Chioma

No fewer than three persons were confirmed to have been burnt to death while several others sustained injuries in a tanker explosion in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital on Tuesday. Five vehicles and two motorcycles got burnt in the explosion which occurred around the Guarantee Trust Bank, Presidential Boulevard in Abeokuta. The Director of the Ogun State Emergency Management Agency, Ige Olufolarin, who confirmed the incident said the victims were burnt “beyond recognition” when the fuel-laden tanker exploded. He said, “About seven vehicles and five motorcycles were also burnt in the explosion. “The incident occurred along presidential Boulevard, near Guarantee Trust Bank, opposite Lawson Group School, Kuto, Abeokuta. “It was gathered that the tanker which was coming from Sagamu-Siun-Oke-Mosan Road climbed the overhead bridge lost control of the vehicle while descending from the bridge.” Eyewitnesses said the tanker hit a motorcycle that was in motion and rammed into some commercial vehicles waiting for passengers at the end of the bridge. The tanker immediately exploded and the fire soon spread to other vehicles in the vicinity. The explosion has thrown residents and passers-by into panic as many motorists started making U-turns and headed towards alternative routes within the metropolis. Our correspondent who was at the scene of the incident observed that the bodies of three casualties have been evacuated. Joint rescue operations comprising the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the Federal Road Safety Corps, and the Police were at the scene. Speaking with newsmen, Olufolarin said seven vehicles, six motorcycles were burnt while four persons were injured. He added, “We don’t want conflicting figures. Three persons are now confirmed dead. Their bodies have been evacuated. According to an eyewitness, the incident occurred a few minutes past 8am and was caused by a brakes’ failure on the part of the tanker. The Sector Commander, Federal Road Safety Corps, Ahmed Umar also confirmed that three people died in the incident while several others were injured, adding that both the deceased and injured were taken to the Federal Medical Center (FMC), Idi Aba, Abeokuta. “The cause of the accident is still under investigation, we have to conduct a thorough investigation but it was an accident involving a tanker loaded with Premium Motor Spirit which fell and caught fire which affected other vehicles. “Our men are still there with the fire service to contain the fire and further spread of the fire,” he said. By Daud Olatunji, Abeokuta Source:https://punchng.com/breaking-one-feared-dead-scores-of-cars-burnt-as-tanker-explodes-in-ogun/

The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, which is the apex association of herdsmen in the country, says it is not aware of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu's order that herdsmen should vacate the forest reserves in Ondo State. Akeredolu issued a statement on Monday, giving herdsmen seven days to vacate all forest reserves due to the high rate of kidnapping in the state. He had said, "Today, we have taken major steps at addressing the root cause of kidnapping, in particular, and other nefarious activities detailed and documented in security reports, the press, and debriefings from victims of kidnap cases in Ondo State. "As the chief law and security officer of the state, it is my constitutional obligation to do everything lawful to protect the lives and property of all residents of the state. In light of the foregoing, the following orders are hereby issued: All forest reserves in the state are to be vacated by herdsmen within the next seven days with effect from today, Monday, January 18, 2021." Speaking with The PUNCH on Monday evening, however, the Secretary-General, MACBAN, Usman Baba-Ngelzerma, said his members also attended a meeting with Akeredolu but all that was discussed was putting a stop to night grazing and the activities of child herders. He said if such an order was made, it would only be right for the state government to provide an alternative for the pastoralists. Baba-Ngelzerma said he was not aware of Akeredolu's order and would wait for an official communication before any action is taken. Responding to a question, he said, "The governor had a two-hour meeting today and the chairman of MACBAN in Ondo State was there. He told me that the agreement they reached was that we should stop night grazing and stop allowing cows to graze around government properties and cooperate with Amotekun and help fish out bad eggs among them. "That is what we were told. There was no discussion about vacating. But if they asked them to vacate the forest reserves, have they provided an alternative for them to graze? Where will they graze if they leave the forest reserves? "As it is now, we are not aware of any order to vacate. My chairman is not aware of that. Even I just read about it in the media. When we have confirmed, we will know what to do." He further said Nigerians must be aware that not all herdsmen are members of Miyetti Allah. BY SAHARAREPORTERS, NEW YORK SOURCE:http://saharareporters.com/2021/01/19/where-will-they-graze-if-they-leave-forest%E2%80%94miyetti-allah-reacts-akeredolus-order-leave

THE Senate on Monday declined comments on the decision by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to ignore its resolution against the sacking of Dr Nasiru Argungu, as the Director General of the National Directorate of Employment. The Presidency on Monday announced that the President had approved the appointment of Abubakar Fikpo as the acting Director-General of the National Directorate of Employment pending the appointment of a substantive DG. But the spokesperson for the red chamber, Senator Ajibola Basiru, declined comments on the matter when contacted by our correspondent on Monday. Basiru while responding to our correspondent’s enquiry simply said, “The Senate is not in session.” Asked whether the issue would be discussed at plenary on resumption next week, Basiru simply said, “I don’t know.” But the Presidency on Monday announced that the President had approved the appointment of Fikpo as the acting DG of the NDE pending the appointment of a substantive DG. In sacking Argungu last year in the wake of the controversy that trailed the Federal Government’s planned 774,000 jobs, Buhari had directed the Minister of State, Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, who supervises the agency to nominate an acting DG for the agency. The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, in a statement on Monday said Buhari had approved the nomination made by Keyamo. The statement was titled, ‘President Buhari approves nomination of Abubakar Nuhu Fikpo as the acting DG of the National Directorate of Employment’. By Olalekan Adetayo and Sunday Aborisade Source:https://punchng.com/senate-silent-as-buhari-ignores-nassembly-appoints-dg-nde/

Nigerian troops of the Operation Hadarin Daji have killed 35 bandits and arrested two of their collaborators in different encounters in Zamfara and Katsina states, the Defence Headquarters has said. The Coordinator, Defence Media Operations, Maj.-Gen. John Enenche, made this known in a statement on Monday. Enenche also said the troops of ‘Forward Operating Base Kekuwuje’ on Sunday engaged the bandits following credible intelligence on their movement with rustled animals at Bungudu Local Government Area of Zamfara. “In the course of the encounter, 30 armed bandits were neutralised while 24 cows and an unspecified number of sheep were recovered. “Similarly, still on the same 17 January, 2021, troops deployed at Maradun received information of reprisal by armed bandits at Janbako village in Maradun LGA of Zamfara State. “Troops swiftly mobilised to the area to forestall the reprisal attack. Troops were ambushed short of Janbako village where firefight ensued. The gallant troops overwhelmed the bandits and neutralised five of them. “Currently troops are in pursuit of fleeing bandits,” he said. In another development, he said, following a tip-off, two suspected bandits’ collaborators named Mustapha Sani and Murtala Sani were arrested at Dungun Muazu village in the Sabuwa Local Government Area of Katsina State. “Suspects are in custody for further action. The Armed Forces of Nigeria and other security agencies will sustain the offensive against the enemies of our nation. We shall not relent until normalcy is restored to all troubled zones of the country,” he said. BY SAHARAREPORTERS, NEW YORK SOURCE:http://saharareporters.com/2021/01/18/army-kills-35-bandits-zamfara-arrests-suspects-katsina

The Federal Government on Saturday ordered immediate closure of the headquarters of the National Identity Management Commission in Abuja. The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, who gave the order, also directed the NIMC to open 20 locations in the Federal Capital Territory in order to halt the crowds that gather at the commission’s headquarters daily in a bid to get their National Identity Numbers. NIMC spokesman, Kayode Adegoke, announced the closure of the commission’s headquarters in a statement issued in Abuja. He said 20 centres were reactivated within the FCT to make the process of NIN enrolment much easier for applicants effective Monday, January 18, 2021. The commission advised members of the public, residents and visitors to the FCT wishing to enroll for NIN to use any of the 20 NIMC centres. The Federal Government had ordered telecommunications companies to deactivate the telephone lines of subscribers who failed to link their Subscriber Identification Modules with valid NINs. It gave subscribers with NINs till January 19 to link their NINs with their SIM cards, while subscribers without NINs have until February 9 to do so. The centres in Abuja, as captured in the statement issued on Saturday, were outlined as 2nd Floor, Block C, No 4 Maputo Street, Zone 3, Wuse; Abaji Secretariat Complex, Legislative Section Abaji. Others include AMAC Secretariat Annex, Kabusa Junction Apo; Area Council Complex Bwari; CIPB Building (Old Secretariat), Gwagwalada; and Kwali Council Secretariat, Kwali. It named others as Opposite Forest Pasali,Along Kuje/Gwagwalada Road; Beside Diamond Bank, Building Materials International Market; Dutse Alhaji; among others. By Okechukwu Nnodim Source:https://punchng.com/fg-orders-immediate-closure-of-nimc-headquarters/

Schools in Lagos State on Monday resumed for the second term as directed by the state government. The Lagos State Commissioner for Education, Mrs Folasade Adefisayo, visited some schools to monitor their compliance with COVID-19 protocols. Some of the schools she visited in the Agege area are Diary Farm Senior Secondary School, District Junior College, Sango Junior Secondary School, Agege, Sango Senior Secondary School. Our correspondent observed that all the schools visited by the Commissioner had wash hand basins, infrared thermometers and the students in the classrooms used their face masks. However, some students in Junior Secondary School 2 in some of the schools who were not supposed to be in school on Monday were seeing loitering at the school gate without their face masks. Adefisayo said a staggered school resumption was in place to forestall the spread of the virus. Nursery, primary and secondary schools in states including Lagos, Ogun, Ogun, Ebonyi and Nasarawa resume academic activities today for the second term of the 2020/21 academic year. Some higher institutions, both federal and state, had also signified their intentions to resume academic activities today. Resumption at basic schools was delayed in many states following the second wave of COVID-19 as well as the advice by the NCDC. Schools in Oyo State, however, resumed on January 4, while schools in Edo and Anambra states will resume in February. The Lagos State Government, in a statement on Friday, affirmed its earlier pronouncement that all public and private schools in the state below tertiary level should resume on Monday (today). In the statement, Adefisayo urged students and staff members to adhere to COVID-19 guidelines. Also, the Ogun State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Prof. Abayomi Arigbabu, had on Friday directed all primary, secondary as well as government science and technical colleges to resume academic activities on Monday. Arigbabu appealed to parents, guardians, teachers, school administrators, and other stakeholders to ensure full compliance with all coronavirus protocols Also, the Ebonyi State Government will deploy two nurses in each public school ahead of today’s resumption to stem the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic. The Chairman of the state chapter of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, Mr Francis Elechi, who disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria, explained that the nurses would assist the teachers, who had been trained on the preventive measures against the second wave of COVID-19. By Dayo Ojerinde Source:https://punchng.com/partial-compliance-as-schools-resume-in-lagos/

A 22-year-old Computer Systems Engineer, David Ntekim-Rex, has been killed by armed robbers in the Jibowu area of Lagos State, The PUNCH has learnt. Ntekim-Rex, according to a 2018 statement by IBM, had beaten 17,000 others from around the world, including finalists from Brazil, Germany, India, Japan, Nepal, and the United States to emerge as the co-regional winner of the annual Master the Mainframe competition, organised by AngelHack and IBM Z Academic Initiative. The deceased, who was described as a tech guru by friends, bagged several certificates and accomplishments before graduating from the Department of Systems Engineering at the University of Lagos in 2019. He was working as a Product Designer at a Financial Technology firm, Crevatal, before his demise, according to his LinkedIn profile. The deceased, who was the son of Dr. Yewande Ntekim-Rex, a senior lecturer at the English Department at the University of Lagos, was said to have been gunned down around 8 pm on Friday. A relative of the deceased, who tweeted with the handle, @Magnanimous_, said the police failed to help Ntekim-Rex when he was shot. He alleged that the police continued to cause unnecessary delays as life slowly left Ntekim-Rex. He tweeted, “My ‘auntie’ has three sons. She’s always crazy about them. The middle child, David, is the most promising. He is a tech guy; very young, very brilliant. David was on his way home on Friday night when he was robbed, shot and killed around Jibowu. Please say a prayer for my aunt. “David got shot around 8 pm. The police were called, David hadn’t died yet. The Nigerian police took pictures instead and were more concerned with why he, a tech guy, was carrying a laptop. Nigeria failed you, David. “David was taken to the military hospital around the area. It took a senior nurse to come out and start checking for a pulse. He had lost a lot of blood at this point. “The police then took David and his family to Sabo (police station), where they looked for the laptop that he had on him instead of giving them a police report. He was finally released to his family, and they got to LUTH around 12.30 am. “He was there till the family was convinced he couldn’t be alive because he had no pulse. The country failed David. The doctors failed David. The police failed David. The system failed David. Rest in peace David Ntekim-Rex.” A friend, Oluwatifunmi Omotimomake, said on Twitter that the death of Ntekim-Rex was a huge loss. “It breaks my heart to see your life cut short by the actions of robbers and a failed government system. May your soul continue to rest in peace. Heaven has heard your cry. Justice will come.” Friends revealed that days before he was killed, Ntekim-Rex had created an app for monitoring the success of New Year resolutions. A friend, @koderholic, said on Twitter that she communicated with the deceased on the day he was murdered. “Who would have known that would be the last time we would converse? David Ntekim-Rex, may we meet again. Say hi to Jesus.” Confirming the incident, the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, said Nketim-Rex was dead before the police were notified. Adejobi added that the Divisional Police Officer and the Area Commander both intervened but there was nothing that could have been done to save the deceased. He said, “On January 15, 2021, we were informed around 11.20 pm. On getting to the scene, policemen met his lifeless body but relations insisted that he was not dead. So, police took him to Military Hospital, Yaba but the hospital said they could not treat him and then referred him to LUTH. “He was accepted at LUTH and he was confirmed dead. The family returned to the police to get extracts at the station for mortuary. So, the allegation of the police abandoning him is not true. The incident is unfortunate and we sympathise with the family but we did what we could.” By Eniola Akinkuotu Source:https://punchng.com/friends-mourn-as-robbers-kill-winner-of-ibm-competition-in-lagos/

The National Identity Management Commission has shut down its headquarters in Abuja and stopped the National Identity Number enrolment activities to avoid the spread of COVID-19. According to NIMC Spokesman, Kayode Adegoke, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, gave the directive on Saturday. SaharaReporters had reported how large crowds visited the NIMC offices across the country for NIN registration. The development comes after the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) directed telecommunications companies to block SIM cards not registered with the NIN. Nigerians had criticized the directive which has been described as sudden. Adegoke said the minister reactivated 20 other centres within the FCT to make the process of NIN enrolment much easier for applicants effective Monday, January 18 2021. He advised members of the public, residents and visitors to the FCT wishing to enrol for NIN to use any of the 20 NIMC centres. "The centres are: 2nd Floor, Block C, No 4 Maputo Street, Zone 3, Wuse, Abuja; Abaji Secretariat Complex, Legislative Section Abaji, FCT – Abuja; AMAC Secretariat Annex, Kabusa Junction Apo, FCT- Abuja; Area Council Complex Bwari, FCT, Abuja; CIPB Building (Old Secretariat), Gwagwalada, FCT – Abuja; Kwali Council Secretariat, Kwali, FCT – Abuja; Opposite Forest Pasali, Along Kuje/Gwagwalada Road, FCT; Beside Diamond Bank, Building Materials International Market; Dutse Alhaji, FCT – Abuja; "Others are GWARINPA FHA/Waterboard Beside Police Station Off 3rd Avenue, FCT – Abuja; HIGH COURT LUGBE By Police Signboard, Close to Lugbe Market, Airport Road; JIWA AEDC Office, before Emir Palace FCT – Abuja; Women Development Secretariat, Karshi; Kenuj Angles Schools, Jikwoyi Phase 1 Extension, FCT-Abuja; Chief Palace, Kurudu; Nigerian Customs Service Karu; NIPOST, Opposite General Hospital, Phase 4, Kubwa; NIN Enrolment Center Ibro Hotel 34-36 Sokode Street Wuse 2, Abuja; Afritech multi Concept, Gwandal plaza adjacent EFCC, Wuse 2, Abuja; and NIN Enrolment Center No 8, Nairobi Street, Wuse 2, Abuja." BY SAHARAREPORTERS, NEW YORK SOURCE:http://saharareporters.com/2021/01/17/nin-nimc-shuts-down-head-office-abuja-over-violation-covid-19-guidelines

The Nigerian Institute of Medical Research says there is not enough space at the moment to store the COVID-19 Pfizer vaccines which are expected to arrive next week. The Director-General of NIMR, Prof. Babatunde Salako, said this during an interview with The PUNCH on Saturday. Salako revealed that Nigeria had freezers in different parts of the country to store the Pfizer vaccines at -70 degrees centigrade. He, however, said most of these freezers were occupied and were storing medical supplies which also need to be stored at a low temperature. Responding to a question, Salako said, “Our facilities can hold Pfizer vaccines at -70 degrees but we don’t have enough of such freezers and the ones we have are even full at the moment. We even just got one that we have yet to install but how many samples can it even hold? “Even if we rearrange things, I doubt if we can store more than a few hundred or thousands.” When asked if other facilities besides NIMR could hold such vaccines, he said, “There are many -80 freezers around in the research institutes and universities but the point is that many of them have samples inside them. So, even if we evacuate, I don’t think we will all be able to do more than a few thousands.” Salako said storage was the minor problem, adding that the major challenge would be how to transport the vaccines at the temperature of -70 to rural areas. The NIMR boss argued that in the future, Nigeria may need to buy other brands that do not require such low temperature like Pfizer. Salako noted that other brands like Oxford/AstraZeneca could be stored at normal freezer temperature while the Russian vaccine could also be stored at a temperature not as low as Pfizer. He said, “The problem is not just about storing vaccines but moving it to the rural areas and maintaining that same temperature. For example, if you land in Lagos and you store it at -70 and it has to be transported over the creek somewhere, how do you move them? There are other ways but they will be very costly. They can store them with liquid nitrogen or even dry ice but it will cost a lot of money. “AstraZeneca would have been better because it would stay at normal freeze temperature and I think even Russian vaccines can be stored at the same temperature but I think the government is going with Pfizer because the World Health Organisation has given it an emergency approval. “But I think all the vaccines are now being deployed in many countries. So, we can do all of them rather than do just one considering the storage capacity for Pfizer. Even the government knows that we don’t have enough space but we can be taken in batches.” By Eniola Akinkuotu, Abuja Source:https://punchng.com/covid-19-nigeria-lacks-space-to-store-pfizer-vaccine-says-nimr/