Headlines

Residents of Aba, Abia State are celebrating 48 hours of uninterrupted power supply following the installation of the Geometric Power Plant.

Since one out of four turbines at the plant was switched on on Sunday, February 25, 2024, some sections of Aba have been enjoying uninterrupted power supply.

Chude, sharing a video of a resident celebrating the constant electricity, wrote, “Aba residents now enjoy 24/7 electricity. Aba is currently the most thriving city for living and investing in Nigeria. Governance is not rocket science.”

In the video, a lady can be heard saying in both English and Igbo, “Light choke, Aba to the world. How many days now? See as A.C everywhere just dey chill”

President Bola Tinubu on Monday launched the Geometric Power Plant in Aba, 20 years after the project was initiated by a former Minister of Power, Barth Nnaji.

The Governor of Abia State, Alex Otti, said the project was as a result of the power to dream, saying with the power project in Aba, the city is now open to national and international businesses.

No fewer than 30 worshipers have been reportedly abducted from a mosque in Tsafe town, the headquarters of Tsafe Local Government Area of Zamfara State.

LEADING REPORTERS gathered that the unfortunate incident occurred on Thursday morning when the terrorists invaded the facility while worshippers were observing their morning prayers.

It was reliably gathered that the assailants, who have been terrorising the area, invaded the mosque, shooting sporadically with sophisticated weapons before whisking the victims into the forest.

Efforts to reach the state police command proved abortive at the time of writing this report as the state Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Yazid Abubakar, did not pick his calls.

The displaced individuals, who sought refuge in camps due to the insurgency, cited hunger and harsh living conditions as their primary reasons for contemplating such a drastic move.

Reports indicate that several Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and even family members of repentant Boko Haram fighters have voiced similar threats.

The common complaint revolves around the alleged neglect by authorities, particularly in providing daily essentials such as food and other necessities.

Claiming that life was comparatively better under Boko Haram occupation, some IDPs and family members of repentant insurgents argue that the present circumstances in the camps are unbearable.

The lack of necessities and the absence of available farmlands for cultivation have fueled discontent among the displaced population.

A resident in one of the IDP camps, expressing the prevailing sentiment, lamented, “We took the decision to leave our families behind and relocate to the Boko Haram-controlled area because it is all about dying whether here or there.”

The families of repentant Boko Haram fighters echo these sentiments, asserting that the hardships in the camps have left them with no option but to consider returning to the territories controlled by the insurgent group.

Reacting to the development, Borno State Governor Babagana Umara Zulum dismissed the complaints as baseless, stating, “Those who want to return to Boko Haram in the bush are free to do so.”

The House of Representatives has exonerated the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, Mohammed Bello-Koko, of N178 billion in bad debt allegations as contained in the 2019 audited financial statement of the authority.

The Chairman of the House Committee on Public Petitions, Mike Etaba, dismissed the allegations at a public hearing held at the National Assembly Complex, Abuja on Wednesday.

Recall that the Forum of Non-governmental Organisations in Nigeria had accused NPA and Bello-Koko of complicity in the mismanagement of N178 bn for bad debt in the agency’s audited financial statement.

At the resumption of the public hearing on Wednesday, the forum failed to appear before the committee to defend its allegations.

Disappointed by the absence of the forum, Etaba dismissed the petition for lack of merit, saying the petitioner had failed to appear before the committee to prove its allegations against the NPA and the MD.

The chairman said, “This is the sixth time the House Committee on Public Petition is sitting with respect to N178 bn bad debt allegations brought against the authority. The petitioner has not been in this place. The case is hereby dismissed.”

As contained in its petition, the forum had requested that the management of NPA be invited to address the growth of the alleged debt from N135 billion in 2018 to N173 billion in 2019.

“Our attention has been brought to the 2019 audited financial statement of the authority with special reference to trade accounts receivable and the huge provision made for bad and doubtful debts.

“Whilst we note that the position in 2019 would significantly change by now, the poor quality of NPA’s trade receivable account is alarming and requires urgent attention,” the petition read in part.

A Consultant Psychiatrist, Dr Taiwo Obindo, has said that more Nigerians may be prone to developing mental health conditions due to the increasing economic hardship in the country.

Obindo, who is also the President of Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria (APN), stated this in Lagos on Wednesday.

He said that the current economic hardship, coupled with the level of poverty and other social factors in the country might likely inflict mental illness on more Nigerians.

He listed the social factors to include high cost of living, kidnapping, financial problems, inflation, child abuse, rape, broken homes and broken marriages, traumatic experiences and degrees of violence among others.

Dr Obindo explained that people who were predisposed to the social factors were more likely to develop mental health issues particularly this period the country was faced with lots of economic challenges.

According to him, the Nigerian society is a culture medium for organisms that put people at risk of mental illness.

Obindo, who identified poverty as a leading cause of mental health illness, said that many Nigerians were battling with poverty; saying that might predispose them to mental health conditions.

The Nigerian government has ordered the arrest and detention of two senior executives at Binance in Nigeria in fresh move to crackdown on cryptocurrency trading websites operating in the country.

According to Financial Times (FT), a UK-based business news platform, the passports of the Binance executives were seized.

The news organization, however, failed to provide names of the two Binance executives.

It gathered that the executives flew to Nigeria following the country’s decision to ban several cryptocurrency trading websites last week but were detained with their passports seized.

Officials did not provide details on why the Binance employees are being detained and it remains unclear on whether they have been charged with any violations of Nigerian law.

Recall that the Bola Tinubu administration had blocked Binance and other crypto firms to avert what it considers continuous manipulation of the forex market and illicit movement of funds.

Other trading platforms banned include Forextime, OctaFX, Crypto, FXTM, Coinbase, and Kraken.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Tuesday raised concerns over $26 billion that flowed through Binance Nigeria over the past year from “unidentified sources”.

CBN governor, Yemi Cardoso, expressed worries over the significant volume of transactions passing through Binance Nigeria, emphasizing that the origins and beneficiaries of these funds are yet to be adequately identified.

“We are concerned that certain practices go on that indicate illicit flows going through a number of these entities and suspicious flows at best.

“In the case of Binance, in the last one year alone, $26 billion has passed through Binance Nigeria from sources and users who we cannot adequately identify,” he stated.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has stressed on the efficiency and the need for deepening the local content value chain as a critical driver for economic sustainability and growth in Nigeria.

Executive Vice Chairman/CEO, NCC, Dr. Aminu Maida while speaking on Tuesday at the NCC Special Day during the 45th Kaduna International Trade Fair stated that the commission cannot overemphasize the fact that robust local content value chain will not only create economic opportunities but also contribute to technological advancement, job creation, and skills development within the country.

Maida noted that the commission remains dedicated to fostering an enabling environment for telecommunications industry where local content and innovation can thrive being one of the most critical thrust of the Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy.

“The Commission is fully committed to the advancement of local content and the overall development of the Nigerian economy. We recognize the importance of deepening the local content value chain as a critical driver for economic sustainability and growth.”

He explained that in a bid to support local content development, the commission has implemented various initiatives to promote indigenous participation in the telecommunications sector by creating the Nigerian Office for Development of Indigenous Telecommunications Sector (NODITS), and sponsored a number of Hackathons to encourage and promote Nigerian innovator expanding the frontiers of the Digital Economy.

Maida further charged stakeholders
at the trade fair to embrace the ethos of promoting local content by working together while creating a more vibrant and inclusive telecommunications industry that contributes significantly to the Nigeria’s economic recovery and growth.