News
NIS Begins Nationwide Sensitization Against Smuggling, Partners UNODC
The Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has unveiled the Observatory Report on Smuggling of Migrants (SOM) at the Headquarters in Abuja. The Observatory Report sought to unravel the dynamics of Smuggling of Migrants activities through and to Nigeria for a period between 2019-2021.
A statement by the Service’s Public Relations Officer, Amos Okpu, and made available to the National Association of Online Security News Publishers (NAOSNP) revealed that the Comptroller General Isah Jere Idris, represented by the Deputy Comptroller General in-charge of Visa and Residency, DCG IAM Haliru fdc assured of the Service’s commitment to contain the menace of Migrants Smugglers stressing that the Service having fully domesticated the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air in the Immigration Act 2015 (Sections 65-98) is statutorily empowered with the necessary legal instrument to prosecute Smugglers of Migrants.
He thanked the Canadian government and other development partners for their impactful interventions in the fight against Smuggling of Migrants and other cross-border criminal activities. The Deputy Comptroller General reiterated the continuous commitment of the Service to collaborate with critical stakeholders in any efforts at achieving orderly, humane and responsive migration. He noted that the Service will look at the Report closely with a view to enabling processes and procedures to frontally address the issues raised.
Earlier in his remarks, the Country Representative of UNODC, Dr. Oliver Stolpe described the Report as insightful and quite useful in understanding and addressing the unfolding migratory realities in Nigeria and in the West African sub-region. He noted that an interesting element of the Report was the steadily decreasing cases of Smuggling of Migrants in Nigeria since 2018 and called for the sustenance of the tempo with a view to wiping out the menace out of the country’s migratory discourse.
Similarly, the representative of the Canadian High Commissioner to Nigeria Ms Majorie Lubin appreciated the depth of the Report and pledged her government’s continuous partnerships and collaborations with the Service and other relevant stakeholders in better migration management.
The presentation of the Observatory Report demonstrates another giant move by the Service, UNODC and indeed other partners to offer reliable inferences on the unfolding migratory realities in the country. An instructive finding of the Research is that 75% of Nigerians on the move surveyed during the work stated that they had planned to use Migrant Smugglers or Travel Facilitators when they were preparing for their journey as compared to 21% who said they had not planned to do so. The Report further indicated that 72% of those surveyed stated that someone or something influenced their decision to migrate while just 9% of that group cited Smugglers as the most important influence. On gender profiling of Migrant Smugglers, the Report stated that 78% are Men, 19% are Women and 3% both. The Observatory Report was done by some researchers under the auspices of UNODC.
Meanwhile, as part of efforts to increase public awareness on the ills of Migrants Smuggling, the 2022 Nationwide Sensitization Programme on Smuggling of Migrants was flagged-off during the event. Other major highlights of the event include the unveiling of the Observatory Report Document and goodwill messages from representatives of relevant stakeholders such as the Ministry of Interior, FIIAPP-ATIPSOM, ICMPD and NAPTIP among others.
The event was attended by representatives of the Embassies of Denmark, Spain, Italy, Netherlands and the Inspector General of Police, (represented by CP Babatola Afolabi), NACTAL and the Refugees Commission represented by Mr. Titus Murdakai.
By Eric Elezuo
A Nigeria Airforce plane has crashed in a village in Kaduna State, according to report monitored on Arise News.
The report says the crash occurred early Monday morning, and details are still sketchy as The Nigeria Airforce is yet to issue a statement on the development.
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
Life is indeed a journey! It’s a adventure everyone will continue to explore until they eventually bow out. But in order to explore life, and by extension, the world adequately, one has to explore many options, and that is where being tough and pushing yourself hard come into play. This is because when one door fails to open, it’s only wise to try another door, and yet another door.
There’s no area of life’s adventure that has proved so easy no matter the angle one is exploring from; as a child, youth, parent, clergy, entrepreneur or career professional. It’s worth understanding that anyone celebrating or at the top today never had it easy, and will never continue to have it easy. They must remain tough on the terrain and continue to push themselves harder with productivity. Everyone has experienced one challenges or another in life, but while one may think that theirs is more serious, they can never tell what the next door neighbor is experiencing.
Being tough or hard on yourself doesn’t in anyway conote negativity, it’s so positive that it inspires one to improve in productivity.
In my native Igbo belief, we say that all lizards lie prostrate, but no one can tell which one has a belly ache. This is literally true because just like our faces are different, so also our problems. Hence the reason one must treat other people with empathy.
Life can be tough; in fact, being alive on its own is tough. Not everyone likes to see you alive, not to talk of doing big things. Not everyone is happy seeing you in a position of honour. Trust me, it is difficult to stay alive because you must battle many wars to stay afloat. Just imagine being a family man/woman taking care of the bills with little or no support from your partner. Just imagine starting a business and trying to secure contracts or attract clients/customers. If you are a student, some people will feel jealous of your potential achievement and the corresponding success it will bring to you. The list is literally endless.
According to Dr. Yomi Garnett, an accomplished author, “there’s an inverse relationship between you and life. When you are tough on yourself, life will be infinitely easier on you. Conversely, when you take things easy, life will become very tough for you. The path of self and spiritual development is a very long and arduous one, but it’s a journey worth taking.”
This is so true because if one is interested in living and experiencing a soft life, one must be intentional in doing the hard work which entails being hard on yourself.
My late dad, Chief Lazarus Ukazu, use to say that “any name you want to be called, you must work hard to earn it”. Success does not come to you on a platter of gold; you must till the soil, read books, be above board at your place of work/assignment, invest in your business, learn new trades, skills and leave your comfort zone. All these entail being tough on yourself.
We are all capable of achieving success because we all have the seeds of greatness living in us. It is sad to see people who just live their life by luck. They are not eager to pay the dues which is likely to catapult them to the next level if judiciously implemented and executed.
As rightly stated by Dr. Garnett, when you are tough on yourself, life will be generally “easier” for you if you play by the rules of the game which will enable you to live the fame you desire. When I published my first book, I didn’t really know what’s ahead of me, nor did I know the book would bring me relative fame and opportunities. I can vividly remember the sleepless night and risk I had to undertake during the process of writing and publishing the book.
Today, the book made the New York Times to interview me. I became a regular guest on television because of the book. I got to meet Captains of industries and leaders of thought. Why am I saying this? Life has been fair to me by blessing me with opportunities. It’s important to state that I was tough on myself when I was working on the book. As a matter of fact, I can vividly remember that at a point in time, I was out of job. I used the time to concentrate and do befitting research for a book of that nature. Moral: When you pay your dues, people will pay your bills.
Question. What dues are you willing to pay so that people can pay your bills?
In conclusion, today, I charge you to be intentional in being “hard” on yourself so life can be relatively soft on you.
Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He works with the New York City Department of Correction as the Legal Coordinator. He’s the founder of Gloemi. He’s a Transformative Human Capacity and Mindset coach. He is also a public speaker, youth advocate, creative writer and author of Design Your Destiny Design Your and Unleash Your Destiny . He can be reached via info@gloemi.com
News
Akpabio Insists on Approving Purchase of New Aircraft for Tinubu, Says No Blackmail Will Stop Decision
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has said that no amount of blackmail from fifth columnists will stop the red chamber from carrying out its lawful responsibilities to Nigerians and President Bola Tinubu, including getting the president new aircraft.
Akpabio stated this on Thursday at an emergency plenary session while reacting to comments by Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, who drew the attention of his colleagues to media reports on the plan to buy a brand new executive jet for Tinubu and the vice president, Kashim Shettima.
Akpabio explained that he was not in the country when the news about him broke, and vowed to approve a new airplane for Tinubu, notwithstanding the current hunger in the land.
The senate president stated, “I was in Zanzibar attending to inter parliamentary union meetings when that information went out that the senate president said he would approve a brand new plane for the president, irrespective of whether they are suffering or no suffering.
“There was never a time such a statement came from me because I’ve never had any correspondence to approve a plan or not approve a plan and I did not want to answer.
“But they went to generate it and then they went around as if I was saying that I did not care about the Nigerian people. I did not do this.
“We care about the president. We care about the Nigerian people. We will approve things that will benefit the Nigerian people. We will approve things that would improve the living standard of the people.
“At the same time, we will also take cognizance of the duties of Mr. President. If his vehicle is bad, we will repair the vehicle. If his plane is bad, we will approve money for the repair of the plane. So, that is not an issue. There is nothing before us.
“The purveyors of the story know very well that maybe there is problem with the presidential fleet and that they will go to the parliament.
“So they are now trying to do anticipated blackmail to tell us if they bring it, we will not look into it. I think that we should ignore them because of what we are doing here.
“I bring the president’s correspondences to us this morning. There was nothing touching on plane or no plane, but I can tell you that when you hear stories such as the death of the Vice President of Malawi as a result of defective plane. You also hear news such as the death of the President of Iran as a result of defective aircraft. In fact, this time it was helicopter and all that.
“We shouldn’t ever dream and allow such to be our portion. It wouldn’t be. The senate is very responsible. The National Assembly is very responsible. We will look into issues that will benefit the governance of the country, irrespective of anticipated blackmail.
“They know very well that something like that might come in future. And if it’s a necessity, the senate will be treat it, but there is nothing like that before us now.”
Senate, House Extend Implementation of 2023 Budget
The upper and lower chambers, yesterday, extended the implementation of the capital component of the 2023 budget until December 31.
The senate also extended the implementation of the N2.17 trillion 2023 supplementary budget until December.
Akpabio announced the extension of the appropriation bills during the emergency plenary after it was read for the first, second and third times and supported by a majority of the senators.
The appropriation bills were separately considered at the senate committee on supply.
The House of Representatives also considered and passed bills seeking to extend the implementation of the 2023 Appropriation Act and the 2023 Supplementary Appropriation Act till December 2024. This was sequel to the passage into law of the 2023 Appropriation Act Amendment Bill 2024 and the 2023 Supplementary Appropriation Act Amendment Bill 2024 by the House.
The executive arm of government presented the two bills via a letter transmitted from Tinubu, which was read on the floor of the House by Speaker, Hon. Abbas Tajudeen.
The bills were titled the 2023 Appropriation Amendment Bill, 2024, and the 2023 Supplementary Appropriation Amendment Bill, 2024.
That would be the second time that the lawmakers will be extending implementation of the 2023 budget and its components since beginning of Tinubu’s administration.
In March, the upper chamber extended implementation of the capital component of the 2023 budget and implementation of the N2.17 trillion 2023 supplementary budget until June.
With the development, the 2023 budget will be implemented for two years, despite the existence of the 2024 budget.
It also means that the federal government was currently implementing two budgets, 2023 and 2024 Appropriation Acts.
ThisDay
