Gunmen kill newly-wedded couple in Plateau

Unknown Gunmen have killed a newly-wedded couple, both of whom are teachers at BECO Comprehensive High School, Kwi in Riyom Local Government Area of Plateau. The gunmen also injured the Vice-Principal of the School. The incident happened on Monday. The Police Public Relations Officer in Plateau, DSP Alfred Alabo, confirmed the incident to newsmen on Tuesday. Alabo, who did not give further details on the incident, said that the command was on top of the situation. In a statement in Jos, Mr Rwang Tengwong, National Publicity Secretary of Berom Youth Movement, a socio-cultural group, said that the incident occurred at about 3.00 p.m. on Monday. ”We are saddened by the invasion of BECO Comprehensive High School Kwi by gunmen. “Two teachers, Mr. and Mrs. Rwang Danladi, a newly-wedded couple, were shot dead. ”Mr. Dalyop Emmanuel, the Vice-Principal of the School, was seriously injured by the armed men. ”The teachers were holding a meeting to compile results of students in preparation for the school’s 2023 Speech and Prize-Giving Day slated for this Friday. ”The injured person is currently receiving treatment at the Jos University Teaching Hospital,” he said. The spokesperson decried the influx of criminals in some communities in the state. ”We call on security operatives to, as a matter of urgency, raid these communities that have become enclaves of criminals, particularly Fass and Mahanga in Riyom. ”This is necessary to get rid of criminal elements that have defied law and order,” he said. 

Nigeria can deradicalise Niger within 24 hours – Expert Asserts

Dr. Blessing Agbomhere, a renowned security management specialist, has expressed his astonishment and disappointment over the reactions of certain Nigerians towards the planned restoration of civil rule in Niger Republic, orchestrated by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) under the guidance of President Bola Tinubu. Agbomhere, who holds accreditation as an expert in security management and strategic operations from the International Institute of Professional Security, firmly believes that Nigeria, with President Bola Tinubu as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and Nuhu Ribadu as the National Security Adviser, possess the capability to swiftly deradicalize Niger Republic within a mere 24 hours and reinstate ousted President Mohamed Bazoum into power. Issuing a statement in Abuja, Agbomhere remarked that the apprehensions voiced by certain Nigerians, which stem from concerns about the armed forces’ readiness to swiftly neutralize the military junta, reflect a lack of patriotism within the nation. He attributes this sentiment to previous administrations’ initial struggles in managing insurgent and bandit activities that have plagued parts of the country. Agbomhere, a member of the Nigerian Institute of Chartered Arbitrators and a strong proponent of the Rule of Law, advocates for dialogue as the primary approach to resolving Niger’s political deadlock. However, as a final resort, he asserts that Nigeria should not shy away from its responsibility of upholding democratic governance in the West African sub-region, even if it entails military intervention. Nigeria has historically fulfilled this role in Liberia, Sao Tome, Sierra Leone, and Cote d’Ivoire, contributing to the defense of democracy and regional stability. Agbomhere further underscored President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to rejuvenating Nigeria and called for encouragement and support to enable the nation to regain its rightful position as the Giant of Africa.

Nigeria’s intercity transport rises by 98.88% in June -NBS

The average fare paid by commuters for bus journeys within the city per drop increased by 97.88 percent from N649.59 in May 2023 to N1,285.41 in June 2023, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said. In its Transport Fare Watch of June 2023 posted on its website, the NBS stated that on a year-on-year basis, it rose by 120.63% from N582.61 in June 2022. Analysts have attributed the astronomical increase to fuel pump price hike following the removal of fuel subsidy by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Transport Fare Watch for June 2023 covers the following categories: bus journey within the city per drop constant route; bus journey intercity (state route) charge per person; air fare charge for specified routes single journey; journey by motorcycle (Okada) per drop; and water way passenger transport. In another category, the average fare paid by commuters for bus journey intercity per drop rose to N5,686.49 in June 2023, indicating an increase of 42.09% on a month-on-month basis compared to N4,002.16 in May 2023. “On a year-on-year basis, the fare rose by 55.25% from N3,662.87 in June 2022. In air travel, the average fare paid by air passengers for specified routes’ single journey increased by 4.93% from N74,948.78 in May 2023 to N78,640.54 in June 2023. On a year-on-year basis, the fare rose by 40.22% from N56,082.64 in June 2022. “The average transport fare paid on Okada transportation was N618.52 in June 2023 which was 33.14% higher than the rate recorded in May 2023 (N464.55),” the statistics bureau stated. On a year-on-year basis, the fare rose by 48.34 percent when compared with June 2022 (N416.97). For water transport (waterway passenger transportation), the average fare paid in June 2023 increased to N1,366.22 from N1,045.15 in May 2023. On a year-on-year basis, it increased by 44.84% from N943.26 in June 2022

Sultan, Kukah seek community involvement in tackling security challenges

The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, has called for increased community representatives’ involvement in solving the lingering security challenges facing the nation. Abubakar, who was represented by Dr Jabbi Kilgore, the District Head of Kingori made the call during a town hall  organised by the Kukah Centre for Peace in collaboration with Global Right, an NGO on Tuesday in Sokoto. The Sultan said that bad governance, injustice and inequality were some factors contributing to insecurity. He enjoined leaders at all levels to be fair in dealing with their subjects and know that they would give an account of their stewardship after leaving this world. In his keynote address, Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Mathew Kukah also identified religious intolerance, fanaticism and injustice as some of the factors responsible for insecurity in the country. Kukah also said  that sectionalism, fanaticism, injustice and religious intolerance were responsible for insecurity in the country. He urged stakeholders at the meeting to come together to form common front in curbing the menace saying insecurity know no religion. Earlier,  Governor Ahmad Aliyu of Sokoto state, represented by the Permanent Secretary Ministry for Religious Affairs, Alhaji Abubakar Torankawa rreiterated the commitment of the government to partner with groups and association in promoting peaceful coexistence in the state. The Sokoto state commissioner of police,  Ali Kaigama, also emphasised on the need for public support to community policing drives initiated by the Nigerian Police. Kaigama said the police will continue to partner with the Nigerian army and other sister security agencies in tackling insecurity in the country. In his presentation, Prof. Tukur Baba, the Dean Faculty of Social Sciences in Federal University Birnin Kebbi dwelled on factors that promoted insecurity from pre-independece. Baba advised authorities to change the land use act, taxations and consider global, regional, national and community approaches to holistically deal with the problems of insecurity. He described the assessment by the National Bureau of Statics revealing the poverty index as glaring. ”This is the effect of insecurity, maladministration and poor people attitude in the northwest,” he said.

Nigeria’s equity market sheds N15bn

Trading activities on the floor of Nigerian Exchange (NGX) closed Tuesday depreciating by N15 billion. arket capitalisation of listed equities declined by 0.04 per cent to 63309.65 points from 65336.71 points traded the previous day.The NGX All Share Index also depreciated by 27.06 basis points to 65309.65 points from 65336.71 points recorded the previous day.A review of the transactions during the day showed that Guinness Nigeria Plc led gainers table in percentage terms, gaining 10 per cent to close at N60.50 per share, Gkaxosmith followed with a gain of 9.74 per cent to close at N10.70 per share, Chellaram added 9.73 per cent to close N3.72 per unit, TIP grew by 9.72 per cent to close at N0.79 per share while Universal insurance gained 9.09 per cent to close at N0.24 per share.On the contrary, NSLTech topped losers chart with 10 per cent to close at N0.27 per unit, Northern Nigeria Flour Mills followed with a drop.of 9.89 per cent to close at N12.30 per share, JohnHolt dipped by 9.52 per cent to close at N1.33 per unit, Tantalizer down by 8.33 per cent to close at N0.33 per share, Mutual Benefits fell by 7.69 per cent to close at N0.48 per unit.The volume of trades went down by 16.525 million, representing 4.94 per cent as investors traded 317.808 million shares valued at N4.471 billion in 6376 deals against 334.333 million shares costing N3.891 billion in 6940 deals. Transactions in the shares of AccessCorp led market activities with 49.355 million shares valued at N86.161 million, Sterling Bank followed with account of 43.823 million shares cost N153.936 million, Universal insurance traded 28.863 million shares cost N6.896 million, FCMB group traded 18.125 million shares worth  N112.162 million while FBNHoldings exchanged 14.301 million shares cost N261.734 million.

NAF destroys boats with stolen crude oil

The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) says the Air Component of Operation Delta Safe (OPDS) has destroyed boats laden with stolen crude oil as part of efforts to thwart oil theft in the Niger Delta region. Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, NAF Director of Public Relations, disclosed this in a statement issued in Abuja. Gabkwet said the air component had on Saturday bombarded three boats carrying stolen crude oil at about four Nautical Miles South-East of Bille, a riverine area located west of Bonny Island and South of Port Harcourt, in Rivers. He said the boats were sighted tapping crude oil from a pipeline. He added that the crew also observed an active illegal refining site with tanks and reservoirs loaded with suspected illegal refined products, about 4 miles South-east of Idama also in Rivers. According to him, the site has been subsequently attacked and destroyed. “Air strikes against these economic saboteurs will be sustained until they desist from their acts of thievery and economic sabotage. “The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Hasan Abubakar, has since directed all air component commanders nationwide to ensure they team up with other security agencies to sustain air strikes on all criminal elements in the country. “He said that days of treating criminal elements with kid gloves is over, saying that NAF must continue on the trajectory until they brought all of them to their knees,” he said. 

Top US diplomat meets leaders of Niger military junta

A Senior U.S. diplomat Victoria Nuland has met with senior leaders of the military junta in Niger, the U.S. State Department has said. Nuland, the acting deputy secretary of state, travelled to Niamey to meet with the armed forces’ new chief of staff, General Moussa Salaou Barmou, and three other members of the military junta. She expressed Washington’s “grave concern regarding developments in Niger and our resolute commitment to supporting democracy and constitutional order,” U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement. During the meeting Nuland outlined what was at stake if Niger did not “respect its own constitutional order,” Miller said. “This includes the potential loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in economic and security support for the people of Niger,” she highlighted. She described the more-than-two-hour conversation as “extremely frank and at times quite difficult” in a call with reporters. Nuland’s request to meet with ousted and detained President Mohamed Bazoum was denied, she said. “The United States continues to call for the immediate release of President Mohamed Bazoum, his family, and all those detained as part of the extra-constitutional attempt to seize power,” Miller said. Nuland was also not able to see new self-declared ruler Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani. Bazoum was ousted in a military coup on July 26. Tchiani, the commander of Niger’s presidential guard, then claimed power as the country’s new ruler. He and his group of officers suspended the constitution and dissolved all constitutional institutions.

MPC: Aligning fiscal, monetary policy for economic growth

The benefits of collaboration in any human endeavour cannot be over-emphasised. Every part jointly fitted together produces the whole.Monetary policy affects financial conditions and the level of bank reserves. Whereas, fiscal policy can put money directly into or out of people’s pockets. Without fiscal policy as a tool to fight inflation, the federal government is working with one hand tied behind its back.The fiscal approach is anchored by the Federal Government whose role is mainly to moderate the excesses of other operators in the economy, and provide law and order and enabling operating environments.The Central Bank acts alone when it hopes that its policies would change the economic dynamics without any input from the fiscal side.Fiscal policy can slow spending directly by raising taxes or reducing government direct payments without necessarily having the intermediate step of raising the unemployment rate.Modest upfront fiscal contraction would reduce the cumulative amount of monetary tightening necessary, thereby improving the odds of avoiding recession.In this regard, analysts opine that the CBN must not operate in isolation, but collaborate with fiscal authorities to achieve sustainable economic results. Ineffective policiesMost economic policies were not as effective as they ought to be during the last administration due to the lack of collaboration on the part of fiscal and monetary authorities as everyone seems to be running their ‘own thing’ as it were.While the Finance Ministry appears to be focused only on borrowing from all possible quarters and increasing tariffs to raise more revenue for the government, the CBN was preoccupied with shielding the Naira from unnecessary pressure through rampant importation of items that could have been produced locally, thereby depleting the foreign reserves and spiking exchange rate.Analysts note that one of the dilemmas of Nigeria is fiscal indiscipline that is seen in the actions of the political office holders. In the last dispensation, while the CBN was trying to grow the economy through expansionary policies targeted at increasing capital flows (or credit) to the real sector, the fiscal authorities, on the other hand, were raising taxes on many items that affect their activities, which the CBN was trying to expand.And that was why at every opportunity, suspended CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele always called for an alignment between fiscal and monetary policies.According to Emefiele, the country’s monetary and fiscal authorities must “collaborate and work in harmony to accelerate Nigeria’s economic development even as he added that “finding a sustainable solution requires a broadened participation of colleagues from the fiscal side.”Speaking at the 149th meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Apex Bank’s Acting Governor, Folashodun Shonubi, said there was a need for fiscal and monetary authorities to align together to be able to address present economic challenges.Reading the communiqué at the end of the two-day meeting, Shonubi noted that subsidy removal, exchange rate liberalization and disbursement of palliatives, would have pass-through effects on inflation. He therefore, called “monetary and fiscal authorities to sustain collaboration towards addressing the inflationary pressure and incentivize domestic investment to reduce unemployment and boost output growth.The Monetary Policy Committee “…enjoined the Federal Government to continue to explore policies to improve investor confidence in the Nigerian economy and pave the way for foreign and domestic investments.“Members emphasized the need to attract investments, particularly, to auto manufacturing, aviation, and rail industries to boost non-oil revenues.”Experts have continuously argued that all these can only happen when both of them work in harmony. For instance, from time to time, the Federal Government comes up with its fiscal policies based on national economic philosophy and objectives, to aid or readjust the economy.CBN then makes monetary policies to ensure availability of money at the right cost, adequate volume and appropriate type to facilitate the cost effectiveness of production and trade. However, we saw monetary authority make incursions repeatedly into the economic policy territory hitherto exclusively reserved for the fiscal authority in Nigeria.This has then made the CBN a punching bag for every frustration in the economy in regards to monetary and fiscal balancing of macroeconomic issues. Breaking from the pastIn trying to break away from the past mistakes, President Bola Tinubu quickly appointed seasoned economist Wale Edun as his Special Adviser on Monetary Policy. The objective was to have the two sides coming together to align policies before they become public document.And true to type, Nigerians did see it in the MPC decision as the monetary policy rate hike was by 25 basis points contrary to what analysts and industry players had projected.In arriving at the decision, the MPC considered the outlook for the domestic economy with the policy options to either hold or hike the policy rate to offset the moderate increase in headline inflation.With headline inflation still on the rise due to the effect of fuel subsidy removal and the naira float which is driving the prices of goods and service upwards, the Apex Bank new that raising rates like in previous times will be counter-productive to what the monetary authorities wanted to achieve with the policy reforms that has been embarked upon by the fiscal authorities.Knowing that when the palliatives begin to flow, there would be much liquidity in the system, the Committee had to be proactive in line with current thinking.According to the CBN Governor, “Considering the option to hold, the Committee reviewed the impact of the continued rise in inflation on various macroeconomic variables, noting the potential dampening effect on output growth. Members agreed unanimously that the previous series of rate hikes had indeed greatly moderated the pace of price increases.“The option to continue to hike the policy rate, albeit moderately, also presented a strong alternative. This is premised on the expected liquidity injections into the economy from the recent policy developments and the likely impact on inflation.“The Committee remained cautious in arriving at a policy decision as Members noted the need to continue to support investment which will ultimately lead to the recovery of output growth. The balance of these arguments thus leaned in favour of a

D’Tigress dominate Afrobasket, win 4th consecutive title

Nigeria’s D’Tigress emerged victorious on Saturday night, defeating Senegal 84-74 to secure their fourth consecutive Afrobasket Championship title in Kigali, Rwanda, cementing their position as the dominant force in African women’s basketball. Throughout the tournament, D’Tigress displayed an exceptional level of play, overpowering their opponents with a stellar lineup of talented players such as Amy Okonkwo, Murjanatu Musa, Sarah Ogoke, and Ifunaya Okoro. Among them, Okonkwo stood out, consistently unleashing her skills to keep Senegal on the defensive, earning her the well-deserved title of the tournament’s Most Valuable Player (MVP). The game was thoroughly dominated by D’Tigress, denying Senegal any opportunity to turn the tide, as reflected in the impressive scorecards of 19-10, 24-21, 26-19, and 22-17 in each of the four quarters. Notably, the victory also marked history with Rena Wakama, the Head Coach of D’Tigress, becoming the first indigenous female coach to lead a national team to an Afrobasket Championship triumph. At the post-match conference, Wakama expressed pride in her players’ determination, hard work, and passion, considering the short period they had to train together. The achievement was widely praised by sports enthusiasts and journalists alike. Queen Moseph, a sports journalist, commended the players for their remarkable display of talent and dedication, uplifting the spirits of basketball-loving Nigerians. The victory serves as a testament to the incredible prowess of Nigeria’s senior national team, leaving a lasting impact on the nation’s basketball community. Sports commentator Kelechi Benard hailed the triumph as a significant milestone for Nigeria, especially given the limited preparation time the team had. He emphasized the importance of hard work and team coordination, factors that contributed to the team’s success and highlighted their potential to achieve even more in the future. Nigeria’s D’Tigress showcased their dominance in African women’s basketball, securing their fourth consecutive Afrobasket Championship title with an 84-74 victory over Senegal. The team’s performance, led by the exceptional Amy Okonkwo and under the guidance of Coach Rena Wakama, earned them widespread admiration and recognition for their professionalism and passion. This win stands as a testament to the team’s commitment and ability, inspiring basketball enthusiasts across the nation.

Amotekun arrests suspected cultist, burglar in Osun

Osun State Amotekun Corps, said it has arrested a suspected cultist in Osogbo and another suspected burglar in Ila-Orangun, Ila Local Government Area of Osun. Brig.-Gen. Bashir Adewinmbi, the State Commander of the corps, made this known in a statement on Friday, adding that the two suspects were arrested on Thursday. “Sodiq Adelabu, 20, a native of Osogbo, was arrested in Osogbo for allegedly being a member of a secret cult, engaging in cult-related activities and theft. “The suspect admitted to being a member of the Eiye Confraternity when interrogated. “The second suspect, Sunday Oluwasegun, 22, a native of Ila-Orangun, was arrested for breaking into a house and stealing in Ila-Orangun Town. “He was reported to have stolen some money and some home appliances before he was later arrested.” Adewinmbi said both suspects were arrested after complaints were lodged against them and their activities by patriotic residents of the state. He, therefore, called on residents of the state to always report suspicious activities and criminal suspects living among them to security agents. He assured them that their identity would be kept secret, encouraging them to join in the fight against crime and criminality in the state. He stated that the arrested suspects had, however, been handed over to the police for further investigation and prosecution.