The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission says it plans to invest $380 million in electricity in public schools and health centres in Nigeria, Benin, Chad and 16 other African countries.

The commission said the electrification exercise would be carried out through its Regional Off-Grid Electricity Access Project (ROGEAP) and it is aimed at addressing power deficit across the region.
The project is funded by the World Bank, Clean Technology Fund (CTF) and Directorate General of International Cooperation (DGIS) of the government of the Netherlands.

This was disclosed yesterday at a stakeholders’ engagement forum on energising public institutions in Nigeria, where the senior adviser at the commission on ROGEAP, El-hadji Sylla, said the project was aimed at increasing access to electricity for rural communities in the ECOWAS region.

“We want to promote a new innovative chain to electrify public institutions. Our target is to electrify schools and health centres to improve the service delivery. We are piloting the project in Nigeria and Benin Republic. The project covers 15 countries in the ECOWAS region and four countries in the Sahel region,” he said.

Speaking specifically on the implementation of the project in Nigeria, Sylla said the commission hopes to electrify selected public schools and health centres in the FCT, Niger and Nasarawa states in the next 18 months, noting that for the pilot project in Nigeria and Benin, they are targeting 18 months for completion but the entire project in the region is expected to be executed in five years in the various countries.

Also speaking, Engr. Bem Ayangeaor, the representative of the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu said rural electrification space in Nigeria had witnessed growth through grants and subsidies.

He said the ministry through capital subsidies administered by the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), has been implementing innovative solutions to electrify rural communities.

[Leadership]

Nigerian workers have confirmed receiving Federal Government’s new minimum wage.

The spokesperson of Nigeria Labour Congress, Benson Upah and the Deputy President of the Trade Union Congress, Tommy Etim disclosed this in a separate statement on Thursday.

Upah and Etim’s comments come as DAILY POST exclusively reported on Thursday that the Federal Government has begun the payment of the N70,000 minimum wage.

Reacting to the new minimum wage payment commencement, Upah, asked establishments in the country to emulate the example set by the Federal Government.

“Yes, I think so. We ask other entities to emulate this example”, he said.

Similarly, TUC’s Etim said, “FG’s committee on consequential adjustments already released a template, so, no one has any moral ground to delay the payment of the minimum wage. We now advise that all other parties follow suit and commence the payment of the new minimum wage.”

A civil servant working in the office of the Head of Civil Service, who is not authorized to speak, also confirmed that he has received a new minimum wage payment for September 2024.

“I got an alert around 2 pm on Thursday. I am hoping the arrears will come too”, he told DAILY POST.

Some of the federal workers confirmed that they received an additional N40,000 to their previous salary, as consequential adjustment.

The implication meant that over 1.2 million workers under the federal government’s payment have begun to receive payment of the new minimum wage.

On Tuesday Chairman of the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, Ekpo Nta, confirmed that the government has approved the upward review of the consolidated public service salary structure, CONPSS in line with the Minimum Wage (Amendment) Act, 2024.

This followed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s approval of N70,000 new Minimum wage on July 18, 2024.

Tinubu’s approval was followed by the Senate passage of the new minimum wage bill into law.

The N70,000 minimum wage was a 100 percent pay rise from the N30,000 paid under President Muhammadu Buhari’s government.

Meanwhile, the payment rise implementation for Nigerian workers came at the same time prices of goods and services had hit the rooftops as Headline and Food Inflation stood at 32.15 and 37.52 percent in August 2024.

[DailyPost]

Ms. YAN Yuqing, Consul General of the People’s Republic of China in Lagos, has described Nigeria as the largest engineering contracting market for China in Africa.

Yuqing disclosed that Chinese companies have been actively participating in infrastructural projects in Nigeria, saying that their participation significantly promote local economic and social development, and improving people’s livelihoods.  

She stated this in her article tittled ” UNGA Resolution 2758 Brooks no challenge”, saying China and Nigeria, under the strategic guidance of head-of-state diplomacy, will deepen mutual trust and cooperation in various fields. 

“China and Nigeria, under the strategic guidance of head-of-state diplomacy, will deepen mutual trust and cooperation in various fields, firmly support each other’s core interests, join hands to build a high-level China-Nigeria Community with a shared future, and uphold a new international order based on equity and justice”, she added.

“FOCAC was a remarkable event, attended by the leaders of 53 out of 54 African countries that have established diplomatic relations with China, along with nearly 6,000 Chinese and foreign guests. 

“The summit adopted by consensus the Beijing Declaration on Jointly Building an All-Weather China-Africa Community with a Shared Future for the New Era, which clearly states that Africa reaffirms its firm commitment to the one-China principle, and reaffirms that there is but one China in the world, Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory and the Government of the People’s Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China, and firmly supports all efforts by the Chinese government to achieve national reunification. The FOCAC has created strong momentum in favour of one-China principle”

Yuqing stated: “The People’s Republic of China and the Federal Republic of Nigeria established diplomatic relations on February 10, 1971, and the Joint Communiqué on the establishment states that the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria recognizes the Government of the People’s Republic of China as the sole lawful Government representing the entire Chinese people.” 

“Since then, the bilateral relations have developed robustly and smoothly on the basis of the one-China Principle. Recently, President Tinubu was invited to visit China and attend the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), and the Nigerian side reaffirmed in the China-Nigerian Joint Statement that “firmly adheres to the one-China principle, acknowledges that there is but one China in the world, and the government of the People’s Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China, and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory. 

“Nigeria opposes any form of ‘Taiwan independence’ or interference in the internal affairs of China and firmly supports all efforts made by the Chinese government to achieve national reunification and the Chinese side supports the Renewed Hope Agenda of Nigeria and the efforts made by Nigeria to maintain national unity, peace, security, and social stability, as well as promote economic development and improve people’s welfare”.

[TheNation]

Japan is urging its citizens to leave Lebanon and has decided to prepare military flights for their possible evacuation, the government said Friday.

Israeli bombing has killed hundreds of people this week in Lebanon, particularly in Hezbollah strongholds while the militant group has retaliated with rocket barrages.

“We’re currently checking the safety of Japanese citizens living in Lebanon, as well as urging them to leave the country while regular commercial flights remain in operation”, chief cabinet secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said Friday morning.

Hours later, the defence ministry said air force planes had been ordered to go to Jordan and Greece to be on stand-by in case Japanese nationals need to be transported out of the region.

The C-2 transport aircraft would be used to evacuate around 50 Japanese citizens currently in Lebanon, media outlets including Kyodo News said, citing unnamed government sources.

Yoko Kamikawa, Japan’s foreign minister, said Wednesday that Tokyo is “strongly concerned about the escalation of tensions between Israel and Hezbollah”.

Japan, she added, “strongly urges” all parties to “exercise the utmost restraint to avoid further escalation”.

Israel has rejected a push by allies for a 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon and has vowed to keep fighting Hezbollah militants.

AFP

The Edo election has confirmed what every discerning Nigerian knows: the Mahmoud Yakubu-led INEC is a fraud with no moral fibre to conduct free, fair and credible elections. If I were Asue Ighodalo, the latest victim of Nigeria’s soulless electoral mafia, I will not go to court. The matter will be settled on the streets of Edo. If that is what those inclined to being politically correct call anarchy, so be it. Truth be told, unless and until Nigerians show the capacity to resist the malfeasance of INEC and their enablers on the streets, not in courts, this impunity will not stop.

I had very instructive discussions with two A-list Nigerian politicians before and after the Edo State governorship election; the first being on Wednesday, three days before the poll. Both men have held positions of responsibility in government both at the state and federal levels.  

The first politician dismissed the optimism of those who believed that given the pedigree of the 18 candidates and sophistication of the Edo electorate, the odds favoured the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Dr. Asue Ighodalo.

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), he was unequivocal that the result of the election had already been written. “I don’t know why Nigerians are so naïve. They don’t seem to know what they are up against. Which election are they talking about? The same election which result had already been written?” he asked.

That was incredulous. I reminded him how the Edo electorate stepped up to the plate in the 2020 governorship election. He riposted that times have changed and INEC has become more brazen, emboldened by the unscrupulousness of the new kids on the leadership block.

We left it at that, but I hoped to prove him wrong. It turned out on Saturday that he was spot on and I was wrong. On Sunday, at exactly 2.33 pm, when INEC’s deviousness was on full parade, he sent me a text message: “I told you.”

Earlier on Sunday, at exactly 9.37 am, the second politician called to lament. What he said was spine-chilling. “Have you seen what is happening in Edo? These guys have become so brazen. This is unbelievable. What this means is that anyone contesting elections in Nigeria today will be doing so at his own risk.” He was hoping to run for the governorship of his state in 2027. Not anymore after the Edo electoral heist by the APC, he said.

None of them is from Edo. So, they had no dog in the fight, so to speak. But as stakeholders, they are as worried as every other well-meaning Nigerian. But I am more worried now because of what they said.

Before now, the risk we faced as a result of the insufferable duplicity of INEC was voter apathy. Over the years, as people came to the realization that their votes never counted, voter enthusiasm waned.

According to INEC records, only 28.63 per cent of all eligible voters participated in the 2023 Presidential and National Assembly elections. That was a new low in what has become a steady decline in the turnout of voters during elections. For instance, while as in 2011, voter turnout was an impressive 53.7 per cent, it dropped to 43.7 per cent in 2015 and 34.75 per cent in 2019.

After the 2023 elections, it was apparent that the voter apathy will intensify and the Edo governorship election where only about 22 per cent of the 2,629,025 registered voters voted has confirmed that. One would have thought that such embarrassing statistics will make the electoral umpire have a rethink. No! Instead of thinking of how to clamber out of the putrid hole of electoral malfeasance, the hardened enablers of electoral fraud are still digging.

Now, the consequence stares us in the face. Even politicians no longer have faith in INEC and if things remain the way they are, no credible Nigerian will waste his time and resources contesting elections again. The implication is that going forward, certificate forgers, age cheats, drug barons and sundry fraudsters will have the electoral field all to themselves.

The Edo election has confirmed what every discerning Nigerian knows: the Mahmoud Yakubu-led INEC is a fraud with no moral fibre to conduct free, fair and credible elections.

But by this brazenness, INEC has also finally overreached itself. As the legendary Chinua Achebe said in his book, A Man of the People, Yakubu now epitomizes that vile character, Josiah, the local shopkeeper, who tricked a blind beggar and stole his walking stick. As one of the villagers said, “Josiah has taken away enough for the owner to notice.” In the same vein, Yakubu and the INEC gang have crossed a line with the conduct of the Edo poll and longsuffering Nigerians have noticed.

Already, director of the Abuja school of social and political thought, Dr. Sam Amadi, has called for the disbandment of INEC as presently constituted, insisting that evidence abounds the electoral umpire was to blame for every bad election conducted in the country.

I agree in toto! And I make bold to say that the APC candidate, Senator Monday Okpebholo, didn’t win last Saturday’s Edo governorship election. He lost woefully to the PDP candidate, Asue Ighodalo, no matter what the fraudulent INEC says. And this is not a speculation. Results announced at the polling booths confirm Ighodalo’s victory to the eternal shame of those who toy with the sovereign will of the people. What INEC did was a perpetuation of the electoral fraud that has made Nigeria a laughing stock in the comity of democratic nations.

If you are still in doubt, consider the fact that all the accredited civil society organizations (CSOs) that observed the poll have rejected the result, insisting that it lacks integrity. The problem, as it has always been the case, started at the point of result collation from the ward, local government to the state level, which flew in the face of the Electoral Act 2022.

A coalition of civil society groups, including Advocacy for Quality Leadership and Health Awareness Foundation; Grassroots Development and Peace Initiative; Citizens Rights and Leadership Awareness Initiative, etc., alleged on Sunday that INEC used two sets of result sheets — one used in the field and another that favoured the APC – during the collation in specific senatorial districts.

The Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room and some of its accredited member organisations, including Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD-West Africa), Yiaga Africa, Kimpact Development Initiative (KDI), Nigerian Women Trust Fund (NWTF), and TAF Africa, were even more scathing in their report.

In a statement on Monday, they noted that while as “the voting process was concluded in a relatively peaceful atmosphere, the results collation process in some LGAs were not peaceful and did not meet electoral integrity standards.”

Concerned that the Electoral Act and INEC guidelines on collation were wilfully compromised, particularly in Egor, Ikpoba Okha, Oredo, Esan West and Ovia South-West LGAs, they said: “Our observation of the collation process shows that it was neither transparent nor opened to representatives of the various candidates in some cases. In addition, it lacks transparency in the application of the provision of the Electoral Act and the INEC Guidelines on over-voting and cancellation of results from polling units.”

Bemoaning the over-voting that was reported from more than 370 polling units across the State, they returned a damning verdict: “It is our observation that the Edo State Governorship election 2024 failed to fulfil the requirement of the conduct of credible elections, and again, raises questions about election credibility in Nigeria. As with recent polls, INEC’s ability and willingness to conduct credible elections in Nigeria remains questionable.”

The big elephant in the room has always been collation and Yakubu knows. As a history professor, he is most likely aware of the admonition of the Soviet dictator, Joseph Stalin, to his party apparatchik in 1923 thus: “I consider it completely unimportant who in the party will vote, or how; but what is extraordinarily important is this — who will count the votes, and how” because, “Those who vote decide nothing. Those who count the vote decide everything.” The devil in Nigeria’s elections is always in the counting.

So, INEC allowed the electorate to vote in Edo and then willfully manipulated the counting to decide the “winner.” What is even more worrying is the impunity. For instance, as at 8:40 am on Sunday, results from 4455 out of the 4,519 polling units where elections were held – 98.58 per cent – had been successfully uploaded on the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IREV), which means that Nigerians knew as a fact who won the election. Yet, bypassing its own portal, the self-same INEC had the audacity to collate results from only God knows where that was totally at variance with what was uploaded.

Those who want to be diplomatic have called for calm, asking those holding the short end of the electoral stick to follow due process in seeking redress.

Due process would mean going to court. That will be foolhardy because it is another layer of the fraud. As Mr. Jibrin Samuel Okutepa, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), noted recently, “No matter the volumes of evidence, the judiciary appears to have taken stand and seems to be siding with the people who have no regard and respect for the sovereignty of the people.”

To be sure, no petitioner can successfully sidestep the daunting legal banana peels starting from dubious concepts of demonstration of documents, dumping of documents and calling of agents polling unit by polling unit, to the requirement that certified true copies of public documents must be tendered by the makers and the new, albeit impossible proviso that no subpoenaed witness can testify unless his or her frontloaded statements on oath are filed along with the petitions within 21 days.

Here, Okutepa’s advice, for me, suffices. “It is my proposal to all ‘losers’ of elections in Nigeria not to waste time and resources to file election petitions because it is easier for an elephant to go through the eyes of the needle than for anyone who was robbed of victories in our elections to get immediate remedies and electoral justice.”

If I were Asue Ighodalo, the latest victim of Nigeria’s soulless electoral mafia led by Prof Mahmoud Yakubu, I will not go to court. The matter will be settled on the streets of Edo. If that is what those inclined to being politically correct call anarchy, so be it. Truth be told, unless and until Nigerians show the capacity to resist the malfeasance of INEC and their enablers on the streets, not in courts, this impunity will not stop.

UNITED Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, as usual, told us what we already know. On Wednesday, September 25, 2024, he announced that: “Hell is breaking loose in Lebanon”. But, sadly, he is behind the news because hell is not breaking, it has already broken loose in the Palestine, especially in the Gaza Strip, and has merely expanded its occupation into Lebanon.

Guterres should know this because 220 UN staff in Gaza along with 174 of my colleagues in the journalism profession, have already been despatched from the hell that is Gaza.

Then he made a Freudian slip. As part of his suggestion to stop the war, he declared that the Lebanese state “must have full control of its weapons” throughout the country. He added: “We support all efforts to strengthen the Lebanese Armed Forces.”

What the UN chief is saying is that Hezbollah, the Lebanese party Israel claims it is fighting, should be disarmed. So, in whose interest will this be? In that of the Lebanese people who are being subjected to the type of genocide going on in the Palestine, or Israel which, without Hezbollah, would annex Lebanon as it did to East Jerusalem, or occupy it as it is occupying the Palestine and the Syrian Golan Heights?

This is not a theoretical conception as it has occurred twice. Israel had in 1982 invaded Lebanon in the name of cross-border pursuit of Palestinian fighters. This, in 1985, became a full-blown war in which it seized many parts of Lebanon, including its capital, Beirut. Although Israel later withdrew, but for 15 years, it continued to occupy parts of Lebanon which it called its “security zone”. It was forced to leave on May 24, 2000.

Then, six years later, it again invaded Lebanon, this time from July 12, 2006 to August 14, 2006. However, it could not continue its occupation due to the armed resistance of Hezbollah which had come to replace the collapsed Lebanese military. In other words, but for Hezbollah, Lebanon would have been another Gaza or West Bank under Israeli occupation with settlers from Europe building illegal settlements.

Gueterres is supposed to be a peace maker. But the mind-set of a peace maker should be to work for an immediate ceasefire, not advocate the disarming of one side of the conflict.

The Gueterres position of disarming Hezbollah does not tally with that of Lebanon which sees the Israeli attacks as a blatant violation of its sovereignty and human rights.

Mohammad Najib Azmi Mikati, President of Lebanon’s Council of Ministers, said Lebanon is the “victim of an electronic cyber aggression and of an air and maritime aggression that can turn into a ground aggression and can become an all-out regional war”.

US President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron along with Japan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates issued a joint statement saying: “We call for an immediate 21-day ceasefire across the Lebanon-Israel border to provide space for diplomacy towards the conclusion of a diplomatic settlement.”

It seems to me a matter of common sense that since the Israeli War in Palestine is linked with that in Lebanon, a ceasefire on all fronts is what is required. The question is: what happened to the UN Security Council, UNSC, June 2024 ceasefire resolution on the war in Gaza? Fourteen of the 15-Member UNSC had passed that resolution which the USA guaranteed Israel would obey, but the latter said the USA was talking nonsense.

So, the issue is not a ceasefire; the fact is that Israel operates outside international laws, resolutions and conventions because it has the solid backing of the USA. It gets away with whatever actions it carries out, including genocide. All attempts over the decades to make Israel obey international court rulings and UN resolutions have been foiled by the USA. The latter has used its Veto in the UN 85 times, 47 of them were to shield Israel from international resolutions, charges of crimes against humanity and genocide.

Coincidentally, the renewed war in Lebanon is coming when the world is discussing the expansion of the UNSC to accommodate more permanent members. The USA, claiming to love Africa, is campaigning that two of those seats should go the continent because as its Ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said: “It’s what our African partners seek, and it’s what we believe is just.” But, trust the American establishment, there is a caveat: provided the new members would not have the Veto! It is like saying a person should be allowed to own a cannon provided he will not have balls. The magnanimous USA would tolerate Africans at the UNSC Permanent Security court provided they are eunuchs: castrated men.

The Veto power derives from Article 27 of the UN Charter which provides that: “Each member of the Security Council shall have one vote; Decisions of the Security Council on procedural matters shall be made by an affirmative vote of nine members (and) Decisions of the Security Council on all other matters shall be made by an affirmative vote of nine members, including the concurring votes of the permanent members…”

In other words, the power of the UN permanent members is principally based on their power to veto any issue in the organisation. To have the veto is to have the power to override any decision of the UN even if backed by the 192 other member countries.

Incredibly, some are debating whether this should be accepted or not since half bread is better than none; supposing the half-bread is poisoned?

The Veto in practice is used as a personal weapon by the permanent members which include three European countries: France, United Kingdom and Russia; one Asian, China and, one North American, USA. Shut out of this exclusive club are regions like Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific, the Middle East and Latin America.

The Veto, itself, is a violation of Article 2 of the UN Charter which states that: “The Organisation is based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all its Members.”

The most fundamental reform that can be carried out in the UN is to scrap the Veto power. The UNSC should, of course, continue its primary responsibility of maintaining international peace and security, provided it is democratised with no permanent seats.

The proposed reforms of the UN system are part of the “Pact for the Future” resolution passed on Sunday, September 22, 2024. The five planks of the Pact are international peace and security; sustainable development; youth and future generations; science and technology; and transforming global governance.

For the Pact to truly impact on humanity, the UN must be reformed and reoriented based on equality for all and social justice.

Japanese auto giant Toyota is to end their top-tier Olympics sponsorship, its chairman has said, citing the sporting showpiece’s “increasingly political” influence that puts athletes on the back burner.

Toyota struck a 10-year sponsorship deal in 2015 with the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

But now, with the Paris Games over, the carmaker decided to end the contract, chairman Akio Toyoda said during a podcast episode uploaded Thursday on the firm’s own YouTube channel.

“I’ve wondered for a while now whether the event is truly putting athletes first”, Toyoda said.

“It is also becoming increasingly political”.

The withdrawal means Olympics logos currently carried by Toyota products will be phased out, and its vehicles will no longer be provided to assist with the event, the chairman said.

Public broadcaster NHK said the company is also ending its Paralympics sponsorship deal.

“For me, the Olympics should simply be about watching athletes from all walks of life, with all types of challenges, achieve their impossible,” Toyoda told the US auto dealers.

Toyota follows another Japanese company Panasonic in ending their association with the Olympics.

Panasonic announced their withdrawal earlier this month citing “management considerations”.

The electronics giant said it agreed with the IOC not to extend their sponsorship agreement when the current contract expires in December.

Panasonic became an “official Worldwide Partner of the Olympic Games” in 1987 and expanded its sponsorship to the Paralympics from 2014.

But it decided to let the contract expire “as the Group continually reviews how sponsorship should evolve with broader management considerations”.

“As a result of this review, and after extensive consultation with the IOC, the parties agreed to refrain from renewing the Olympic and Paralympic Partner Agreement,” Panasonic said without offering details.

[Vanguard]

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) says investigations into allegations of bandit sponsorship in the north-west of the country are ongoing. 

Bello Matawalle, minister of state for defence; and Dauda Lawal, governor of Zamfara; have lobbed allegations of bandit sponsorship each other’s way. 

Matawalle challenged Lawal to swear by the Holy Qur’an that he was not involved in sponsoring bandits.

Responding, Lawal pledged to reveal evidence against the minister. He said he had reported the issue to Nuhu Ribadu, national security adviser (NSA).

Edward Buba, director of defence media operations, spoke on the military’s interest in the allegations during a press briefing on Thursday.

Buba noted that relevant agencies are thoroughly investigating the matter.

He added that the military remains focused on defeating banditry by breaking the resolve of the criminals.

“And when you talk about what’s going on about the sponsors, I can assure you that the relevant agencies that are saddled with that responsibility are doing a good job. And sooner than later, you will hear some announcements in that regard,” he said.

“Winning a war is destroying the enemy’s will to fight. When you destroy the enemy’s will to fight, the war is over, you have won the war. And that’s why we are focused on destroying the enemy’s will to fight.”

ELIMINATING BANDIT KINGPINS

Speaking about the military’s operations from July to September, Buba noted that 1,937 terrorists had been killed, including 65 key leaders.

“Troops’ offensive actions culminated in the neutralisation of over 65 notable terrorist leaders, commanders, and combatants across all theatres of operations. Significant terrorist leaders were eliminated from the battlefield,” he said.

“The bandit leaders include Munzir Arika, Sani Dilla (Dan Hausawan Jubillaram), Ameer Modu, Matawal Bitrus, Thomas Benedict, Mohammed Sani, Rimamy (aka Omo), Terkimbi Injoko, Jacob Uzege, Ibn Kasir, Kachalla Ɗan Baleri, Kachallah Halilu Jimmare (Buzu), Kachalla Dan Ali Garin Fadama, Kachalla Dan Mani Na Inna, Kachalla Basiru Zakarriya, and Ofem Igwe.”

Buba added that 2,782 suspected terrorists and other criminals were arrested, and 1,854 kidnapped hostages were rescued in the third quarter of 2024.

He said troops recovered 1,304 weapons and 43,347 rounds of ammunition.

He also noted that within the same period, crude oil worth N13 billion was recovered by the troops.

“Troops denied oil thieves of an estimated sum of over N13,081,605,534, 12,143,870 litres of stolen crude oil, 2,623,216 litres of illegally refined AGO, 6,970 litres of DPK, and 31,450 litres of PMS amongst other items,” he said.

“Accordingly, the nation’s daily crude oil production output is at an all-time high, with the nation’s daily target in sight.”

[TheCable]

Mrs Patience Umo Eno, the wife of Akwa Ibom State Governor, Pastor Umo Eno, is dead.

The state Commissioner for Information, Ini Ememobong, announced the first lady’s death in a statement issued in the early hours of Friday.

According to the commissioner, the Mrs Eno died at a hospital on September 26, 2024, surrounded by family members.

The statement, titled, “Unexpected Sunset” read: “It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of the Wife of the Executive Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Her Excellency, Pastor Mrs. Patience Umo Eno, following an illness.

“She passed away peacefully at the hospital on 26th September 2024, in the presence of her family

“The family submits to the will of the Almighty and asks for the prayers and support of kind-hearted individuals during this difficult time. Further details will be provided by the family as necessary. In the meantime, the family kindly requests privacy as they mourn their beloved wife, mother and grandmother.

“Further details will be provided by the family as necessary. In the meantime, the family kindly requests privacy as they mourn their beloved wife, mother, and grandmother.

“His Excellency, the Governor, Pastor Umo Eno appreciates all who have stood by the first family in this period and assures all the citizens that despite this huge personal loss, his commitment to the service of the state is unwavering.”

[newspeakonline]