President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the immediate release of N19.67 billion to fast-track the completion of sections I-IV of the East-West Road project by 2021.
The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, at a meeting yesterday in Abuja with contractors handling different sections of the road project, said the presidential directive was part of efforts to address infrastructure deficit in the Niger Delta region and boost the economy of the region.
The minister explained that the road, which was conceived in 2006 by the Obasanjo administration, was to have been completed in 2010. He, however, attributed the delay principally to paucity of funds
A statement issued by the Director in charge of Press and Public Relations in the ministry, Mrs. Deworitshe Patricia, said the minister noted that in April 2009, the project was transferred to the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs with the mandate of fast-tracking its completion.
Akpabio said this could not also be realised due to inflexible terms prescribed by financial institutions.
Despite the chequered history of the project, which may not require less than N102 billion for its completion, Akpabio said the president, in line with the determination of his administration to address the issue of infrastructure deficit in the country, had ordered that issues surrounding the delay in the completion of the project should be addressed.
According to him, the presidential directive mandated that the project should be completed by 2021.
Akpabio said: “The project, which starts from the Delta Steel Company Roundabout in Delta State, transverses through Kaiama in Bayelsa State, goes through Ahoada in Port Harcourt in Rivers State, down to Eket and from Eket to Oron in Akwa Ibom State, is to complete the Section I-IV being part of the two sections that had previously been completed. Section–V, which covers 23km from Oron to Calabar, is still under process.
“Considering the disposition of the region to the stability of Nigeria’s economy, the project will not only redress infrastructural deficit in the region, its completion would assist the oil industry in terms of moving goods that will facilitate oil production, movement within the area, restiveness and boast the economic life of the people and the nation at large.”
The Buhari administration, he said, had undertaken more infrastructural development projects than any other government, adding that the East-West road would be one of the legacy projects of this administration.
He thanked the contractors for being committed to ensuring that the presidential mandate is achieved by re-mobilising back to site even when funds have not been made available and assured them of the people’s cooperation.
The Minister of State, Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Omotayo Alasoadura, in his remarks, appealed to the contractors to work hard to fulfill the president’s mandate.
Muiz Banire SAN Th’ expense of spirit in a waste of shame
Is lust in action; and till action, lust
Is perjured, murd’rous, bloody, full of blame,
Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust
– Shakespeare, Sonnet 129
Close to half a millennium after the English man of letters, William Shakespeare, gave the murderous description of lust in his evergreen poetic work quoted above, a section of Nigerian youths seems to have found fashionable the deplorable act condemned by the great poet. A twin-issue that has gained so much traction in public discourse in Nigeria in the last few weeks is rape and other sexual offences.
According to the police, between January and May 2020, over 717 cases of rape have been officiallyreported in Nigeria. In a country with virtually no data, or where the integrity of data is ever challenged and where there are more than enough constraints to reporting incidents of this nature, I reckon that the figure might not be less than 10 times the declared number. Beyond the stigma that our society puts on the victims of sexual offences, particularly rape, and cultural inhibitions to official reporting, particularly where the offender is a close relation, the attitude of law enforcement is equally unhelpful. The point, however, is that, as much as great emphasis is being placed on rape in recent times, there are several other acts of sexual assault and harassment going on around us daily without anybody giving a hoot. Before delving into the meat of this piece, it is necessary and compelling to treat us with the appreciation of the different types of sexual offences that exist. This is so because there is a measure of misgiving, in my view, from the wording of the law on the meaning of rape. Although the laws on rape and sexual offences enjoy different complexions across the nation, I will, for the purpose of my analysis, adopt the Criminal Law of Lagos State.
Under the said law, rape occurs where a man has sexual intercourse with a woman without her consenting to the act. To be guilty of rape, therefore, the first ingredient to be proved is lack of consent. This raises the question of the meaning of consent in the circumstance. According to the law, a woman or girl consents where she is of full capacity to make a decision and she so chooses to participate in the circumstances of the sexual act. I dare say, she must be of sound mind and alert, in addition. What this connotes is that you cannot have a valid consent where the girl is not of age and with a sound mind, and mentally alert. Consequently, where consent was procured through the use of drugs or intoxicants, or the person was unconscious, no consent in law took place. Consent could additionally be tainted by reason of force, impersonation, threat, intimidation of any kind, fear of harm or false or fraudulent representation as to the nature of the act. The import of this is that she must clearly understand what she is consenting to, otherwise, such consent will be invalid. Another essential of proving rape is penetration. In my view, penetration is best established in court through medical evidence. That is why it is advisable that you visit your clinic immediately after the incident for examination and confirmation of penetration. Upon the proof of rape, the offender is liable to be sentenced to life imprisonment in some states.
The precursor to rape, in most cases, is sexual assault. This involves sexually touching another person without his/her consent. Touching, according to the law, may be done with any part of the body or with anything else. Unlike in rape, where the suggestion of the law is that only a woman can be raped, which is not conceded, in respect of this offence, either sex may commit the offence of sexual assault. In fact, any person who penetrates the anus, vagina, mouth or any other opening in the body of another person with a part of his body or anything else, without the person’s consent is guilty of sexual assault. For lawyers, there are more questions to be asked here, but I do not intend to bore you with that. While ordinary sexual assault attracts three years imprisonment, sexual assault with penetration attracts life imprisonment. With regard to anyone who attempts to commit rape or any other sexual act of penetration but fails, the punishment is 14 years. The commonest form of sexual offence is harassment. This is generic in nature as once you sexually harass anybody, you are guilty of the offence and it attracts three years imprisonment. In the view of the law, it includes unwelcome sexual advances, request for sexual favours, and other visual, verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature which, when agreed to or rejected, leads to impairment of a person’s employment or educational status. The last component of the sexual offences relates to procuring another person without his consent to engage in sexual activity, which penalty is five years, but where it involves penetration, the penalty is life imprisonment. I have gone this far to expose us to the gamut of sexual offences in order to appreciate the nature of and the attitude of the law to the menace.
Let me assert that the commonest forms of sexual offences are sexual harassment and assault. This is where the bulk of what eventually ends up as rape and sexual penetration starts. Thus, as much as I commend the various protesters against rape, I am of the view that energy concentrated on the various protests could have been more productive if part of it were directed against the root causes. This implies that we must initiate a wave of protests against sexual harassments and assault in our society. Rape starts with sexual harassment of a woman, when it happens, we all keep quiet without raising our voices of condemnation. After a while, the rapist moves to the next level of rubbing or brushing his body against the woman, we all laugh it off. Once the rapist is comfortable with this, at the earliest opportunity, the man strikes by raping the victim. Beyond the agitation, we must progress into developing a robust response mechanism.
Presently, we cannot boast of any major complaints channel, as the police and other law enforcement agencies often trivialise the complaints and frustrate the victim and neither do we have well equipped investigators who are conversant with the ingredients of the offence for proper investigation, much less competent prosecutors. In fact, at the magisterial level, most times, prosecutors compromise the prosecution under the guise of settlement through the receipt of paltry sums for the victim’s family. In other climes, the probability of being caught and punished for the devilish act is 98 per cent, while in our nation, it is just about 2 per cent. Where, therefore, lies the deterrence? The message from all these is that we need to urgently convene a session on all the above. Beyond this, various reasons have been advanced for this dastardly behavioir. This takes us from the sociology of victims to that of the perpetrators.
We need to address the cause of the upsurge of this odorous activity in order not to be addressing the consequence alone without uprooting the menace. In some cases, drug usage and abuse account for committal of sexual offences. In some others, mental ailment, which may be a product of drug abuse anyway, encourages sexual assault, and some are even occult in the sense that such was regarded as part of the ordainment of the chief priest, for instance, to become rich. The influence of the social media where all manner of pornography can be watched by hungry youths with a stipend of N100 data cannot be underplayed. We must also realise that the corruption of public morals that occurs on a daily basis in our public spaces like markets, garages and football fields, where some depraved minds are making fortunes from hawking sexual performance enhancers cannot be fully described. Sexual abuse occurs through religious leaders who use their fiduciary positions to lure women under their leadership into involuntary sex while this menace ravages the innocent minds of our adolescents in our schools of learning. We cannot discount the trauma of the housemaids in the hands of their masters nor of the pupils in the hands of their lecturers and teachers.
An 80-year old man, Mohammed Bara’u of Lawan Fannami ward in Gashu’a community of Yobe State has been arrested for allegedly defiling a 10-year-old girl.
It was gathered that the suspect who is a wood seller had been trying to lure the girl with chocolate and finally succeeded last Sunday after asking her to pick something from his room. He reportedly followed and forcefully had carnal knowledge of her.
He was arrested after the case was reported to the police by Bade Local Govt Shari’a Committee and some local NGOs.
Medical examination conducted on the girl who lost her parents few years ago, confirmed the she was defiled. The old man who confessed to raping the little girl once, will be transferred to CID office in Damaturu on Friday June 19.
he has a case to answer, says EFCC The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has described Hushpuppi, an Instagram celebrity, who was recently arrested in Dubai, as “Nigeria’s most-wanted hacker.” Hushpuppi, whose real name is Raymond Abbas, was arrested in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), over fraud-related allegations involving the International Police (Interpol) and Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI). In a statement by Dele Oyewale, EFCC spokesperson, to TheCable Lifestyle on Thursday, the commission said it is now tracking other fraudsters directly involved with Hushpuppi, adding that “he has a case to answer.” “The EFCC is familiar with grisly details of his money laundering transactions, involving many high-profile cybercriminals facing trial in Nigeria,” the statement read in part. “The Commission is engaging with the FBI in tracking victims of his fraudulent transactions and other fraudsters having direct involvement with him. Local cybercriminals with money laundering networks with him are also being investigated.” The commission added that the Instagram celebrity was arrested on June 10, “in connection with $35million ventilator scam
The Federal Government has explained why domestic flights will no longer resume operation from June 21.
The Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 had proposed June 21 for resumption of domestic flights.
The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, however stated on Thursday during the PTF briefing that the proposed resumption date was no longer.
He stated more works must be done before flights can resume, adding it would be disastrous to keep the June 21 date.
He also explained that a new date would be fixed after report is submitted the Task Force for review next week.
Giving an update on the level of preparedness of the aviation sector to resume domestic flight, the Minister who was represented by the Director-General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Captain Musa Nuhu, highlighted reasons why the date was no longer feasible.
He said: “We developed a circular and sent to all stakeholders to develop a restart plan and submit to the regulatory body for review and approval depending on the business of the service providers.
“The restart plan is meant to cover airworthiness, operations, passenger licencing, aviation security, safety management system, consumer protection, and air transport regulation. These are the regulatory technical requirement but most importantly, the COVID-19 protocols under the public health corridor concept.
“This public health corridor concept was developed in collaboration with federal health authorities including federal ministry of health, NCDC and Port Health services in addition to guidelines from the World Health Organisation (who) and other international organisations.
“Currently, a lot of service providers have provided their restart plans and the plans are supposed to be reviewed by NCAA; the regulator of the industry.
“We are going to review the documents and if we are happy with the documents, then we will go to each individual organization to verify what they have given as their restart plan.
“A lot of work has been done and a lot of the service providers have provided good documents while some provided inadequate documents and their documents were sent back to them significant progress has been made but there is still a lot of work to be done.”
On why the proposed date was no longer possible, he said: “The aviation system is a very complex system and this complex system has been compounded by the public health care concept which a lot of the aviation the sector is not used to implementing. Now, we have to develop and implement these systems to ensure that the aviation industry is not a vector for mass transmission of the coronavirus.
“It is also our responsibility to ensure that operations are safe and secure. The industry has been grounded for close to three months now and we have to ensure that all aircraft are checked, they are airworthy, all pilots will have to check their proficiency and ensure that they are update, we have to ensure our security at the airports are up to date and so many other areas.”
NIGERIA’S FIRST INDIGENOUS LAWYER: HISTORY VILLE Christopher Alexander Sapara Williams (July 14, 1855 – March 15, 1915), son of an ljesha father from llesha, Osun State, and an Egba mother from Abeokuta, Ogun State, was the first indigenous Nigerian lawyer called to the English bar. He also played a prominent political role during Nigeria’s colonial days. Williams was also the elder brother of Oguntola Odunbaku Sapara (1861 – 1935), a prominent physician who was best known for his campaign against secret societies that were spreading smallpox. When Northern and Southern Nigeria were united in 1914, the new legislative council was headed by the Governor and consisted of seven British officials, two British non-officials and two Nigerians, one of whom was Williams. He died on March 15, 1915 at age 59.
A 28-year-old commercial motorcyclist has been remanded in prison custody for allegedly defiling a 6-year-old girl at Idye village in Makurdi metropolis of Benue State.
The suspect identified as Terver Awuha was accused of having carnal knowledge of the little girl twice. It was alleged that he dragged the little girl who was sent to buy noodles by her mother on June 3, 2020 at about 7:30pm into his room, and forcefully defiled her.
He repeated same act on June 5, 2020 at about 2:00pm and reportedly gave the little girl N100. Terver was thereafter arrested for committing the offence which contravened section 284 of the penal code law of Benue State 2004, after the mother of the girl filed a complaint.
No plea was taken by Magistrate Isaac Ajim who ordered that the accused be remanded in custody of Nigerian Correctional Service in Makurdi. He adjourned the case till August 28 for mention.
Godwin Akwaji, the lawmaker representing Obudu constituency at the Cross River state house of assembly has died at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH) isolation centre after showng symptoms of Coronavirus.
Akwaji who died around 12:30 pm on Thursday June 18, was diabetic and also exhibited fatigue, fever, cough and breathlessness. Prior to his death, the lawmaker was treated for malaria and pneumonia with no improvement.
The Cable reported that some persons who visited the lawmaker at the hospital are already showing symptoms of COVID-19.
Till now, Cross River State is the only Nigerian state yet to declare a confirmed case of Coronavirus.
Don Jazzy has weighed in on the rape allegation against his former business partner D’banj, which has taken a prominent spot on social media.
In tweets he shared, the ace music producer implored the police to thoroughly investigate and the court to do justice on the case which he said saddens his soul.
Don Jazzy who urged all victims to speak up, affirmed that it is also important that every accused person is given an opportunity to set the facts straight.
The Mavin CEO who averred that the truth will always prevail no matter how long a lie lasts, pointed out that the fact remains that one of them is a victim and the law will protect that person.
He tweeted;
No matter how long a lie lasts, the truth will always prevail. The fact is that one of them is a victim and the law will protect that person. I stand firmly against rape and all injustices against women, children and everyone including oppression. I urge all victims to speak out and report to the appropriate quarters. It is also important that every accused person is given an opportunity to set the facts straight. For most of us, all we have is the good name our parents have given us and we must protect and bequeath to our own successors. This particular case saddens my soul but I am not competent to investigate or judge this matter. I implore the police to thoroughly investigate and courts to do justice.
Tragedy struck in the Olujoda area of Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti state capital on Wednesday after a 45-year-old carpenter was killed by a mob who mistook him for an armed robber.
According to reports, Olujoda has witnessed a series of robbery attacks in recent times and this has caused residents to be suspicious of every move.
Eyewitnesses say the youths in the area saw the deceased roaming the street and this made them become suspicious of him. They mistook him for one of the robbers who might have attacked them in the past and then descended on him, beating him with dangerous weapons until he fell into a coma. He was later rushed to the hospital where he was confirmed dead.
His bereaved wife, Yemi, told newsmen that her husband told her that he was going to Olujoda for a contract. She is demanding justice for her late husband
“My husband told me that he was going to Olujoda to get a contract. I was greatly surprised when I heard he was killed because of suspicion that he was wandering around. The question to ask is that, did they see any dangerous weapon on him? Why couldn’t they take him to the person who contracted him for the job to know his true identity? This was a gross injustice and the perpetrators must be brought to book”.
Confirming the incident, the spokesperson of the state police command, Sunday Abutu, when contacted, said investigations have commenced into the matter. Abutu said some persons have been arrested in connection with the inciden
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