide, among others.

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The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has announced that data and voice services affected by undersea cable cuts has been restored.

It would be recall that there was a disruption in network service on
March 14, 2024, which affected data and voice services due to cuts in undersea fibre optics along the coasts of Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal which affected communication services in Nigeria and other countries.

Meanwhile, the Director, Public Affairs, Reuben Muoka in a recent statement made available to Leading Reporters has confirmed that services have now been restored to approximately 90% of their peak utilization capacities.

According to Muoka all operators who were impacted by the cuts have taken recovery capacity from submarine cables which were not impacted by the cuts, and have thus recovered approximately 90% of their peak utilisation capacities.

He noted that Mobile Network Operators have assured the Commission that data and voice services would operate optimally pending full repairs of the undersea cables as they have managed to activate alternative connectivities to bring back the situation to normalcy.

Armed bandits on Sunday night kidnapped 87 people after launching a fresh attack on the Kajuru-Station community in Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

A member of the Kajuru-Station Youths, Harisu Dari, confirmed the incident to Punch on Monday.

He said the terrorists also broke into some shops and stole food items and other valuables, adding that they invaded the village around 10 pm.

The attack came barely two days after 15 women and a man were abducted in the Dogon-Noma community of the same local government.

Kajuru and Chikun Local Government Areas had, in the past two weeks, become the hotbed of abductions in the northwest state.

Harisu explained that no contact has been established yet with the 87 locals abducted on Sunday night.

“As of the time I visited the community this morning, security operatives have not been drafted to help restore the confidence of the villagers.

“The villagers are traumatic with the sad development. The government needs to re-strategise in tackling these terrorists,” he added.

The Sokoto Central market was gutted by fire earlier today, with the motorcycles and bicycle dealers mainly affected.

An All Progressives Congress member, HB Mayana, shared photos from the devastating incident on X this morning.

He wrote: “Sokoto Central market faced a devastating fire earlier today, particularly impacting the motorcycles and bicycle dealers.

“Preliminary reports suggest losses amounting to billions of Naira. Our thoughts are with the victims. May Allah reward them abundantly.”

Meanwhile, an eyewitness who spoke with Punch said the Sokoto Central market fire emanated from a dump site close to the motorcycle section.

Reacting, the chairman of Motorcycles Marketers Association, Shehu Muhammad, said they could not quantify the number of motorcycles destroyed by fire because the fire was still raging.

“We cannot quantify the number of motorcycles burnt down by the fire now because the fire is still raging.

“We cannot quantify the number of motorcycles burnt down by the fire now because the fire is still raging.

“But many people lost their shops along with their motorcycles because they could not come in time as the fire started around 6 am.

“But men of the federal and state fire services are currently battling, but I know it will take some time before they can quench it all,” he said.

There are strong indications that a potential problem of scarcity of e-passport booklets is looming.

According to a report by Leadership, the situation is occasioned by the non-payment of huge production debt to vendors and major stakeholders involved in the value chain of the travel document.

A top source at the passport office at the Nigeria Immigration Service headquarters, quoted in the report, explained that the gross income paid by passport applicants goes directly to the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) Treasury Single Account (TSA), from where the service is supposed to make payment to all stakeholders involved in the passport value chain.

He lamented that, unfortunately, before the income drops, the federal government, which regards the money as net income, takes out 50 per cent, leaving the Immigration service with nothing reasonable to service their vendors and all stakeholders involved in the passport production process.

His words: “Let me give you an example. The cost of the 32-page passport booklet outside Nigeria is $132, while the cost of the 64-page category is $230. If you apply outside Nigeria and you pay in dollars, the money goes straight into the Federal Account, which is shared amongst the three tiers of government every month by the Federation Account Committee (FAAC).”

The officer, who confirmed that there is currently a shortage of 32-page booklets across the 48 passport-issuing outlets outside Nigeria and the 44 outlets in the country, acknowledged that the agency presently has the 64-page booklets in excess but that the demand for it was deficient.

“Our service providers are owed over N16 billion while printed booklets are stuck in warehouses due to our inability to offset these huge debts.

“The Customs Service, DHL and two Nigerian banks are amongst service providers that are insisting on the payment of their outstanding N16 billion balance before the documents would be released to us.

“As a matter of fact, we are meant to understand that the manufacturing firms based in Slovenia, Malaysia, and another in Malta handling the e-passport projects are yet to be reimbursed in line with our agreement to always make payment two weeks after printing and supplying the e-passports,” he stated.

Eight directors at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) who worked closely with the former governor, Godwin Emefiele, have been served early retirement letters.

The directors, some of whom were initially redeployed to an arm of the bank, FSS 2020 under the Governor’s Directorate, whose office is located in the Maitama District of Abuja since 24th November 2023, and kept in a sort of pool to await “further directives”, are being asked to exit the CBN.

Sources say that some of the directors had already been served the disengagement letters since Friday, but could not state clearly under what terms were those affected disengaged.

“We don’t know whether they were given early retirement or their appointments were terminated outright”, a source told DailyTrust on the condition of anonymity.

Although sources could not confirm if those being served early retirement letters have been found guilty of any offences, they said main reason for the sack of the affected officials, according to most of our sources, was “because they had worked very closely with the immediate past governor of the bank, Mr. Godwin Emefiele”.

The decision has raised great concern amongst staff of the CBN, who fear that it could be a prelude to more layoffs by the current management.

Recall that the CBN had relocated no fewer than 150 staff of the Banking Supervision Department (BSD), which is one of the 29 departments of the bank to Lagos.

The move had generated mixed reactions across the country, with many alleging that it was an attempt to dislodge staff who are northerners from the institution.

But the CBN dismissed those insinuations, insisting that it was part of a proper reorganisation of the bank, to ensure that the regular onsite examination of the 24 banks in the country were diligently carried out, since most of those national and regional banks are headquartered in Lagos.

It also adduced as part of the reason for the relocation, the desire to de-congest the corporate headquarters of the bank.

It was widely alleged that many politicians had abused their privileges during the Buhari Administration to secure appointments for their children and relations in the CBN.

Meanwhile, some of the directors affected in the latest action of the current management of the CBN have threatened to challenge the decision, while others have said they will accept the sack as the CBN has become a ‘poisonous working environment.’

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has announced a strategic collaboration aimed at enhancing seamless processes related to the National Identification Number (NIN)-SIM linkage.

The Director Public Affairs, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Reuben Muoka and the Technical Adviser, Media, and Communications to the DG/CEO of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) Ayodele Babalola in a recent joint press statement noted that both agencies would explore innovative approaches to facilitate the swift verification and authentication of NINs during SIM registration and activation processes.

According to the duo, the collaboration is expedient considering the need for aligning SIM registrations with individuals’ unique national identification numbers which has been a subject of national discourse in recent times.

They explained that under this collaboration, NIMC and NCC will work closely to explore synergies and leverage each other’s expertise and resources in major areas which include: Streamlining the NIN-SIM Linkage Process, Capacity Building and Public Awareness, Data Verification and Validation, Policy Harmonisation and Regulatory Framework.

They added that both NIMC and NCC are committed to fostering a collaborative and transparent partnership that prioritises the interests of Nigerian citizens and promotes national development.

“By pooling our resources and expertise, we aim to overcome the challenges associated with the NIN-SIM linkage exercise and ensure its continued successful implementation.”

As Nigeria joins the world to celebrate the 2024 Consumer Right Day, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has called for the use of fair and responsible Artificial Intelligence (AI) which aim at empowering consumers, build their trust, and minimize negative effects.

The Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, NCC, Dr. Aminu Maida while speaking at the commemoration of the 2024 Consumer Right Day in Abuja stated that fair and responsible Artificial Intelligence (AI) for the Consumer
using AI responsibly is crucial in order to guarantee consumer trust and circumvent possible problems.

According to Maida, AI Developers need to be transparent about the data, algorithms, and models used in AI systems which he said will ensure that decisions made by AI can be explained and mistakes can be fixed to ensure everyone is treated fairly, regardless of their background while preventing biased decisions or discrimination thereby promoting inclusivity and equality.

Maida explained that the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping industries and transforming the way we live and work. However, as AI technologies become increasingly integrated into various aspects of society, so they bring forth a complex web of legal and regulatory challenges.

Hence protecting citizens’ privacy is extremely important when using AI adding that organizations should handle personal data responsibly, following strict privacy regulations.

Speaking on the theme “Fair and Responsible Artificial Intelligence (AI) for the Consumer” Maida noted that AI has already made significant inroads into our lives from voice assistants that respond to our commands to recommendation algorithms that suggest what we should watch, read, or buy, AI is all around us adding that it is driving innovation in healthcare, finance, transportation, and countless other fields.

He maintained that in this era that has seen the rise of AI and IoT cybersecurity, it is important to break silos and foster collaboration of the Quadruple Helix Innovation model comprising of the Academia, the Industry, Government and Society to share ideas.

Meanwhile, Maida noted that with the Commission’s special interest and commitment to Consumer Protection, they have proactively put in place consumer-centric initiatives to deal with first level complaints by the telecom consumer.

The initiatives include the Consumer Complaints Management (CCM), through which various channels of lodging complaints were created, the NCC Toll-free line 622 available between 8:00am to 8:00pm daily except on Sundays and Public Holidays, the Do-Not-Disturb (DND) Code 2442, for stopping unsolicited messages, the Consumer Portal-http://consumer.ncc.gov.ng, and the Commission Consumer X account @Consumersncc.

Other initiatives include the Telecom Consumer Assistance, Resolution and Enquiries (TELCARE), at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, an additional platform to enhance awareness of the Commission’s activities, make enquiries on consumer complaints and also for advocacy on any thematic telecom issues or concern.

The Deputy Director, Consumer Affairs Bureau, Mr. Clem Omife on his part stated that the Commission recognizes the important position the consumers occupy in the telecommunications ecosystem, and therefore will continue develop and promote consumer centric initiatives aimed at ensuring that the rights of consumers are protected.

Omife noted that Consumers are King and as such will continue to occupy a special position in the Commission’s activities having recognized that without the Consumers, there will be no telecommunication industry.