The Lagos State House Of Assembly, LAHA, has disclosed that the ongoing Lagos Red Line is 85 per cent completed. Upon completion, the House disclosed, 3.5 Million passengers will be transported weekly.
LAHA Chairman, Committee on Transportation, Hon. Temitope Adewale, said that the Red Line of the State’s rail mass transit will move 500,000 passengers daily, which brings up the said number of passengers on a weekly basis, summing to 15 million passengers a month.
Hon. Adewale made this known on Thursday when he led the Committee on an on-the-spot visit to the train stations between Ifako-Ijaiye and Yaba.
Adewale, who confirmed that the project was 85% of completed, said it showed that the State Government understands the need to boost the transportation sector to ease daily movement of residents.
“Remember that the Rt. Hon. Speaker, Dr. Mudashiru Obasa, during the presentation of the 2023 budget, commended Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu for the purchase of trains and his zeal to complete the project.
“So today, by the powers conferred on us by the Constitution and under the headship of Mr. Speaker, we decided to conduct an oversight on the Ministry of Transportation and to be precise, the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA).
“We have visited the railway and five stations in Iju, Agege, Ikeja, the Yaba and now Oyingbo where the rolling stocks or trains are parked contrary to what we’ve been hearing that the trains are not here.
“From what we have seen so far, the project is approaching completion and having spoken with the contractors, we are sure the Governor will do the commissioning as projected believing that the possibility is true and positive,” Hon. Adewale said.
He said the train service became necessary because the Lagos master plan indicates the need to inculcate it and increase passengers using mass transit.
“The red line will help move 500,000 Lagosians on a daily basis and reduce heavy traffic where more cars and personal vehicles would be left at home.
“This administration has achieved a milestone and the our Speaker has been able to give support to the executive to ensure that funds are put into good use,” he added.
On his part, Hon. Bisi Yusuff, a lawmaker, described the project as the result of good leadership and continuity in government.
According to Hon. Yusuff, the project was actually started by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and built upon by subsequent administrations.
Noting that the trains would help the State’s economic growth and smart city dream, the lawmaker pleaded for proper maintenance mechanisms.
He urged Lagosians to vote massively for the APC so they would continue to enjoy dividends of democracy.
Engineer Olasunkanmi Okusaga of the Directorate of Transport, promised that the project would be delivered at the target time.
Tears flowed freely as the remains of late Gospel Musician, Sammie Okposo, were interred at a private cemetery in Ikoyi, Lagos State.
Families, friends, colleagues and sympathizers couldn’t hold back tears as it cascaded their cheeks.
Most of them are yet to come to terms with the death of the 51-Year Old Musician who died on November 25th, 2022.
Okposo, according to family sources and his Manager, died in his sleep.
When the news of his death went viral, many had thought it was rumour, not until the confirmation of his death by close colleagues, associates and families.
Ministering at the interment of the deceased were Dr. Flourish Peters, the Lead Pastor at The L.O.G.I.C (Love Of God In Christ) Church and Pastor Paul Adefarasin of House on the Rock
Friends, family members and relatives dressed in white attire to witness the burial.
Before the interment, there were series of programmes to bid him farewel.
At the Night of Tribute, families and friends were held spell bound by the kind words about him from people that had come to commiserate with the family and also pay their last respect.
The Delta State born Gospel Singer will be sorely missed by families, friends, colleagues and well wishers
The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Abdulrosheed Bawa, on Thursday, December, 15, 2021, revealed in Abuja that the Commission has, so far, recovered over N30 billion from the suspended Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Ahmed Idris.
Idris was suspended by President Muhammadu Buhari after the EFCC arrested at the Kano Airport as he waited to board a flight to Abuja over alleged corruption and embezzlement of funds which run into over N100bn.
The EFCC is currently prosecuting the disgraced AGF over the alleged N109 billion fraud.
The Commission alleged that between February and December 2021, Idris accepted from Olusegun Akindele, a gratification of N15.1 billion, in a bid to accelerating the payment of 13 per cent derivation to the nine oil-producing states in the country, through the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.
The anti-graft agency, also, alleged that N84.3 billion from the Federal Government’s account was converted by the suspended AGF and Akindele between February and November 2021.
The EFCC said the offence contravenes sections 155 and 315 of the Penal Code Act Cap 532 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990.
The EFCC Chairman spoke at a media briefing as part of the highlights of the activities of the anti-graft agency for the year 2022 where he further
disclosed that the Commission made efforts to recover some of the stolen funds.
Speaking on the achievements of the EFCC from January to December 2022, Bawa gave other recoveries to include N134,33,759,574.25, $121,769,076.30, £21,020.00, €156,925.00, and ¥21,350.00, CFA300,000.00, among others.
Professor Charles Soludo of Anambra State, has, for the second time in two months, counted the Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi out of the Presidential race.
The Governor does not recognize Obi as a candidate with any weight, not to talk of a front runner.
Soludo’s opinion, however, runs contrary to the general opinion on the standing of the Candidates in the race.
Obi is, generally, regarded as one of the three front runners in a race not a few people think will be the most contested for in Nigeria. He has, also, led in at least three credible opinion polls.
Soludo did not need to mention Obi by name. It was obvious. He more than hinted when he spoke at the Government House Awka on Thursday, as he received the Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar, in audience.
Atiku was in Anambra State to flag off his Presidential Campaign.
Said Soludo to Atiku: “You are one of the two front runners for the Presidency.” He then added, for effect, that he is in politics, but is still struggling whether to become a politician or not because he “says it as he sees it.”
The two front runners he was referring to were, obviously, Atiku and the Candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
By making that statement, Soludo also threw the Presidential ambition of his own Party, All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Honourable Justice Peter Umeadi (rtd) to the dustbin.
No wonder Umeadi has remained largely anonymous in his ambition,, and APGA has not deemed it necessary to flag off its Presidential Campaign.
Soludo’s statement on Thursday tallies with his opinion in the long essay he wrote a couple of weeks ago where he dismissed Obi’s ambition as no use. He said Obi is likely not going to take even the third position, in February 2023 at the conclusion of the Presidential election. He posited that only two Political Parties, APC and PDP, are in the Presidential race.
Soludo accused Obi of deceiving the Igbo, and asked Igbo leaders to go and negotiate with the two Candidates he regards as the front runners.
Soludo had come under strong attacks over the contents of his long essay and the way he dismissed Obi with a wave of the hand, but it did not stop him from repeating the points he made earlier.
Obi, was the Governor of Anambra State for two terms. He, it was, who handed over to the immediate past Governor, Willie Obiano, whose successor Soludo is.
As a follow up to the auctioning of seized vehicles by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the anti graft agency is set to sell not less than 150 houses.
The properties are located in different towns within the Country.
Chairman of EFCC, Abdulrosheed Bawa, who disclosed this in Abuja on Thursday, said the Commission has, also, recovered over N30 billion from the suspended Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Ahmed Idris.
The EFCC is currently prosecuting the embattled AGF over alleged N109 billion fraud.
The EFCC alleged that between February and December 2021, Idris accepted from Olusegun Akindele, a gratification of N15.1 billion, in a bid to accelerating the payment of 13 per cent derivation to the nine oil-producing states in the country, through the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.
The anti-graft agency also alleged that N84.3 billion from the Federal Government’s account was converted by the suspended AGF and Akindele between February and November 2021.
The EFCC said the offence contravenes sections 155 and 315 of the Penal Code Act Cap 532 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990.
The EFCC Chairman, speaking at a media briefing as part of the highlights of the activities of the anti-graft agency for the year 2022, disclosed further that the commission made efforts to recover some of the stolen funds.
Speaking on the achievements of the EFCC from January to December 2022, Bawa gave other recoveries to include N134,33,759,574.25, $121,769,076.30, £21,020.00, €156,925.00, and ¥21,350.00, CFA300,000.00, among others.
The EFCC boss disclosed that over 3,615 convictions were recorded within the period, stressing that the commission is serious about its anti-corruption programme.
He announced that the nationwide auction of forfeited automobiles will be followed by the disposal of over 150 houses to interested buyers.
Bawa, however, assured that by the time the Special Control Unit against Money Laundering (SCMUL) becomes fully operational, it will be difficult for money to be laundered in the country.
If he could, he might have built a highway to Sharm el-Sheikh where the world’s great and mighty gathered between November 6 and 18 at COP27 to discuss climate change. But who knows, he might yet do so. Thirteen-year-old Musa Sani, who has already taken infant steps in civil engineering, might live a bigger dream someday.
At an age when his mates are dodging bullets and running scared with nothing on their backs in the midst of the chaos that Borno, a Boko Haram hotbed in Nigeria’s North East has been for nearly two decades, Musa is building things, literally, with his bare hands.
After the state government built its first flyover, as part of its effort to rebuild infrastructure ruined following years of violent Boko Haram insurgency, Musa, who was at the time in a Quranic school in Borno’s capital, Maiduguri, asked himself what he could also do for his community.
Even though his family had just been resettled around the Gwange area of Maiduguri from one of the numerous internally-displaced-persons camps in the state, Musa was still occasionally haunted by the fear of an uncertain future.
“We lived in fear. Fear of Boko Haram,” Musa said. “Fear of being attacked and killed. Fear that something bad could happen to us at any time. At such times, I often ask myself, ‘What can I do with my life?’”
The first hint of an answer came to Musa when the Borno State government opened the state’s first flyover at Customs Roundabout, Gwange, a filthy, congested commercial spot in the capital, not far from Musa’s house. In a state pockmarked by years of violent extremism and broken infrastructure, beauty remains a rare thing. Imagining it, even rarer.
“Scenes of the opening of the flyover and the beautification of the Customs Roundabout touched me,” enthused Musa, who snuck out of the house to take it all in after the opening ceremonies. “I immediately started asking myself what I could do to beautify the environment.”
That was how he came about constructing his own prototype Roundabout – not with asphalt or steel, but with a mixture of cement, clay and stones! He sourced the materials locally, with little money provided by his mother, a food seller. To the discomfort of his eight other siblings, he quickly converted a portion of the verandah inside their three-room bungalow into his construction site!
He said building the model bridge with locally sourced materials was “an important win for conservation” and that it also opened his eyes to what he could do to improve his environment which, apart from insurgency, is also severely threatened by desert encroachment.
“I used my clay model to test my creative ability and also to show the world my talent,” he said.
Azu Ishiekwene
The model bridge is a mishmash of clay, cement, and oil painting done in six days of July this year. Musa worked at it whenever he had time off Quranic school, hoping that it would take him closer to his dream of becoming a civil engineer one day. That day may not be too far away.
In the six days that it took to complete the biblical story of creation, Musa’s model clay bridge was ready. It may be a far cry from the model that guided the concrete Roundabout in his community, but for the 13-year-old, it’s an engineering wonder that may have changed the course of his life for good.
Did neighbours and friends think he was just mucking about with clay and paint when he started out?
“At first,” Musa said, “people were wondering what I actually intended to do. A few were even laughing. But when the work got fully under way, more and more people took me seriously. They saw that I was not joking.”
He still bears the scars on his hands and knees from wounds sustained while he mucked about on the floor with cement, stones and a water paint brush. But the joy of his finished work and the fame that it has brought have wiped off the pain.
His mother, Hafsat, said she knew her son was not joking. “He’s been like that since he was three,” she said. “He’s always loved doing things with his hands, especially things from nature. I’m not surprised.”
And that means a lot in a region of the country with an estimated 20 million out-of-school children, who are also potential recruits for Boko Haram and violent extremism.
Musa’s clay model bridge has become a museum of sorts. State governor, Babagana Zulum, visited Musa’s Gwange home in July to see for himself, with scores of state officials in tow. Apart from a cash gift of N5 million to Musa, the governor also withdrew him from the Quranic school and enrolled him, on a scholarship, in Primary Four at Golden Olives Academy, where he has a far better chance to turn out well.
Musa hopes to go on to the university to study architecture or civil engineering and, beyond clay models, build greater things to beautify his community.
“The little that I have done,” he said, “has brought recognition and positive attention to my community. My success will encourage me and others to do more, instead of being idle.”
And just when he thought he might be starting a mini-museum, misfortune struck! The model Roundabout that he had carefully laid on the verandah, making his parents’ house a tourist centre of sorts, was destroyed!
“There was insufficient space in the house,” he said in an interview this week. “Also, people were trooping to see the work, causing chaos in our compound. Some boys even fought before they could come through to see the Roundabout.”
Alas, the same talisman that brought Musa a small fortune and considerable fame, including a personal visit by the governor, now lies in ruins! Has his magic become his misery? He is taking it all in his stride, blaming the lack of space at home for this misfortune.
“The destruction could have been prevented if we had enough space at home,” he said.
Is he planning a re-make or would another project almost amount to a re-invention of the wheel? Musa is not fazed. The talent that produced the crushed prototype appears ready to rebuild or even produce a bigger surprise. For now, though, he is occupied by the challenges in his new school environment and is relishing the opportunities and competitive spirit.
An immediate concern for him appears to be plans by his family to relocate to old Maiduguri, in Jere Local Government, about three kilometres away from his new school. If he cannot find a place or family to stay with in town, he’ll have to commute this distance to school daily and live with the uncertainty that his parents would be able to provide daily transport fare.
“I have so many things on my mind to construct in the future. These would include houses, cars and even airplanes,” he said.
By the time the world is ready for Cop28 in Dubai, who knows if Musa might have built more than a clay bridge to connect not just his community, but perhaps his country, to the big stage?
Three senators representing Ondo state at the red chamber of the national have admitted working against a nominee for the board of the Niger/Delta Development Commission, (NDDC).
The nominee, Charles Ogunmola was among those whose names were forwarded to the Senate for confirmation as a member of the NDDC board last month by President Mohammadu Buhari.
The three senators, are Ayo Akinyelure, Ondo central; Ajayi Borffice, North and Nicholas Tofowomo, south.
Chairman, Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions and Senator representing Ondo Central in the Legislative Chamber, Ayo Akinyelure gave reasons for the rejection of Mr Charles Ogunmola as NDDC Nominee from Ondo State.
Briefing the press in Abuja, shortly after the rejection of the NDDC nominee on Thursday, Akinyelure said Mr President must have been misinformed about the nomination of Ogunmola.
“Though Mr Charles Ogunmola is from Ondo State, but he is not from the oil producing area. That was why the three Senators from Ondo State unanimously rejected his nomination.”
Akinyelure urged President Muhammadu Buhari to kindly re forward another nominee to be screened on the Board of NDDC to represent Ondo State.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed has disclosed the reason why the Federal Government has not been able to perform optimally and embark on certain projects. She said that the Government is owed a whopping N5.2 trillion by Companies and individuals.
She added that over 5,000 Companies are owing the FG and its agencies and have as well failed and refused to honour their obligations.
The Minister made this disclosure during a two-day sensitization workshop on Project Lighthouse organised for ICT and Account Staff in Federal Ministries, Departments, and Agencies across the North Central Zone in Minna, on Thursday, December 15th, 2022.
Represented by Director of Special Projects in the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Victor Omata, she said that the debts are owed by debtors spread across 19 Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
The Minister cited the lack of visibility of these transactions, poor information sharing, and enforcement as reasons why these revenue loopholes remain.
“The Ministry through the consolidation efforts of the Debt Analytics and Reporting Application has been able to aggregate monumental debts of approximately N5.2 trillion. These debts came to the spotlight from data aggregated from over 5,000+ debtors across ten Ministries, Departments, and Agencies. The debt aggregation effort is still ongoing.
“These debts are in the form of debt liabilities to the Federal Inland Revenue Service; refunds to the government by companies who failed to deliver on projects for which payment had been effected, unpaid credit facilities granted to both corporate entities and individuals by the Bank of Industry and Bank of Agriculture; judgment debt in favour of Government, debts owed Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate by Insurance Companies among others.”
Speaking further, the Minister stated that the Project Lighthouse initiative has enabled the aggregation of relevant economic and financial information from multiple agencies that hitherto did not share data.
The lighthouse project is said to be one of the portfolio projects under the Strategic Revenue Growth Initiative aimed at improving Federal Government’s revenues by targeting and increasing revenues from non-oil revenue sources.
“An important part of our policies and strategies is to leverage big data technology to help block revenue loopholes, recover debts, identify new revenue opportunities, optimize existing revenue streams, especially non-oil revenue as well as improve fiscal transparency,” he stated.
She called on Government MDAs to cooperate and provide quality and relevant information which is debt-related to populate the platform as it would improve the economic base of the country adding that the project would soon be institutionalised.
Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State has been urged by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, South West Diaspora Group in the United Kingdom to further unite the Party by forming an all inclusive Government in which everyone has a sense of belonging irrespective of Political and Religious affiliations.
The Group stressed that Governor Adeleke needs to rise above past differences in the Party that has seen the Party plunge into internal crisis with less than few months or the 2023 General Elections.
The Group made this assertions when it paid a courtesy call to the Governor in Osogbo, Osun State Capital, led by its Chairman, Soji Adewusi.
Adewusi said that unity would play a key role in PDP recording a good outing in the 2023 general elections.
He explained that all hands must be on deck to ensure victory for all ruling party candidates in the coming polls.
As part of moves towards rebuilding the party in the state, Adewusi promised to discontinue the litigation instituted against the candidature of Bamidele Salam, who emerged as the party’s flagbearer for Ede Federal Constituency in the 2023 poll.
Adewusi later presented a talking drum to Adeleke to signify the support of the group.
“Unity of the party in the state is paramount to the party winning 2023 general elections, and all hands must be on deck to ensure victory in the coming elections,” Adewusi said.
Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State has said he will always stand for a better judiciary and encouraged stakeholders to join him to ensure that it remains the last hope of the ordinary man.
He spoke on Thursday while declaring open the 2022 Imo Justice Summit at the Concorde Hotel, Owerri with the Theme: TOWARDS AN EFFECTIVE JUSTICE DELIVERY SYSTEM IN IMO STATE.
The Governor acknowledged that the theme is apt and that his passion for the it and his desire to better Imo Judiciary was the reason the first bill he signed into law as Governor of Imo State was the ADMINISTRATION OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT.
He said that the law which he signed was to accelerate quick justice delivery as against what existed before his assumption of office on January 15, 2020.
The Governor said it is unthinkable that a suspect could be kept on awaiting-trial for over six years “when if sentenced could have stayed only 18 months,” and described the situation as a matter that gave stakeholders concern that resulted to huge investment of capital in Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR).
He said that “ADR was an indictment on the Judicial system just because of lack of manpower or whatever the system that was operated could not accelerate.”
The Governor asserted that “the society could only get a quick and actionable reform when the administration of Justice is accelerated and when we come together such as in seminars and workshops of this nature to brainstorm.”
The Governor said the above are the reasons he approved the summit and other trainings for the judicial officers and their management to sanitize the state judicial system and encourage speedy justice delivery to Imo people.
The Governor congratulated the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Barr COC Akaolisa and the Chief Judge of Imo State, Hon. Justice Theresa Chukwuemeka Chikeka, for “putting together the idea and for the opportunity created for the learned and very intellectual men and women of justice delivery in Imo State to attend this summit.”
He encouraged them not to despair, noting that “gradually the 3R administration in Imo State is sanitizing the system,” as what he met on ground in 2020 when he assumed office as Governor is now a “far cry from what we have now.”
Governor Uzodimma insisted that with commitment and proper synergy, the Ministry of Justice, the Judicial Service Commission, the people of Imo State and all Stakeholders will get to the targeted destination.
Welcoming the Governor, the Imo State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Barr. COC Akaolisa thanked the Governor for his approval that made it possible for the summit to hold and most importantly for coming in person to declare the summit open.
He assured the Governor that from what is put together in the summit, the judicial officers will leave the summit better than they met it.
