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Dangote-Led Flood Committee Commences Distribution Of N1.5bn Relief Items To Victims Nationwide

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The Dangote-led Presidential Committee on Flood Relief and Rehabilitation (PCFRR), known as Dangote Flood Committee has commenced the distribution of relief materials, worth N1.5 billion to victims of flooding nationwide.

The PCFRR, which was established by the Federal Government following the 2012 flooding, is co-chaired by Africa’s foremost industrialist Aliko Dangote and Dr. Olisa Agbakoba.

The flagging off ceremony for the relief materials distribution for this year started in Borno State and was conducted by the State Governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum Tuesday in Maiduguri, Borno State capital. The Governor thanked the Dangote Flood Committee and promised that he will ensure that the items get to the victims.

UNICEF revealed that the 2022 flood killed 600 people, displaced 1.3 million and destroyed more than 82,000 homes in Nigeria, therefore making it the worst in decades.

The Representative of the Dangote-led Presidential Committee on Flood Relief and Rehabilitation (PCFRR), Alhaji Umar Musa Gulani assured at the flagging off for the Northeast zone that the exercise would also be conducted in the other five geopolitical zones of the country.

Gulani said the items from the Committee have been officially handed over to the Borno State Government and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). He said the exercise would be conducted across the six geo-political zones, beginning from the northeastern State of Borno.

The breakdown of items donated includes 86 bags of rice, 34 bags of beans, 34 bags of maize, 34 bags of millet, 34 bags of Guinea Corn, 34 bags of Garri, 86 cartons of noodles, 86 cartons of spaghetti, 86 cartons of macaroni and 86 bags of sugar, and 857 bags of cement, among several food and non-food items.

Gulani said over N10 billion has been expended by the committee to mitigate the effect of flooding since inception in 2012, adding that no fewer than 84 Hostels have been built for flood victims in 24 states of Nigeria. According to him: “This private sector led project is highly commendable and it has been sustained in the past ten years. It is a selfless service from the private sector and Nigerians should appreciate their selfless service to humanity”

Director General of NEMA Alhaji Mustapha Habib Ahmed described the Committee’s intervention as a milestone for Nigeria in general, and flood victims in particular. “Responding to the humanitarian outcomes of this nature requires concerted effort,” the DG said, and added that the donation by the Dangote Flood Committee would eventually be made available to flood victims across the affected states in Nigeria.

Speaking on behalf of the victims, Khalifa El-Miskin said the victims were extremely appreciative of the gesture.

It would be recalled that the Committee also recently, during the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, donated N1.5 billion to fight the virus. Announcing the donation, Dangote said it was imperative for well-meaning Nigerians to help the Federal Government in fighting the virus.

The Committee also recently provided N250 million as relief assistance to victims of the devastating floods in Benue State. Aside from the donation in Benue, the Dangote-led committee also revealed that it had also donated the sum of N150 million (in kind) to provide relief assistance to flood victims in Anambra State.

It also released the sum of N118 million to NEMA to augment the N1.6 billion released by the Federal Government for procurement of food and non-food relief materials in aid of the flood victims in the following 16 states: Abia, Akwa-Ibom, Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Abuja FCT, Kebbi, Kwara, Lagos, Niger, Ondo, Oyo, Plateau, and Sokoto.

It would be recalled that the Committee at its inauguration by former President Goodluck Jonathan raised a whopping N11.35 billion for flood victims. Top on the list of donors at the event was Dangote and the Federal Government, who donated N2.5 billion each.

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Two Brothers In Police Net For Alleged Gang-Rape In Ogun

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Olamijuwon Noibi and Lukman Olatunbosun, two brothers, have been taken into custody by the Ogun State Police Command on charges of gang rape at Oke Eri, Atan Ijebu Area, Ogun.

A trustworthy law enforcement source, on Thursday, revealed that Noibi had tricked Aminat Yakub into coming to his flat, where he then allegedly sexually abused her while plotting with Olatunbosun, his younger sibling.

Yakub was allegedly invited by Noibi to visit his mother on Saturday, but when she got to his residence, she didn’t get to see her.

After making her consume an alcoholic beverage called “Bullet,” he allegedly physically attacked her before raping her.

According to The Punch, Noibi was also coerced his younger brother, Olatunbosun, with a knife so he could join him in the act, and filmed both of them while they were having sex.

When contacted, the spokesperson for the Ogun Police Command, Omolola Odutola, confirmed the incident and said that the suspects had been arrested and would be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department for a discreet investigation.

“On the 24/4/2024, at about 13:00hrs, one Aminat Yakub ‘F’, Aged 21 years, of Main Estate Oke Eri Area, came to the station and reported that on the 21/4/2024, at about 12:30hrs, she went to the house of one Olamijuwon Noibi ‘M’ at Oke Eri on invitation to come and greet his mother. When she got there, she discovered that his mother was not at home.

“Juwon forcefully pushed her into his room, then forced her to drink Black Bullet and forcefully had sex with her twice after a serious beating. He later invited his younger brother, Lukman, to come and have sex with her but when his younger brother refused, he took a knife threatening to kill both of them. In the end, his younger brother ended up having sex with her after a serious beating and equally took a video of them.

“Upon the receipt of the complaint, the team of patrol led by Asp Ayoola Alidu at the station and went to the scene of incident. The two alleged suspect was arrested one Olamijuwon Noibi, ‘M’, Age 27 Yrs and one Lukman Olatunbosun, ‘M’, Age 20 yrs,” a police statement.

The PPRO noted that both brothers confessed to the alleged crime, and the victim was taken to the General Hospital Ijebu-Ode for examination, saying that the suspects would soon be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department for “discreet investigation and further development will be communicated.”

Earlier report had it that the operatives of the Rivers State Police Command had arrested a 30-year-old man identified as Jeffrey for allegedly defiling the teenage daughter of his landlady in an estate in Abuloma, Port Harcourt Local government Area of the state.

It was learnt that the suspect, who had a tailoring shop at the estate, lured the 13-year-old girl to his business place one evening under the guise of showing her clothes.

But Jeffrey ended up locking the shop, overpowered the girl, and allegedly had his way with her.

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Lagos Government Pays N1.5bn WASSCE Fees For 58,000 Students

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58,000 pupils will be registered for the 2024 West African Senior School Certificate Examination this year, with the state government spending N1.5 billion, according to Tolani Alli-Balogun, Commissioner of the Lagos State Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education.

In announcing the ministry’s efforts to mark the first year of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s second term in office, the commissioner made this statement on Thursday.

On May 29, 2023, Sanwo-Olu took the oath of office for a second term as governor, vowing in his inauguration speech to disappoint the people of Lagos.

The commissioner, who spoke at the state secretariat, said, “The administration of Babajide Sanwo-Olu has never defaulted on the payment of WASCCE fees of all public school SS3 students in the four years of Governor Sanwo-Olus’s first term in office. The state government paid over N4.2bn between 2020 and 2023 to keep our promise of full payment of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination fees.

“In the current school year (2024), the governor has approved the sum of N1,571,076,000 as registration fees and other cost for 58,188 SS3 students writing the West African Senior School Certificate Examination.”

Last year, the West African Examination Council, which conducts WASSCE, noted that it had concluded plans to begin computer-based examinations in 2024.

It released the results of the first-ever CBT exam, 2024–First Series, in March this year.

The analysis of candidates’ performance showed that out of the 8,139 candidates that sat the examination, 3,424 candidates representing 42.07 percent obtained credit and above in a minimum of five subjects (with or without English Language and/or Mathematics).

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Dana Air Has Been Flying With Unhealthy Status, We’ll Audit All Local Airlines — Aviation Minister Keyamo

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Festus Keyamo, minister of aviation and aerospace development, says Dana Airline has been flying with an unhealthy status for a while now.

In an interview on Channels television on Thursday, Keyamo said that an audit report completed by his predecessor verified the airline’s unhealthy status and that internal reports from two years ago demonstrated that Dana Air was unfit to operate.

He also stated that the airline’s repeated incidents prompted him to call for a suspension.

Replying to the criticisms that trailed the suspension, Keyamo said he never wrote to the airline but instructed the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to do so.

“Before I came into office, I am sure you have heard consistent incidents involving perhaps Dana Airline, to mention a few of them. I am sure you heard that, at a point, on approach to the runway, the door flew open,” the minister said.

“I am sure you know that popular incident. Who are the engineers that are supposed to look at this? Who are the engineers that are supposed to check for the safety of the aircraft and its parts?

“There are also incidents involving one or two of its aircraft at different times, consistent. Of course, after the fatal crash of Dana, the other time that killed Nigerians.

“There were internal reports before I came in under my predecessor about a series of infractions by Dana Airline and the conclusion was that they were not healthy enough to fly but they went into the skies after such a report. What they did, how they did it before they told them to start flying again, we don’t know.

“While we argue back and forth about who has power and who doesn’t have power, the point is that the flying public is at risk, and if any tragic incident happens, it is the minister that would be called to resign. Nigerians will not spare the minister.

“For me, the last thing I want to happen to me as minister of aviation is to have blood on my hands. I mean the blood of innocent Nigerians as a result of either the negligence, deep complicity or corruption of those who are supposed to be regulators of the aviation industry.

“As minister, my job is to supervise them and to ensure that they carry out their duties. My duty is not to regulate. For those quoting the law, they should know that I know the law more than them.”

Speaking on the irregularities in the aviation sector, Keyamo said “there is deep complicity within the system”, stressing that the cleansing process would start and continue until they are resolved.

The minister said if the aircraft in the country’s aviation sector are not properly checked, then there will be “flying coffins” in the air.

He said beyond the suspension of Dana Air, the NCAA would carry out a comprehensive audit of all local airlines in the country to guarantee the safety of passengers and the health of the civil aviation industry.

On April 24, Keyamo directed the NCAA to suspend the operations of Dana Air after one of its aircraft veered off the Lagos airport runway on April 23.

Reacting to the suspension, the Aviation Safety Roundtable Initiative (ART) said it was unlawful for the minister to direct the NCAA to suspend an airline, urging the minister to respect the autonomy of the regulator.

Describing the directive as “external interference”, the aviation group advised the minister to focus his efforts on policy issues that positively impact the airline industry.

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