Reps to investigate all privatisation in the power sector

The Committee on Power in the House of Representatives has said that the House has rounded off on plans to look into all privatisation in the sector. This they said, is to ensure that the challenges being faced presently in the sector are resolved.

The Chairman of the Committee, Rep. Magaji Aliyu, made this known on Friday in Abuja when he led other members on an oversight function to the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).

“The house has just been mandated to investigate all power sector privatisation from the public enterprises to the Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos).

This will commence by next week so that the issue of no power will be solved and Nigerians get value for their money

The complexity of this sector is enormous when TCN has the capacity to wheel 10,000 megawatts and the Distribution Companies (DisCos do not take more than 3,000.

Why we are paying for undelivered capacity in billions of naira, something has to change,” he said.

Aliyu also urged the management of TCN to ensure that Nigerian engineers were patronised in the execution of projects in the sector..

“President Muhammadu Buhari has signed an Executive Order aimed at boosting the domestic production of goods and creating jobs in science, technology and engineering in the country.

The President has signed the order that no project should be given to any foreign company unless there is no Nigerian company

My committee will look into this very seriously to ensure the order is carried out as we will not support any contract given out to foreign companies no matter how technical.

There can be a technical partnership as we must protect Nigerians and Nigerian businesses,” he said.

He urged the management of TCN to work with NASS, adding that the members were ready to assist them to achieve their goals.

In his response, the Acting Managing Director of TCN, Mr Sule Abdulaziz said that there was the need to strengthen the transmission sector by ensuring critical transformation of the existing system.

According to Abdulaziz, the government, regulator and TCN management will all play key roles in ensuring the transformation of the power sector.

“With the government taking the lead to create the right investment while TCN focus on implementing new technology, faster projects execution and improving operational efficiencies,” he said.

According to him, Members as representatives of the people and legislators have important roles to play by ensuring that the populace they represent have sufficient and qualitative power supply.

He said that ensuring qualitative power supply to all constituencies would boost economic growth in the country.

“In order to drive growth in capacity utilisation, the immediate focus of the new TCN management will be on repairing existing equipment which are failing and prone to breakdowns.

Regular, proactive maintenance processes will be institutionalised to reduce the occurrence and impact of breakdowns.

We are also going to prioritise on expanding our capacity via new projects that will span across the entire nation.

These are some of the considerations that will help in achieving the goal in improving the performance of the transmission sector,’’ the TCN boss said.

Scores killed, others injured as gunmen and residents clash

It has been reported that at least 43 persons have been killed and scores were injured in fresh attacks in several communities in Benue, Taraba and Zamfara states.

In Tungwa and Utsua-Daa communities in the Bali local government area of Taraba State, 11 persons were said to have been killed.

 A resident of Bagoni near Tungwa, Alhaji Sale Umar, told one of our correspondents that gunmen invaded Tungwa on Thursday and Utsua-Daa on Friday, killing 11 people.

Umar said several houses in the two communities located along Bali-Marararba road were also burnt in the attacks. He said, 

“We saw 11 dead bodies after the attacks. Many houses have been burnt and people have deserted the communities. Many people especially Tiv farmers are fleeing the communities to Bali for safety.”

Caretaker Chairman of Bali Local Government Council, Musa Mahmud, confirmed the attacks but said five people were killed.

Mahmud, who said he was at the scene of the attacks, also said several houses were burnt.

Boko Haram fighters kill army commander

It has come to our notice that Boko Haram fighters have killed an acting Commanding Officer of the Nigerian Army, Major K. Yakubu. This happened during a gun battle in the Doron Naira and Magaji areas of Borno State.

The bloody encounter also left nine suspected terrorists dead. The Defence Headquarters, Abuja, said that the army officer, said to be commanding the 401 Special Forces Brigade, was killed while troops were conducting a clearance operation in the affected areas.

The military noted that the troops recovered one 120mm mortar base plate, one religious book, metal links for aircraft ammunition and a roll of copper wire abandoned by the Boko Haram terrorists.

The Coordinator of the Defence Media Operations, Major General John Enenche, said, 

“On June 2, the combined troops of 19 Brigade and 401 Special Forces Brigade conducted a robust clearance operation at Doron Naira and Magaji. The troops had an encounter with some Boko Haram terrorists hibernating in the area.

The troops, through superior fire, neutralised nine of them. They destroyed one Boko Haram gun truck as well as captured one anti-aircraft gun, two AK-47 rifles and a large cache of anti-aircraft ammunition.

However, one officer paid the supreme price while one soldier was injured in action. The injured soldier is currently receiving treatment in our military medical facility.”

The DMO added that two female Boko Haram terrorists also surrendered to troops at the 144 Battalion deployed in Madagali, Adamawa State, in another clearance operation.

During the encounter at Gajinji, troops neutralised one terrorist and arrested two adult females namely; Aishatu Manye and Kelune Mate who are identified to be the local Boko Haram terrorist commander’s wives”.

Police arrests man who kissed 3-yr-old stepsister

The Police Command has apprehended a 400-level student at the Lagos State University, Babatunde Adeyeye, who was seen kissing a 3-yr-old girl in a viral video.

We gathered that Adeyeye was arrested on Friday at his residence on Kajola Street, Sagamu, Ogun State, three days after he posted the video.

The police spokesperson in Lagos, DSP Bala Elkana, stated that the Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, had charged a team of detectives to track down Adeyeye after the attention of the command was drawn to the video.

“The video shows one Babatunde Adeyeye, a Botany student at the Lagos State University, kissing his 3-yr-old stepsister. The incident happened on June 2, 2020 in their residence at Sagamu. 

The CP tasked detectives from the Gender Unit to analyse the video and apprehend the suspect. The team got the suspect about 11am on Friday. 

He was handed over to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Yaba, for diligent prosecution.”

The CP urged everyone to continue to speak out against rape, child abuse and crime against women.

In his statement to the police, Adeyeye said that he posted the video innocently on his WhatApp status, adding that it went viral because a friend of his course mate shared it on social media platforms. He said, 

“I am a student at the Lagos State University. On June 2, around 8pm, my stepsister and I were playing outside. My dad was sitting beside me and my neighbours were with me playing.

I did a video of me kissing the girl without any bad intention. After making the video, I posted it on my WhatsApp status and a lady messaged me, calling me a rapist. 

I was remorseful because that was not the first time I posted the girl’s picture. The lady blocked me immediately because I messaged her.

She screenshot it (the video) and posted it on social media. She is a friend of my course mate. If truly I had bad intention, I wouldn’t have posted it on my WhatsApp status.

I have made a video to say I am really sorry for what I did. I know what I did is bad and I am very sorry. I didn’t know it will end up like this.”

Facebook : Zuckerberg to review policies over Trump's posts

On Friday, Mark Zuckerberg who is the Chief executive of Facebook made a promise to review the policies of its social network. 

These policies to be reviewed are the ones that led to its decision to not moderate controversial messages posted by US President, Donald Trump.

The announcement, which came in the form of a letter to Facebook employees, appeared aimed at quelling anger inside the company that was so severe it prompted some to quit.

The outrage was sparked when Zuckerberg said Facebook would not remove or flag Trump’s recent posts that appeared to encourage violence against those protesting police racism. Zuckerberg’s message on Friday seemed to attempt to mollify that anger.

“We’re going to review our policies allowing discussion and threats of state use of force to see if there are any amendments we should adopt,” Zuckerberg wrote.

This, he said, includes “excessive use of police or state force. Given the sensitive history in the US, this deserves special consideration.”

Social media platforms have faced mounting calls to moderate the president’s comments, most recently because of the unrest gripping the United States in the wake of the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man killed while apprehended by police.

“The decision I made last week has left many of you angry, disappointed and hurt,” Mark said in the letter, which he posted on his Facebook page.

Timothy Aveni, a software engineer who resigned from the company, wrote on his Facebook page that the social media platform “will keep moving the goalposts every time Trump escalates, finding excuse after excuse not to act on increasingly dangerous rhetoric.”

Zuckerberg said that he is exploring possible changes on how policy decisions are made at Facebook, along with more ways to advance racial justice and voter engagement.

“While we are looking at all of these areas, we may not come up with changes we want to make in all of them,” he cautioned.

As per voting, he said: 

“I have confidence in the election integrity efforts we’ve implemented since 2016.

But there’s a good chance that there will be unprecedented fear and confusion around going to the polls in November, and some will likely try to capitalize on that confusion,” he said.

The letter also addressed employees’ complaints that minorities have not been sufficiently represented internally.

“We’re going to review whether we need to change anything structurally to make sure the right groups and voices are at the table,” he said.

Frank Mba reveals why most rapists go scot free in Nigeria

The spokesperson of the Nigerian Police Force, Frank Mba has revealed the reasons why a lot of rapists get away with the crime in Nigeria.

He made this known in a chat on TVC. He said that the first reason why rape cases are never successfully prosecuted is because they are reported late. 

He also disclosed that alteration of the crime scene largely affects the success of a rape investigation. He said,

''The fundamental problem for us as investigators are three. Number one is the fact that a lot of rape cases are reported very late and the fact that they are reported late, it impacts on the quality and the success of investigations. 

The longer you stay in reporting a rape case, the higher the probability or the chances that evidence and the crime scene will be mismanaged.

Although there is no status bar limiting the time you can report a rape case, you can even report twelve months later, but the earlier you report a rape case, the better and higher the chances of success."

Frank Mba said that the most important part of a rape investigation is the management of the crime scene.

''As a matter of fact, in most crimes, how the crime scene is managed determines the success of investigations and people must remember that rape cases are even very special in the sense that in a rape case, there are two immediate crime scenes.

The first crime scene is place where the crime took place whether it is in a room, a car, a bush path or in a church like the case of Uwa. That particular place where the crime took place is a major crime scene.

The second crime scene is the body of the woman. Infact the body of the victim is a walking crime scene. It is a living crime scene. It is a mobile crime scene. And how we manage both the physical as well as that living crime scene will determine the success of an investigation."

42% of Nigerians lost their jobs due to COVID-19 - NBS

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said that from its recent survey, they found that 42% of Nigerians have lost their jobs due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

They revealed that the study was carried out between April to May 2020. This is the period when the index case was identified in the country. 

From the study, we learnt that the impact of COVID-19 has been most strongly felt in the commerce, service and agriculture sectors.

While seventy-nine percent of households surveyed reported that their households’ total income have decreased since mid-March, NBS added that the economic shock experienced by Nigerians after the outbreak of Coronavirus far exceeds shocks experienced between 2017 and 2019.

In its report titled "COVID-19 IMPACT MONITORING", the NBS said,

“In order to track the impacts of the pandemic, the National Bureau of Statistics implemented the Nigeria COVID-19 National Longitudinal Phone Survey (COVID-19 NLPS) on a nationally representative sample of 1,950 households. 

The most widely reported shock experienced by households was an increase in prices of major food items faced by 85 percent of households since the outbreak compared to only 19 percent between January 2017 and January 2019."

Kanye West tops the list of World highest paid musicians in 2020

Kanye West has been named the highest paid musician in the world, by Forbes. Forbes made it known in its recently released 2020 edition of its annual Celebrity 100 list.

West was also named the overall second highest paid celebrity. The 42 year old billionaire rapper who made $170 million in 2020 ranks at number two.

He comes behind his sister-in-law, Kylie Jenner, whose billionaire status was revoked after she was accused of faking her way to her billionaire status over claims she inflated her personal wealth and forged her tax returns.

According to the magazine, West is now officially worth $1.3 billion. But months ago, Kanye slammed Forbes because he was unhappy with their research and findings.

He said that he believes his net worth will be around $3.3 billion and not the $1.26 billion they estimated at that time.

'It's not a billion,' West texted the publication. 'It's $3.3 billion since no one at Forbes knows how to count.'

Kidnappers abduct five brothers in Kaduna

Reports have it that kidnappers have abducted six people in Kaduna, five of whom are brothers from the same parents.

The boys, whose ages range between 8 and 18, were reportedly kidnapped in Gonin Gora area of Chikun local government area of Kaduna state.

We gathered that the boys were sleeping in their home in the late hours of Thursday, June 4, when the kidnappers stormed the home, beat them up, and took them away.

The event as recounted by Mr Bamidele Awelewa, their father had it that the kidnappers gained access into his compound by breaking the fence and later forced themselves into the main building.

Lala Akindoju shares rape account of another victim

The rape allegations against Nollywood director, Victor Okpala is on the increase as another alleged victim speaks up.

Lala Akindoju, a Nollywood actress and filmmaker has written about the account of another alleged victim of Victor Okpala.

In a video shared on Instagram, the victim whose identity is being protected, recounted how she was raped by the director on the set of one of his productions in Igando area of Lagos state.

"So I was rehearsing lines with one of my colleagues and one of his boys came to call me. And I went up to the room, he told me to sit down. 

He was on the bed with his laptop in his hands and he asked how far I wanted to go in the industry. I told him 'very far'. I have big dreams.

He said 'But you know you have to work very hard for that. You know you won't get that on a platter of gold. You have to sacrifice something to get something'.

'What do you mean sir?' Were the exact words I said. He said 'You are an adult right'? I told him, 'Sir I don't understand what you are saying but if I am getting the picture right, you are talking about sexual activity..."

Okpala then promised to feature her in all his film productions and make her famous if she agreed to his terms while forcefully taking advantage of her.

The filmmaker is yet to officially respond to the sexual harassment accusations.