There is ongoing pandemonium at the popular wuse market, Abuja. Leading Reporters can authoritatively confirm.
Our correspondent who is currently at the market could see traders running for safety.
Meanwhile, the cause of the fire still remain unknown as at press time
Details soon……….
The Nigerian Senate has suspended Senator Abdul Ningi for 3 months following allegations of Budget Padding he leveled against the Presidency.
Ningi made headlines last week after he accused the President of passing the 2024 National Budget by N3.7 Trillion.
Details later
Benue State Government to Establish Power Plant for Electricity Generation.
The Benue State Government has revealed plans to establish a power plant towards generating electricity to boost socio-economic development across communities in the state.
Raymond Asemakaha, the managing director of Benue Investment and Property Company, BIPC, made this known on Monday.
LeadingReporters gathered that the Federal Government’s recent assent to a bill, allowing all state governments to own and manage their electricity companies.
Speaking during a meeting with a delegation of Remedy Earth at BIPC corporate headquarters in Makurdi, Asemakaha asked the electricity company to set up a pilot plant in Benue State.
The BIPC boss stressed the need for the state to own a power generation plant that would transform the state and stimulate economic activities.
“For us we know that one thing that stimulates the economy is when you have enough power. So, we are looking for options to ensure that the state generates its power and shares it with its communities.
“We want them to do the plant here and test run it so we can know what they are capable of before we engage them. Gone are the days that people tell stories; we want to see them before we can recommend them to the governor,” he said.
A Russian military transport plane crashed in the Ivanovo region northeast of Moscow after catching fire during takeoff.
The IL-76 aircraft, carrying eight crew members and seven passengers, experienced an engine fire, leading to the crash.
Footage on social media depicted the plane descending with one engine ablaze, followed by a column of black smoke at the crash site.
The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed the incident but did not provide information on casualties.
The incident comes in the wake of another IL-76 crash a few weeks ago, involving a plane Moscow claimed was carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war.
The Senate of Nigeria is leading the investigation into the Central Bank of Nigeria’s disbursement of a significant N30 trillion loan to the Federal Government.
The probe aims to examine the process and utilization of the funds provided by the Central Bank of Nigeria to the Federal Government.
The Senate has initiated the investigation amid growing concerns and calls for transparency surrounding the country’s financial management.
The investigation is taking place within the Nigerian Senate, with stakeholders from various sectors closely following the proceedings.
The inquiry is essential to ensure transparency, accountability, and proper oversight in the allocation and utilization of such substantial financial resources. It also seeks to address concerns regarding the loan’s impact on the economy and the government’s plans for repayment.
Through a comprehensive examination of documents, testimonies, and expert analysis, the Senate aims to shed light on the terms of the loan, its implications for the Nigerian economy, and the strategies for repayment.
President Bola Tinubu’s administration has directed the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to withdraw licenses of non-performing electricity distribution companies (DISCOs).
This is as power generation dropped year-on-year (YoY) by 21 per cent to 3,475MW in March 2024, from 4,404MW in the corresponding period of 2023, due to many problems, especially low investment and inadequate gas supply.
The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, stated this during a meeting with the head of the agencies in Abuja on Monday.
Adelabu accused the DisCos of not doing enough to improve supply despite the availability of power on the national grid adding that distribution segment remains the weakest link in the electricity supply value chain.
Adelabu stressed that NERC must look for creative ways of getting the DISCOs to improve supply including the imposition of stiff sanctions on utilities which fail to pick their allocations and outright cancellation of lincences.
He insisted that the franchise areas covered by the DISCOs were too large, adding the government would pursue a restructuring that would create smaller DISCOs with companies restricted to one state each.
“Distribution is our weakest point and it is the closest to the consumers. If we don’t get distribution right, to Nigerians, we’re not doing anything. So, efforts need to be put on this. In fact, we must intensify our efforts in ensuring that we address all issues relating to distribution,” the minister said.
“It is true that the distribution companies are in the hands of the private sector. We don’t have direct control. But we need to compel them for performance. They must perform. If they do not perform, all our effort in generation, in transmission is zero. I’ve also had a meeting with the Chairman of NERC on how we’re going to address these performance issues of the electricity distribution companies across the nation.
“Why we have new policies in our power sector policy framework, which we’re going to finalize to address long-term issues in distribution, we must proffer short-term solutions to the lingering crisis.
“Before we get to that, we’re talking about the issue of the capitalization of the discourse, for them to inject funds, to improve infrastructure.
“We are talking about issues of restructuring the DISCOs along state lines, to make them manageable in size. Also, issuing new franchises to smaller DisCos to take over areas not being served by the existing ones or that have been underserved by the existing ones.
“I’ve said it before now that non performance of DISCOs in terms of epileptic power supply qualifies as a basis for revocation of license. Any DISCO that is found-wanting will be severely dealt with because their actions or inactions directly affect the performance of the sector”.
The Minister pointed out that willful refusal by any DisCos to take up available power “is a qualified basis for the revocation of licenses too”, adding that the distribution companies must be ready to pick up 90-99 percent of load allocated to them.
He described the ongoing electricity rationing across the country as unacceptable, disclosing the government plans to improve power generation from the present 4,000MW to 6,000MW in the next six months.
This, he said, would be achieved by paying off substantial debts owed to power generation companies and gas suppliers.
“So what we are looking at is to have an agreement to ramp up to a minimum of 6,000 megawatts within the next three to six months. I know that the highest we ever generated was 5,700, about three years ago. That was specifically November, 2021.
“And this 5,700 was also distributed. If we could achieve 5,700 at that time, I believe we still have infrastructure to generate between 6,000 and 6,500. In terms of the generating companies, I have no doubt in my mind that the existing capacity can give us 6,500 once there is stability in supply of gas.
“I’ve been to a number of the generating companies and I confirmed that they have this installed capacity. And a large percentage of this installed capacity is operational, but they are not available because of low or shortage in gas supply. Once there is gas supply, we want to ramp up generation to a minimum 6,000MW”.
He noted that while the Federal Government would continue to pay electricity subsidies in the short-term, it plans to gradually phase it out in the next three years and return the sector to a commercially driven tariff.
Bandits in Kaduna are demanding the sum of N40 trillion and other items as ransom to release the 16 residents abducted from the Gonin Gora area of the state.
According to a community leader, John Yusuf, the bandits contacted family members of the victims and also demanded 11 Hilux vans and 150 motorcycles.
Yusuf said the bandits attacked twice within a week abducting residents of the community.
“The bandits have contacted us. They are demanding N40 trillion, 11 Hilux vans and 150 motorcycles for the release of 16 people they are holding captive,” Yusuf told TheCable.
“Where are we going to get this kind of money? Even if we sell the entire community, we cannot raise N40 trillion. Even Nigeria as a country has never made a budget of N40 trillion.
“The abductions happened twice within four days interval. During the first attack, three people were kidnapped while in the second attack, 13 people were abducted bringing the total number of people being held captive to 16.”
He said the communities in Birnin Gwari are surrounded by bushes serving as hideouts for the bandits.
Yusuf noted that the establishment of a military base would tackle the criminal operations in the area.
“We are pleading with the government to come to our aid by establishing a military base behind our community where the bandits take advantage of the bushes to invade our community,” Yusuf said.
“From our community down to Birnin Gwari which is over 150 kilometres is a stretch of bush. We also have another stretch of bushes from Gonin Gora down to Niger state.
“So when the criminals have free access through the bushes to our community. We are pleading with the government to help us.
“The army are really trying, despite the fact that they are seriously overstretched. Whenever we make distressed calls they come.
“But the problem is that before they reach the community, the bandits would have done what they wanted and left.”
A total of 59 medical doctors formerly working at the Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital, DASH, in Lafia, Nasarawa State, have resigned from their positions with the state government.
The doctors cited the non-implementation of hazard allowances and poor conditions of service as the primary reasons for their resignation over the past three months.
LeadingReporters gathered that 20 of the doctors left to seek opportunities in Saudi Arabia while the remaining 39 resigned due to dissatisfaction with their conditions of service.
This mass exodus of medical professionals comes amid a broader trend of instability in industrial relations at Nasarawa State Government-owned hospitals, including strikes, protests, and resignations of health workers, particularly doctors, due to the non-implementation of hazard allowances.
The situation has escalated in recent months, with over 50 medical doctors resigning from state services between January and March 2024.
A government official from DASH, who chose to remain anonymous, disclosed that the hospital received more than 25 resignation letters from doctors within just two days, stating the severity of the situation.
Dr. Yakubu Adeleke, the president of the National Association of Resident Doctors in Nasarawa State, expressed frustration over the lack of response from the state government to address the doctors’ demands for improved welfare.
He pointed out issues such as stagnated promotions, with some doctors working for up to eight years without promotion, as major grievances, warning that the mass resignation of doctors would significantly strain the state’s health system.
He said, “Doctors in Nasarawa State have been stagnated. No promotion. Some doctors have been working for eight years without promotion.”
In response, the Commissioner for Health in Nasarawa State, Dr Gaza Gwamna, acknowledged the challenges and stated that the state government had initiated the implementation of a welfare package for doctors.
Gwamna urged the remaining doctors to remain calm, assuring them that the government was in the process of recruiting to fill the vacant positions.
The British Government has banned health and care workers from foreign countries like Nigeria from bringing family members and other dependants to the country.
This was made known by the UK Home Office via its verified X (Twitter) handle on Monday, March 11.
It wrote: “From today, care workers entering the UK on Health and Care Worker visas can no longer bring dependants.
“This is part of our plan to deliver the biggest ever cut in migration.”
More to follow…
Nigerian netizens on X have berated the country’s Senate President, Godswill Akpabio for his speech during the burial of Herbert Wigwe, the former group chief executive officer (GCEO) of Access Holdings Plc in Rivers State on Saturday.
Wigwe, who died in a helicopter crash in the United States alongside his wife, Chizoba and son, Chizi, was buried on March 9, 2024, after a combined funeral service at the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Lion of Judah Parish, Isiokpo.
The Senate President and other dignitaries, including Peter Obi and Aliko Dangote attended the burial ceremony.
In his speech, the Senate President complained that Peter Obi who was a former presidential candidate of the Labour Party was given more honour than him, the number third citizen of the country.
Akpabio also took a jab at Governor Siminalayi Fubara over a comment made by the latter in his speech at the funeral.
The actions of the Senate President have generated negative reactions from Nigerians who described the former Akwa Ibom State as being insensitive towards the feelings and emotions of the bereaved family when he turned the setting into an avenue to play political card.
A user, Bishop 𝕏 wrote: “Misplaced priorities. This is very childish of the Senate President, very very childish. “Peter Obi Received More Applause Than Me”. Said Akpabio At Wigwe’s Funeral. He also made a joke about the dead Wigew’s wife in her coffin. ⚰️ what disrespect. That’s not to add his rebuttal to Sim.”
“Godswill Akpabio is a shameless man. I’ve always known he would be worse than Ahmed Lawan, I never knew it would be in all ramifications. Went to a funeral and be crying that the people didn’t welcome him properly,” another user, @ukocarter said.
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