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Senate Invites IGP over Kidnappings Across Nigeria
The Senate has invited the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu, for a briefing over the spate of kidnappings across Nigeria.
The lawmakers said the invitation is to help profer lasting solution to the menace.
The IGP’s invitation is one of the many resolutions made after a deliberation on a motion on the “senseless killing of a Briton and the abduction of three others in a Holiday Resort in Kaduna State by armed bandits.”
The motion was sponsored by Shehu Sani (PRP, Kaduna Central).
The Briton, Faye Mooney, an aid worker, was killed in Kajuru Castle, a recreational location in Kaduna State last week.
The armed bandits killed Ms Mooney, Matthew Oguche, a Nigerian training assistant with the International NGO Safety Organisation (INSO), and kidnapped three others.
Leading the debate, Mr Sani said attacks on individuals, houses, and villages have become too many and not one suspect has been prosecuted for the crime.
He expressed worry that the bandits tend to be gaining more courage to perpetuate their acts “due to their acclaimed superior firepower.”
While stating that Kajuru and Kaduna State are under siege, he said the northern part of Nigeria has become a theatre of killings and kidnappings.
In his remark, the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, said the recent happenings were not the first time a non-Nigerian (especially construction/aid workers) was kidnapped in the country.
He said if nothing is done, Nigeria will continue to be profiled as a terrorist state abroad.
“This nation’s security has been breached. Tourists who have plans of coming to Nigeria will now think twice before coming. And this is affecting our economy.
“It is important to take this issue seriously in order to protect our national image. Even if it means declaring a state of emergency in affected states, so be it,” Mr Ekweremadu said.
Andrew Uchendu, who condemned the act, blamed it on the idleness of the Nigerian youth.
“The truth is these things keep happening because the youth are idle and have a lot of energy.”
According to him, if the youth are engaged, the rate of such crimes will drastically reduce.
It was during the resolutions that Mr Ekweremadu suggested that the IGP be invited as he hoped he (Mr Adamu) will honour the invitation.
“Mr President, since we now have a new IGP – as the other one was uninterested in talking to us, let us invite him to give a holistic view of the state of kidnapping across the country with a view to finding a lasting solution,” he said.
This prayer was seconded and unanimously adopted.
The Senate also resolved to urge security agencies to immediately deploy the use of drones and interceptors in tracking kidnappers asking for ransom.
The Senate also resolved to fast-track the concurrence of the Police Reform and the Police Trust Fund Bills with the House of Representatives for transmission to the president for assent.
Other resolutions are to “urge telecommunications companies to provide security agencies with information in areas where there are kidnappings”, and “urge community leaders, traditional rulers and all stakeholders to co-operate with security agencies.”
The Senate also urged security agencies to give special security cover to foreign workers and tourists. It resolved to send a delegation to the British embassy to console with the British government.
The Senate, however, rejected a prayer to urge the executive to sign the Peace Corps Bill to engage the youth.
The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, said he hoped that there would be cooperation from the IGP as he prayed for a strong relationship between the Senate and the security agencies.
According to him, the passage of the Police Reform and the Police Trust Fund Bills is proof that the Senate “is ready to work with them.
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The Senate has granted approval to the ₦1.77 trillion ($2.2b) loan request of President Bola Tinubu after a voice vote in favor of the request.
The Senate presided by Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, approved the loan after the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts chaired by Senator Wammako Magatarkada (APC, Sokoto North) presented the report of the committee.
The request which was submitted by the President on Tuesday is part of a fresh external borrowing plan to partially finance the N9.7 trillion budget deficit for the 2024 fiscal year.
Tinubu had on Tuesday written to the National Assembly, seeking approval of a fresh N1.767 trillion, the equivalent of $2.209 billion as a new external borrowing plan in the 2024 Appropriation Act.
The fresh loan is expected to stretch the amount spent on debt servicing by the Federal Government. The Central Bank of Nigeria recently said that it cost the Federal Government $3.58 billion to service foreign debt in the first nine months of 2024.
The CBN report on international payment statistics showed that the amount represents a 39.77 per cent increase from the $2.56bn spent during the same period in 2023.
According to the report, while the highest monthly debt servicing payment in 2024 occurred in May, amounting to $854.37m, the highest monthly expenditure in 2023 was $641.70m, recorded in July.
The trend in foreign debt servicing by the CBN highlights the rising cost of debt obligations by Nigeria.
Further breakdown of international debt figures showed that in January 2024, debt servicing costs surged by 398.89 per cent, rising to $560.52m from $112.35m in January 2023. February, however, saw a slight decline of 1.84 per cent, with payments reducing from $288.54m in 2023 to $283.22m in 2024.
March recorded a 31.04 per cent drop in payments, falling to $276.17m from $400.47m in the same period last year. April saw a significant rise of 131.77 per cent, with $215.20m paid in 2024 compared to $92.85m in 2023.
The highest debt servicing payment occurred in May 2024, when $854.37m was spent, reflecting a 286.52 per cent increase compared to $221.05m in May 2023. June, on the other hand, saw a 6.51 per cent decline, with $50.82m paid in 2024, down from $54.36m in 2023.
July 2024 recorded a 15.48 per cent reduction, with payments dropping to $542.50m from $641.70m in July 2023. In August, there was another decline of 9.69 per cent, as $279.95m was paid compared to $309.96m in 2023. However, September 2024 saw a 17.49 per cent increase, with payments rising to $515.81m from $439.06m in the same month last year.
Given rising exchange rates, the data raises concerns about the growing pressure of Nigeria’s foreign debt obligations.
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Self acclaimed leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Simon Ekpa, has been arrested by law enforcement in Finland.
The BBC reports that Ekpa was subsequently sent to prison by the district court of Päijät-Häme for “spreading terrorist propaganda on social media”.
Ekpa was said to have committed the crime in 2021 in Lahti municipality.
The Finnish National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) also arrested four other men over alleged terrorist offences.
A citizen of Finland and Nigeria, Ekpa has described himself as leader of the separatist IPOB group since Nnamdi Kanu’s incarceration.
Finnish police say Ekpa’s activities and social media rhetoric may have fanned the flames of violence in the south-east of Nigeria.
“He carries out these activities from his social media channels, for example,” said Otto Hiltunen, detective chief inspector of the NBI.
In February 2023, Ekpa was arrested by police at his residence in Lahti but was released after hours of questioning.
Using his social media channels, Ekpa had directed Igbos not to participate in Nigeria’s 2023 general election.
In September 2021, the Biafra agitator and secessionist denounced Nigeria and vowed to return the medal he won for the country at the 2003 African Junior Athletics Championships.
The Court of Appeal has sacked Musiliu Akinsanya aka MC Oluomo as the National President of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW).
In a ruling that upheld the earlier judgment of the National Industrial Court, the appellate court sacked MC Oluomo and reaffirmed Tajudeen Baruwa as the legitimate leader of the union.
Baruwa had assumed office after a properly conducted election held at the union’s headquarters in Abuja.
The three-member panel of the Appeal Court dismissed the appeal filed by MC Oluomo’s faction, declaring it devoid of merit.
In addition, the court imposed a fine of N100,000 on the appellants, further solidifying Baruwa’s leadership position.
Reports quoting court documents said to have been released on Friday detailed the ruling, which effectively countered any attempts to displace Baruwa from his role as the NURTW president.
The judgment read: “This is an appeal against the judgment/decision of the National Industrial Court Sitting in Abuja, in Suit No. NICN/ABJ/263/2023, delivered on the 11th March, 2024, by Justice O. O. Oyewumi.
“Upon reading the Record of Appeal compiled and transmitted before this court, together with the respective briefs of argument, and after hearing the counsels for the appellants and respondents, it is hereby ordered that:
“This Appeal is devoid of merit, and the same is hereby dismissed.”
The ruling reinforces the legitimacy of Baruwa’s presidency, concluding the legal dispute over the union’s leadership.
Meanwhile, MC Oluomo’s son Idowu Akinsanya (King West) had bragged about his feat of emerging the NURTW president, saying: “We are now in charge of Nigeria, not only Lagos,” a comment that attracted public opprobrium.
MC Oluomo, a diehard supporter of President Bola Tinubu and a prominent figure in Lagos politics, was the sole candidate in the election, which took place at the union’s zonal secretariat in Osogbo. His perceived victory was deemed to carry significant implications for the future of the NURTW and the political landscape of Nigeria.
